Focus not on the cause – focus on the cure
Hare Krishna Thank you all for coming here today evening I am grateful to have the opportunity to give it all of you today so today I will speak on the topic of don't focus on the cause focus on the cure I will be talking this as a approach to counselling ourselves and counselling others based on primarily an incident from the Mahabharata and also we will talk about an incident from the Bhagavatam so if I am able to complete this today we will complete this today otherwise I may continue this in tomorrow evening's class usually when we are going through our life journey we often face problems that come unexpectedly and often for sometimes for no reason at all we are just going along routine of our life and suddenly somebody gets a diagnosis of some disease somebody has some job problem somebody has some relationship issues flare up so at such times naturally the question comes up why did this happen and then that question often leads to a lot of frustration sometimes some people behave in very irrational unreasonable ways and then we just get eaten up with resentment why is he doing like this, why is she doing like this why are they acting in this way and that trying to understand the cause of that can actually consume us so in the Mahabharata after the Kurukshetra war after the Kurukshetra war gets over and all the 100 sons of Dhritarashtra are killed Dhritarashtra is devastated he has been hearing all this from Sanjay and on the 18th night by 18th afternoon actually the battle ends when Duryodhana is killed Dhritarashtra is shattered he swoons in agony and Sanjay has been there throughout for a long time Sanjay departs after helping him come back to consciousness and after that when the next morning Sanjay returns at that time Sanjay sees Dhritarashtra there is like a giant tree that has been shorn of all its leaves he is like trees look very poverty stricken almost without leaves so Dhritarashtra has lost all his spirit all his life and he says alas without my sons what is the point of living I will lay down my life now let the Pandavas come and see that they by killing my sons what plight they have reduced their uncle to as he starts his ultimate journey towards the north oh destiny has dealt me an unbearably cruel blow I cannot tolerate it I will lay down my life right now speaking like this he starts shedding tears I will at that time Sanjay he starts taking the role of an advisor although Sanjay is just his assistant who has helped him to understand what has happened in the Kurukshetra war war field now he takes the role of his advisor and he says okay what is the use of lamenting thus your grief by indulging in it it will simply grow and worsen after all it is you who neglected all good advice given by so many people and thus no one is to be blamed for what you have got except you if a person takes a burning coal and puts it close to his chest and then gives fire to it and then complains that his chest has gone burnt who can be blamed for that like that the Pandavas you brought them close but by angering them by the atrocities that you committed by angering them especially by dishonouring their wife Draupadi you put fuel to that fire and now that fire has scarred you you are saying that destiny has dealt you a severe blow okay, it is not destiny who has dealt you the blow, it is you yourself who has dealt the blow he says your crooked intelligence is like a sword that has cut yourself just like a wood cutter who cuts the branch on which he sits like that you have caused the destruction of your own dynasty now that you have fallen down whom can you blame this way Sanjay's critique is unrelenting and Dhritarashtra feels chastised by Sanjay's words at the same time he feels so amazed because he is slowly seeing the wrong that he has done Sanjay, your words hurt me but they also illuminate me keep speaking after that he says that actually for what has already happened grief does nothing except expand that misery so okay do not indulge in grief your sons are dead now now it is for you to do your duty to them by performing their last rites and to your nephews to whom you neglected so much and whom you grievously hurt by your partiality and as Sanjay is speaking like this at that time Vyasadev appears over there when Sanjay informs that Vyasadev has come, Dhritarashtra gets up and bows down and he again expresses his heart all my sons have been killed, what is the point of my life now at that time Vyasadev takes the entirely opposite tack and he says okay you should not blame yourself for what has happened what has happened is actually the will of destiny many years ago I had gone to the heavens and while I was in the heaven I saw that all the gods were assembled there and they had gone to Vishnu to ask for help and the help they were asking was that the earth had been ridden over by demons, many demoniac kings had occupied the positions of many demoniac souls had occupied the positions of kings in various dynasties of the earth and they had become so powerful that destroying them was going to be very difficult they were asking Vishnu for help, Vishnu said rest assure him oh gods your purpose will be served through the eldest son of Dhritarashtra the eldest son of Dhritarashtra Duryodhana will actually be the incarnation of Kali he will descend to the earth and he will by his political scheming unite all the demoniac kings on his side and he will aggravate he will infuriate the virtuous Pandavas when his offences become unbearable the consequence of it all will fall on them there will be a catastrophic battle in which all the demoniac kings of the earth will be destroyed Vyasa says that actually when I heard this I told this to the Pandavas and the Pandavas knowing that this battle would take place they tried their best to avoid it Krishna himself tried to avoid it but it was the will of destiny and that is why this battle happened though Dhritarashtra now do not agree now remember your duty and perform that duty in this way you will move onwards and that burden of guilt that has been crushing Dhritarashtra it lifts and then he starts thinking about how he can do his duty thereafter now in this case you may ask who is right first Sanjay comes and says that you are to be blamed and then Dhritarashtra comes and says you are not to be blamed so what is right over here see actually in Swakthi what is right is not as important as what has the right effect now things are not just right or wrong or good or bad in isolation morality is never absolute morality is never categorical it is contextual categorical means this is the category of right and this is the category of wrong and this is always right and that is always wrong that is the categorical idea of morality but morality is actually not categorical in real life it is contextual contextual means depending on context the same thing can be right in one context and the same thing can be wrong in another context say for example in some parts of America there is some racial protests and racial violence going on say if there are some rampagers on a rampage and they are chasing after a victim to lynch that victim and say that person comes to our house and seeks refuge over there so that person is our friend and suppose I have taken a resolution that I will always speak the truth I give my friend a place to hide in my house but afterwards when these rioters come and they say is he there in your house now what should I say at that time I say always speak the truth but here truth will cost the life of a person so actually what should be spoken at that time is you don't have to speak you can say I don't know where he is you have to speak something counterfactual at that time if a higher purpose is to be served so the Mahabharata consistently demonstrates this point that morality is not categorical it is contextual so what is right for one person may actually