​Examining our definition of happiness

​Youth meeting at KC Society, Toronto, Canada

Hare Krishna. Thank all of you for coming here today evening for this discussion on the quest for happiness. I would put it more precisely as examining our definitions of happiness.

You know, when initially the first ships came to America, the European explorers came here. In some parts, there were natives who were living inland, and they had no conception of a giant ship like this. And when it came, they were just staring.

And they didn't know what to make of it. Kept looking, kept looking, kept looking. And because they had no frame in which to fit this, this couldn't make sense of it.

Now, whatever information goes into our eyes, it is actually the information that goes into our eyes that transforms into comprehension through our education. So, information transforms into comprehension or through education. To give a simpler example, that suppose the person who doesn't know many things about stock market, doesn't know what economic trends, and that person comes to a stock market.

And there is on some screen, some line going down. The line going down and there people get heart attacks by that. What happened? Just some light went, a pattern of light went down on a graph.

Why are you getting heart attacks? So, what is happening here? You know, that pattern of light, where this is on the screen, some line going down. What it means? That is actually shaped by our knowledge of things. So, what we can know depends on what we know.

What we can know, so if I see a graph line going down, what can I know by that? That depends on what we know. So, a layperson may see an x-ray and that x-ray, they just see some patterns of dark and slightly less dark shapes on the x-ray film. But a doctor may say, hey, you have got TB.

It is a chest x-ray. Now, what is happening? What you can know depends on what you know. So, in every field of life, the vision that the layperson has and the vision that the expert has is different.

So, this applies also to our quest for happiness. We all operate, we all innately look for happiness in life. Whatever we are doing, we are innately pleasure seeking.

Now, where we seek the pleasure, that depends on our conceptions or definitions of happiness. We all have our own definitions. These will be consciously chosen or more often than not, they are just unconsciously imbibed within us.

So, in that sense, all of us have a philosophy, although all of us may not be philosophical. All of us have a philosophy means, philosophy here refers to some idea or some guiding principle that shapes our decisions. That is from a working perspective philosophy.

It is not really based on an understanding of the nature of reality. So, to explore the nature of reality, that is to be philosophical. So, all of us may not be philosophical, but we all have some philosophy.

It may again, most of the times, our philosophy is unexamined. Not only is it unexamined, it is also something which is unsolicited. It just comes upon us and it affects us.

So, now when we look at our definitions of happiness, whatever definition we have that acts like a default setting, which shapes whatever we see in the world. So, on my computer, I am a writer. So, I often use a text to speech software to read out the text, so that I can proofread it, I can hear how it sounds and I can edit it further.

So, once I wrote, the soul is sat-chit-ananda. Standard principle, sat is eternal, chit is conscious, ananda is joyful. These are the comprising elements of the soul.

Soul is sat-chit-ananda. When the computer was reading it out, it read it out as the soul is Saturday chit-ananda. So, within the computer's programme, now sat was a short form for Saturday.

So, the autocorrect over there got into action, but the autocorrect made the correct incorrect. So, I am giving all these examples to illustrate this point that we all have certain default settings, certain default definitions based on which we function, default conceptions of happiness, default conceptions of life and they shape everything that we see. Science is often thought of as the quest for knowledge of the world around us.

Yes, it is a quest for knowledge, but science is a very selective quest for knowledge. That means, when we look at the big world around us, there is so much information to take in. So, how does science progress? Now, all the information that we see around us, science shortlists, which is the information I am going to focus on, which is the information you are going to focus on and that information is what science processes and it processes it in a phenomenally powerful way on many occasions.

At the same time, it is selective. So, for example, science characterises matter into primary and secondary properties. So, this is a whole different subject.

Again, I will come to the same point, which I was driving at about what we know, what we can know based on what we know. So, if I see the world around me, science looks at say length, breadth, weight, mass, speed, all these are measurable qualities. These science considers as primary.

And then, if I were to look at beauty, taste, fragrance, these are not quantifiable qualities. If somebody makes some sweet and asks, make some halwa, how sweet is it? We can just talk and call it very sweet, not so sweet. We really cannot have a sweet-o-metre.

We can measure the sugar, but we cannot measure the sweetness. That is a subjective experience. It is a real experience, but it is not quantifiable.

And so, science progresses by focussing on the primary qualities, those which are measurable. And in the process of focussing on the measurable qualities, those which are not measurable, they are pushed into the background. So, for example, if you are designing a poster, or designing a cover page, or some pamphlet you are designing, at that time, you may be using Photoshop.

And using Photoshop, we can tell, we can have 33% red, 22% blue, 18% yellow. We can have a precise understanding of the percentages. But in the end of it all, does it look good? No.

That is something which an observer has to decide. The computer can measure the colour composition, and can measure it far more precisely than what we can know. But it cannot tell us whether it is beautiful or it is not beautiful, whether it looks good or it doesn't look good.

So, now, when somebody looks through a scientific frame, then they get a certain picture, and a certain aspect of reality gets left out of it. So, Albert Einstein is considered to be the greatest scientist of the last century. And he, he was actually quite conflicted about ultimate questions.

Now, he was a very great scientist. And he recognised that science can very easily morph into scientism. Science is a way of acquiring knowledge, scientism is actually the ideology that claims that science has a monopoly on knowledge.

And all that we can know, we can know only through science. So, scientism is the ideology that puts the hallow of omniscience around science. Now, if we look at ourselves, from a just a scientific perspective, in terms of, now when we use the word, so science is a way of looking at the world.

But scientism is the claim that the way that science looks at the world is the only valid way. And there is no other way of looking at the world. So, in the scientific perspective, now we are just made of our chemicals.

And if our body is made of chemicals, ultimately, chemicals interacting according to natural laws, then we see that natural things, they simply function according to impersonal laws without any free will. So, for example, if I take this glass, and I drop it, the glass does not have any free will whether to fall or not. The glass is going to fall.

It is simply governed by the laws of nature. So, if we are just material creatures, and matter is governed by the laws of nature, then matter, then that means we also don't have any free will. That we are simply programmed by the chemicals in our body, specifically the patterns in our brain.

And that's how we function. So, Einstein said that from this perspective, the Nazis, Einstein was Jew living in Germany, and he had to take refuge in America, because Hitler's Nazi Germany is persecuting Jews. So, he said, if I stick to the reductionistic perspective, that we are simply our chemicals, we are simply our body, then I cannot find anything wrong with what the Nazis did.

They were simply programmed by their brain, which is working according to natural laws to kill. So, he says, my, my, I find the way they killed millions of people revolting. I'm paraphrasing what Einstein said but I can say that I cannot find anything objectively wrong with it.

It's just my subjective preference that I found it wrong. But now he's killing millions of people. Can we say that, you know, they're not to be blamed? If I come in front of you, if I go to someone, slap them.

Why did you slap me? That's what my brain chemicals told me to do. They'll slap me back. My brain chemicals told me to slap you.

We never function as if we are programmed beings. If somebody does something that hurts us, then we ask them, why did you do that? The very question, why did you do that, implies that you had a choice not to do that. That means you had the free will.

So, free will is the foundation of relationships. It's the foundation of accountability to the foundation of trust. It is the foundation of justice.

