From Fear to Surrender 2 – FEAR acronym for analyzing fear part 1 – Faith and Education
Hare Krishna. So, today we continue our discussion on the topic of moving from fear to surrender. And yesterday I talked about how fear is not bad, it is a protector.
Fearfulness is bad. When fear is present even in the absence of stimulus, then it is a problem. Is it on? Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare.
Is it on? Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama. Am I audible behind? No. I will just use this anyway.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. I will just use this. I can hold it, no problem.
It is okay. I will just hold it. So, fear arises because we need to control, but our capacity to control is limited.
And when fear becomes excessive, when it becomes disproportional, then it can paralyse us. So, we talked about how we can deal with fear based on two points that we are not meant to be controllers. We are servants and if we get the opportunity to control as a service, we will control.
So, by fixing ourselves in our identity as a servant and by remembering that when things are out of control, Krishna is still in control. And counting on Krishna's benevolence in bringing good even out of the bad, we can learn to deal with fear. So, today morning and evening, I'll talk about analysing fear in terms of what it is that determines our mindset.
Ultimately, fear is something which arises in the mind. So, I'll talk about F-E-A-R in acronym, which will, F is faith and E is education. A will be attachment and R will be redirection.
And redirection will be elaborated in the last two classes on Saturday evening and Sunday evening. So, faith and education. Now, faith is, Krishna says, the precondition for knowledge.
Shraddhaval labhate gyanam. In 4.39, Bhagavad Gita he says, Shraddhaval, only those who are faithful can acquire knowledge. So, in today's world, sometimes people, especially sceptics, rationalists, atheists, they say that faith and science are opposites.
That if you have faith, then you don't have a scientific spirit. However, science itself is based on faith. How can you say science is based on faith? Science requires the faith that there is an order in nature.
When Newton observed the fruit falling, at that time, that tree, Woodbridge Avenue in London, in America, in England, is still there. When I had gone to Cambridge University to give a talk, science and spirituality passed by that tree. So, now, when he saw the fruit falling, he asked the question, what made the fruit fall? And it is as brilliant that he came up with the answer, explained the theory of gravity.
But the very asking of the question implies that things don't happen just by chance. That there is an order in nature. And that order is what we are to try to find out.
So, through science. So, science requires the faith that there is an order in nature. Without that faith, there would be no progress in science.
And even when the evidence shows that things are disorderly, scientists keep investigating that there will be some deeper order. So, for example, Newtonian physics stops working when we go at the very macroscopic level or at the very microscopic level. But scientists did not abandon physics.
They came up with deeper theories. They came up with relativity for macroscopic objects and quantum physics for microscopic objects. So, science requires faith.
Without faith, no knowledge can be acquired. शद्धावाल लभते ज्यानम् Now, when we talk about faith, we all have faith in something. Even atheists have faith.
What is their faith in? Yes, their faith is in no faith, in the no existence of God. There is no experiment which can conclusively prove that God doesn't exist. But they have faith that God doesn't exist.
So, when we say somebody is faithless, that simply means that they don't have faith in a particular thing. May be God or whatever is the mainstream definition of faith. Now, faith and fear are related largely as opposites.
They are related as opposites. Last year when I was in America, I had gone to Dayton. Dayton is the place where the Wright brothers flew the first plane.
And when they were about to fly the first plane, hundreds of people told me, how can you make an object fly? It's not possible. If you try to make it fly, you will die. So, now they had faith that it will work.
So, others who did not have faith were fearful. So, faith and fear are opposites. So, now what we are talking about, that will vary.
But, suppose I am sick and I go to a doctor. Now, I am very sick, I am in great pain, I am in great anxiety. But if I go to a doctor, and if I have faith that the doctor is competent and the doctor will cure me, and I start getting treated by the doctor, then that faith will cure my fear.
It will help me to decrease my fear. So, faith and fear are opposites. Now, all of us have faith in something or the other.
In the Bhagavad Gita 16th chapter, Krishna talks about Daiva Asura Sampad Vibhaga Yoga. That means he talks about the divine and the demoniac natures. And the 15th chapter is talking about how the world is an upside down banyan tree.
ऊर्धमूलमधःशाकं अश्वत्तं प्राहु रव्वयं चन्दां स्यस्य परणानियस्तं वेद सवेद वेद There is a huge tree which is upside down. Its branches are downwards, its roots are upwards. This tree refers to the material world, which is a reflection of the reality in the spiritual world.
And so the top of the tree, the bottom of the tree are two extremes. The divine and the demoniac natures refer to those who are at the top of the tree and those who are at the bottom of the tree. And Krishna says, what are the characteristics of the divine, the godly? They have faith in scripture.
They have faith in God. And the godless, they don't have faith in God. यह शास्त्र विदिमुद् सुज्य वर्तते कामकारतः Krishna concludes the 16th chapter by telling how those who do not have faith, they will be lost.
यह शास्त्र विदिमुद् सुज्य वर्तते कामकारतः नससिद्धिम अवापनोति नसुखं नपरांगतिम That is those who reject shastra and they act simply according to kama, according to their own selfish desires. Then, नससिद्धिम अवापनोति, they have not attained perfection. नसुखं, not satisfaction.
नपरांगतिम, not the supreme destination. And therefore it says in the next verse 16.24, Therefore follow shastra. तस्मात् शास्त्रं प्रमाणं ते कार्या कार्य विवस्तितं ज्यात्वा शास्त्र विधानोतं कर्मकर्तों इहारसे Therefore know what is shastra and act according to shastra.
I'll come back to this point when I talk about education. But right now I want to take this flow to the next verse. 17 chapter first verse begins with what about in between the two.
There are those who follow shastra, there are those who reject shastra and act according to selfish desire. But then Arjuna asks, what about those who don't follow shastra but have faith of some kind. यह शास्त्र विधिम उत्सुरुज्य वर्तते श्रद्ध यान्वितः तेशां निष्ठा तुका कृष्ण सत्मा हो रजस्तम रजस्तम अहा, so he says, तेशां निष्ठा तुका कृष्ण So what is their faith? Whose faith? Those who do not follow shastra but those who have some kind of faith.
What is the nature of their faith? So here in answering this question Krishna talks about faith in the three modes of material nature. Goodness, passion and ignorance. And therein he explains that actually faith is something which everyone has.