be not right for another person and now in the specific context of Dhritarashtra the fact is Dhritarashtra was a weak link, Dhritarashtra did make wrong choices of course his wrong choice was that he sanctioned the wrong choices of his sons he may say that oh I some people say Dhritarashtra himself was not a human Dhritarashtra was just a weak person, yes that is fine we can argue that way but there are times of course when he delighted in the fall of the Kauravas in the fall of the Pandavas also but even if we say he was a weak link but still he sanctioned the evil choices of his son Duryodhana knew that Dhritarashtra was weakened by his attachment to him and Duryodhana just knew which buttons to press by which he could make Dhritarashtra dance to his tune so Dhritarashtra was on the throne but Duryodhana was in power in India the previous government that was there one person was in the chair another was in power so something like that so actually the so it is not that Dhritarashtra is not to be blamed in fact Vidura another incident before the Kurukshetra war when Vidura is fervently urging Dhritarashtra to stop Duryodhana from his suicidal obstinacy Duryodhana continues to antagonise the Pandavas Duryodhana refuses to give their share of the kingdom to the Pandavas if Duryodhana refuses to hear the peace message that peace proposal that Krishna has brought then Duryodhana will bring the destruction of his gold dynasty now when Vidura makes an impassioned appeal to Dhritarashtra like that Dhritarashtra tries to wiggle a way out by invoking destiny and he says that oh Vidura if it is the will of almighty destiny that our dynasty be destroyed then who am I a tiny mortal to stop the will of almighty destiny so at that time Vidura cuts through the deception of Dhritarashtra and he says a memorable sentence it's worth memorising he says that destiny determines the consequences of our actions not our actions themselves destiny determines the consequences of our actions not our actions themselves now if a student doesn't study for exam and then the student says I failed because of destiny that was not destiny that was stupidity that was lethargy that was irresponsibility but sometimes we may study and even after studying well somehow maybe we fall sick at the time of exam we forget at the time of exam or somehow there is some computational mistake or whatever and we don't get the marks then we can say that is the will of destiny destiny determines not our actions themselves but the consequences of our actions so now here the important point is that if you look at it from a philosophical perspective it is true that Dhritarashtra was wrong he did act in seriously wrong ways and Sanjay was right in severely castigating him for his apathy for his lethargy for his weakness then Vyas Dev why does he come and say that actually you are not responsible it was the will of destiny so here philosophy is actually like medicine the purpose of medicine is to heal the patient similarly our goal is not just to teach the philosophy our goal is to teach the philosophy in a way that people become healed people become elevated people feel inspired to take to the path of spiritual healing and spiritual elevation so initially when Sanjay first meet Dhritarashtra at that time Dhritarashtra is lost in self pity self pity means oh I am so unfortunate this happened to me that happened to me why is life so unfair why is fate so cruel so now at this point when one is wallowing in self pity like this at that time it's important it's not that life has been unfair to you you have made unfair to yourself so one needs to take responsibility if one is feeling sorry for oneself and blaming others or blaming fate blaming destiny at that time the person has to be told just by blaming others you will achieve nothing you have to take responsibility you didn't take responsibility earlier at least take responsibility now now act properly but as Sanjay kept speaking as he kept speaking eventually what happened Dhritarashtra recognised the colossal blunders that he had committed the grievous atrocities that he had sanctioned and he began to feel crushed by feelings of guilt and at that time when Vyasadev came Vyasadev told him actually don't blame yourself it was the will of destiny that helped him to gain relief and then he was able to do his subsequent duties perform the last rites of his sons and whatever else was to be done so the now the point is that even when we talk about destiny destiny is not fixed what god determines is the link between choices and consequences now god doesn't determine the future Krishna's knowledge of the future is like our knowledge of the past Krishna's knowledge of the future is like our knowledge of the past how is our knowledge of the past it is knowledge without intervention now I can say today morning I wanted to wake up early but I woke up one hour late stupid of me I know it but I can't change it it's knowledge without intervention so like that Krishna's knowledge of the future is like that Krishna if we take this choice this will happen if we take that choice that will happen but Krishna doesn't force us which choice we will take Krishna gives us free will and with his free will he allows us to choose and depending on our choices the consequences are fixed but which choice we make that Krishna doesn't determine that is something which we ourselves determine so in one sense we could say that yes it was the will of destiny that all the kings be destroyed but those kings could have been destroyed in some other way also it was not that this terrible war necessarily had to take place it could have been in a less brutal way also those kings could have been destroyed but Dhritarashtra Dhritarashtra's weakness allowed Duryodhana to act out his evil fantasies and thus he became an instrument for the destruction of the demoniac so here bringing this back to our life when we face problems at that time once we go to the question of why why did this happen actually the why question very rarely has answers in a philosophical sense we may say this is happening because of my past bad karma but we don't really know what that bad karma is and we don't know how much that bad karma is we don't know how long that problem is going to go on what we can focus on is what can I do now and even when we talk about past bad karma the past bad karma whatever it might be it is not it's the way it is going to play out in our life is not fixed so for example if there is a weather forecast which tells that today there is going to be stormy weather at night now this itself is not changeable if there is going to be stormy weather there is going to be stormy weather now I came to America about 15 days ago I came to Kalachua and there was this hurricane going on over there everything was locked out we were away there was no power and we had to stay in the houses now because we knew in advance that this is going to come so what we did we didn't go out we had some programmes we cancelled the programmes or we didn't cancel the programmes we were farther away so we can't change the storm but what we can do is we can minimise its effect on us that means if there is going to be storm if I am outside I am more vulnerable if I am safe home I am less vulnerable so like that destiny determines what happens to us but how we respond is up to us and that's why when things are going wrong at that time now we can with our intelligence try to find out the cause but that needed to be our focus we can use our intelligence to find out what caused this now if somebody has been smoking constantly and then they get cancer and they say oh it is the will of destiny that I got cancer well it is your smoking which caused it you want to avoid it then stop smoking but sometimes some people may not smoke and still they also get cancer they might get lung cancer or whatever something which normally causes smoking