And at one level, materialism is the worldview which seems to actually give us a lot of freedom for pursuing happiness. So, quite often, if we come from a somewhat conservative background or India at least was culturally quite conservative. So, from there, when we come to the Western world, which is culturally quite liberal, we feel, oh, there are so many opportunities for enjoyment here.

And we just want to explore and enjoy. Materialism seems to be actually offering a far greater scope for enjoyment. And religion seems to restrict enjoyment.

There is a atheistic gag, that's a joke against Christianity. It says, the Bible says that in the beginning was the word and the word was God. That's the first verse of the Bible.

So, the atheists say in the beginning was the word and the word was no. No means you can't do this, can't do this, you can't do this, you can't do this. So, people have a very perception of religion as restricting.

You can't do this, you can't do this, you can't do this. And this perception, materialism seems to be a very liberating philosophy. Whatever you want to enjoy, you can enjoy.

Don't bother about any outdated religious regulations. Don't bother about any cultural consideration. If you want to enjoy, just do it.

Now, at one level, in terms of practical conduct, materialism seems to be a very liberating philosophy. But if we go down to its roots, materialism is actually the most crippling philosophy. Because materialism implies that there is nothing more to us than matter.

And matter is simply governed by laws. So, if we are simply governed by the laws of nature, the impersonal mechanical laws of nature, then we too don't have any freedom. So, whatever our body urges us to do, whatever our brain chemicals tell us to do, that is what we have to do.

So, materialism is actually the philosophy that erodes our free will. I am making myself clear here? So, now, why am I talking about all this in our topic of quest for happiness? I said I will speak on the examining our definitions of happiness. So, we all have, by default, most of us, a materialistic definition of happiness.

So, happiness means having material things to enjoy, good food to eat, good partners to enjoy with, a lot of material facilities, cars, houses, gadgets. We think we have this, then we will enjoy. Now, these things are a part of a life that can be joyful.

But materialism implies that these are what comprise happiness. And to a large extent, the media around us, that reinforces this definition of happiness very forcefully. In the Ramayana, there is an incident where after Ram is exiled, and they are living in the forest in Chitrakoot.

Chitrakoot, Adrinike, Tannerama. He is living there on the top of Chitrakoot mountain. So, Bharat comes over there.

His intention is to get Ram, to plead with Ram to come back to the kingdom. So, when Lakshman, when Ram and Lakshman, they hear that there are sounds of some, lot of sounds in the forest. What is this? He tells Lakshman, climb on top of a tree.

Lakshman climbs up and sees there is an army coming. He becomes suspicious. Who is this army? And then they see that this is actually the elephant Shatrunjay, that is Dashrath's elephant, that is there.

But Dashrath is not there. He says, Bharat, I can see him. But Lakshman becomes angry.

He says, that wicked Bharat, his mother has sent you to the forest, but he is not satisfied with that. Now he has come to kill you. But he doesn't know that I stand in between.

And far from he touching even a hair on your body, I will send him to death's abode today. And if his army comes in between, I will send the whole army to death's abode. So Ram says, Lakshman, why are you so angry? He says, Bharat's love for me is as much as is your love for me.

Has he offended you in any way that you are so upset with him? Or is it that the austerity of life in the forest has made you grumpy, has made you irritable, that in a burst of emotion, you decided to come with me to the forest. But now, in the prospect of living in the forest for 14 years, he is sinking into you. You feel this is too much trouble.

If you are feeling like that, then I can ask Bharat to stay in the forest with me. You can go to the kingdom and rule the kingdom. When Ram says this, Bharat, Lakshman becomes totally deflated.

And then when he sees Bharat's great love for Ram, begs him, begs him, please come back. And all his arguments and all his reasoning fails. At that time, Bharat says, unless you accept the crown, unless you accept the kingdom, I will not leave.

I will sit here and perform austerities. And he sits down in a yogic posture for tapasya. At that time, Ram becomes pensive.

And Ram says, oh Bharat, your love has won. Your love has won. You came to offer me the kingdom.

I accept the kingdom. Bharat becomes jubilant. And then Ram says that I accept the kingdom that you have given me.

At the same time, I want to honour the word that I gave to my father. So therefore, after accepting the kingdom that you have given me, I entrust it to you for 14 years. You rule on my behalf.

And Bharat says, give me some proof that you are, that actually it is you who are ruling. I am simply your representative. Then he says, give, he gives, please take the sandals.

So today, two brothers have a succession conflict over their father's estate. One brother gives the sandals to the other. The other brother will take them and beat them on his brother's head.

So actually, he carries the sandals on his head. When Lakshman sees this, he is so deeply moved. And afterwards, he asks Ram.

He is in the mood of a younger brother. He says, Ram, why do I get angry so quickly? Why was it so short tempered? So Ram says, you are sentimental. So Lakshman asks, are sentiments bad? He says, no, sentiments are not at all bad.

Sentiments are the ornaments of life. But he says that we should choose those sentiments that elevate us towards dharma. And we should reject those sentiments that take us away from dharma.

So emotions, sentiments, they are important in our life. But we cannot indiscriminately accept any and every emotion that comes over us. So when I talk about that, I told this anecdote from this incident from the Ramayana to illustrate the point that materialism, it naturally evokes emotions within us.

So if we see someone with a very attractive looking car, naturally we feel attracted by that. If we see someone with the latest phone, looks very attractive, I would like to have that. So emotions in that sense come to us much more easily when they are connected with material things.

So although these emotions come easily, they come naturally. Although they seem natural, they are not always desirable. So we need to select which emotions we nourish and which emotions we don't nourish.

There is a huge advertising industry whose sole purpose is, main purpose is to create desires within us. To create desires within us by which I want this, I want that, I want that, I want that. And by this, actually we stay perpetually dissatisfied.

In fact, the dissatisfaction of the consumer is actually considered the success of advertising. What is a good advertisement? That which makes the consumer dissatisfied with what I have. I basically, advertisements tell us, at one level they say, this is so good, this is so good, this is so good.

But indirectly what they are saying is, what you have is bad. You know, a phone you have, it's old fashioned. The shoes you have, they are crap.

The car you have, that's old model. So basically, by creating dissatisfaction in us about what we have, we are driven to purchase something else, to buy something else, buy something else. And this is an endless process.

Now, there is this whole competitive rat race that goes on, wherein we are all trying to succeed in that rat race. And the problem with the rat race is that even if we win, we still remain rats. That means nothing essentially changes.

You know, I might get a big promotion in my job, I might get my dream partner, I might get my dream house, whatever I get, I seem to have risen, but actually I still stay in the same competitive cycle. Because there are two different things, there are desires and there are definitions. So I have a desire, okay, if I get this object, I will become happy.

If I get this thing, I will become happy. So that desire we think if I satisfy it, that will make me happy. But underlying it is the definition of happiness.

And the definition of happiness is such that we think material things will make me happy. And all material things, they give some pleasure. But their pleasure is temporary.

There is initially some pleasure and after that, the sheen goes off. The same thing which looks very attractive. If I get a very stylish new jacket or a new dress, and I go around, you know, people look at me, they say, oh, it's a nice dress.

If we go in the new dress and nobody notices it, what's wrong? Are you blind? So we start feeling like that. So now after a few days, the same dress which is very new becomes old. As it becomes old, I want something else now.

