From anartha nivrtti to artha pravrtti (04)

We come to our last session now on Pravrakti. So, I talked about Artha in the previous session about how Krishna is the is the reservoir of everything attractive that we find at the material level of reality.

And by connecting with Krishna we won't be deprived rather our aspirations for happiness will be fulfilled. That same point, I'll start with this. So, this basically, if you have to move steadily in bhakti then when we start practising bhakti we give up some things in material life and we may feel, oh, I'm missing this, I'm missing this.

How long can I keep away from this? I'm missing this so much. This is 7.943 by Prahlad Maharaj, Prabhupada would often quote it. So, the thrust of the prayer is in the mood of compassion that I'm not agitated about how to go on with my existence.

I'm simply concerned about how people who are carrying a huge burden of maya, how they can be delivered. And why am I not agitated? In speaking your glories I'm getting such nectar, oh lord that I don't feel the need for anything else. So, normally when we are practising bhakti we are doing bhakti but often we think about materialistic people and they are having so much enjoyment and we feel I'm missing it.

But Prahlad Maharaj, he is practising bhakti and he is not feeling I'm missing that. He is feeling they are missing this. They are missing this.

So, chasing some pleasures which has caused so much burden of entanglement and anxiety. So, why are they doing this? Let me share this with them. So, we all how do we know what we feel we are missing? That we can know by when or where our mind goes missing.

That means if something is very interesting for me if I like something if I get some taste in something my mind stays very much there. But by doing something my mind goes missing somewhere else. So, then my mind doesn't find it's very interesting it finds something else very interesting.

So, a child may be in school studying my child is thinking of going to the playground and play. The child thinks that it's games that are more interesting studies is not that interesting. Like the conception we all have of what is interesting and what is not so interesting.

So, in bhakti for the advanced devotees they don't feel that they are missing worldly pleasures because they feel worldly pleasures lead to misery. They feel that actually the process of bhakti is full of nectar. So, why should anyone not have it? So, this is what will happen when we actually become absorbed in Krishna.

So, I am starting the session by talking about the pravrtti when it happens when our consciousness naturally flows towards Krishna padbirya gayal mahamrta magna chittaha in singing yoga law I am getting such immense nectar magna chittaha I am absorbed in that I don't feel attracted by anything else. This is the state of artha pravrtti This verse is an example of how Prahlad is absorbed in Krishna and we could say he is completely his artha pravrtti has happened. His consciousness is attracted towards Krishna.

Now, how can we be attracted similarly? So, this is a whole I have a four part seminar on this So, if there is technical parts I go a little fast you needn't bother too much about the technical parts even if you don't get get it completely because I will focus on the purpose of all this analysis Now, the word rasa is was there in the Indian tradition and it was primarily associated with drama It is traditionally understood as Natya Shastra Natya Shastra was a book revealed through Bharat Muni and describes how the devatas they went to Brahmaji and they said that we want some uplifting form of entertainment that is engaging for all the senses and then at that time Brahmaji revealed the whole knowledge of drama and in that what is described is when a drama is being performed at that time the audience experiences certain emotions and the emotions the audience experiences, they are what is called as rasa so rasa is the aesthetic emotion experienced by an audience in a dramatic setting this was the understanding in the Natya Shastra and that is Natya Shastra itself is a whole tradition Yoga was a tradition Mimamsa was a tradition Natya Shastra was also a tradition and this was very popular in Bengal in the 15th-16th centuries in Vrindavan area also so what Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did and this is the unique contribution of Gaudiya Vaishnavism to Vaishnavism in general or in fact to Bhakti also that in the Gaudiya Vaishnava Acharyas Chaitanya Mahaprabhu instructed this to Rupa Goswami and Rupa Goswami explained it in his Bhakta Samavat Sindhu he said the rasa is not just an emotion experienced in a dramatic setting it is also an emotion experienced in Bhakti so now what is the point of this that it can be just as in a dramatic setting by exposure to appropriate stimuli an audience can be made to cry, an audience can be made to laugh an audience can be made to feel fearful so just as emotions can be induced through the appropriate stimuli, Rupa Goswami applied this principle to the process of Bhakti and he said similarly devotional emotions can be stimulated in devotees in sadhakas by the appropriate process and when the emotion is thus stimulated that's how rasa is developed so he took the principle of rasa and he applied it in a way by which Bhakti could be cultivated so let's move forward now I'll talk about the terminology as used in Nathya Shastra first and then I'll talk about the terminology, how it is applied by Rupa Goswami and then I'll talk about how that applies to Artha Pravrutti for us so in a drama when there is to be performed there are three things, there is Karana, Karya and Sahakarya Karana is you could say the cause or the environment so for example people are sitting and they are watching the drama and in the drama there is a forest there is maybe greenery, there are trees, there are clouds whatever the dramatic setting on the stage and there are some actors on the stage that is the dramatic setting that is the Karya that is the Karana, sorry Karya is action suddenly a person is running and a tiger is chasing that person frantically running, that is the action there is a suspense, there is fear what is going to happen is this tiger going to eat this person the Karya and