शद्धा मयोयं पुरुषः योयच्छ्रद्ध सेवसः He says, शद्धा मयोयं पुरुषः. We are made of our शद्धा. We are all made of our faith.
And योयच्छ्रद्ध सेवसः And as our faith is, that will be our destination. So we can say our faith determines our fate. Our faith determines our fate.
Where will we be? What destination will we have? So for example, a person who is in the mode of ignorance. That person has faith at whatever problem be there in the world. Its solution lies at the bottom of a bottle of alcohol.
Just drink and forget all your problems. A person in the mode of passion also has faith. Thinks that oh, whatever problem is there, just throw money at it.
Problem will be solved. A person in goodness has faith in knowledge, in analysis. Okay, calm down, cool.
Let's see how we can deal with this problem. A person in transcendence has faith in Krishna. So faith is something which everyone has.
Now, some faith is analysed and acknowledged faith. Some faith is unacknowledged faith. And depending on the kind of faith we have, correspondingly we will have fear or we will have lack of fear.
So the most people in today's world are materialistic. Now being materialistic means that there is a faith over there. The faith that material things will lead to happiness.
And conversely there is also the faith that okay, when the material body ends, life ends. There is an American comedian, Woody Allen. He said, I am not afraid of death.
It's just that I don't want to be there when it happens. Now, it's not that death is an event that is going to happen somewhere else. It's like if you come to know that okay, a tsunami is going to come here or a hurricane is going to come here.
When I was in Florida last, two, three months ago, at that time one of the biggest hurricanes in the history of America came over there. So there was a mass exodus. Everybody was leaving.
The hurricane is happening here, let's go away from here. So it's not like that death is going to happen here, let's go away from there. Death is something that is going to happen to us.
So faith, everybody has. And based on their faith, they will have certain fears or they will not have certain fears. So if my faith is in alcohol, if I think, oh, if I just drink, I can forget all my problems.
Then my greatest fear will be loss of alcohol. If somebody is alcoholic, you know, they just misplace one bottle of alcohol, they lose one bottle of alcohol, they become so fearful. How will I live without alcohol? Actually, they can't live because of alcohol.
It is ruining their life. But they have fear associated with that. If somebody is, say, very attached to cricket.
Recently, a few months ago, India-Pakistan had the Champions Trophy final. India was expected to win, but India lost very badly. One upcoming devotee boy, he told me, after that match, I couldn't sleep for three nights.
He said, how could India lose like this? So now the match is over, it's all gone and done. And he was in India, the match was in England. But what has happened? There is the mind which is caught over there.
And he had a particular kind of faith, oh, the Indian team will win. When it lost, then there is anger, there is agitation, there is fear. All these negative emotions come up.
So here, although our analysis is about fear, I am not focussing primarily on fear. I am talking about these four points which we are discussing. They are more about how our emotions are shaped.
And specifically, I will focus on fear. But this is a broad analysis. So our faith determines our emotions in general.
And especially our faith determines where we will have fear and where we will not have fear. When we are to practise spiritual life, at that time we do have, we need to have some faith in Krishna. So Krishna talks about four categories of people who come to Him.
Does anyone know what are the four categories? Artho, Artho is what? Distressed. Then? Jijnas. They are the inquisitive.
Then? Artharthi. Artharthi. That is Artho is distressed.
Artharthi is? Wealth seekers. Yeah, wealth seekers. And? Jnani.
Those who have knowledge. There are four kinds of people, Krishna says, who come to Him. Now in Kali Yuga, there are four kinds of people who come to Krishna.
Artho, Artho, Artho and Artho. The distressed, the distressed, the distressed, the distressed. There are very very few people who actually are in metaphysical search for God.
Very few. And in today's world, when people need wealth, because there is material development, or at least there is a hope of material development, not many people come to God for wealth. They don't think if I go to temple and pray, then I'll get some wealth.
They'll go and try to get a job, try to win a lottery. They'll try to do a hundred other things to try to gain wealth. Jijnasu, if you want to enquire, yes.
But today there are hundreds and thousands of subjects to enquire about, and so many channels by which to enquire about. So the internet, if people want to know anything, they don't come to God, they go to Google. Isn't it? Google is the guru for most people today.
So, because of that, yes, there are some inquisitive people who come to Krishna, but even the inquisitiveness about God, there are so many conceptions of God that are there in the world. So for people to come to Krishna per se, or even to God specifically, it's not so easy. Now when you say people are distressed, today most people come to God for distress of the mind.
People come to the temple, ask them, why do you come to the temple? Why do you go to church? Why go to one? Why feel peaceful there? So they treat religion like a pious psychotherapy session. You go to temple, because it will make you peaceful. It's good.
It's good anyway we come to God, but it's primarily distress at the level of the mind that drives people towards God. So, and like I mentioned yesterday, mental health problems are enormous. When these mental health problems come up, people come to God.
Now among all these people who come to God, there is some faith that they have. With that faith, that okay, going here will give me some knowledge, going here will satisfy my curiosity, going here will provide me wealth, going over here may give me some relief from distress. With that faith, one is coming to Krishna.
So now, as we move forward in our spiritual life, at one level we say that our devotion should become pure. But before our devotion can become pure, our conception of God has to become clear. So as we grow spiritually, our conception of God becomes more and more clear.
That means, initially we worship God and we serve Him for what He provides us. Which is good, anyway coming to God is good. But as we grow more and more, then we learn to know that Krishna Himself is all attractive.
So I approach Him not so much for what He can give me, but for who He is. We come to Krishna initially for blessings. Blessings may be that, oh, I have got this exam, please help me pass this exam.
Oh, you know, I want this interview, please let me pass this interview, whatever. We come to Krishna for His blessings. But as we advance, we start understanding that Krishna is Krishna's greatest blessing.
That Krishna Himself is His greatest blessing. And then we come to Krishna for absorption in Krishna. That doesn't mean that the problems are not there or the problems don't need to be solved.
But that is not the primary purpose with which we come to Krishna. So now if my faith, when we come to Krishna also, I may have faith that Krishna is the all attractive person in whom I can find supreme satisfaction. Or Krishna is the almighty Lord who will protect me from problems.
