Focus on life’s big why not everyday’s small whys
Hare Krishna.
Thank all of you for coming here today evening. I am grateful to be in the midst of all of you. Am I audible behind? Clear? Or is there too much echo? Is the echo too much or is it okay? It's okay.
Okay. So, I'll speak today on the topic of focus on life's big uhai, not everyday's small uhais. I'll explain what this means, but let me start with an example.
In the redwood forests of America, there was a huge tree which survived for several hundreds of years, and it was a tree that was in a very stormy part of America. Big storms cause landslides, cause floods, cause much damage to property and life, but the tree survived that decade after decade, century after century, and yet one day just the tree collapsed without a storm, and what had caused the collapse? They found inside the tree there were termites, small ants, and they had eaten the tree from inside, and that tree which had been eaten from inside, it could not bear its own weight and fell. The tree which had withstood big, big storms externally was fell internally by tiny ants.
Something similar happens to us in our lives also. Actually, if we consider our daily life, there are many small, small things which irritate us. They're driving in traffic and somebody just cuts across, we get irritated.
We are doing it, we are counting on someone to do something, and they forget to do it. We get angry. We want something to work out, it doesn't work out, we feel depressed.
And then, actually, if we think about these things, they're not very big problems. Each time when such a thing happens, we ask the question, why? Why did that happen? Why did he do like that? Why did she speak like that? Why, why, why? Now, every day, we all face several such whys. And these whys, they just vex us.
They irritate us, they exasperate us, they drain us. They are not, none of them are life-threatening. None of them are devastating.
But, the net result of all these whys is that we feel drained. In life, we will, every day, we'll bring some things which just don't work right. Some things which we expect to be difficult, we are prepared for that.
But, sometimes, suddenly some difficulty comes up which we're not prepared for. It may be a minor irritant, but it just disorients us, throws us off balance. And, at this time, we need to keep our focus.
Otherwise, these small things can become so big, that they consume our consciousness. Bhagavad Gita, 18th chapter, talks about determination in the mood of ignorance. In 18.35, Krishna says, या स्वप्नं भयं शोकं निशादं मदमेवच नविमुञ्चति दोनमेधा तृति सापार्थ तामसी Krishna says that दृति, दृति is determination.
तामसी is in the mood of ignorance. Determination in the mood of ignorance means obstinacy. Holding on to things which are hurtful for us, which hurt us.
Who would do such a thing? We would not do it physically. If there is an iron rod which is burning hot, we would not hold on to it. Even if we accidentally touched it, we would move our hand away.
But, while we physically will not touch things that hurt us, mentally, we often hold on to things that hurt us. Why did this person do like that? Why did it have to happen like that? Why? These problematic situations that are there, we have to deal with them. But, usually, the worst way to deal with them is to obsess over them.
We need to have our sense of perspective. If we just obsess over them, the more we think of a problem, the small problem seems to grow bigger and bigger and bigger. The problem is real.
But, our perception of the size of the problem depends on how much attention we give to it. Yes, somebody has irritated me, somebody has insulted me, somebody has vexed me. That's a real problem.
But, the more I think about that event has happened, and whenever I next meet that person or whenever I meet somebody who knows that person, I will clarify. I will try to set things right. But, when we keep thinking about it constantly, we just drain our energy.
So, this is the perversity of the mind which is in the mode of ignorance. In Tamoguna, in the mode of ignorance, we mentally hold on to things which hurt us. And thus, we suffer.
So, the tree which did not fall because of big, big storms, it fell because of small ants inside, eating it up from within. Similarly, resentment about small, small things, small why, why, why, why, this eats us up from within. And, whereas, we won't hold on to a burning rod, burning hot rod.
But, somehow, we think that by holding on mentally to a problem, we are actually being responsible. It's a problem, I have to deal with it. I need to be responsible.
But, responsibility has two aspects to it. Responsibility means to know when to hold on and also to know when to let go. If we let go when we are meant to hold on, that is irresponsibility.
But, when we hold on and we are meant to let go, that is also irresponsibility. Now, how is that? Say, a student is preparing for an exam. Or, say, we are preparing for an interview.
