From outer happiness to inner happiness

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I bow to everyone.

We will stop here discussing and start happiness by looking at the magnitude of distress. Arjuna is in great distress. Generally, we don't realise the value of something till it is lost.

Most of us, how many times do we think about digestion? Maybe the only time we think about digestion is when it doesn't work. So, let that be. We may or may not really be experiencing much happiness, but when we experience the complete lack of happiness, the complete opposite of happiness that is distress, we can't deny it.

It's very slow, but it's okay. It's coming. So here, Arjuna is experiencing an extremely difficult situation.

And his situation is purely out of the specifics. He has to fight against his own relatives. It's not easy for him to do that.

Some people say that, oh, happiness and distress, they're just a state of mind. Think you're happy when you're happy. Man, he's going to slap that person.

Or make them sit on the bed of thorns. And it happens. It's a state of mind.

My cheek is still aching. My thighs and bottom is pierced with blood. It's not a state of being alone.

Not a state of mind alone. Actually, there is a reality out of it. And in the outer world, there are times when things are distressful.

So we can't just deny that. Arjuna is in a situation where he's in great distress. The Gita explains our existence is at three bodily levels.

The soul, the mind, and the body. There is Ugra Karma and there is Tugra Karma. Tugra Karma is bad actions which create trouble for us.

Tugra Karma is technology-related bad actions. So, seems like we're going through the Tugra Karma right now. So, when we are going through the phase of Arjuna, all that we can do is palms and gestures of heart.

So, just feel it. So, basically, the idea that happiness is simply a state of mind. That is an exaggerated truth.

There is truth to it. There can be an external problem and somebody can make the problem huge. One of my friends in Canada is a lawyer.

He practises family law. Now, family law basically means it's mostly about divorces. And, generally, when I talk about the rest, you know, people are not so interested in moral things, but they're interested in factual things.

So, I talk about social breakdown in the West. How marriages are falling apart. How addiction is increasing.

How things are coming. Let me explain this before I go there. The visual is always more attractive than the verbal.

So, there are also three levels of being. Spiritual is the soul, mind is M, and B is the body or physical. The three levels of being.

And, all three affect us. At all three levels, we are affected. So, if at the physical level, the body is a problem, it affects us.

If it's pain because the hand is fractured, you cannot say it's a state of mind. No, it's a state of bone, a state of bone disalignment. So, we will talk about what role the mind plays.

The idea over here is that we could separate these three into distinct states of being. The soul is here. The mind is here.

The body is here. At the level of the body, there can be happiness and there can be distress. But, along with that, what can happen is now the soul primarily experiences life through the mind.

That means the soul's consciousness comes through the mind and it goes to the outer world and comes to it. Let's say somebody is absent-minded. We are talking with them and their eyes are glazing.

Come to earth, come to earth. So, absent-minded means what has happened is that if you consider the soul is here, the body is here, but the mind is somewhere else. So, they are here, we are talking with them.

The body is here, but they are not there. The consciousness is going here somewhere. And there is no consciousness over here.

Sometimes you talk with someone, oh, I'm sorry, I missed that one. So, the mind is a link between the soul and the body. It is not a function as a link, but it sometimes functions as much more than a link.

So, we'll talk about this in terms of happiness and distress primarily. So, what happens is, at the level of the body, there can be happiness and distress. Physically painful, physically pleasant situations can be there.

But beyond that, the soul is here, the mind is here. Now, let's put it at the physical level, there can be body. At the level, at this level, there can be a small distress.

But the mind, by the time it reaches the mind, it can become a huge distress. The mind can make a small problem very big. I was talking about this in Canada.

So, I was talking about sociology. I often talk how in the western part of the world, marriages are breaking apart, families are not staying together. So, divorces are increasing.

So, I went to Canada and both places, they always told me that the organisers of the parties don't tell this. I said, because people get frightened. Divorce is not a pleasant thing, it's heartbreaking at times.

It reminds us of trauma. I said, no, it's not traumatic, it's not true. Really? That's what happens.

Marriages are stabilising, divorces are decreasing. I said, no, divorces are not decreasing, marriages are decreasing. So, if there are no marriages, marriages and divorces will decrease.

When we look at marriage, there was a couple who came and what has happened is, in the west, individual autonomy has been emphasised much more than duty. Autonomy means, I am who I am, I don't know what I want to do. But duty means we belong to a broader whole.

We are expected to do certain things as a part of the family. If I am part of a family, I have certain duties to a family. If I am part of a community, I have certain duties to a community.

If I am part of a country, I have certain duties to a country. Ultimately, I am part of God, I have certain duties to God. There are these two aspects to every individual.

Consider an individual, there is autonomy, this is what I want to do, and there is duty. Duty is what is expected of us. Ideally, both of them should be balanced.

Now, in the west, autonomy is emphasised very much. And, because of the emphasis on autonomy, for example, they have the idea that, if a couple can't stay together, then there is something called a no-fault divorce. No-fault means, nobody's fault, we just don't get along.

So, actually, a 30-year-old marriage can be dissolved more easily than a $30 phone contract. You know, if you pay $30 to get a phone contract for one month or two months, you can't dissolve that easily. So, it's become much easier.

It's tragic. So, if a couple can't get a divorce, why? The husband and the wife, they cannot agree what temperature to keep for the air-conditioner in their home. The husband wants the higher temperature, the wife wants lower temperature.

Is there a reason to divorce? If both people don't agree, air-conditioner in their home. So, it's tragic. There is some discomfort.

There's a higher duty involved. So, the point I'm making over here is that there are situations in the world where the mind, I'll go back over here, the mind can make a small distress very big. It's a problem.

Maybe one of them has to get more warm clothes than others at the time they're at home. One of them has to make a distress. But, if we have an idea life is meant for, I need to do what I want to do.

Anything that comes in the way, knock it aside. So, the small problems can become huge. So, the mind can similarly not just exaggerate problems, it can also exaggerate pleasures.

There is some happiness, some joy, some pleasure. It's a tiny pleasure, but the mind can exaggerate it. It can make us feel, Oh, this pleasure, if I don't get it, I won't be able to live.

This is where sometimes a person is hooked to alcohol. I'll die if I don't drink. I think you'll die if you drink.

