Dharma-Our choice empowerer 3 Karma logically explained Kolkata youth camp | Chaitanya Charan

Broadly in that sense, everybody has an awareness that there are uncontrollables in their life, but now is the uncontrollable fixed, is the uncontrollable inevitable, that's what we explore a little bit. So in terms of the insight over there, we discussed about how past karma, its effect can be changed, its timing can be changed. I won't go into that too much.

But the key point was that we, among the four quadrants, we try to situate ourselves in the place where our present karma is positive and past karma, it may sometimes be negative, it may sometimes be positive, but we can't control that too much. So keeping our present karma in the positive zone, positive axis over here and not the negative axis, that's the theme I'll elaborate briefly and then we move on to question answers. So yesterday, today morning I talked about this theme that our choices lead to consequences.

That's the basic principle of karma. But our choices are not occurring in isolation. There are two factors that shape our choices.

What are those factors? Conditions and conditionings. When somebody makes a choice, we live in certain external conditions that can limit our choices. And we also have certain internal conditionings that shape our choices.

So now let's try to look at the conditions and how we deal with the conditions using the concept of dharma. Let's start with dharma. What does dharma mean to you? Occupational duty.

Prescribed duty. Innate nature. That's true.

So Prabhupada would use it as dharma of water is liquidity like that. So innate nature. Anything else? Dharma is the codes given by God.

Dharma is doing positive karma. Okay, good. Anything else? What are the common meanings of the word dharma? Religion is one more meaning.

Yes. So let's look at a couple of meanings given in which are used in the Bhagavad Gita to get a better sense of this idea of dharma. So in the Gita the word dharma is used in many distinct senses.

But let's focus on two right now. One is individual and the other is collective. So in 2.7 when Arjuna speaks he's asking I want to know what is dharma? What is the right thing for me to do? Now 4.8 Krishna says dharma samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge.

Now when he's saying I come to establish dharma he's talking about a social change. He says that there are cruel kings who are ruling. I will remove those kings and I will establish dharma.

This is 4.8. So now what does this mean? That broadly speaking dharma is what leads to artha. Dharma, artha, kama and moksha. Let's try to understand from this perspective.

There's the individual and then there is the collective. So there is the individual's dharma to the collective and there is the collective's dharma to the individual. So here what does it mean? Whenever we belong to a larger home, say for example now you have come for this talk.

So if you are here for this talk and you are hearing it, if somebody sits right in front add with their back to the speaker. Now what will happen? That will be disruptive. Isn't it? So if somebody is sitting but they're talking loudly on the phone, that's also going to be disruptive.

So there is a way to belong to the class. So we all belong to various larger collectives and there's a way to belong to it. So if we travel on the road, if we drive on the road, we belong to the road transport system or we are choosing to enter into participate and belong to that road transport system.

There's a proper way to belong to it. If we start driving above the speed limit, we start driving on the wrong side of the road, there will be a problem. So whenever an individual belongs to a larger collective, that individual has a role to play properly.

So that is the individual's dharma. So if we are driving on the road, then following the rules of road traffic, that is our dharma. When we are sitting in a class, sitting attentively, facing the speaker, not speaking on the phone or anything else, that is our dharma.

But dharma is not just a one-way street. It's a two-way street. If say I as a speaker am expecting that you should pay attention, I should also be speaking something worth paying attention.

The speaker also has a dharma to the audience. If say all of you come for a spiritual talk and I go on a political campaign over here, you will say I didn't come here for this. That would not be the right thing.

So if we are driving on the road and we are following the rules, so now in this case I represent the collective. If we are driving on the road, then the traffic police will represent the collective. If they start unfairly pulling people over, say people from a particular group, say in India a lot of regionalism is rising.

So if the police from a particular place, say in Bengal, they start pulling over all non-Mongolians or in Maharashtra they start pulling over all non-Maharashtrians, even if they are not going above the speed limit. So then the collective is not doing its role properly, isn't it? So dharma is both ways, that what the individual does for the collective and what the collective does for the individual. So when Krishna is talking about, when Arjuna is asking the question that is 2.7, the individual does the collective.

When Krishna is saying I will establish dharma that is 4.8. So dharma when it is done in such a way, say when the audience pays attention and the speaker speaks something worth paying attention to, then that dharma leads to artha. Artha is you learn something meaningful. If people driving on the road follow the rules of traffic properly and the traffic cops also are properly law-abiding and not discriminating, then there is smooth and safe and swift traffic.

So dharma leads to artha. So in that sense, dharma broadly means harmony or you could call it harmonious belonging. That we are all parts of some larger units.

So we are a part of a family, we have duty to a family. We are a part of a country, we have duty to the country. All those are dharmas.

So if we consider each one of us, we are parts of many larger wholes. So you may be in a college now, so then the college is supposed to teach you and you are supposed to study in the college. If you are in a company, you have a duty to the company.

If you are in a country, we have a duty to the country. Now like that, we are all parts of many larger wholes and the largest whole is Krishna. So for all of us, whichever larger whole we belong to, we need to belong harmoniously to that whole.

And harmonious belonging, of course, is not only our part. Our part is there but the larger collective also has its part. Suppose if we are working in a company and we are doing a job properly but the company doesn't pay the salary, then we say, I don't want to belong to this larger whole.

So for us, there is no point in we doing our dharma if the larger collective is not doing our dharma. Sometimes we may have to do. But that dharmasya glani, what Krishna says, that can happen in both ways.

The individuals may not do the dharma to the collective or the collective may not do the dharma to the individual. Both ways, dharmasya glani can happen. And both ways, connection is required.

Now why are we discussing this in terms of our discussion on karma and daiva and so forth? See, the point is that we all at the same time may belong to many larger wholes. We belong to a family, we belong to a community, we belong to a country, we may belong to a professional group, say all of you may be engineers, we may belong to a particular age group, we all of you are young people. So we belong to many larger wholes.

And with respect to each larger whole, there is something we do for that whole and that whole does something for us. Now what happens is that based on our past karma, we may be placed in certain larger wholes where, say for example, we were placed in a country where the country takes a lot of taxes but gives very little facility in it. Or we may be in a college where the fees are charged a lot but the teaching is very poor.

Or it could be the opposite also that sometimes it may happen that in a country, the country is giving generous facilities to people but all the people are becoming irresponsible. So it can happen either way. So for all of us, dharmasya glani means that there is, if either the individual is not doing for the collective or the collective is not doing for the individual, then the artha will not be produced.

If in many European countries, they are welfare states. Welfare states means practically everything is provided for by the government. So healthcare is provided free, education is free.

And how does the government afford this? One of the ways is that they spend very, very little on defence. And they are able to spend very little on defence because they rely on America for defence. So they are the North American Treaty Organisation by that.

So now they are doing that but overall, the European culture was such that people would be responsible. That people would, if somebody is being paid, that okay, I should be doing my job if I am being paid for that job. Now in the West, we cannot legally distribute books.

So on the streets, when we go and distribute books, the culture in the West is that if I am getting something, I should be giving something. So people just say, they distribute the books and we ask for donations. And practically, nobody takes the book and not even give donation.

So one of my friends, he is a big booster over there in Australia, he says that. So he says then show the Bhagavad Gita to people or some other book. So how much do people give donation for this? So he says some good guys give me $10, some bad guys give me $20.

So he said, one person just started laughing and said, I am a very bad guy, I will give $30. So the idea is that in the West, the culture is that if you are given something, you should be, you are getting something, you should be giving something back. That is the culture.

Now in India, if you give something in charity, okay, thank you, bye-bye. If you give donation, you give something back. Then most people will not give only.

So now this is, of course, India has that financial hardship and because of that, that has happened. But what is happening now in Europe, there are a lot of immigrants from the Middle East who are going there. And they, many of them, they take from the state, but they don't give back to the state.

And that leads to a burden on the state. Now it is not all Middle East immigrants are like that, but many are like that. So there can be immigrants who are good, immigrants who are bad.

My point is that this way dharma can go wrong in both ways. The individual doesn't do enough for the collective or the collective doesn't do enough for the individual. So now, we could be put by our past karmas into the situation that we are individuals, we are doing a lot.

