Even God can’t help those who don’t want to be helped – Dhritarashtra’s physical and metaphysical blindness
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
Hare Krishna. So, I'll speak on the topic of how the Bhagavad Gita views us the real eyes. Dhritarashtra is the character to whom actually the whole Mahabharata war is spoken.
And it is spoken to him through Sanjay. Now Dhritarashtra was born blind. And although he was born blind, that physical blindness deprived him of some things.
He could never become the king. And at the start of the Bhagavad Gita where he is asked a question to Sanjay. So the Bhagavad Gita begins with a very striking setting that there is some person, one person doesn't have even normal vision.
And the other person has paranormal vision. So Sanjay can see that which is far away whereas Dhritarashtra cannot see even that which is close by. And the Bhagavad Gita helps us to understand that actually what is truly worth seeing.
So Dhritarashtra begins with the question What happened to Sanjay on the battlefield of Kurukshetra when everyone had assembled? So Dhritarashtra he had if you look at his life he was born blind. And he had one time when he could see. And another time when he got the opportunity to see but he declined that opportunity.
When was the one time when he got to see? That was in the when Krishna displayed the Vishwaroopa. So by this time Dhritarashtra had become quite his son Duryodhana had already got married. And Duryodhana also had children.
By that time Dhritarashtra was quite old. And yet he was blind. And at that time we can say that there is he had more or less given up the hope that he could be the king.
Although he had become the king unofficially circumstantially because Pandu had retired and there was no one else who could be the king. But he had recognised that he would never have the power fully as a king. So at that time when he asked when Krishna came as Shantidoot and Krishna displayed the Vishwaroopa.
So when Krishna displayed the Vishwaroopa at that time though those who had eyes could no longer see. Because this Vishwaroopa was so dazzling. It was so majestic that fire and sparks and smoke seemed to be emanating from it.
All the great Devatas manifested through him. And this way actually everybody who had eyes were blinded. And Sanjay actually if you see in this assembly there is only Krishna along with Satyaki who was a person who had come with Krishna.
All the others were Kauravas from the Kaurava side and they all were blinded. So on one side when Krishna had been speaking first to Dhritarashtra then to Duryodhana and then again to Dhritarashtra to persuade him to accept the peace proposal then finally Duryodhana felt that Krishna was having too much was influencing everyone too much to his detriment. And he charged.
He gave the order to charge to his soldiers. They came charging in and sometimes say if you are driving a vehicle at night and suddenly the opposite driver shows a glare then we can't see. At that time we will stop.
Here the glare was so great that nobody could see. And because nobody could see not only was the glare so great but along with that there was a fearsome sound and noise and everything suddenly became very fearful. So they had everybody had expected opposition when Krishna would they would try to arrest Krishna.
Then Krishna is alone how much can you oppose? But this universal form was so overwhelming they fell back. And hearing this chaos hearing the soldiers falling back in fear calling out in horror and running away Dhritarashtra asked what is happening? What is happening? And just like what he asks over here he asks over there also. What happened Sanjay? And Sanjay says Krishna is showing the universal form.
Now Krishna when he showed this there is there are different kinds of blindness. One kind of blindness is where we can't see anything. Other kind of blindness where we can see but we can't make out what we are seeing.
It's like when there is a mist. When there is a mist it's not that we are literally blind. We can see the whiteness all around us but because of that whiteness we can't see what is ahead.
So if somebody asks at that time okay what's happening? I can't see anything there is a mist around. Now if you literally couldn't see anything then how could we even know there is a mist around? We can see something but we are not able to see much because there is a mist over there. And then beyond that when so he although nobody could see what it meant was they understood that Krishna has shown something very fearsome something which just cannot be fathomed something which can definitely not be controlled or arrested but the specific details they were not able to discern but they understood Krishna is showing the universal form.
So Sanjay told Krishna is showing the universal form and then at that time Dhritarashtra expresses an extraordinary desire. He recognises that his son he knows that his son has just tried to arrest Krishna and he says oh Krishna I have never seen anything in my life please let me see this one side of yours let me see on your universal form Krishna had no reason to oblige Dhritarashtra we consider Dhritarashtra had remained passive he had given his at least a silent consent if not his active consent to Duryodhana Duryodhana had done all kinds of atrocities against the Pandavas and yet at this point Krishna gave Dhritarashtra the vision. So so now why did Krishna give such a vision? Actually when Krishna went as the peace messenger his purpose was to try for peace to the best of his capacity.