Now, suppose a student or whoever is preparing for the interview exam, they say, whatever happens, let it be. I started doing public speaking as a spiritual teacher. So, at that time, we were given some guidelines.
And the last guideline was depend on Krishna. But, in bracket, depend on Krishna, but only after you have prepared. So, depending on Krishna doesn't absolve us of the responsibility of preparing.
If we don't do our part, that is irresponsibility. So, when a problem is there or when a challenge is there, and when we have something which we can do to deal with it, then, doing that is important. So, responsibility in that case means that we hold on to it.
Even if, say, studying for the exam, preparing for the interview is difficult, still we hold on to it. And we prepare for it. But suppose the exam is over, the interview is done, then holding on to it, what will happen? What will happen? What will happen? Now, if we hold on to it like that, life is moving on.
And we are doing other things. Or we are meant to be doing other things. But we can't do those other things because we are living in the past.
So, responsibility involves both. Knowing when to let go and knowing when to hold on. And so, when we face the whys of life, why is this happening like this? Why is that happening like that? There are times when we just need to let go.
Some whys, they just don't have an answer. Or even trying to find the answer for the why is not a productive use of our time. So, for example, if we are going along a road and we may have our GPS, it shows okay, there's traffic here.
There's traffic there. There's a road up here. Now, it is not that every time when there's a traffic, we go about enquiring why is there a traffic? Our purpose is to get to our destination.
Our purpose is not necessarily to know everywhere everything about everything. If the traffic is there, fine. Which road can I take? Or if a particular place, as I said, somebody is cut across.
Why did that person cut across? If that person is going in some other direction, am I chasing that person? Why were you so rude? Why were you so foolhardy? I go off my way chasing after that person. What is the use of that? So, in our day-to-day life, some whys, we just don't bother about it. Now, when can we not bother about it? That is when we have a clearer purpose in our life.
Say, if we are going for an important meeting, we are going for an important appointment, and we know I don't want to be late for that. So, okay, this is traffic is there, this person cut across, let me just forget it and move on. So, the big why, so the topic was today, we focus not on the small whys of daily life.
Why did this happen? Why did that happen? Focus on the big why of life at large. So, big why of life means why am I living? Why am I doing what I'm doing? Not just in terms of what I'm doing right now, but what is the big why of my life? And that is what spiritual knowledge tells us. The Bhagavad Gita starts with a situation where the small whys perplex Arjuna.
He starts saying, why am I fighting? Why should I be fighting against my relatives? When we are too caught in immediate situations, then the immediate is often the enemy of the ultimate. So, for Arjuna, at the start of the Bhagavad Gita, the question was, should I fight or should I not fight? Arjuna was not being cowardly, thinking, oh, these enemies are so powerful, they may kill me or they may wound me, I can't fight. No, he had fought against far, he had fought against far, far more powerful enemies than even the human beings.
It was not fear. It was not fear which is stopping Arjuna. What was stopping Arjuna was indecision.
He had two dharmas. He had Kula dharma and he had Kshatriya dharma. Kula dharma means he belonged to a particular dynasty.
That is Kuru dynasty. And as a member of that Kuru dynasty, he felt that it is my duty to protect my family members. And he was a Kshatriya also.
He had the Kshatriya dharma. Kshatriya dharma was that I am meant to fight as a Kshatriya and punish offenders. And the people on the other side were aggressors.
They had attempted murder, they had attempted arson, they had attempted violation of a chaste woman. So all these were crimes which deserved serious punishment. In capital punishment.
So Arjuna was caught between the two. So should I do my Kula dharma or should I do my Kshatriya dharma? Kula dharma means I should not fight. Kshatriya dharma means I should fight.
And when he was elder, why am I put in this situation? Where I have to shoot arrows against my own loved ones. Katham Bheeshma Maham Sankhe, Dronam Chamada Sudhana, Trim Shubhi Pratiyotsyami, Pooja Rahamali Sudhana. In 2.4 of the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna says to Krishna, Arjuna, how can I shoot arrows against my elders like Bheeshma and Drona? I should be offering flowers and worship to them.
Not arrows and war. So he says, why? Why am I put in a situation like this? And that wife perplexed him. Perplexed him so much that he just put aside his bow.