We may work very hard in the company and we may work for years and we expect that, okay, this company should work very well and I should succeed in my life and I should have a stable job throughout my life. But one devotee friend of mine from America, he came to India, he was working in a company, he came to India, he came for a yatra in Karthik and he thought that during Karthik, he had taken leave officially, so he said, I will not even open my company emails. He completely immersed in Krishna.

And he went back to America and he went to his office and like sometimes people are suddenly fired. You get the pink slip. He went to his office and he was not fired, the company itself was fired.

There was no company over there only. What had happened was that there had been some investigation going on and they had not been paying their taxes properly and there was a big fight and they decided we can't pay it, so they declared bankruptcy and the whole company only went down. So, he was doing his job well, the individual was doing for the collective, but the collective disappeared completely.

So, if something like this happens, that is also karma. So, when this happens, each one of us, what do we do? We may be placed in certain larger holes where what we are doing is not properly recognised and rewarded. So, at such times, what do we do? This is where each one of us has to use our intelligence.

See, we belong to certain larger holes, but we may have to decide that, okay, belonging to this larger hole is not working for me. Then, we may focus more on some other hole. So, many Indians, you know, the Indian immigration to the West, to America started primarily in 1970s.

There are many reasons for that. American economy opened in 1965. Immigration became very liberal in 1965.

But in India, because there was this feeling that the caste system has caused lot of discrimination, so there were lot of reservations. And many Indians felt that in the Indian government, because of the reservation, they would not have much chance for growth. So, when they found that, okay, in India, we don't have much chance for career, we don't have much chance for stable jobs, Indians started going abroad.

And then, okay, I can't belong to this larger hole, I belong to some other hole. The Pandavas were in Hastinapur. And when they were attempted to be burned, they survived.

When they came back, at that time, what happened? They were given Khandav. It was an extremely unfair division. But they got that division and they accepted it.

It's like, okay, I am a part of this larger hole, this larger hole is not working for me. So, they went and created their own collective. And eventually, that became more prosperous than Hastinapur.

So, that was especially a cause of greater envy for Duryodhana. He thought, I outwitted these Pandavas and I sent them into wilderness. But they transformed this wilderness into a bigger and better city than me, than my city.

So, what happened is, the Pandavas were like, things are not working out in this collective for us, let's go out. Actually, Prabhupada was preaching in India and he was preaching for 3-4 decades. It was not working.

Prabhupada said, let's go to America. So, the idea is, Dharma is not just one way, it is two ways. And if we find that belonging to one particular Raja collective is not working for us.

Now, we may not necessarily give up that collective completely. Prabhupada was still an Indian. You cannot change him.

Prabhupada didn't become an American citizen. But he focused his energy on America. So, when we talk about Dharma, Dharma is harmonious belonging.

That Dharma is, ultimately, the harmonious belonging is to Krishna. Our eternal nature is, we are servants of Krishna and we belong to Krishna. That I'll talk about when I come to the point of Bhakti.

Ultimately, we belong to Krishna. So, we do serve Krishna and Krishna sustains us. But intermediately, there are other units that we belong to.

And Dharma means, each one of us has to intelligently understand which larger collective I am a part of and in which area things can work for me, which area things can't work for me. So, based on that, we may decide. Suppose, somebody decides, okay, I got a job over here and there is a lot of money being paid for it.

There is good money over there, but, you know, there are, I have to be away from my family, I have to be away from devotees, I have to be alone over there. Now, do I need the money more or do I need to be with my loved ones, do I need to be with devotees? So, we may have different pulls in different directions. And it is for us to responsibly decide.

So, I was sitting in the morning and incident. When I got the polio, my father said that I belong to a collect, India, where the legal system is such that it is unlikely that you will sue a clinic and get anything out of it. My father said, forget it.

It's not going to work. But in America, the legal system is such that anybody can sue anyone. There is one case, this is one devotee, he told me that, he later became a devotee, got frustrated completely.

So, there was basically a thief who broke into his house. And when the thief broke into his house, he jumped in through a window and when he jumped in, he jumped on the floor and the floor, while playing, somehow a knife had been kept over there. His foot fell on the knife and the thief sued him.

And he had to actually pay $15,000 just because his feet was cut. He said, I came to rob and I didn't came to have my leg cut. $15,000 is not a small amount.

You can do 15 flights to America and back and $50,000 practically. So, it's ridiculous. So, America is an indigenous country.

So, the idea is that when we belong to a particular collective, each one of us needs to decide what collective should I be a part of. So, if you consider why the Bhagavad Gita is spoken, that is the tension that Arjuna is facing. Arjuna belongs to one collective, he is a Kshatriya.

So, he has a Kshatriya dharma. Kshatriya dharma is that he should fight. But he also belongs to the Kuru Kula.

And accordingly, he has a Kula dharma. And a Kula dharma is don't fight. These are all your own Kula dynasty members.

Don't fight. So, Arjuna feels torn. If he sees himself as a Kshatriya first, then he says, okay, these are people who are cruel, these are people who have attacked and were destroyed and who are evil people, who are trouble to society.

I have to fight and kill them. But if he thinks that, okay, I belong to, they are my dynasty members. How can I kill them? So, this is where Arjuna doesn't know whether I should be belonging here, whether I should be prioritising my belonging here or prioritising my belonging here.

That is the dharma sammoha that he has. He is confused, he is bewildered. So, we all may face this.

Suppose somebody has a job and they are parents. So, they are parents, you have an urgent company deadline and a big meeting is going on. At that time, you get a call from your child's school.

Your child fell down and is injured. Come immediately. Now, what should you do at that time? You say, obviously, I have to go and be with the child.

You may ask, how serious is the injury? Don't you care for your child? Yeah, but when I work in my company, I am caring for my child. I am putting bread and food in my home. So, sometimes when dharma sammoha is there, it is difficult to decide, when we are pulled in different directions.

So, again, coming back to our point, I will conclude with this, that when we are to do dharma, how do we decide what is my dharma in a particular situation? What is the right thing to do? So, our past karma may put us in certain situations, where some options may be completely limited. And there is not much we can do in a particular area. So, if we keep fighting in that area, it's just not going to work.

So, if I got polio, and if I keep fighting, oh, why do I have this polio? At a physical level, I won't have much change that's going to happen. But we have to say, okay, in this area where I belong, nothing much is going to change. But in some other area where I belong, things can change.

So, there was this question about when we are functioning in life. So, we sometimes start, we sometimes face some failure, we face some setbacks. So, for example, young people commit suicide, and students, it's terrible.

Now, what is exactly happening over there, if we consider from this perspective of dharma? See, the event can be, let's put it simply, there can be many factors, but let's put it simply, event is loss, maybe loss or failure. Maybe there's an important exam, and maybe important interview, and it didn't work out. So, what way we can say that, we can interpret event and experience.

How do we experience that event? So, event can be, I have lost. That is one level of interpretation. Now, another could be, I am lost.

The third could be, I am a loser. Now, what is happening over here? Are all three the same? No. Which is the most damaging? Third one, yes.

So, I have lost is more objective. Okay, I was trying this, it didn't work out. I have lost.

So, that means, let's say, I, as an individual, I belong to many larger roles. Okay, I applied for this company, I was giving this exam. In this particular thing, I was trying to do something, and it just became, it didn't work out.

I have lost over here. Now, if somebody identifies too much with only one particular role, and this is their entire life, and here they fail, then what will happen is, I am lost is not just a loss of, is not just a loss of opportunity, it's a loss of direction. Suppose, somebody is a sports player.

One of my friends in America, yeah, it's psychology. So, he has done his PhD in the post-celebrity lives of baseball players, no, of basketball players. So, America basketball NBA is very big, one of the biggest leagues in sports, and people can become super celebrities.

But then, in sports and movies, these are areas, actually sports more than movies, where the longevity is very less. In most areas, you come to, in most areas, professions, you come to your peak by 45, 50, 55, 60. That's the time when you are at your peak, you learn, grow.

But in sports, by the time you are 45, you are like a dinosaur. Isn't it? You are a fossil, basically. So, dinosaur is not large, dinosaur is like, you know, it's like a fossil.

You are so too old. So then, for many of these players, they retire by 35, 40. If they don't retire, they are retired.

So then, what do you do after that? If say, basketball has been their entire life, unless they can reinvent themselves, unless they can do something else, I am lost. If somebody identifies, I am an engineer, I am a software engineer, that's all they have always been, that's all they have dreamt of being. And then suddenly, AI comes and takes away all software coding jobs.