These two are related, but they are two very different conceptions at one level. If my faith is that Krishna is the almighty Lord who will protect me from all problems. And tomorrow if problem comes in my life, then I say, what is Krishna doing? Why is Krishna not protecting me? One of the most common arguments that atheists use to counter or reject the existence of God is they say there is so much evil in the world.
That so many bad things happen. So many bad things happen to so many good people and that proves that there cannot be a God in control. Now this is a complex question.
Why do bad things happen to good people? But if we could turn the question around and ask, why should bad things not happen to good people? What do you mean? Yeah, bad things should not happen to bad people. Bad things should happen to bad people. Good things should happen to good people.
Well, who said that? If atheism is the reality, then there is no order. The whole world is functioning by unguided natural processes. And there is no reason that good should lead to good or bad should lead to bad.
In fact, in the totally atheistic or materialistic world view, there is actually no such thing as good as bad. Because ultimately everything is matter. So matter does not experience anything.
Matter has no emotions at all. When a coconut falls from the coconut tree, at that time the coconut may fall on the ground or it may fall on someone's head. The coconut doesn't care.
It's just following the law of gravity. It just falls. When I was in Florida, I was going along the streets and there were like hundreds and hundreds of coconuts, which were just lying on the ground.
I said, why are these coconuts lying? The government has a policy that they have a fear that coconuts may fall on people's heads. So the government cuts all the coconuts. And there I said, can we pick up the coconuts? They said, anybody can pick as many as they want.
I said, what happens there in Florida, they have coconuts which go into the dustbin. And then they import coconut water which comes from South America. Why not use those coconuts? Because their point is that actually labour is very expensive in America.
So even if you take those coconuts, you process them, you make it in coconut water, you don't make that much money. So they let the coconuts go waste and they import coconut water from other parts of the world. But the point is, coconuts, when they fall from the tree, they are not discriminating who is there or who is not there.
They just fall. So from the, if we consider the materialistic perspective, there is simply the laws of nature which are operating. By gravity things are falling.
So in fact, in the materialistic worldview, in the atheistic worldview primarily, there is no such thing as good or bad. There is no reason why good things should happen to good people or bad things should happen to bad people. A deer may be good and a lion may be bad.
I don't know, we don't even know what good or bad means in terms of animals. Animals simply work according to laws of nature. But still, if the lion learns, the tiger or the lion runs faster than the deer, the deer will get caught.
So nature simply functions. There is no conception of good or bad in nature. The conception of good and bad is in the conscious observer.
We as conscious beings can observe this is good, this is bad. So from the atheistic perspective, atheists don't even have the right to ask a question, why do bad things happen to good people? Because in their worldview, there is no foundational basis for explaining what is good and what is bad. And why should good things happen to good people and why should bad things happen to bad people? If nature is working simply according to unguided laws, then anything will happen to anyone.
Not to unguided natural processes, then anything will happen to anyone. So when we look at, sometimes bad things do happen to good people. So if our faith is in Krishna as the protector or the provider, then if something goes wrong, we start thinking, what is the use of worshipping Krishna? But if our faith is Krishna is the all-attractive lord, who is my eternal master and it is his love that I am meant to develop, then even when difficulties come in life, we will not get shaken in our faith.
In the Mahabharata, when Abhimanyu is killed, Yudhishthira is devastated. Why? Because the whole Chakravyuh had been planned to trap Yudhishthira. And in order to stop the Chakravyuh, Yudhishthira had told Abhimanyu, you penetrate it.
And he had expressed the apprehension that I can go inside, but I don't know how to come out. So Bhima and Yudhishthira had said, don't worry, if you just break in, we will follow you and we will destroy the Chakravyuh from inside. So Abhimanyu did their will, broke in, but then Jayadrath came in the way.
And because of a benediction from Lord Shiva, Yudhishthira, Bhima, Akula, Sahadeva, all of them together could not go beyond Jayadrath. So when Abhimanyu was killed, Yudhishthira felt as if I was responsible for his death. So he became so upset that he said, I will rush into the enemy forces and I will avenge the death of Abhimanyu or I will die myself.
He started charging. And as he was charging, am I audible behind or it's difficult? So suddenly Vyasadeva came over there. And Vyasadeva came right in the way of his chariot.
When Yudhishthira saw it, immediately, because he was a cultured Vaishnavi, he got down, he offered obeisances, he poured out his obeisances, Arjuna's young son has been killed and I am distraught. Yudhishthira told him many things over there. The first thing he said is that, three main things he said, there is no one in this world who can go beyond the law of death.
Piety, purity, whatever it may be, at the material level, everybody has to die. And he talked about many kings who were far more virtuous than Abhimanyu when they had to die. Second thing he told him is that in this world there is always temptation.
Even if a person is virtuous, they may get tempted at any time. And that temptation will cause them to fall from virtue. But Abhimanyu has gone to the destination beyond temptation.
And thus, instead of lamenting his death, we should lament our own fate where we are in the world of temptation. By dying on the battlefield in the service of Dharma, he has attained the supreme destination. Then still the question may come, ok, he got a good destination, but why did he have to die so brutally like this? At such a young age, being killed by an unfair war.
Then Vyasadev says that, the supreme lord's inconceivable will is surely for the good of all living beings. If you do his will, you will understand it in due course. If you do his will, then whatever Krishna does is for good.
He is not saying Abhimanyu's dying is good. Bad things happen. There is a difference between everything is good and everything happens for good.
It's not that everything is good. Bad things do happen. When Draupadi was disrobed, nobody told her, jo hua, ho achcha hua.
Bad things happen in life. But everything is for good. And we will learn it in due course.
I was in America in Fort Lauderdale. I was speaking a similar theme. And after that one Russian girl, she came and told that she had an experience of this.
She was in New Vrindavan. And New Vrindavan is on top of a mountain in West Virginia, quite remote. And to come in and go from there is difficult.
So she urgently needed to go from there. And she was asking, is anybody there? So there was one young devotee who was going the next morning. So he said, tomorrow morning you come at this place at 10 o'clock near the New Vrindavan temple.
And he says, I'll drop you to the nearest airport. So then she came at 9.50, 10, 10.15, 10.30, 10.45, 11, 11.30. And he didn't turn up only. She was so furious.