But, that's how the mind exaggerates the pleasure. So, is happiness a state of mind? Yes, it is definitely a state of mind. Is it an obvious state of the mind? No.

There is a state of physical being also, which can be pleasant or unpleasant. But, beyond that, how our mind sees it can make small pleasures big or small problems also big. So, taking this forward.

Now, why are we discussing this? We are discussing how the Gita addresses Arjuna's concern about his great distress. And Krishna tells Arjuna in this verse that those who are well situated in wisdom, they are characterised by one thing. See, how are they happy? There is outer source of happiness and there is inner source of happiness.

And Krishna says, turn away from outer source and turn towards inner source of happiness. So, the idea is in the outer situation right now, he has to fight a war and it's painful. Relating to this, to expect that outer situation to suddenly become harmonious and joyful is not a realistic expectation.

So, Krishna says, turn inward. So, if you consider an individual to be here, so you can either look for outer happiness or you can look for inner happiness. Gita is telling us, turn this way.

From outward to inward. And in this way, one can find real happiness. Now, first of all, when we say outer or inner happiness, what do we mean by that? Because, even if there is spiritual happiness, there is inner happiness.

But spiritual happiness is also outside to a particular place. We are doing outer activities. We are participating in kirtans, we are singing, we are sometimes dancing, we are taking food.

So, how exactly is this inner happiness when we are involved in outer activities or not? So, when we say outer and inner, we can't actually describe it. We are composite beings at this stage. Our existence is spiritual, it is mental, it is all three of them.

So, even when you are experiencing outer happiness, even if somebody is going to a movie and watching a movie or somebody is going to maybe a sauna or somewhere just to have pleasant sensations, there, the physical is involved, but the mental is also involved. If somebody has been insulted, I think they go to a go to a feast. Then they eat gulab jamun.

But in their mind, they are tasting gharla. They are tasting gharla. Because their mind is playing the insult that they are going through.

So, even when there is outer happiness, it does not mean that there is no inner component. Happiness cannot be experienced without any inner component. So, we are talking about happiness outer and inner.

It refers not to the activity, but it refers to the destination. Destination. What is it that we are trying to achieve by that? So, this classification of outer and inner is based on what is it we are trying to achieve.

So, when we are seeking inner happiness, now we have come to satsang, we are hearing satsang, you take a book and read it. After you go back, you read the Bhagavad Gita. So, we are doing outer activities, but our destination is inner.

We have to understand our soul. We have to understand the ultimate reality of Krishna. We have to connect more with him.

So, the activities are for any kind of happiness. In that sense, there is an outer component. But what is the destination? So, outer and inner happiness is determined not so much by the activity, but by the whole process.

What is it that we are trying to ultimately connect with? So, having said this, what is the problem with outer happiness? There are so many sources of happiness in the world. You can just click on phones and go to YouTube. There is so much entertainment.

There are so many video games. So many things are there. There is so much enjoyment coming there.

So, yes, there is enjoyment, but Krishna later talks about the nature of this enjoyment. He says the most wonderful enjoyment is like nectar in the beginning, but poison in the end. It will be like nectar in the beginning.

It's irresistible, intoxicating nectar. But afterwards, it becomes like poison. Now, addiction is a tragic example of this.

It's when a person tries to become an addict. Nobody is born an addict. It's when somebody calls out of their mother's womb to stick a cigarette in their mouth.

And when they suppose somebody is smoking, and they are smoking, how? And they think, I am just being cool. We are not being cool. We are being a fool.

So, what is happening is that it tastes like nectar. You may feel cool. It doesn't feel good.

You are hanging out in a cool crowd, so you feel good. And then once you get hooked to it, then there is an initial echo that is there. But after that, the addiction comes.

If somebody starts alcohol, starts drugs, then initially, there is a high and there is an intoxication. But afterwards, there is cost. There is a financial cost.

There is a physical cost. There is a social cost. You cannot behave properly when you are intoxicated.

There is a professional cost. When somebody gets addicted, they have a reputational addiction, right? They can't get jobs afterwards. Somebody is doing drugs, alcohol, drugs.

There can be emotional costs. People may lose their relationships. We are not even talking about social costs.

The stale of poison can be very long. So Krishna says, Prajahati itha kama. He says, turn away.

It's interesting what Krishna is telling us. Not turn away from worldly objects. He is saying, turn away from worldly desires.

Turning away from objects is not enough. It's not enough. We have to turn away from those desires.

Sarvan Partha Manogatam. Let's try to understand what he is saying over here. Consider this, the soul, the mind and the body.

And then here there is a physical world. So Krishna is saying that the desires for enjoying the world, they come from the mind. He is saying, Manogatam.

They come from the mind and then they captivate us. Normally we think, I see something, it is passing by, there is some nice menu seems to be there. So we think that I see an external object and then it comes.

Well, that is true to some level. But generally, if there has been no past impression of that, if we didn't even know what a particle item is, then we wouldn't even have the desire to eat it. Does anyone know what is a baklava? Baklava? I didn't know that.

In my lecture you were talking. Don't be a spoilsport. Laughter.

So when I went to Australia for the first time, everybody there was you know, we have for dessert, we have baklava. Didn't like to have it. No, no.

Oh, baklava, the name of the something. Laughter. So I said, yeah, maybe later.

I don't want to be too impolite and say no. So then, I heard about it. I saw it was located near the street.

I said, no. If you don't even know about something, the desire will not come at all. No.

But generally a desire, especially strong desires, stronger desires come not just by seeing some desirable object. Stronger desires come when we have some past memories of engaging or indulging in that object. Prajahati Radhaman, Sarvan Parth Manohar.

So what Krishna is telling over here is that if we want to find happiness, if you separate these two, mind and then body, it's a part of the physical world. So what he is saying here is here there might be some sense object. Something which looks very tempting.

So Krishna is not just saying no to this. Krishna is saying here let's put this as primary object and here there is a worldly desire. So Krishna is saying, say no to this only.

Not just say no to the objects out there. Sometimes if focus goes on saying no to the objects, we may develop aversion. We may look down.

We may condemn. We may become judgemental. The point is to say no to the desires.

That seems very difficult. Saying no to the objects is possible, but saying no to desires is difficult. I may fast but I am saying no to the objects only.

But then fasting mind is full. So something has gone on in the mind. Why? Because if you are only saying no to the objects, without saying no to desires, we were simply tormenting ourselves.