then Sahakarya is what is the accompaniment sometimes there is appropriate music at that time there is a music which indicates victory music which indicates defeat, fear all that comes in accompaniment that is Sahakarya now Rupa Goswami takes the same concepts and uses different terms for it so he calls the Karana the environment is the Vibhav and the Karya he refers to it as Anubhav so in the environment whatever is stimulated is called the Vibhav the actions that we do are Anubhav and Sahakarya, the accompaniment he calls it the Abhichari Bhav let me explain this in terms of Krishna Gita so Krishna has gone out into the forest and everybody is expecting when is he going to come back so when Krishna comes back from the forest the sun is setting the sun setting is the and Krishna returns this is the environment this is the setting basically so now this stimulates certain emotion Yashodamayi she has her Thaibhav, her steady relationship with Krishna Vibhav is the Vibhav is the action that makes the Thaibhav sensed or manifest so Thaibhav her steady emotion is maternal affection Yashodamayi always has maternal affection for Krishna but when she sees Krishna coming when she sees the sun setting the indication that it is twilight now that that Krishna is coming forward then what happens her heart swells with emotion she feels affection for Krishna as she comes forward as Krishna comes closer to her milk starts flowing from her breast she starts opening her arm and Krishna rushes to her embrace so these actions they make the Vatsalya Bhav manifest it's already there but at that particular point it becomes manifest so now moving this forward in the Karana the Karana is the cause, there are two aspects there is the Uddipan and there is the Pralamban Alamban refers to the players in Krishna Leela players means whoever are the participants, the devotees whoever are there in the Leela and the Uddipan is the setting so in the Bhagavatam for example in the 29th chapter it is said that when Krishna saw the autumnal moon then he desired to perform pastimes with the Gopis so the setting in that sense is the moon the whole autumnal environment with the full moon at that time Krishna saw that and he feels the desire yes now I want to perform pastimes with the Gopis so the Uddipan is the stimulus in terms of the objects and the Alamban is the stimulus in terms of the people and both of these they combine to stimulate devotional emotions so now what is Rupa Goswami doing in Bhaktasamudh Siddhu and then in Ujjwal Leela Mani basically he is doing two things he is analysing Krishna Leela in terms of this emotional framework and in this framework of Rasa and then he is also telling how this analysis can be applied by Sadhakas so for example so I talked about Alamban and Uddipan so we all are attracted to Krishna in different ways there are certain standard practises of Bhakti but some of us may like a particular Hare Krishna some of us may like a particular Darshan of Krishna a particular Deity of Krishna some of us may like a particular chapter of the Bhagavatam a particular pastime in the Bhagavatam if we ask all devotees, different devotees what is your favourite verse from scripture each devotee will have some different understanding which is my favourite verse so there is, all of us are there is spiritual individuality also all of us are individuals and there is an individual relationship that each of us has with Krishna and Krishna attracts us in an individual way so we follow the standard process of Bhakti at the same time if there are certain limbs of Bhakti certain activities in Bhakti which particularly attract us to him then that is our Uddipan that is the spiritual stimulus that we can cherish and that means that is the way Krishna is manifesting his mercy by which we can connect with him so the Pravrutti means the the direction of our consciousness towards Krishna we want to become Pravrutti, we got inspired to become connected with him that is the purpose of the practise of Sadhana Bhakti अतजित्तं समाधातुन नशक्नो सिवनिष्थिरम् अभ्यास योगे न ततो मां इच्छाप्तुन धनं जय Krishna says that if you practise Abhyasa Yoga that means Sadhana Bhakti 12.9 in the Bhagavad Gita that if you practise this the result of this will be मां इच्छाप्तुन धनं जय you will get the desire for me you will become attracted to me the purpose of practising Sadhana Bhakti is to become attracted to Krishna so now there are two aspects one is that that which we are attracted to we naturally think about it but the other aspect is that what we think about we will get attracted to so if say I am attracted to if somebody is attracted to baseball we naturally think about baseball so attraction leads to contemplation on that object but the other principle is contemplation also leads to attraction so for the pure devotees attraction will naturally lead to contemplation they naturally think of Krishna because they are attracted to him but for us contemplation will lead to attraction the more we think about Krishna the more we will become attracted to him the more we think about Krishna the more we will become purified the more Krishna's all attractiveness will be revealed so now how exactly can we think about Krishna that will vary as I said according to person to person so if we find a particular manifestation of Krishna as attractive for us then we focus on that we dwell on that we cherish that and then through that we connect with Krishna and along with this we also earlier I talked about we have a circle of interest we have a circle of interest and there is a circle of Krishna Bhakti so we find the intersection of that that intersection will be driven largely by our Saubhava so earlier I talked about there is a higher taste and there is a lower taste the higher taste is the taste that we get in direct devotional activities the lower taste is what we get in sensual activities now the whole process of Varnashram where people engage according to their Varna a Brahmana does Brahmanical activities now for a Brahmana to do Brahmanical activities gives some pleasure for a Kshatriya to do Kshatriya activities gives some pleasure somebody who is a good manager and they manage they get a sense of accomplishment I was able to manage a big festival a big programme, a big event so