​Don’t let your fears block you

​Evening Program at Singapore

Thank you very much. Don't let yourself be blocked by fear of failure and by fear of success.

So, the word fear is actually quite often translatable through an acronym. Now, acronym is when there is some object and there is some name like the International Society for Christian Consciousness, we make it into short as acronym. But acronym means you start from the words and you expand the words.

It's called a, you go the other way round. So, quite often fear is F-E-A-R, false evidence appearing real. It is something which is false.

So, it is actually it appears to be real. And in this way, that which is false, it appears to be real. It is, it seems like evidence.

What is something might be there, but the imagination drives it to be something much bigger than what it is. And because of that, we become paralysed. So, fear is a natural human reaction to the unknown.

I suppose we suddenly find ourselves in a place. Now, suppose we wake up and in my day, I do not know where I am. Sometimes we wake up and we are disoriented.

We might travel to some new place and we have forgotten when we wake up, where am I? There is a little fear when we find ourselves in any unknown situation. And such a fear is a natural human reaction. That fear protects us from acting recklessly.

So, from acting foolhardily, from acting self-destructively, fear protects us. And in that sense, fear to the extent it is protective, it is good. Sometimes if children have no fear, then the parents have great fear.

Sometimes children, they come right to the edge of a bed and they are about to fall off the bed. Now, the parents are fearful, the children are blissful. And then they fall and they start crying.

So, then gradually they develop fears. In childhood, they are in infancy, the child may just want to put the hand in the fire and say, don't touch it. So, as we grow in life, we do recognise that there are certain things which are worth being fearful of.

So, there are healthy fears in life. Healthy fears means fears that protect our health, that promote our well-being, that save us from unnecessary injury. So, these fears, if they are not there, then we become reckless.

And that recklessness is certainly undesirable. At the same time, actually, life itself is a journey into the unknown. Life itself is a journey into the unknown.

Because quite often, we wake up every morning, expecting that today will be like it was yesterday, more or less. Now, I will go to my office, I will do my work, my family members will be there, I will have my financial security, whatever things are there. But things can change.

And things do change. Actually, even when things don't seem to change, they are changing. According to an ancient Greek saying, it is said that no man enters into the same river twice.

It means we may enter into a river to swim, to bathe, to clean our vessels, clean our clothes. But the river may appear to be the same, but the river is not the same. The water in it is continuously changing.

So, Adhibhutam Ksharobhavah. Krishna says, Adhibhuta is the material existence. It is characterised by Kshara.

Kshara is constant change. So, in fact, the only constant thing in this world is that nothing is constant. Only constant thing is that there is nothing constant.

Now, things around us are changing, our bodies are changing, according to scientists. In every day, practically several lakhs of cells die and are reborn. It's a process of regeneration that is continuously happening.

Below the threshold of our perception. And even if you look at the world around us, that world around us is also not static, although it appears to be static. This building, this temple structure, may seem to be very solid and strong.

But in every moment that is passing, it is changing. It is deteriorating. It is moving towards destruction.

So, in that sense, everyday life is a journey into the unknown. And major decisions in our life are not just journeys into the unknown, they are often leaps into the unknown. So, when we take a new job, when we decide to pursue a particular career, when we enter into marriage, when we decide to emigrate to some other country, at that time, these are, we may have some idea of what to expect.

But still, it is a leap into the unknown. It is not just a step by step journey. These are major landmarks in our life, when we take a big leap forward without really knowing what to expect.

So, if the unknown starts causing us paralysing fear, fear is natural. But sometimes fear can paralyse us. And the unknown starts causing us paralysing fear, then we will become immobilised.

Then we will not be able to do anything in life. And this kind of fear, I think Krishna uses the same term for fear twice. Once he talks about fear, about what is wrong and what is right.

He says, So, he says, what is going to cause bondage, what is going to bring liberation, what is to be done, what is not to be done, what is to be feared, what is to be desired. The intelligence that understands this is intelligence in the mode of goodness. So, Krishna in that sense recommends healthy fear.

He recommends that if there are certain things that are going to cause bondage, it is good to be fearful of them. At the same time, he says that in 18.35, that habitual fear, habitual fearfulness is a characteristic of tamoguna, the mode of ignorance. yā svapnaṁ bhayaṁ śokhaṁ viśādam madameva ca na vimucchati durmedha hṛdi sāpārtha tāmasi tāmasi This is the mode of ignorance.

Bhayam, constant fearfulness. Now, where does fear come from? We may say fear comes because there are some dangerous things out there. Yes, but there are others who may see those same things and not feel fearful.

At a smaller level, we may have our phobias and our allergies. So, these may have some psychiatric origins, psychiatric causes. Sometimes some stone grinds against a floor and some people start trembling.

That is just an allergy they have. Some people have a phobia. The word phobia itself means some irrational fear.

So, irrational fear. So, different people can have different kinds of fears. And these, where are they coming from? If they were coming from the external stimuli, then everyone should be having those fears.

But everyone does not have them. That means the external stimuli is actually a trigger. It is not the cause.

The cause is some impression in our own minds. And this impression, actually how does fear work? Fear works primarily by accelerating our imagination. Then how do we become fearful? When our imagination moves faster than our intelligence.

When our imagination outruns our intelligence, then our imaginations start thinking, oh this may happen, that may happen, that may happen, that may happen. And even before we can use our intelligence to evaluate, is this realistic? Is it likely to happen? Before we can evaluate like that, the imagination has painted up such a gory, ghastly picture of things that we become overthink. So, when our fear primarily acts, by accelerating our imagination, so that it outruns our intelligence.

And when this happens, when our intelligence is being outrun by fear, at that time, suppose say we are driving a car and the car is, the road, we do not realise, but suddenly the road turns out to be sloping downwards. And because of the downward slope, the car suddenly starts accelerating. So, we might be going at the speed of 100, but suddenly the speed starts to become 120, 130, 150.

I am going over the speed limit. Then what do we do? We press the brake. We press the brakes.

So, actually, when fear starts accelerating the imagination, faith is the brake. Our faith is the brake that will stop our imagination from running haywire. From our thoughts, from accelerating at undesirable pace and going in undesirable directions.

Now, these impressions which are stored inside us, they are stored in the mind. The mind is a reservoir primarily of impressions. And corresponding with the impressions, there are desires.

And corresponding with the desires, there are fears. So, impressions means that whatever we do, that goes inside and forms a, as you say, the word impression means some sort of, not a physical marking, because the mind itself is not physical, but some sort of, some sort of, some sort of reservoir, the mind is like a reservoir. And some way, whatever events are happening, they get marked on the mind.

And those marks act like grooves. Now, if there is a groove on the ground, so if water is flowing, the water flows faster through the groove, because the groove offers the facility for the mind to, for the water to flow. Similarly, whatever we do again and again, that forms a groove in the mind.

And then after that, our thoughts automatically go in that direction, even if we do not think about it. So, for example, if somebody has developed a habit of, there are various kinds of addictions that happen. Sometimes people become message addicts.