The desires are there. Now I talk a little bit about how we have to manage desires. But this point, if we are focussing only on saying I have no needs, but inside the desire is there and we are entertaining the desire.

We are not saying no to the desire. There is infinite pain. I shouldn't have it.

Why is it not good? What's wrong with it? What's wrong with a little of it? So it's internally, it's important to start saying no to desires. It will take time. But if we understand that this initial that is there is followed by this long poison, then that is what will enable us to say no to the desire itself.

I'll explain this a little bit more. But before I go there, there's also another kind of happiness. This is 1838 and this was before that.

In 1837 we talk of another kind of happiness that is poison in the beginning, nectar in the end. That means poison in the beginning, but nectar in the end. Suppose somebody is physically not very fit.

Maybe they had a fracture or something like that. Now for them to recover, they have to start exercising. Exercising can be painful, but when they exercise, it's poison in the end.

However, they keep exercising, they recover mobility, they recover health, they regain functionality and their life's quality is so much better. So the nectar will come in later. When a child wants to start studying, a child is told to start studying.

A child can. Why study? It's not a big matter. So it's focussing on this letter like this, this letter like that, and this letter like this, it's also complex.

However, once we learn to communicate, once we become literate, the whole universe opens for us. So I'm not giving a spiritual example over here. There are many things which are good for us, which taste like poison in the beginning, but they need to stay in the end.

So Krishna is saying, turn away from this and turn towards this. So, And find happiness within. I'll explain what it means, but let's look at this transition a little bit more.

Earlier I talked about three levels of being. The soul, the mind, and the body. Now let's complicate this a little bit more.

I complicate it because complicating simple things is the way you get all growing and understood. But if you only complicate and limit over there, then you don't grow much and understand. First you think, this is black, this is white, that's all there is.

Oh, but there's so many shades of being. That's very complex. Yeah, but once you understand shades of being, yeah, actually, this purple looks quite different from orange.

And so many colours. So generally, how education grows is first you learn something simple. Then you refine its complex.

It's not as simple as it looks. Then after that you say, actually, it's not as complex as it looks. It's simple.

So, education involves two parts. Complexifying the simple and simplifying the complex. So, if somebody does only the first one part of the book twice, it's not really easy.

So, like here, it's black and white. Here there is shades of being. And then there is a spectrum of colours.

So that's how we grow in education. Sometimes it's only if everything is very, very simple without actually revealing the nuances. If it's only kept at this stage, it will become bold.

It will become repetitive. If it's only kept at this stage, it will become exhaustive. I can't understand anything.

I don't know what to do. It's all so confusing. This is where it becomes illuminating.

Darling, what I'm learning, it adjusts with my real life experience. I can see there's many shades of being. Now I'm beginning to understand about this.

So, now, what I said is that I'll make it a little more complicated. In the interface between the soul and the body, the subtle body, we could say there are two components. There is the intelligence and there is the mind.

The mind is like a term of shock. Sometimes the word mind is a shorthand to refer to the entire subtle body. But sometimes the word mind is also used to refer to one particular component within the subtle body.

So, let's say Delhi is a union director. But within Delhi as a union director, there is also Delhi as a city. So we need to know what we are referring to.

Somebody in the Delhi union director says, I'm going to Delhi. And somebody from outside says, you're already in Delhi. So what are you referring to? So, we're talking about here, the mind and intelligence are two components of the subtle body.

The mind is generally impulsive. The intelligence is more reflective. It thinks, it analyses.

Impulsive means, just do it. Enjoy. Just act.

Whereas, reflective is thinking. So, Krishna was part of this verse. He says, don't get carried away by the mind.

The second part he says is, strengthen the intelligence. So now if you forget everything, see if you can remember this diagram. I hope I can draw this with sufficient complexity.

Because it's a complicated concept. So the soul is here. Now, around the soul, there is the intelligence and there is the mind.

And we could say this whole thing is the self. Now, there is what we can call as higher happiness. Higher happiness is poison in the beginning, nectar in the end.

And here there is lower happiness. Here there is lower happiness. Nectar in the beginning, poison in the end.

Lower happiness means, it is like a low lying fruit. If you want some fruit, you just raise your hand and pluck the fruit. Some fruits are higher, but lower means it's very easily available.

But it also takes things down below. It puts us in misery. So, now with this understanding, what Krishna is telling is that the mind Is it visible? The mind will naturally look at this pleasure.

And on the other hand, we need intelligence to look at this pleasure. Normally we think of the conflict, the tug of war being over here. We think of the tug of war as over here.

So, should I wake up in the morning and do some meditation, do some study, do some exercise? Or should I just sleep comfortably? So, that's an external choice. We feel the tug of war is over here. But actually Krishna is saying that the tug of war is over here.

That, who are we going to listen to? Is the soul going to listen to the intelligence or to the mind? So, if we are only fighting the external tug of war, I will not eat this. I will eat only this. I will not eat the fatty foods.

I will not eat any fruits. I will not waste time on social media. I will only study the syllabus.

Okay, they do those activities and that's good. But, if internally we are not strengthening our intelligence, if we are not strengthening the intelligence and we are not weakening the mind, then we will feel tormented. We will not be able to sustain for very long.

We can tolerate pain to some extent, but we can't keep tolerating pain constantly. Everyone has a threshold for pain. Some people may have higher threshold, some people may have lower threshold.

But, so when do we have inner torment? When external choice is opposed to the internal choice. That means, externally I am choosing higher happiness. But, internally I am listening to the mind.

The mind is saying, I am not going to eat. Okay, sometimes there is a discipline, you have to do it. But, if you want to sustain it, we need to be able to weaken the mind.

We need to silence the mind. Or, at least turn away from the mind towards the intentions. Okay, I am not eating it.

Why? I don't know. I am not sympathetic. I am making myself suffer.

The higher purpose? Let's focus on the higher purpose. I want to be healthy. I want this.

I want whatever. What is our purpose? That purpose we need to focus on. And then, going back to this diagram now, as I said, the mind looks generally at initial things.

So, the mind sees the initial lecture and says, I want this. The mind sees the initial policy and says, I don't want it. So, let's see if I can find another See this works.

The mind sees here. The mind sees initial things. And this it says, yes.