And then finally, she was trying to call him, call him, but there's not good network over there. So finally around 11.30 she got network. And that devotee said, oh no, I actually forgot.
And I also do urgent work, so I can't come back. She was furious. How could you forget like this? You wasn't half hours wasted and you didn't tell me.
And then she was just seething with fury. And that evening, when she came to the temple, one other Mataji told, you know that boy who had gone today morning? Yes, his car was caught in a terrible accident. What happened? He's in the hospital, but he's okay.
He says there's a drunk driver. And the drunk driver came and there's a frontal collision on the passenger side. And he showed the pictures of the car.
The passenger side of the car was completely destroyed. So if she had been in that car, she would have been wounded or even killed. So in this case, why did that happen? Why did he forget like that? Now that was revealed 5-6 hours later.
For some of us, why something happens may be revealed 5-6 years later. Sometimes it may take 10-15 years, 30 years to reveal also. But if we have faith that Krishna, whatever he does, it is ultimately for our good.
Then we will not be so fearful, we will not be so agitated, we will not be so disturbed. If our faith is that Krishna will make sure that my plans work. That means I have this plan, I want to do this and Krishna will provide for it.
Krishna will protect all my plans from trouble. If our faith is in Krishna as the protector and the provider, that faith may be damaged. But if our faith is that Krishna is our ultimate benefactor, he will do what is good for us.
Then no matter what situations come in our life, they may be fearful, but we will by our faith deal with that situation. Because whatever this bad thing has happened, but instead of worrying this will go wrong, that will go wrong, that will go wrong, I will have faith in Krishna and I will do my part. So faith leads us to the next point of education.
That here I am talking about different conceptions of Krishna. Our faith depends on the knowledge that we have. When you talk about fear, it again depends on what is the kind of education that I have.
If a small child sees an injection coming in, I don't want injection, this will prick me, this will cause me pain. Sometimes for some diseases if something has to be sensed, sometimes you have to take a whole tube and let it go right through the mouth into the belly. Actually, you can see the tube going in, it's quite scary.
I had that test like that and I could see the tube going in, going in, going in, going in, it's almost like 2-3 feet of tube was going inside. So the doctor I was talking with after, he said, when children see this, they become panicky, hey, what is this going into my body like this? But if we have education, this tube is going inside, but there is a purpose for it. It is not going to harm me, it is going to take some photographs and it will come out.
So based on our education, we have either fear or lack of fear. That which is unknown is often a source of fear. So some people may have the idea that, oh, you know, if in the past when people were very afraid of electricity, hey, if you have electricity, you will get a shock.
Well, there is a possibility, yesterday I talked about the difference between possibility and probability. So, yes, people may get a shock, but generally there are millions of people who are using electricity. So if we just get more and more education about whatever we are doing, then the fear will decrease.
Some people may say that, those people are not habituated to flying in planes. Hey, if you fly in a plane, what if an accident happens? You will crash and you will die. Well, that can happen, but we consider thousands and thousands of planes are flying.
How many meet with accidents? One challenge in today's world is that, actually, because we have breaking news coming from all over the world, so if the news is breaking, not just in terms of breaking news, they say it means, the moment the news comes, it will come to you. But that news also has a breaking effect on us. Why? Because most of the time, what is news? This explosion happened over here, this natural calamity happened over here, this person died because of this heart attack, there was this tsunami over here, there was this kind of chaos over there.
Essentially, if you see, most of the news is about death, destruction and degradation. Corruption and things like that. Of course, there is sports which people watch and other things, but that's entertainment.
We talk about news of the world. So, this world is always a place of distress. Dukha le.
There's problems in this world. But, in today's world, we get the news of distress from all over the world. And because of that, we may become excessively negative.
Of course, we also get the images of pleasure from all over the world also. Oh, we see the most attractive looking people, we see the most attractive looking gadgets, the most attractive looking houses. So, what happens? Both, fear and desire, they are two sides of the same coin.
So, in today's world, both are heightened. Because we see so many things going wrong and we get the news, so we can become very fearful. The world is always a place of distress.
But, that doesn't mean that distress is the only thing that is there in the world. It's not that all over, throughout our life, we are simply meant to live in fear. Actually, fear is meant to, as I said, serve a healthy purpose.
I answer questions on my website, The Spiritual Scientist. So, once, Mataji asked a question. She said, since my childhood, I was very fearful.
And, I took some psychological treatment, took some psychiatric medicines, and then my fear came under control. Then I was introduced to bhakti, I started chanting Hare Krishna, I started reading the Bhagavad Gita, and I felt much more relief. But then one day, I came for a class.
And the whole class was about how death can happen at any time. And, you know, all kinds of scenarios. You are going in a car and the car's wheel comes off and you crash into something.
You are walking along the road and suddenly you get a heart attack. And on top of that, apparently, that devotee showed some YouTube videos also. About how people, in the normal course of life, suddenly they fall down and die.
And she said, after that class, oh my, my fear attacks, panic attacks, came back with a vengeance. And she said, I had to again, I stopped taking psychiatric medicine, but again I went to a doctor and the doctor told me, that hearing these classes is psychologically damaging for you. Don't hear these classes.
So, then she asked, you know, I thought the Bhagavad Gita is a very good book. Is the Bhagavad Gita psychologically damaging? So, I explained that no, the Bhagavad Gita is not psychologically damaging. We are psychologically damaged.
So, we have, the basic principle in Bhakti is, अनुकुल्य से संकल्प, प्रतिकुल्य से वर्जिव. That what is favourable for our spiritual growth, we accept that. And what is unfavourable, we avoid that.
So, say, Vrindavan is a very sacred place. But if somebody has a problem where the pollen in the air causes them agitation, as soon as they go to Vrindavan, they fall sick. Now, Vrindavan is not bad for health.
It is very good for spiritual health. But physically, if they have some limitation, they have to go at a time when the pollen is not so much and they have to take care of things over there. So, similarly, the Bhagavad Gita's message is actually meant to free us from fear and distress.
Arjuna, at the start of the Gita, was so fearful that his Gandhi was slipping from his hands. Out of fear. But by the end of the Bhagavad Gita, he became free from fear.