See, I can't fight. I can't fight. Now, usually in our life, we all have some purpose.
If we ask a student, why are you going to school? My parents told me to go to school. Otherwise, I would just like to play. Children may feel like that.
If you ask a person who is working in a company, why are you working in this office? I have to earn a living. I have to take care of my family. Or somebody may say, why am I working? I want to.
I want to become respectable. I want to become famous. We all have our particular why's.
our sense of this why is different from the other why. The earlier why was, why is this happening? That is about things which are outside us. Things which are not in our control.
These are the why's. Why is this happening? But the why which we are talking about right now is, why am I doing what I am doing? So, that why, we all have some answers to it. Usually, that why gives us our sense of purpose.
This is what I am doing in my life. This is what I want to do in my life. Now imagine, imagine, say there is a river, it is flowing.
And the river is flowing, so there is some, some wall or some dam or some embankment stopping the water from flowing. When the water's flow is very strong, it will break the embankment and move on. If the water's flow is not very strong, the embankment will stop the water.
So for all of us, our why, why am I doing this? That is what propels our life forward. That is what keeps us moving. And when problems come, problems are like walls, like obstacles.
Now, if the if the force, the momentum of our why, the momentum of our purpose is stronger than the obstacle, then the obstacle falls and we persevere. We find some way or the other in life and we move on. But when the force of our purpose is not that strong, then what happens? Then we feel, okay, this is so troublesome.
Why do I need to do this? Suppose say we are going to going to some place, maybe there's a party or something at some acquaintance's place and we're not really sure whether we should go or not. And then we're going along and we find there's traffic. Too much traffic.
And we just think, call the friend and call that acquaintance and say sorry, there's too much traffic. By the time I reach, it will be very late. So I'm not coming.
Because the purpose is not very strong, we're not very inspired anyway to go there. So as soon as an obstacle comes, that obstacle actually becomes like an excuse also. Why do I need to go there? But if it's someone whom we love very much, then even if the same obstacle comes, big traffic, we'll call and say, you know, I'm sorry I'm being late, but I'm going to come.
The fact is the same. The obstacle is the same. But our intent, our tone, it's all very different.
Our decision also is different. Why? Because the purpose is stronger than the problem. And that's why whenever we find ourselves complaining about the problems we face in life, we all have problems and we all, sometimes the problems just get to us.
And we may become irritated, we may complain about it. And specific problems do need specific solutions. But at the same time, we just get too caught in solving the problems.
Solving problems is essential, but it is not really very fulfilling. We need to focus on deepening and strengthening the purpose of our life. When the problem seems to be overwhelming us, removing this problem, tackling that problem, it's all good.
But more important is what is my purpose? If my purpose is strong, then the problem will not dominate me so much. But if my purpose is not very strong, then the problem will seem overwhelming. The Bhagavad Gita gives Arjuna a higher purpose for life.
What is that higher purpose? Arjuna is thinking in terms of his roles in this world. He is thinking, okay, I am a family member of the Guru dynasty. I have to take care of them.
I am a Kshatriya, a Martian guardian of society. I have to fight against aggressors. So, fighting is my purpose as a Kshatriya.
Protecting my family members, that is my purpose as a Kurnandana, as a member of the Guru dynasty. So, which purpose should I fulfil now? And he just gets caught. He is not able to decide.
Arjuna says that it is not possible for me to stay here. My mind is wandering. Sometimes we get vertigo.
Realise it is reeling. I can't stand here. I want to go and sit somewhere else.
So, like that. My mind is reeling. And why is all this happening? I am seeing that everything here is unfavourable.
If I do this, there is a problem here. If I do this, there is a problem here. What should I do? So, he has a why for his life.
As a Kshatriya, he has a why for his life. As a Kurnandana, he has a why for his life. But, when these two whys come in conflict, he doesn't know what to do.
Why am I here? What should I be doing now? So, Arjuna, if he had simply asked the question to Krishna, should I fight or should I not fight? Then the Bhagavad Gita would not have been very relevant. So many wars have been fought throughout history. And there have always been instances of some soldiers chickening out at the last moment.