so Krishna actually offered everything on the most accommodating terms he had said just give five villages to the Pandavas so his mood in the whole Shanti Doodh pastime when he has gone as the peace messenger is actually very accommodating he goes out of his way to somehow accommodate so here at one level the purpose of showing the Vishwaroopa is to thwart Duryodhana's wicked plan to try to arrest Krishna at another level Krishna could have thwarted that in any way we see that on other occasions Krishna displays the universal form there are different circumstances in the Bhagavad Gita Arjuna will request Krishna please show me the universal form and when mother Yashoda asks him to open his mouth that time also he shows one kind of universal form whole universe in his mouth so Krishna has shown the universal form at different times and each time there is a different purpose when he shows the universal form now here what were his purposes it is one purpose of course to foil Duryodhana's plan now that was not the only purpose Krishna could have foiled it any other way by showing the universal form Krishna wanted to demonstrate to Duryodhana and to everyone over there that his power cannot be countered that whoever tries to go against that power that person is actually going against the one who is the source of the universe Kunti Maharani in the prayer says you are Vishwesh you are the lord of the universe Vishwatman you are the soul of the universe Vishwamurthy and you are the form of the universe so it is interesting the relationship he is describing here is you are the soul of the universe inhale that you are present with the universe you are the control of the universe that means you are without and you are controlling it you are inside it you are outside it and you are the universe you are inside the universe you are outside the universe and you are the universe. That is Vishwesh Vishwatman Vishwamurthy. So she is telling this and Krishna has demonstrated the Vishwaroopa to again pursue his peace proposal.
It's interesting this Vishwaroopa does not cause any casualties. Although there is so much power that is demonstrated, Krishna has gone as a peace messenger and he stays faithful to his purpose of being a peace messenger. He does not, there is fear and everybody falls back in terror but he does not cause any harm to anyone.
So in warfare or in negotiation there is, or in confrontation you could say, when two people are confronting each other and they are also negotiating, there is a vital role that is played by deterrence. Deterrence means that if the other person knows you have great power, then that will deter and stop the other person from doing something foolish. So it's like if you look at the 1970s, there were many wars happened between India-Pakistan, India-China.
But in the 1980s, 1990s, as nuclear weapons started getting developed. Now, although there is always infiltration, militancy, but all out war is not there. Because each party knows if you do something extra, the other party can just throw a nuclear bomb on us.
So now this is not to support nuclear weapons, this is simply to illustrate the point of deterrence. So Krishna demonstrated the whole Vishwaroopa to show the Kauravas his prowess and that could serve as a deterrent. Deterrent means don't fight.
How can you fight against such power? And after that, as the whole army, the large part of the army which Duryodhana had got to arrest Krishna, that fell back. And now Krishna had already demonstrated his power to everyone over there, including Duryodhana. Now when Dhritharashtra asked, please give me eyes, Krishna decided let me do this also.
So maybe the king will realise the futility of going against me, of pandering to his son's desires and going against me, continuing to go against me. So Krishna showed him the Vishwaroopa. Prabhupada in 11th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, his commentary writes that when Krishna sees the universal, Krishna shows the universal form, Arjuna after sometime says, you know, this is wonderful but I don't want to see this.
Please show me your Saumya Roopa. Please show me your sweet beautiful form. The point there is that Krishna is, that Prabhupada writes that a devotee is not interested in a godless display of opulence.
Now this is a very strong phrase to use. It is God who is displaying his opulence. In fact, the 10th chapter is known as the opulence of the absolute.
And what is described in the 10th chapter is depicted in the 11th chapter. The 10th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is Vibhuti Yoga, the opulence of the absolute. And that same opulence of how the Lord pervades the universe, that what is displayed is depicted.
Depicted means it is shown visually. What is verbally described, then it is visually depicted. So it is Krishna who is doing this.
It is God who is displaying his opulence. And Prabhupada is saying, it's not interested in, a devotee is not interested in a godless display of opulence. What does it mean? A devotee is interested in loving Krishna.
And whatever will help in loving Krishna, a devotee is interested in that. But apart from that, a devotee has no interest in just seeing something which is just awesome. A devotee may appreciate that.
And Prabhupada writes that, Arjuna asked that this be shown so that the world would know Krishna's glory. If it is possible, O Lord, for me to see the form, please reveal it to me. So he is taking a humble position and asking for the revelation.
But his purpose is to actually help people to gain conviction in what Krishna has said. In the Kaurava assembly over there, the prominent decision makers was Duryodhana. As Bhishma was there, Vidura was there, Drona was there.
But none of them were actually people who had the power to take a decision. Dhritarashtra who had the power. And Dhritarashtra was always carried away by Duryodhana's feelings, Duryodhana's desires, Duryodhana's pressures.
So, when we become attached to someone, then our attachment gives that person control over us. So, it's like if somebody has a machine, you press one button and then say you have a heater or a cooler. You press one button, it starts heating up.
Press another button, it starts cooling down. So, actually when we become attached to someone, we give them control of the buttons. They press the button and we just function accordingly.
