From love of power to power of love
So I'm grateful to be here amongst all of you today. And whatever the effect of the introduction of me on you, it has the effect of having totally confused me now.
Because I said that after that kind of introduction, I was thinking what topic will be a good follow up for that introduction. I'll speak on the topic of from love of power to power of love. From love of power to power of love.
And the theme I'll take it is that love of power is because we want to control things. And power increases our capacity to control things. Whereas power of love is the power of accepting and transcending.
So basically, I'll talk this in three parts. And after each point, I'll give you some time. And it would be nice if you could reflect and share some point that you found relevant or something that you would like to carry home with you.
Or you would want to share with someone else, something that spoke to you. So three points. First is how everything that we do is at a conscious level driven by the love for power.
Second point is that actually what we all long for is not power but love. And the last point will be how bhakti gives us access to the power of love. So let's begin with the first point.
The first point is that all that we do is motivated by love of power. Whereas baby is newborn, that baby soon discovers the power of crying. The power of crying is that whoever is around, the caretaker, the mother, the father, they just drop everything and come running to.
And there are some babies, every baby is different, there are some babies even when they are in their crutches, on their back not able to get up, also not able to crawl or walk also, at that time itself they are looking up and thinking, when am I going to take control of the house. So all babies cry but different babies cry with different volumes, intensities. And sometimes some babies cry not because they are in distress but just because they want some attention.
And they cry just so that their mother will stop neglecting them and come to them. So for that baby in the growth, initially crying is simply a response to distress. But after sometime crying becomes a tool to power.
Not a response to distress but a tool to power. And similarly as we grow up we discover different tools to power. Now why the tool to power? Because we all want to have things work out the baby like.
Baby may just want, not just want food, may want attention, may want affection, may want to play, whatever. So as we grow up our specific needs may change. But always the power that we have to fulfil those needs is lesser than what we feel we should have.
And that's why we all try to increase our power in different ways. As we grow up we study. Now studying and getting marks in our colleges is not just a tool to a career.
It is also a tool to power over others. I am the number one, everybody respects me. So I get people to be subordinated to me.
And as we form relationships also, within those relationships also, we see power. So once a marriage counsellor was counselling various groups of couples and he told them all the men, all the men who are controlled by their wives come on the left and all the men who control their wives come on the right. So all the men except one came to the left.
Only one man came to the right. Then he asked him, you really control your wife? No, my wife told me to come here. So ultimately every relationship is also a power struggle.
Not ultimately, functionally. In every relationship we are trying to control by gaining power. And we all over a period of time try to discover what are the things that will give us power.
For some people it may be their wealth, some people it may be their looks, some people it may be their fame, some people it may be their particular birth family or nationality or whatever. So we all are actuated by this love for power and by that we hope we can fulfil our desires. Now wealth is also a great tool for power.
We want wealth so that we can fulfil our desires. We can fulfil our dreams. In the Mahabharata, there is the example of Duryodhana.
Now love for power itself is natural. It is not necessarily unhealthy. We all are from the Bhagavata's perspective, we are all parts of Krishna and Krishna is the supreme being.
So he is the Parameshwara and we are all Ishwaras as his parts. So the controlling tendency is just integral to who we are because we are parts of Krishna. So it's not that we want to control, that's bad.
It's that for what purpose we control. That is important. Just like if somebody becomes a parent, to some extent they have to control their children, at least till a particular age.
And that control is to be used for a constructive purpose. When somebody becomes a spiritual guide, then they discipline and control their subordinates to some extent. That is also for a proper purpose.
So this seeking power itself is not bad. If you say somebody is power hungry, that is a very negative word. That somebody is power hungry means manipulating, backstabbing, doing whatever it is to somehow gain power.
So that is a definite negative connotation. But in general, to leverage our strengths is a much more positive way of saying the same thing. But we all want to know what our strengths are and we want to leverage those strengths, the best capacity.
So whatever we are doing, we are all in one sense seeking power. And this tendency is itself not bad. It is for what we are using that power.
We have love for power, but for what are we using it? Now Arjun, he discovered in an early time in his life that he was phenomenally gifted in archery. And then he leveraged that power to become the best archer of his times. Bhima realised that his strength was not so much archery, it was mace fighting, it was physical prowess.
Now Duryodhana, on the other hand, when he grew up, at that time he was initially the apple of the eye of the whole Kuru Assam. Because at that time Pandu had gone to the forest and whether Pandu would have sons or children or not, that also was not known. And even if he had children, whether they would come back or not, because Pandu had retired, that was also not known.
So he was the centre of attention for everyone. And he got what we could call in today's times as an entitlement mentality. Many of the younger generation, especially those who grew up in the West, in reasonably well-to-do families, their children are often sent to have this entitlement mentality, where they just think I am entitled to this and that and that and that.
So he felt I am entitled to attention, I am entitled to affection, I should be the centre for everyone. And then suddenly the Pandavas came back because their father passed away, unfortunately. And then because they were new, actually attention shifted to them.
And not only were they new, they were much more cultured. They were virtues from birth itself. But along with that, they were also brought up amongst the forest sages.
And the sages were Brahminical, Sattvic people. So as compared to Duryodhana who was quite arrogant, the Pandavas were virtues. And suddenly he found the attention and affection shifting from him to them.