There are some soldiers who become deserters. I can't fight. And then they flee.
So, this always happened throughout history. Arjuna was not, had no intention of being a deserter. He was a great hero.
And Arjuna, when he asked the question, his question was very universal. In 2.7 of the Bhagavad Gita, he asked, Oh Arjuna, please tell me what is Dharma? Dharma is a very complicated word. Not complicated in the sense that it is difficult to understand.
Complicated in the sense that it has many different meanings. And which meaning applies in which context. That is required requires careful study, requires intelligence.
When Arjuna is asking, what is Dharma? He Dharma, he is using the word Dharma in a very fundamental sense. Dharma has many meanings. It can mean religion.
It can mean duty. But in this context Arjuna is asking is what? What is it that makes me me? What is it? Dharma to ask what is Dharma means to ask what is it that makes me me? What is my defining identity? What is my defining activity? What is my defining sense of my defining destiny? So we all have these three things in our life. We have our identity, activity and destiny.
Who I am, what I am meant to do and what I am meant to achieve. So Dharma means understanding what is it that makes me me? What is it that defines me? So Arjuna is asking is my Kshatriya identity what makes me me? Or is my Kurnandana identity what makes me me? Who am I really? What is it that I am meant to do? So this question Arjuna asks, Krishna answers. And Krishna he takes the answer before answering the question he changes Arjuna's frame of reference.
Einstein said that problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them. So Arjuna is at a particular level of awareness. Krishna takes his awareness deeper.
He says Arjuna you are thinking you are a Kshatriya, you are thinking you are a Kurnandana, you are these yes, that is your functional identity. But underlying this, both these is your fundamental identity. Functional identity means for practical purposes we all have different roles some of us may be IT professionals some of us may be homemakers, some of us may be mothers, some of us may be fathers, some of us may be Indians, some of us may be Canadians.
We all have our functional identities and they are essential for practical purposes. But underlying this functional identity is our fundamental identity. And that fundamental identity is what will give us our big why in life.
When we act at the functional level, suppose I identify myself as a mother then as a mother, the central purpose of my life is taking care of my children. But suppose my children start behaving in a improper way, my children start going on the wrong track then I feel as if my whole life is wasted. If I define myself as say an IT professional that is my defining identity and say tomorrow there is a lay-off and I am jobless then I ask who am I? That who am I is not a philosophical question that who am I is a frustrated question.
Of course philosophy can also come through frustration but there are steps involved over there. So if we restrict our sense of identity only to our functional identity this is I am a mother I am an IT professional, I am this I think I am a whatever I am in my functional sense, if that is what I think I am and there is frustration in that and sometimes some frustrations can be such that there is just no solution just no solution. If I identify myself as an athlete if I say identify myself as a cricketer and then I get an injury which makes it impossible for me to play cricket then what can I do? Why am I living? That's the question that may come up.
So when we identify ourselves too much, there are functional identities which we have but if we identify ourselves entirely with a functional identity that will create frustration. So we our functional identity gives us a sense of why why am I doing this? If I think that I am an IT professional, why am I learning this new software? Because that's a part of my job, that will help me to grow or at least that will help me to keep my job. Whatever it is, I have a why based on my functional identity.
But that can be thwarted and sometimes it can be permanently thwarted and then our why just gets lost. We don't have any more why. Nothing to drive us in our life.
If we don't have anything to stand for then we will fall for anything. We don't have anything to stand for in our life. Then any small wind can make us fall down.
So the Bhagavad Gita takes Arjuna down to his fundamental identity. It tells Arjuna that you are a soul. As a soul, you are a part of the whole.
That whole is Krishna. In 15.7 the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says that all living beings are my parts and as parts we are all meant to serve the whole and that is where we will find lasting satisfaction. So when we have this understanding that I have various functional identities and I have to work in those identities.
Say I am an IT professional. I have to do my job well. I am a mother.
I have to do my responsibilities well. I am a family member. I have to take care of my family.
All these are part. But we see that all these are ways in which I am serving Krishna. My fundamental identity is I am a part of Krishna.