So we think that by satisfying this desire, I will become happy. But even if that desire is satisfied, the underlying definition of happiness will make us look for something new, something new, something new, something new. And unless the definition of happiness is examined, no matter how much we have, we will not become happy.

So first of all, there is our inner conception of what is happiness. And there is the outer propaganda of where happiness lies. And both of them comprise a deadly combination.

Internally, we have the conception that happiness lies in the things out there. I get a thing out there, I get some pleasure, but after that the pleasure dies out, fades out. And then I think, oh, the pleasure will be somewhere else, the next object, the next object, next object.

And then the media also very aggressively promotes this idea. And thus, we stay dissatisfied. So the success in one area of life cannot compensate for failure in another area.

Sometimes some people, they're professionally very successful. But if their family life is in shambles, if their partners divorce them, if their children have gone into drugs, or become delinquents, then no matter how high they rise professionally, it doesn't bring happiness. So success in one area of life, professional, that cannot compensate for failure in another area of life.

Just as we easily understand this in terms of say, work and family relationships, work and family relationships, but the same principle also applies in material life and spiritual life. Success in material life cannot compensate for inadequacy in spiritual life. So what do we mean by spiritual life? Actually, the Bhagavad Gita explains that our existence is bi-dimensional, that we are not just material creatures.

We are spiritual beings who are occupying material machines. So the body is a machine and the body is programmed. But the body is not just programmed, the body is also programmable.

That means there is some programming, but we can change the programming. And we ourselves are different from the body. We are the users of programmable machines.

That means that, say, what is the programming of the body? If I see some delicious object, if I see some delicious food, then my tongue starts alivating. So here, there is this natural biological reaction that comes. So now, this natural biological reaction, what does it indicate? Okay, this nice food, I want to eat it.

But then, we are not slaves of that hormonal secretion that happens in our body and the salivation that happens in our tongue. Yes, I may get the saliva, but I can choose whether I am going to eat or I am not going to eat. If a cat sees a rat, the cat can't think, oh, tomorrow is Ekadashi, I want to fast.

The cat does not have that level of intelligence. It is, to a large extent, animals are controlled by their biological drives. They have a little variation.

Say, a cow is eating grass here and she finishes eating the grass, she can choose whether I should go left or go right to eat the grass. But beyond that, it can't choose much. We human beings, we also feel the biological drives, but we can choose whether we want to indulge in those drives or we want to resist those drives.

Now, when we talk about the soul, so again, the body is like a machine, it has certain programming in it, but that programming is changeable. Just like if I turn on my computer, if I have a particular browser as my default browser, say, if I have Chrome as my default browser, then as soon as I click a link, then immediately, I don't consciously choose to open Chrome, but I end up opening it, it automatically opens, the machine opens it because that is my default browser. So, like that, we all have a need for happiness.

That is our innate need. And when we click, I want happiness. Then, based on our default definition, a particular browser opens up, so like that, a particular set of actions, this is what I should do to become happy.

That whole programme immediately pops up. I want to be happy, I want to enjoy. What can I do to enjoy? Watch a movie, watch a match, go to a party, do this, do that.

We have certain conceptions of what comprises happiness. Now, there is a famous Russian psychologist, Alexander Pavlov, he did some experiments on dogs. So, he had some dogs kept under surveillance.

And whenever he would feed these dogs, just before he gave them food, he would ring a bell. Now, over a period of time, the dog started associating the ringing of the bell with food, the ringing of the bell with food. And normally, before the dogs were subjected to the experiment, when the food would come in front of them, at that time, they would salivate.

But when they were exposed to this stimuli for a sufficient amount of time, then as soon as they would hear the bell, they would start salivating. Although, even after that, even when after ringing of the bell, no food came, still they would salivate. So, what had happened? Instead of sight of food being equated with pleasure, the pleasure of eating, now they had equated the sound of the bell with the pleasure of eating.

So, initially, it is true, the sound of the bell foreshadowed the coming of food. But over a period of time, what happened was, there was no food coming. But because they had associated that mentally, that ringing of the bell means food is going to come.

So, they would start salivating. So, like that, when we similarly, when we go through life, we have certain definitions of happiness and we operate according to those definitions. But we find that over a period of time, doing those activities does not give us pleasure.

But still, we keep doing those activities. Why? Because we have associated pleasure in those activities. So, for example, all of you are from India.

So, India is a very education conscious country in terms of, you know, how much grades you get, how much marks you get. So, my dream since childhood that I wanted to be a topper. I was always among the toppers.

But I was never the topper. I was second, third, joint first in my class, in my school. But I was never the first.

Even my 10th, 12th, I did fairly well, but I was never the topper. And finally, when I gave GRE, so I always had a fondness for English. So, one of my hobbies was just to open a dictionary and memorise words.

So, my English was fairly good. And then when I gave GRE, at that time, I got 2350, as mentioned in the introduction, or 2400. So, the next student had got 2220s.

So, I was not just first in my college, I was first in the history of my college. I was not just first in the college, I was actually the first in the whole state of Maharashtra at that time. So, I was jubilant.

And so, then when I got the marks, I was ecstatic. But then after some time, I noticed that just looking at the marks, she doesn't give any happiness. Now, it is when you meet friends, and meet people, people congratulate you, then you feel happy.

And at one particular point of time, I found some friends, they met me and they didn't congratulate me. And I started, I was feeling agitated. Does he know what I have achieved? The whole college knows.

Why is he not congratulating me? Is he envious of me? I didn't like the direction of my thoughts. And then once when this happened, I met a friend and he didn't congratulate me at all. I felt so agitated and suddenly, as if I was looking at myself from above, and it struck me, actually, by my GRE score, I have not become happy.

I have become dependent on others for my happiness. If others don't congratulate me, there is no happiness over here. In fact, it is agitation.

So, what is going on? What is going on here? There must be some other way to happiness, which does not depend on external validation. I can give an excellent exam, I can become a university topper, I can go to America, I can do well in the university in America. If I study, I can do all that.

But always the same thing will repeat itself. I achieve something, it is only when others congratulate me, others appreciate me, others recognise me, that I will be happy. So, is there some source of happiness that does not depend on external validation? Then that was when somehow, by Krishna's arrangement, I got Sri Prabhupada's Bhagavad Gita.

So, when I got that, in Bhagavad Gita 5th chapter 21st verse says, that being detached from external sources of pleasure, one who finds happiness within. So, Brahma Yoga Yuktatma, such a person is connected by Yoga with Brahman, the spiritual reality. And that person, Sukham Akshayam Ashnute, that person experiences happiness, Sukham.

What kind of happiness? Akshaya. Akshaya means that which never gets exhausted. Any happiness in this world that is there, if I am eating delicious food, with each morsel of food that I am eating, that happiness is getting exhausted.

The food is going to get over. Now, if I achieve something wonderful, yes, I am going to be appreciated. But after some time, every record becomes old.

Somebody else comes and sets a new record. So, all the happiness of this world is Akshaya Sukha. It is happiness which will get exhausted.

But, the Bhagavad Gita tells when we turn inwards, and when we connect with Krishna, then the happiness that we get thereby is Sukham Akshaya Akshayam Ashnute. It is imperishable happiness. And that is the happiness that will truly satisfy us.

