Did Krishna provoke Duryodhana and cause the war?

Hare Krishna! So, I am grateful to be here with all of you once again today.

And we are discussing the 10th Canto, the incident where Duryodhana is going to be severely humiliated. And then that leads to him wanting to get back and disastrous incident of Draupadi's disrobing, which literally sets the fire that eventually leads to the Kurukshetra war. So, we could say that if we consider a fire, the fire of envy is especially triggered in this particular incident and that leads to the fire of abuse or atrocity.

That is what happens at the assembly. Where is this happening? This is Indraprastha. So, then this happens at Kurukshetra.

Is it Kurukshetra? No. Where does this happen? Hastinapur. Yes, good.

And then there is the whole war that will happen at Kurukshetra, which will lead to a really big fire. So, in that sense, this particular incident is quite significant. So, what exactly is going on over here? I'll talk today in three broad terms.

First is the purpose of this particular description in the Bhagavatam, the purpose of this particular incident. Then I'll talk about provocation. And then lastly, I'll talk about protection.

We'll be discussing largely about the topic of envy. From the first time when I read this particular section in the Krishna book and then over the years when I've read the Bhagavatam, this section has always raised questions in my mind. Especially, some of the descriptions seem a little sensuous, a little bit too explicit for a sacred book where the water is being sprinkled on the bodies of the queens and then the description can be a little agitating.

So, whenever I read a book, I often read it more as an author than simply as a reader. As an author, you try to decide, try to understand why is this particular section here. Generally, it is said that if a good book, if there is a 5000 word good book and the good author has written at least 10,000 words and edited out 5000 words and the edited out 5000 words are present as an invisible weight.

They bring gravitas. So, a lot gets edited out. Only what is essential is kept.

So, why is such an explicit description kept over here? Now, if you see, whenever there are some explicit seeming descriptions, where they say there is a description of female beauty, then there is always a purpose. If you consider where all something similar comes, it comes in the 8th canto, the Mohini Murthy pastime. At that time, the beauty of the Mohini Murthy is described to some extent.

Then it comes in the 10th canto in the Ras Panchadya slightly, not much. Now, if you consider each of these places, there is a narrative purpose being served. See here, what we are looking at is explicit descriptions.

See, when you go into art a little bit, sometimes we may, if we are not from an artistic background, we may think that why should there be any description of anything that is likely to agitate anyone's mind. Let's not have it at all. But, if you consider, not all say, sensual descriptions are at the same level.

There are, there is what is called, there is romantic description, then there is erotic, and then there is pornographic. Now, in romantic descriptions, the primary purpose is to describe say, the relationship between two people. And in association with that, say, if a king is falling in love with a queen, then how beautiful the queen is.

So, for that purpose, that time maybe the beauty of the queen is described, maybe the strength and the heroism of the king is described. So, that serves a narrative purpose over there. And in general, the Gopi Geet's tone is largely romantic.

Now, in erotic descriptions, there is a little more description of the sexual component, but still there is some storyline over there. And, this is what will not be rated as universal movies or whatever. And then, where there is pornographic, the whole purpose of the description is to trigger sexual desire.

Now, for some people, even romantic descriptions may trigger sexual desire. But that's not the purpose. And that's why often in pornography, there is no storyline at all.

There is no relationship evolving. It's just two people exploiting each other or one person exploiting another, whatever. So, we have to be careful that when scripture, when there are explicit descriptions, all are not the same.

We shouldn't be Mayavadi. Mayavadi is everything is one. Isn't it? So, even all sensual descriptions are not one.

We go to Jagannath temple, some temples in India, there are some explicit seeming imagery. Now, that is not considered obscene because that serves an architectural purpose. So, for example, if we consider the Mohini Murthy pastime, without describing the beauty of Mohini Murthy, the over there is that the Asuras have fought, have strived for a long time and then they put aside their enmity with the Devatas and worked with them to get the nectar.

Then they fought with each other to try to get the nectar. And then suddenly, they are just giving it up to some unknown woman. That would not make any sense unless that woman is devastatingly beautiful.