And as a part I am meant to serve the whole and I can serve that whole in various ways. So I may serve as a mother, as a father, as a husband, as a wife, as a professional, whatever it is. So that is our big why.
Why am I doing this? This is my service to Krishna. By doing this I am serving Krishna. By doing this I am going closer to Krishna.
By doing this ultimately I will attain lasting happiness. Because we at our core are eternal and Krishna is also eternal. To the extent we connect with him, to that extent we can attain eternal happiness.
And now this why is something which can never be frustrated. Nothing in this world can ever stop us from serving Krishna. Yes, specific forms of service may be stopped.
I may be a speaker and tomorrow if my throat gets damaged I may not be able to speak. But still I can think about Krishna. I can do something with my hands.
Even if I can't do anything I can think of Krishna. I can remember Krishna. So there are many ways in which you can serve Krishna.
And a particular way may or may not work out. But when we have the big why cleared in our life. Why am I doing what I am doing? Because I am serving Krishna.
Why am I acting as a mother? Why am I acting as a husband? Why am I acting as a… acting not in the sense of playing, I am not acting in the sense of making a show. Acting in the sense of functioning. Why am I functioning in all these roles? Because these are the ways I can serve Krishna.
Then if an obstacle comes in one of those we don't find that overwhelming. This is one obstacle but my service to Krishna can go in other ways also. This doesn't work out, this will work out.
I can still keep doing this. I can still keep doing that. And for having this perspective for understanding that I am not my roles.
I am something deeper. For that we need time for directly connecting with Krishna. That means coming to satsang, chanting our japa, studying scripture, worshipping the deities.
All these are ways by which we directly connect with Krishna. And a direct connection with Krishna helps us remember who we really are. Once I was giving a class after that one devotee said, Prabhupada told us that we chant Hare Krishna, we should do it in the mood of Krishna please engage me in your service.
The devotee said actually I have become afraid of chanting now. Why is that? Because I already have so much service. I pray to Krishna give me more service, please engage me in your service.
If he gives me more service, what do I do? I can't do anything more. I already have too many things. So actually when we are saying pray to Krishna, please engage me in your service.
That prayer is not just for more service in quantity. See nobody expects us to be in two places at the same time. Nobody expects us to somehow manufacture more than 24 hours in our day.
We can only do what we can do. But when you are talking about service please engage me in your service. It is more of a service attitude.
We are praying to Krishna Krishna please root me, please situate me in my real identity. When we are situated in that real identity then we get stability which we cannot have in any other identity. Whatever other identity we may have I may be a husband, I may be a wife I may be a Canadian citizen, I may be an Indian citizen all these identities they bring instability with them because none of them are lasting identities.
So when there the instability comes by these that causes anxiety and you want to go beyond the anxiety we need to find a stable identity. So what our bhakti practises do, they are not simply rituals meant to be get over with. We do it because it is a part of our culture.
It is good to do it some way or the other but if you really want transformational benefit then you need to understand why we are doing it. So they remind us that I am a part and I am meant to serve the whole and how exactly I do it, sometimes I know it sometimes I may not know it but I just take to it take small small small steps forward. So when we are practising bhakti the one part of bhakti is direct bhakti activities.