So he started envying Yudhishthir because of his position. He was the eldest and he could very well become the next king. He started envying Bhima for his strength.
And over a period of time, as Arjuna's archery skill became clear, he started envying Arjuna for his archery. And he started envying Nakula and Sahadev simply because they were Pandavas. In his eyes, they were guilty by association.
So then, after that, he started seeking power by unholy means. He tried to poison Bhima. He tried eventually to have the Pandavas burnt alive.
He tried to have the gambling match in which he disposes the Pandavas of all the wealth. And eventually, even the attempt to disrobe Draupadi, that was more out of power than out of lust. He wanted to show the Pandavas how much power I have over you and how much I can humiliate you.
So, I was at a conference in Chicago, in America basically, on spirituality and society. So, I was talking afterwards with some experts. So, there was this expert, a spiritualist from another tradition.
And he was making this comment that when men try to violate women, it is not so much because of lust, it is because of power. If it was simply lust, they could just procure the fulfilment by paying a little money. But they want to dominate and control.
And try to abuse that power. So, the hunger for power can go in very horrendous directions. And if somebody wants to say, somebody wants to commit a crime, violate a woman or something like that, they will try to abduct a woman and in some private place they will do it.
But if somebody does that in public, that's scandalous. But imagine if somebody comes and does that in a police station, that's completely outrageous. So, what Duryodhana tried to do was like that.
In the Kuru assembly means, it is all the people who are meant to protect the law, in front of them he was doing it. So, how brazen it is, how outrageous it is. Like in India, these terrorist attacks happened recently and the whole nation is on a boil because of that.
There are just many reasons for that. But one reason is that, it is not just civilians were killed, it is the police were killed and they came right into the police ranks and rammed a vehicle. So, what happens is that it is not just the wrongdoing that is committed, but where that wrongdoing is committed and to whom it is committed, that can increase the magnitude.
So, Duryodhana, his hunger for power made him do such reprehensible things. So, we all have a love for power, but that love for power can go dharmically or it can go adharmically. And if it is not channelled properly, it can make people do horrendous things and they don't even realise it.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says how there are people who delight in doing wrong. In 16.13-15, he says that, So, first he says that everybody wants wealth, the demoniac also wants wealth. I'll do this scheme and I'll get more money.
I'll do that scheme and get more money. So, this, in one sense, this wanting more and more wealth is just natural. But the extremes to which they go, that is, if somebody comes in the way of their wealth, they are ready to eliminate that person also.
They destroy that person and not only they kill someone, but they delight in how clever I am. How clever I am that I could eliminate this person. And I could get away with it.
So, the idea here is that there is weakness and there is wickedness. Weakness is something we all have. There may be greed, there may be anger, there may be lust, there may be arrogance, whatever.
That sometimes the impulse comes up and we do certain things. So, that's weakness. So, afterwards we regret, why did I do that? So, basically we have our intelligence which is like an inner curve.
But sometimes when the impulse comes up, the intelligence is knocked over. And then we do something wrong. That is weakness.
So, weakness makes us hot-headed. Hot-headed means literally in Hindi se dimaag garam ho gaya hai. So, when people's head becomes hot, they can't think clearly and they act impulsively, often destructively.
However, weakness is very different from wickedness. In wickedness, the person is not hot-headed, the person is cold-blooded. Cold-blooded means that, as I said, in weakness, the person has some impulse and then they do something wrong by overpowering the intelligence temporarily.
And then afterwards they realise, hey, that's a bad thing, I shouldn't have done it. But in the case of wickedness, it is they systematically, the intelligence is not just sidelined, the intelligence is perverted. That means the intelligence is used as a tool by their impulse.
So, somebody may just go to a shop and they see something and they get an urge and they do some shoplifting and take it and go away. And then they regret, I should not have done it. That is just an impulse.
But somebody who goes with a gun and plans out, I am going to do this, I am going to do this, I am going to rob that bank. And if that's fully planned out, that's not weakness. So, where there is weakness, there can be forgiveness.
Where there is wickedness, if there is forgiveness, then that forgiveness will be seen as weakness by the other person. Do you understand this point? If somebody has wickedness, like the Kauravas, when the Pandavas offered a peace proposal, they saw that as weakness. You are afraid to fight with us.
So, what happens is, there is a categorical difference between weakness and wickedness. So, love of power all of us have and sometimes in the seeking of power, we might give in to some weakness and do something. But wickedness means that love of power makes us cold blooded, calculative, cunning, heartless.
And thus we end up doing terrible things. So, whatever we do, at one level, we are motivated by the love of power. Say, if I am speaking right now, now if somebody can speak well, they get power over their audiences.
Now, this is a power which some people have more, some people have less. But some people can use it for good and some people can use it for bad. One of the most powerful orators of the last century was Hitler.
But he used his orational skills to cause one of the first destructions in the world. So, whatever abilities we have, we get power by that. But depending on how we use that power, that can either lead to a constructive effect or a destructive effect.
So, that is the first point I was talking about. Everything that we do is motivated by love of power. So, any reflections, any comments? Okay, I'll tell you why I'm doing this.
So, when I give classes, often my classes tend to be very analytical. So, there is one devotee in India who told me that, aapka class sunna matlab ek ghanda dimaaka kasrat karna bole. So, one hour you have to do some exercise of the head.
