External miracles don’t change us – internal choices do
About this? … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … But you have to work for hours and hours and hours to one shoot something a hundred times So the point is that for doing anything worthwhile in life we need to be disciplined and Discipline essentially means that the action comes in respect of emotion When the inspiration, when the emotion comes first, then the action comes later I feel like doing this, I feel like I should become a better person, I feel like I should do this, I feel like I should learn to do this So the emotion comes first and the action comes afterwards That is the state of inspiration So the emotion doesn't stay all the time Sometimes it is there, sometimes it goes away So then actually what matters is not the inspiration but the dedication Dedication means the action comes in respect of whether the emotion is present or not and the dedication is the fruit of discipline So everybody wants to improve in one sense or the other and how people are going to transform that is in today's world a big industry and the books are broadly categorised as fiction and non-fiction So in non-fiction the biggest selling books are in the genre of self-help Self-help basically means people want to help and guidance for becoming better Now actually it is not self-help Because it is the author's help The author is writing a book and then the readers will reply There is no such thing as self-help We cannot help others, we need some guidance or some help to help others So Bhargavi here offers such an outstanding story of transformation There is this cultured, young, educated man Ajahn and suddenly he gets attracted to a degraded woman and he himself becomes degraded and his whole life he will be degraded and when he is about to die, he will catch his son Narayan and when the Yamadutas come to catch him it will be considered a story from the point of view of us There is a mystical element also, you will see something mysterious So when he is about to die, he sees ghastly looking creatures coming towards him and actually at the time of our greatest attachment at the time of our greatest danger we gravitate towards that which we are most attached to that in which we are the most sheltered If somebody attacks our house they say there are IITers who are coming to pander our house then we will withdraw to that part of the house which is the most secure maybe some underground basement with a secret door Basically the part of the house where we feel the most sheltered that is where we withdraw to when we are in danger So like that, the thing we are most attached to in a sense, that is where we have experienced the most shelter So naturally whenever there is a danger our consciousness gravitates towards that in which we have experienced the greatest shelter that is the object of our greatest attachment So for a Yamaduti, he is most attached to his son He calls him Narayan Now that I can explain that when he called out the word Narayan he was calling out to his son but as he was calling out to his son he, as the sound came out what happens actually? what happens to this child Narayan? I should call out to Lord Narayan So not only I should call out to Lord Narayan only Lord Narayan can do that So his intention was to call out to his son but the action led to the recollection of the Lord He did not intend to recollect the Lord but the action led to the recollection and that, as Sri Raghupal explained in his purport the advantage of having devotee names for our loved ones is that even if we call out to our loved ones we will actually involuntarily, unintentionally call out to Krishna and thus we move closer to Krishna Now, in this particular situation the Yamunutas come and Yamunutas save as they, sorry, Vishnupas come and Vishnupas stop the Yamunutas All that has happened and actually many times people are being eager to experience something miraculous or they want to meditate or they want to experience something mystical something miraculous What the Bhagavatam does is depict something miraculous over here in terms of these deadly, ghastly looking creatures coming to grab him and the divine, handsome looking creatures coming to save him but whereas the previous chapter is very dramatic in terms of action this chapter is dramatic in a different way it is dramatic in terms of introspection and externally, miraculous things may happen in our life but they won't lead to any miraculous transformation within us unless there is inner reorientation but for most of us we may not experience miraculous things like this we may not see Yamunutas and Vishnupas in our life and that's why we might think oh my life is over, how many miraculous things happen in my life but actually the external miraculous things they can happen but the real miracle is within you only when there is a change of consciousness will the external miracle lead to an inner change lead to a sustainable change so in that sense an introspection that Ajahn Brahm is going to over here is vital for all of us when we want to transform ourselves for the better so we often will not get the support of external miraculous events but this kind of introspection we all can go to it and by that introspection we can give foundation we can give conviction for our endeavours of transformation so actually Ajahn Brahm was saved by the Vishnupas why? they saved him from Yamunutas what saved him from his own sinful life it was his contemplation it was his decision ultimately our attachments are our attachments nobody else can give up our attachments for us your mind is your mind my mind is my mind I cannot fight your mind for you you cannot fight your mind for me all of us have to fight our own conditioning in our own mind and externals can help but the sometimes when we want to knock on a door nobody opens we may have a key and we can open the door but with respect to inner transformation there is no key from outside the door for inner transformation has a key it's only openable from inside the spiritual master can inspire and the spiritual master can tremendously inspire but we see even the most potent spiritual master there are many people who are not transformed there are many disciples who take to all the religions but they don't find any they relapse to their own life why? because transformation ultimately is up to us so here Ajahn Brahm is going through a thought process which brings about transformation and there are many aspects to this thought process so I will focus on what is being talked about in