She is so beautiful that her beauty just devastates their intelligence. So, it serves a narrative purpose. Similarly, in the whole Bhagavatam, the divine romance between Krishna and the Gopis is the highest theme.

And natural that there is some explicit description over there. So, whenever I read this section, I was never able to figure out what purpose is the explicit description serving over here. Now, we may say that if you are pure hearted, you will not get agitated and Prabhupada talks about that in some of the purports over here in his Krishna book and that's mentioned over here.

That's true. But why describe it at all? So, my small understanding is that this is whole building up to the triggering of Duryodhana's envy that like Hiranyakashipu described that Hiranyakashipu was craving for wealth and sensual pleasure. Bhoga and Aishwarya.

So, we know that after this Duryodhana's envy became excessive. So, one side of it was that he saw the sheer amount of wealth that the Pandavas had got and that triggered his envy. And that is true.

But we see in the gambling match, Duryodhana didn't stop with just stealing the wealth of the Pandavas. If his envy had only been toward the wealth of the Pandavas, he could have just got their wealth and finished the whole thing. But after that he tried to disrobe Draupadi.

He tried to humiliate her. So, his envy, Duryodhana's envy was not just for the wealth, that is Aishwarya, but it was also triggered with the bhoga, with the beauty, sensual beauty. So, here, it's the beauty of the queens of Yudhishthira, it's described over here.

The queens of Krishna is described over here. All of that is going on over here. And then, what happens by this is, now, Duryodhana, later on we know what happens.

We'll come to that incident, which was probably the most provocative incident. But the whole narrative is building up to how there were sights that triggered Duryodhana's envy. So, it was his wealth envy, that's why, in the gambling match, he took away the wealth.

He robbed. But in that same gambling match, what he also did was, he disrobed. Now, by disrobing, he was not going to get any wealth.

It was not that the particular cloth that Draupadi was wearing was of a special value. After he had got all the wealth, like sometimes some people, some robbers rob, they not only rob your wallet, they rob your bag, but they take away your clothes also. They are more interested in the money than anything else.

Now, that was not his interest over there. So, he actually was triggered by envy. Now, of course, he wanted to humiliate the Pandavas through humiliating Draupadi, that's true.

But this incident is all, all this description is building up to show how his envy is triggered. So, that's one understanding. I'll show, I'll explain how this understanding seems to make sense of the whole past time to me.

See, another part of this past time, which has troubled me a lot, there is also related the way which, how sometimes Krishna is depicted. I was in London, and I was giving a class. There was one devotee.

He likes to hear a lot of, lot of non-ISKCON Bhagavatam Kathakars. And then he brings in stuff from there. And many of them have a lot of masala.

So, what they said is that actually their argument is Krishna wanted the Kurukshetra war to happen. So, I was telling, I was giving the whole theme on how Krishna tried his best to avoid the war. And Krishna himself went as a peace messenger.

That's a very serious thing. Krishna is the most powerful person. Like say, Russia-Ukraine war is going on.

If they want to have some peace, they may have some secretary of defence or some level of military official, they'll go. But say, if the president of Russia goes to Ukraine or the president of Ukraine goes to Russia, that means they are dead serious about the peace mission. So, I said Krishna himself going shows how serious he is.

So, this devotee said actually Krishna wanted the war to happen. So, he said while Krishna externally was telling him, was offering him the peace proposal, Krishna from inside the heart of Duryodhana was telling him, don't accept the peace proposal. I said, you know, this is a remarkable level of contact with Krishna in the heart.

Well, I find the implications a bit disturbing. Sometimes people say that everything that happens is done by God. No.

We have free will. See, Krishna is the supreme controller, not the sole controller. We are also Ishwara.

So, it is not that when Draupadi is being disrobed, Krishna is disrobing Draupadi's Dushasana. When I said, yeah, Krishna is not doing that, I said, then he also agreed to that. Krishna is not doing that.

How can you say that Krishna is stopping Duryodhana? Or Krishna is stopping Duryodhana from within? Where is the Shastric reference for that? And then he gave this reference, Krishna wanted this war to happen. And that's why, later on we will see, when the Pandavas see Duryodhana falling in the water, that time, when they start falling, he falls and everybody starts laughing. And Yudhishthira, especially the queens, start laughing.