somebody is a author who writes a book so we have no connection with Krishna but just acting according to one's nature and achieving something just acting according to that nature gives one some pleasure now when we do that for Krishna that is according to our Saubhava if we act then we do get some pleasure but that is material pleasure when we act according to our Saubhava for Krishna's sake then what happens is that pleasure becomes spiritualised so the direct devotional pleasure is very important for us to strive towards at the same time that may not be possible for us to access constantly because we cannot at our level of sadhana practise direct devotional activities constantly so Krishna also talks about various levels in 12.8 to 12.12 about how we can work first always fix your mind on me if you can't do that then practise sadhana bhakti and try to fix your mind on me if you can't do that then you work for me if you can't work for me then you do your work and offer the fruits to me, if you can't do that then offer the fruits for some good cause and that way you just come out of yourself, become selfless so the point is that here if you could find out something according to our swabhava some activity which is according to our nature and then we start using that in Krishna's service in that we get a material satisfaction which becomes spiritual because it is connected with Krishna like earlier I said somebody likes to sing and they will sing anything because they like to sing but over a period of time by singing for Krishna they will realise in singing for Krishna there is something special about it and thus they will get connected more and more to Krishna similarly for us the acting according to swabhava is the way we can become pravrutta we can become connected or inspired towards Krishna so now this raises the question how do I know what is my swabhava what is my nature now the important thing is not that we have placed ourselves in a particular category the point of swabhava is that swabhava leads to swakarma whatever is according to our nature we will actually be inclined towards certain activities according to that swabhava so in the course of our life while pursuing our devotional service we observe ourselves which are the activities that we feel inspired to do which we are good at doing and which we feel inspired to do so that we can understand some understanding of our swabhava we don't have to wait to precisely understand our swabhava and then harmonise ourselves we just move forward pragmatically doing what we can now how does Krishna's mercy play a role in this the whole process of bhakti is not just about our endeavour but ultimately it is about Krishna's mercy yes Krishna's mercy is definitely important and Krishna's mercy can be seen at multiple levels so if we get taste in the practise of Krishna bhakti that is Krishna's mercy so for example if you go to some holy place up there in Vrindavan, in Mayapur in Jaganpuri we feel very deeply attracted towards Krishna, deeply absorbed in Krishna that taste that we are getting that is Krishna's mercy if we study scripture and suddenly get some insight which inspires us this is also Krishna's mercy so we could say at one level the taste that we get in devotional activities is Krishna's mercy but at another level and we may say but this mercy I don't get I sometimes get taste and sometimes I don't get taste but Krishna's mercy comes at multiple levels and even the opportunity to practise Krishna bhakti that is also Krishna's mercy so Bhakti Lata Beach is the seed of the creeper of devotional service and that seed comes in the form of the opportunity to practise bhakti so if we are getting that that is also Krishna's mercy so rather than so rather than saying oh I have not got Krishna's mercy so I cannot become absorbed in bhakti no when we cherish the mercy we have we are given the mercy we need so we all have been given some mercy it's not that I don't have any mercy yes without mercy we would not be practising bhakti at all we are not just practising bhakti we have some services in our bhakti and we are doing those services so when Krishna sees that we are valuing what he has given us then he will give us more and the way we value is that we value Krishna's devotees we value those whom we are serving those with whom we are serving those for whom we are serving that means those who are our seniors those who have given us the service are equals with whom we are serving and the other chandra devotees, new people to whom we are trying to get towards Krishna so through all these Krishna's mercy comes through the spiritual master the spiritual master is the representative of Krishna and Prabhupada would say the shiksha guru, niksha guru they are they are in one sense not different and Prabhupada would say that he would tell his disciples that you are, I see that you are representative of my spiritual master my spiritual master gave me the instruction to serve to preach in the western world and my spiritual master has sent you to assist me assist me in his mission so you would see even those also that means he saw even his disciples as his spiritual master's mercy and they have come by his mercy so mercy sometimes can seem to be like a very illusive concept and sometimes we feel that I don't have mercy and that's why I can't advance but the advancement yes it depends on Krishna's mercy but the opportunity to advance is itself Krishna's mercy and as long as we are taking that opportunity we are moving closer towards Krishna and as we keep moving closer towards Krishna we get more and more taste in that process and through that our attraction to Krishna increases more and more so the the pravrutti towards Krishna the attraction towards Krishna we can say that it happens through multiple factors one is through our own endeavour that we endeavour to whatever opportunity to practise bhakti we have to practise bhakti that we have whatever channels that we can be attracted towards Krishna right now through whatever the activity that we can do in Krishna's service we do all those when we do those then by that we show Krishna that we want to be connected with him and the more we try to connect with him the more Krishna sees that and then if we face some temptation, some