And then, what am I to do now? So, I am lost is a much deeper thing. They just had this idea that this is where I belong, and now I cannot belong over here. I cannot do this over here, what do I do? Now, I am a loser becomes even more damaging.

Because it's not only that I don't know what to do in my life, I don't think I can do anything. Whatever I do, it will fail. Whatever I do, nothing is going to work out because I am a loser.

Now, this is most toxic. So, it's very important as students. In India, there's a lot of academic pressure and expectation.

It is understandable because it's a very competitive place, and parents want the best for their children. So, parents may put a lot of pressure on the children, you have to study and do well in the exams. It's not just parental pressure, it's peer pressure, it's teacher's pressure, it's work pressure, all of it is there.

But if a person, if a student identifies only as a student, we are students, but we are souls. You are all of your students, you are not just students, you are souls, you are Indians, you are parents, children in a particular family, you have so many other identities, so many other roles. So, when we over-identify with one particular role so much, and we feel that, okay, this doesn't work, I am a loser.

If I am a loser, then what is the point of living? Whatever I do, I can only lose. So, it is, if we were in a business relationship, with a business partnership, somebody who thought was a loser, you want to break the relationship. You don't want to be in a, if you are a loser, then I will also lose with you.

If somebody is in a romantic relationship with somebody who they consider as a loser, you want to break up with that person. People use the word breakup, but there's no up, it's only breakdown happens. So, but either way, my point is that you don't want to be, nobody would want to be with a loser.

But if we think we ourselves are losers, then what are we going to do? Can we break up with ourselves? We can't, or can we? A suicide is a tragic way to try to break up with oneself. So, the idea is that sometimes we may be put bypassed karma in a situation where in a particular direction, there is just no success possible. Somebody might give their whole life to become an athlete and they get into a car crash where there's a career ending injury.

Now, what do you do at that time? Yes, you belong to that particular role, you wanted to belong to that particular role, but that has become a dead end now. You need to reinvent yourself, you need to find some other way. So, quite often when people become depressed or people become suicidal, it's not just because what has gone wrong in their life.

It is also because how much they are identifying with the area in which things have gone wrong. In the West, very few students commit suicide because of academic poor performance. It's not that students don't commit suicide, there it is because of heartbreaks.

So, the idea is that if somebody dumps you, the word is so terrible, dump. Like you would have a garbage dump, somebody dumps you. Needs to take a garbage and dumps you.

But if somebody dumps you, the idea is that somebody may think that, okay, something is intrinsically wrong with me. I am unloved and I am unloveable and I will be forever alone. What is the point of living like this? And somebody can sink into very deep depression at that time.

So, the thing is, yes, is the relationship important? Yes, we are social creatures, we need relationship. But does one relationship have to define us? No. Does one exam performance have to define us? No.

So, the idea is sometimes by karma, we might be put in a larger hole where just everything falls apart. Everything just crashes in on us. So, at that time we have to understand that, okay, I don't just have to belong here.

I can belong somewhere else also. So, in this area things may not work out, but in some other area things may work out. So, the Pandavas, when they talk about, when we respond to past karma, there was this question that when something happens to us, is it due to our past karma? Well, maybe.

But the point is, don't focus on whether it is due to your past karma. Focus on what is your present dharma. How can we deal with the thing now that it has happened? So, if somebody falls sick, is it because of past karma? Possibly.

But does that mean they stay sick? No, it is your dharma to take a medicine, to find out a way that you can be cured. So, dharma means that sometimes, let's put it another way, that some holes we belong to are large. That means we have lots of options over there.

Some holes become very confining and we don't even have any breathing space over there. So, then we may have to decide that, okay, about this I can't do much, but about that I can do something. So, that way each one of us can move forward.

In a way that is, we don't feel my life has come to a dead end. Life in a particular area may come to a dead end. But life itself completely doesn't come to a dead end.

So, in some conditions may come in our life where there are just no choices. But it is not that in every area there is no choice. So, the Pandavas, if you go back to Pandavas example, that they were in a family, larger family, that was just against them.

They tried their best to change that. But when that didn't work, what did they do? They formed other relationships. In Draupadi's way of work, they formed a relationship with Rupada.

There they met Krishna and they formed a relationship with Krishna. And in their birth family, they were only meeting with getting hostility. They were only getting enmity.

So, okay, now they tried to, as much as they could to have good relationship over. But that didn't work. Then, okay, if it's not working here, let me, let us see where it does work.

And Arjuna and Krishna became the best of friends. Yudhishthira and Rupada also came very close to each other. Later on, the Pandavas stayed in Virat's kingdom.

There also they came very close to, Yudhishthira came close to Virat. So, the idea is some things work, some things don't work. So, dharma means that we understand that, okay, dharma is, I'll conclude with this point and we'll move to question answers from here.

We can say dharma is responsibility. Now, responsibility can also be translated as response ability. So, in some areas, we may just have no responsibility.

We may just not have any ability to respond in that situation. Say, we have lots of Indians who have now gone to the Middle East. Indians are working in Saudi Arabia, in Kuwait, in Bahrain, in UAE.

Now, there, there is no permission to generally to practise any other religion publicly except Islam. So, there, devotees cannot go on Harinam, devotees cannot distribute books, devotees cannot hold Ratha Yatra publicly. But that does not mean that they have stopped being devotees.

There, devotees have home programmes, devotees sometimes have halls, higher halls, halls and they do programmes over there. Sometimes, they try to hire the biggest hall in the city and they do Ratha Yatra indoors. There are outdoors where you can have indoors.

So, the idea is, as far as gaining the right to do public practise of bhakti, there is no response ability over there. There is no ability to respond over there. But that does not mean that there is no ability to respond anywhere.

That if things can't work in this area, yes, things can work in that area. And actually, we have very flourishing devotee community in the Middle East overall. Because at least in the West, what happens, the Western culture is very, quite explicitly sensual and materialistic.

And Indians quite get infatuated by that soon. But because Islam is little bit more conservative, there is, there is not that explicit sensuality available. And therefore, for people over there, there is not much sensual things to do.

So, often, they become more interested in their own culture, in their own religion, in their own tradition that way. And when I go to the Middle East, we have in Dubai, we have, we have three Sundays in Dubai, Sharjah and one more place. So, Dubai or Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi, their morning Sunday, they have five hundred people. Sharjah, they have, Abu Dhabi, they have, sorry, Dubai, they have Sunday feast where they have a lot of thousand people. And Sharjah, they have Sunday feast where they have around six hundred people.

And all this is just one, one and a half hours away from each other. And we'll come and do kirtans and have classes. Wonderful programme over there.

But how does it work? It's like responsibility. So, what is the ability to respond that we have in a particular situation? So, take, dharma means to take responsibility. That take responsibility.

This is the situation I'm in. What can I do in this situation? In which area can I respond? Which area can I not respond? So, if I don't have the power to respond, don't just keep beating us and go, life is so unfair to me, the world is so unfair, why is Krishna not caring for me? No. Okay.

In this area, I don't have the ability to respond. In what area do I have the ability to respond? That way, each one of us, no matter what condition karma puts us in, we can move onwards. So, broadly, dharma understood as responsibility, to conclude with this now, dharma understood as responsibility can lead to three broad responses.

I use the acronym MET for this. We can mitigate the problem. Mitigate means we try to fix the problem.

Second is we can emigrate from the problem. That means we get out of the situation, go somewhere else. Third is we tolerate the problem.

All these three can be in a dharmic way. So, if you consider the Pandavas, when Bhima was poisoned, at that time, what did the Pandavas do? Bhima was enraged. He wanted to go and beat up Duryodhana.

He said, I will teach him a lesson. He tried to poison me. Yudhishthira said, don't do anything.

You know, it will just be your word against his word. You don't have any evidence that he did this. So, it was he who did this to you.

And he says, we don't know, we are new over here, we don't know how the elders will respond, who will take our side, who will not take our side. We just play it safe right now. He said, we don't want to, we are just new to the family, we don't want to split the family.

If we split the family, who will support us, we don't know. And just, maybe Duryodhana is just insecure. Let's be nice to him.

But let's keep an eye on him. Let's be careful. They tolerated.