Message addicts, we just cannot wait, every one minute, every two minutes, every three minutes, we just keep checking messages. And actually, when we get attached to something, they say that people have a new kind of fear in this age of social media. You call it FOMO.

FOMO is the fear of missing out. Fear of missing out. Some news might come up, some breaking news might be there, some message might be there, something exciting might be happening somewhere.

And if I do not check my messages, I will miss it out. So, there is this fear of missing out, because of which people become every five minutes, every 10 minutes, just people sometimes become restless, just cannot tolerate not changing the message. So, especially those who live in the age of multiple high-tech devices, there is this kind of addiction which is very likely.

But in the fear of missing out, something that is happening in the big world out there, we end up missing out what is happening in the world around us. Because we are so caught in what message is going to come, what message is going to come that we do not pay attention to the people around us, we do not pay attention to the things around us. So, me too, despite the fear and despite acting on the fear, we still end up missing out.

So, here what is happening, because people keep checking the messages again and again and again, a groove is formed. And normally, if water is here on the floor, water will stay here itself. But if a groove is formed, the water will start moving in that direction.

And when the water starts moving in that direction, then actually extra force is required or extra arrangement is required to stop the water from moving in that direction. So, if there is a groove, then I may have to create some blockage, maybe it does not move in that direction. So, like that, whatever grooves are created in our consciousness, and the mind just starts moving in those directions.

And sometimes, these may cause unnecessary anxieties, unnecessary fears. So, we may hear some news of some accident somewhere. And we think, oh, what if some of my loved ones, some of my family members, someone I know they went with an accident, what if I went with an accident, and the mind can just run off on its imagination.

And to the extent we let the mind run off like that, to the extent the mind becomes habituated to running on. And then it becomes the mind can actually make us so deluded that we start thinking that if I am not worrying, then I am not caring. That if I am not worrying, the mind can make us believe that worry is our responsibility.

Actually, yes, if there are realistic dangers to think about those dangers and to prepare for those dangers, that is a responsibility. But habitually worrying, that is not a responsibility. That is not responsibility.

Actually, it is the opposite of that. It is a responsibility because when we worry about one thing, then whatever we are doing, we are unable to do it at that time. And in that way, the mind deludes us.

So, these are fears in general. Fears about this may go wrong, that may go wrong, this may happen, that may happen. But among the various ways in which the mind can induce fears, we focus on two, that is the mind creating the fear of failure and the mind creating the fear of success.

Now, the fear of failure is something which we all have experienced. Suppose, according to some surveys, when Americans were asked, what is the greatest fear? So, a large majority of Americans replied that the fear of speaking in public. And for many of them, fear of speaking in public was a greater fear than the fear of death also.

People just feel if I go in public and then I become paralysed, people will laugh at me and I will become a, I will be mocked and I will become a laughing stock. Now, one of the simplest ways to overcome this fear of say, of public speaking is to remember that the audience is on our side. Whenever we go for a speech, the audience is on our side.

That does not mean that the audience agrees with what we are going to say. It simply means that the audience wants us to speak well. Because the audience has spent their time to come and hear us.

And if we do not give the message clearly, whatever we are going to give, then it is their time that is going to get wasted. So, it is not the people out there are waiting and longing for us to make a fool out of ourselves. Just the most of our fears are often imagined.

And just so, another said, he said that if you fear looking at people. Now, when we are talking, when we are talking, we start feeling fearful of looking at others while speaking. So, he said, look between two people.

Both the people think that they are looking at you and you can avoid looking at anyone. So, there are these practical things which you all can do to deal with fears. With each particular fear, if we use our intelligence itself, we might find things which we can do to deal with it.

But the more generic principle is that the mind often has a great fear of failure of whatever we are doing. It may be, we may want to learn some new skill. So, say if you want to learn some music, if you want to learn Pradanga, if you want to learn Kekarta, if you want to learn singing.

Now, mind says, hey, if I practise this instrument and I do not play it well, then people laugh at me. And the mind starts becoming fearful of that. So, this fear of failure, it often masquerades as humility.

So, actually, there are others who can play the instruments very well. Now, why do you want to play and play not so well? Better let others play. It can be anything, whatever it is, we want to do something new.

Now, actually, this is not humility. Yes, it can be humility when there is a big public performance where there are many people at that time. If we do not play well, which it is, I do not play well, I am not playing, that is fine enough.

But just not trying that and giving that as the reason, not trying to learn, that is not humility, that is actually false ego. Why is it false ego? Because the mind or the ego, we want to imagine that we are good, that we are perfect. And when we are doing something in which we are most likely not to be good, leave alone perfect, then the ego does not like the feeling that I am poor at something.

And because of that, we do not try at all. So, suppose, now, a child is told to come on, you can walk now, take a few steps. I am here, I am holding, just take one step.

No, no, no, I cannot take any steps. So, what happens? Now, child, no, you take a few steps. If you fall, I am there to help you, the mother may say.

No, no, no, what if I fall? No, you just take a few steps. And then the mother reassures, the child starts taking a step, I can move. She says, yes, I can walk.

And the child becomes happy at that time. Suppose, someone has to take just a few steps forward, like that, whatever it is that we have to learn, we just have to take a few steps in that direction. Whatever it is, it may be learning public speaking, say speaking in Krishna service or learning, whatever it is, we have to just take one step, two steps, three steps forward and gradually we learn that thing.

But when we have to do something new, quite often, the mind becomes like a person who goes on top of a mountain to a cliff and looks down, I cannot jump, I cannot jump, I cannot jump. No one is telling you to jump. No one is telling you to jump, but the mind just creates a dire fancy, a dire imagination of what is going to happen, as if the next task which you're going to do is going to be impossible.

And because of that, so thinking that I have to jump across a cliff, we think I can't do it. And because of that, we don't take even one step forward. That's why I just said that, whenever we have to do any work, it is best, anything new we have done, divide it into small steps.

Yes, or do I have to do, okay, I just have to do one thing, I do two things, I do three things, just keep doing one small, small things. So, in the mode of goodness, in the mode of goodness, we are able to perceive reality as it is. In the mode of passion, we perceive reality as, not reality, we perceive things as we want them to be.

It should be like this, it should be like this, as we crave it to be. And the mode of ignorance, quite often we perceive reality as we fear it might be. Oh, it might go wrong, it might go wrong, it might go wrong.

So, in this way, we, the mode of ignorance, paralyses us. So, fear of failure is actually the false ego's reluctance to be a learner. You know, the false ego wants to think that I am the master, and I will be the master of everything.

But when we are doing something new, we have to be a learner. And the false ego's reluctance to be a learner comes out as fear of failure. So, now, when we start practising bhakti, when we start practising spiritual life, sometimes our mind may come up with various fearful situations.

So, for example, say, in India, I often go and speak in colleges. So, many times college students feel that, oh, if I go to a Hare Krishna programme, I will become a brahmachari, they will make me a brahmachari. Therefore, let me not go to the programme.