so at that time we can't know what the cause is focus on what is the cure the philosophy is primarily curative you know the whole Bhagavad Gita's mood is not the mood of doing post-mortem you know post-mortem when a person dies after they cut up the body and try to find out what caused the death the Bhagavad Gita's mood is not that at all you know actually Arjuna is facing a serious ethical crisis at the start of the Bhagavad Gita there are two different kinds of crisis there is a moral crisis and there is an ethical crisis in moral crisis there are two choices one is moral the other is immoral this is right and this is wrong say you know somebody has an opportunity to take a bribe which means they will get money but then they make a substandard product that will hurt others so at that time one needs moral strength to resist the immoral choice to earn good money one has to avoid that so in moral choice what is right and what is wrong is clear but it requires inner strength to choose the right thing but in ethical crisis there are two choices and both of them are right then the question is which is more right so at the start of the Bhagavad Gita Arjuna's crisis was that he had two kinds of Dharma one was his Kula Dharma and the other was his Kshatriya Dharma his Kula Dharma was that as a Kshatriya sorry as a member of the Kuru dynasty I should protect the members of my dynasty how can I fight against them so Kula Dharma meant that he should avoid fighting Kshatriya Dharma was that those who are aggressors those who are those who are acting in adharmic ways they need to be punished and the Kauravas had repeatedly acted in adharmic ways so they had to be punished so his Kula Dharma and his Kshatriya Dharma they pulled him in two different directions and Krishna had and Arjuna had to choose and Arjuna got confused so he says in 2.6 that I don't know whether I should fight and win or whether I should lose or avoid fighting I don't know which option is preferable so at that time in the whole Bhagavad Gita Krishna does not go into causes he doesn't say actually the Kauravas did something wrong that's why they are fighting now you have to fight this war whose karma is it because of which now you are in this situation Arjuna you have to fight you have to fight against your elders so is this because of your karma is it because of their karma Krishna doesn't go into that analysis at all Krishna's focus in Bhagavad Gita is on Dharma that's why if we see Arjuna asks also very precise question when he surrenders to Krishna his question is not simply should I fight or should I not fight if that had been his question then Krishna could have just said fight and the Bhagavad Gita would have been over there would have been no Bhagavad Gita but what does Arjuna ask 2.7 he says that I am confused O Krishna therefore please tell me what is Dharma and to understand this I become your disciple I surrender to you please instruct me so Arjuna's question should I just fight or should I not fight whatever Krishna had spoken that would not have had much relevance we would not be discussing it today thousands of years later we discuss it because Arjuna's question is universal it is what is Dharma how do I know what is Dharma and Krishna gives answers at multiple levels in the Bhagavad Gita and his final answer is he says you have all varieties of religion there are some Hindus they can't digest the idea how can God tell you to be of Dharma so they claim that actually when the Bhagavad Gita was written down again and again over centuries there is a mistake in writing them so the word is they recite the Bhagavad Gita also like that Adharman but actually they don't understand the profundity of the Gita now for Arjuna Adharma was not an option at all Arjuna was a very virtuous person so for him the question was among two Dharmas which to choose so therefore what Krishna tells him is give up all varieties of religion now Prabhupada says in a lecture to his early students many of whom were hippies he says actually even the hippies had done they had given up their duty to their families they had given up their duty to their their own future their career, their nation they had given up all duties but he said the Gita's message is not Sarva Dharma Parityajya, its essential message is Maam Ekam Sharanam Rajya so he said the hippies had done Sarva Dharma Parityajya I taught them how to do Maam Ekam Sharanam Rajya taught them how to surrender to Krishna so now when Krishna says Maam Ekam Sharanam Rajya, surrender to me what does it mean? it doesn't mean that Arjuna should not practise any Dharma because afterwards what does Arjuna do? Arjuna takes up a weapon and starts fighting so Krishna tells Arjuna take that Dharma which is Anukul for your Bhakti for surrendering to me whichever Dharma is Anukul, you accept that Dharma so in this case for Arjuna the Kula Dharma was Pratikula now Krishna had to establish the rule of Dharma over there Arjuna following his Kula Dharma would have been unfavourable, but Arjuna following his Kshatriya Dharma was favourable, therefore Arjuna takes up Kshatriya Dharma, but his focus is on serving Krishna so when things go wrong in our life, if we ask the question why? the why question is very disempowering there are times when we can have the answer to the why question but many times, when the why question comes up, the answer is just there is no answer available so instead of the why question we can ask the how question how question means how can I serve now when Prabhupada was asked what is the best prayer that we can offer to him offer to Krishna Prabhupada said pray to Krishna for the strength to serve him Krishna, whatever happens, please give me the strength to serve that means Krishna how can I serve you so if we have that prayerful mood, how can I serve you then when we are asking why this happened, why this happened, why this happened often we don't get answer, we just see closed door, this doesn't make sense, this doesn't make sense this doesn't make sense, this doesn't make sense there is no explanation, but how can I serve now whatever situation we are in we can always find some way to serve ok, I don't know what I am going to do but right now I can do this one thing I can do this one thing and like that we can move on in our life our faith is not always like the sun that rises in the sky and illuminates everything in terms of philosophical understanding of the overall purpose of life, it is like that but in terms of practical application faith often acts like a torch light if I have a small torch light I cannot see far away with the torch light but I can, if it is dark and I am moving along a path, I can see one step ahead of me and if I have the torch light, I take one step ahead, then the torch light also moves ahead with me and I can see one step further and I can see one step further so like that, if we ask this question, how can I serve now, but Krishna is still in control, Krishna is still God, Krishna still cares for me, Krishna still protects me, how can I serve Krishna then we can always find one step that I can do, let me do this let me do this let me do this, and as we keep taking one step forward then the next step becomes, let me do this let me do this, and like that we keep moving forward and eventually we move ahead in the path and the darkness that has come because of adversities that dissipates and we move onwards Prabhupada says, I will conclude with this point Prabhupada says in one purport that a devotee may be perplexed but a devotee is never discouraged perplexed means I don't know what to do discouraged means I don't feel like doing anything so sometimes life may give us such adversities that why is this happening we may just not have the answer and we are perplexed, should I do this should I do this or should I do this we just not know at that time so at that time if we turn our vision from the why question to