So, these reflections are time when all of you can have a break. And of course, we can refresh also. So, if any point struck you, please feel free to reflect that.
No, no, no, no question. Reflection is not a question. We'll have a question later.
Reflection means some point which struck you, which you felt was relevant, which as I said you may want to share with somebody else, which you found very significant. Yes, love of power is, it can come out of emotion, it can come out of, love of power can also come out of love. When a mother, if the child is going somewhere here, they're running away, baby, mother wants to control that child, don't go there.
So, the mother needs some power over the child. Otherwise, if the mother doesn't have sufficient power over the child, then how can that mother discipline or protect the child? So, it can come from positive emotions also. I was at one mediation session in America and there are two devotees.
So, one of the devotees started saying, I know you're very angry with me. So, other devotee says, no, I'm not angry with you. So, I thought, you know, they're pacified.
But this devotee, what he said was just, this other devotee just started boiling because of that. He said, love is an expensive emotion, sorry, anger is an expensive emotion. You are not worth it.
Sometimes the people come, not for resolution, but for aggravation. So, there is a desire for power also. If there is anger, at least there is concern over there.
There is no anger at all, that could mean there is no concern. There is no emotional investment at all. In this case, it was not like that.
It was just an attempt to aggravate someone. But it's like that sometimes. So, yes, love for power can also come out of love.
It's a good point. Any other point? Yes. Definitely.
Good example. Excellent. That is a very good example.
So, Indira had that love for power and when he felt his power being challenged or threatened, instead of having worship for me, they are worshipping a hill. It is outrageous for him. So, he, you don't understand how powerful I am.
Then he tried to exhibit his power to break havoc on them. So, that's a good example of abuse of power. When the love for power becomes excessive, then when that power is challenged or threatened, we abuse the power.
And he abused in a very grievous way at that time. Good example. Thank you.
So, I'll move on to the second point. The first point was that whatever we do is motivated by love for power. And it can be that power can be used constructively or destructively.
Now, at a deeper, second point is that at a deeper level, we are all seeking love. So, we want power so that we can get love. Although sometimes that may become so deep rooted, that may be so deep that it may not even be apparent.
Sometimes when we, see all of us need affection, need attention, need appreciation. And these three things, affection, attention, appreciation, they are basically broad ways of saying we need love. So, attention is just somebody should hear me, somebody should give me some time.
Appreciation is somebody should praise the good that I am going through. And appreciation is not just a matter of ego. It's also that somebody appreciates what all struggles I am going through, understands me.
And affection is a positive emotion. So, we need all these three things. Now, we all seek to get it in various ways.
And one of the disadvantages of the increasing prevalence of technology is that we become, most of us live in cities where there are millions and millions of people. And we become more and more aware of our smallness. We realise that if say if you are going in a city like Mumbai in the local trains, there are millions of people out there in the streets.
So, what happens is that the technocentric materialistic society reduces us to a number. Just one more number in the statistics of the world. And then we just can't bear it.
We can't endure the fact that I am just alone, insignificant, unconnected. So, in the past we had joint families. Then we had nuclear families.
And now even that nucleus is split. And we have protons, electrons, neutrons orbiting around. So, it's quite a very loneliness inducing world.
And in this world we all seek attention. I have a friend in UK. So, he is now become a psychotherapist.
So, I asked him that, isn't it difficult you sit all day and hear people's problems. He said, yes, it's difficult but it's not all that difficult. I said, why? He said, because most time even people come to a psychotherapist, they know what they are meant to do.
Either they know the solution or they know there is no solution. That means, say, if some problem is incurable. Somebody has lost a limb or somebody has lost a loved one or something like that.
Some problems you just cannot do anything about it. They know there is no solution or sometimes they know what they are meant to do. But when people come to psychotherapists, it's more than a solution.
Actually, they need just some attention. Somebody to speak to. Somebody who will hear them non-judgementally.
So, society is so lonely that people just need people to hear, someone to hear them. So, we may, in front of the world, parade as ourselves being very powerful, very successful, very happy. But inside, there is something, someone who is very insecure, who is fearful, who is lonely.
And that someone is always seeking attention. And that attention may be sought in different ways. Some people, ultimately what they want? They want affection.
So, they may gain a lot of wealth and power and the power of wealth they may brandish. In order that people will be attracted to them. If somebody has attractive looks, they may parade those looks so that somebody will be attracted to them.
So, we are all ultimately looking for affection. And when we are looking for affection, looking for love, sometimes what happens is there is a deeper need and there is a surface need. And sometimes we may get so caught in the surface need that we may entirely forget the deeper need.
The same people who say, seek love and affection. So, I was at a conference on spirituality and addiction in Connecticut. So, talking with the caregivers over there.
Because the caregivers themselves get stressed. Because what happens when we interact with people, we need a certain level of predictability in the other person. So that we can function.
Say right now all of you are sitting and able to hear. If suddenly somebody started screaming over here. Or if you had a fear that the person next to you would suddenly give you a big slap.
You could not focus. If I had a fear that this chair might collapse right now. I couldn't focus.