So, now when Krishna displayed the Vishwaroopa to Dhritarashtra, what was his purpose? Duryodhana is not going to listen. At least let Dhritarashtra see. And Dhritarashtra beholds the form and Krishna's power is such that the same form which is dazzling to everyone else, Dhritarashtra could see.
He could see the effulgence, but he was not blinded by the dazzle. Sometimes the sun is bright, but the sun is not blinding. Sometimes the sun can become so bright that you can't even look at it.
For example, when the sun is rising, at that time you can look at the sun. But when it is noon, when the sun is blazing, we know the sun is there, but we can't look at it. So, Krishna arranged so that Dhritarashtra could see the form.
And after seeing this form, when the Kauravas had withdrawn, they just fled from the assembly, Krishna laughed, Vishwaroopa laughed and then Vishwaroopa drew his form. While Krishna was displaying the Vishwaroopa, at that time there had been inauspiciousness all around. There had been fearsome symptoms.
Now, we must say that, what are the fearsome symptoms? It appeared as there were inauspicious animals, jackals were howling, there were storms which seemed to be there in the outside atmosphere, unseasonal rains were coming, the sun had become dimmed, huge waves suddenly rose in the oceans. Then Krishna is displaying something miraculous. If Krishna is doing something extraordinary, that's auspicious.
So, why would that lead to some inauspicious symptoms? Actually, it is inauspicious for those who are against Krishna. Every manifestation of Krishna has a particular purpose. So, Krishna, when he hugs mother Yashoda, at that time mother Yashoda feels so much joy.
She hugs mother Yashoda and she hugs Krishna and Krishna hugs her. Those gentle arms and she feels it around her neck, she is filled with so much love and joy. But when Krishna put those same arms around Trnavarta, Trnavarta had taken Krishna high up into the sky and Krishna put those arms around him.
When he put those arms around him, at that time, Krishna actually, what he did, when the first demon who came to attack Krishna was Putana and when Krishna caught Putana and sucked her out of her life with her milk, at that time Putana screamed loudly and that scream alarmed the Brajwasis. Now, in this case, Dronavars had already taken Krishna high up into the sky and Krishna did not want the Brajwasis to get too alarmed. They were already sufficiently alarmed seeing Krishna high up in the sky with this demon.
But then Krishna, when he hugged Trnavarta, Trnavarta thought, oh, this child is getting scared, that's why he is hugging me. But Krishna was not scared. Krishna hugged him so tightly that when Trnavarta started feeling choked, Krishna's hug with his small arms was so tight that Trnavarta could not even scream.
His eyes started bulging, his air couldn't come out and Krishna was just tightly holding him. And Krishna tightly held him while increasing his weight. So the point is Krishna's arms are very loving for mother Yashoda because she approaches him with love.
But Krishna's arms are very, very painfully strong and hard for Trnavarta because he's approaching Krishna with animosity, with hatred, with the desire to kill. So here, the demonstration of the Vishwaroopa by Dhritarashtra was for one purpose alone. That purpose was to actually create fear.
Now, where logic doesn't work, Krishna had used logic in the whole peace negotiations. So, here he wanted to demonstrate his power. And that's why when Krishna has a particular intent, nature also cooperates with him.
So the inauspiciousness apparently that was there, it was not inauspicious because whatever Krishna does is ultimately auspicious. But if somebody is on the wrong course, then to stop them something is demonstrated. The purpose of that is actually to get that person on the right track.
So everything Krishna did just so that he could make his peace proposal successful. And then Dhritarashtra, he, as Krishna walked out of the assembly, Dhritarashtra's eyes went blind once again. He saw Krishna displaying the Vishwaroopa.
He saw Krishna's re-manifesting his normal form. And everybody had just fled from there more or less. Those who had not fled, they had been paralysed.
This couldn't do anything. Krishna just nonchalantly walked away with Satyaki, joking with him as if nothing has happened. He had given this spectacular display.
And then, the next morning, Krishna followed the etiquette. He came to meet Dhritarashtra and the Kuru elders. He said, I am taking your leave now.
So Dhritarashtra came forward. No, Krishna, please know that I have no desire for this war, but I am unable to control my son. I have nothing against you.
I strongly wish that the peace be there, but I can't control my son. So Krishna looked at the other Kuru elders and he said, Elders, all of you have heard now the ruler of the earth admitting his powerlessness in the face of his son. And therefore, war now is inevitable.
So the question comes over here, why did Dhritarashtra, when Dhritarashtra asked Krishna, please give me eyes to see, see his universal form. That means he does have some understanding of Krishna's power. Otherwise, why would he ask for Chitra benediction? So this was even before he had seen any power.