The person attains lasting happiness. So, then as I started studying the Gita, I started sharing the Gita's message with others, and I noticed that a significant number of people were actually sabotaged by their own definitions of happiness. So, when I was in college, I was in the Government Engineering College, Pune, and there was one student who was the university topper for all the eight semesters of engineering.

And he got on campus the highest paying job in the whole history of the college. He was brilliant. And he was also a chain smoker.

And he said, you know, unless I smoke, I can't study, I can't concentrate, my brain doesn't work. He was brilliant. But then, within the first six months of his working at that job, he was detected with lung cancer and he died.

It was shocking. So, I started thinking, he's a brilliant person, no doubt about it. But then, I had this question, if somebody is so brilliant, that person can… No, he was brilliant in electronics and telecommunications.

So, that was my field. So, you know, he can understand the mysteries of electronics and telecommunications so brilliantly. But why can't he understand that smoking is going to destroy him? What is wrong over here? What happens is that, you know, we may have a lot of intelligence in terms of information processing capacity, in terms of memorising, analysing, recollecting, expressing, all this is very good.

But below it all is our conception of happiness. And if that definition is wrong, then no matter what we do, all our other achievements, they will fall flat in due course of time. It's like, you know, I may buy a very expensive software.

Maybe I'm doing video processing and I get a very expensive software for video processing. Now, that software can work only when, that particular application can work only when my OS is functioning. If my OS itself has a problem, and no matter how expensive a software I get, I will not be able to function.

It will not function. The computer itself will not function. It may seem to function, but the OS being corrupted means everything will collapse after some time.

So, the specific skills that we have, the specific talents that we have, they are like the specialised software. Whereas our conception of happiness, that is like the foundational OS, the operating system in which the software of our mind functions. And if that is the case, that is sabotaged by some unhealthy definitions of happiness, then all our abilities, they will not transform into sustainable achievement.

First we may achieve something, but eventually we will damage ourselves. We may even destroy ourselves. So, in professional circles also probably you'll be able to see.

There are people who are talented, but it is not talent alone that leads to achievement. There is talent plus temperament that leads to achievement. Talent plus temperament leads to achievement.

And if people have talent, but they do not have temperament, then they are brilliant in phases, in spurts. But then at other times, they are so unreliable that people cannot really bank on them and they cannot function properly. So, what do we mean by temperament? Temperament is not just the capacity to stay cool at all times, that is fine.

But temperament comes from our basic definition of happiness. So, when we have a spiritual self-understanding, when we understand that at my core I am spiritual, and with this understanding we look at life, then we are able to differentiate between what I live with and what I live for. Money, gadgets, facilities, these are what I live with.

I need these for living, but this is not what I live for. What I live with cannot take the place of what I live for. The means of living are different from the purpose of living.

So, when we think about, when the Bhagavad Gita tells us that look within for happiness, what does it mean? We are at our core souls, and the soul is by nature a part of God. God is known by many names. The Bhagavad Gita knows Him by the name Krishna.

It says all of us are eternal parts of Krishna, and just as the part is harmoniously situated, when it is integrated with the whole, with the hand, the finger, satisfy the stomach, the finger also gets nourished. So, like that, when we use our abilities with the intention of serving Krishna, with the intention of making a contribution in this world in the mood of service, then we become harmonised with the whole. There is a whole in the heart.

We always feel dissatisfied, something is missing, something is missing, and that will go on as long as we have a materialistic definition of happiness. But when we become spiritual, then we connect with the whole. Krishna is the whole, we are the part.

Play the part of the part, and the whole will fill the whole. Now, when we play the part of the part, as parts, we are meant to use all our abilities, whatever resources we have, in a mood of service. We play the part of the part, and the whole, that is Krishna, He manifests in our heart, and the whole will fill the whole in our heart.

When Krishna manifests in the heart, then we get profound inner fulfilment. And that fulfilment, which comes when we chant Krishna's name, when we understand His message, when we worship Him, then that becomes the foundation for our steady temperament. When we have a materialistic definition of happiness, then at any time, the things that we think will make me happy can be taken away.

No, my bank balance is my source of happiness, it's my source of security, it's my source of self-worth. In materialistic civilisation, what happens is that our self-worth is equated with our net worth. And if my net worth goes down, if I lose my job, then it is as if I have lost my self only.

What is my identity without my job? So, that's why when we have a materialistic definition of happiness, we cannot have a steady temperament for long. Because the things on which our sense of self-worth comes from, they themselves are unsteady, they themselves are not in our control. But when we have a spiritual self-understanding, when I understand I'm a soul, I'm a part of Krishna, and Krishna always loves us.

There's nothing that can happen that can make Krishna stop loving us. You know, Krishna is always there in our hearts. Sarvasthi Chaham Nidhi Santhi Nishto.

He's there in our heart to guide us, in our hearts and nothing we do, nothing anyone says about us, nothing that happens in the world, you know, nothing can make Krishna leave our heart and go away. Krishna is always there with us. So, when we connect with Krishna, when we experience Krishna's presence in our heart, and we experience the peace and the fulfilment that comes from there, that gives us a foundation of stability.

With that temperament, we can translate our talent into achievement. So, when we talk about changing our definition of happiness, it is not so much about rejecting material happiness. It is rather rejecting materialism's monopolisation of our conception of happiness.

Material life and material happiness are a part of happiness. But materialism makes us believe this is the only source of happiness. If you don't have it, you are miserable.

So, when we let materialism monopolise our conception of happiness, then we sentence ourselves to constant dissatisfaction. Because no matter how much we have materially, others will have more, and I want that, I want that. But when we reject that monopolisation, yes, I have a material side, I also have a spiritual side.

And when we seek happiness through steady spiritual practise, through connection with Krishna within, then we can respond more maturely to materialism's ups and downs, material life's ups and downs. We can have more steady temperament by which we can function. And thus, we can actually achieve better even at the material level in our lives.

Because when we are calmer internally, when we are more focused internally, when we are stabler internally, we can contribute more externally. And thus, the spiritual understanding of life and spiritualization of our search for happiness does not mean the rejection of material happiness. Rather, it means harmonisation of both our sides, material side and spiritual side.

And both are harmonised in a mood of service to Krishna. I'll conclude with one point. Bhagavad Gita talks about svakarmana tam abhyarcha siddhim vindati manavah.

Svakarmana, by your work, worship Him. And thus, you will attain perfection. Some people translate this as work is worship.

Now, work is worship, and this, if it were literally a universal philosophical principle, then the donkey would be the greatest worshipper. Isn't it? No. If a work is worship, then a thief says, robbing is my job.

Is that worship? If a beggar says, begging is my work. Is that worship? No. The work is worship is a valuable ethical principle to convey to people the dignity of all labour.

Whatever work you are doing, you should not consider this work is low level, this work is high level. All work has dignity to it. So, to inspire a sense of dignity of labour among people, work is worship is a good slogan.

But work is worship is not a philosophical principle. And it is not a teaching of the Bhagavad Gita. The teaching of the Bhagavad Gita is svakarmana tam abhyarcha, by your work, worship Him.

So, it is not saying work is worship. Rather, work can be done as a worship. And how can work be done as a worship? When we understand that actually Krishna is the source of everything.