situation where it's very difficult for us to do it alone we do it by our own intelligence by our own effort and Krishna will provide what we don't, what we lack in the Mahabharata there is a story of Arjuna and Jayadratha so on the 14th day Arjuna took a vow that I will slay Jayadratha by the end of the day and the previous day what happened was that Abhimanyu was killed brutally by six Kaurava warriors and Arjuna was infuriated and took a vow that either I will kill Jayadratha by the end of the next day or I will enter into fire Krishna told Arjuna why did you make a vow like this he said knowing this the Kauravas are in the full army to stop you very difficult for you to reach it's a rash vow that you have taken so Arjuna was quite confident Krishna why are you so worried he is telling God you know my strength and I know your strength so now the next morning Arjuna started the whole military had been arranged to stop Krishna from getting there and in this day Arjuna fought at his total best exerting his full capacity breaking through the Kaurava formations and as he was moving forward various strategic points Krishna he was a non-combatant but he was a decisive factor when Drona challenged him, Arjuna was fighting with Drona Krishna told Arjuna the fight with Drona can go on the whole day you don't have time to fight with him so Arjuna just shot a series of arrows the temple struck Drona and Krishna just took his chariot so Drona said Arjuna what happened have you become a coward Krishna told Arjuna don't pay attention to Drona just move on so Krishna kept Arjuna focused throughout and then one after another many many combatants came Arjuna overcame all of them and then eventually Arjuna came right into the Arjuna got deep into the army and Yudhishthira started feeling a little fearful Arjuna alone will he be able to cope up so he sent Satyaki inside then after Satyaki went in Satyaki is also young so Yudhishthira started thinking what if Satyaki gets trapped so he said let me send Bhima inside now Bhima was actually itching to go he was also fighting but it was almost like fight of the night lights the real fight was everybody knew that is Arjuna's fight at the centre so when Bhima entered into the Kaurava formation soon Arjuna had created a trail of devastation which Bhima followed and Bhima and Arjuna when they came together the Kaurava army became horrified and Bhima was so infuriated at that time that in one day he slew 30 of Duryodhana's brothers and Duryodhana was horrified what happened he started thinking how is it that I have such warriors in my army and I am a whole army how was I not able to stop this Arjuna and Krishna Duryodhana started thinking may be Krishna is God but for one who is obstinate it is said in this world Krishna has given enough reasons for believers to believe and Krishna has given enough reasons for disbelievers to disbelieve so Duryodhana started thinking he was putting his head down and the sun was sinking it was reflecting his sinking spirits but then he thought if Krishna is God if Krishna were God then how could we have been able to kill Abhimanyu yesterday now Krishna loves Arjuna Arjuna loves Abhimanyu and we were able to kill Abhimanyu because we were able to kill Abhimanyu therefore Krishna is not God and he immediately he said make a last effort so he said that yesterday we had 6 warriors today we will have 8 warriors and he had Karna and Karna and Shalya coming from one side he had Kripa and Drona coming from other side he had himself Duryodhana and Dushashana they came from another side and they had Ashwathama along with another warrior coming from other side and they all attacked Arjuna Arjuna was just covered by like a cloud of arrows he just couldn't see anything he was trying to shoot shoot but he could barely defend himself and he could see the sun sinking towards the horizon so close he could see Jaidrath standing in the distance he just couldn't get there at all so as Arjuna started despairing then Krishna saw his friend's predicament Krishna raised his hand Sudarshan Chakra came in his hand he just hurled it it went and covered the sun the cover of the sun started celebrating Arjuna is dead now Arjuna was exasperated he started putting down his bow Krishna spoke urgently to Arjuna Arjuna, there is still time so put a Brahmastra on your bow at this point Arjuna had no questions asked Sarvadharman Parittancha Bhave Krishna just obey Krishna so he put the bow on the arrow and he said point it towards Jaidrath hit it in such a way that Jaidrath's head will fall in the distance Samant Panchak mount, Samant Panchak area there his father Rudrakshatra is performing austerities so ensure that this arrow takes off his head and it falls on the lap of Rudrakshatra so Arjuna took the bow and as he was placing the arrow Krishna removed the chakra and the sun was last rays of the sun were still there and Jaidrath who had been covering behind he had come forward Arjuna, I will light your funeral pyre so as he removed his chakra Krishna told Arjuna there is the sun, there is Jaidrath shoot and right in front of all the Gauravas eyes he saw Arjuna's arrow whizzing past he locked off the head of Jaidrath and now it went right through the sky, far away and it fell on the lap of Rudrakshatra now Rudrakshatra had performed austerities to Shiva and he had got a benediction that he wanted to protect his son so he got a benediction that whoever causes the head of his son to fall on the ground that person will die so Krishna arranged that he told Arjuna so Arjuna sent the head of Jaidrath and it fell on Rudrakshatra's lap Rudrakshatra was in meditation hey what is this skull, bloody skull he just pushed it down and from his lap it fell on the ground and as soon as it fell on the ground by his own boon he had sought his own head cracked apart so Krishna he expertly arranged for Arjuna not only to be protected from Rudrakshatra's Rudrakshatra's arrangement he also arranged to fulfil Arjuna's vow so the point of the story is Arjuna exerted to his fullest capacity and then also he fell short and Krishna did all what was required so sometimes when we focus too much on the element of mercy mercy is very important in bhakti but we shouldn't think Krishna is some kind of possessive god who keeps his