And this it says, no. Whereas, the intelligence is able to see beyond the initial. See, it's still there.

So, the intelligence sees this. Let's do this. This is poison over there.

So, what happens is, if we want to sustain ourselves in the things that we know will make us happy, we don't need a big discourse, revealing some mystery about how we become happy. Yeah, there are some things which we may not know about at all. Some of us may not know about spirituality.

Some of us may not know about bhakti. Some of us may not know about Krishna. But even among the things that we know, we all often do things which we know are going to make us happy.

We often avoid the things which we ourselves know are good for us. So, why is that? Because the mind is weak. Sorry, is the mind weak? The mind is not weak.

The mind makes us weak. The mind first makes us weak and then it makes us weak. It makes us weak when we end up in distress.

So, the change has to happen not only in terms of the outer habits. I won't do this. It has to happen in terms of the inner power dynamics being shifted.

The inner power dynamics is when we are attached So, when we are attached, what happens is the mind is much stronger than the intelligence. When we are detached, the intelligence is stronger than the mind. So, for us, if we want to become happy, Krishna says, we need to There is a higher happiness that I connect with the higher things in life.

I will find happiness. So, I need to persist in that. If we don't persist in this way, we will find higher happiness.

So, broadly, there are two kinds of people in the world. Some people are wise and some are otherwise. So, the wise listen to their intelligence.

The otherwise listen to their mind. Now, again, we will talk a little bit about this later. The mind is not all that.

We don't have to humanise the mind. The mind is like a child. Now, the child is just impulsive.

The child does not want to do things. The child does not want to go to school, does not want to eat healthy food, does not want to eat tasty food. So, the child needs to be disciplined.

The child needs to learn to grow up. So, we don't have to treat the mind like an enemy. We want to help the mind to grow up.

We want the mind to eventually see the intelligence perspective and accept it. This is good for it. But, till that happens, the mind may have to push it.

Sometimes, the child says, I don't want to take the negation. The mother says, you have to take it. The mother may say, I am neglecting the child.

You are neglecting the child. Sometimes, you may have to neglect your mind. That doesn't mean we repress or suppress our mind.

It means, eventually, you want to help your mind to change. But, initially, when the mind is filled with all these worldly desires, which take us away from our life's end-purpose, then, we need to be able to see more of them. So, I can give you two points now that you can ask the questions.

The key question, if you want to go from here to here, is that you want to strengthen the intelligence and you want to weaken the mind. So, how do we do this? So, generally speaking, weakening the mind is extremely difficult. It will take a long time.

What is much easier is to strengthen the intelligence. Because, it's like, if you can understand this, the mind and the intelligence. The mind is like a child.

And the intelligence is like the mother or the parent. In the West, when they say, you are going to lose one mother, she will panic. Everyone should take care.

Not only the mother, but everyone should take care. Nowadays, I was with my little friend. He is a friend and a devotee.

He is becoming a devotee. He is so happy. He says, we are pregnant.

Isn't your wife pregnant? No, we are pregnant. So, I said, this is strange usage. Men don't get pregnant.

So, he showed me a book which was about what a man should do when he is pregnant. A man cannot be pregnant. Even when his wife is pregnant, he is pregnant.

But anyway, the point is that at least, whether it is a mother or a father, the parent needs to be more mature than the child. Now, if the child has to do certain things which are distressing. Say, the child has to take some analgesic.

Now, convincing the child that the injection is good is quite difficult. Convincing the parent that the injection is good is relatively easier. Isn't it? Unless the parents are also children.

So, it is easy to become a parent biologically. But in terms of psychology, in terms of responsibility, it is not that easy. But it is easier to convince the parent than the child.

Similarly, it is easier to strengthen the intelligence than to weaken the mind. The mind will also become weakened, but that I won't discuss much. Now, how do we strengthen the intelligence? It is by primarily studying.

It is when we study wisdom text, we learn from the experience of others. We don't have to go through each sector in this world to know that there is possibility. We can learn from the experience of the past.

Now, of course, Amrita is not just a book of the past. It is a book that was spoken in the past and it speaks timelessly. But it is intelligence.

Our intelligence is primarily nourished by strength. We want to exercise. Why should we exercise? If we eat something, we want to benefit from exercise.

That inspires us to exercise. If we want to meditate, why do we meditate? If we eat something, we want to meditate. Then we need to study.

That's one of the first steps. But study alone is not enough. After that, there is reflection.

Reflection means that the intelligence should not be like a badger. It should not just go to the doctor and say, Please come and give me this injection. Give me this medicine.

Yes. The child says yes. The parent says yes.

The parent forgets it afterwards. This is important. Reflection.

So that's why Shravan after this Manan. Shravan is hearing. Manan, it doesn't involve the Mana, it involves the Vimukha.

Because the one will not allow any Manan. The one will be so sensual, the one mind will be so wandering that Manan contemplation reflection will be very difficult. So it is reflection that is important.

You know, I heard that. That was a very good point. But am I convinced about it? And somebody else is speaking it.

They were speaking very positively. I was like, yeah, I can't find any arguments to refute this. So then there are two worldly pleasures and a distress.

One part of us secretly hopes it is wrong. Oh! There must be enjoyment in this world. Nobody is denying that.

But the problem is how much enjoyment and how much consequence after that. That is something to consider. So reflection that is important.

After that, there is realisation. Realisation is where the mind starts getting involved. Realisation means that we ourselves experience it.

Reflection means, okay, I hear it and that time it makes sense. Then I think about it myself afterwards and it still makes sense. And then I look back at my life or I go through something in my life and I see, yeah, really, this is true.

Then that is the time when it becomes difficult. At this point, what happens is the mind also comes on board. The mind also joins.

Realisation means that we experience something. Then the mind comes on board. The mind says, yeah, this is good.

So the process of converting the mind will take time. But what we can do is to study our wisdom by studying, by reflection, and by seeking realisation. Realisation is a whole big subject.

Realisation means what is a reality we accept it to be a reality. So, what is a reality that we accept it as a reality? So, for example, wealth does not bring happiness. So, in this India, most people like going to bed with a cigarette as a cigarette.

Wealth does not bring happiness. Yeah, for me it will bring happiness. Laughter So, that's the idea.