And Yudhishthira tells the queens to stop laughing. But Krishna says, no need to stop. So, his point was, Krishna wanted to provoke Duryodhana so much that the war would happen.

Well, okay. See, there are many points over here. So, Krishna, first of all, he is the supreme controller.

That means, nothing can happen without Krishna's will. But Krishna is not the sole controller. That means, he is not doing everything.

When bad people do bad things, it is not Krishna doing it to them. Krishna may allow that to happen. So, it doesn't happen without Krishna's sanction.

But there is a difference, if he is sole controller means, everything is Krishna's intention. Krishna is the supreme controller means, everything is with Krishna's permission. There is a significant difference between intention and permission.

The Bhagavad Gita says, Upadrashta Anumantacha. So, 13.23 if we consider, Upadrashta Anumantacha Krishna is saying. Now, so, everything that happens, we may say, is within Krishna's plan.

That is true. But that doesn't mean, Krishna wants everyone to do everything that they are doing. It is not that Krishna wants evil people to do evil things.

Because what would that mean? The implication of this is very disturbing. It's like, say, sometimes police want to frame some innocent person. The police are corrupt.

So, what they do is, they want to anyway kill somebody else. And they take a gun, put the gun in the hand of an innocent person. And they press the trigger from within his hand.

So, his fingerprints are there on the gun. And they shoot the other person. And they arrest him.

You shot him. And you are going to go to jail and you are going to be executed for this. Now, that would be monstrous.

So, if Krishna is doing everything, then basically what it means is, that Krishna makes people do bad karma and then punishes them for doing bad karma. Isn't it? So, this is definitely not our philosophy. So, anyway, at that time, he said that if Krishna did not want this war to happen, then why did Krishna not stop the queens from laughing? Why did, in fact, he stop Yudhishthira from stopping them? So, I have been meditating on this for a long time.

Recently I was giving a class on Govardhan Leela in Melbourne. And that time I was contemplating the whole Govardhan Leela. Then it struck me.

What was going on? At least that's my small understanding. See, there are times when Krishna does provocation. So, the provocations are meant to be tests.

So, for example, Krishna definitely provokes Indra. Isn't it? Krishna does three things first of all. Krishna says that you are doing the sacrifice for Indra.

There is no need. You should do sacrifice for Govardhan. It's like, imagine say, we are having a temple inauguration and we are inviting, say, the chief minister of Bengal.

And then we disinvite that person and we get some unknown person in their place as the chief guest. First of all, the chief guest, the chief minister will feel insulted that I was not invited. And then I was replaced by an utterly unknown person.

That's even more provocative. So, first is, don't do puja to Indra. Second is, give that puja to a hill.

And, you know, that is even worse. And on top of that, Krishna uses a false philosophy. He says, actually, Krishna speaks karma mimamsa.

He says, you know, actually, if you do karma, you will simply get the results. You don't have to worship anyone. Now, if that were true, then if we are only doing our karma and we get the results, we don't have to worship anyone.

Then by that logic, you don't have to worship Govardhan also. Isn't it? So, the point is, Krishna is deliberately provoking Indra. Now, why does he do this? Because in medicine, sometimes what happens is, a person is sick, but the person is in denial that they are sick.

And then, sometimes the doctor can give some small treatment which will curb the sickness, but the doctor sometimes gives some substance which actually aggravates the sickness. And then the patient realises, yeah, I really am sick. So, if a patient is in denial, then what has to be done is, sometimes the sickness has to be aggravated to get them out of the denial.

So, then that's what denial changes to acceptance. And then acceptance will lead to some kind of treatment. So, Indra had pride, but most people will not say that, I am proud.

But when they are triggered and they do something terrible, like somebody says, you have anger issues. No, no, I don't have any anger issues. Okay, then you speak something to them and they are just about to strangle you.

Yeah, I think you have a small right point. So, sometimes triggering a person, provoking a person is a way to force them to confront who they really are. So, now, this is not a recommended way for everyone.

No. We shouldn't go around provoking everyone, saying, you know, I want to introduce you to who you really are. That is all.