He had heard, of course, from the sages that Krishna is Vishnu descended to this world. That's how the Mahabharata depicts it. So he had known about it, but still he had not really accepted it.
Here, when Krishna started showing the universal form, he saw. First he requested. So that blindness which had troubled him throughout his life, Krishna removed that blindness in one moment.
So he had some little faith by which he asked for that request. He made that request. And then Krishna fulfilled that request.
That itself is extraordinary. For someone to be able to free him from his blindness is extraordinary. And then beyond that, it's one thing to not have eyes and then to have eyes and to see something ordinary.
But it's quite another to get eyes and to see something most extraordinary. So actually, he got an experience of Krishna's power through a double demonstration. The first demonstration was that the blind was able to see.
So for somebody blind to be able to see, it's a momentous event. And there are times in history when some sages are able to, some saints, some sages, they do some miracles. And they make some blind person able to see.
Everybody says, you're such a great saint. In the Bible, Jesus does some miracles. One of them is that he makes a blind person able to see.
And that often Christians doubt that this is the proof of Jesus' greatness. So what is the proof of? So Dhritarashtra got the first proof that though blind he was able to see. The second proof was he got to see the Vishwaroop also.
And yet after this, he did not change his disposition. He said, I am powerless. So how does attachment actually work? What does it take for someone to give up attachment? God himself comes, God first requests and God demonstrates.
Both he has done. So why does someone not give up the attachment? That is the power of the free will. Every soul has been given free will by God.
And Krishna never takes the free will away from anyone. That free will means that we can choose what we want. And Krishna may prompt us to make a particular choice, but Krishna doesn't force us.
I'll come back to this point again towards the end. But if we consider later, just before the Kurukshetra war, Vyasadev comes to him. And Vyasadev tells him that I can give you a benediction.
That I can give you eyes so that you can see this Kurukshetra war. Dhritarashtra is caught between, we could say, desiring the impossible and dreading the inevitable. Desiring the impossible means he's somehow desiring that my sons should win.
That is, it is impossible. And dreading the inevitable. The inevitable means he knows that his sons are going to die.
And he's caught in this, he somehow wants his sons to win, but he knows in the back of his mind, my sons have acted grievously wrong. My sons are going to be destroyed. And thus, he tells Vyasadev that I lived for my sons.
I could not see my sons when they were living. How will I be able to tolerate them dying now? I don't want this vision. But now, even at this point, if he had put his foot strongly down, he could have stopped the war.
He acknowledges that my sons are going to die. But then he says, give this benediction to Dhritarashtra, sorry, to Sanjay. Why Sanjay? Because he wants to know what is happening, what is going to happen.
Then Sanjay gets this vision. So, if we consider over here, what was exactly his problem? Was it his blindness? Krishna had removed his blindness. Vyasadev had been ready to remove his blindness.
Now, the same Krishna who had given him the eyes to see the Vishwaroopa, if he had asked, Krishna could have given him the eyes back also. But in both these cases, they offered him vision back for a finite time duration. He could see the universal form and he could see the war.
So, his problem was not that he was blind physically. It was rather he was so attached that that attachment blinded him to reality. And because of that, no matter what was done, he just couldn't change.
He just couldn't change his disposition. He just continued doing what he was doing. And that was staying passive.
He stayed passive while his son was obstinate. So, for all of us, when we go through life, we all face our daily challenges, small challenges, big challenges. And we all want that when we are trying to practise bhakti, when you're trying to do something spiritual, we may desire that something extraordinary happen.
And by that extraordinary happening, my faith will increase. If some miracle happens in my life, this problem goes away. Then by that, my faith will increase.
If I want this and this works out, my faith will increase. Now, we often wait for something special to happen by which either our problems will disappear, our desires will be fulfilled or thereby, we will be able to get, we will be able to both improve our material life. And then we think, if my material life improves, this problem goes away, this desire gets fulfilled and that will increase my faith.
And once my faith is increased, then I'll practise spiritual life more seriously. So, that is the idea that many people have. We may also have that.
If only this problem would go away, things would be so nice. And if Krishna removes this problem, then I will have faith in Krishna. My faith in Krishna will become so much stronger.
So, here, there is the material life in which each one of us, we have our body, we have our family, we have our jobs. And in all of these, we are acting. And naturally, our consciousness is primarily consumed at the material level.
Because these things, they take so much of our time, energy, the need, it's needed over there. But along with that, there's a spiritual life where we develop our relationship with Krishna. And often we feel that if things work out at the material level, that will increase our faith.
And then I'll practise bhakti more seriously at the spiritual level. Now, for Dhritarashtra, he was so attached that even when Krishna demonstrated his prowess twice, by giving him vision and by giving him the vision to see the universal form, still he didn't change. That means that the change in our material situation is no guarantor of the change in our spiritual disposition.