First thing is no one can make anyone into anything. Becoming a brahmachari, becoming a monk is a personally chosen decision. And now, if I become, go to the temple, I will have to give up this, I will have to give up that.

You may not have that fear of becoming a brahmachari, but you may have other fears. Oh, I will have to give up this, I will have to give up that, I will have to give up that, I will have to give up that. Hey, I can't do it.

No, bhakti is not about what we have to give up. Bhakti is about what we are going to get. When Krishna comes in our life, superfluous things follow.

It is not that we are, as devotees, we are constantly feeling deprived, oh, I can't do this, I can't do that, I can't do that. No, bhakti is essentially about bringing Krishna in our life. And when we bring Krishna in our life, then other things are seen as superfluous and they fall away.

Nowadays, the whole culture is filled with advertisements. Now, have you seen any advertisement which begins first with the price? Say, a new cell phone has come. The first thing they show is, oh, this is $5,000, this is $10,000, whatever it is.

No advertisement ever begins like that. Why? The advertisement focusses first on what are the benefits of the product, what are the qualities of the thing, what is it we are going to get out of it. And afterwards, at the end, sometimes in the footnote, the price comes.

Or quite often, advertisements price does not come also. Unless they have got some special sale where they are decreasing the price below the normal, they do not even tell the price. After we get attracted to the product, then we go and say, oh, this is the cost of this, then we come to know about it.

Sometimes when we start sharing bhakti with others, we do the exact opposite. We start telling, I do this, no meat-eating, no gambling, no intoxication, no illicit sex. Want to be a devotee? No, no, no, no, no.

So, we may not be so insensitive as to do that, but quite often our mind catches on to that. I will have to give this up, I will have to give this up, I will have to give this up. And how will I live without it? And this, actually, whatever change happens in bhakti, that is voluntary, and that is something which we feel inspired to do.

And we can practise bhakti at the pace that is comfortable for us. And we can just keep moving forward. So, the fear of failure, oh, if I try to practise this, I will not be able to do this.

But suppose you say we are fasting on Ekadashi. And if you decide, oh, if I, if from the previous night only I start thinking, oh, tomorrow I am going to fast, tomorrow I am going to fast. So, then sometimes some people, tomorrow I have to fast, so let me compensate today.

And then they eat a lot. Sometimes not just the previous night, from previous morning only they start eating a lot. Morning, afternoon, evening.

And then since the early morning, that day of fasting, they think, oh, today I have to fast, today I have to fast, today I have to fast. And if one constantly keeps thinking about what I have to do, then that fear of failure is there. Oh, what if I am not able to fast? Well, what is going to happen if you are not able to fast? Eat some food and go on with life.

The world is not going to crash down if you are not able to fast. But the mind unnecessarily creates fear. Sometimes you may say, oh, if I fast and if I become weak, I will fall down in the road, I will faint.

Then who will care for me? What if I am alone at that time? The mind may come up with all kinds of imagination. These are very unrealistic scenarios. So, there is in the fear of failure, it just paralyses us from attempting to do things.

And all that we talked about till now is primarily at the psychological level. But when you connect with Krishna, at that time, when you start practising bhakti, as I said, we do not just focus on the prize that people have to pay when we advertise a product. Similarly, we do not focus on what we have to give up, what we will have to, what are the rules that we have to follow.

Actually, the essence of bhakti is connecting with Krishna. And when Krishna comes in our life, then Krishna takes control of our mind. Krishna, he becomes like a magnet that attracts our mind.

So, here in the song, the Vaishnava poet is actually speaking to the mind, he is preaching to the mind, oh mind, just worship Krishna, worship the one who is Nandananda. Oh mind, worship the Lord who is Nandananda. What will happen by that? He is Abhayacharana.

He is the person who lotus feet grants fearlessness. In the second canto, Parishad Maharaj is describing about what is the result of remembering Krishna. Why does a devotee want to always remember Krishna? He says, the soul is purified, is cleansed.

Krishna never gives up the lotus feet of Krishna. Krishna has become purified of all anxiety, of all misery. And an example is given of how they have become free from fear.

Pantha is one who is going on a path, that means a traveller. Svasharanam is one's own home. This is a traveller who has gone for a long troubled journey.

The traveller comes back home. The traveller feels relaxed, the traveller feels happy, the traveller feels safe, secure. In fact, in the world, we feel at home.

Feel at home means feel comfortable, feel safe, feel happy. So, just as a traveller, when the traveller comes back home, the traveller feels comfortable, safe. Like that, a devotee feels when the devotee brings the consciousness on Krishna, focusses the consciousness on Krishna.

Now, this is an apt example, because we all cannot always stay in our home. We have to go out of our homes. We may have to go for job, we may have to go for work, we may have to go for some, purchasing something, doing this, doing that.

But we all look forward to coming back home. Like that, when we practise bhakti, now we also, it is not that at our stage, we can constantly think of Krishna. We may have to think of this thing, that thing, that thing, but as soon as there is an opportunity, we come back home.

So, Krishna's lotus feet are our home. The thoughts of Krishna are our inner home. In fact, much of the anxiety and insecurity that is there in life today is because people don't have an inner home.

An inner home is something, some object of thought that makes them feel peaceful, feel joyful. We don't have that at all. Now, for many people, it is with their TV.

As soon as you feel bored, you feel frustrated, turn on the television. The television may give us a break from the boredom, the frustration, or the depression that may be there in our life. But the TV actually has its own emotions going on over there, whatever we are seeing over there.

Quite often, when we expose ourselves to the television, that triggers lust within us, that triggers greed within us, that triggers anger within us. And although there might seem to be a little rest, but quite often, we end up getting more agitated. Sometimes we watch a cricket match, and then our favourite team loses.

And then we say, why did I waste so much time? Why did I waste so much time? But actually, if you think about it, even if our favourite team had won, the pleasure is for a few minutes. And after that, there is just, again, we come back to the normalcy of life. And so, people try to find some virtual world, some world through some gadgets, which they connect with, and there, they try to make a home for themselves.

As soon as I have a little break, I just turn on my gadget, and then I start surfing some sites or playing some video games, you know, people can, there are millions of people who are addicts of video games, just can't live without it. And they want to spend time, spend money. And they just get hooked to it.

Why? Because that is what they have made their mental home. Wherever they, as soon as they have some time, the mind immediately goes over there. So, bhakti essentially means changing our mental home.

Bhakti is not just about putting tilak, or bhakti is not just carrying a bead bag in the hands. Bhakti is about making Krishna our mental home. That means, we have to go to various things, we have to think about various things.

But as soon as the things are done, we immediately bring our thoughts back to Krishna. And many other things maybe are presently our mental home for each of us. But those things cannot offer us shelter, real shelter they cannot offer.

They offer not ashraya, they offer a durashraya. So, ashraya is a safe shelter. Durashraya is an unsafe shelter.