But suppose we meet some very super wealthy person and that person starts talking with us. He or she is a fleet of cars. And then that person starts talking.

Actually, my wife died of cancer. My daughter got married to someone and she left and she went against my will. Not even talking to me.

My son is at the wedding. And all my relatives are simply waiting for him to die. Where there is a will, there is a will.

Where there is a will, there are many willing relatives. Laughter Laughter A willing relative is just to show affection. You know, I don't even know who I am in person.

Who actually loves me? Who actually cares for me? So, this actually happened to me once in my early days of consciousness. So, it actually really struck me. This person is wealthy but he is not happy at all.

He has a huge mansion. But all that mansion is doing is providing a huge amount of space in which you can have happiness. So, that which is a realisation, that which is a reality, we experience it.

That's when we get realisation. Now, we all, some of us have an eating disorder. We all experience at times.

Sometimes I just don't feel like waking up in the morning. I wake up, take a bath, start doing some meditation, start chanting, and afterwards I feel so much better. My brain goes clean, I feel energised.

So, yeah, initially it was a poison but the nectar didn't come out. So, let me push on. Next day when I get the poison to come, let me push on the nectar.

So, coming back to what, going back to this diagram, there is initial poison and then there is eventual nectar. So, what study does is, it tells us this nectar exists. Without philosophical study, without studying wisdom text, you won't even know the difference.

Why are people doing this? Why would anyone do this? Study tells us the nectar exists. Then after that, reflection, or rather you could say that when study is, it informs the information level. It informs us that this exists.

Then when there is reflection, there is more of conviction that it exists. It exists. The dogma of theory exists.

And when you talk about realisation, there is experience that it exists. So, when we go to these three levels, at this level, third level of realisation, there is chitta, prajna. So, prajna begins with here.

At this level, we have prajna. The study begins with prajna. But when we get realisation, the prajna becomes chitta.

Chitta means study, well situated. So, this is how Krishna says we all can persist in the things that will bring us real happiness. And we will ultimately become situated in studying happiness.

Even then, external world will be having ups and downs because we will pursue the higher purpose. We will be moving beyond all the initial points into the nectar. We will be rejoicing in that nectar.

Living for a higher purpose or nectar of experiencing a higher reality. And thereby, becoming if not transcendental, at least more tolerant to life's ups and downs. So, I summarise what I spoke today.

What I spoke broadly. Three points. First point was that happiness is both a state of being and state of mind.

That state of being is at the physical level. Mind is at the mental level. So, externals can be good or bad.

But the mind can make a small bad very quick. And a small good also very quick. Small enjoyable thing you can make out of the system.

So that was the first part about happiness. The second part we discussed is about this nature of pleasure. And how there is nectar in the beginning and poison in the end.

There is poison in the beginning, nectar in the end. And how the mind looks at the initial things. The intelligence looks at the eventual things.

So, we often talk about the tug-of-war with the externals. I will give up this and I will take up this. But Krishna says, if you want to win the tug-of-war, it is not at the external level.

I will give up this object and lose it. But rather internal level. The tug-of-war in the intelligence of the mind will lead to will back by making the intelligence stronger.

And the last part was weakening the mind or changing the mind is far more difficult. Just like persuading a child that she is good is actually hard. If you consider intelligence versus the mind.

Strengthening this is easier. Weakening this is tougher. Convincing the child is not that easy.

So, what we do is convince the child. And how do we do that? We strengthen the intelligence by studying. That is shown.

Then there is reflection. And then there is realisation. That is completely absorbed.

So, by studying, we are informed that after this poison, the nectar is dead. By reflection, we convince ourselves that it is dead. And through realisation, we also experience that it is dead.

And once we start experiencing that, the mind also starts saying, yeah, yeah. I took the injection. It felt initially bad.

But now I am feeling so much. I can do so many things. Yeah, I can take the injection.

The mind will also be convinced. And that is the time when we learn about who are we, sub-psych, etc. And we need to be situated in studying higher purpose and higher thinking.

Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.

That is a very grave class on happiness. So, happiness can be a very serious business. Any questions? For anyone who has not asked questions till now? Hare Krishna.

So, in the middle of the session, you told that intelligence is reflective and the mind is impulsive. But when… So, my question is can mind also reflect? Can mind also reflect on the situation? Because in the beginning of the session, you also told that mind can exaggerate the problem. So that is when we think of the problem and reflect upon it.

Then the mind becomes more stressful. So, good question. So, the question is that, I said that intelligence is reflective but can the mind also not reflect? So, well, certain words have certain meanings.

So, let's say, if you say something to somebody you are slim and has a positive connotation. You are thin. You know, if you have a polished window or something.

So, thin has a slightly negative connotation. So, like that, reflection generally has a connotation which is positive. And reflection is more conscious.

It's conscious and it's intentional. Can you see? So, reflection is a positive connotation. It indicates when you are reflecting it's conscious, it's intentional.

We know we are doing it and we want to do it. But generally when the mind does something it's not so much a reflection as different emotions but it's more like a lamentation. It's more of it can be in the more common words whining.

Stop whining. It's like a very weak anger. So, here the mind is just like a auto-replay of the past.

Auto-replay of the past and not everything. Oh, this is so good, this is so good, that is so terrible, that is so terrible, that is so terrible, that is so terrible. So, it's almost something is going on on its own.

And something, some bad thing has happened to it in the past. they remember it. I was in Washington and this one devotee I met him over and he said we were friends.

He said we were close friends. Not close friends. I was a little annoyed.

Not close friends. I said, who are you? He said, we are close friends. He took $25 from me 25 years ago.

He's not a dimwit. And all your friendship 25 years ago was $25. Yeah, maybe it was bad that you didn't return.

Is there nothing else you can remember? It is the mind that makes all the mistakes, replaying them again and again. So, is there a reflection? No, it's subconscious. And it is generally unintentional.

That's why it's more like sometimes you call it self-talk which is going on in the mind. This is what the mind does is a reflection. Another word for it is mental chatter.

Some people just chatter boxes. They just can't stop. I was with one person and there were three of us together.

A third person was crossing by. I said, does anybody have a mute button? So, my first idea is that it's a chatter box. So, there's no mute button for the mind.

But the best way to silence the chatter box is to not listen to them. If you just do something else, we're talking on our phone, we're reading something, the chatter box will say, we're not listening to this object. This is the chatter box.