नश्टों मोहस्मुतिन्दः धापः प्रसाधान्मयाचुता स्थितोस्मिगत सन्देह करिशेवचनंतव स्थितोस्मिगत सन्देह He says, I have become peaceful now. My doubts have gone. So, we see the result of the Bhagavad Gita's message.
On its original student was that he became free from fear. But then, we have to see within the Bhagavad Gita's message, what will elevate our consciousness. So, if somebody is very fearful, then for that person to hear about all possible sources of danger, that might cause even greater agitation.
So, there is the mode of ignorance, there is the mode of passion, there is the mode of goodness and there is transcendence. So, when problems come, when fears come, different people deal with fear in different way. People who are in the mode of ignorance, they just become paralysed.
People who are in the mode of passion, they become hyperactive. And people who are in the goodness, they become thoughtfully active. It's just like if somebody is watching a movie in a theatre and suddenly fire breaks out.
Now, some people just become petrified and paralysed. Can't do anything. Most people will just in a frenzy run out of the nearest exit.
And quite often when some problems happen like this, say a fire breaks out, the fire does not cause as many deaths as the stampede because of people running. So, people in passion become active but thoughtlessly active. People in ignorance, they just become inactive, helpless, paralysed.
People in goodness are thoughtfully active. So, if I am, if somebody is very fearful, that means the mode of ignorance is a little bit more in them, at least in that aspect. So, then they have to find out which aspects of bhakti wisdom they can hear by which they will outgrow their fearfulness.
So, we have to focus on hearing that which will free us from fear. We are not meant to constantly be thinking of death and becoming fearful. The purpose, once a devotee asked this question, another similar thing, some devotee gave a class, constantly, death can come anytime.
So, this devotee said, every day we should think death is going to come today. Today I may die. So, this devotee said that if I think today I am going to die, then I will start thinking, why should I go to office today? Let me just chant Hare Krishna.
Yes, that's the purpose. And the devotee said in the class, no, that's not necessarily the right way. Yes, we are going to, death can come anytime, that's true.
But what does it mean practically for us? Is it that because death is going to come anytime, so we just stop doing everything? Yudhishthira Maharaj said that, oh, it is so astonishing that millions of people die, but still, people think they are not going to die. ahanyahani bhutani gacchanti ahamaya maalem, sheshastavaram ichchanti, kim aashcharyam tahaparam Yudhishthira Maharaj said that. But does that mean Yudhishthira Maharaj just did nothing except do bhakti? He did bhakti, but bhakti was not just giving up all worldly responsibilities and focussing on hearing and chanting.
His bhakti was doing his duty responsibly in a mood of service to Krishna. He fought wars, he competently administered the kingdom. We hear he was Dharmaraj.
How did he, it is not just because he became king, everybody in the army. He administered dharma. So the way to, when I understand that, ok, death can come at any time, so what should I do? I should not do frivolous things, but I should focus on becoming absorbed in my service to Krishna.
And that service can be in various forms. It can be my job, it can be my family, it can be coming to the temple. I do it all in the mood of service to Krishna.
So the response to death, thoughts of death in the mood of ignorance will be very different from that in the mood of goodness. In the mood of passion, if you hear death is going to come, then what will happen? They will say, enjoy before you die. Jawani ek hi baar aati hai.
You know, young only once, enjoy. I saw an advertisement in Kolkata. Enjoy before you become a dirty old man.
So the idea is that they know that same knowledge that life is temporary will make them feel, enjoy now. In the mood of goodness, then we understand, ok, life is temporary. What does that mean? There is a material side, there is a spiritual side.
So the material side is destructible, the spiritual side is eternal. So let me practise the process by which I can raise my consciousness from the material to the spiritual level. In the mood of ignorance, we see only the material, oh death is going to come, what to do? I am going to die and I feel sorry for myself.
And I live like that. So we have to see, when we are hearing the message of Krishna, education means we get that knowledge which helps us become more and more absorbed in Krishna. So if hearing about death is causing me so much fear that I can't think about Krishna, then I need to hear about death.
If hearing about death helps me to recognise that there is so much frivolity in this world, I don't want to waste my time in this frivolity, let me focus on the most important things in my life. Then I will move towards Krishna. So we have to look at what our particular fears are.
And we have to get the education that helps us to deal with those fears. If I have a fear that, what if I get cancer? Okay, cancer can come to anyone. That's possible.
But then, what do I do about that fear? If I just live constantly in fear, cancer may come, cancer may come, cancer may come. But then that will simply paralyse me. Okay, if I have that fear, cancer may come, then let me get some education.
Okay, what are the symptoms of cancer? Okay, these are the symptoms, let me watch out for them and let me move on with my life. I don't have to be paranoid about it. So here we are talking about education in two terms.
There is practical education of things in this world. And there is the philosophical education of Krishna's ultimate controllership and benevolence. So we want to fix the mind on Krishna as the ultimate goal for our life.
But if we look at what my fear is, if somebody has a fear of public speaking, then what do we do? Okay, get education. How do you learn to speak in public? What do public speakers do? How do they speak practically? And with that education, then learn to speak. So knowledge alone does not free us from fear.
But knowledge gives us the starting point by which we can deal with our fears. It helps us understand that some of our fears are just too much imagined. And if I understand, say, how a plane works, and if I'm very fearful, what if this goes wrong, that goes wrong in a plane? Okay, then if we actually look at one of my friends is a pilot, and they say the amount of security drills they go through before they actually fly a plane.
They're taking whatever is possible precautions. So education, both in terms of practically dealing with the situation that causes us fear, and education in terms of understanding that Krishna is the ultimate controller, these two things can help us to deal with our fear. And Krishna says, sattvaat sanjavite jnanam, that sattva, it is in the mode of goodness that knowledge comes.
So education is not just a matter of gaining some information. It's actually a matter of changing the way we live. And that is what I'll talk in today's class about attachment.
So faith, education, attachment and redirection. So our attachment is what we gradually need to change if we want to become free from fear. But I'll summarise and then we can have questions today.
So I spoke about how when we have fears, our fears are shaped by our faith. Even atheists have faith in the non-existence of God. And science is based on the faith that there is an order in nature.
And if my faith is in materialistic things, then the loss of those things will cause me great fear. Based on the mores, my faith may be in a bottle of alcohol, it may be in money, it may be in knowledge, it may be in Krishna, in ignorance, passion, goodness and transcendence. So what our faith in determines what our fear is about.