Sometimes, suppose there is an earthquake, and some person goes inside a house, and the house itself collapses on them. Then maybe outside they would have been safer, inside they are actually in greater danger, they may suffer more. So, we see in this world, we can see that the very thing which we think will provide the shelter, that very thing often causes us great suffering.

So, if I think my bank balance is my shelter. Now, bank balance and financial security is important. But that is not our supreme shelter.

If you think that is our shelter, then everything connected with money will cause us tremendous anxiety. If a particular relationship, say, if our relationship with our spouse, with our parent, that we think is my shelter, then any instability in that relationship, that will cause us tremendous anxiety. Now, these are all sources of shelter, no doubt.

It is important to have these things, but they are all intermediate shelters. They are not the ultimate shelter. Ideally speaking, our relationships, our financial security, our physical health, all these are meant to help us move towards the supreme shelter of Krishna.

So, we use all these things and the security that they provide so that we can pursue bhakti. But if these which are intermediate shelters, if we make them only the ultimate shelter, then when there is any shaking in that, it will get devastated. So, going deeper, our anxieties come from whatever we have taken shelter of.

Whatever it is that we take shelter of, thinking this will provide me pleasure, this will provide me safety, then that very thing causes us great anxiety. That very thing causes us great misery. Now, there are times, say, for example, in going back to cricket, cricket is, there is India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, these are countries where people are mad about cricket at times.

So, about 4-5 years ago, I mean 5-6 years ago when Sri Lanka, 5-6 times they came to the finals of a tournament and they lost in the finals. And after that, at different places in Sri Lanka around 15 young people committed suicide. Why? Because their team lost.

Now, what is the big deal? The players are not committing suicides, spectators are committing suicide. Of course, we do not want players also to commit suicide. But the point is that the players go on with life.

It is after all a game. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But so, what happened is the spectators, they were so attached thinking that our team will win and we will get pleasure.

So, that very thing which they have. Now, whenever in their childhood, they started playing cricket or started watching cricket, they thought that will give them pleasure. They would not have not even dreamt or in a nightmare also that because of cricket, they will commit suicide.

But that is what they ended up doing. So, whatever we take shelter of, whatever we conceive of as a source of pleasure, that can very well become the source of trouble and can be the source of great misery. And that is why we need to take shelter of Krishna.

Krishna is the shelter who will always keep us fearless. And actually, in the third canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, there is a beautiful verse where Kapil Dev is speaking. And he says that what is the duty of a preacher? Sometimes we may say, this is wrong, that is wrong.

You are doing this puja, you are doing this puja, you are doing sense gratification, you are doing this, this is wrong, that is wrong, that is wrong, that is wrong. So, we may think that telling people what they should not be doing, that is the duty of a preacher. In the Bhagavatam says, who is a preacher? One who goes around the world, assuring people of fearlessness in the shelter of the Lord.

Such a person is a preacher. And such a person is very dear to the Lord. So, we, our duty, if we are sharing Krishna consciousness with others, it is that, yes, there are troubles in life, but Krishna is above all these troubles.

Krishna is the source of shelter, Krishna is the source of security. And in this shelter, there is fearlessness. So, our goal is to actually assure people of fearlessness in the Lord.

And in today's world, where people have a lot of anxieties, unnecessarily, if we speak, if we speak negatively, because we are talking about this problem, that problem, that problem. Yes, this world is Dukhalaya Vashashvatam. And anybody who lives in this world, they sooner or later start realising there are a lot of problems here.

So, the important thing is to explain how Krishna consciousness offers us relief from the problems. Now, when we say relief, when Krishna offers us fearlessness, what does it mean? It is not that Krishna just, Krishna can do that, but usually, it is not that Krishna removes all our problems in one moment and makes us fearless. Quite often, what Krishna does is, he raises our consciousness above.

We may be in a troubled situation. But say, if we are in a boat, and the boat is lost in the ocean. So, now we don't know where I am in the ocean, how I get out.

And I may be lost in the ocean. But if I see above, there's a helicopter. And that helicopter will guide me.

Okay, move this way, row your boat this way, row your boat that way. And by that, although I'm right now still in the same ocean, but I'm no longer lost, because I'm connected with someone who knows the way out. So, like that, externally, we may be in the same situation as those who are not connected with Krishna.

But we are connected with the one who is knowing the way out. Or to give another example, suppose in a hospital, there are two people who are deceased and are in pain. One person has not been diagnosed, there is no diagnosis only properly coming out.

And because there is no diagnosis, there is no treatment also. The other person's disease has been diagnosed and the treatment has been prescribed. Now, both may be in pain right now, but are both in the same situation? No, there is a world of difference when we look at the future.

Right now, both may be in pain. But in future, the person who is undiagnosed and untreated, that person's pain is going to increase more and more. Whereas the person who has been diagnosed and is being treated, the pain is going to decrease further and further.

So, one who is connected with Krishna, one who is devoted to Krishna, So, it is described in the Srimad Bhagavatam that, all the anarthas that are there in our heart, which are the cause of our misery, they upashamam, they are removed, bhakti-yogam adhoksha jaya. And if that is bhakti-yoga of the Supreme Lord, these anarthas get removed. So, anarthas means, one anartha is fearfulness.

That fearfulness gets removed. And lokasya ajananto vidvams, people in general do not know what bhakti-yoga does. And because they do not know what bhakti-yoga does, therefore, for explaining it to them, Bhagavata Samhita.

Therefore, Vyasadeva has composed the Bhagavatam, to help people understand how the process of bhakti can free them from misery. There is the practise of bhakti as a cultural activity, and there is a practise of bhakti as a spiritual activity. And quite often there is a significant difference between the two.

As a cultural activity means, yes, in our family, we used to go to temple, we used to hear some katha, we used to do some japa. And that is why I am doing it. It is good.

It is a very valuable culture. If one has it, then it is fortunate. Because quite often if somebody comes from a non-devotional culture, and all those non-devotional impressions that are there, you have to counter them.

So, in terms of having those impressions, in a part of our culture, if that is there, that is good. But when we do something as simply a cultural activity, we may not understand its importance. The only reason we are doing it is because that is what my parents told me to do, that is what my grandparents told me to do.

So, this is like going back to the medicine example, that suppose there is a person, a doctor gives a prescription to a patient. But the doctor does not tell, what is the disease? And what is the problem? Doctor says take this morning afternoon and take this for the next six months. The patient may think, I should not take it.

So, if the prescription is given without explaining the disease, without explaining the diagnosis, then the patient may not take the prescription very seriously. Patient may stop taking it. Or the patient may take it very ritualistic.

And afterwards, what is the point of taking it? So, when the diagnosis is given, at that time, the patient understands, oh, I have got this disease, I have got this disease. And then this is sometimes, when a person is to a doctor, the doctors also have to be very careful. Sometimes, some patients are already very fearful.

They are already worried. And if you tell them you have got a disease, they will just break down. So, doctor says, okay, you have got some disease, things will be alright.

Just take this medicine for some time. And they will tell like that. But there are some patients who are just foolhardy.