Our philosophy is abanina manadena. So, what Krishna does, there are some things which we do Anukaran and some we do Nusaran. We don't, we simply accept that Krishna has done this.

We don't follow that. But here what Krishna is doing is basically he is provoking Duryodhana. And the idea of provoking Duryodhana is then everybody can act like a nice person.

Generally, to know who a person really is. One of the things that we need to know is what are their boundaries? Boundaries means, see, we all can behave nicely in normal situations. But when we are angered, when we are tempted, when we are provoked, how far will we go? So, sometimes, some people may, we all have some boundaries.

Say, somebody needs a lot of money. Then, you know, we might put a second mortgage in our house. You know, we might lie to someone about why we need the money so that they can give us some, they'll give us some, they'll borrow.

We may need money for one thing, but we tell we need it for another thing so that they will lend us the money. We might put some false statements while taking a loan. These are all boundaries we are crossing.

But, say, somebody, when they need money, they go to somebody's house and they're not looking. They steal money from there. Or they fake somebody else's signature and swindle money from there.

Or somebody goes to a bank and shoots a guard and then steals money. See, everybody has their boundaries. You know, okay, I might do some office politics.

Somebody might say, but I'm not going to break the law. You may say office politics is not a good thing to do, but that's a part of life. That's different from, say, breaking the law.

So, basically you could say, the character of a person is known by their boundaries. Boundaries means what we will never do. What we will never do.

We all, when provoked, will do certain things which we would normally not do. But how far will we go? Say, for example, normally we may speak very politely. When we get angry, we may yell at a person.

But we all may have our boundaries. No matter how angry I get, I'm not going to use swear words. I'm not going to speak cuss words.

Or, no matter how angry I get, I'm not going to slap someone or punch someone. That's out of question. So, we all have some boundaries.

And in one sense, the boundaries reveal what the character of a person is. So, I was giving this session in America some time ago. Australia, actually, some time ago.

After Melbourne. And then, one couple came to meet me after that. I was telling about how Govardhan Leela class only.

So, one couple over there came and met me. They said that they are devotees and they have been running a dating service. For couples to come together.

And so, they said that many times people want to know, especially women want to know the nature of the man before they actually want to enter into a serious relationship with him. So, they say that we have a strategy. Let's say a man and a woman, they are dating, they are coming together in a hotel or something like that.

They are having a meal. So, we deliberately tip a waiter to go and spill some water or food on the boy's clothes. And how does the boy react at that time? That is a predictor of how much, say, that boy is likely to is prone to domestic violence in the future.

Normally, if somebody is dating, they would want to put their best face forward. They will act very gentle and polite and everything. But when you are provoked, what do you do? Sometimes, provocation is what is required to understand a person's boundaries.

So, what Krishna is doing over here is that Krishna is letting Duryodhana be provoked. And now, you could say that actually that whole incident seems a little strange overall. Normally speaking, if somebody falls, if somebody slips and falls, you would say, civilised people don't laugh at that.

We may just go and immediately help that person rise and assist them. So, that is true. And Yudhishtira also does that.

He immediately tells his attendants to go and help him change his clothes and whatever. So, he helps him. But why do they laugh? If you look at them, previously what is happening? There are some people who put on a lot of airs.

You know, they in Krishna talks about the demoniac characteristics, Dambha, Darpa and Abhiman. There are three characteristics. And Vedanta Desika, in his commentary, he gives quite an interesting expression.

Dambha, Darpa and Abhiman. So, they all seem, Prabhupada translates, pride, conceit and something he translates that. It seems very similar.

But there are, these are all expressions of ego, but there is a difference. That, basically, Abhiman is seeking honour or you could say, is pride and especially respect. We have pride, we seek respect for what we have.

Especially, we seek public respect. That means that say, if some guest comes to a particular place, maybe and that person, maybe it's a student gathering and somebody is a professor, somebody is a PhD, somebody is a big person. And they come over there and they expect that I should be publicly welcomed, I should be publicly honoured.

Abhiman refers to especially visible public honour for who one is. Darpa refers to more of, so this is more of showing off what we have. Now, Darpa is more of respect in, one seeks a lot of respect in interpersonal relationships.