Fear is the opposite of faith. Faith is the precondition for knowledge. And when we come to Krishna also, we find that our fears are still not going away.
Some extent the fears go away, but some fears may still remain. That may be because our conception of Krishna is not proper. If our conception is that Krishna will protect me from all problems in life, then when problems come, my faith will be shaped.
But if my faith is that Krishna is all-attractive Lord, by absorbing myself in Him, I will get relief no matter what problems come in my life. So externally the problems may be there, but internally the absorption, Krishna will give me relief. If I see Krishna as the provider of blessings, when the blessings don't come, I say what is the use of worshipping Krishna.
But if I see Krishna himself as the greatest blessing, then I'll absorb myself in Krishna. So talking about how Abhimanyu died, it's a bad thing which happened to a good person. Abhimanyu or Yudhishthira, all of them were good.
So atheists, they can't even answer why good things should happen to good people at all. Why should there be any order in nature at all? Or for that matter, what is the conception of good or bad itself is not there in the atheistic worldview. There is no rationale for that in the atheistic worldview.
So we understand that good things do happen to good people and bad things do happen to bad people. But there will be a time lag. And during that time, Krishna's will is for good.
But how it is for good, we will have to follow His will and in due course we'll learn. So just like that accident happened, this boy forgot to take that girl. But then what happened? She learned after 6 hours.
There was an accident over there. She is saved because of His forgetfulness. So Krishna arranged for that.
Sometimes we may learn after 6 years, sometimes we may learn how it is good for us after 60 years. So that faith that Krishna is Himself the supreme shelter. Not that Krishna will give us shelter through various things, but Krishna Himself is the shelter.
So what happens? Let me just take shelter of Krishna. That will protect us from fear. And with respect to education, I said that the more knowledge we lack, the more our mind goes into fanciful imaginations.
This may go wrong or that may go wrong. And today with news coming from all over the world, our fears may get heightened. Because we hear bad things happening in so many parts of the world.
So education means to understand the nature of this world is that it is a place of distress. But distress is only one part of the world. And we have to go on with our life.
Death can come at any time, but that does not mean I have to become paralysed. I have to become more responsible in doing what I am doing, whatever I am doing, so that I can raise my consciousness from the material to the spiritual level. So if hearing about death causes agitation, then we have to say this is not favourable for my bhakti.
Because ultimate purpose is to fix my mind on Krishna. So education means to understand that I have to focus my mind on Krishna. And to get that knowledge, even within the vast gamut of spiritual knowledge, to get that knowledge which helps us fix the mind on Krishna.
And education also means practically, whatever is our fear, we get the practical knowledge by which we can deal with that fear. And in this way, through education and through faith, we can learn to manage our fears. Thank you very much.
Are there any questions, comments? Yes, Pramod. You gave the example of that Mataji, who actually was, you know, who actually was saved from the accident. Yeah.
So when she was saved from the accident, was it basically her law of karma acting on her to save her? Or basically her faith in Krishna, you know, which actually saved her? Krishna's intervention. OK. So if this Mataji, she didn't go in that car and that's how she was saved.
So was it her faith in Krishna? Was it the law of karma? What saved her? It's a combination of things. Generally, when something happens, now why that thing happens, it's very difficult to know on a one to one correspondence basis. If I'm walking along and there's a water spilled over there, I slip and fall.
Now, why did I fall? Well, you could say that I fell because my leg was in the water. I slipped on the water. OK, so I could say my walking on that water caused me to fall.
I could also say, you know, who has spilled the water, that person caused me to fall. I could also, now somebody else may walk on the same water, but they may be able to balance themselves. They may not fall down.
So that may be, they have a greater sense of balance. They're more alert. They don't fall.
So when a particular thing happens. Now, when I slip and fall over there, is it because of my inattentiveness and seeing that there was water over there? Is it because of the carelessness of somebody else that they spilled the water? Or is it because of my karma that I fell also? So it can be a combination of all of it. See, we shouldn't think of the law of karma as something which exists in isolation.
The law of karma is involving conscious people's conscious interactions. So if I just drop this object by the law of gravity, it will fall. I don't want it to fall.
So I won't drop it. But it's simply going to fall. If we push someone, whether that person falls or not, it depends on several other factors.
That person's strength, that person's alertness, or even if they fall, what is there behind? That will depend on how much damage they have. So what we have to see is that there are certain things that are going to happen in our life by our past karma. That is destiny.
Destiny determines what happens to us. But we have free will and our free will determines how we respond to it. So for example, the water was spilled.
I could say that water spilling was because of that person's carelessness. That person is the immediate cause. But is there a remote cause beyond that? Okay, by my destiny, I was supposed to be in a place where water was going to spill and I was going to fall.
But now, if I am running at a very high speed, say instead of water slipping and falling, if we consider a person driving in a road, a car at a very high speed, and there is some oil spilled or some water spilled, and they turn over there. Now that person is driving at a normal speed, even if the car skids and slips because of the water, the person will be able to control. That person is driving at a very high speed, will not be able to control.
So we have to see that certain things will happen to us because of our past karma, as per our past karmic reactions. But we can make choices which can either aggravate the consequence of what is going to happen or which can minimise the consequence of what is going to happen. So what we see in this particular situation is that yes, there was to some extent destiny that accident was going to happen.
But Krishna arranged for protection. Now we can't really say it was her faithful Krishna. Because she did not have, she was just thinking I have to go and why am I not able to go.
But she was practising bhakti and Krishna arranged for that situation to happen where that devotee forgot. So rather than going into the specific causes, in general in life, why something happens, we try to go into finding that it is simply the pathway to frustration. It is almost impossible.
Why does something happen? So what we can see is not why something has happened, but how we can respond to it. Did I answer your question? When you talk about education and fear, is it the education about Krishna? Both. Sometimes that education increases the fear.
Okay. Yeah. So if we get education about a particular subject, that can increase our fear also.
Yes, again that depends on the mode which we are in. If I am in the mode of ignorance, dominated by the mode of ignorance, then learning something more about it may increase my fear. Say if I am always fearful, I might get cancer.