But then, when they were in the house of Lakh, it was set on fire, the Pandavas did not come back straight. They didn't think that, okay, somebody tried to set a fire, we survive, we come back. They thought that, having a whole plan to send somebody to a different country or a different region, have a palace built over there and have the palace burnt.

This is not a small, small job. It's like a, there is one terrorist comes and kills 10 people. It's a small job.

But the twin towers is blown up. That's not a small job, isn't it? So, the Varanavad being burnt was like that. So, Dhritarashtra must also be in this.

So, they decided no point in going back over there. We will still be in danger. So, they emigrated from there.

And eventually, they got the kingdom also, Khandava, they emigrated. Just get out of that situation. But then, when Draupadi was dishonoured and then after that, Draupadi was dishonoured in the Kuru assembly and not only that, after that, Krishna was also similarly dishonoured.

They tried to arrest Krishna. They didn't succeed. But at that time, the Pandavas decided, enough is enough.

Pandavas decided, these Kauravas are never going to learn. So, we have to fight over it. So, they mitigated.

So, dharma, in that sense, is something which is dependent on desha, kaala, padma. That doesn't mean what is right and wrong changes. What I am talking about dharma here is, when we are put in a particular situation, how do we take responsibility in that situation? What is the ability by which we can best respond in that situation? That will vary according to time, place and circumstances.

So, tolerating can be dharma, emigrating can be dharma, mitigating can also be dharma. Now, interestingly, all of these can also be, each of these can be adharma also. How? If instead of tolerating, what we are doing is simply suffocating.

That means, we are not doing anything, but it is burning internally with hate and anger and frustration. That will not be very good for our mental health, for our emotional health. Then, it can be, if we just run away.

So, when we emigrate, the point is, I want to go to some other place, that is better. Run away means, I just want to get out of here. If we keep running away, how far, how much we will keep running away? That is not healthy.

If instead of mitigate, we retaliate. Mitigate is, you fix the problem. Retaliate is, you hurt me, I will hurt you.

Retaliate is more about taking revenge. Now, in the Mahabharata war, sometimes there is a rhetoric of taking revenge. But overall, the Mahabharata wars was for justice, not for revenge.

If the Pandavas had wanted to retaliate, the Pandavas could have taken it out on the Kauravas' father also. Why let Dhritarashtra survive? After all, they said, he allowed all this to happen. Punish him also.

They didn't do that. So, Dhritarashtra was the actual problem and they eliminated Dhritarashtra and they ended it over there. So, the idea is that, for us, we may be put by life in certain situations.

By life means, by our past karma and then what is our dharma in that situation, we have to responsibly decide. So, I will summarise what I discussed today, broadly speaking. So, our topic today was dharma.

So, I didn't explicitly take the framework. The concept was dharma is what? It is, there are many meanings for it, but the meaning we focused on was harmonious belonging. So, there is the dharma of the individual to the collective and dharma of the collective to the individual.

So, what we do for the collective, what the collective does for us. So, dharma steglani can happen both ways. So, when dharma is done properly, then there is artha, when something of value comes out and that is how society progresses.

Now, we have multiple dharmas because we belong to many larger holes and the biggest larger hole we belong to is Krishna and when we do our dharma to Krishna, that is bhakti, that I will talk about in the last session. We will talk about insight. Here we discussed the key theme was that each one of us belongs to many larger holes and when we belong to the much larger holes, in some of those we get a lot, but we may give very little.

In some of them we give a lot, but we get very little. So, how much I want to belong to a particular hole, how much I want to identify with a particular hole, that is something which we individually need to decide. So, Arjuna's dharma sankat was that he was torn between kula dharma and kshatriya dharma.

So, should I identify myself as kshatriya, therefore I should fight or should I identify myself as kula dharma, kula, kurva and should I not fight. So, Arjuna was torn over there. So, we discussed that over identification that can lead to a serious problem.

Why? Because we might just be put in a situation where in one particular area there is just not even any breathing space, there is no place to move also. So, then if we face that kind of loss, we may end up thinking I am a loser. We over identify.

So, we always have some responsibility. So, we will have to evaluate where in which particular area I have responsibility and I have lost in this area, but I can try again in this area, or I cannot try in this area because it is not going to work in this area. So, let me focus on some other area.

So, if you can say dharma is responsibility, then with respect to one particular whole that we belong to, one particular collective that we belong to. So, what are the options for us? One is, say if I am doing a lot, but I am getting too little from it. So, one is tolerate, that means stay on over there.

Second is mitigate, that means I decide I just go and belong to some other whole. So, this is what emigrate. Third, we decide that I will actually move over here, become a part of the collective and I will fix it.

So, mitigate. So, all of these are options. We have to see how I can take responsibility and in that way, in some area of my life, I may just have no options, but that doesn't mean in every area of my life, I don't have options.

So, sometimes karma may constrain us in one area, but we have to shift to another area of life and keep moving ahead. That is our dharma. Thank you very much.

Hare Krishna. So, are there any questions or comments? How can we distribute the load of our karma? I think we discussed this in the morning, but distribute the load means if too many bad things are happening to us and hitting us at the same time, what do we do? Well, we find the one area where we can do something and start working in that area so that we are not hit everywhere because we can't control all the things that are happening to us, but we start choosing the battles and fighting the battles which we can fight. Okay.

Yes, ma'am. See, Shastra gives us principles. How to apply those principles up to us? If you look at any of the characters in Shastra, let's look at how Shastric characters make decisions.

It is not that there is just one magical verse that will provide all answers. See, we don't outsource our intelligence to scripture. Scripture is a resource for our intelligence.

We don't outsource our intelligence. Ultimately, our life is our responsibility. So, we have to take decisions.

Even when Krishna was with Arjuna and Ashwatthama was to be dealt with, Yudhishthira was saying, let's forgive him. Bhima was saying, let's punish him. Now, Krishna was there.

Krishna did not give any one answer to him. Krishna had trained Arjuna through the Bhagavad Gita and based on that, Arjuna took a decision. So, Shastra is… sometimes people use the word Shastra as a manual.

Actually, life is too complicated to ever have any manual. Shastra is like a guidebook. It's not a manual.

Manual means you press this button, this will happen. You pull this lever, this will happen. You move this, this will happen.

Life is not that simple. Guidebook means it gives principles. And then for us, we have to apply those principles.

Questioner 1 – So, in the last part of the today's satsang, you mentioned that it's Adharma, which is opposite to the Dharma principles. So, in the whole, we have no option but to tolerate. And if he has suffocated, then that is Adharma.

But many times, we do not have the ability to tolerate. For example, suppose, when put in a situation, there are two ways of responding to a situation, which is a difficult one. One is we sublimate it, another is we bury it.

So, that might come under the category of suffocation. So, sometimes we may not have the ability to tolerate, actually. So, tolerate means we actually do not have a grudge for the situation.

So, how do we have the ability to tolerate rather than suffocate? Swamiji – Shift our focus. If somebody is working in a job where the boss is terrible, the colleagues are terrible. But then, the pay is good and you need the money.

Then, for the sake of the money, you tolerate other things. So, it's like tolerance, if you see the sequence which Krishna described in the Bhagavad Gita, 2.14 is tolerance. But before that, 2.13 is intelligence.

Krishna is telling Arjuna that the big thing is the soul, the body is the small thing. Don't look at the body so much. The soul is the big thing.

See, when Krishna is telling Arjuna to tolerate, tolerance, what to tolerate? Is he telling how the Kauravas did all those atrocities to you? Anyway, it's all your karma only. Keep tolerating it. Is that what he is saying? No.

What to tolerate he is saying? It is that you have to fight Bhishma. That was unbearable for Arjuna. So, Krishna is saying, tolerate this.

Why? Because the big thing is intelligence. One way of understanding intelligence, Prabhupada says is, see things in their proper perspective. That means to understand what is the big thing and understand what is the small thing.

So, Krishna is telling Arjuna that the body is a small thing, the body will come and go. The soul is the big thing. So, once we have this, what is the result of tolerance? Transcendence.

So, he knows min yatha dehe is intelligence, tam sthiti kshata bharata is tolerance and sombra tattvaya kalpate is transcendence. So, the purpose of tolerance is transcendence. The purpose is what? So, that kirtaniya sadahari.