the how question why is this happening fate is so cruel life is always unfair to me we feel sorry for ourselves, we become disempowered we become discouraged ok, how can I serve you as soon as we develop cultivate that question, Krishna how can I serve you what should I do now, please guide me we have that attitude then Krishna will guide us it's not that suddenly our full path will become clear but one step becomes clear and we move onwards Prabhupada did that actually when he was trying to preach in India it was not that things were clear for him he tried one thing, it didn't work he tried to initially expand his own business so that he could sponsor support his spiritual master mission and that didn't work he tried to start back to Godhead worked very hard to print and distribute back to Godhead, but people were not interested then he tried to start League of Devotees in Jhansi where he wanted that to be the headquarters of a big organisation that can go all over the country and all over the world but then there was a political clique against him and he was evicted from the very building that was supposed to be his headquarters he tried to work with his Godbrothers assisting them in their publications but they had a very narrow vision and didn't really want to expand preaching and they wouldn't let him also expand preaching then he tried to then he then he tried going to different Hindu houses and doing talks over there to gain support but again not much happened he tried to distribute his books, he wrote his Bhagavatam he gave it to influential people they applauded it but nothing more happened then he came to America, on the way he got a heart attack finally came to America his typewriter was thrown away when he was staying at one place he went to another place there a young man seemed to be becoming his disciple and he turned and attacked him and Prabhupada had to flee practically for his life and through it all what was Prabhupada doing Prabhupada came to America and at that time he said that अच्छे किच्चु कार्जे तबे एही अनुमाने नाहे केनो आनिमेना एही उंकरस्ताने he says Krishna now there must be some purpose why you have brought me here अच्छे किच्चु कार्जे तबे there must be some purpose why you have brought me here नाहे केनो आनिमेना एही उंकरस्ताने otherwise how would you have brought me to this terrible place I don't think any other Indian on coming to America has said this is a terrible place that is Prabhupada's spiritual wish spiritual perspective he felt this was a spiritually bankrupt it's a terrible place but what is Prabhupada's inference अनुमान अनुमान means guessing it's not guessing it's actually inferring so what is Prabhupada inferring Krishna you must have some plan that's why you have brought me here the same way Krishna you must have some plan whatever is happening in my life there is some plan I don't know what it is right now but नच्चाओ नच्चाओ प्रभु नच्चाओ सेमते काश्ठेर पुत्तली जता नच्चाओ सेमते Prabhupada said Krishna make me dance make me dance oh Krishna he said a puppet master makes a puppet dance similarly make me dance that is actually a prayer for service similarly if we develop that mood then find one step forward and eventually the darkness of the adversity will dissipate and the light of truth the light of wisdom the light of happiness will shine forth in our life I'll summarise so I started by talking about don't focus on the cause focus on the cure that was the topic so I explained how when adversities come in our life sometimes we just are not able to figure out why they have happened and then I took an incident from the Mahabharata where Dhritarashtra was devastated after the death of his sons and Sanjay came and held him responsible because of your own foolish choices your intelligence perverted intelligence is the sword that has cut you you have put the burning coal in your own cloak and now it is burning you have no one but yourself to blame don't blame destiny and then Vyasa comes and tells him actually it was ordained by destiny that they all should be killed and therefore don't blame yourself so we discuss what is right is not as important as what has the right effect so initially when Dhritarashtra was wallowing in self pity just feeling sorry for himself Sanjay spoke in a way that would make him take responsibility at least now take responsibility and act properly and when he started feeling too burdened by guilt at that time Vyasa speaks and tells him that actually it was the will of destiny don't be burdened by guilt now now focus on doing what is right so objectively speaking we discussed that Dhritarashtra was a weak king and he did make wrong choices and his main wrong choice was that he sanctioned the evil of Duryodhana so he was definitely responsible destiny determines doesn't even remember destiny determines what and it doesn't determine what destiny determines the consequences of our actions not our actions themselves so Dhritarashtra was responsible but the point is what now what should he be doing now he should not feel crushed by his wrong choices rather he should move on and similarly in our own lives whether we are dealing with others whether we are guiding others or we are trying to strengthen ourselves our focus should always be on what now how can I serve Krishna now not why has this happened the explanation is because of past karma that doesn't solace the heart that doesn't necessarily give practical guidance so what happens to us may be destiny but how we respond is up to us so storms may come by destiny but whether we are inside or outside at that time we have significant choice in that so we focus on what can I do now how can I serve now, the spiritual knowledge can sometimes act like the sun which illumines everything and helps us to make sense of life but other times the clouds of confusion cover the sky of our heart at that time spiritual knowledge may not seem to illuminate so at that time it can just be like a torchlight it shows one step ahead ok what can I do now how can I serve Krishna now let me take one step ahead and the next step will become clear Prabhupada says a devotee may be perplexed but a devotee is never discouraged Prabhupada demonstrates this in his own life when many of his plans seem to go awry disastrously wrong but Prabhupada perseveres eventually Krishna helps him do something extraordinarily unprecedented practically in world history in terms of how he preached and shared Krishna Bhakti all over the world in the last 10-11 years of his life similarly if we focus on just taking one step forward one step forward in our service to Krishna not worrying too much why is this person acting like this why is this happening ok what can I do now how can I serve now by that if we just keep taking one step forward eventually the darkness caused by the clouds of adversity will dissipate and the sun of truth and happiness will shine forth in our life thank you very much are there any questions or comments my question was you mentioned that scriptures are for the most part curated but if you study scriptures often times the solution to a problem might not be just one solution you can find 10 solutions and then so you know Guru Sadhu's Shastra for me in particular I don't have direct access to Guru so then you go to Sadhus and you can actually find 10 different Sadhus who will again give you different suggestions, interpretations in such a situation how do you gauge because even in that again if you start picking and choosing then you know again your own you are still following your own bias and all that so how do you make sure that your decisions are properly directed because so when we say that scripture is primarily curative in terms of telling us how we should act but sometimes even in scripture there are many paths that are recommended and then we may go to Sadhu and Guru but Guru may not be accessible to us and we go to Sadhus and they may give you different