this particular verse so he is thinking how did I get such a fortune how did I Prabhupada in this book of Swamiji on his pastime Prabhupada has described the second chance so the idea is that in the Christian tradition they say you have only one chance neither you have to surrender to God nor you have to help others but actually we have many life chances and Krishna never abandons us Krishna is always mantra mantra mantra mantra mantra mantra mantra he never gets tired which means no matter how much lifetime you terminate from him the Lord never gets tired the Lord is always there with us so normally in our lifetime we go through and then there is another chance in our lifetime Ajahn Brahm if he was destined to die and his life was destined to end and he would have got a destination which was according to that kind of but by the intervention of the Lord he got a second chance so Lord Brahma says to get the opportunity for devotional service is fortunate to take the opportunity for devotional service is intelligent so we have to be both fortunate and intelligent and I think Prabhupada wants to see all over the world that in this city there are people who have fortune if somebody is seeking they have the opportunity but then now intelligence is not related with the capacity to memorise verses or to analyse philosophy intelligence simply ultimately intelligence boils down to making wise choices that's all intelligence ultimately boils down to so on what basis can one make wise choices ultimately we all think something and you know somebody does something very stupid then the family member the ladies will ask why did you do that when they ask why did you do that first of all it's a at one level it's a it's a it's a statement of his own he's not at all like that but if it is out of character with the person you know what will you think you will be expecting to do stupid what will you do then what will you think so whenever there is a action that happens there is thinking that goes beyond development and the whole process of bhakti which involves spiritual education which is meant to help us change our thinking and as long as we think that material things are enjoyable and then if it is I want to do a good deed I want to do this pleasure I want to do that good deed the thinking is enjoyable even when difficult to do that so we need to change our thinking and there is thinking feeling and being so if we just try to change our actions without changing the thinking feeling and being that is the Bhagavad Gita it's like it's like cutting off grass in the woods you know that's why we need so there is thinking feeling and being so the thinking aspect is addressed by the philosophy philosophy is what changes our thoughts it gives us the opportunity to change our thoughts the feeling aspect that is addressed by our relationships philosophy cannot be removed and abstract so when we have an association with devotees when we experience certain emotions in that association and this combination of thinking and being that leads to being so if knowledge now belief is the last technical action so our I mean in the world there is connation emotion intention and action connection in the philosophy so now what happens is that through Shastra it is narrated like this that there is simply philosophy there is thinking but there is philosophy told to stories that there is both thinking and feeling involved because there is a philosophical message that is given but not only there are characters we identify the characters we also feel emotions over it and here Ajaan was saying how did I get such a great costume he realises that he was about to die and he was about to suffer temporarily for his actions how was he saving he was thinking about it and he said oh probably I must have done some monisms in the past because of jealousy now for us when we are practising bhakti a devotee always tries to see things in a way that is favourable for oneself so now if we we all may come from different pasts some of us may have been very materialistic very sensuous some of us may be very biassed now when we look at our past we need to look at it in a way that is healthy for our age if you come from a very sensuous past then if you look at the past that looking at the past in the mode of goodness looking at the past in the lower modes if we are in the lower mode then we look at the past in the mode of goodness and we are looking at the past but if we are in the mode of goodness or above we look at the past with oh actually I was so attached I was known to a materialistic life by Harishnath Naisaraj or Parasmati Maharishi the same recollection can lead to different emotions. What determines that? It is determined by what are the thoughts going on in our mind at that time.
Now A, if I see a nice sweet, if I truly love someone, if I respect someone, oh this is a nice outfit, I can wear that. A, I am thinking only of myself, oh when will I get to do this. The object you are saying, but what emotion comes in my mind, what action I need, the name is depending on what is the substrate of thought that I am having in mind.
So when we face temptation in our life, actually how we respond to that temptation depends not only simply on our look out, I should not do this, I don't want to do this. It actually how we respond depends on what is the overall kind of thought that you are having. So the perception and action, this is where perception comes and action goes.
What determines this is the overall pattern of our thoughts. So in general when we are practising bhakti, we say oh I have to give up this habit, but I am just chanting Hare Krishna, what is chanting Hare Krishna doing? Chanting Hare Krishna changes the overall pattern of our thoughts. When the overall pattern of our thoughts is changed, then when a particular emotion comes in, it does not lead to the same reaction as it could have.
Because our thought pattern is changed. So thinking in self-centred ways, we are thinking in Krishna centred ways. So here, normally we think of ourselves as good people.
I am one of many and this is the writing. So as a writer, at the end of our book, I start working with ethnologists. So once I write a book, they are the authors.
The first acknowledgement goes to me. I work so hard to write a book. This is the height of ego.
You are the author, you are even there in the book. Here you are going to acknowledge others. Now glorify yourself.
So sometimes what happens, people are so ego-centred. They can't see beyond themselves. Now when this happens, then they become self-centred.