So, for all of us, we need for functioning a certain level of predictability. And the more unpredictable the person is with whom we are dealing, the more anxiety is there. So, those who are in mental health care centre, it's not that the people who are there are like constantly mad.
It is that sometimes they have moments of lucidity. And sometimes they have moments of insanity. And this doctor was telling me that if somebody is constantly insane, it's easier to deal with them.
Okay, not audible. Thank you for telling. So, you will have some moments of clarity and moments of inaudibility.
So, what happens is if there is no predictability in the other person, then dealing with them becomes very stressful. So, what happens with these people who are mental health care providers, they come under a lot of stress. Because the people who are under them are just so totally unpredictable.
So, at one moment, a person may be very calm and gentle and nice. And next moment, he might become like a madman. To be something totally insane.
So, what happens with such people is that we have the physical world around us and we have our mind where there is another world. Mind also has its own pictures, its own images, its own conceptions. And usually, there is some connection with the mental world and the physical world.
So, right now, you will be sitting and hearing, you also have some dreams, some aspirations, some desires. But, for the time being, you can put it aside and focus on this. For some people, they interact so much with the mental world that they forget the physical world.
Say, now in a few months, the cricket world cup will come up. So, maybe, I don't know in Australia, how much cricket mania is there. Is there a lot? It's there.
So, in India, sometimes in the cricket and the streets, you might see some young people. They are walking on the streets and they are bowling. Or they are blackmating.
So, they are imagining that they are the next Virat Kohli or whatever. So, what is happening? They are so much caught in the mental world that they are not even aware that they are walking on the street. So, all of us, we have our mind saying something to us.
But, if we get too caught in the mental world and we are disconnected from the physical world, that is where it becomes a big problem. So, even people who appear to be very unloving, very hard, very stern, very rough, what has happened is, they also still need love. But, maybe because of not having got that love repeatedly in the past, what happens is, they defend themselves from further hurt by putting on a facade that they don't care.
And in their dream world, they might have some fantasies. Somebody will care for me. Somebody will love me.
And somebody will understand me, empathise with me. So, that need is there in everyone. So, the point I am making is, what we ultimately want is love.
And even if somebody seeks power in such a way that they seem to not care for anyone, like in schools, sometimes some kids are bullies. Now, you might say, bullies are exactly opposite of love. They have no love for anyone.
They just want to hurt everyone else. But often, if you see in their lives, they probably, maybe the parents didn't pay them attention or they did not get love in a way they felt loved. And now, so, they are seeking power to dominate others.
And so, even then, so, the need for love can be expressed in such a way that for others, there is no love being seen over there. And even for themselves, they may not realise that they are actually seeking love. So, some people who are extremely hard-hearted, you could say heartless in fact, they also have a heart.
But the strategy that they choose takes them further and further away from the need that they are trying to fulfil. Say, somebody starts taking alcohol or drugs. Then, what happens? In that chemically induced heart, they can imagine relief.
They can imagine whatever they want. They can imagine life will be very good. But unfortunately, because of that, they end up being unable to act lovingly in the real world.
So, they end up being unable to connect, take responsibility, express love because they are just lost. So, sometimes, our external action, what its connection is the inner need will be very difficult to discern for others as well as for ourselves. But ultimately, the point I am making is everybody is looking for attention, affection and appreciation.
Ultimately, everybody is looking for love. And ultimately, from the bhakti perspective, we understand that we are souls who are parts of Krishna. So, we are looking for Krishna's love.
But we just don't know about it. And when we understand this, if philosophically at least we begin to appreciate this, and then through introspection, through purification, we start understanding it better. But ultimately, no matter how unloving a person may appear to be, they are also seeking love.
And we can't change others much. But we can introspect that when we get angry, when we yell at someone, quite often the problem is not just a short temper. Yes, short temper, you can say it is there.
But why the short temper? See, now I gave a seminar in Mumbai, and I am doing a retreat in Brisbane on this topic of burn anger before anger burns you. So, I talked about why somebody may get angry. Say a mother may yell at a child.
And you may say that the child did not do the homework, or child did not keep the house clean, or child made a mess, or certain things. Now, mother gets angry because of that. Now, what is the reason? It could be that the mother has had a hard day that day, and then this was the last straw for the mother.
It could be that the mother feels that actually nobody in the house takes me seriously. Everybody takes me for granted. And because of that, he wants to show her power.
And then she yells. It could be that the mother may feel that if my child doesn't listen to me, that indicates that I am a failure as a parent. And the insecurity of being a failed parent may lead to the yelling.
So, the yelling is not just because of short temper. Short temper is there. But why is the short temper there? So, ultimately, the idea that I am an insecure parent, I am not a successful parent, I am a failed parent, that is also actually a distorted need for love.
Maybe I don't offer love properly to my child. My child doesn't love me. So, when we have this vision, then a lot of understanding of other people's behaviour and our own behaviour will start happening.
Whatever we do, we are seeking love. Some people just spend hours and hours playing video games, especially among teenagers. Or some people spend hours and hours watching movies.
Now, why is that? They are also seeking affection in that virtual world, in that cyber world. Maybe they identify with the character, the hero or the heroine, the star player in the video game or whatever. And that person gets attention, appreciation, affection.