They think they are invincible. And then for them, the doctor may have to tell, you know, if you have got this disease, and this disease means that your digestion will collapse, then you will become weak. And then you may start getting atrophy of your muscles, then you get osteoporosis and this and that and that.

And sometimes the doctors may have to paint a very grim picture of the future to make the patient to recognise how serious the problem is. And thereafter, take the medicine seriously, take the prescription seriously. So, like that, when we share Krishna consciousness, preaching means comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comforted.

Preaching means comforting the afflicted. If somebody is already in great misery, this went wrong, that went wrong, this is the problem. Oh, we tell them, like this only is going to happen throughout your life.

If we start telling them like that, what are we doing? We are afflicting the afflicted. People are already miserable and we are adding to their misery. That is a great disservice.

So, when somebody is in distress, somebody is already burdened, then we have to comfort, yes. Whatever happens in this world, it is temporary. So, even the problems that are there, they are temporary.

You think back, five years ago, you might think of what you were worried about. You might be paranoid at that time about some problem, but now you think about it. You may not even remember that problem now.

And sometimes if you remember that problem also, you may laugh how worried I was at that time. So, just as that time we took the problem so seriously, but things went out alright, now also whatever problem is there, it will go. Do not worry so much, things will be alright.

So, like that, if somebody is afflicted, we need to comfort them. And that comfort comes by assuring them of our spiritual nature, assuring them of Krishna's protection, that way we comfort the afflicted. Just like if a patient is already very fearful, then the doctor has to reassure, things will be alright, just take the medicine properly.

On the other hand, some people are just very happy, thinking that everything is wonderful in my life. At that time, if somebody is very comforted, then Prabhupada would sometimes speak to them. Prabhupada was an example of John F. Kennedy.

He was the President of America, young, handsome, popular, powerful and just won a landslide victory in the election. And you know what happened? Just one bullet came from somewhere, from top of the world, it was out of the world. So, sometimes they say that actually we have to talk about how this world is a place of danger.

How whatever sense of security we have, that security is actually not real security, it is an illusion. And they say India is progressing. So, what is the progress of India? You know, Mahatma Gandhi was killed with a pistol.

Indira Gandhi was killed with a machine gun and Raju Gandhi was killed with a bomb. So, then if somebody is very comfortable, confident, everything is alright, you have to tell them actually things are not alright. There are so many things that are wrong in life.

So, now this is not meant to make people miserable. It is to joy people so that they come to an awakening of reality. Just like a patient who is not taking the disease seriously, the patient has to be told about the prognosis.

So, like that life in this world is uncertain, and there is danger. And everything that we speak, it has to be spoken in a proper context. Recently on my website, I answer questions.

So, one mother asked a question. She said that since my childhood, I used to have a lot of panic attacks, a lot of fear and anxiety. And then I went to a class.

And then the speaker was speaking about how death can come at any time. And then after that, I started always feeling fearful, you know, when I go on the road, maybe some truck will come on top of me. And then I went to my psychiatrist.

And when I told the psychiatrist what had happened, that psychiatrist told me that this Hare Krishna philosophy is psychologically damaging for you. Don't hear it. So, then he asked, is it that the Bhagavad Gita is psychologically damaging? Is it that this philosophy is psychologically damaging? No.

The point is that when the scriptures tell us that death can come at any time, that we should not become complacent. The purpose of a devotee is not to be death conscious. The purpose of a devotee is to be Krishna conscious.

And the same thought of death, depending on the mode that we are in, whether it is Atma Guna, Rajoguna, Tamoguna, the same thought will evoke a different response. To illustrate this, now sometimes you may say, oh, youth is temporary. Don't waste your time and enjoyment.

Cultivate something eternal. Pursue Bhakti. You may say like that.

Now materialistic people may take the same thing. And they say, youth is temporary. I saw an advertisement, freak out and enjoy before you become a dirty old man.

So, the idea is that they will take the same fact that youth is temporary and they say, enjoy immediately. And on the other hand, we may, so a person in Rajoguna will see the same stimulus that youth is temporary and they will think, let me enjoy right now. A person in Sattva Guna, youth is temporary.

Let me not waste this in personal temporary things. Let me pursue something eternal. So, depending on the mode that we are in, the same stimuli can cause us different effects.

So, if a person is influenced excessively by Rajoguna, then the thought of death may cause paranoia. Paranoia means, it is a persecution complex. A person thinks, oh, somebody is persecuting me, this is going to persecute me, this is going to persecute me.

So, in such a situation, one should not think about death effect. At that time, we should know that everything that is talked about in Bhakti, it is for the purpose of enhancing our remembrance of Krishna, enhancing our devotion to Krishna. So, thoughts of death, they are meant to remind us that this is temporary, I should not get too obsessed with this.

Let me give time and focus for Bhakti. So, the purpose is focus on Krishna. What is the problem? Is it better now? Am I audible? So, the purpose of everything in Bhakti is to enhance our remembrance of Krishna.

Accept that which is favourable and reject that which is unfavourable. So, if thinking about death or thinking about misery is becoming unfavourable for our Bhakti, if it is causing us unnecessary anxiety and worry, then at that time, we should not think about it. And so, the idea is, whatever is favourable for our Bhakti, we accept that and whatever is unfavourable, we reject that.

So, there are various kinds of fears and all these fears, when we fix our consciousness on Krishna, just thinking about Krishna itself gives us a safe home for our thoughts. Now, beyond this, God is not just a concept. God is not just a presence.

God is a person and God is a person who does things. So, it is not that just by thinking about Krishna, we are protected, but rather Krishna also acts in his own ways to help devotees, to protect devotees. And the way Krishna acts is often quite opposite, quite different from the way we may think he will act.

We know the famous story of the Akshaya Patra and Durvasa Muni. Duryodhana conspired so that Durvasa Muni went to the house of the Pandavas, went to the place where the Pandavas were staying. It was not exactly a house.

It was basically like a hut where they were staying in the forest. And he went after Draupadi had taken her lunch. And Durvasa Muni came with many disciples.

And I will not tell the full story. But essentially, what happened when Durvasa Muni had gone for bathing, at that time, all the Pandavas became panicky. There is nothing to offer.

And Durvasa Muni is a great sage. What should we do? So, at that time, they turned to Draupadi. And Draupadi said, actually, I have already eaten.

And naturally, as a devotee, her reflex action was to pray to Krishna. And then she prayed to Krishna. And as soon as she prayed to Krishna, Krishna appeared.

And Krishna said, Draupadi, I am very hungry. Please give me some food. And Draupadi said, what is this? It is one thing to not be able to feed a sage, but to not be able to feed one's beloved Lord.

Draupadi said, Krishna, don't make fun of me. He says, I called you because we don't have any food and we need to feed Durvasa Muni. That's why I called you for help.

I will help you after all. But first time hungry. I don't have anything, Krishna.

Draupadi was feeling so bad. It was as if her problem had doubled and should have been solved. Krishna said, just go and see.