But if the result is kirtaniya nakadahari, you are not able to do any kirtan at all. Then don't tolerate at that time. So, the idea of tolerance, you know, when we are dealing with, we are dealing with difficulty.

Now, the difficulty, it could be a small thing and we can make it big. And this we can avoid by tolerance. Keep small things small.

But sometimes we can make a big thing small. There, we should not be tolerant. Here, if we, let's put it this way, if we make a small thing big, that is intolerance.

Don't mean it is a big thing. But if you make a big thing small, that is not tolerance, that is impotence. That is being powerless.

So, tolerance means what? We keep the small things small so that we can keep the big things big. So, that is tolerance. So, that's why before we can tolerate, we have to understand what is the big thing for us.

And as compared to that big thing, this is a small thing. So, suppose you are bored by this class and you are tolerating sitting in this class. Now, why are you tolerating? Maybe you think that if you walk away from this class, what will people think about you? Now, if that is what you are thinking, then you will feel suffocated in the class.

How long is this class going to go on? But you may be a little bored in the class, but you think, okay, there is something useful being discussed over here. Maybe my mind sometimes gets bored. But I want to learn this thing.

So, if learning the Bhagavad Gita system is a big thing, then okay, I am feeling bored a little bit, let me tolerate it. So, what happens is that we need to have something big. If we don't have anything big, then the small things will become big for us.

So, if we are feeling suffocated in a particular situation and we feel that we don't have the capacity to tolerate, then we have to find some big thing that we are going to achieve in that situation. The more I make that big thing big in my consciousness, the more other things will become small. But if I don't have anything to make big in my consciousness, then the small things will become big.

Yes, sir? Questioner- When to understand that it is enough and I should get into another circle or another thing? Swamiji- See, that is again the concept of Dharma. Belonging to, trying to belong to one area should not pull me out of all other areas. See, if I want to be successful professionally and to become successful professionally, for example, as devotees, we may consider that most of us have three larger circles we belong to.

We have our job, we have our family and we have our devotee community, Krishna. So, we have home, office and temple. Now, how much will we try to succeed in our office? We all want to grow in life.

But if in trying to grow professionally, we get pulled out and we end up here. That means what? We have no time for Krishna, we have no time for our family also. It's like there are people who work and there are people who are workaholics.

Like there are alcoholics, like there are workaholics. Now, sometimes in some places, in some companies, workaholic is actually treated as a compliment. Who is such a workaholic? Well, that means he is so dedicated to the work.

No, it's not dedicated, it's unidimensional. And so, if we all can strive to succeed in particular areas of life, but if that is completely disrupting and destroying other areas of life, that is not healthy. If to succeed in a particular job, like somebody wants to be an athlete or somebody wants to be whatever and to succeed in athletics, they are starting steroids.

Now, steroids are not allowed, but even legally they are allowed. Steroids are ruining their health in long term. No, that's not good.

So, success comes, but at what cost? Yes, we may have to prioritise one area in life, but prioritising one area is very different from destroying all the other areas. Q. Hari Krishna Prabhu, so many times in scriptures like Mahabharata, one should do it, one should not think much about it. So, what is your take on it? A. I am not sure where it is said that is there.

Q. In Ramayana specifically when Ramachandra was being banished and when Lakshmana became very angry and even went to the extent of saying that I killed Lakshmana. A. Yeah, that's one place that is there, but I don't think that's the only value. What are the Mata, Pita and Acharya? But you see that Mahabharata says the opposite.

Guru Avalokiteshvara says that can the Pandavas fight against Drona? He says he has given up Dharma because he is fighting on the side of Kauravas. Bhagavatam, we have the example of Bali Maharaj going against his Guru. So, I think those statements are contextual.

They are very important. Not that we casually reject our Dharma. Not at all like that.

But the problem is any Dharma can be made into Paradharma and it can become a problem. See, again I will talk about this tomorrow. See, any Artha can be made into Paramartha.

Artha means that which is of value. But that which is of value, if we make it into a Paramartha, any Artha, anything of value, it becomes the supreme value. That leads to Anartha.

So, for example, if money becomes the Paramartha, then what happens? That leads to greed. Now, we all need respect in life. Nobody likes to be disrespected.

But if everything that we do is simply for gaining respect, that will lead to Ahanka, that will lead to ego. Now, we all want some level of control in life. Without control we cannot do things.

But if control becomes the Paramartha for us, that will lead to Krodha. So, now Karna was a friend of Duryodhana. And being loyal to one's friend is a good thing.

That is Mitra Dharma. But he made that into his Paradharma. And he ruined himself by that.

So, the idea is that there are things of value and we should value them. But we cannot make them into the supreme value. And that will lead to Anartha.

So, scriptures give us examples. The examples are meant to be guides. They are not meant to be standards.

Standard means everybody has to do this. Guides means, okay, this is how action is done. So, we cannot make any example from scripture into a standard.

So, for example, scriptural examples. Generally, scripture teaches through extreme examples. So, consider for example, Ajamil just chanted one name of Narayan.

And what happened? He was saved from the Muthyupash. Now, after hearing this, did Parishad Maharaj say to Shukadev Goswami, Shukadev Goswami, shut up now. There is no need for you to speak the Bhagavatam for 7 days and for me to hear it.

When that snake bird comes, I will also chant one Narayan and that will be enough. He did not make that into a standard. And neither does he make it that way, nor does Shukadev Goswami does that, nor does Acharya, nor does Prabhupada does that.

The idea is that if Krishna can give so much mercy for one who utters the name once, then for one who chants the name regularly, how much more mercy will be there. Isn't it? So, the idea is scripture often teaches through extreme examples. So, those extreme examples, the underlying principle is to be appreciated.

But it is not that literally that example is to be imitated. That's why scripture is, when you say standards means everybody has to do the same thing. No, guide means, it's demonstrating a particular principle.

Are the negative karmic reactions like betrayal, death, disease fixed? Well, those events will come in our life. In that sense, they are fixed. Is it a student is destined to get a less paying job or the happiness, distress are fixed? Or is it time for a student to get a particular CGPA no matter how hard he or she studies? So, this is where we are going into, as they call as paralysis analysis.

So, in advance, we do not know what is to study. And that is why, see the whole theme of the scriptures is that if I am here and this is the thing I am working in. So, what I get that I do not know.

So, from whatever work I am going to do, whatever project I am doing in, whatever larger collective I am part of, but what I can put in, that is in my commitment. So, karmanye vadhika raste, that is, see our commitment, what we put into our work, that is what we should focus on. What we get out of the work, that we should not focus on.

So, the whole idea of karma is not to think that the result is destined and therefore I should not do anything. The whole point of karma, understanding the whole philosophy of karma and daiva is that, that right now the thing in my control is my present action. Let me do my present action in the best possible way and then depending on what is the destiny, the result will come.

Maybe more than what I deserve, maybe less than what I, maybe more than the effort that I have put in, maybe less than what effort I have put in. So, to what extent are things destined, that's very difficult to say. Can we say that a particular CGPA is destined? Well, in general, in scripture characters don't function that way.

That like microscopic details of specific actions are destined. So, that is, people make endeavour and by endeavour they improve. Arjuna, he sought to get the divyasthra so that he could fight better and he could serve better.

So, we should always be thinking about how we can enhance our contribution, how we can maximise what we are putting into an endeavour. Now, we may decide in which areas I want to put in more effort, in which areas I want to put less effort. That is okay.

But ultimately, it's not that we can decide this is destined and therefore, I should not put in any effort. Our efforts are what matters. Even if our efforts don't contribute to the result there, our efforts contribute to creating a positive destiny for the future.

While doing dharma, because of fruitive mentality, we can suffer greatly. How to be detached from fruitive mentality while doing dharma? Well, if you look at the Gita, 2.47 is ma phaleshu kadachana. But just a few verses before that is 2.41. 2.41 is vyavasayatmika buddhi ekeha kurnandana.

So, Krishna is saying, don't be attached to results. But Krishna is also saying, set goals. Have clear goals.

If somebody has a hundred goals, they will not achieve anything. Ekeha kurnandana. Have one goal, focus on that, achieve that and move ahead in life.

So, the point is, goals and results are not the same. Goals are before the work. Results are after the work.

So, for all of us, whichever endeavour we are doing, we need to put in our whole heart in that endeavour. And that if we don't put in our whole heart, we will never be able to rise to our potential. We will never be able to develop our talents.