mercy with him and doesn't give us any mercy, it's not like that the very fact that we are practising bhakti means that Krishna has already given us some mercy and when we use the mercy that we have to do the service that we can do with our present capacity then if that falls short, Krishna will provide and Krishna will keep providing more and more so I'll conclude about this thing we talk about surrender to Krishna so surrender is not just passive one of the examples of surrender is say the gopis raising their hands Draupadi raising her hands she was helpless and she surrendered to Krishna but that is not the only mode of surrender, in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna tells Arjuna surrender to me mam ekam saranam vraja now how does Arjuna surrender? he doesn't raise his hands Arjuna raises his bow chitra partha dhanur dharaha so for Arjuna as a warrior surrender is to fight so surrender has two aspects to it one is that in our life some things are in our control and some things are not in our control and in some situations the things that are in our control are very little and the things out of our control are a lot, that is what happened in Draupadi's case she had practically no control over anything still what did she do? we say she just surrendered to Krishna still she controlled her thoughts, her consciousness and she offered it to Krishna but for Arjuna he is a Kshatriya warrior, he is a master he is a world class archer and for him he had control over his own resources his own abilities so that he could fight so for him surrender was to use the control that he had in Krishna's service so both in surrender for the control that we don't for the things on which we have no control we just offer them to Krishna Krishna you take care of these things, I surrender to you but for the things on which we do have control we use that control to serve Krishna so in the context of mercy the point is yes, we may not have the taste right now by which we can forget all the pleasures of this world and just become absorbed in Krishna we may not have the taste right now by which we can turn away from worldly temptations, curling our lips in distaste, we do not have that but we do have some taste we do have some conviction, we do have some inspiration so our surrender to Krishna is that the taste that I don't have that Krishna will take care of Krishna will give it to me whenever I want whenever he sees appropriate but the taste that I have right now I will use that fully this combination of of dependence on Krishna and diligence for Krishna dependence on Krishna for the things that are not in our control and diligence for Krishna for the things that are not in our control this combination is demonstrated in Prabhupada's song now there he is saying my dear lord if you brought me here to dance then make me dance just like a puppeteer a puppeteer makes a puppet dance oh lord make me dance so now you make me dance what does it mean dancing is definitely an activity and it requires skill somebody has to dance and it requires skill to dance but the puppeteer is pulling the strings it does not mean that Prabhupada has no free will of his own he is using his free will to serve Krishna so Prabhupada used all the intelligence all the money, all the contacts which he had which at that time were very little actually his intelligence was great, his devotion was great but the contacts did not have any at that time money practically he had nothing but he used whatever he had and he had come to America to carry on Krishna's mission and he was used he was completely diligent in doing all that he could do and yet when he came to America there was so much that he did not know who he was going to meet are people going to be interested or not Prabhupada didn't even know whether he would have any vegetarian food or not to eat so Prabhupada just came to America so there was dependence on Krishna but there was also diligence for Krishna so same way that Prabhupada manifested that he was completely dependent on Krishna but dependence does not mean that he was not taking responsibility he was taking full responsibility for doing whatever he could do so the mercy factor is very important in our movie from Anarthaniyurti to Arthapravarti but the opportunity for practising bhakti is also mercy so we have certain control right, say for example there are certain desires, certain temptations certain anarthas we can resist certain ways in which we can become attracted towards Krishna now we may not be able to study say if somebody tells you to study 6 hours scripture everyday we may not be able to do that but if I decide at least half an hour, one hour 15 minutes we can decide according to our capacity just because we cannot do the perfect thing or just the highest doesn't mean that we can't do anything so we have some area of control something which we can do and when we do that for Krishna then Krishna will take care of other things if we use the mercy, if we engage in Krishna's service, the mercy that we have Krishna will give us the mercy that we need so whatever we need in future for Krishna for our service to Krishna for our growth in Krishna bhakti all that he will provide in due course and with this understanding of the dependence on Krishna for the taste that we don't have yes, whenever Krishna wants he will give that taste but with the taste that we have with the insights that we have we become absorbed in Krishna and that way we can move forward we become diligent in his devotional service so we often talk about moving from Vaidhi Bhakti to Raga Nuga Bhakti or Raga Atmika Bhakti depending on terms so it's an advanced stage but the essence of it is what Vaidhi Bhakti means the instruction of the spiritual master is the inspiration for practising bhakti and as we advance we are ourselves inspired to practise bhakti so for us, our devotional intention, we need to internalise that yes, we have Shri Prabhupada's instructions we have his books, but along with that we have to find out why am I practising bhakti what is my conviction what is my inspiration so my conviction means so I offer my buddhi to Krishna, that means what is my conviction for practising bhakti our conviction is a function of buddhi and mano mind is connected with emotions