Oh, get the Akshaya Patra. She got the Akshaya Patra and saw there was a small morsel over there. And then Krishna took that morsel.

And not only was he satisfied, but all the sages were satisfied. So, now, normally, the focus of the story is usually that, you know, how when we satisfy, how Krishna protects his devotees, we can say, how when we satisfy Krishna, Yasmin tushtam, Jagat tushtam. When we satisfy Krishna, everyone is satisfied.

Now, all these are valid lessons from the story. But one more point we can investigate is that, how was that morsel of grain still lying on that Akshaya Patra? The Akshaya Patra is not an ordinary utensil. Normally, any housewife, if she is cleaning her vessels, she cleans them properly.

Suppose, and especially if you have a golden plate, a golden plate, you will not keep any morsel of food just lying over there. And this, for the Pandavas, was more valuable than any golden plate also. And yet, how was that morsel lying over there? So, actually, it is whether Draupadi cleaned it herself, which is quite likely, or they had some, she had, I think, Dharmishta, someone, she was a maid servant, she cleaned it.

They had only one or two servants there. But whatever it is, it was apparently Draupadi was in charge of that. And Draupadi thought it was clean, but she found it was not clean.

There was one morsel over there. So, we could say it was a mistake. But Krishna is so expert that he protected Draupadi through her mistake.

Draupadi is, so actually, even if a devotee commits mistakes, the mistake itself is not a big mistake. The mistake is giving up, the big mistake is giving up bhakti because of the mistake. That means, oh, I have done this wrong.

What is the use of practising bhakti? No, that is the biggest mistake. We may commit any mistakes, but if we just keep practising bhakti, Krishna will make things all right. It is said that Krishna can draw straight even with a crooked pencil.

Now, even if the pencil's point is crooked, and probably Krishna is expert, he can draw straight with that. So, even if we commit mistakes, we all can commit and we all will commit mistakes. But those mistakes, no mistake can force us to give up practising bhakti.

That is something which we ourselves choose to do because we become disheartened, because we become fearful. So, we may fall down, but we don't have to fall away. Fall down means we are going on the path of bhakti and sometimes not able to do the right thing.

Let's fall down. But fall away means we give up the practise of bhakti. So, we may fall down, but we don't have to fall away.

And Krishna has his own ways in which he can protect. So, as devotees, when we devote ourselves to Krishna, as sadhakas, when we devote ourselves to Krishna, our focus should be on just staying open to how Krishna will protect, rather than demanding that Krishna protect in this particular way. Krishna's plans are often bigger and better than our plans.

And because they are bigger and better than our plans, sometimes they may take longer to materialise than what we would have thought. So, devotee just holds on to Krishna. On one side, there is the fear of failure.

And the mind can go to the opposite and also create a fear of success. Now, what do you mean, who is, everybody wants success. Who will be fearful of success? But fear of success means, and the mind starts imagining that if I achieve this, then maybe I'll have to do this, then I'll have to do this, then I'll have to do this, then I'll have to do this.

If I start giving classes, and if I start giving good classes, then I'll ask to give many classes to many people, and then some unknown people may come, and then some sceptical people may come. And then when some sceptical people come, they may ask some difficult question. And because they ask difficult question, I'll not be able to answer.

Therefore, I should not preach. So, what happens, the mind, this is not actually fear of failure, it is one level, fear of failure, but it is actually fear of failure masking our fear of success. We think that when we become successful, it is like, if we attain some success in some surveys, along with that we are also going to grow.

And our capacity to deal with problems at that time is also going to grow. It's like, say if a child, if a son and a father, both of them are exercising, both of them are lifting weights, the son may be lifting up a 5 kg weight, and the father may be lifting a 25 kg weight. Now the son says, no, if I grow up like my father, I'll have to lift a 25 kg weight.

But if I lift a 25 kg weight, it will fall on my body, my bones will break. Therefore, I will not grow up. No, therefore, I will not lift a 5 kg weight.

Of course, growing up is not in our hands, we will grow up anyway. But the point is, when the child comes to a position of lifting a 25 kg, the child will also have grown up at that time. So, sometimes what happens, we may think of the future, and whatever future responsibilities we may have, whatever future challenges we may have, what happens in life, the more we succeed, life is basically a sequence of meeting challenges.

Now, I meet one challenge, and through that meeting, that challenge, I grow. And as I grow, a bigger challenge comes forward. And I meet that challenge, and I grow bigger.

So, as we grow forward, there are only bigger and bigger challenges that will come. But as we meet those challenges, we are also going to grow. So, sometimes we may become fearful of success, thinking that success will demand too much from me.

And therefore, I should not try now at all. Yeah, if we find that if I succeed and something is too much for me in future, I can always cut down at that time. It is not that I have to cut myself down right now.

It is right now we keep trying and eventually, whenever the situation becomes too much, at that time, we can check ourselves, we can stop or we can change course. So, basically, fear results when, I will conclude with this one broad principle, fear emerges in our consciousness, when the world becomes bigger than Krishna. When we think that the world is so big, that it is bigger than Krishna, either its pleasures are so big, or its problems are so big.

Either way, we start thinking, then Krishna becomes small in our consciousness, the world becomes big, and then we feel, how will I deal with this? Then the problems cause fear, and the pleasures also cause fear. Because whenever we get any pleasure also, associated with that pleasure, there is a fear that this pleasure is going to end, this pleasure is going to go away, that also causes fear. So, the ultimate solution to fear, there are all of us may have certain fears, and they need to be practically dealt with.

But the ultimate solution to fear is to actually raise Krishna in our consciousness, to become more and more aware of Krishna's greatness. They say, do not tell God, how big your problems are, tell your problems, how big God is. I will not tell God, I have this problem, that problem, why are you not helping me? Don't tell God how big your problems are, tell your problems, how big God is.

So, if we become more and more aware of how big Krishna is, then even if the problems are there, they will not cover us, they will not cover us down. Krishna said in 18.58 in the Bhagavad Gita, if you become conscious of me, all troubles, all obstacles, all fears, matra sadha tarisha se, by my mercy, you will be able to cross over all fears. This is the power of Krishna consciousness.

Krishna consciousness is seen just like I am chanting Hare Krishna, going to a temple, worshipping some deities, that is all good. But what essentially all this is meant to do is, by doing all these activities, Krishna's presence becomes bigger and bigger in our consciousness. And when our consciousness is fixed with an awareness of how great, how powerful Krishna is, how great the security, how great the satisfaction that comes in devotion to Krishna, then the world shrinks.

Not in terms of being a negligent of the world, but in the terms of the world cannot dominate us. We are able to deal with the world situations with much greater maturity and with much greater clarity. Maturity means we do not get shaken up by ups and downs.

Clarity means we also become calmer so we can see this is what I should do, this is what I can avoid and we can move forward. So, I will summarise, I talked about how, do not let your, do not be blocked by your fears, various kinds of fears, fear of failure, fear of success. So, what is FEAR? False evidence.