Arjuna could have thought when he was practising archery, did he know that in future there is going to be a dharma yuddha and I will have to fight, I will get the opportunity to fight for Krishna at that time. He could have said, this archery is all mundane. Why should I get involved in it? Let me just get this basic minimum mark and pass the exam.

He didn't think like that. He said, this is my dharma, let me do it wholeheartedly. So, fruitive mentality, when we use that word, that means that we fixate so much on the results that we just can't think about anything else.

So, the idea is, if we understand that what is in my control is my karma and this is the result I would, this is what I am seeking, this is what I am aiming for. It comes when I am doing good. If it doesn't come, I will move to the next thing.

So, if we focus on that particular attitude, we will put in our heart in what we are doing and from that we will be able to learn. And okay, things didn't work this way, it learns that way. So, it's like, if we have this attitude of growing, then failure is actually just feedback.

Okay, this didn't work. Let me see what works for me. That we learn and we keep growing.

Pandavas tried various things. Prabhupada tried so many things and how he could share Krishna bhakti in India. It didn't work, then he went to America and that's where things didn't work for sometime and eventually they worked.

So, I like small social group, but in the association of devotees, I am being forced to engage in big social setting. It is very emotionally exhausting for me. How can I cater it? Still engaging and releasing the devotees is important.

Yeah, it's a challenge. Actually, there are people who are introverts and there are people who are extroverts. Generally, the Krishna conscious movement is very suited for extroverts.

It is very difficult for introverts to survive. So, what do you do? I think each one of us has to find out according to our particular nature, what way we can serve. So, you can take up services which do not require that much level of social interaction.

Yes, there will be festivals and in some occasions, there will be a lot of interaction with others, but you can take up services where you are doing some graphic design, you are doing some magazine editing or basically there are lots of services which do not require lots of mixing with large number of people. You are going to do outreach, you are going to do kirtans and that generally require mixing with people. So, we don't have to let ourselves be emotionally tortured to be spiritually nourished.

You know, we can be also emotionally comfortable while being spiritually nourished, but it has to be done carefully. That sometimes we say, okay, I want to be a small social setting. So, there are other devotees also if you explore.

It's not that you are alone. There are many others also who may prefer small social settings and you find those like-minded people. That's why in association, we don't just need devotee association, we need like-minded devotee association.

So, you have to find out where that you can get that Sangha. Not that we give up everybody else, but we moderate that. See, for us, in all the activities that we do, even in spiritual activities, the spiritual activities that we do, there are some activities that give strength.

And there are some activities that require strength. So, that means to do that activity, we require willpower. But there are some activities that look forward to it.

Now, all of us will have activities in both categories. That's just life. Nobody will have all the activities that I can do are giving strength.

So, we have to do our own energy balance. That if I have to do some activity that requires strength, then I need to in between make time for the activity that give me strength. So, if we have to be in social settings, then yeah, you can do that.

But make sure that before and after that, you have some time where you can be in more smaller settings where you can get strength that way. So, cushion yourself that way. Every action has a reaction and how does one decision influence whether the reaction will be binding or liberating? No, the thing is that the action itself may have a reaction, but the reaction may come at a physical level, it may not come at a psychological level.

That, like I give the example, that if somebody is killing someone. Now, if they are doing it because they hate that person, there will be reaction. But if their job is executioner and the government has punished somebody to die and they are doing that, they are not emotionally invested in it.

So, it's not just the action that brings reaction, it is the intent and the emotional entanglement in the action that brings reaction. There is a question of how to change our tendencies that I will talk tomorrow. Okay, till what time we are supposed to go on, any idea? Okay, you have an idea till what time to go on? Seven o'clock.

That's half an hour, okay. I am finding it difficult to tolerate myself now. Anyway, go ahead.

Yes, okay. Now, when we hear the verse in the Bhagavad Gita, it's better to die doing one's own dharma than to take up other dharma. The two parts of this question, one is how do you understand eventually that what is dharma? Because in the previous days, it was easier to understand one's personal duty.

But in the modern era, things have to follow. They have trained people to try to get into. And it's meta-proning, the concept of dying oneself, doing one's dharma than to take up other dharma.

Yeah, okay. See, that statement can be understood at multiple levels. At one level, Arjuna is thinking that why should I fight against this war? The Kauravas have done terrible things, but I can just forgive them.

I can just live on. I will live in the forest. So, Krishna is telling that Arjuna, you are thinking of doing the duty of a Brahmana, but you are a Kshatriya.

You cannot do the role of duty of a Brahmana. So, why can he not do the duty of a Brahmana? Because by nature, he is a protector. See, Duryodhana is a mean person.

He, even if Arjuna doesn't fight, what is going to happen after that? He may not fight, but is he likely to stop his brothers from fighting? Bhima is not going to be likely to stop. So, if he is not fighting, then the war will be more brutal. Maybe the losses on the Pandava side will be worse.

So, will Arjuna be able to live with himself if any of his brothers are killed? And he was just watching by the sidelines, doing nothing. Or if Arjuna somehow gets all his brothers to stop and somehow Bhishma gets Duryodhana to stop that, don't go after the Pandavas, leave it. But then, Duryodhana is going to go after all the allies of the Pandavas.

Before the war, both sides were trying to get the various kings to come on their side. Now, you went on their side, I will teach you a lesson now. That's what America is doing with India now.

They are claiming that we are on the side of Russia. There is such a tariff coming up. So, there are wars with Russia.

But we are getting targeted. So, now, if say, Drupada or Virata or all those who have supported Arjuna, they are tormented, they are targeted, they are tortured. Will Arjuna be able to live with himself? He says, you are a warrior, you are a protector.

No, for you, to be the cause of pain to others, instead of being the cause of protecting them from pain, that will be unlivable for you. So, in that case, Krishna is telling that, if you leave this, you are emigrating, you are thinking you are emigrating from a Kshatriya dharma to a Brahmana dharma, but you will be running away and you will be more miserable over there. So, when he says that, even if you think that fighting against relatives, so, dharme nidanam shreya par dharmo bhayaava, that you are a protector and remaining as a protector, that is the best way for you, even if you have to die in the war for that.

So, now, dharma, it's difficult to know, as you rightly said, but broadly speaking, how do we know what is our dharma? First and foremost is, we should focus on that my dharma is for making a contribution. My dharma is not for giving me a reputation. That service attitude has to be the first and foremost.

Without that attitude, we will never find out what is our dharma. If we are only thinking of what will give me a reputation, I think, oh, you know, nowadays, oh, this job is very glamorous, let me do this job. Even bhakti community, this service, everybody is praising this service.

Let me do this service. So, the first and foremost criteria is we should have a seva bhava. Now, after we have that seva bhava, then we can look at two things.

What are the things that we feel content to do it? And what are the things that we are competent to do it? That means, what is it that even if nobody praises me for doing it, I just feel happy doing it. For some people, it means, I love music, I like reading, I like decorating, I like cooking. I am just happy doing it.

So, content means we feel very nourished, happy doing it. And competent is, we are actually good at doing it. So, ideally speaking, if we can find something to the intersection of these two, that is where we are likely to find our dharma today.

At the intersection of where we are content and where we are competent. But, if we start without the service attitude, then what will happen? If we ask our mind, okay, you know, what do you feel happy doing? Whatever I am doing right now, I don't feel happy doing that. What is the service according to my nature? Whatever I am doing right now, that is not my nature.

That way the mind will keep us always restless and never be able to be stabilised. So, now, should we be ready to die for a service? Well, Prabhupada was ready to go to America and he said that he is ready to die for it. Even if he died in America, Prabhupada said, this is for my service, I will die for it.

So, the point is that, don't just keep running away from things. So, if we don't know what is worth dying for for us, then there is no need to die for it right now. So, quite often, it's like, if you see in this itself, through all this, sorry, how should I put it over here? You may start with curiosity first.

Let me observe myself. Jignasa. Based on curiosity, we may come to some level of commitment.

Hey, this seems interesting. I like this. I am good at this.

So, we commit ourselves to service. And then, maybe after that, we'll come to know, this is my calling. This is my dharma.

This is what I am meant to do. So, now, we may not necessarily find our calling in a material sense. For us, our spiritual calling is we want to serve Krishna.