They are important because they fundamentally situate us in our fundamental identity and then whatever it is that we are doing in our life when we are doing it that time we all can face problems we all will at different times face problems so when the problem comes say it is like say we are going along a road and suddenly the power goes off power goes off it becomes dark, now how do I move forward I don't know, what do I do so when we now we may initially if we are in a room and suddenly power goes off we may groan, we may rant, we may curse but after a few moments we will take out our phone we will turn on the flashlight and we will start looking around us and start taking one one step forward so the flashlight does not replace the room lights or the street lights but the flashlight is enough for us to take one step forward take one step forward so similarly we all have plans for our life and most of our plans are based on our functional identities now I am a father, I am a mother, this is what I want to do for my children I am a young man I want to get married, I want to do this we all have plans and those plans which we have are like the lit road on our life's path and sometimes suddenly the power goes off whatever we had planned for our life suddenly things start going haywire and we just don't know what to do suddenly when we are enveloped by darkness at that time we need to turn on our flashlight that flashlight is our service attitude Krishna, how can I serve you now so Prabhupada when he was asked what is the best prayer that we can offer to Krishna, Prabhupada said, Krishna please give me the strength to serve you this is the best prayer Prabhupada said, please give me the strength to serve you, so whatever situation I am in I think Krishna I am your servant how can I serve you now that question becomes like a flashlight you can do this thing, take one step forward, take one step forward take one step forward I can do this, I can try this I can do this, I can do this and like that we move on and we find that sometimes when problems come in our life we feel what if this problem stays forever how will I live with it no problem ever lives forever nothing stays forever nothing stays forever in this world so if there is a storm now when the storm comes we will be concerned how much damage it will cause are our loved ones safe we have many different concerns when the storm is there but we never have the fear what if this storm never ends okay now storms will come, they will go similarly whatever problems are there some may last for a short time some may last for somewhat longer time but nothing lasts forever so if we just turn on our flashlight, Krishna how can I serve you in this situation then we will find I can take one step forward one step forward and like that we can keep moving on and as we keep moving on gradually the lights come back and things start falling in place once again not only they fall in place but actually they also become better not just necessarily better in the external sense but in the internal sense our faith in Krishna becomes stronger our faith that by connecting with Krishna through service we can go through even tough situations which would otherwise have caused us to crumble that faith becomes much much stronger and that faith is our greatest asset whenever we are going on a journey we want to have assets if we go from one country to another country then we want to have the assets that are appropriate for that country, we want to have currency which is of that country otherwise our country's currency may not be useful over there so for any journey when we go we prepare and have the assets that are suitable for that journey, the asset that will stand us in the strongest state in through our life journey is our connection with Krishna it's our own consciousness whether it is fixed in Krishna or it is fixed in this world and our faith in Krishna is what enables us to connect with him shraddhāvāl labhate jñānam tatparah sañjate jñānam labh dvāparāṁśāntem acire nādhigacchati in 4.39 the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says shraddhāvāl labhate jñānam shraddhāvāl the person who is faithful, that person labhate jñānam that person will gain knowledge It's interesting, Krishna says, by faith we will gain knowledge. That means, sometimes some people say, first things have to make sense, then I'll put faith. Yes, the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita answers the basic questions of life.
It helps us to make sense. But here Krishna is saying, you know, first we put faith, then things will make sense. Not that first things have to make sense, then we'll put faith.
Life doesn't work like that. When things stop making sense, at that time, we just have to put faith. I don't know what is happening.
I don't know why it is happening. Asking the question why is simply causing me frustration. So Krishna has some higher plan.
Krishna will take care. Let me just do my part. Let me serve Krishna.
In the atheistic, godless worldview, we have only two options, or two ways of looking at things in life. Things are in my control or things are out of my control. If things are in my control, I feel confident and happy.
If things are out of my control, I feel panicky and fearful. But spiritual understanding opens a third option for us. Things may not be in my control, but they are not out of control.
Things that are not in my control are in Krishna's control. So, let me just have faith in Krishna. Let me do what I can and let me let go of that which is not in my control.
So, the service attitude which we have, if we have this faith, Krishna, I don't know why this is happening. The small highs of life, I don't have answers to. But, I'll put my faith in you.
I'll focus on connecting with you. I'll focus on serving you. Then that will become like a flashlight.
Gyanam, the knowledge will come. And for that, what is required? We need to be attached to Krishna. We need to regulate our senses.
Because otherwise our mind and senses will wander. Why is this happening? Why is that happening? No, just pull it back. And then what happens? Once we get that faith, it is darkness, there is panic.
But as soon as the flashlight also turns on, at least we say, immediately around me, there is no danger. I can take one step forward. That itself brings some calmness.
That brings some peace. So like that, once we connect with Krishna, first through our service attitude, and then through the guidance that he provides for me, then what happens? By that, we get the supreme peace. Not a long time, soon it happens.
Or this principle of not bothering about the small vice and focussing on the big why. That is most powerfully demonstrated by Shri Prabhupada. Shri Prabhupada, actually, he was instructed by a spiritual master to share the message of spiritual love, especially in the Western world.