so our inspiration, what is my inspiration so when we take ownership of our spiritual life, when we take responsibility for our spiritual advancement this is something which I want to practise this is like Paramparish Mahadeva said rather than fulfilling his own desires, he made his desires the servants of Krishna so we make our desire form to serve Krishna it is my desire to practise Krishna Bhakti then we will find that with this this is determination to serve Krishna is the artha pravratti that will take us to heaven, it may happen in a few years, it may happen in one lifetime, it may happen over many lifetimes, but if we are determined to serve Krishna we will experience the relief through absorption in Krishna, we will experience taste in absorption in Krishna even in this lifetime and that will help us to gain reality about Krishna's existence, Krishna's benevolence we will get reality of Krishna's love for us and we will move steadily towards him so that way when we take ownership it is my life and I am practising bhakti by my choice, but why did I make that choice, sometimes when we keep practising bhakti for many years the driving conviction, the driving inspiration that we had initially but that may not drive us so much but that doesn't mean that nothing to drive us we have our present realisations we have our present inspirations, present convictions, so if we keep reminding ourselves of those and based on that we connect with Krishna, then that will become our artha pravratti that will become our driving driving force which will keep moving us towards Krishna, through whatever life sends our way in life there may be many ups and downs but if we keep persevering in Krishna bhakti that artha pravratti will grow more and more and it will take us towards Krishna so I will summarise in this session on pravratti I spoke about how when we are trying to move towards Krishna at that time Krishna Krishna is rasaraj so he is the reservoir of all rasas so the concept of rasa was used in nakta shastra as an emotion experienced in a dramatic setting Rupa Goswami took that and applied it in a devotional framework just as emotions can be induced in a dramatic setting similarly emotions can be induced in a devotional setting so I talk about karya, karya is halkari and the karya is the stimulus, the people and their actions the karya is the people and their environment the karya is their action and the halkari is the accompaniment so within the karan there is the uddipan and the alam there is Krishna and the objects associated with Krishna so for us Krishna is not directly accessible but there are many stimuli associated with Krishna there are the deities there is the holy name, there are devotees, there are scriptures so we can find out how am I attracted to Krishna right now and we cherish that now that may, our specific attraction to Krishna may often be according to our swabhava so when we act according to swabhava we get some material satisfaction but when we act according to swabhava for Krishna the material satisfaction gets spiritualised and more and more the spiritual component becomes highlighted for us as we see that in connecting with Krishna there is something special and in the process of bhakti we need mercy but mercy is not just some extraordinary taste that we occasionally get even the opportunity to practise bhakti is mercy and when we use the mercy that we have then Krishna gives us the mercy that we need I talk about jayadratha while felling jayadratha Arjuna endeavoured to the fullest capacity and when that was not enough Krishna appeared Krishna miraculously intervened and ensured that he succeeded so in bhakti the element of surrender is dependence on Krishna for things not in our control but it is also diligence for Krishna with regard to things in our control so Draupadi is raising her hands is surrender Arjuna is picking up his bow is also surrender and Prabhupada is saying make me dance that means I am going to do my part I am going to dance but you guide me how to dance so I am going to do my service but the facilities for the service all that you provide me and as you provide I will do accordingly so we we do have certain realisations certain taste certain facilities for practising when we use them wholeheartedly then Krishna will give us more and this way with whatever realisation we have with whatever inspiration we have whatever spiritual experience we have we take ownership of our spiritual life this bhakti is my life it is my life it is my choice and why do I want to practise bhakti so if we keep our conviction and our inspiration at the forefront of our consciousness then we will be able to move onwards determinedly and thus even if we sometimes go through dry phases when we don't have taste but those dry phases will pass soon and we will move onwards straight towards Krishna and thus our our own conviction and inspiration to practise bhakti is the artha pravarti that we presently have and as we use it fully Krishna gives us more and more mercy and when he reveals his attractiveness then we get completely absorbed in him and then even if the worldly temptations come we won't get attracted by them we will just be completely absorbed in Krishna. Thank you very much Hare Krishna Thank you Yes In a past tense prior to coming to the United States he tried many different things to implement the instruction to get him to practise bhakti. You know he came to America it seems almost like an impossible situation like he went to this India's steamship company several times to see when the next boat would go back but yet he persevered you know you were making a point how if we just keep going to have confidence that Krishna will provide facility but I forgot that it was about 40 years in coming right? we know who is struggling alone in the wilderness I think it was the name of the chapter in the earlier period when he comes to America didn't know anybody very very difficult now that's we can follow for all time we can't imitate but how do you ascertain when something is too difficult like he was advancing and everything was against him he didn't believe it was and he pulls out that's true yeah I understand when we are on one level we should keep persevering but then Prabhupada in Jhansi when he found