opinions so what do we do actually one thing we have to know that no one else can live our lives for us you know I have to live my life even if I had my spiritual master 24 hours accessible to me still my spiritual master cannot live my life I have to live my life it is I who is living in this body it is I who is living in this mind and this body and mind create certain problems for me and it is I who have to deal with them so guidance from Guru Sadhu Shastra is never meant to be a replacement for our own intelligence and initiative it is meant to be a complement for our intelligence and initiative so that means the human intelligence and the divine guidance they are meant to work together it is not that the divine guidance replaces human intelligence at the end of the Bhagavad Gita what does Krishna tell Arjuna Vimrishyaitala sheshena yathechati tathakuru in 18.63 Krishna tells Arjuna deliberate deeply Vimrishyaitala yathechati tathakuru as is your desire so you can act that means Krishna is telling Arjuna that you have to use your intelligence and decide how to act so if we start taking guidance as a substitute for our intelligence then we will become over dependent on others and when we don't have guidance we will become paralysed eventually later when we face a situation and when we don't have guidance we will become paralysed so the mood of the Bhagavad Gita is not just to give instruction or it is not just to give decision Arjuna you should do this you should not do this rather it is to give you the philosophical understanding by which one can take responsible decisions so certainly if we have to take major decisions in our life which are going to have serious consequences we should always try to consult our spiritual authorities our spiritual master or some other senior devotee and it is fine to consult it is fine to consult multiple devotees also there is nothing wrong in that but usually it is good to have one guide and that one guide if it is a very major decision we should consult them and if they tell us something which we find very difficult or we don't find it very practical or whatever then there should be candid discussion with them these are my reservations for this and if eventually they insist that we should do this then we can go ahead and do it but in general it is good to do our own homework first that means with my intelligence I weigh the pros and cons see because as I said our spiritual master cannot live our lives for us so even if for example I had my spiritual master's guidance directly now if my spiritual master tells me do this don't do this but see if I am not convinced about doing this then somebody will say you don't have faith in your spiritual master well if I don't have I don't have right I can't suddenly magically develop that faith the growth of faith is also a natural evolution so if I am not convinced about a particular solution even if it is a good solution because I am not convinced I may not implement it wholeheartedly and then it may not work out not because the solution is not right but because my implementation is not wholehearted that's why life often presents us with difficult decisions to make and we shouldn't think of the spiritual master's guidance as a as a as a push button solution it's like I press one button the spiritual master gives guidance and the whole problem is solved. Life is rarely so simple so we at least in the early stages of our spiritual life we usually have one spiritual guide from whom we learn from whom probably our shiksha guru or whatever and they give us guidance about how we should act in our lives and eventually as we grow in our spiritual life we also understand ourselves better understand our capacities better understand our own aspirations better what is truly important for us and then eventually we take guidance we take guidance from those who understand us best so it is not necessary that we always need to take guidance from one devotee as in initial stages we are very much slaves of our mind I like this I like this I don't like this and whatever we like we will do it and then we will try to avoid taking up commitments in our spiritual life doing things which are unpalatable sometimes which are necessary but in the long run we need like minded association so if I have the inspiration to do book distribution and then other devotee or somebody tells me oh you know we should build a temple well both are good but if I don't feel inspired to do that then I may do it for some time that's what is required but that may not be my heart's deep aspiration but then if I have very strong aspiration to do book distribution then I should associate with those devotees who are inspired for book distribution and then I can move on so that way even our spiritual guidance that we get from different sadhus we have to find out those sadhus who are like minded those whose whose thinking makes sense to us sometimes different devotees give answers also in different ways similar question and some answer just click to us other answer you know it don't make sense to us so you know people are different in the Bhakti Samhita Sindhu it is said that we should have not just sadhu sangha but it means people who have similar category of desires affectionate that's why we grow in our spiritual life and as we grow in our spiritual life we gravitate towards like minded association and in that like minded association by using our intelligence and by taking guidance from others we can have both of them as complement which enables us to take wise decisions and sometimes we may take wrong decisions also it's not a terrible mistake Bhaktivinoda Thakur says that sometimes if we have gone wrong if I wanted to go here and then I have gone this way that does not mean I have to go back all the way and then I have to start again if I have gone off track then from wherever I have gone off track I come back sometimes some decisions we have to learn by experience and as soon as we realise we have gone off track then we come back on track does it answer your question? any other questions? when he is 5 years old he asked me one question why do we say Hare Ramane Krishna so why do we say Hare Krishna and not Om Krishna yeah anyway we chant the sacred names of god that is good now different names are associated with different conceptions of the absolute so the word Om is associated with the, usually it is associated with the impersonal conception of the absolute truth. See God is the impersonal side and a personal side.
Now impersonal is that side which is all pervading, extends everywhere. And then the personal aspect which is Krishna manifesting as a person or Ram manifesting as a person. Now both exist in parallel.
And Krishna says that brahmanoni pratishthanam. In 4.27 he says that actually the impersonal manifestation rests on the personal manifestation. That means the personal manifestation is the source and the impersonal is the effulgence.
Like there is sun over here, we have the light source over here, the light going all around. So like Krishna is a person and from him the impersonal effulgence comes. So those who chant the names of the absolute truth with Om.
For example we have mantras Om Shri Krishnayanamaha or Om Narayananamaha. These can also be devotional mantras. And these are also chanted.
But specifically when we have a clear personal understanding of God, we understand that God manifests as the divine couple. There is not just God as one person. God has his consort and both of them are together.
So Om refers to God as the impersonal and then we have Krishna. Om is not necessarily always an impersonal reference. It can also refer to God in the personal manifestation.
But it refers to God, quite often people use it to refer to God in the impersonal manifestation. But when we have Hare over there, Hare actually has multiple meanings. Hare can mean Hari, that is Lord himself, another name for Him.