That for all of us, to become more serious in spiritual life, we need to change our spiritual disposition. But the change in the material situation, if this problem goes away, then I'll practise bhakti more seriously, my faith in Krishna will increase. The change in the material situation is no guarantor of the change in the spiritual disposition that we will move towards Krishna.
Now, when Krishna speaks the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna, Arjuna is also similarly blinded. Arjuna also at one level has similar conceptions. Oh, these are all my family members.
These are all my dynasty members. How can I fight against them? How can I fight against them? I can't. And therefore, he says, I will not fight.
So at one level, Arjuna also gets somewhat attached. And then Krishna shows the universal form. But even before Krishna shows the universal form, Arjuna has already accepted, after the Jata Shloki Bhagavad Gita 10th chapter, he says, that you are the Supreme Lord.
I accept, you have no doubts about it. So what happens is that Krishna, by the message of the Gita, helps Arjuna to understand how Krishna himself is all-attractive. And because Arjuna has the devotional heart, it connects with him.
And by that connection with him, by the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna is illumined. Arjuna's heart is transformed. So Dhritarashtra, even after hearing the Bhagavad Gita, and hearing about the universal form, he is straight over there.
Still his heart again doesn't get transformed. So that means, in our life, there is something which we do, which is in our control, and something which is not in our control, which we hope works out right, that means that Krishna will make it right. But the point is that we need to, each one of us, recognise that waiting for Krishna to do something special, that is something which is no guarantor that it will change from our side.
If we decide to make the change, if now Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna heard the Bhagavad Gita, just by that hearing, he was transformed. So for all of us, there are certain, in our life, certain things are in our control, certain things are not in our control. Whether it is in our family life, in our social life, in our professional life, in our spiritual life.
And often, we think that if that thing works out, then my life will move so smoothly. It may, it may not. Because the nature of the mind is, if the mind develops a habit of blaming, you know, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong.
So then that same mind, what it will do is, even if one big problem is solved, is removed, the mind will find some other problem to blame. And in that way, as long as we don't take the responsibility to do our part, we will always find something out there as a reason to blame for our situation. So it is called scapegoating, finding a scapegoat.
So if, as long as we keep finding scapegoats, we can't grow in any way in our life. So the Bhagavad Gita tells us, it reveals Krishna's glory, it reveals Krishna's greatness, it reveals Krishna's sweetness. And by that, it inspires a transformation in Arjuna.
It is Arjuna who chooses to be transformed. And when Arjuna chooses to be transformed, that demonstrates to all of us that we also need to do our part. So rather than waiting for Krishna to do something special, something miraculous, we focus on doing our part.
And for doing that, if we just connect ourselves with the Gita, if we study the Gita, if we practise bhakti, according to whatever little bhakti we have, according to whatever little potency we have, if we practise it, then by that, slowly we'll start seeing that our own heart will get transformed, we'll be more connected with Krishna. Even if the situation outside is troublesome, for us, inside, there'll be greater strength. With greater strength, we'll find that we'll be able to face that situation.
The world can hurt us in many ways. And you can keep blaming, you know, the world hurt me this way, the world hurt me this way, the world hurt me that way. But greater than the world's power to hurt is Krishna's power to heal.
Greater than the world's power to hurt is Krishna's power to heal. And Arjuna shifts his vision, by hearing the Bhagavad Gita, from the world's power to hurt. Oh, so many things are, so many people are going to die.
So much catastrophe is going to happen. His vision shifts to Krishna's power to heal. Krishna is with me, and Krishna is with everyone over here.
Even if every one of them dies, that's not the end of their journey. Krishna is with them, and Krishna will guide them onwards. And when this shift happens, that okay, there are many big problems in my life, but Krishna has the power to heal me.
Krishna has the power to strengthen me. When we shift the vision to Krishna, he will guide us. And Dhritarashtra, unfortunately, never accepted the guidance.
And he just kept blaming. He first said, why was I blind? Why can't my son become the king? Oh, why is my son not listening to me? He kept pushing off responsibility for his situation, his actions, to things beyond his control. And thus, eventually, everything went out of his control.
All his sons were killed, and he was left alone. He was left helpless. He feared displeasing his sons, but then he ended up destroying his sons.
So that he could have avoided if he had stopped his sons, or he had stopped himself from indulging his sons. And the Bhagavad Gita gives us the eyes. We may not be in a situation like Dhritarashtra, where we are attached to someone and someone is manipulating us.
But the point is, in every one of our lives, there are things which have gone wrong. And those things have hurt us, or things may be hurting us also right now. But we keep blaming those things, and we don't do our part to rectify.