everything was opposed to him he just left there and he did some other way of service so how do we know whether we should just persevere in one thing and keep doing like Prabhupada kept doing for 40 years and eventually Krishna will reciprocate there are two different aspects to this one is the consistency of purpose and the second is the flexibility of process Prabhupada was consistently purposeful that I want to serve my spiritual master but specifically how I do it he was trying various things he tried running back to godhead he tried opening his own organisation he tried to work with his godbrothers he tried to write Bhagavatam he tried to give classes in people's houses to inspire them eventually he came to America in America also he tried various things first in Butler then he was in Ishta studio then he came to Lower East Side so with respect to the practical aspects of how bhakti is to be executed there is no guarantee that just because we have been given an instruction that the specific form of service will be successful that means we have to use our God given intelligence and if you find that a particular situation is very difficult and it's very incompatible with the nature or the opposition is too much then we don't give up the principle of service to Krishna but the form of service we may change at one level we say that Bhakti Sahajji Thakur said that if nobody comes for programmes you preach to the walls now that is in spirit if Prabhupada had taken that literally then he could have stayed in India and preached to the walls no he came to America because he wanted eager people to hear so the spirit is that we are not disheartened by the lack of reciprocation but that doesn't mean that we just keep doing something where there is no reciprocation so if we go to a place for a programme and nobody is interested over there then we can say that okay I am getting purified but nobody is paying attention to me but you know I am coming here to share Krishna's message so I may well go somewhere else where people are interested so there I feel we have to use our intelligence and especially if it is a major change of decision that we are making then we can pray to Krishna try to consult some other senior devotees some other devotee friends also and then use our intelligence write down our reasons and let the decision gestate for a few months and then see if our thoughts remain the same basically for most of us as we go on our spiritual life we have to make the decisions ourselves our movement is also so big that even a spiritual master may not be always accessible for guidance may not know the ground level situation for us in the specifics we give broad principle guidance but we have to make decisions using our intelligence we have to become our own spiritual masters that the Acharya has explained over there that does not mean that we don't need a spiritual master but rather by taking instructions of a spiritual master we have to learn to guide ourselves and take decisions so basically if we are doing a particular service and we find that there are too many obstacles in that service at that place or in that setting then we write down everything, what are my concerns I just write it out and then this is just one way of doing it I am just saying that we have to take our decisions using our God given or Guru given intelligence so one way is that I just write down everything and then after that I decide that okay when we just write down everything that inner agitation congestion of the mind that happens because thoughts are always should I do this should I not do this that congestion goes down to some extent and as soon as thoughts come out of our head onto paper or computer screen whatever then distance brings some objectivity to it we can evaluate and we may decide okay this is an important decision so every week maybe half an hour, one hour I will spend on thinking about it and at the end of aspects I have not thought about if what happens is if we don't if we are just constantly thinking about it it just drains our energy so during the course of the week if some thought comes up just note it down but don't think about it because in the mode of passion it's very difficult to think and normally in the mode of passion when we are running around when we are doing our regular services so basically we get a snapshot of our mind like this and then if after one week, two weeks, one month two months whatever period we are in three months, six months if we see the overall thoughts that we have had are more or less the same I don't feel this is what I want to do that's just too much opposition if that's the way we feel then that's not just a passing frustration that we have it's an enduring inclination that this is not the way I should I should do something else that's perfectly fine, this is a practical decision and we use our practical intelligence and sometimes some decisions may be right, some decisions may be wrong Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that it's not that if I'm going to go here and if I go here it doesn't mean I have to go back here again as soon as I realise I have gone off track I can choose which course and again come back on track so if we are going through see the Bhagavad Gita is not just about giving Arjuna a decision if the point was simply to tell Arjuna whether to fight or not Krishna could have just told Arjuna fight and there will be no Bhagavad Gita Krishna's purpose was not just to give Arjuna a decision Krishna's purpose was to give Arjuna a philosophical world view based on which a decision was made so if we also understand the philosophical world view then we can also make our decisions so sometimes when we have access to a spiritual master or a trustworthy spiritual guide then they may give us do this or don't do this but quite often as we become senior nobody may give us clear-cut decisions like that so then we use our God-given intelligence and then we arrive at decisions so we persevere in the principle of practising bhakti, of serving but in the specifics of how we serve there can be flexibility and we do wherever whichever area of service we feel is most rewarding for us it seems there is a practical level but then there is also an internal level that's going on that one