It can refer to Hara, it can refer to Hara which refers to Shiva and it can refer to Hara which refers to the Lord's consort Radharani or Lakshmidevi. So Hare Krishna we are actually calling the divine couple. So now both of them are God themselves.
So now normally when we call out to Krishna, we get his mercy. If I call out to Ram, I get his mercy. But when we call out the divine couple, we get double mercy.
Why? Because when we call out Hare, we are calling out Radharani, she gives her mercy. But when we are calling out to Hare, actually Krishna is pleased that we are remembering his topmost devotee. Krishna gives his mercy.
And when we call out Krishna, Krishna gives his mercy. But then Radharani also says, oh you are calling my lord, Radharani also gives her mercy. So like that Hare Krishna gives us double mercy.
I said any way we chant names of God that is good. But Hare Krishna gives us, if you have a car, maximum mileage for the fuel. So like that, Hare Krishna mantra gives us the maximum mercy for the time and consciousness that we are investing in chanting.
That is why we chant the Hare Krishna mahamantra. That is what is recommended in the scriptures in this particular age for purifying ourselves. Any other questions? What are the most important things in devotional life? Mahaprasade Govinde, Naam Brahmani Vaishtave, Swalpa Punya Vratham Rajan, Vishwasu Nivajayate.
So what it says over these verses? Actually initially our Vishwas is very little. Swalpa, Mahaprasade, Naam Brahmani Vaishtave, Swalpa Punya Vratham Rajan. Because of Swalpa Punya, because having less Punya, Vishwasu Nivajayate.
We don't have faith in the person of Bhakti. These three activities, Mahaprasade Govinde, Naam Brahmani Vaishtave. So taking Mahaprasade, chanting the names of Naam Brahmani, chanting the names of Krishna and Vaishtave, associating with devotees.
These three are activities by which we increase our Punya and by that our Vishwas increases. Now these three things, the third is most important, Vaishtave. Because if we associate with devotees, they will give us Prasad and they will ask, are you chanting? So by that, by associating with devotees, other two things will also happen.
So if we associate with devotees regularly, then everything else that is required in Bhakti will happen. And associating with devotees is not just a social club. We come together, we eat together, that's fine.
It's for spiritual understanding. That's why we come to the association of devotees, we discuss philosophy, we understand the philosophy and then we move forwards in our life. So association is the single most important thing for us to grow in life.
So in association, practise the limbs of Bhakti, understand the philosophy and chant Hare Krishna, take Prasad, that way we can move forwards in our life. Thank you. So I heard that Gayatri Mantra should be chanted at a specific time.
So is Hare Krishna Mantra also to be chanted at a specific time? No. There are different mantras which are for different purposes. And the Hare Krishna Mantra is the most merciful of all mantras.
Why? Because God makes himself fully accessible through this mantra. And because his grace, his love, his mercy manifests to us and his mercy is unlimited, so he makes himself accessible at any time and every time in the chanting of the Hare Krishna Mantra. The Gayatri Mantra is not just spiritual power, it is also material power.
And when there is material power involved in something, there are material laws to be followed. Because spiritual transcends everything material. But material itself doesn't transcend the material.
So if I have to eat food, you know, if I have got cough and I take ice cream, even if that ice cream is offered to Krishna, it is going to have a material effect on me. That's why it works as a microbe. So like the Gayatri Mantra, it can also be chanted, some people chant it remembering Surya.
It is actually referring to Surya Narayan. So it is also in the name of Krishna, but because it involves certain forces that act at the material level also, that's why that mantra is to be chanted at specific times. But Hare Krishna Mahamantra, because it is entirely spiritual mantra, meant to raise our consciousness spiritually, so it transcends all material rules and regulations.
Did I answer your question? Based on what you feel strongly, but if the other person doesn't perceive it, what do we do? Do we just lead the person to the faith? Okay. So, if you try to convince others based on something which you feel very strongly, but others don't accept, then what do we do? na buddhi-bhedam janayet ajnanam karma-sanginam joshyet sarva-karmani vidwan-yukta samacharan So Krishna says in 3.26 in the Bhagavad Gita that na buddhi-bhedam janayet, don't disturb the minds of the less intelligent people. ajnanam karma-sanginam, if people are attached to certain conceptions, don't disturb their mind, joshyet sarva-karmani, dote, engage them in a way that they can become elevated gradually.
vidwan-yukta samacharan, this is the way that wise people act. That means that we may not always be able to convince others about what we feel is right. There are many reasons, one is that we ourselves may not be right sometimes.
In the situation when we are right, that may not be the right time for others to accept that. So sometimes some people have to learn by their own way. So even Krishna doesn't force us to do anything.
He also has given us freedom. We are certainly not more powerful than Krishna. So if Krishna doesn't force anyone, how can we force anyone? So we can only basically do three things for people.
We can share knowledge, we can provide facilities and we can set an example. That means say if you are a parent and you are a mother and you have a child, the child is going off in a wrong direction. Then when the child is small, the mother can tell, do this, don't do this.
When the child grows up into teenage and then they become youth, then the parents can't force much. So what can your parents do? The parents can share knowledge. If you do this, this is going to happen.
Your friends may tell you, come to a party, take drinks, take drugs, but know what are the consequences of that. Share knowledge. Just give you an extreme example over here.
Share knowledge and provide facilities. Now if you want our children to come towards bhakti, then they cannot come and be happy in a satsang where they are all adults. They need some forum where the children together of their age and they can do some activities together, some drama, some outing, some fun in spiritual association.
So we have to provide facilities for them. And then set an example. So if I tell others to do something and then I am myself not doing it, then people won't accept it.
So in general, we have to know that we can't control others. We can try to convey what we feel is best for them. And to give force to that conviction, we can give knowledge, provide facilities and set example.
And beyond that, what we should not do is, if it's an important relationship for us, then because of that difference, we should not spoil that relationship. Because even if we are right and they are wrong, if we spoil that relationship, if we make that into an ego issue, I am right and you are wrong and why are you not doing this? One day you will learn that I am right and you will come crawling on your knees back to me. If we make it like that, we may not speak in that blunt words, but if we do like that, then what happens? Eventually, even when they realise they are wrong, but because their ego has been hurt, they will not come back.