But is our material calling to be a teacher? Is it to be a manager? Is it to be a mentor? Is it to be a preacher? What is it? We don't know. So, we have to do some self-exploration. So, we don't have to necessarily be ready to die.

But the idea is don't be, just keep jumping away from one service to another just because things become uncomfortable. So, the key point of that verse is don't give up a service just because it is uncomfortable. Don't give up a role just because it is uncomfortable.

Okay, same question is coming up. What exactly is determined by destiny? Is it the happiness and distress or the specifics? Is it that how much money you'll earn or is it how much happiness the money you earn will give you? Well, my point is that don't get caught in this. When I said destiny is fixed, what it basically means is, is destiny fixed? My point is that there are some things which are uncontrolled even in our life.

And don't agonise over that. So, we have to karmize forward looking. So, in which area should I move forward? Well, we focus on that and in some areas, we are not moving forward, we decide, okay, this is not working, I move to some other area.

So, don't get caught in like I said that the focus has to be on a service attitude. I want to contribute not what I'll achieve. If we are starting with that attitude, what I will achieve? Is my achievement in this area destined? Then why should I work? Is my achievement in that area not destined? If we have that attitude, we'll always get frustrated.

So, we have to start with the ethos of I should have a seva. Whatever area I'm in, I'm contributing. Now, are there some areas in life where just contributing gives us happiness? One of my services is writing.

So, there's a Nobel laureate author, he said that I love being read. But, I like being read but I love having written. That, this is what I'm meant to do.

Every author will like to be read by others. But writing is what gives meanings to my life. This is what I'm meant to do.

I love writing. I love the fact that I have written. So, we start with what is it that I can contribute? What is it that by doing the activity itself that's meaningful for me? Now, of course, we cannot do any activity without getting some results.

That is true. But, there is in every activity there's some intrinsic joy and there's some extrinsic joy. Intrinsic joy is what? Say, somebody is a scientist.

Now, they should be getting some intrinsic joy in doing the scientific work. Scientific research, scientific studies, scientific analysis. But, if they don't get that intrinsic joy, then what will happen is they will be seeking extrinsic joy.

What is it? That means I should become famous. I should become the best. I should get this reward.

And to get that reward, what they may do? They may fake some results. They may create some. They may do some something dishonest.

Somebody has become a doctor. The doctor, of course, they have spent so much money to get educated. They have put so much effort to study.

They will want some money back. But, if a doctor does not get some intrinsic joy in taking care of patients, then they will say extrinsic joy. Extrinsic joy means what? Okay, I want to get more money.

So, they will treat each patient as a money making machine. And, they may prescribe unnecessary tests. They may prolong the treatment.

They may do all kinds of things. And then, that is where Paradharma Bhayavaha. Paradharma Bhayavaha is what? That doing another Dharma is dangerous.

It's deadly. It's scary. Why? Because in our Dharma, we should be getting some intrinsic happiness.

Now, of course, we want extrinsic happiness also. But, if the idea is that there is zero intrinsic happiness in what we do, then we will become desperate for extrinsic happiness. Like, nowadays, with chart GPT, with generative AI, everybody can become a good writer.

Nowadays, publishers are actually thinking of interviewing authors who write books on particular subjects. To actually check whether they know the subject or not. In many universities, in the past, they would ask you to write an essay.

Okay, what is your vision for your plan? Why do you want to come to this university? Now, actually, they ask for the essay, but after that they have an oral interview. And the oral interview is very important. How much do you know about the essay that you have yourself written? So, the point is, if somebody does not get any intrinsic joy in writing, and they only want the fame of being a writer, then they may write on a subject that they don't know anything about, they may claim to be an expert, and if somebody treats them as an expert, that person will get into a lot of trouble also.

So, paradharmo bhaya vaha. So, that's why, rather than worrying so much about this or that, that is the exact happiness, this kind or not, when we are trying to decide which endeavour to go into, focus on whether we are getting some intrinsic happiness in what we do. By intrinsic, I am not talking about spiritual happiness only.

There is intrinsic spiritual happiness also, when you serve Krishna. But I am talking about when we are doing something according to our varna, we just love doing that. So, if you do it for Krishna, we will get even more intrinsic happiness.

Astrology, you know, it can give guidance to a person that, you know, if he takes up a particular line, he will get more success in life, rather than taking up… Yeah. Astrology work? Well, the planetary positions at the time of our birth are correlated with our past karma. So, when somebody is having sadashati or somebody has mangal high in their life, what does that mean? That means they are going through negative karma phase.

It is not that mangal is causing problems to them. We may put it like that. But the point is that our own past karma is coming to us and that it is coming to us is indicated through astrology.

So, now, as a predictive branch of knowledge, astrology is a little bit, it works, but it is easy. Any astrologer who says that they can predict accurately, they are overselling. There is some amount of predictability may be possible, but it's not.

Now, as an interpretive branch of knowledge, not a predictive branch of knowledge. See, prediction is what will happen in the future. Interpretation is what is there right now.

So, as an interpretive body of knowledge, based on the various planetary positions and other things, some broad understanding of a child's nature, of a person's nature can be got. But then that way, astrology gives us a framework. There are so many other frameworks, like introvert, extrovert is a framework.

There are many other frameworks that can be used. So, I think we just need to be pragmatic. What works for us.

That's why, again, the same energy balance. There are some things which give us joy, and some things are austerity. So, we need to do some services which are austerity also.

But then, we do the services which are austerity, but if that's all that we are doing, we will be miserable. Like, I travel constantly. So, people ask me whether I like travelling.

I said, I like speaking, I tolerate travelling. So, we all will have certain things which we don't like. But, we have to, nobody will have a life where they can do everything that they like.

So, in bhakti also, yes, we all need to do services which are required for us. At the same time, it is not that all of bhakti should be an austerity for us. So, we should be also having some services which we look forward to, which give us joy.

Yes, please. You were sharing that destiny has two aspects. One is the event itself, and second is the experience of the event.

The event may be certain, but experience may vary, so that destiny can remain uncertain. So, based on that, I have a question that, if a person is a bad person, and he did harm to three people, if a first person takes it as a very, he is very much disturbed, the second person is disturbed, but not that much, and the third person is a saint who doesn't get disturbed with that. So, will the person will get three different reactions, will he not? Good question.

One devotee came to me once, in Australia, I think. He said, I have a very serious philosophical question. If I insult someone, but the person does not get the insult, then will I get the karma? So, now, if you are aware of karma, then why take the risk, isn't it? But broadly speaking, the Mahabharata says that there are three broad factors that determine what is the right action, what is the wrong action.

One is the content of the action. What exactly we are doing? The second is the intent behind the action. Why are we doing it? And the third is the effect or the consequence of the action.

So, now, all three need to be considered and in Mahabharata there are debates about which is the most important thing. So, for example, Bhishma focusses on the content. That, I have taken a vow to protect the members of the Kuru dynasty.

That's what I am going to do. What are their intent? What is the effect of my protecting? Content is all that matters. Yudhisthira Rishi starts with intent.

He says that actually when he takes a with the Pandava Kaurava conflict is becoming high. He says, I don't want this conflict to escalate. Therefore, I will always obey my elders.

And by obeying my elders, what will happen is, this conflict, they will resolve it and accept it, the conflict will be avoided. And that's why when he is called for gambling, he goes, because he feels the elder has called me. Yudhisthira Rishi has called me.

And he keeps gambling. Dhritarashtra will tell me to stop. Because Dhritarashtra said, this is just a test of gambling ability.

You are not taking anyone's wealth. So, that's how he starts it. So, Dhritarashtra realises that.

So, Yudhisthira becomes hardened by life. Toughened by life. So, you cannot, if you go into Mahabharata, different characters, they emphasise different things.

So, when finally Bhima hits Duryodhana under the belt or on the thigh and kills him. So, Balram is enraged and Krishna says, this was the only way he could be killed. And he deserved to die.

So, Bhima did what he had to do. So, there Krishna focusses on the essence. This is what was to be achieved.

Achieved it. So, in one sense, it's difficult. So, Mahabharata ends.

Mahabharata begins with the question, what is dharma? And ends with the question, what is dharma? So, Mahabharata is not a very it's a fairly complicated book. Because life is complicated. And Mahabharata depicts life in its sometimes brutal complexity.