That same verse, 18.46 in the Bhagavad Gita, what he is saying before this is, that supreme being from whom everything has come, by whom everything is pervaded, that supreme being, worship Him through your work and thus you will attain perfection. Now, what Krishna is telling over here is, we don't think that serving God means just going to a temple and ringing a bell or doing some kirtan or doing some puja. Don't think that worshipping God is restricted only to that.

That God pervades all of being. Everything has come from Him. And He pervades all of existence.

That means that whoever we are, what we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God. What we are, we all have a certain set of talents.

We all have certain abilities. What we are is God's gift to us. And what we become, that means we have certain talents.

What we become, by connection with Krishna, by practising bhakti, we develop temperament. Talent plus temperament leads to achievement. What we become is our gift to God.

And actually again, when we have a spiritual understanding of life, then we can look more objectively at what we are. That means, okay, I have this talent, I have this weakness, but I have this talent. We can objectively look at ourselves and focus on our talents.

But when we have a materialistic conception of life, certain things become extremely privileged and other things are neglected. If materialism becomes our driving worldview, then say good looks or certain material trappings, they are considered all important. And if you don't have that, then it is as if you are, from the starting itself you are good for nothing.

So, materialism makes us always see certain things which are glamorised by materialistic society at that time. If I have this, I am talented. If I don't have this, I am good for nothing.

But no, materialism does not have to monopolise our conception of ourselves or our conception of our life. You see, society doesn't value certain talents right now. But if I look at, this is the gift I have, I develop it.

We too can make a constructive contribution. So, materialistic definition of happiness makes us sometimes too much focus on what I don't have. And that keeps me dissatisfied.

Yesterday afternoon in the class, I was giving an example that how, you know, after this programme, there is this prasad for all of you. So, there is a feast. But it is a special feast in which everybody is going to get different items in their plate.

Everybody is going to get different items. And everybody has delicious items. But suppose instead of eating the delicious items in my plate, I am looking, what has he got? Oh, he's got that.

Oh, he's got that. He's got that. If I keep looking at what everyone else has got, I don't relish what I have.

And although I have wonderful things, still I will be dissatisfied. That is what happens to us in materialism. We all have certain gifts.

But in materialistic society, glamorises certain things. If I don't have this, oh, I don't have this. I am good for nothing.

I don't have that. I am good for nothing. And thus, we don't notice what we have.

But if we understand that Krishna is perfect and Krishna has put us in a situation where he has given us what it takes to grow in the situation, then we can objectively look at ourselves, find our abilities and develop those abilities. So what we are, that we can appreciate more when we have a spiritual understanding of life. So rather than feeling, oh, I'm so deficient in so many things, focus on what we are.

This is God's gift to me. And let me use this. What we become is God's gift to, is our gift to God.

We can make wonderful constructive contributions through our life when we are motivated internally with a spiritual understanding of our life's purpose. So I'll summarise. I talked about examining our definition of happiness.

I said how information transforms into comprehension through education. An example of a stock market graph falling or the first ship coming and the native is not recognising what the ship is or an x-ray being seen, a layperson not understanding what it signifies. So like that, what we can know depends on what we know.

So what we will look, where we will look for happiness depends on what we think of as happiness. And our current conception of happiness, we all have by default a materialistic conception of happiness. I discussed at one level materialism seems to be very liberating.

No rules, no regulations. I just want to enjoy life. That's what materialism seems to be.

But actually materialism restricts our, it actually removes our free will itself. Because if I'm just made of the laws of nature, if I'm just a material being, a matter of a function of laws of nature, then as Einstein said, there's nothing wrong with the Nazis killing millions of Jews because that's what their brain programme told them to do. But we all know that we are accountable for our actions, our all relations, if all justice, all social interaction, they are based on the understanding that we can choose right, that we are not just products of our brain chemicals or whatever else.

So where does this free will come from? That free will comes from our spiritual side. Our existence is bi-dimensional. Our body is a programmable machine, but it's not a programmed machine.

It is programmed, but it is also programmable. And we are the users of that programmable machine. So our success in one area of life cannot compensate for failure in another area.

This professional success cannot compensate for family ruptures. Similarly, success in material life cannot compensate for lack of spiritual growth or lack of spiritual satisfaction. And materialism, what it does is it makes us think happiness is out there in the things that I don't have right now.

Even if we win the rat race, we still remain rats. The whole advertising industry always shows us the things which we don't have and that keeps us dissatisfied. So no matter how much we achieve in material life, we always need external validation.

Oh, now I achieved, now I've become happy. I told about my GRE score and the dissatisfaction that I experienced after that. So we need some source of internal happiness.

And that internal happiness comes by understanding our spiritual identity. So we understand that I am a soul and the soul is a part of God. So play the part of the part and the whole will fill the hole.

Then we find inner satisfaction through our connection with Krishna. Knowing that no matter how many things go wrong externally, internally Krishna is always there to give me shelter. That understanding brings us a strong temperament.

So talent plus temperament leads to achievement. So even from the material perspective in our life, we want to achieve things and we need a strong temperament by which we can translate the talent into achievement. But materialism, because it makes our sense of self-worth dependent on things external to us which are not in our control, we cannot really have a sturdy temperament in a materialistic conception of life.

But when we have spiritual understanding, internal satisfaction, internal security, then our temperament becomes tough. And then we can translate our talent into achievement. So what we have is God's gift to us.

What we become is our gift to God. And what we have, we can better appreciate it when we don't see it through the materialistic worldviews, conceptions of what is glamorised. We see it objectively.

And such objective vision we can have when we have a spiritual understanding of life. So rather than looking at what is there in others plate, we focus on relishing what is in our plate. Rather than worrying about what gifts others have, we focus on what gifts we have.

Work is itself not worship, but work can be made into worship. And we do it in a mood of service. And with this understanding, we look at our gifts and try to develop those gifts.

We can translate our talent into achievement. And thus, by spiritualising our conception of life, we don't reject material life, but rather we harmonise the material with the spiritual. We don't let materialism monopolise our conception of happiness.

We don't let what we live with replace what we live for. But we integrate both of them together in our successful quest for happiness. Thank you very much.

Are there any questions or comments? Isn't that great, everybody? Is everybody feeling happier? I'm just going to collect all the questions in the basket and then Prabhu will address those. And maybe we can pick a few. Can I have help collecting them quickly? So, Krishna never leaves anyone's heart.

So, Krishna is at the heart of the terrorists also. So, why is he allowing the terrorists to kill innocent people? We all have been given by Krishna free will. Free will is foundational for the reciprocation of love.

If a boy says to a girl, love me or I'll kill you. Well, there can be no love. And love requires free will.

So, Krishna has given all of us free will. And the very existence of free will means that it can be misused. So, Krishna is there in the hearts of the terrorists also.

But when they want to misuse their free will, Krishna allows them to do that. Why? Because that is the freedom that he has given them. Now, all of us by our past karma, the Bhagavad Gita talks about karma and Kshetra.

Kshetra is the arena of action. So, all of us have different arenas of action or arenas of influence, areas of influence based on our karma. Say, an elephant, it's a huge body.

An ant, tiny body. They both are souls. But based on their past karma, they have got different bodies.