Whatever happens, if something good happens, you don't think, I worked so hard, I worked so hard. And something bad happens, you know, he did like that, she did like that, they did like that. So it is said that success has many fathers, whereas failure is always the author.
So everybody wants to play with it. I was responsible for this, I was responsible for this. Failure, not me, not me, not me.
It's like that. So this is an ego-centred attitude. But in a Krishna-centred attitude, the devotee always sees things in a way that has been inevitable for once in his life.
So here also, she is not thinking, oh, I was so intelligent. At that time, I called out Narayan, that's why the Krishna discussed it. He is thinking, oh, it was because I had done something in the past, because the Lord was so merciful to me, that now, when I call Narayan, I remember the Lord.
And then he came and saved me. That way, whenever we face any situation in our life, how we respond to it, we can respond to it in an emotionally conducive way, or we can respond to it in a devotionally harmful, devotionally detrimental way. That choice is always up to us.
Anything that happens, sometimes good things may happen, sometimes people may disrespect us, sometimes we may get positioned, we may get power, we may get followers. Now, how do we respond to that? So Prabhupada in 2.54, no, 2.55 or 4, he says that, no, 56, he says that actually, when we get good blessings, we should know that Krishna is so kind to me. He has provided this so that I can practise spiritual life without any distraction.
And when you want to get problems, at that time, you want to think that actually, there are so many other shelters which I was able to take care of. So, now Krishna is taking me to all those other shelters, so that I can take care of my life. It is not that, the same situation you could have, entirely opposite set of reactions.
When we achieve success and gain my power, now the world is coming to know my glory. Now, I am a great person but people didn't know about it. Now they are going to know about it.
Now that I have got this position and power, I use it to broadcast my glory more and more. That will unfortunately take us away from Krishna. And on the other hand, when we face suffering, we can have another layer which is, why is Krishna doing this to me? And when the suffering is over, why is Krishna doing this to me? And whenever we have something, we start telling the whole world about it.
Oh, this went wrong with me, that went wrong with me, that went wrong, that went wrong. And then, that actually is a zone of self-pity. So, self-pity is not humility.
Humility, the essence of humility is lack of self-centredness. We are constantly talking, oh I am like this, I am like that. Even if we are talking about ourselves in negative terms, if the focus is me, then that is self-centredness and that is not humility.
The basic point of humility is, as we see here, Ajahn Brahm talks in self-deprecating terms over here, speaking negatively about himself, but the conclusion is, he speaks wholeheartedly in the service of the God. So, all this negative talk is simply a backdrop for his more positive talk. He is talking about how fallen I am, so that he can get self-knowledge.
So, I can say, I am so fallen, I am so fallen that nobody can help me. I am so fallen that I cannot practise Krishnamukti. I am so fallen, therefore let me say, fall on me, don't disturb me.
All right, that is a, that is a negative statement. That means I am so fallen, I am so fallen, don't disturb you. Oh, I am desperately in the cycle of Krishna.
I am so sick. Now, normally we say, I am so sick, let me say sick. When we say I am so sick, therefore let me take the medicine.
So, like that, whatever happens in our life, we can, we can interpret that situation in a way that we know the scope of the situation. And the purpose of philosophy is to make us expert in this art of emotional reinterpretation. The purpose of philosophy is not just to be able to quote verses and impress people and convince people and take them to action.
That is good. That is part of our service. But the test of whether we have internalised the philosophy is that whatever happens in our life, are we able to reinterpret it in a way that is capable for us.
To the extent we can reinterpret, whatever happens in our life, in a way that is capable for us, to that extent, the philosophy is being internalised properly. And as a good one example of this, of how there can be devotional reinterpretation of everything that happens in one's life, in a way that is beautiful to look at. You see, in the Bhagavatam itself, when in the 11th canto, we have the story of the Avanti Brahmana.
Avanti Brahmana was a very healthy person, a very miserly person. And suddenly, for a series of events, he lost everything. Similarly, we have the story of the prostitute, i.e. Pingala.
She was just out on her business. In her lifetime, that was the time of her business. And then, what happened? One night, she was sitting by herself in a nice place and waiting, and nobody came.
At that time, she was eagerly waiting, waiting, waiting. Nobody came. And then, she was not actually just looking for money, she was not looking for pleasure.
She was thinking that through this, I will get some Brahmana, I will get some love. And when nobody came, she got frustrated. But through that frustration, she got inspiration.
Why has this happened that nobody has come to meet her? No, it must be that the Lord is merciful to her. He wants to make her happy. Now, it is that God has control over who goes to a prostitute or who doesn't go to a prostitute.
Actually, Krishna has control over everything. So, that's how she reinterprets everything. That's how we all also can experience the ordinary events of our life, if we can reinterpret them in a way that's really beautiful for us.