And then if I start reading about cancer, my mind will focus not on the symptoms of cancer and how to watch out for them. My mind will go into, you know, this person got cancer and this complication came up, this much pain, this, this, this and I will become more fearful. So we have to, that's why in the next talk, our next point will be about attachments.
So we have to see what is the effect of the education on us. Some people, when they are driving, they, say some people may, some, especially young people, young women, they like to be called as speed demons. Speed demons means, you know, they will just take a bike or a car.
They will move so fast and everybody turns, amazed. Say, oh, I am a hero. So this one devotee was, he is an orthopaedic surgeon.
One person was driving recklessly in a bike. So he came forward and there was a signal. And he also stopped over there.
Devotee came in a car behind. And he opened his car window and he gave him his visiting card. You will need this soon.
So, some people just like to drive recklessly. Now, if they read about the consequences of reckless driving, they may read about someone. These people just, they want to have fun.
But suppose a child comes in the way and they run over the child and kill the child. And then the agony that the parents go through, or that child is somebody's brother, somebody's sister, they read about it, you know, my little thrill is not worth it. So education can help us in ways that can avoid us to get into dangerous situations.
But, so that means I avoid the recklessness by which I will cause accidents. But if I read about all the ways in which accidents have occurred, and that makes me fearful, then better not read about it. So, primarily it is about, education means we get philosophical education to understand the nature of the world.
That problems are inevitable in the world, but that doesn't mean that this world is only problems and that we have to become paralysed because of the problems. Education can also be on the specifics, but then it has to be in a way that helps us to deal with the specifics positively. Krishna, whatever Krishna does is good for us.
Okay, yes. If we have the faith that whatever Krishna does is good for us, then will that lead to inactiveness? It's possible if we don't understand that we are also meant to do something. Our primary relationship with Krishna is based on our service attitude and our service to Krishna.
There are many people in their shops and homes, they have something called a Gita Saar. And in the Gita Saar, it's written, jo hua, wo achcha hua. Jo ho raha hai, wo achcha ho raha hai.
Jo hone wala hai, wo bhi achcha hi hoga. What happened was good, what is happening is good, what will happen will be good. Now, you know, I have read the Gita over a hundred times, recited it over a thousand times.
I have not found any verse which comes anywhere close to this. The Gita actually doesn't talk about what is going to happen. The Gita is about what we are going to do.
Arjuna's question was, prucchami tvam dharma samudha cheta. Krishna, I am asking you, what is dharma? Dharma means, what is the right course of action for me? And the Bhagavad Gita stresses on Arjuna to do the right course of action. So what Krishna is going to do is for my good.
But how I am going to respond to it is important. Now, a doctor may just give the right treatment for me, right injection, right dosage and everything. But if the patient doesn't cooperate with the doctor, the patient doesn't do the right thing.
If the patient says, doctor says to the patient, now you should not move about, just rest. Later the doctor says, now you should exercise. Now if the patient, when he is told to rest, at that time the patient becomes active.
When he is told to exercise, the patient becomes inactive. Then the treatment is not going to work. So we have our part to do.
And understanding that Krishna is the controller, or Krishna will do things for our good, that is meant to increase our focus in doing our part well. So that means what, as I said, in every situation there is something in our control, something or a large thing beyond our control. So what Krishna, when we say whatever Krishna does, it is for our good, that means the things beyond our control, the way they will work out is for our good.
But what is in my control, that I have to work out for the good. If I don't do that, then I can't blame Krishna. About 20-25 years ago, when I started public speaking for the first time, when I started giving classes for the first time, one senior devotee gave some guidelines.
The last guideline was depend on Krishna. But in bracket, but only after you have prepared. So, if I come to give a class and I have not prepared anything, and I say I am dependent on Krishna, whatever Krishna does, it is for good, then people will criticise me, people will walk out of my class, people will not throw things, whatever, that is for my good.
But what is the good? Next time I should prepare. So there is in every situation something which is in our control and something which is not in our control. So what is not in our control, Krishna will do good for us through that.
He will bring good out of that. But what is in our control is for us to do. And that's why at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna says, karishe vachanam tava, I will do your will.
So there are two broad conceptions of surrender. Normally when we think of surrender, we have the image of Draupadi, raising her hand in helplessness, Krishna I surrender to you. You take care of me.
So that time she was, it's exalted that even in such a great danger she surrendered to Krishna. But that is not the only way of surrender. At the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna, surrender to me.
sarva-dharma-antar-tyancho mam ekam saranam vraja, surrender to me. And Arjuna also says, karishe vachanam tava, I will do your will. That means I will surrender to you.
But then what is happening? How does he surrender? Does Arjuna raise his hands and surrender? No, Arjuna raises his bow in readiness to fight. Because for Arjuna and for Draupadi, the situations are different. For Draupadi, at that particular point, practically nothing is in her control.
She has tried everything, nothing is working. So she just surrenders to Krishna, Krishna you take care. But for Arjuna, he is a warrior, he has trained throughout his life to fight and this is the time when he has to do his service of fighting.
So then he takes up what is in his control and does it wholeheartedly. So surrender can have two different modes. One is dependence on Krishna and the other is diligence for Krishna.
So dependence on Krishna is what is exhibited by Draupadi. And diligence for Krishna is exhibited by Arjuna. And both involve surrender.
So when something is in my control, to do it diligently is my surrender to Krishna. When something is not in my control, to become dependent on Krishna, that is also my surrender. And in different situations in our life, different things will be in our control.
Or how much will be in our control and how less will be in our control, that will vary. So for example, if I am giving a class, if I have a great fear, what kind of questions people will ask? And then how do I deal with that fear? I have to depend on Krishna for that. But then when I have to prepare the subject of the class, I have to be diligent.
So in preparing for what I am going to speak, there is diligence. In being ready to face whatever questions come up, there is dependence. So in every situation like that, our relationship to Krishna is a combination of dependence and diligence.
That's how understanding that Krishna will do good will not make us inactive, but rather it will make us devotionally diligent in the activity of our service to Krishna. Does this answer your question? Thank you. Okay.
Yeah, we'll come to you. Okay, where is Mataji? Yes, Mataji, please. Prabhu, actually we are talking about the fear, not about the spiritual activities, but about meditation.