To speak it in a shared and English language. And Prabhupada tried it in so many ways. He tried to start a magazine.
He tried to assist his godbrothers. He tried to start an organisation. He tried to run a business by which he could finance his spiritual master's mission.
He tried all these things, and initially all of them held great promise. And eventually it just collapsed. Not one of them worked out.
For 40 years Shri Prabhupada was trying, and at the end of 40 years of his attempting to share Krishna Bhakti in India, the result was he had only one disciple. And that person was not very serious. Why is this happening to me? I am trying so much, why is this happening? But Prabhupada did not get caught.
Why did this go wrong? Why did that go wrong? Why is this happening? There is something to learn that is fine, but otherwise don't let it obsess. Prabhupada focused on the big why. Why am I doing this? Because this is my spiritual master's instruction.
So when we have the mood of service, then our focus is not on getting the result. Our focus is on finishing the lot. So when if I think my identity is as an IT professional, then I think, you know, where am I in the pecking order? How much promotions have I got? How much increments have I got? That becomes our focus.
But if I understand this, I am serving Krishna. I am not working for my boss. I am working for my lord.
I may be functioning under my boss, but I am serving my lord. I am in a particular family, yes, I am taking care of my family members, but I am serving my lord. When we have that focus, that even if some frustration happens in our life, this relationship doesn't work out, that doesn't work out.
Okay, fine. I am busy. If I am doing it, if I am doing my service diligently, then I am pleasing Krishna.
So Srila Prabhupada's purpose was to please Krishna. His purpose was to please his spiritual master. And that purpose was what kept him moving, kept him moving despite obstacles.
Because he did not identify himself as an author. If he had identified himself as an author, oh, people are not reading my books. You would have thought, what is the use of writing? He did not identify himself as a preacher.
Oh, nobody is coming for my programmes. What is the use? He did not identify himself as the founder of my institution. Oh, not many people have joined the institution.
Srila Prabhupada identified himself as a servant of Krishna. As a servant of Krishna he wrote, as a servant of Krishna he spoke, as a servant of Krishna he managed. And if speaking, writing, managing did not give any results, still he was fixed in his identity as servant of Krishna.
And eventually, by being fixed in that big why, Krishna brought about such amazing results. In the last 10-11 years of his life, Prabhupada wrote more than nearly 80 books. He built 108 temples.
He travelled around the world 14 times. Ke Prabhupada ki jai. And that way, he attracted literally millions of people from all over the world to Krishnaguru's feet.
So Prabhupada was focused. Why am I doing this? This is what I am meant to do. The results come or not, that's up to Krishna.
But my result, the result I really want is, that I am connected to Krishna. I am going closer to Krishna. Now when, I conclude with this last point, the last reflection.
When we are down to nothing, Krishna is up to something. Something bigger is happening in our life, which we can't make sense of. When we are down to nothing, this role, nothing is happening, this functional role, nothing is happening, this functional role, nothing is happening.
Here Krishna is up to something. What is Krishna up to? We may not know immediately. But if we focus on our connection with Krishna, not on the specific ways in which we are connecting with him, then we will find that Krishna will reveal to us.
And we will move forward. Our struggles will not last forever. But we will and Krishna will.
And our connection with Krishna will. So we are focussing on these three things. On our identity, on our soul's parts of Krishna, on our activity as servants of Krishna, on our destiny, that we are meant to be united with Krishna.
We are focussing on these three things. And with these we define our big why of life. Then even in the small whys of life, we don't get answers.
They won't drain us. We just put them aside and move onwards in our life. So I'll summarise.
I spoke today on focus not on the small whys of daily life. Focus on the big why of life. So I started by talking about whenever I talk about that big redwood tree which had withstood huge storms for decades, even centuries.
But then it collapsed under its own weight because it had been eaten by termites from within. So like that, we may face big problems in life. But sometimes small hesitations, small resentments, small disappointments, they all accumulate in such a way that we just feel burdened, we feel crushed under them.
So many times in the routine course of life, when things go wrong, we start asking the question, why? Why is this happening? Those whys are small whys. And sometimes there are just no answers for them. If we are going on a road and there's traffic, trying to find out in each place why there is traffic.
