Does Krishna initiate us to do punya? Did he initiate Dhritarashtra to do punya for getting 100 sons?
Us back on course.
Yeah. Hare Krishna. Question from Vikas Kumar Prabhu.
Does Krishna initiate people to do punya from within their hearts as the Bhagavad Gita says 15.15 and 13.23 state? And does that mean that Krishna from within the heart in the previous lives initiated Dhritarashtra to do some good karma by which he got hundred sons who were eventually killed in his life as Dhritarashtra? Answer. The word initiate is not appropriate. Initiate means to begin.
Actually, the activities begin with our desire. Krishna is neutral and Krishna sanctions. Krishna is, we could say more than neutral, is reciprocal.
He's impartial in the sense that whatever our desires, he facilitates those desires. So actually, we are the initiators of the action by our desires. Now, what kind of desires we have, that's for us to choose.
And we can choose the desire that will help us to grow or we can choose the desire that will drag us down. That choice is up to us. And there are factors like our samskara and our present circumstances and the level of our intelligence and the level of our spiritual commitment, which will also shape our decisions.
But essentially, it's our desire. We have to choose our desires and we are responsible for the choice of our desires. Now, what Bhagavad Gita says is the overseer means that he observes.
Okay, this is what you want to do. Now, if by your karma you're meant to do it, you'll be allowed to do it. If by your karma you're not meant to do it, then you're not allowed to do it.
Like for example, now Krishna says, I give remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. That also means when Krishna sees our desire, according to our desire, if even after hearing scripture, I want to enjoy sense gratification, then Krishna will give me remembrance of the pleasure of sense gratification and forgetfulness of the knowledge of scripture of how sense gratification leads to misery. Why? Because it's my desire.
So, according to my desire, Krishna will give me appropriate worldview so that I can act according to that desire. And if I sincerely try to cultivate the desire to serve him, then Krishna will change my desires and accordingly I'll be able to, Krishna will rather, when I try to cultivate the desire to serve him, Krishna will give me a worldview by which I can serve him properly. And in that way, we can actually move forward and reorient our lives.
So, with respect to, so, it's not that Krishna inspires us to, initiates us to do good karma. Krishna may inspire us. Krishna inspires us and he inspires us through Guru Sadhu Shastra and he inspires us through the Chaita Guru as the scriptures and the spiritual teachers externally and as the super soul internally.
And along with that, so, did he inspire Dhritarashtra? Yes, actually, Krishna inspires everyone. And whoever does anything good, the inspiration for doing that good comes from Krishna. And the closer the person is to Krishna, the greater is the goodness within that person.
And Krishna says, I am, he says, I am ability in man. He says, I am the goodness in good people. It can refer, also, to I am the stabilizer of all that exists.
But it can also refer to mode of goodness. And Krishna also says that everything beautiful, opulent and glorious springs from a spark of his splendor. So, it's true that everything good comes from Krishna.
So, even people who do punya, that punya, inspiration to do punya is also coming from Krishna. But if they cover over that inspiration by their own ego, then they think that I am doing all this, so much punya, therefore, I am a greater person. I am superior to so many other people who are doing papa.
Then, that even punya can become a cause of bondage. So, again, the central point is that it is our, with our desires, which are responsive, which are actually the initial, which I could say that we desire the super soul sanctions and then material nature executes. And that's how actions happen.
At the same time, Krishna always wants us to have good desires. So, through Guru Sadhu Shastra and through Chaitanya Guru, depending on the extent to which we are receptive, Krishna will give us inspiration for doing, according to scripture, first punya and then beyond punya to shuddha bhakti, to pure devotional service. Thank you.
Hare Krishna.