That means, like if you're talking with someone and if one time when referring to their name you don't refer Prabhu, you know, how dare? Who do you think you are? It's like, one devotee, he told me, he said, that person is so disrespectful. I said, why, what happened? He said, he always calls me Prabhu. He should be calling me Prabhuji.

God! Anyways, sometimes people can take such small things very big. But you know, Dambha is the worst. At least in Darpa and Abhiman, Abhiman is more public respect.

Darpa is more interpersonal respect. But Dambha is where one seeks respect for qualities one doesn't have. It's like, I'm not a millionaire.

Many times people go for weddings. In Amazon, they have free one month returns in America and other places. In India, they don't have that.

What happened was that many times people, they buy very expensive clothes. They go for a wedding or something. They buy clothes which will be super expensive.

And by wearing those clothes, they act as if I'm very wealthy. And then after they finish the wedding, they go and return those clothes to Amazon. So, it's like you pretend to be wealthier than what you are.

So, that is Dambha. So, when somebody puts on airs, that means they are acting as if they are bigger than what they are. Somebody is not an expert in a field.

And then, they just use some jargon and they claim to have they claim to be expert in that field for what they don't have. Now, at that time, if we know that they are not an expert and then somebody asks a question that exposes their deceptiveness and that person is just left silent. And now, if that person was seeking more respect than what they normally merit, then when they are disrespected, there is a little bit of a joy in that.

It serves you right. You are demanding pride in what you didn't have. So, Duryodhana was like that.

He was putting on airs and that's why when somebody is constantly trying to claim respect and when that person is put down, there is a little joy in that. So, the queen's laugh, it was not a malicious laugh. It was just an innocent laugh.

It is not that they harboured some secret grudge against him. It was just an innocent laugh at that time. Now, Krishna, he let them go on because he wanted to provoke Duryodhana.

See, a person's boundaries are revealed when they are provoked. So, how far would he go? How bad a person would he be? See, the previous two attacks on the Pandavas that Duryodhana had done were in the dark. He had secretly tried to poison Bhima and he had secretly tried to burn them alive.

But, now when he did this, the gambling match was in public. The attempt to disrobe Draupadi was in public. That really brought his dark character out for everyone to see.

Let's say somebody commits a crime where there is no eyewitness. Then, that person has committed a crime. But, suppose somebody comes to a police station and in the middle of the police station commits a crime.

That means that person has no fear of the law at all. That's a really dangerous criminal. So, Duryodhana's character comes out like that.

So, you know, I was once part of a vigilance committee and there was some senior devotee who had done something terribly wrong. Now, generally anybody who is in leadership position, there are some people who like that person and some people who dislike that person. So, what happened was we were discussing what to do and what disciplinary action to take.

So, this one devotee was saying that it's just a post. Somebody gets a very powerful post and power corrupts. So, it says that he's a good person but he was put in a post and there was no accountability.

There were no peers and as I said, power corrupts. And that's why I said the main action we should take is to remove him from that post and he'll be a nice devotee. He'll continue practising his bhakti.

Another devotee was saying, power doesn't corrupt. Power exposes the corruption that is already there. Now, which is true.

Now, the other devotee was also he was telling some other examples of something like what had happened similarly. So, the thing is, my understanding is that it can be both. We all have some anarthas within us.

We all have some lusts. We all have some anger. We all have some envies.

All of these are there inside us. And when we get a situation of power, that time it could be that there is anartha inside and it grows, grows, grows. So, when you say power corrupts, it's not that if there is no corruption inside, it's not likely that it's going to come out.

But at the same time, it is not necessary that that level of corruption was already there inside the person. It is that when the opportunity comes, when the power comes, generally, if I get angry at someone, and if maybe that person can't speak back to me, but then I am in a community where there are my equals, there are my seniors, and somebody tells me, no, you should not be speaking like this. You are abusing your power.

That's a deterrent for me. But, if I am in a community where I am the sole leader, and if I yell at someone, there is no one there to stand up to me, then what is going to happen is, we all tend to push the boundaries of what is acceptable at times. Can I get away with this? And if I get away with one thing, then we not only do the same thing again, we do something worse.