Like that even human body, some people, they become big leaders and they have a huge area of influence. Some people don't have some noteworthy lives. They have a small area of influence.

So, by our past karma, we have a certain area of influence. That's what we get. But how we influence that area, that depends on our present choices.

So, even when somebody becomes a terrorist, there are some terrorists who may be able to kill hundreds of people. And some people, they go on their first suicide bombing and they are caught themselves before that. And they are not able to kill.

Why is that? Because those people by their past karma were given a certain area of influence. Based on our, all of us, we by our past karma coupled with our present choices, both combined together, we will have a certain area of influence. But how much we influence, or sorry, how we influence that, that is up to us.

So, those terrorists who kill people, basically by Krishna's arrangement, they have been given free will. And by their past karma, they have given a certain area over which they can execute their will. Now, when they execute their free will, execute their influence rather in that area, how they execute that influence, that has consequences.

There will be karmic consequences for that. So, if they, they injure, they kill innocent people, that has grievous consequences for them. So, when we, when people, when anyone uses the free will wrongly, Krishna allows them to do that.

How much they are allowed, that depends on the area of influence they have, that is the Akshetra, which is determined largely by their past karma. But even after that, the way they use it, it has consequences. So, this world is governed by the principle of action and reaction.

And some people can make terrible choices. And when they make terrible choices, they will have to bear terrible consequences for that. Now, Krishna, he is there in their hearts, but Krishna also responds according to our desires.

See, there is the, say for example, if somebody is a butcher, you know, when a butcher teaches his child first time to kill an animal, maybe the first time the child kills, his hand trembles. Should I kill? His hand trembles. Second time he kills, hand doesn't tremble.

Tenth time when he kills, when he is chatting with someone, like we cut sabji, we kill an animal. But because by repeatedly doing an action, that action becomes like a programme. And then the, when the voice of conscience, the voice of God that is there from within, that is tuned out.

So, for people who are habituated, they are ideologically brainwashed, you know, ideologically indoctrinated into a political worldview that deadens their conscience. Then, although God is there present in their hearts, but they have tuned God out. And as all these people may even fight in the name of God.

But that is what they are fighting for is not God. In reality, it is just their conception of God. And what is their conception of God? Their conception of God is a supreme being who hates the people whom they hate.

So, that God is not the real God who is the well-wisher of all living beings. That God is a God of their own imagination, who is just basically a omnipotent expansion of their own worldview. I have worldview.

These are good people. These are bad people. These bad people have to be eliminated.

And then God also has that. Their conception of God has that worldview. And that's why we will see when these terrorists, they kill many people, but how do they kill each other also? Because their idea is not only is my religion right, my sect's interpretation of my religion is right.

So, ISIS is a big terrorist organisation, but they have killed so many people, but the maximum number of people they have killed is Muslims only. So, why? Because their interpretation of Islam is different from mine. So, their God is not the God that is described in, that is glorified by the saints.

Their God is simply a projection of their imagination. Who basically hates the people whom they hate. So, that's why this is, they are allowed to do this, but there will be grievous consequences for the misuse of their free will.

Does that answer the question? Okay. So, can becoming spiritual make us lazy and then we don't seek wealth? Yes, there is this fear that is there, that when I become too spiritual, I will become unambitious. So, definitely that is possible and this usually happens when we have a fragmented conception of spirituality.

That means, I say this is material, this is spiritual, and to become spiritual, I have to give up this. But the Bhagavad Gita doesn't offer a fragmented conception of spirituality. It offers an integrated conception.

That means, Krishna tells Arjuna, it doesn't tell Arjuna to renounce the world. Krishna tells him, you are an archer, use your archery skills in the service of dharma, in the cause of dharma. So, there will be some people who will be renouncing the world, they will be focussing themselves to become spiritual teachers, but they are in the minority.

Most people, what they, they are in the world, whatever abilities we have, we can use those abilities in a mood of service to God. So, it is not that we necessarily become unambitious. Rather, we don't, we no longer remain unbalanced.

As I said, ambition, quite often what people define as ambition is such that it often creates a lot of imbalance in their lives. Sometimes people are, the people are so ambitious, they were colleagues, they neglect their family, neglect their children, and then they achieve a lot and they feel, you know, oh, I missed out. I missed out on the growth of my children.

I missed out on, on even the happiness of relationships. So, materialism can actually make us so unbalanced that in the name of ambition, we neglect even other important aspects of material life. So, that unbalanced aspect can be avoided.

It will be avoided by spiritual practise. But see, the tendency of the mind is to, whatever it takes up, it wants to overdo it. So, in materialism, we may overdo our work.

But when we come to spirituality, we may overdo our spirituality also. So, we need guidance. The more we come to, from the lower modes towards the mode of goodness, the more we become purified, the more we understand how I can balance things.

So, it is that spirituality requires a certain amount of time to do the practises, to associate with devotees. But if we understand that in my job, actually I am serving Krishna here also. By Krishna's arrangement that I am here, this is an opportunity for me to serve Krishna.

Then whatever time we are spending in our world, we work wholeheartedly. There is no need to hold ourselves back thinking this is material. You see, this is also a way for me to serve Krishna.

When I go to a temple, that is a direct service to Krishna. This is indirect service to Krishna. But both are to Krishna.

And that excessive infatuation with wealth as the sole barometer of success, that will go away. But it is not that everybody who is going to become spiritual, they have to give up the quest for wealth. Or that they have to give up ambition.

Rather, we get a higher purpose for our ambition. What is that higher purpose? Now, if I am a good professional, and I am also a devotee, then what will happen? People will say, oh, you are a good professional, and you also practise bhakti. Then they will become attracted to bhakti.

Before I came to America, I was in a college. One student asked me, I am practising bhakti, how can I attract other students to practise bhakti? I told him, by studying diligently. If you study diligently, there may not be any guarantee that other students will become devotees.

But if you don't study well, there is guarantee that other students will not become devotees. Because people will say, hey, your bhakti makes you irresponsible. I don't want to become like that.

So, at least from that negative perspective, we should see that our professional competence is also a service to Krishna. At least by being professionally incompetent in the name of spirituality, we will be driving people away from Krishna. By being professionally competent, we will actually be setting an example by which people can become attracted to Krishna.

So, we may not give excessive amounts of time for our work, but then that is not, that is imbalanced even from the material perspective. What is the spiritual perspective? But whatever time we give, we can give our full heart to it. This is the way I am serving Krishna.

This is the way I am glorifying Krishna. And in fact, if we develop that inner calmness, inner clarity, and whatever time we are investing, we can actually focus more, and we can do more even in less time. Because our desires, our mind when it is going wild, we spend time on some work, but we are just not able to focus on that.

But when we are focused, then whatever time we spend, we are actually effective, we are productive in that work. So, our goal in working hard, our goal in achieving things is not just to get fame, get power, get wealth, it is to glorify Krishna by getting those things. So, they are not the ends for us, but they can be the means to an end.

So, Maharaj Yudhishthir, he performed a Rajasuya Yajna. A lot of hard work. Among the kings, he was coronated as the greatest of the kings.

So, he performed that. Why? Because through that, he was able to glorify Krishna. Similarly, we can see that whatever position I have, if I do well in that position, then through that, I can actually be glorifying Krishna.