So, everything that we do, if we are doing something which is unhealthy, and we just say this is because of, oh, I don't have willpower, I don't have determination, it's not necessarily like that. It's often a misdirected need for love. That was the second point I was going to make.
Whatever we do, even if we are seeking power, ultimately, we are seeking love. We want power so that we can get love. Although sometimes we may seek love in a way that may drive love away from us.
But ultimately, we are all seeking love. Any reflections on this? So, I'll move on to the last point then. The last point is about how bhakti helps us to move from say, power of love, sorry, love of power, then love, and then the power of love.
The power of love means that, actually, Krishna loves us eternally. Bhagavad Gita says that svarudham sarva-bhaktanam that He is the well-wisher of all living beings. That Krishna is, sometimes one of the words used for Him is bhakta-vatsara, that He is the lover of His devotees.
But Prahlad Narayan's seventh canto says that Krishna is, Vishnu is Krupana-vatsara. He is not just the lover of devotees, but even the lover of people who are materialists, people who are the self-centred materialists. Even them He loves.
So, because He loves everyone, that means He loves even us. And He is there even out in our hearts. And His sarvasya chaham, radhisandhi, Vishnu, is present in the heart of every one of us, with us as our closest friend, closest companion, closest guide.
And to the extent, we can start at least intellectually appreciating His presence and His love. Even if we don't practically experience it, at least intellectually appreciate it. To that extent, we can access the power of love.
So, what do I mean by accessing the power of love? And before that, what do I mean by intellectually appreciating? We all, want to speak of feeling God's love for us. We may even sometimes doubt God's existence, or God's benevolence. Does He exist? Does He care? I prayed for this.
I didn't get this. I prayed so much for this, but it didn't happen. So, we may sometimes feel like that.
That happens because, for each one of us, we are all at various stages in our spiritual growth. And in the ultimate perspective, we are still like children. Now a child may say, I want this toy.
And the toy does not God, then, the child says to the mother or father, I want this toy, I want this toy, I want this toy. And the child doesn't get that toy, and the child says to the mother, to the parents, you don't love me. The child can't, the child reduces the parent's love to that particular toy.
Now for all of us, as we grow up, we all also have particular things that we get very attached to. These are very serious things, they are not toys. Yes, they may be serious from our perspective, but from a child's perspective, a toy is also a very serious thing.
So, the thing which we consider very very important right now, if 5 years down the line, 10 years down the line, it may not be that important for us. So, it's not that we don't take serious things seriously, it's just that, we often reduce God's love to a particular thing that we want. If I get this, then God loves me.
If I get this, then Krishna exists and Krishna cares. Otherwise, Krishna doesn't exist, Krishna doesn't care. So that's how, because of that we may not perceive Krishna's love.
But at least intellectually we have appreciated that actually, there are so many things right in our lives. One basic principle we can say that, if we are alive, there is more right than wrong in our lives. If we are just alive, if we consider, so many, most of us probably are 28, 25, 30, 35, that age group.
Some of us are 45, 50. But so many people died, even before we get to the age that we are at. Even if you consider financially, most of us will probably be in the top 10 or top 20% of the world, top 10-15% of the world.
There are so many people living in poverty, far less. So there are many things right in our lives. And many of the things that are right in our lives, we did not do much to set them right.
So, everyday we eat food and then what happens is, we get energy while eating. But, we don't do anything to actually transform that food into energy. The digestive system does that.
The only time we think about digestion is, when it doesn't work. So, if we just look, there are so many things right in our lives. There are so many things right in our lives.
And, to access this power of love, this is a very healthy habit. Everyday, when we wake up and before we sleep, just thank God for three things. The same three things, the three different things.
Just thank God. And especially if that day we have experienced something good because of that. Connected with that and we appreciate for that.
So, what happens is, by this, we actually intellectually, emotionally we can't change our emotion immediately. A child who is attached to that toy, cannot suddenly give up the attachment. The emotion will still be there.
So, similarly, we can feel emotionally very strongly driven towards certain things. And, if they don't come, we will feel bad about it. But, at least intellectually, yes.
I would love if this works out nicely. But, even if this doesn't work out nicely, that doesn't mean that it's the end of my life. That thing not working out may cause me some pain.
We may have to live with pain, but we don't have to live in pain. Live with pain means, pain is a part of our life. Live in pain means, pain becomes the whole of our life.
Our life becomes contained and covered by pain. So, when our consciousness gets reduced to one thing, Oh, I wanted to get this job, I didn't get this job, my life is over. I wanted this relationship, it didn't work out, my life is over.
I wanted this, it didn't work out, my life is over. So, when we reduce our consciousness to one particular thing, then we may live in pain. But, when we think about the things that are good in our life, what are we doing? We are expanding our consciousness.
Our mind seems to have some kind of perverse attraction towards problems. That means, whenever we have some problem, the mind just keeps thinking about that. Why did he do like that? Why did she speak like that? Why this? Why this? Our consciousness gets shrunk to that one thing.
But, if we consciously try to count our blessings, then we expand our consciousness. This is there. I am not denying this.
I am not trivialising this. But, although this is bad, there is so much event in my life. Then we intellectually appreciate Krishna's love.
And then accessing the power of love means, I will conclude the class with this, that when we practise bhakti, and not just practise bhakti in a ritualistic way, but practise bhakti for connecting with Krishna. So, within the activities of bhakti, we find out something which helps us personally connect with Krishna. For some of us, it might be kirtan.