And what is our part to rectify? The first is that we take shelter of Krishna. We practise bhakti diligently. We understand the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita, absorb ourselves in the remembrance of Krishna, and we'll find that by his grace, we'll be able to gain the inner strength.
We can either tolerate the outer problem if it is there, and it can't be removed, or we can overcome that outer problem and move on in our life. So that is what the Bhagavad Gita assures us, mat-chitta-sarva-durgani mat-prasada-tare shasi. If you become conscious of me, you will pass over all obstacles by my grace.
So I'll summarise. I spoke today on how how the Gita gives us eyes to see, but Dhritarashtra never got the eyes to see. Krishna gave Dhritarashtra the eyes when he went as a Shanti Doodh.
When Duryodhana tried to arrest Krishna, he displayed the Vishwaroop. Everybody got blinded. Krishna gave him the eyes to see.
Why did Krishna give the eyes? Because Krishna was doing everything possible to avoid the war. So he demonstrated power to the Kauravas, to Duryodhana and his associates, to get them, to deter them from the war. When logic doesn't work, a demonstration of power may work.
And when Dhritarashtra, because he was so weak-minded, he demonstrated his power in two ways. First, he gave him the eyes to see. And then he gave him the eyes to see the universal form, which is blinding to everyone, but which dazzled him but didn't blind him.
And yet Dhritarashtra did not change. Did he not know that Krishna is God? Did he not accept that Krishna is God? He knew it. To some extent, he accepted also.
But his heart was filled with so much attachment that what was in his head never entered into his heart. And thus, when the war came up, he was desiring the impossible and dreading the inevitable. And he asked Sanjay to get the eyes rather than himself because he knew his sons were going to die.
So Dhritarashtra eventually lost everything because of his attachments. And Arjun was also similarly overcome by attachment to his relatives. But when Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita, Arjun shifted his vision from the situation to the Lord, from the world's power to hurt to Krishna's power to heal.
So we often wait for some change in our external situation. And we think that that change in our material situation will help us to change our spiritual disposition. Only this problem goes away.
Only this desire is fulfilled. Only this person stops being like this. Then I can move forward in my life.
That may or may not happen. With Dhritarashtra, it never happened. And with us also, it may not happen.
So rather than waiting for the world to stop hurting us, we can start turning towards Krishna right now. And the more we absorb ourselves in Krishna, the more we'll experience his healing potency in our life. And thus we'll be able to move forwards.
Krishna assures us that he will help us overcome all obstacles if we just become conscious of him. Thank you very much. So any questions or comments? So about talking about the attachment, right? So there are many anarkans like that.
So sometimes when we think about that, or when we face those anarkans, we feel disheartened that, you know, that even though doing bhakti or seva, whatever capacity we have, still those anarkans are haunting us and disheartened us. So if you feel disheartened by anarkans, what should we do? Yeah, sometimes we can't succeed in Krishna consciousness. But even if we can't succeed in Krishna consciousness, we can fail in Krishna consciousness, not fail out of Krishna consciousness.
What that means is Krishna consciousness is not just about adhering to certain standards. It is not just about resisting some temptations. It is about focussing on Krishna.
So sometimes some anartha, some conditioning weakens us, overpowers us. And that makes us feel more the need for Krishna in our lives. And that makes us call out to Krishna more.
Then we are actually becoming more conscious of Krishna by that. And as we keep doing that, then over a period of time, the anartha will come, it will stay for some time, it will go away, it will come back again. But in between, if we are intensifying our devotion, we are strengthening ourselves.
And that strengthening of ourselves will help us overcome that anartha later, whenever it comes gradually. But to fail out of Krishna consciousness means we just become so disheartened and just give up practising bhakti. I mean, what is the use of this? I can never do it, just let me give up.
And what are we focussing? We are focussing on our weakness rather than God's greatness. That Krishna, I'm so weak, I can't do it. But still, you have the power, you can purify me, so I take shelter of you.
So rather than fighting against the weakness, we fight to connect ourselves with Krishna. Our endeavour should not be just to give that up. Our endeavour is to connect ourselves with Krishna.
If we do that, we will be able to overcome that gradually. Yes, ma'am. Vidura's words cause Dhritarashtra to change? Yeah.
See, we all experience frustration in life. But the nature of illusion is that, nature of maya is such that maya doesn't allow us to become hopelessly frustrated. Frustrated but hopefully frustrated.
Okay, this didn't work out, this is terrible, but maybe this will work out, this will work out, this will work out. Now, we do want things to work out in our life, but more important than things working out is that we work out our way towards Krishna. We need to move towards Krishna.
If we keep deferring that, postponing that, then it's a problem. Then, in the case of Dhritarashtra, when his sons had finally been killed, the hope that through his sons he would become the king, that was lost forever. And then, because he had been so attached, he did not realise the predicament he was in, the situation that he was in.