And slowly, the corruption that is there inside can become worse. So, the point I am making over here is that it doesn't have to be that power corrupts, or power exposes the corruption. It can be both.

We all have anarthas inside us, and if there is an opportunity, if there is a provocation, if we are not on guard, then that corruption will grow within us. That greed, that envy, that lust, that will grow within us. So, now, if we have some good sense, then, when it starts growing to an alarming degree, then we just stop.

Just stop. So, so, so, I was talking with one devotee in Canada. He was the Alcoholics Anonymous, and our devotees have created a BRG, a Bhakti Recovery Group, which basically helps people who are addicted to come out of addictions.

So, he was an Alcoholics Anonymous, and then he came to the Bhakti Recovery Group. So, he told me, how did he start his recovery journey? So, he said he used to drink, and in the West, there is the idea, drink, but don't get drunk. That's a common idea over there.

It's like, you know, go on the edge of a cliff, or maybe a huge, two-kilometre cliff or something, or a huge tall cliff, look down, bend down, look down as much as you want, but don't fall down. Well, why take the risk? But anyway, so that was common. Drinking is very common in the West.

So, he said, when he would get drunk, he would, he would, he would sometimes swear, and he would speak foul words, he would get angry also. So, he said, one day I was drunk, and something bad, something had gone wrong in his project in his office, and he was very frustrated. And he came back home, and in his anger, he was drunk, and he smashed a wall.

And he smashed a wall, and he saw that his wife and child were, and both of them were shivering. Then he realised that both of them were afraid that I might do something to them. He said, no matter how drunk I am, I am never going to hurt them.

But the very thought that my actions have created a fear like this in someone else, that made me realise I have to change. So, that's when I immediately joined Alcoholics Anonymous, and that we had a devotee, and I joined the Bhakti Recovery Group. Now, he's become a, he's not only become a, he's leader of a Bhakti Recovery Group now.

So, the point is, see, when we do something wrong, we might have power, and we keep doing something wrong, we're slowly pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable. And, but at some particular time, we are jolted. Hey, this is not who I am.

This is not what I am meant to be doing. And at that time, do we stop? Do we stop? So, that's what Duryodhan never expressed any regret for what he had done. His only regret was that his scheme was not successful.

So, he thought that, you know, I wanted to disrobe Draupadi, but somehow, something happened, we couldn't succeed in that. So, that was his only regret. Now, Karna also participated in the disrobing of Draupadi.

Karna was the person who suggested that Draupadi be dragged to the assembly. But to his credit, Karna later expressed his regret twice. Once to Krishna, and once to Bheeshma.

So, somebody does something wrong, and horribly wrong, and there is not even a slight regret in it. And that is really a dark character. So, what is happening over here is, that Krishna is taking the series of events in such a way that Duryodhan's darkness becomes exposed for the world.

And once it is exposed, then, when the war is fought, everybody knows it is because of Duryodhan. It is not because of the Pandavas. And that brings us to the last part.

I said about provocation. Protection. Each one of us needs to do what is required for our protection.

So, that means, even when we are put in a situation, say, which we are exposed to some provocation, despite our intention, it is not that we went into temptation. It is that we are just going around our normal life, and suddenly we get power, we get temptation, we get something, and we start getting agitated, we start getting shaken. See, our protection is our responsibility.

It is not anyone else's responsibility. So, a devotee asked me this question. Ajamil was going to do a good thing.

He was going to serve his father. He had gone to get firewood for his father. And yet he succumbed.

So, when he was simply, his father was, in one sense, like his guru. So, there is no mention in the Bhagavatam of him being initiated by anyone else. And he was clearly a Brahmana as well as to some extent a devotee.

So, when he was going to do service to someone who was at least one of his gurus, then, why did this happen to him? Why did this fall off into him? So, the answer I gave at that time is that one instruction does not supersede other instructions. Like if our guru tells us, you know, can you go and, we have this festival coming up, can you go and shop and buy these things? Okay. Now, the guru doesn't have to tell you when you are driving, you have to follow the traffic rules.