For some of us, it might be shloka recitation. For some of us, it might be just beholding the deities of the Lord. For some of us, it might be associating with a particular devotee.
For some of us, it might be doing a particular seva. We find out something which directs our emotions towards Krishna. Which connects us emotionally with Krishna.
Then, by that, we will access Krishna. We will connect with Krishna and start accessing Krishna's love. This is a little subtle point.
What I am saying here is that, our emotions, we feel hurt, we feel angry, we feel deprived, we feel depressed. Our emotions are on this side. With our intelligence, first we understand that this is bad, but this is not the only thing in my life.
So many other things are right also. And I appreciate those right things with my intelligence. And by that, I stop feeling that bad.
We have to live with pain. We don't want to live in pain. Now, after that, there is this inner battle going on between emotion and reason.
Between mind and intelligence. Then, first, at least we need to have the intelligence ready to fight. Otherwise, what happens is, the emotion takes the intelligence along and we just keep, as they say, go on a pity party.
Just feeling sorry for ourselves. So, pity party, you know. Not a kitty party.
Pity party. So, at least, in my hearing classes, I come in association with devotees and intelligence gets nourished. And then we can fight.
At least resist the emotions when they start hurting us. But, in general, in the battle between emotion and reason, it is very difficult for reason alone to win. So, we make emotion also an ally.
A partner in this battle. Not the opponent. So, we find out something in bhakti that helps us connect with Krishna.
That makes us feel good. Just hearing some kirtan. Just hearing some talks.
Hearing some katha. Taking direction of the Lord. So, that makes us feel good.
That makes us feel calm. And by that, we connect with Krishna. Not just through reason, but also through emotion.
Yes, this emotion, which I, this thing went wrong in my life and I'm feeling bad about it, that's there. But, it's also good. So, at the emotional level, we connect with Krishna.
And after we do that, gradually what will happen is the connection with Krishna. And as the connection with Krishna will become bigger, we'll find the hurt becoming smaller and smaller and smaller. The hurt will be there.
It may not go away. But, it will not hurt us very much. And, by the power of love, by the power of Krishna's love for us, by the power of offering our love to Him, by connecting with Him, we will find ourselves getting transformed.
The mind becomes free. The experience of lying happens. 6.27 in the Gita.
All the agitation that is there in the mind, that just goes down. We start realising our spirituality. So, this is what happens to us when we connect with Krishna.
Arjun was in the battlefield of Kurukshetra. He was very agitated. How can I fight against my elders? How can I fight against Bhishma and Drona? But, when he heard the Bhagavad Gita's message, as he heard the Bhagavad Gita's message, it was not just intellectual hearing.
It was intellectual hearing, of course. But, Bhagavad Gita spoke not just to the head of Arjun, it also spoke to the heart of Arjun. And connected with his heart.
Towards the end of the Gita, Krishna's heart comes out. Krishna's love comes out. He says, after he completes Sarva Dharma, just surrender to me.
Then, he gives a phalashruti. Phalashruti is, what is the fruit of hearing? First, he says, if somebody shares this message with everyone, that person is very dear to him. Sharing is very difficult.
Who is going to go and speak Bhagavad Gita? I can't do that. So, Krishna says, okay, if you can't share, at least you can study. You can't read the Bhagavad Gita, you can't read the Bhagavad Gita, just study.
So, it's like, say, somebody has fallen in a well, and Krishna, somebody from outside offers a rope. You hold on to the rope and come out. So, that's like Krishna saying, you just share.
You will become very dear to me. You will come to me. Of this, there is no doubt.
He says, actually, if I hold on to this rope, my arms will start paining. How can I hold on to the rope for so long while you pull me out? So, then the person from outside says, okay, don't worry. I'll take this rope and make a knot.
So, you just tie this knot around your waist and I'll pull you out. So, Krishna is like second level in his giving. You can't share, you just study the Gita.
You just tie the knot. So, you don't have to take the effort to climb out. You don't have to climb out to hold on.
So, I'll just pull you out. So, that's the second level. But somebody will say, actually, if I tie the rope around my waist, my waist will pain so much.
I can't do that, you know, if you want to pull me. So, somebody will say, I can't even study the Gita. And Krishna is the third level.
You just hear the Gita. First he says, Those who hear the study of this message, they are worshipping me. But then he says, if you can't do that, you just hear about this message.
They will also get liberated. They will also get elevated. So, it's like, the person says, okay, I will take this rope out and I will tie a tub to it.
And I'll send the cow to it. Just sit in the tub and I'll pull you out. So, Krishna is saying, you just hear this message and you'll become purified.
Unfortunately, we sit in the tub and then we turn the tub around. And we tend to fall out, unfortunately. But, so, Krishna brings out his love and says, I'll make it as easy as you want.
And then he says, Oh, Arjuna, have you heard it entirely? Have you understood? Has your illusion been dispelled? So, Vishwakirtaku says over here, that Krishna is asking Arjuna that if you have not understood anything properly, you can ask, I'll repeat, I'll clarify. Arjuna is concerned that he understands. That Arjuna understands.