Because you want attention. But if you don't get it, you silence it. So, what the mind does is chatter.

It's not an object. When the mind doesn't allow us to reflect, what do we do? That's why we preach to others. It is not that we preach because we are practising.

Preaching itself forces us to practise. Prabhupada presented sharing of wisdom as a part of our sadhana. It's not that we have to sit there and then we share.

At least if I have to speak this point to someone else, then I have to reflect on it. How will I convince the other person about this point? What are the vital objections that they will have? What are the questions they will raise? How can I address these questions? So, if we hear a class, we like a point in the class, don't try to share something. And not just repeat the point.

Repeat the point and add something about what you like about it. Generally, one simple way to make wisdom our own our own means that wisdom becomes a part of us is put it in our own words. Put it in your own words.

Any point you hear? That doesn't mean we have to rephrase all Sanskrit shlokas. Sometimes, sometimes, in some classes, they have a point, share it, whatever it is. That's fine.

Put it in your own words. Okay, what did you like about that quote? What did you like about it? What did you like about it? So, put that in your own words. It's simple.

Articulation. Articulation means put it in our own words. Articulation is a simple way to do reflection.

Just put it in your own words. Okay. Any other questions? Yes, please.

How do the mind and intelligence perform before getting addicted and after getting addicted? After getting addicted on anything, what feels that is a poison and what makes us do it more and more times again? Okay. Addiction is a very specific thing. It's not addiction.

Generally, I'm addicted to my go on. But it's the gravity of the world. Addiction is a very serious thing.

You can say I'm attached. So, when we are attached to something, at that time, basically, certain people say there's a battle between the mind versus mind versus the intelligence. So, what happens is, if we keep choosing the mind, we keep doing what the mind is saying, then the mind tends to become bigger and the intelligence becomes smaller.

Eventually, after some time, the mind has become giant and the intelligence has become really, really tiny. And after that, the mind is here and the intelligence is there. There's no versus at all.

That means we don't have to resist for it. That means we start thinking that what the mind is saying is not only right, there's no need to oppose it. Let's do it in a way that we can get away with it.

The intelligence covers up the trap. The intelligence is used to rationalise. I saw once a cartoon.

A person was saying that a cop was pulled over a person who was driving very fast. The cop said, you are driving too fast. Because the person inside the car said, it was not fast enough.

That's why you caught me. So, if I had only gone fast enough, you would not have caught me. It would be okay.

But it's not okay. It's kill, kill, kill. The point is, when somebody helps you, the intelligence is something on a horse.

Intelligence becomes an accomplice. It becomes like a servant of the mind. That is a very dangerous state to be in.

Somehow or other, the intelligence has to be awakened. And then, intelligence is not only awakened, but also has to be stagnated. That's when it gradually soon goes.

It happens. It's a gradual process. I don't have the discourage of taking time.

I'll talk in future sessions about this more. Sometimes you will struggle and fail. Struggle and succeed.

Then eventually, basically, in the future sessions of this, I'll talk about this. There is failure without struggle. This is where the mind and the intelligence are on the same side.

Then there is failure with struggle. The mind is stronger than intelligence. Then there is success with struggle.

This is where the intelligence is stronger than the mind. Finally, there is success without struggle. What happens is, the intelligence and the mind are on the same side.

So, we all go through these stages. For all of us, depending on our past upbringing and things like that, there will be some things which we naturally overhear. Some of us, if we had come from good cultured families, someone tells us take the drugs.

There is no inner temptation of no, I'm not doing it. Same thing for me, something else. So, we are all at this level in some things.

Now, of course, this is not a reversible state in us. We keep associating with people around us. What was a complete no can also become maybe a yes.

It can become like that. But we all can go through this stage. So, it's an incremental process.

And never lose hope. Just keep struggling it and gradually it will become stronger. … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … There are some which we know they will have negative consequences.

There are some which we know will have positive consequences. So if we just begin with this, and if we start saying yes to the positive and no to the negative, gradually this area will also start gaining more clarity. So the idea is, don't worry about what is not clear.

Work on what is clear. I don't know that if I spend six hours watching TV, when I have an exam coming in a few days, that's only going to make me feel angry with myself, feel better, feel bad. So okay, I'm a little tempted, but I'm going to say no.

So we'll start with what we know. But if you say, I know what is bad, but I can't do anything, that's true. But it's not that everything that we know is bad, we can't do anything.

There are some things which we can reduce, something which we can do also with a little effort. So where there is clarity, begin with that. And what I mean by clarity is, I know if I do this, this will be good for me.

I know this is going to be bad. So focus on two things. Focus on not the source, but on the distinction.

Then focus on what is clear and not on what is unclear. But sometimes the intelligence can act very foolishly. People who are thinking to create very intelligent bombs, like can we say that their intelligence is acting properly? Like their intelligence is only driving them, not mind.

So when people act foolishly, is it their intelligence driving them or their mind? Well, it depends. In real life, the intelligence and mind are not so black and white. It's like somebody making bombs.

Well, why are they making the bombs? They're sending it to kill people. There are many possible, but then if you see in India, India, Pakistan, China, before 1980, we have had several wars. But after 1980s, all three countries have got nuclear weapons.

And nobody has attacked India unless, except for one or two occasions, some small incursions, but no major sustained war has taken place. Why? Because intelligence. Intelligence means that the other party has to destroy us.

So are those who are making bombs, are they bad? Are bombs bad? In principle, yes. They're creating something which can destroy so many people. Millions of people.

But in practise, real life is messy. If somebody else has a bomb, or somebody else may get the bomb earlier. There's strong rumours that Hitler was the one who invented this.

And that's why Einstein wrote a letter to Hitler, saying that you don't have to do this. That's how the magnetic weapon came. And then eventually, when the war was won, towards the end of the war, when bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, at that time, Einstein regretted his letter.

He said that, apparently, they were not as close as it was thought, because they had a lot of uranium, but the processing of uranium did not have a facility. So he said that it was my letter, instead of the process that led to the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He regretted that.

It was like the news was being guided only by the mind and not the feelings. And that's a little superficial. That's an unfair analysis.