So, when we see it that way, then we won't become lethargic. Rather, we will get a nobler, higher motivation for hard work. And this higher motivation will also enable us to be balanced while working hard.

What is the answer to the question? Oh, sorry. Okay. Okay.

In materialism, because everything is quantifiable, so there is at least, there can be clarity of what we want and how much we want. Sometimes we may reject materialism and then we may end up seeking some delusion of the mind. How do we know what we are pursuing is real? Yeah, good question.

So, Einstein, it is Einstein who said that all that counts is not countable. And all that is countable does not count. So, all that counts, all that matters, it is not necessarily countable.

And all that is countable does not necessarily count. So, yes, measurability is an important parameter in evaluating what to do and how much to do in life. But that is not the only parameter.

Now, when we are with our loved ones, when we are doing something meaningful in our life, the satisfaction that comes from it, that cannot be really quantified. The whole of medical science is based on helping people to be freed from pain. But there is no medical instrument that can measure pain.

There is no painometer. You know, if I have a fracture, the doctor can say the bone is this much misaligned, must be a lot of pain. But you cannot actually quantify pain on a scale.

And yet pain is real for us. So, that means there is much to life that is not measurable. And just because things are not measurable, we do not say that it is all subjective and it is all illusory.

We want to avoid pain. So, if I am having some, if I am sitting and I have say some boil or something on my body, so I always try to shift and try to find out a position where there is minimum friction and minimum pain. So, we all, all the pain is not quantifiable in terms of measurable, it is still real.

And we try to adjust things in such a way that pain can be minimised and pressure can be increased. So, just because something is not measurable, that does not mean that it is delusional. Now, when we come to spirituality, there is, in spirituality there is philosophy and there is religion.

So, just as in science, there is theory and there is experiment. The theory offers propositions. This is like this, this is like this.

The experiment offer means for verifying or disproving theory. Similarly, philosophy offers us propositions about the nature of reality. For example, philosophy tells us you are not the body, you are the soul.

And religion tells us, gives us the practises by which we can realise the philosophy. So, religion is not just meant to be a set of rituals that are done because it is a part of my culture. Some people may do it like that.

But religion is meant to give us practises by which we can realise what is taught in the philosophy. For example, philosophy tells us at our core we are spiritual. And the religion, chanting Hare Krishna, worshipping Krishna, they are practises which spiritualise our consciousness and enable us to experience non-material happiness.

When we experience that, we realise, oh, this is for real. So, prateksha avagamam dharnam su-sukham ghatmau. In 9.2, the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says, prateksha avagamam, that which is confirmed by within through experience, that is the path of bhakti yoga which the Bhagavad Gita teaches.

So, what will happen to us if we start practising spiritualities is two things. We should study the philosophy. If we just, something we start practising without evaluating with our intelligence, then we may chase after some delusion.

But if we study the philosophy objectively, intelligently, at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna, vimrishyaita dasheshye yathe chisitha kuru. In 18.63 he says, deliberate deeply and then decide what you want to do. So, Krishna is actually appealing to Arjuna's intelligence.

Krishna is not just demanding blind following. So, we should use the intelligence to evaluate the philosophy. Do things make sense? It's not that all questions will be answered immediately.

But that doesn't happen in any field of life. If I study quantum physics, I have to study for so many years before I can start making sense of its concepts. But at least basic questions will get reasonable answers.

The philosophy starts making sense, then okay, this is a theory which could be true. I don't know whether it is true or not, but at least it makes sense. And then when the religion is there, we practise that and we experience higher happiness.

Through that higher happiness, we are able to give up lower drives. Our own self-sabotaging programmes that are there within us, we are increasingly able to get rid of them. Bhakti is a process which gives us experience of God.

And the result of that experience of God is that we become detached from other things. And that means we become detached from self-defeating conceptions of happiness. So, when we see this happening, if you start feeling more peaceful, more joyful, and we start feeling lesser pulled by unhealthy drives, this is what I'm experiencing is real.

This is the confirmatory test for that. So, we can avoid chasing any delusions of the mind by studying the philosophy using our intelligence, and practising the religion in a way that helps us to verify the philosophy. And then not only will we come experience, we will be pursuing reality, but actually pursuing the supreme reality.

Does this answer your question? So, in the beginning, bhakti does not give us, in the beginning bhakti does not give us as much pleasure as do material things. So, that's why often bad habits become very difficult to give up. So, what can we do in that situation? Yes, actually, if we think bhakti simply as an activity, I chant Hare Krishna, and then, you know, I compare the happiness that I get from chanting Hare Krishna with some other sensual activity.

You know, okay, this chanting is good, but you know, that is great. That's what we may feel. But then we have to see bhakti not just as an activity, but bhakti is a whole way of life.

And vital for the practise of bhakti is the association of devotees. When we associate with devotees regularly, we get our social needs also fulfilled within a devotee community. When that happens, then we can actually resist the lures of material pleasures much more easily.

So, bhakti gives us a higher taste. But still, because the past conditionings are so strong, the momentum comes very quickly, very forcefully rather. And they are pushed towards indulgence in whatever wrong things we may have done in the past.

But if we are, and the association of devotees, we start getting more and more higher taste. And if you consider whatever bad habit we may have, actually, if you consider the graph of the desire, the urge for that bad habit, say, it's normally at this level. It's not that that bad habit is tormenting us 24 hours a day.

There are certain times when the desire spikes up, shoots up. In that time, it feels intolerable. I can't resist this.

But in the intervening time, okay, once the desire is shot up, after desire calms down, afterwards it shoots up again. So, in the intervening time between the shooting of the desire, what do I do? If at that time I'm practising bhakti, then I'm purifying myself. I'm connecting myself with Krishna.

I'm preparing my consciousness for experiencing higher happiness. And gradually, the spikes will become more resistant. So, rather than worrying about giving up bad habits, bhakti is essentially not centred on what we give up.

Bhakti is centred on what we take up. So, we, if we think I have to give up this, I have to give up that, I have to give up that, our focus is very negative. But if we think, if we try to fill our life with constructive activities in the mood of service to Krishna, then gradually, whatever bad habits we have, they will get crowded out.

And even if they cause some relapse, rather than getting too disheartened by them, okay, I fell down, let me rise again. And let me keep practising bhakti. And gradually, the power of the desire will go down.

So, rather than worrying too much about the comparing bhakti and other worldly activities solely in terms of pleasure at our level, we can see it as a way of living. If we associate with devotees, if we fill our life with the activities of bhakti, we'll get greater meaning, greater sense of purpose, we'll get a good community of friends around us. And with that, fighting of the bad habits will be much easier.

And not only that, even if the bad habits attack, rather than worrying too much about the spikes, we can focus on what we do in between the spikes. And then gradually, the spikes will become more manageable. And then they won't trouble us so much.

Is knowing our weaknesses, one of the negative effects of materialism? Well, knowing our weaknesses is not necessarily negative. It is obsessing over our weaknesses that is the problem. That means, oh, I can't do this, I don't have this, I'm not like this.

You obsess over it, then it becomes a problem. Now, in materialism, sometimes we may obsess over it, because materialism may define certain things as, you know, as special, as glamorous. And if I don't have that, then what? What if my life is useless? So, there are, especially for, say, women, you know, sometimes they have black hair, they're told, you know, blonde hair is fashionable.