is trying to execute a service so there is a certain amount of reciprocation that Krishna gives if there is a lack making it very difficult externally then we can say I'll just keep going then yes definitely so sometimes some devotees they pursue a service even if nobody gets no reciprocation comes along like some devotees may be a pujari for 20-30-40 years and they are just getting some reciprocation that's why they are doing it some devotees may be running a magazine or editing and they have done service for 30-40 years not many people know them also they are satisfied in that service so that satisfaction that we experience in service is also Krishna's reciprocation so if we are getting that satisfaction even if there is no external result if we can pursue it on that is wonderful I am simply obeying your instruction when you just showed that it's two-pringer sword is that first he is persevering and then the correct she endeavoured to her fullest capacity and then Krishna gave his mercy yes thank you Thank you very much for coming I very much appreciate your deep understanding of the scriptures and the clear explanations In the first session you were speaking about how sometimes we can be doing something and I am thinking that this is good and actually it's an amartya and so I wondered if you could expand on that a little maybe give us an example and show how to know the difference sometimes we may do something and we feel this is good but actually we may be giving into an amartya say for example if we are doing some service now every service we are trying to do to please Krishna but then there is also the component we want some name, fame, glory from that service so now if I say that I will not do this service till I am purely motivated only to please Krishna we will probably not do the service for the rest of eternity because it is through service we will get purified so we are not doing the service but then when the glorification comes do we just bask in it and do we want more more more more so is it that way or we just see this as Krishna encouraging us, we offer it to Krishna and our spiritual masters, spiritual guides so when we get some results from our Krishna bhakti which are apart from our increased attraction towards Krishna see by our service to Krishna ultimately what do we want we want that our attraction to Krishna should increase and our desire to serve him should increase so apart from that we may get some other results also now if we start craving for those results alone and I may say that I am doing this service because I am getting these results, now I am doing this service for Krishna but actually we are craving only for those results then what is happening is Krishna is getting more and more into the background so for a devotee external success should be a result of internal success internal success means that we feel happy in Krishna consciousness or at least we feel happier than what we were before because happiness is a relative term so we feel happier than before in our Krishna consciousness and that's why we want others also to be happy and that's why we share Krishna consciousness but share Krishna bhakti but otherwise what may happen is that we are getting internally no happiness because we are giving into our we are not really properly doing our sadhana and then we just do the externals and through the externals whatever glory we get whatever elevation we get that's what is keeping driving us that may be one factor driving us but if that is the only thing driving us then we will become very competitive if I think how many people appreciate me then if somebody else, more people appreciate they start thinking why this so we will become very competitive and if our assessment of bhakti is only in external terms that what are the external results then some devotees may be doing a lot of may have a lot of devotional attitude inside and they may be doing some service which is not so visible or tangible we may start minimising those people what are you doing for Krishna, I am doing so much but you are not doing for Krishna actually we are doing it for our ego so in that sense if while doing our service to Krishna if we are getting more and more caught by the fringe results in the Madhurya Kadamba it's called Tarangarangini there is the ocean of devotion and there are waves that come on top so if you just delight in the waves which are on the top and don't go deep into the ocean then that may distract us from Krishna bhakti so it's not that we have to stop doing the service to Krishna but while doing the service to Krishna there is attraction to Krishna that is the result which comes and other results also come so we don't have to reject the other results if the other results come then we see them as an encouragement for serving Krishna Prabhupada says in Dukhe Svanudina Mara Sukheshu Mara Vigata Spruha Parpot in the 2.56 Parpot he says that if a devotee gets gets materially favourable things in devotion of the devotee feels that Krishna you are so kind you are giving more facility to serve you so let me serve you better so if that increases our service to Krishna and inspires us to connect more with Krishna then that's wonderful so the other results that come they don't divert us from Krishna that is the thing we will move onwards towards Krishna study does that answer your question? thank you so yeah so now we have two options we can continue this question and answer session for some time or if some of you want to leave we can conclude the session and then I will be available for talking one to one privately how would you prefer it's already 4.30 we don't want to overstep the time should we vote? should we vote? yeah sure continue ok first one is continue and second one is that we finish and we have one to one questions however you prefer ok swing now for the first option thank you I think what we could do is we can just finish we talk one to one or we can do this more just a quick question there are two options we vote for the first option which is we will continue for some more time with question and answers option number one continue for some more time now option two we will start now Prabhu will have one answer so those of you who want to can we just in the conclusion in terms of more time.