Brutal cruelty also. So, the thing is that if somebody does karma, now intent, content and effect, all three will be considered when the results come out. So, if we hurt someone and we spoke something and that person gets very hurt by it.

We spoke something, that person gets slightly hurt by it. We speak something, that person doesn't get at all hurt by it. So, the effect is one factor in deciding how severe is the karma.

But effect is only one factor. The intent was still there. The content was also there.

Somebody takes a weapon to murder someone. And they go to murder and they miss the target. They go to murder and they just file grazing injury.

They go to murder and they actually murder. Now, all three are crimes. Just because you failed to murder does not mean that you are forgiven for that.

Now, of course, if they succeeded in murdering, it would have been much bigger karma. The effect was fully there. But the content was wrong.

They tried to murder. The intent was there. So, all three factors are to be considered when deciding what is the karma.

What is the severity of particular karma. Okay. Go ahead, please.

Yes, Mohit. Thank you for the wonderful lecture. My question is that as you said that with one domain of field of activity we have been working for some time.

Who is to move on to a different field of activity for life success or achievement or whatever. But often we see in several scenarios, sometimes our conditions are perfect but we are not successful or interested to have in a particular field. But we are not able to even move to another domain because of certain conditions.

Probably society, probably internal conditions or whatever. But often we see. For example, I can give you an example.

Some people are saying here competition is on up to 10 attempts. Like that is a too much. But since they do so much, but have they moved to some other domain within these 10 years? Do you know that in certain domain or not? But is it in their karma that they weren't able to move on to another domain? Or was it that even if they had moved to a field of karma, they will experience failure for 10 years before getting success in that domain? See, I would say that how were they during those 10 years is important.

That means, were they happy trying for 10 years? Or were they miserable? So, again the intrinsic joy and extrinsic joy. Think, rather than worrying too much about destiny, should somebody spend 10 years endeavouring in a particular area only? My understanding is generally a person is endeavouring for 10 years, they must be getting some intrinsic joy in it. Otherwise, the price for that extrinsic joy just becomes too too much.

So, that's an over-endeavour also. How is it an over-endeavour? Consider again these three factors. Intent, content, consequence.

Okay, if what I'm trying to achieve, as I said, one way of understanding prayasa, over-endeavour is that is it dragging me out of all other areas of my life? Another way of understanding prayasa is that how is it affecting my body-mind machine? Somebody, some people work extremely hard, but they are constantly complaining to everyone else about how hard they are working. Or complaining to everyone else about why nobody is appreciating them for working so hard. So, if that is what is happening, then maybe maybe you need to rethink about it.

You know, so, we have to consider the it's difficult to say whether they would have suffered, they would have got set back in some other areas also. Because we said that it's not that all the suffering in our life is because of our past karma only. Our present karma also leads to problems.

Krishna says that नियतं कर्वत्तं कर्मजायो कर्मण शरीर याप्थराप्षिदेन प्रसिद्येद कर्मण If you don't do, if you make a wrong choice you will not be able to maintain your body also. So, making right choices in this world is also important. So, was there persisting for 10 years in that particular area, was it their choice? Yeah, of course it was their choice.

So, then were they happy doing that choice? Were they unhappy doing that choice? That's what we have to consider. So, we can't say that everything, all the trouble that a person goes through are due to their own past karma. And another much more important point is that the purpose of life is not to exhaust our past karma.

The purpose of life is to do our present dharma, to do bhakti now. Isn't it ultimately to para-dharma is bhakti? That if somebody is in a situation of great suffering and they say okay, this is all my past karma, let me tolerate it. Okay, you can tolerate it.

That's good. But then, is that alone going to take us back to Godhead? Are we remembering Krishna? Suppose somebody is chanting and they have some injury and they have severe pain. They say, oh, this pain is because of past karma, so I'll not take any pain medication.

And they try to chant, but throughout their chanting, all that they're doing is they're somehow remembering that pain. And the pain is severe. I'll tolerate that pain.

They're tolerating that pain, but they're not remembering Krishna at all. It's all a matter of raw willpower to somehow tolerate the pain. They may tolerate the pain and may say it's because of past karma, but if they're not remembering Krishna, they're not going to grow spiritually.

So, better take a pain medication and remember Krishna more. The whole principle is to be forward looking, not backward looking. And last question.

So, do animals, it says animals don't have bad karma, don't do karma. But then we say good dog, bad dog. So, do they have good choices, not in the future or their future is fixed? So, when you say good dog, bad dog, I think generally it is used either in a metaphorical sense or in a functional sense.

It is not used in a moral sense. Moral sense means what? Good dog, bad dog is like the inner voices are there inside us and we use it for that purpose. We use it.

The inner voice is like a good dog. It can be a good dog or a bad dog. That's metaphorical.

But literally like a dog is being trained and the dog listens to what is a good dog. The dog runs a bad doggy, bad doggy, we say like that. So, that is for training purpose.

I don't think we're talking about a dog being a bad dog in a moral manner. Can some dogs be more cruel than other dogs? It is possible. There are cases, there was one very sad case in America where a couple had a dog, a terrier dog, quite a fierce dog and then the dog was in the family for a long time and then they had a baby and somehow that dog became jealous of the baby and the dog attacked the baby and then the mother tried to fight the dog and the mother also got attacked, severely wounded and then they had to put down the dog.

Put down the dog means, politely, kill the dog. So now, I would say that, are dogs capable of being jealous? And is that jealousy going to lead them to bad karma? Well, not exactly. See, generally when we say animals don't do bad karma, what it means is that they are not making conscious choices.

See, animals may also fight. There are two dogs who are fighting over a she-dog and one dog might become quite brutal and vicious and rip the other dog apart and kill that other dog. So, they are doing that, but mostly whatever actions they are doing are biologically, genetically driven.

It's not a conscious, is it a conscious choice? It's not that they don't have free will, but, overall, their actions are biologically driven. So, that's why in animal life, they don't have good karma or bad karma. They just do what they do.

So, is their future fixed? Yes. Broadly speaking, the trajectory of a soul, when the soul leaves a human body to go to the animal kingdom, more or less, the trajectory of that soul is fixed till it comes back to the next human form. So, whichever body it may go to, till it comes to the next human form, that is more or less fixed.

Now, that can be changed if the dog gets some prasad or the dog gets some connection with some devotees. But, overall, the animals don't have don't have karma in the sense that the idea of karma is response ability. That we are accountable for our actions.

But, if we are mostly biologically driven to do certain actions, then it will be very evil and perverse to blame someone for doing something on which they had no control. So, if, let's say, the police cannot find a criminal for a particular crime, so, what the police do is, they take an innocent person, put a gun in that person's hand and press the trigger with that person's finger on the trigger and then that person shoots someone. You are a criminal, you are a murderer, we'll kill you now.

Now, what they have done is, they have framed the person over there. That person had no free will. That person just was forced to shoot that gun and you punish them.

That would be very cruel. So, generally, when we say animals don't have karma, that is because they don't have free will to the extent we humans have free will. When we say animals don't have free will, that is, if a cow finishes eating grass in one particular line, should the grass cow go towards the left or towards the right? Then the free will is there.

But, if a dog sees a sea dog and say they are both in, or a cow and a bull race each other, they are in the heat. So, it is not that the cow should think or the dog, the bull will think, oh, I want to be a brahmachari. So, that level of conscious control over the impulses is not there.

Now, if there are two bulls and both want to be with a cow and one bull sees, okay, this bull is much bigger than me, if I try to go closer, this bull will kill me. And that bull moves away from there. So, is that free will? Yes, it is free will, but it is largely biologically driven.

It is, see, in choosing aahar, nidra, bhaya, maithun also, there is some level of free will. But whether to choose aahar, nidra, bhaya, maithun, that they don't have much choice over there. So, their domain of free will is, see, if a cat sees a mouse, the cat cannot think today is Ekadashi.

Isn't it? Now, if the cat sees two mice, should I chase this mice or that mice? The cat has the free will to decide that. So, their free will is about how to pursue aahar, nidra, bhaya, maithun. It is not whether to pursue.

And because they are biologically driven to pursue aahar, nidra, bhaya, maithun, that's why they don't get karma, because they don't really have the free will to choose over there. Free will to choose that particular action in its entirety. Thank you so much.

Nithay Gowd Premanand.