See, that's obvious, isn't it? If somebody says, oh, I was going for my guru's instructions and I went over the speed limit and the cops pulled me over. Well, you don't expect that you can be protected from breaking the law just because you are following the guru's instructions. Isn't it? One of my devotee friends, he says that, he says, if you drive above the speed limit, one devotee used to drive way fast and he says Krishna will protect his devotees.

So, this devotee told him, if you drive above the speed limit, Krishna leaves the car. So, what that means is that, like, you don't have to tell a person to drive safely, drive within safe legal limits. Yes, you have to do a service, but that's basic common sense.

So, similarly, when we have to do a service, that service does protect us, but that doesn't mean that we can take any and every risk. The basic instruction is, dhyayato ushaan pumsa leads to problems. So, yada samharte chaayam.

We have to withdraw our senses from the sense objects. Sometimes, in the course of our service also, we may be provoked. So, if we are provoked, then it is important for us to do what it takes to protect ourselves.

Doing our service is our responsibility, but protecting our consciousness is also our responsibility. And, if you consider, this is where Duryodhana also made a mistake. Many mistakes he made.

You see, he had been invited for the ceremony and he stayed on for the ceremony. He came for the ceremony. That's fair enough, but everybody went back and he stayed on.

It's what's going to happen. If you already know there is envy within you and you say, I want to see the palace of the Pandavas, then what are you going to see? The more you are going to see, the more is going to trigger envy within you. Isn't it? So, if we know, there was a cultural or a familial requirement to the ceremony and he was invited, he had to come.

But if the envy is going to be triggered more, then don't stay there. So, for all of us, we have to be careful about doing what it takes to protect ourselves. So, now, I'll conclude with the last point.

See, there's a difference between lust and envy and that is a significant thing. Generally, if there is some sensual desire within us, then we easily understand that we should not be contemplating on it. Not to speak of spiritual society, even in ordinary society, staring at someone is considered impolite.

So, dhyayato, we understand that there is some danger in it. But what happens with respect to envy is that we are expected, see, if some other devotee has done some wonderful service, now we are told that we should celebrate other's success. But sometimes, say, if I am a preacher and somebody else is a preacher, or I am a book distributor and somebody else is a book distributor, and if that other devotee is being rewarded, now that devotee may have done more service than me, that devotee is being rewarded.

Then, I may think I am there as a service. But if that devotee is being glorified and glorified and glorified, and the more I am hearing that devotee's glorification, the more the envy within me is growing. Now, we may say this should not happen.

We should not be feeling envious. We should be thinking that actually it's Krishna's mission that is spreading. And more books are being distributed.

When more people are coming for his class or my class, ultimately more souls are being benefited. So, that's how we should be thinking. And yes, that's true.

But you know, we can't just give a should instruction to our feelings. You know, if only if our feelings were obeying our instructions, life would be so easy. Isn't it? Don't feel angry.

Don't feel lusty. Don't feel jealous. Okay, I'll not feel.

Our mind is not our obedient servant. You'd like it to be, but it is not. So, if we find that say, hearing somebody else's glorification is fuelling the envy within us, then, maybe as a part of courtesy, we can be there for some time.

But we don't have to let that envy get fuelled more and more. It is our responsibility. If we can't celebrate somebody's success, that means we are conditioned.

That is true. But it is we who have to deal with our conditioning. Maybe then we spend some time, be polite, we speak our few words appreciating that person, and then we can leave.

We don't have to expose. I'm not saying disrespect the other person. Not at all.

The point I'm making is that in some ways, our culture is such that, without even we are told, give respect to others. Glorify others. And what may happen is, in others being glorified, we might find that our envy is being triggered more and more.

And if that is happening, then we would like to get rid of the envy. But while the envy is there, at least let it not be further inflamed. So then, we may have to do what it takes for protecting ourselves.

So that's why, for us, each one of us, we have to take the responsibility to protect our consciousness. And if we don't, see, protection can be protection can be in three ways, which I'll conclude this one. Protection is avoid the provocation.