So my understanding is that we have to look at situations a little more carefully. But there are times when some people's intelligence is completely controlled by their mind. And then, yes, is there intelligence speaking? Intelligence is speaking, but it's speaking not to oppose the mind, but to simply expand or implement the better way of the mind.

That is an intelligence. So it's a brilliant analysis. Is intelligence always good? No, certainly not.

Intelligence, it depends on what it is used for. In the Bhagavad Gita, in the 18th chapter, Krishna talks of muddhi-satramana, muddhi-vajramana, muddhi-tapamana. In the Upanishad, it is.

So intelligence and ignorance is what? It is sarvartha niparitamsya adharmam dharmavidyam nitya-tamsavrta. Sarvartha niparitamsya muddhi-sapartha-tamsi. That which is wrong, one continues to be right.

In the same way, everywhere one gets an opposite of real intelligence. Muddhi-sapartha-tamsi. It is intelligence more than ignorance.

You know, in the West especially, abortion is a very big issue now. And Prabhupada, who said that man and woman, they are unregulated in admitting, the woman ends up pregnant. And she has to be at the, she has to use the private care of the child.

Therefore, there has to be a definition made in India. But the Western reasoning is that actually, nature has been terribly unfair to women. Both men and women have sex.

So abortion is the technological cure for nature's unfairness. How is it unfair? Well, it's not unfair. It's a gift.

It's a privilege to be near a child, to carry on humanity. It's a privilege. It's a superpower that only women have.

But unfortunately, that is being seen as a burden. So in traditional societies, the woman is not even near a child. Then it's a sad situation.

She is a childless. In the West, it's not childless. Don't call me childless.

I am child-free. So, again, I'm not blaming women. It's just that the whole culture is telling me that, that's how this life can be.

It tells me that I have to achieve. I have to build a career. I have to have a big life.

And abortion is a big business. To the company, many of these big companies, business groups, fortune 500 companies, they often pay women to go abortion. Why? Because if a woman has a child, that means the company is going to lose four, five, six months of their pregnancy.

The company is going to lose. They say, if you want to have children also, you have to make egg banks. You take out your eggs right now, you store them, and then you are constituting a career at 45, 50, to peacefully have children.

If your body can't have children, you can fertilise your eggs like that. You can fertilise them with water, semen, and more. So here it's a little bit.

So here, what is happening? A whole lot of intelligence and rationalisation is used. It's all for a destructive purpose. It's all for the purpose of destroying what is privileged for women and what is a necessity for humanity.

Procreation. Any questions? Like, nowadays, like, whenever we are trying to get somebody's home, then they are able to see only the immediate patient, and they are not able to see the nectar, and some poison outside. And that is very difficult for convincing them.

And also, one more thing is that, they will say that, I'll take it only a little, as long as the nectar is there, I'll take it, and then what is the problem? And by restraining from it, I'm actually losing the nectar that I'm giving. So, how do we guide such a person? Yeah, good question. If somebody doesn't see the nectar, see the poison, means I can only take the nectar.

What do we do for them? That's why we need to focus more on Tugra Karma. We call it as minor Tugra Karma. We're using yellow.

So, we focus on on higher purpose, not so much on lower pleasure. That is the end of a difficult moment. You can see clearly, that the nectar makes it worth it.

Yesterday was a great party. See, what happens is, this nectar poison calculation, that is very subjective. For somebody else, why do you give it? Can we handle it? It's normal.

It's fun. It's worth it. So, generally, then focussing on the negative is not going to affect.

What we need to focus on is, that actually, persisting towards the higher purpose, that can make our life more meaningful. It can make our life more fulfilling. And a lot of people are doing that.

A lot of people, they want a sense of meaningful purpose to their life. And anything meaningful, anything purposeful, that requires sacrifice. That requires giving up what is immediately needed for us.

So, even if somebody does something, something not necessarily spiritual, but beneficial. I mean, if somebody wants to do some charity work, some volunteer work, they want to protect the environment, and they want to help feed some of their needs. Now, that person, if they want to do those things, that person could be comfortable sitting on the couch and watching TV or playing video games.

If they give it up, they can do something. They can do something. So, sacrifice is required.

So, we focus on, when we are sharing spirituality, we focus on how spirituality can bring higher meaning and purpose to us. That nectar, I'm going to speak this in later class. That nectar in the end, it is not just the spiritual world where there will be eternal happiness.

It's actually a more meaningful life here, in this world. So, when we mould our life according to certain principles, we try to follow those principles properly, then our life becomes more meaningful. You know, it's an ordinary question.

A student who just, suppose a student is studying medicine, and they scrape through and they just get some degree and they're treating patients, but most of the time they treat and they're not really able to help patients, but somehow, they, because of their degree, they keep making money. Now, that doctor is not the average fulfilment as someone who's actually learned the subject and is actually treating and healing. Somebody, some engineer who just does his scrapes through and then where the building just, it just crashes after some time.

And then when it crashes, they use their engineers at that time to come up with some creative excuse why it crashed. Well, better use engineers beforehand and then you build something wonderful, make a good functional device, make a nice product that helps people. It's at a material level, we may say that, but it's still a business fulfilment.

So, we need to focus more on the higher purpose, not on the lower measure and its consequences. That just doesn't work in today's world. Because the poison is evaluated.

It's evaluation is subjective. Poison is not subjective, but how toxic the poison is, that is a subjective evaluation. Also, in continuation to the same, like somebody has said that I do it not regularly, I do it very infrequently.

So, what is the problem with it? I do it infrequently, what is the problem with it? Yes, that's the Christian statement. Drink, but don't get drunk. No, we will be surprised how much drinking is a part of not a special culture, but Christian culture.

There is a Christian thinker who said that the taste of wine is the proof that God loves us. If God didn't exist, if he knows, how would something so delicious exist? So, yeah, in several cultures, certain things may be very common. And can people drink without becoming drunk? Well, yes, it's possible.

But the problem is that initially, if somebody can drink, it's because they're a social drinker. Some kind of voice that can make it stop, I think. So, for example, basically, you call a social drinker.

And I drink just to hang out with my friends. When we have a party, I don't get drunk. Yes, it is possible, but as one keeps drinking, there are also creating impressions in the mind that will become one's go-to mechanism, the coping mechanism when one feels down.

And eventually, one will feel stressed, one will feel lonely, one will feel misunderstood or whatever. And then they'll get drunk. Definitely, they'll get drunk.