And then, what happens? Arjuna's doubts are completely dispelled. His mind is completely pacified. So, the Bhagavad Gita describes, although it's a war in which you could say that they're activated by love for power, they want power over their opponents.
But actually, the Bhagavad Gita is talking about the power of love. Arjuna was overpowered, overwhelmed by the occasion. He couldn't fight.
But, through the message of the Bhagavad Gita, he understood Krishna's love for him. And that now gave him power to face the difficult service that he had to do. To face the challenge that he had to face.
Similarly, if you hear about Krishna and appreciate his love for us, then that will give us access to the power of love. No matter how difficult the situations we are facing in our life. If we turn towards Krishna, this problem is this big, but Krishna is much bigger.
And if we turn towards Krishna and access his power, just as Arjuna overcame his discouragement, we can also overcome our discouragement and march ahead in life. So, I'll summarise what I spoke today. I spoke on this topic of from power of love of power to power of love.
The first point I said, everybody is what is the point? Everybody is seeking power. Everybody's actions are driven by the love for God. From babies crying to somebody seeking marks, to somebody seeking wealth, looks.
By that we want power. And we can seek this power for a good purpose or for a bad purpose. So, people who are dharmic virtuous, they use power for positive.
Like mother uses power to discipline and care for the child. And when we have weakness, then we occasionally misuse the power. We become hot-headed.
But when we have wickedness, then we become cold-blooded and we deliberately in a deliberated way misuse the power. And that was the case of Arjuna leveraged his strength to become a great Arjuna. But Duryodhana manipulated and tried to destroy the Kauravas so that he could get his power.
That was love of power. That was the first part, love of power. The second part was? Second point was? Yes, we are all seeking love.
Whatever we do, we are seeking love. So, even if somebody acts like a bully, doesn't seem to care for anyone at all, that person is also seeking love in a very distorted way. And I talked somewhat about mental health problems where we can start living so much inside our head and in our head some script is running and we are getting attention, affection, appreciation in that script.
Although we appear very disconnected or crazy in the world, like somebody playing cricket in their imagination and their hands moving in a particular way. So, similarly some people might be acting like very suspicious and cold externally. But that's the way they are in their minds protecting themselves.
And when we understand that we are all seeking love, then we stop labelling ourselves negatively. So, if somebody is short tempered, it's not just short tempered, it might be some insecurity in turn. When we understand how we are seeking love to a particular unhealthy behaviour, then we can act to rectify that behaviour.
And lastly, I talked about the power of love. So, bhakti gives us the access to the power of divine love. First, we understand that Krishna loves us through scripture, using our intelligence.
There are many things wrong in our life which may feel that Krishna doesn't care for us. But instead we look at the many things that are right in our lives. And by that we start expanding our consciousness from its obsession with a particular problem or a particular toy like object that we have not got.
We may have to live with pain, but we don't have to live in pain. And then after we intellectually appreciate Krishna's love for us, then we emotionally connect with Krishna. So that the inner battle is not just between reason versus emotion.
We also get emotion partly on our side. Some activity which connects us with Krishna, we do that regularly. And by that, we can move closer and closer to Krishna.
And then by that inner connection with Krishna, gradually the magnitude of the hurt or the pain or the deprivation will start decreasing. And lastly, I talked about how by the power of Krishna's love, we, each one of us can get especially empowered that whatever difficulties we may face in our life, Krishna's love is that he makes himself accessible to us. Just like he made himself accessible to Arjun.
And the last three verses I talked about how increasingly easy way the path of living is. Share or study or just hear. So like a rope being lowered, a rope with a knot being lowered and a rope with a tug being lowered.
So like that, mercy is being available more and more. So when we appreciate and connect with Krishna's love, then no matter how many difficulties we may face, by the power of love, we will get whatever power we need to face life's difficulties and move forward successfully. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna. So any questions or comments? Yes please. Ok, I am not getting something outside, let me grab the attention on social media and do something.
It's kind of very addictive, it becomes like a habit. How to deal with it? Ok, so how do we deal with say a lot of obsession with social media? I would say for attention, it's not necessarily a bad thing. As technology has just become a part of the world today.
So I once gave a class on internet in the three modes. So, ultimately whatever technology we have, it's a reflection of the people who are living in the world. So just as people in the world are in the three modes, so the digital world also, internet world is also in three modes.
Say for example, there are online help communities, in the sense that if you have some problem with your phone, I have some problem with Mac, I go to Apple communities or somebody has Android community, and you ask questions, people give answers. So many places, there are websites where you ask some questions, people give good answers. So technical questions, informational questions.
So, it's like a physical neighbour might give some information or some help to another physical neighbour. So we have a digital neighbour, give help to another digital neighbour. So, there are certain, like Wikipedia, in many ways, it's sharing knowledge in a democratic way with everyone.
So there is much in the internet which is in goodness. But, there is much more that is in rajas, and there is much also that is in tamas. And because if we consider that most society, I mean society as we live it today, is largely in rajas and tamas.
So overall, the content on the internet is much more in rajas and tamas than sattvas. But the difference with respect to the digital world as compared to the physical world is, in the physical world, to go from sattva to tamas requires some physical effort. Say somebody in the library, and they want to drink, they have to physically go to a bar.