Sometimes, like I said, with respect to lust, it may be possible to avoid contemplation. Sometimes it's not possible with lust also, because we just go about our work and there are so many people who who seem to have so little money to put on clothes on their body. So, they have a lot of money, but they're stingy.

Let's put it politely. But we can't avoid provocation at times. We can't do anything about that.

But then, if we can't avoid provocation, at least minimise the provocation. We can't go around a road with closed eyes, but let's not keep our eyes open looking for sense objects. Same way, if something envy is being triggered, let's not fuel the envy more.

And, if in spite of that, even if we try to minimise the provocation, still we get provoked. Then, seek help. Talk with some senior devotee.

That's where we need someone, some close friend. When we say, What it means is, sometimes when our anarthas are troubling us, we need someone with whom we can talk. Sometimes, when we have this, we all are trying to do lots of services for Krishna, and we have a competitive mood.

The competition is not if it inspires us to serve Krishna more, but competition can lead to some power posturing, where, you know, I can't tell any of my problems to anyone else, because I'm afraid that person will exploit my problems, and will try to put me down. But we need close friends. We need at least one or two people whom we can trust.

And that way, we can protect ourselves. Duryodhana had Bhishma and Drona, but Duryodhana didn't turn towards them. When Duryodhana came back, the only person he was talking was with Shakuni.

So, instead of seeking to extinguish the fire of envy, he sought the association of somebody who gave further fuel to the fire of envy. Rather, he gave him a whole scheme. How can you act on your envy? That is the most dangerous kind of association.

And that's how this whole tragedy, unfortunately, unfolded eventually. So, I'll summarise. I discussed today three main points.

So, first was about the purpose of explicit descriptions. So, when there are sensuous or explicit descriptions in scripture, what is their purpose? So, we discussed three levels. There is romantic.

Then there is, we are aware, primarily it's the relationship between two people. And there is erotic and there is pornographic. So, there's nothing pornographic in scripture directly.

Although, it might trigger desire, it is the purpose not to trigger desire. So, romantic means, basically, it serves a narrative purpose. So, the narrative purpose that is served by the explicit description here is to describe how Duryodhana's envy is triggered.

That's the reason why this whole squirting of liquids on their bodies of the queens and everything is being described. Then we discussed a major part of the class was this point of provocation. That sometimes Krishna provokes us.

So, now here we discuss how Krishna is the supreme controller, but not the soul controller. It is not that he is doing everything. It is, we have free will.

And so, Krishna provoked, for example, Indra. But that was just like a disease, like a doctor and a patient. Doctor getting the patient out of denial by triggering the disease.

So, how much is the disease, how much is the impurity within us? How do we know that? Sometimes it is when we are provoked to push our boundaries. Like a person's character is known by what boundaries they will never push. And I get, no matter how angry, I get, I am not going to speak fear words.

That's a boundary. So, now to Indra's credit, when he realised what I had done, he regretted. And then he reformed.

But Duryodhana, the only regret was his scheme did not work out. So, when Krishna provoked Duryodhana, the point was the whole world could see how dark was his character. And because of that, eventually that small fire of envy here, that envy led to atrocity in the gambling match and then that led to the catastrophe at Kurukshetra.

So, it is not that Krishna caused it. So, does power corrupt or does power expose the corruption that is inside? No. Power may trigger or activate the corruption that is inside.

But it also reveals whether we are ready to fight the corruption or we are ready to let the corruption go further. And that brings us to the last point of third one, protection. It is our responsibility to protect our consciousness.

And that means that we discussed how lust and envy are different. Normally, we are not told to expose ourselves to the object of lust. But if somebody is glorified, we are expected to celebrate their success.

And now it is good if we can, but if we can't, then it is our responsibility to protect our consciousness. We are talking about three levels of avoid provocation. That is the first level of protection.

Second is if we can't avoid, then minimise the provocation. So, yada samharate and yada samharate, just avoid the provocation. But minimise the provocation is where? No, we don't do dhyayato.

Drishyato might be there but no dhyayato. And then, last is seek help. So, in this way, we all can protect ourselves from whatever anarthas might be troubling us in our lives.

Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Sorry, we don't have any time for questions today.

I had to catch a flight. Thank you very much. … … … …