Not only had his sons been killed, but the people whom he had killed, he was living at their expense. So, when Vidura came and spoke to him that, that like a person may feed one's remnants to a dog, like that you are eating what Bhima has thrown away. No, it's not like that.
Yudhishtira actually gave him very, treated it very respectfully. But, this is your reality. There is the Pandavas under kingdom and you are living on them.
So, that jolted him out. That means, at one level, his attachment, there is no chance of getting fulfilled. But after that, still there was an illusion that I am living comfortably, I can continue living.
But then, when the reality of the situation was brought in front of him, forcefully, along with that, there was no hope really for him to improve his, to fulfil his material dreams. And that's when. So, just the frustration of our life may not take us towards spirituality, nor is the instruction from someone alone take us towards spirituality.
But the frustration and the instruction come together. And we see no way out of the frustration and then the instruction helps us to see that frustration in a more spiritually, spiritually prompting light. Then, we can move towards Krishna, who can at least grow spiritually.
So, it's said that Dhritarashtra, the way I put it is that, Dhritarashtra had to lose everything before he lost his blindness. Lost his blindness. His blindness of attachment, his blindness of illusion, he had to lose everything before he lost his blindness.
Now, Krishna can help us if we take to start doing that. We always also lose everything. But we can gain Krishna before we lose everything, if we take to purpose of our life.
Does Krishna try to show him his power that I am so strong, try to make him feel, that's the one. Second, why Krishna has this, try to show him with the fear thing, because he was still thinking that I can, I have 100 sons or I can do, I have the power or I am desired to be a king. But still, he knows that he is powerful and he, that's why he's requesting, I want to see.
That's what he shows, he is aware of that, I want to see what Krishna has, what he can show else or say like this. But still he is, why he is not requesting at that time that give me those eyes with whom I can leave this, where I am being attached, material things or with my sons or all the maya things. Why can't I move to the other thing, if he has that type of thinking.
Why he is just thinking that, okay, show me your power, I can, I want to see that or I don't know, sometimes it's confusing to me. Yeah, so why did Dhrashtra ask to see Krishna's Vishwaroop and why did Krishna just show him his powerful form? Why did he not ask for the eyes to give up his, by which he could give up his attachments? See, that is something which is up to the soul. Krishna cannot take away our free will.
Krishna, he has made us in such a way that he gives each one of us free will. And with that free will, we can pray to Krishna, please free me of my attachment. But it is we who have to free ourselves.
It is not that the attachments are holding on to us, it is we who are holding on to attachments. There's a famous story of Ashtavakra Muni that he had come to Maharaja Janak's court and at that time, some sages asked him, some people asked him, you know, how can we give up attachments? And he just, as soon as he heard this question, he just ran out of the assembly. And people got alarmed.
What happened? Did we offend him in some way? Why is he running? They all started running after him. And he ran into the palace gardens and he held, clutched the tree, hugged the tree tightly. And he said, oh tree, let go of me, let go of me, let go of me.
So what? People were thinking, has the sage gone mad? First one, he suddenly ran away like that. And now he says, finally, one of them approached him and said, let go of the tree, let go of the tree. Then he said, please, what are you doing? He said, now this tree is holding on to me.
No, the tree is not holding on to you, you are holding on to the tree. He said, exactly. He said, your attachments are not holding on to you, you are holding on to your attachments.
So that means, not that the attachments are not there, they are there. But actually, it is for us to free ourselves. When we start taking the steps to free ourselves, then Krishna can help us.
Even God can't help those who don't want to be helped. So Dhritarashtra, he wanted to see Krishna's power, but he really had no desire also to give up the attachment to his son. That desire also was not there within him.
He was attached to his son and he never saw that attachment as a problem. It is only when we identify something as a problem, then we can rectify it. But he never identified his attachment to his son as a problem.
He said, I am just doing what a father should be doing for his son. That way, right in his Dhritarashtra, when he was born itself, at that time Vidura had told him, there are inauspicious signs seen when he is born. He said, you will have 99 other sons.
Just let this son go. This son will cause the destruction of your dynasty. But he did not do that.
So he never identified his attachment as a problem. That's why he did not ask for anything else. Or is it already been the desire of Krishna to do this? If we say like this? Yeah, is it the desire of Krishna that all this happened? See, there are multiple levels of understanding this.
Krishna is the well-wisher of everyone. It is not that Krishna wants bad things to happen in the world. It is not Krishna who wants people to do bad things.
So nothing happens without Krishna's sanction. What is the difference between Krishna's sanction and Krishna's intention? Krishna's sanction means you want it, I allow it. Krishna's intention means this is what I want.
So Krishna does not intend that anyone do bad things. Krishna does not intend that bad things happen to people in any way, that people become victimised by other people. But Krishna has given everyone free will.