So we should not, in general, even if people go on the wrong path, we convey our displeasure, we convey our disappointment at what they are doing, but we don't spoil the relationship. If somebody is going very wrong, then we may have to create some distance in that relationship for our protection, for what are the practical details. But in principle, we cannot control others.
We can only inspire others. Does it answer your question? How much time do we have? Okay, one question. We are doing some work in the office.
We want to come to Bhakti. To make a bread and butter, staying in the office is also very important. During the course of that, like a weekday, we have a programme.
Sometimes we have a Radha Samyukta. How exactly we need to act during that time? So do we need to take off and go or do we need, which is priority, how to make balance? So we have our professional obligations and we have devotional activities also. Both are important.
How do we prioritise, especially when important devotional activities are there, occasions are there, at that time we also have work. See, the spiritual is not the replacement for the material. The spiritual is again the foundation that directs the material.
Arjuna did not win the Kurukshetra war by the knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita. Arjuna won it by his knowledge of archery which he had learnt throughout his life. That knowledge of archery, how to use it, for what purpose to use it, that's what the Bhagavad Gita told him.
So it is not that the spiritual can be a replacement for the material. If we have that idea, then we will get ourselves into trouble. So we cannot neglect our material responsibilities in the name of being very serious in Bhakti.
If we are really serious in Bhakti, then that means we should be able to see Krishna not just in the activities where He is directly manifested, we should be able to see Krishna in the rest of the world also. Prabhupada writes in the 7th chapter that the jurisdiction of Krishna consciousness extends everywhere. That means even in our job we see that as a service to Krishna.
Krishna says, sva-karmaṇā tam abhyarja sitaṁ nindati mānavā. That by your work, worship that Lord and in that way you can attain perfection. So yes, we do need to have time for, we do need to have exclusive time for spiritual activities.
Because without that exclusive time, we will not have the spiritual consciousness. We will not have the spiritual inspiration to spiritualise the rest of our life. So we do need to come in the association of devotees regularly.
We do need to chant the holy names, worship the deities, study Shastra. We need time for this. Without that we can't spiritualise the rest of things.
But once we have done this, once we invest adequate proportionate time in these activities, then we are meant to carry that spiritual inspiration. And what does spiritual inspiration mean? Spiritual inspiration simply means the attitude to serve. So that is Krishna, I am your servant.
So in the temple I am serving you directly. In my workplace I am serving you indirectly. I was in Bangalore before I came to America.
So one student asked me, you know, how can I help my other students to also come to Krishna? I told him by studying well. If you study well, they will see, oh, he is a good student. What makes you a good student? Oh, you can say that I chant, I practise bhakti, that helps me to calm my mind.
It helps me to avoid distraction. That's how I can practise. I can study better also.
So then I told him, by studying there is no guarantee that others will come to Krishna. If you study well, people may not come to Krishna. But if you study badly, there is a guarantee that people will not come to Krishna.
Because people will see that your studies are making you irresponsible. People don't want to become like that. So we shouldn't just think that, OK, it's Radha Ashtami, so I have to get Radharani's mercy, so I have to go to the temple.
Yes, we need to go to the temple. But that same Radharani can also be remembered elsewhere, if that's what is required for us. So it's good to plan our life in such a way, in advance, that important devotional occasions, we can clear our other things.
Maybe we work a day or more extra and then get leave on that day or work from home on that day and manage things like that. So for important devotional occasions, we can plan in such a way that we can take time off. But it is not that we have to be constantly resenting when we are doing any material obligations.
You should also see that that is also one way you can serve Krishna and try to spiritualise that activity also. So that way we will be able to minimise the conflict between the material and the spiritual in our life. At one level, if we have the attitude of service, then even the material becomes spiritual.
Even in our job, if we are actually doing our job well, in many ways we are actually serving Krishna. First of all, work itself is the way to serve Krishna. And if we work well, we have financial stability.
Then with the financial stability, then also our bhakti goes on more smoothly. If we are working well, people are observing us. And then when we invite, if we are known as competent person, and if we invite people to come for some programmes, they are more likely to come.
That's why we shouldn't have a fragmented vision of bhakti. Only these activities are devotional and all these activities are mundane. No.
These are directly devotional activities and all the other activities are also devotional. They may be indirectly devotional. But they are also devotional.
And just like if I am going on a road, so say if I am going from here to New Vrindavan, if the traffic is much, I may go slowly. The traffic clears, I will go faster. So like that sometimes in our life, in the journey of life, sometimes the material circumstances may take a lot of time.
That's like the traffic is too much. At that time our spiritual activity may slow down. Other times when the road becomes clear, our material applications are not so good, we can go faster.
So as long as our direction is clear, this is the direction I want to go. I want to dedicate my life to Krishna. I want to move towards Krishna.
And exactly how we do it, that can vary according to time, place, circumstance. Can you answer your question? Last question. I have a question.
You said when we make bad choices, don't stay at that choice and lament about it. But learn from it and move on. Will there be any time where we will be making only good choices? OK.
So will there come a time in future when we make only good choices? Yes. If you are talking about good choices in terms of moral and immoral, then there will come a time when we become pure enough where we will not make immoral choices. So, for example, now I may succumb to lust, I may succumb to greed, I may succumb to anger.
And that's because of weakness, that's because of conditioning. When the more pure we become, the less we are likely to succumb to these. Still the desires may come.
Prabhupada writes, I think in 2.70, Apurya Manavachalapathishtam, that the desire comes but the inclination is not there. That means what? I may also, if somebody behaves irrationally, I will become angry, I will feel anger, but I won't act on that anger. So like that, that wrong choices, the more we practise bhakti and become purified, at that time the wrong choices coming because of our anarthas, they will no longer happen.
But wrong choices in terms of when there is an ethical crisis, not knowing what to do. It may happen that I may try one thing and then it doesn't work, I will try something else. So, it is not that when we become pure, we will become God.