Somebody cuts across, I'm trying to find out. Go after that person and ask, why did you cut across me? It's pointless. So the way to not be emotionally consumed by the small whys of life is to have the big why of life prominent.
The big why is, why am I doing what I'm doing? That big why is like the propelling force in our life. When the force of water is strong, an obstacle breaks down. Like that, when we have our purpose of life very strong and clear, then no obstacle will thwart us permanently.
Now, we all have some why in our life. But our whys are usually determined by our functional identities. You know, I'm a professional, I'm a mother, I'm a husband, whatever.
And Arjuna also had his whys. I'm a Kshatriya, I'm meant to fight. I'm a Kurundana.
I'm supposed to protect my relatives, not fight against them. These two whys conflicted and he didn't know what to do. So dharma, he asks the question, what is dharma? Dharma essentially means that what is it that makes me, me? What is my defining identity? What is my defining activity? What is my defining destiny? So we, Krishna tells us, our fundamental defining identity is that we are souls, we are his parts.
And we are meant to serve him. And as a service to him, we have different roles in our life. Whatever, our responsibility in those roles are important.
But we are not those roles. If we identify too much with the role, and when there's frustration in the role, we'll get hopeless. What am I living for? But if you understand, okay, this is my role.
If things are not working out, still I'm a servant of Krishna. And I'll serve him in other ways. Then we will not be frustrated.
Responsibility means not just to hold on to things, but to know when to hold on, and when to let go. Now when we have, when we are preparing for some study, exam, interview, we hold on and prepare properly. After we have done it, we let go.
Leave it to Krishna and do the next thing. So like that, we sometimes can hold on to our functional roles and do them diligently. But sometimes when things don't work out, it's thwarted over there, we just let go.
And focus on our fundamental role. And see how we can continue serving Krishna through that. And if we just hold on to problems, hold on to problematic situations, that's like holding on to a burning hot iron.
It just scorches us. So that is holding on to things which hurt us, that is determination in the mode of ignorance. And we need to let go.
And how do we let go? It is through our service attitude. Krishna, please guide me, how can I serve you? So based on our functional roles, we have plans for our life. So the streetlights of our life, life's pathway are lit.
Sometimes suddenly, the lights go off. Our plans based on our functional roles seem to crumple. So at that time, we turn on our flashlight.
That is, Krishna, I am your servant, how can I serve you? Take one step forward, one step forward. So problems may be very big, but they are like storms. No storm lasts forever.
No problem will also last forever. We just keep taking one step forward. Krishna, how can I serve you? That attitude, then gradually we'll find that we will go through those problems and eventually the lights will come back.
And we will have become better because our faith in Krishna has deepened. So we can't wait for things to make sense. Sometimes we have to put faith.
Krishna, even if one thing makes sense, still I'll keep serving you. And through that service attitude, shraddhava labdhe jnanam, things will start making sense. And if we are situated in our functional identities, and that determines our why, then that is always a possibility of instability.
But when we are situated in our fundamental identity, I'm a soul, I'm part of Krishna, then nothing can destabilise us. So the Bhagavad Gita tells us to become situated in that fundamental identity. And whatever situation we are in, we can always find some way to keep serving Krishna.
Actually, Prabhupada demonstrated that. So many of the plans that he was making, even for Krishna's service, didn't work out. But he kept it fixed in the principle of service.
If this doesn't work out, I'll try this, I'll try this, I'll try this. And he was not working according to his roles. He was working for the Lord.
So ultimately Krishna rewarded him with an incredibly extraordinary success. And when we find that life is causing us too much frustration, when we are down to nothing, Krishna is up to something. And if we focus on our Krishna connection, that I am a servant of Krishna, that's my identity, to serve Krishna is my activity, and to become united with Krishna, become sheltered in Krishna, that is my destiny.
If we focus on these three, then whatever life sends our way, we will have our driving vibe, strong enough to press through, to push through any and every problem. And ultimately, our struggles won't last. But we will.
And with Krishna's grace, we will not only outlive our struggles, but we'll transcend them. We'll absorb them. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna. Are there any questions? Do you have time? Are there any questions or comments? Thank you very much.