And everybody likes to dye their hair blonde. And then they have blonde hair, and then they're told, oh, you know, black hair is fashionable. And they make their hair black.

So, what is happening? This is the propaganda that is making them do certain things. So, being aware of our weaknesses is fine. It is good to be aware of our weaknesses, but it's not good to be obsessed over our weaknesses.

If I know that I'm weak at something, I'll be more cautious. I won't get myself involved in those things which require strength. But materialism often highlights those weaknesses and makes us obsess over those weaknesses.

And that's how it becomes negative. What does it mean that we are part and parcel of Krishna? Does it mean that God is a sum total of all living beings? And how does serving God lead to happiness amongst living beings? Yes. See, God is not a sum total of all living beings.

Rather, he is his own independent self existence. But we are his parts. That means, God is the whole and the whole is greater than the parts.

How does that work out? It is God pervades all of existence, but he extends beyond this world also. So, pantheism is the idea that everything is God. But the Bhagavad Gita's understanding is not pantheism, it is called panentheism.

Panentheism means God pervades the world and he extends beyond the world. So, God is not the sum total of all living beings. He has his own self existence and having the self existence, we are all connected with him as his parts.

So, how does serving God lead to satisfaction of all living beings? Actually, when we serve Krishna, we basically use our abilities and our talents in a constructive way, in a mood of contribution. So, at one level, as I give the example, conceptually when we satisfy the stomach, when the hand satisfies the stomach, it is not only the hand that is satisfied, all the parts of the body are satisfied. So, like that, when we are serving Krishna, we may not be specifically serving each person, but we are contributing to the whole in a constructive way.

Say, there is a hospital. In that hospital, there are many patients. Now, if there is one particular nurse or one particular medical staff, they do their job well.

Now, their job may be to take care of one particular patient, but they just do that job well. By that, they are contributing to the effective functioning of the hospital. And through that effective functioning of the hospital, then, say, the other doctors who are there, they do not have to worry too much about small, small crises that come about because of carelessness.

And doctors can serve, take care of the patients better. So, when we play our part, it is not that we directly contribute to serving everyone. But indirectly, we contribute to the, we contribute to the, we contribute to the harmony that indirectly helps everyone.

So, it is said that the spiritualist, in this way, by serving Krishna, is actually engaged in the service of all living beings. So, how much time do we have now? Please stop. Well, you can answer one more question.

And maybe if, you know, our guest wants to come, then there is an open forum for Tuesday evening at the Hare Krishna temple. So, if someone's question is unanswered or if you want a further clarification on something, then we recommend maybe during, while having the feast, you can discuss with Chaitanya otherwise we do have a Sunday evening event at the temple and a Tuesday evening event at the temple. So, you can use that option.

So, maybe we will just go for one more question. Okay. So, what is consciousness? Can anyone attain consciousness without living one's attachment with one's family? Actually, we don't have to attain consciousness.

We already have consciousness. You know, we are all conscious living beings. Like somebody says, I am not conscious.

To say I am not conscious, that person has to have consciousness. This stand cannot say I am not conscious. So, we are all having consciousness.

But what I presume this question means is, how can we attain spiritual consciousness? How can we attain enlightened consciousness? So, actually, it's a gradual process. When we start practising bhakti yoga, our consciousness starts expanding. We don't just see material things, we start connecting with spiritual reality.

When the consciousness expands, we start seeing Krishna. First, we see Him in the temple. Then I go to the temple and I see Krishna there and I serve Him over there.

But gradually, as I am understanding, it's not only the temple where Krishna is present. Actually, my home can also be a temple. So, we have altar at our home.

We envision that Krishna is the lord of my home and I am His servant. So, we all, with our family, we serve Krishna. So, the temple is where Krishna is present.

Then as our conception evolves, then my home is also a place where Krishna is present. And as our conception evolves further, then my heart is the place where Krishna is present. That means as we become more and more Krishna conscious, we may say God is present everywhere, God is present even in my heart.

But we can't perceive Him in our heart right now. We don't feel His presence so much. Sometimes we may feel but regularly we do not.

It's like the water vapour is there everywhere. Sometimes people ask, why do you need to go to a temple? God is there everywhere. Yes, God is there everywhere, but can we perceive His presence everywhere? Like water vapour is present everywhere in the atmosphere.

But if I want to drink water, I cannot just take out my tongue and take water vapour. Now, I have to go to a place where the water vapour has been transformed into water and is available through a tap. So, like that, God is present everywhere but He is not manifest to us.

That's why we need to go to a temple where we can feel His presence. But as we start feeling His presence more and more, we start connecting more and more with Him. Then we can invoke His presence at our home also by creating an altar.

And then as we progress further, we start feeling His presence more and more within also. So, this is a gradual evolution of consciousness when we start seeing Krishna and sensing His presence everywhere. And that happens by the gradual practise of bhakti.

Now, as far as leaving one's attachment to one's family members is concerned, see bhakti is actually, there is attachment and there is detachment. But bhakti goes beyond this duality. Bhakti is not so much about material attachment or about material detachment.

Bhakti is essentially a process of not attachment or detachment but commitment. When we commit ourselves to the practise of bhakti and how we practise bhakti, that will be according to time, place, circumstances. Now, if we think of detachment in terms of renouncing our family members, that is not necessary.

Bhakti is an inclusive process. We can have our family members, we can have family relationships and still we can practise bhakti. We serve them in a mood of that they are also parts of Krishna and they are also, through serving them also I can serve Krishna.

So, we have a vertical relationship with Krishna and we have a horizontal relationship with others in this world. The ideal situation is when the vertical and the horizontal relationships are symbiotic. That means that in every relationship in this world there are some ups and downs.

Sometimes the other person gets upset with us, sometimes we get upset with the other person. Now, if we are too dependent on someone in our life, in our relationship, then when that relationship, when that person gets upset with us, our whole world seems to be falling down and we tend to overreact in that relationship. But if we have a strong vertical relationship with Krishna and we get our security and our shelter in that relationship, then the ups and downs in our horizontal relationship won't trouble us so much.

Now, if we are emotionally dependent on someone, then that is actually a very disempowering state. We become very vulnerable. So, when we get our emotional security from our relationship with Krishna, then we can actually maturely relate with others.

And thus, our vertical relationship with Krishna can bring more stability and maturity to our horizontal relationship. And conversely, if those with whom we have horizontal relationship, if they are also interested in Krishna Bhakti, they are also interested in practising Krishna Bhakti, then their association, their example, their inspiration, that can also, by seeing how they are practising, we also feel inspired to practise Bhakti. So, the ideal situation is where the vertical enhances the horizontal by bringing depth and maturity to it.

And the horizontal also enhances the vertical. And that way, if we are intelligent in our practise of Bhakti, our relatives, our family members may not immediately start practising Bhakti. But if there are well-wishers, and they see that our practise of Bhakti is making us better people, and we become better human beings, better children, better sons, better husbands, better brothers, whatever it is, then they will see that and they will also appreciate.

So, it is not that we have to reject the horizontal relationship, rather we just need to harmonise our horizontal relationship with the vertical relationship. Thank you very much.