So it requires some effort. But on the internet, you might be reading Wikipedia one moment, and just click one button, and you might be completely tamas somewhere. So, it is not that the social media is entirely bad.
It's just that ultimately, depending on the mode we are in, we will connect with that kind of social media. If we are in sattva, we will connect to the sattvic content on the internet or on the overall online world. If we are in rajas, we will connect with what is in rajas.
If we are in tamas, we will connect with what is in tamas. But, if we get these tamasic or rajasic urges, to indulge in them is much easier. That's why some caution is required.
So broadly speaking, for dealing with this, there are 2-3 things which could be done. One is that, if we have some if it is a serious issue for us, and if we have some close friend, then we can candidly talk with them about whatever issue we are facing. And then just the technical term for this is accountability partner.
Accountability partner means if somebody has a tendency, I want to read something, serve something for half an hour, but half an hour becomes 6 hours. Then if we have somebody whom we can share this with and they shouldn't be judgemental, they shouldn't be broadcasting it to the whole world. They will choose discreetly.
But if we just have that small deterrent, oh no, if I waste time on this, I will tell this to this person. That in itself can act as a good deterrent. So what happens is, we are here, the mind is here, and the digital world is here.
So what happens is that if it is only we and our mind in the digital world, then the mind will completely capitulate us. But if there is someone else other than that, then that helps us a lot. Having somebody who can monitor, not in a moment to moment basis, but on a broad way also.
And if they can't monitor, at least we share with them. Then that helps a lot in keeping things in perspective. The other thing is that it depends on what works for different people.
For some people it just works quantity. Everyday, half an hour or whatever, 45 minutes or whatever, I will look at this. Or even if I have to keep looking at it throughout the day, maybe I will make it.
Not that every 5 minutes I will look at it. Maybe every 1 hour, if I have to look at it every 1 hour, every 3 hours, every 5 hours. So some way we create some regulation.
So that regulation is Satva. So I was with one devotee, we were corresponding by email, and he said, for next one month, I won't respond to emails. I said, why? He said, I am taking in Karate for email fast.
So okay. Then I asked him, is this going to really help you or is it only going to make things more difficult for people who want to contact you? So then he said, no, I will be accessible by phone, if somebody wants. But he said that, that was his plan.
So basically, some way we can create regulation. What way works for us? It may be in terms of frequency, it may be in terms of duration, it may be in terms of just accessibility also. Some people just don't take a phone with you in some places, whatever.
So some way we create regulation. That also helps. And third is that, try to have a clear purpose.
Why am I using this? If we have that purpose clear, then if we go off course also, we will realise it. See, if we don't have a purpose very clearly in our mind, I am getting a little bored. Let me see if there is something interesting.
If we start using the internet to just relieve our boredom, then the problem is that we will find that okay, this one thing did not relieve my boredom so much. So second thing, third thing, fourth thing, fifth thing. So if we are surfing just to relieve our boredom, better find some healthier way to do that.
Maybe have some nice music, maybe have something offline which you can read. Maybe some devotional movies or some educational stuff, whatever. So generally seeking relief by surfing, it is dangerous.
Because there is no limit to that. Just to give a practical example is that if you are studying and you are studying in library and just next to that is a canteen. And you study for one hour, you need a break.
And then you go to the canteen. And there are dozens of friends over there. So one friend, second friend, third friend, fourth friend.
So instead of our study, we are getting a break in our studies, we get a breakdown of our studies. So if you want just a break, we won't go into a crowded place where 100 people will approach us. We will just go for a brief walk or maybe stretch ourselves.
So in general, surfing the net to just get a break from boredom is an unhealthy idea. Now we might need some interesting information from the net also. But if we have a purpose clear, then when we start getting diverted, we realise it.
We don't have a purpose clear itself. If the purpose itself is not a very sound purpose, then it becomes very difficult. So in this, it's like if somebody is a little drunk, they understand I am drunk.
I should not drive a car now. Maybe I should take a lift or ask somebody else to drive. But when they are very drunk, I am not drunk, I can drive.
They can't even speak properly, but they think I can drive. If we do not have our purpose clear, we get lost and we don't even realise we are lost. If our purpose is clear, at least we realise I am lost.
So those three things, having an accountability partner, having some kind of regulation, and having a clear purpose of why we are using. Those things that helps in keeping things under control. We are using the tub.
We can sit in that. Is there a more easier way than that? Oh God! Is there a more easier way than sitting in the tub? There is one devotee, at the time of initiation, we take a vow to chant a particular number of rounds. One devotee asked the spiritual master, chanting, what I am doing, it is not going to be pure.
He said, chanting 16 rounds, can I hear Prabhupada's japa of 16 rounds? The spiritual master told him, Prabhupada is doing everything else for you, just chant. Ultimately, sitting in that tub, ultimately to go to Krishna, it is not a matter of being easy or difficult. Ultimately what Krishna wants to see is, our desire to connect with him, expressed through some tangible action.
So if you just do that, for some people in certain situations, certain activities may be difficult. So it is possible that certain bhakti activities may be difficult, but in our situation, we have a desire internally to connect with Krishna, and we express that desire in some tangible way. If we do that, we will be taking steps towards Krishna.
So, ultimately sitting in the tub also means just that only. Any other questions? Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna. As was mentioned in the specific announcement,.