False evidence of fearing real. That means there is evidence, there is something which is a problem, but the mind imagines. And that false imagination that seems to be as it is going to happen immediately.

So, usually fear, we discussed how fear is also good, it is desirable, there can be healthy fear. So, it protects us. But sometimes, instead of protecting us, instead of being protected, fear can become restrictive, it can paralyse us.

And in general, whenever we have to explore anything unknown, there is fear. But life itself is a journey to the unknown. And especially there are crossroads in our life and it is not just journey, it is a leap into the unknown.

And at that time we do, when the fear starts accelerating our imagination, basically, then the imagination runs faster than the intelligence. And at that time, we become overwhelmed by panic, panic and panic attacks and things like that. So, at that time, when the imagination starts accelerating us internally, our faith is the brake.

So, faith in Krishna, what does it do? It actually raises our consciousness to a higher level of reality. It, by making us aware of something beyond the constantly changing material world, the change causes uncertainty, change causes anxiety. And when you recognise that there is something, Krishna is an unchanging shelter, that brings us sense of security.

And then we discussed elaborately about how the process of Krishna consciousness, sharing Krishna consciousness essentially means assuring people about fearlessness in the shelter of Krishna. And sometimes we do talk about the problems of life, we do talk about how the measure of misery is in the world, but that is primarily to inspire people to fix their mind on Krishna. So, preaching means to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comforted.

If we do the opposite, if we afflict the afflicted, then we are doing serious disturbance. So, somebody is already having fearfulness to tell them that death can come at any time. And if they start thinking about that, that can be psychologically troubling for them.

So, at such situation, we have to see any philosophical point that we hear, is it uncool to my body? And accordingly, we adopt that or we put it in the background. So, in goodness, there is healthy fear, in ignorance, there is unhealthy fear. There is this wild irrational fear which comes from the small stimuli being imagined into a very big thing.

And then we discussed how in this world, we have many intermediate shelters, our bank balance, our family relationships, our house, all these things are shelters. These intermediate shelters are meant to help us move towards the ultimate shelter of Krishna. If we make the intermediate shelter itself into the ultimate shelter, then that very thing will become a cause of misery for us.

We discussed in extreme sense how people, cricket fans, who started off thinking that cricket will give me enjoyment, ended up committing suicide because of cricket. So, we all need a home for our mind, an inner home for ourselves. And whatever may be our inner home, it may be TV, it may be movies, it may be sports, if it is anything other than Krishna, that will eventually cause us anxiety, it will cause us misery.

But when we make Krishna our inner home, that means, we have to think about other things just as we have to go out of home, but we come back home as Krishna. Do our other things and bring our thoughts back to Krishna as quickly as possible. Like that, when we do, this is a traveller comes back home, we will find that in Krishna's remembrance, we will have safety, we will have security.

And then we discussed about how there can be fear of failure, which is primarily the false ego's reluctance to be a learner. The false ego wants to be a master and that is why it imagines failures and makes us think better not try anything. But rather than imagining that I have to jump off a cliff and I can't jump off, you should just think that I will take one step forward, take one step forward and like that, we will be able to move forward in our life.

So, on one side, there is the fear of failure. And that often comes because we think we have to pay too big a price. Just like in advertisements, you primarily focus on what the product is going to give us, not what the product is going to cost us.

So, like that in bhakti, that when we are practising bhakti or we are sharing bhakti with others, we should focus on Krishna who is going to come into our lives, not what we have to give up. Actually, we don't have to give up, we will automatically when we are connected with Krishna, we feel these things are not important. I can give them up.

So, that way, we can avoid fear of failure by just taking small, small steps and focussing on what we are going to gain, not what we are going to give up. And conversely, the mind can also have a fear of success, because it may think if you become successful, then you will have big, big challenges, big problems and you are not going to deal with them. But yes, but if we become successful, we go to that level.

At that time, we will also have grown ourselves just like a child who has to lift up a 25 kg weight when he grows old, that goes to young or middle age, that child also have developed the muscles. So, rather than worrying about the problems of the future, and therefore sabotaging our success right now, we focus on just taking small, small steps forward. And that way we can grow towards whatever Krishna wants us to come to be.

And we discussed concluded by how the whole process of bhakti means, fear comes when the world becomes bigger in our consciousness than Krishna. And bhakti means, as we become more and more conscious of Krishna, Krishna becomes bigger in our consciousness, do not tell God how big your problems are, tell your problems how big God is. And in that consciousness of Krishna, we can have maturity and clarity in going through our problems and overcoming our fears.

Thank you very much. Are there any questions? So, in the Akshaya Patha Surya, I said that Krishna can act in various ways. So, if some things are going wrong in our life, or if we do something wrong, how can we see that this is a part of the plan of the Lord? No, we shouldn't think that our mistakes are a part of the Lord's plan.

Our mistakes are our mistakes. But Krishna can incorporate them in his plan. It is not that when I commit a mistake, and I say that is Krishna's plan.

It's not like that. We do use our intelligence, and we do the best that we can. But Krishna is so expert that even through our mistakes, he can work out a plan for us.

So, the important thing in a devotee's life is, we keep trying to do our part. Krishna has his part to do and Krishna will do his part. We focus on doing our part.

Our part is that we use our intelligence, we use our abilities, and we try to serve in the best way that we can. And sometimes we make a mistake. It's possible.

But we learn and we do a course correction. Bhaktivinoda Thakur says, suppose I am going from here to here, but somehow I get deviated like this. That doesn't mean I have to go back all the way.

But I have gone off and I can turn and again move forwards. So, like that, we don't have to constantly be worrying what is Krishna's plan. We focus on what is the way I can serve right now.

And as long as we keep doing that, gradually Krishna's plan become real to us. So, our mistakes, we do try our best to learn from and avoid our mistakes. Avoid those mistakes in the future.

But if sometimes mistakes happen, the important thing is don't become so disheartened by those mistakes that then we commit the bigger mistake of just giving up our service to Krishna. So, Krishna can act in that sense through our mistakes. And as in Krishna acts through our mistakes, it does not mean that Krishna wants us to commit the mistakes.

It doesn't mean that Krishna is making us commit the mistakes. It is that Krishna can act even through those situations to bring out some importance. Yudhishthira Maharaj's gambling was a mistake.

He gambled because he felt constrained by the instructions of his elders. He considered Dhritarashtra to be like his father. And therefore, because he had told him, so he obeyed and he gambled in that.

So, he could have done that gambling as an instruction. But the extent to which he gambled, gambling his own brothers, gambling himself, gambling Draupadi, that extent he also recognised that I got caught in the fever of gambling and I gambled excessively. But through it all, Krishna worked and Krishna demonstrated to the world how he protects his devotee, how he protects the purpose of life.

That does not mean that what Yudhishthira did was right. Yudhishthira, what he did was a mistake. But still, Krishna worked things out in such a way that through that a miraculous display of Krishna's omnipotence was done.