So to say that everything was Krishna's will is actually philosophically not correct because everybody has free will. So based on how we use our free will, if somebody uses their free will again and again and again in the wrong way, then that free will itself becomes habituated to acting in a wrong way. So that means what happens in this world, there are three broad factors which cause it.
There is God's will, there is free will and there is evil. Evil is the anartha, the conditioning. So after doing something again and again and again, one stops feeling that it is wrong.
Starts habitually doing it. So such people become hardened criminals. See free will is there in everyone.
Free will can be used right and free will can be used wrongly. But when somebody repeatedly misuses the free will, then their capacity to use the free will becomes lesser and lesser. The conditioning becomes more and more and they start becoming habitual wrongdoers.
So what happens is that Dhritarashtra refused to use his free will as a responsible way and Duryodhana was already evil. He had become so envious, so brazen. He was openly acting in evil ways.
So what happened was not that Krishna's will that this terrible war take place. It was Dhritarashtra's abuse of free will and it was Duryodhana's evil that caused the war to take place. So is that seen as Krishna trying to control the free will? Can you give an example? So this is not necessarily a Yogamara example, but the example that comes to mind is when Jaya and Vijaya were at the Dwarpal's at Vaikuntha and the Kumaras came in.
So on one level you can see that they were just following their duty, but in a way the teachers were insulted. Okay, I get your question. So if somebody is by Krishna's arrangement acting against Krishna, then is it Krishna controlling their free will? Not exactly controlling their free will.
It is they are surrendering their free will to Krishna to serve him in whatever way Krishna wants. So sometimes, so this is described specifically about Jaya and Vijaya. This is not described about all the demons.
This is not described about Dhritarashtra. This is not described about Duryodhana and so sometimes in some cases Krishna may want his devotees to serve him in a particular way and for that purpose he may arrange situations in their life, but they are also willing to serve in that way. Krishna doesn't take the free will away from anyone.
That is, if we see in the spiritual world also, when Krishna is doing a particular act, Yashodamaya is trying to tie Krishna. She has a free will. Sometimes she runs away, Krishna sometimes catches.
So Yashodamaya has a free will, but she is using it for the service of Krishna. That is relatively easy to understand. But there are in the spiritual world, Jatila and Kutila.
They try to create obstacles between Krishna and Radharani. How they are doing Krishna's will, that seems to be a little more difficult to understand. But the idea is they create excitement.
It is opposition that creates some excitement in Krishna's leela. So we could say that Yashodamaya acts for Krishna's pleasure. Jatila, Kutila also act for Krishna's pleasure, but in an indirect way.
And then similarly, there may be some demons who may act in that way. So now, these are all very exceptional situations. We can't say that this is a situation that applies all the time.
So sometimes the devotees are given a particular role by Krishna and then they take up that role to please Krishna in that particular service. But it is not that everyone who is acting demoniac is acting in that way. And we can also see what is our purpose in studying scriptures.
So we can look at a transcendental level and say that everyone is orchestrated by Krishna. But then if we look only at the transcendental level, then there is nothing ethical or practical to learn from it. It is all Krishna's pastimes.
So then that is one way to approach it and we just relish the pastime. But if you want to learn some life lessons, then you have to look not at the transcendental level, but at the practical level. Yes, Antanya? So how we can be focused all the time in Krishna and even see Krishna in each and every situation? Because there are lot of temptations around us, what the devotees do.
Sometimes we forget to do the… Yeah, so how do we keep Krishna in the centre in our household life, family life? It's a matter of firstly of intention. That means that Vishwanath Chakra Thakur gives example that if somebody is as a family, but their job takes them away from the family. They are staying far away and they are doing externally many things.
They are negotiating with their customers, clients, doing this, doing that. But in their heart, they know that I am doing all this for my family. So in the action practically, it may not be that the family is the forefront of their consciousness.
Practically, I have to deal with this person, I have to deal with this person. But in intention, it is all for the family. Similarly, a devotee's intention is always to serve Krishna.
They have to be engaged in various activities. But the purpose is Krishna. However, to have this intention, we need some strong affection for Krishna.
Like a person who goes away from the family, if they have no attachment, they have no affection for the family, then they will not even think about the family. So there has to be affection. And that affection, similarly, we have to have for Krishna.
Otherwise, while doing our worldly activities, we just get consumed by And for developing that affection, we need some steady practise of direct devotion. Direct devotion means some amount of satsang, some puja, some sadhana, some japa, some swadhyay. When we do these studying scriptures, associating with devotees, worshipping Krishna, then that creates that bond of affection within us, that bhakti within us.
And when that bhakti is there, then whatever we do, it will be done for Krishna. Thank you very much.