So like this makes, it might not be stressful for us, but it makes stressful for our dear and near ones to practise spirituality. This our fear in ourselves of spiritual activities. So how do we deal with this? Can you explain how it makes it stressful for others? We cannot expect them to be the same, right? Okay, I got your question.
So sometimes our fear of not falling for sense gratification, our fear of spiritual accidents, that may become disturbing, agitating, stressful for others. Because they may not be following the same standards. They may not be interested in new sense gratification.
So what do we do in such situations? Yes, we have to know that in bhakti, there is personal purity and there is also social harmony. So both are important. If, you know, say I can chant attentively, but to chant attentively, I chant very loudly.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. If during chappah I start chanting like this, I may say I am absorbed in Krishna, but nobody else is absorbed in Krishna. So I have to practise bhakti in such a way that I can absorb myself in Krishna and I can let others absorb themselves in Krishna also.
So it's just, if that is the way I want to chant, then maybe a few rounds I can chant alone that way. But there is a principle of personal purity. My personal bhakti is there, but also social harmony is there.
So we have to, now with respect to other devotees it applies, and with respect to other relatives who may not be devotees also it applies. So we have to see that I have to practise my bhakti, but while practising my bhakti, I am in a particular situation, and a particular situation means I have particular relationships. So if I am having those relationships, I have certain duties in those relationships.
Certain people have certain expectations from me in those relationships. So then I cannot just for the sake of bhakti, abandon all those duties or reject what is expected in those relationships. I may have to do the needful in an intelligent way.
So Bhaktivinoda Thakur gives the example in Chaitanya Shiksha Amrit, that he says that with respect to festivals, that the Vaishnava devotee will wholeheartedly practise in festivals centred on Krishna. Say festivals about Janmashtami, Ram Navami, Gaur Purnima, that's where the devotee's heart is. But if the devotee is in a community where Bhaktivinoda Thakur was in Bengal, at that time Bengal and even now, the worship of Shakti, the Goddess Durga is very high over there.
So he says if there is a public programme about Durga Puja, then he says a devotee, if for social custom has to go for that festival, that's fine. A devotee will worship Durga in a way different from how the others are worshipping. And see Durga is also the Goddess, who is a devotee of the Lord, and will pray to Durga that please help me to overcome maya.
Please help me to become more devoted to Krishna. Just like the Gopis worship Katiayani. But the devotee may also go to the Durga Puja.
Or somebody says, oh this is demigod worship, it is for less intelligent people, I'll not go there. Well, when Krishna is saying less intelligent, it's from the perspective of perfection. It's from the perspective of pure devotion, we can say the worship of the Devatas is not that great.
But then Krishna also says, Those who worship the Devatas are in the mode of goodness. Those who are in the mode of passion, they worship Yakshas and Rakshasas. And those in the mode of ignorance worship ghosts and spirits.
So to worship the Devatas also requires some level of goodness. But the point I'm making over here is that a devotee, if the devotee is a part of a community where a particular Devata is being worshipped, we don't have to make our devotion the cause of disruption for everyone else. Just go there, do a little bit of worship with a proper philosophical understanding, and then come back and continue our bhakti.
The same way, he also says, thirdly, that sometimes there will be some social festivals. There may be some religious festivals, devotional festivals, religious festivals, social festivals. Social festivals may be in today's context, say Independence Day.
In India it's Independence Day. In America, Independence Day will be different. In other countries, they have National Day.
Now to celebrate that, if that is what is required as a society, a social obligation, that's perfectly fine. Because we have our paradharma of Krishna Bhakti, but we also have aparadharmas. Aparadharma means dharma within our society.
It may be with respect to our family, it may be with respect to our nation, it may be with respect to our community, it may be with respect to our dynasty. So if the paradharma and aparadharma come in violent conflict, then we'll choose the paradharma. But just because I'm following paradharma does not mean that I have to reject all the aparadharma.
We have to find out how we can balance both, the paradharma and aparadharma. So if our family members or relatives are not practising bhakti or not practising bhakti at the same level at which we are practising, then we don't have to impose our standards on them. So we have to find out how best we can practise our bhakti peacefully.
And if they are practising at a different level, we do what is required for them at that level. But we practise our bhakti. So we don't have to become, we can't impose our standards on others.
If we try to do that, people simply get alienated. And then we make them anti. So what we have to see is that my practise of bhakti is this way.
This is what I'm going to practise. That means I'm talking about three situations over here. One is if they stop us from practising our bhakti, then we have to be firm.
No, I'm going to practise my bhakti. The second is that we impose our bhakti on them. That is also not very good because that which is imposed cannot last for long.
They will rebel against it and bhakti is ultimately a matter of voluntary choice. By forcing something, you don't eat this, you don't do this, you don't do this. They will not sustain it for very long.
We can give some knowledge, we can give some inspiration, we can provide some facilities. But beyond that, it's for them to choose. So in between, rather than we giving up our bhakti or we imposing our standards on them, we find a way in which we can practise our bhakti and they can also live at a level they are comfortable.
So that is something which in every relationship we'll have to adjust. Because every relationship has its own dynamic. And it's said that good fences make good neighbours.
It's a flower tree, rose tree. One neighbour says this is my area. No, this is my area.
If you have a fence, it becomes great. So like that in different relationships, there are different fences that will have to be there. And sometimes the fences have to be understood properly.
So we don't have to impose. Basically, one person can influence another person only in three ways. We can provide knowledge to them.
This is why I do this. And this is what is the result of doing this is the result of not doing this. We can set an example.
We ourselves do it. And people see that by doing this, we are positively transformed. They say, oh, this is good.
I want to do this. And we can provide facility. Provide facility means that we can actually help them also to do it.
But we can't impose. I'll talk about these three things in the last part, which I want to speak today about redirection. Now, while redirecting, we have to be cautious.
But essentially, we have to find the in-between standard between our imposing on them or our giving up because of them. We find a balance where we can do what we want, what we are practising according to the principles. And we let them be comfortable in a way that they can continue.
Thank you very much. So I think we'll have to stop here. We'll have more questions in the.
Sorry. You can ask them later. It's on Facebook.
It's OK now. We have another three classes. No problem.
Thank you very much. Shila Prabhupada ki! Jai! Gaur Bhakta Vinda ki! Jai! Jai Gaur Premanand ji! Jai!