So, we should try our best to avoid mistakes. But somehow when mistakes happen, we understanding Krishna's omnipotence to set things right, we do not commit the bigger mistake of giving up the service of Krishna. Is it clear? Any other questions? It says that everybody has to suffer whatever karma of previous life.

That is my first question. That Krishna is there as a paramatma in everybody's heart. So, he does not do anything actually.

We have to suffer our karma of previous life. So, that is my first answer. Everybody has to suffer.

So, he does not do anything or what is the question? He does not do anything. We have to suffer our reactions of our karma. Okay.

One question at a time. I will answer this first. So, when we all have to suffer the results of our karma, it says that Krishna is simply the overseer and the permitter.

So, Krishna does not do anything to protect us. Why is that? Or how do we understand this? There is the principle of justice and there is the principle of mercy. And both of them are important principles.

So, the law of karma is according to the principle of justice. Now, whatever action we have done, we have to get the reactions for that. And within the process of bhakti, there is kripa, there is mercy.

And that mercy is that which enables us to have our reactions minimised. So, when Krishna says, Upadrashtamantacabhata-bhoktamaheshwara, that he is speaking in 13.23. The 13th chapter is talking about, it is mostly Upanishadic, that means that chapter is derived from, themed from the Upanishad. And then Krishna is talking in the role of a judge.

As a super soul, he is the overseer, he is the permitter. That means, you have done this, you will get this reaction. Just like a judge sits above and okay, you have done this, you get this punishment, you have done this, if this was happening to you, you will get this relief or you will get this compensation, whatever.

So, like that, Krishna gives us the results of our karma when he is functioning as a super soul. But then that same Bhagavad Gita also says in 18.66, at its conclusion that, Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam sharanam vraja, aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksheshyami mahasuchaha. Krishna says, just surrender to me, I will free you from sinful reactions.

So, Krishna is not just a judge. He is a judge, but he is much more than a judge. But he also reciprocates based on how we approach.

The judge can give mercy. Sometimes in courts also there is mercy please, if a prisoner may be sentenced for say 20 years imprisonment, but if the prisoner behaves very well in the jail, the result after they will be released after 12 years or 15 years also. So, like that, there is that happens, but that depends, there is the decrease of the punishment because of mercy, but that happens when the prisoner behaves well.

So, the behaving well in the spiritual context is practising bhakti. So, Krishna says, if you surrender unto me, I will free you from sinful reactions. So, now we may say if Krishna frees us from sinful reactions, then why do we still have problems? We all have, even devotees, serious devotees also have problems.

The thing is, when Krishna wants us to come to him, and if Krishna wants us to come to him, what will be unruly for our going closer to him that we cannot know with our present vision. Because sometimes, if Krishna in one moment, he can free us from all misery, but our mind is so attached to material things that if we become free from misery, we think, oh, this world is an enjoyable place. In the past, I did not know how to enjoy.

Now, I know how to enjoy. And then, we say, thank you, Krishna, bye-bye. So, what will happen is, that relief from misery, that freedom from misery can act as unfavourable to our bhakti.

And sometimes, of course, it may also happen that we may be in great misery, and Krishna can minimise the reactions, and by minimising the reactions, he gives us the conviction that let me keep practising bhakti. So, Krishna takes our karma, and he handles it personally in a way that is suitable for our spiritual growth. So, for a devotee, it is important that whenever any problems come in life, devotee should be able to interpret those problems in a way that is favourable to bhakti.

The whole, the purpose of philosophy is to recognise how Krishna is acting favourably for us. And suppose, say, I am walking on the road, and say, if I am in, I am in Singapore, so I do not know the local Chinese language, and I am walking along the road, and suddenly, I see somebody shouting and charging towards me, and then they raise their hand and they are shouting something. And I think, what is that? Is this person going to attack me? I raise my hand to defend myself, and suddenly, this charge above, charge above, their hand charges above me, and just goes above me, and BAM! I hit someone behind.

I look around, and I see that actually, there is a thief who is going to attack me from behind, and this person is warning me there is a thief behind. But because I did not understand the language, so I thought they were going to attack me only. But actually, they were warning me, and this person was coming ahead, actually protecting me.

So, because I did not understand the language in which this person was speaking, I completely misunderstood. So, like that, we do not know what problem is going to attack us from behind. We do not know what karma we have done and how that karma is going to come upon us.

Or sometimes when Krishna comes in our life, sometimes a problem comes in our life, we think, why is Krishna letting it happen? But that may actually not be a problem. That may seem to be like a problem, but that may be saving us from a bigger problem also. So, sometimes when adversities come in our life, and those adversities sober us, and those adversities may save us from a bigger problem.

That is why the whole process of bhakti, especially when we study the philosophy, when we hear the pastimes, it is meant to help us learn the language in which Krishna speaks. Learn the language in which Krishna speaks, not that we hear some mystical akashmani, but it means that we start interpreting things in a way that is favourable for our bhakti. We shall see, okay, this is done, this may normally have seemed to me to be unfavourable, but this is actually favourable.

And how it is favourable? That often we may need to associate with devotees, who can give us a philosophical, proper philosophical understanding of things. And then by that we can say, this may seem to be a problem, but actually, this is beneficial for me, this is going to help me grow. So, Krishna definitely, to the extent we try to practise bhakti wholeheartedly, to the extent Krishna intervenes in our life, and he orchestrates our karma in a way by which we move closer to him.

Does it answer your question? Thank you. Any other questions? You had a second question? Or it is answered? That is answered. Okay, fine.

Does the effect of karma get nullified when we practise bhakti intensely? Some of it gets nullified, but more that it can be transcended. Nullified means it does not come only upon us. But even for devotees, we are going to grow old, we are going to go on to get diseased, we are going to die.

So, in that sense, it is not that Krishna is going to change the rules of material nature for us. So, by the rules of material nature, everybody will have to go through the gradual degeneration, destruction of the body. And that is going to cause some trouble, that is going to cause some pain.

But when we say nullified, yes, Krishna can nullify any problem also. Sometimes some big problem might have been meant to come, it is a small problem. One time one devotee was cutting sabji for Krishna.

And at that time, with the knife, the finger got cut. And that devotee Krishna Prabhupada, he says, Prabhupada was cutting some vegetables for Krishna. Why did my finger get cut? Prabhupada told him, your neck was meant to be cut.

Just the finger got cut. So, it is a minor sample reaction that Krishna may give us. But to a large extent, the reactions will be nullified.

But still, some reactions will still come. Some, because that is the nature of the material world. So, at that time, we are able to transcend.

Because if I think I am the body, or if I think the body is my only source of pleasure, then when the body starts breaking down, I become miserable. But if I have connected with some reality beyond the body, I have understood my own identity beyond the body, then by meditating on my spiritual identity and meditating on Krishna, who exists at the spiritual level, we can transcend much of the bodily suffering. And that is how bhakti offers us relief.

Sometimes by nullifying our misery, and sometimes by giving us the ability to transcend the misery. Thank you. Great.

Anyone else has any questions? Thank you very much.