We will never become omniscient. So, when we say that we are not omniscient, that means even when we become pure, our knowledge will still remain limited. And sometimes based on the limited knowledge that we have, we will make a particular decision.
This was not the right thing to do. Maybe I will do this one. So, if you think of wrong in terms of having wrong intentions, I mean in terms of wrong intentions of short-sighted pleasure, short-sighted diligence, those wrong choices because of wrong intentions, they will no longer happen as we become more and more pure.
But sometimes wrong decisions because of a finite perspective, because of a limited perspective, that can happen to anyone. And the important thing is that the more spiritual we become, more spiritually advanced we become, our perspective remains finite only. Our perspective always remains limited.
But we become more aware of the limitedness of our perspective. When I am conditioned, I think I know everything. But as I become advanced, I know there is so much that I don't know.
So, then we are also more open to other perspectives. Okay, I was thinking this way, but this is also another way of looking at it. And that way, even if we go off track, we can come back on track more easily.
Does it answer your question? So, we will stop here. Are you there tomorrow? Okay, one last question. Is this applicable in the modern age? Okay.
So, are the consequences of our actions, what happened to us, is it all determined by past karma? Say, if a person tries to help somebody else, who is in danger, and while trying to help, both of them are killed. Then is all this because of past karma? See, first of all, past karma is never to be seen as a substitute for present dharma. Past karma is never to be seen as a substitute for present dharma.
That means, say, if a person is robbed by a thief, and then this person who has been robbed, he goes to a king. He tells the king, I have been robbed. And the king says, it is because of your past karma you are robbed.
What will happen to justice at that time? Or take it even more ludicrous extreme, you know, if a baby is crying, mother thinks, no, he is crying because of his past karma, let him cry. Now, what will happen to love? What will happen to relationships? If we start ascribing past karma to all actions or all situations, you know, all order, all justice, all love, everything will collapse. So, we are meant to deal with people based on their present situation, present actions.
So, yes, if a baby is crying, now the baby may have a stomach infection. And the stomach infection may say that, although my parents have taken good care of the baby, still because of past karma, the child has got a stomach infection. So, now, the important thing for the mother is, what is my dharma? My dharma as a mother is to take care of my baby.
So, I can't go into deep looking at what is the past karma because of which this happened. Similarly, in every situation, for the king, the king's situation is not to think about, okay, what made this person get robbed. This is my citizen and this is my responsibility to maintain law and order.
Therefore, I have to rectify this. I have to find the thief, punish the thief, recover the wealth, whatever it is. So, like that, in general, when we have to take decisions, we focus on our dharma, not others' past karma.
In this situation, what is the right thing for me to do? We don't get into people's past karma. Now, when even after doing our dharma, others will not help, then we understand there is a past karma also involved in this. That means, there is a linear chain of cause and effect in this life.
And we focus first and foremost on that. Say, if, repeating the earlier example, now, if I eat 10 ice creams on a cold night, and then I wake up with a completely ruined throat, and then I say this is because of a past karma. Yes, it is because of past night's karma.
It is not past life's karma. So, normally, we look at cause and effect in terms of this life. Now, sometimes, when we look at cause and effect in terms of this life, we may not get answers.
So, one night I sleep perfectly, I have not eaten anything to aggravate my throat, and next morning I wake up with a terrible throat. Then I understand this is because of some other past karma. That means, there is a linear cause and effect chain.
When the normal cause and effect chain doesn't explain adequately, then we may look at past life's karma. So, past life's karma is simply to extend the explanatory framework. It is not to replace the present life's explanatory framework.
So, applying this to the present situation, now, if one person helps another person who is in danger, and then both of them become victims, then what we have to understand is, this person made the right choice. And that person, by making the right choice, did their dharma, and they will get the good consequences of that in future. It is a courageous act to do to help someone who is more threatened.
And they will get the results of that courageous activity in future. Now, how they were killed at that time, both of them? That means, that at that particular situation, there was some karmic complication because of which they had to suffer. So, we don't blame that person for making that choice.
At the same time, we recognise that we have to, if things go ultimately wrong, see, our focus should always be on learning how we can make wise choices. So, that means, that if things go terribly wrong because of certain choices, then we have to evaluate whether those choices, we could have done them better or not. Whether we could have done them better or not.
And we leave it at that. One time some devotees were going for food distribution, and they were speeding far beyond the legal limit. And then they met with an accident.
The whole van got toppled. It was long, many, many years ago. And then some of the devotees were, they died in that.
When the news came to Prabhupada, was it their destiny? Was it their responsibility? Why were they driving so fast? That means, you know, we have our intelligence and we are meant to use our intelligence to act properly. So, beyond that, if we start analysing too much, you know, what happened because of what karma, we will become paralysed. So, we focus on simple, trying to find out cause and effects as far as is our possibility.
And when things are beyond our possibility, beyond our capacity to comprehend, we leave it and focus on what we can do. Say, if I am walking along the road, along this, and there is water spilled over there. I slip and I fall and I get a fracture.
Now I can say that, okay, why did I get the fracture? Was it because of the past karma? Or was it because of somebody's carelessness that they kept the water over there? Or was it because of my own inattention that I didn't see the water was over there? Or if somebody was asking me a question, they were asking me a question, because of which I got distracted. So, they are to be blamed. Once we go into the blame game, we will never get anywhere.
So, we can learn both, always possibly. Okay, whoever spilled the water, they should not spill the water. If I am walking along, I should be attentive when I am walking along.
If others are talking also, they should not distract. Whatever is to be learned, we can learn from it. So, we should not get into a, especially when it comes to karma, it is very easy to get into a paralysis by analysis.
Should I do this? Should I do that? Should I do that? We get completely confused and lost. So, best thing to do is, what can I learn and what can I do right now? We focus on what is our dharma. We do that, using our best intelligence and move on, whatever consequences come up.
And if sometimes something goes wrong, we learn from that. And we try to act in wiser ways in future. Does it answer your question? Thank you very much.
So, I thank all of you for coming here today evening for this programme.