Whatever happens, let it march into the discussion. So, in summary, let's talk today about how the Bhagavan here describes one of the most graphic stories of transformation. Everyone, whether religious or spiritualist, they all want to become like that.
Even to do something worthwhile in material life, one needs dedication and discipline. So, inspiration means emotions comes first, action follows. Dedication and discipline means that the action comes whether there is emotion or not.
And that is what is required for spiritual self-transformation. So, 7th and 10th books are very popular because people want to change themselves. Now, sometimes some people feel that, oh, next time some miraculous thing will happen in my life and then I will change myself.
So, actually, something similar happens to Ajahn Malhotra. A stupendous thing, miraculous thing happens. He is completely on a downward trajectory towards sin and hell and suddenly he is transferred from the worst.
Now, limiting the cause is the extreme miraculous encounter that we have. For instance, when he was taking an action by saving people. Yes, that was a factor.
But the decisive factor was his introspection, not his intellect. So, we may not have miracles happening in our life, but through the right introspection, we can also change the direction of our life. Ajahn Malhotra is attributing his change to the practise of acting in the past because of which he called out his own Narayana and he remembered it on Narayana.
Because of which Kriyayoga Vishnu thus came to save him. So, when we want to change ourselves for the better, if we work only at the level of actions, then we are working superficially because actions are like the ground that is going above, what we are working below. Below that, below the action is thinking.
The thinking is changed by the study of the philosophy. The feeling is changed by affectionate relationship between devotees and then by all this, one activates this action of wisdom, automatic wisdom. The same emotion and same perception can lead to different emotions and different reactions depending on what we are thinking.
So, our devotee can't change the perception of the world and what it is. So, we can change our thinking, change what is our normal pattern of thought by which the same emotion leads to a different reaction, different action. And the action that is favourable to the devotee, the devotee has to become expert in that.
Whether we get good out of this life or bad out of this life. From the material point of view, all the good things are good or bad. But from the spiritual point of view, it's all dependent on how we interpret it.
To do it again, our study of philosophy is not just meant to memorise and verbalise verses. It is meant to actually expand the art of devotional thinking. Whatever happens, we interpret it in a way that is favourable for our approach to the world.
That's what Ajahn Prasanna has been told here and that's what in Vrindavan, that's what I will be done and that's what we all need to learn. Thank you very much. Do you want to ask a question? One question.
I have a question. It may be asked that one of the offences in the Bhagavad Gita is to normally commit sinful activities based on the strength of the mind. So, one may say that we are chanting the name of the offensive.
So, you may not say that, but we are chanting the name of the offensive. So, how can we understand the difference? So, as a Chantant, we chant the name of the offensive because we are physically chanting the name of the offensive. There is a difference between the emotions that we feel because of our past conditions or because of our circumstances.
And there is an emotion that we choose to cultivate. Sometimes we feel bored. Sometimes we feel guilty.
Sometimes we feel angry. Sometimes we feel lusty. These emotions come from our God.
How do we respond to them? Then we can fantasise about them, cultivate them, make them grow. So, Krishna sees not just our feelings. He sees also our feelings about happiness.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, He is talking about transcendental moments. He says, sometimes we feel annoyed and sometimes we feel passionate. Sometimes we feel lazy.
But if you can see these, sometimes people come to the temple. Some are very energetic people. Some are very lazy people.
So, there is a different kind of people who come in and become me or her. So, that's when thoughts come into our consciousness and we go out of consciousness. So, if you see the influence of the mother, then it helps you.
Now, how does the Vedanta question reflect? We all have certain conditions because we fall into certain conditions. Now, whether we are ourselves consciously increasing our fantasies about them, continuously learning about them, planning and scheming about them, and most importantly, when is it offensive? When there is a conscious correlation. Okay, I do this and then I do this to make it.
I do this, I do this, I do this intellectually and then I make it out of this. No, then that is offensive. But if we are chanting Hare Krishna sincerely, by the force of continuum, then we fall into certain conditions.
It is not that that is considered offensive. So, when Ajahn Maharaj got caught in the spell of lust, after that he was doing simple activities and he was not doing devotional activities consciously trying to compensate. When we chanted Hare Narayana also, there is no calculating mentality.
See, we are all fallen and we want to be elevated by Krishna's grace. So, it is not reasonable to expect that we can just give up our attachments and start chanting Hare Krishna. But the point is, the offence is not to do simple activities while we are chanting.
The offence is to think that my chanting makes a simple activity automatic. It doesn't matter. If we are sincerely trying to battle our conditions, sometimes we fall, but we rise again and keep marching on.
It is the calculating mentality that is the problem. If there is a humble attitude, then even if one is falling to sin, at Krishna's mercy, we will gradually go on. For example, not calculating.
He spontaneously chanted Hare Narayana and that's why, although he did simple activities, because his chanting was not intentionally trying to counter that mentality, it was not obvious. Thank you very much.