So, it's a matter of recognising that there is risk over. Now, does risk always mean that there's no disaster? No. But is there risk necessary to take? Well, no.

So, I think in this kind of argument, there's no willing, if you don't want to get personal, not open-minded. So, best not focus on that. Because if we just come up as being fanatic, if we try to argue that everybody who drinks occasionally will eventually end up a compulsive drinker, it doesn't happen like that.

But can it happen? It can definitely happen. And it's a significantly higher probability than somebody who is not drinking at all. But that is not an argument you should focus on.

A lot of expertise or intelligence when we are trying to share special wisdom is to know which battles to fight and which battles to avoid. So, choose your battles. Say somebody is too lazy to drink occasionally.

Then, maybe they are not affecting you in the most right now. And we try to tell you it affects you a lot. It's like a doctor prescribing an expensive medicine for a disease that the patient thinks I don't have.

You know, I don't even have this disease. I don't have to pay this much for this. Forget it.

So, that is basically we could say there is actual need. And then there is the felt need. Felt need.

What they feel is their need. So, if you focus only on their actual need and you are not interested in any of their felt needs, then you have no connection. So, we need to find out where they intersect.

This is the actual need, this is the felt need. So, this is the this can be the area of focus. And this might sometimes make you allow him what he is doing and make him realise or something like that.

You don't allow me what I am doing. Like the same kind of work is done by them. Yeah, I mean who are we to allow anybody? Everybody has their free will.

Of course, we have parents, we have we are responsible for them. Yeah, what we do is that there is always a trade-off between getting the other person to do the right thing and maintaining the relationship with the other person. Sometimes you just maintain the relationship, even if they are doing the wrong thing.

And they themselves eventually realise the consequences of the wrong thing. And if you maintain the relationship, then they will be more receptive to our help. But, somebody says, this is quite often parents say, if you are doing the terrible thing, making a big mistake, and one day you realise it, you will come crawling back.

Now, the child may realise the mistake, but because the parent made an ego issue, the child will never come back. So, maintaining the relationship is something more important. That's what Srila Prabhupada did.

Srila Prabhupada is a guy who makes mistakes, has some moral lapses. He focused more on maintaining the relationship rather than simply mandating or chastising them for doing the wrong thing. Okay, the last question is Tom.

This is a small question. When Prahlada Maharaj says that when we want to get happiness, stop looking for it. As much as distress comes up, it won't go.

So, is he talking about the bodily level of happiness and distress? When Prahlada Maharaj is talking about that, to come and get from the body, some of you are a bit of a Kalukamal. So, it's just as happiness and distress comes up, it won't go. And happiness will also come up, it won't go.

By strife. See, what he is saying over there is the key words of Anuradha is Devah Yogena. Devah Yogena means by connection with the body, with every body, a certain kind of happiness is birds.

So say birds or animals can eat certain kinds of foods. We can't eat those kinds of foods. So among the kinds of food that we eat, some are tasty, some are not tasty.

So there is a certain limit, there is a certain boundary, certain scope and certain sources of balance which are associated with this world and we can't change that. That is fixed. But within that scope, so for example, we generally can't eat wood.

We can't eat stones. But among the foods that we eat, can we cook them well and make them tasty or can we just cook them well and make them not tasty or tasteless? We can. So what he's talking about is that there are certain boundaries to our happiness.

But within the boundaries, we can go up or we can go down. So it is, if everything were distant, then why would we have, say Ayurveda, this whole branch of knowledge. Ayurveda is what? It is essentially meant to improve our health.

It is not just to improve our health. Ayurveda, what it means is the knowledge for our life span. If our life span is fixed, it is just time, how can our life span be increased? And what it means is that no one's treatment can be completely absolutised.

There are certain kinds of happiness which we are never going to get no matter how much we endeavour. But does it mean, let me say, if I am sick and I don't take medicine, will that mean my distress won't increase? And it will. Because the situations I face are not just a result of my past health.

They are a complex combination of my past and present health. Suppose somebody eats a dozen ice creams on a cold night and they enjoy that. The next morning they wake up and say, this cold is terrible.

Now, was that because of their past karma? Yeah, past life's karma. It's not past life's karma, it's in it. So, certainly, the whole functions of Yogoda, non-functionality of Tamogoda, why is it important? Because Krishna says, I just want you to follow me, don't come.

In the act of Yogoda, it leads to distress. In the act of Tamogoda, it leads to even greater distress. So, yes, it's like, another example, let's take a second one.

This is a whole big subject and what I answer may also raise many more questions. But it's basically like, the day that you appear is a very key word. It's like, each one of us has been given a car.

What is a car? So, each car will drive at its own speed, at its own comfort level. At its own comfort level, at its own pace. That we can't change.

The kind of body we have, certain limits are there. But somebody can drive a car recklessly and maybe the car could have lasted for 10 years and last for 10 days and it has to be destroyed. Somebody can drive a car and do no maintenance of the car.

The car consumes more fuel in one year than what is required to buy a new car. So, how we act with what we have has consequences. So, our present actions that we do with our body, can they decrease our happiness? Well, not in the sense that a sedan is never going to go like a sports car.

A car is never going to go at the speed of an FD. So, there is a certain limit imposed by the world around us. But, within those limits, when it says happiness will come automatically as stress comes, what it means is a certain amount of pleasure.

So, if a car doesn't go very fast, yeah, that limitation is there, that annoyance is there. But, if a car is not going fast and we are going to a natural direction, we can't do anything about it. Nothing in the world is a complete curse or a complete blessing.

So, in that sense, it's fixed. But, what we do in this life doesn't matter. It's not just about the future life consequences.

In this life, there are consequences also. What he is saying in that verse, another thing is, this is an important point, that don't over-endeavour what happens. Don't endeavour.

So much is going to happen when you forget your dharma. You forget what is really important in life. So, the focus is on doing your dharma.

And, sometimes, while doing our dharma, some people get more pleasure, some people get less pleasure. Don't worry about it. If we do our service, 100 people recognise our service.

Somebody else does some service and 100 people recognise their service. They say, why this difference? Should I just give up my service and start doing their service? No, this is what my service is. This is what my nature is.

For some of us, that's a greater happiness in terms of the material deprivation, the material remuneration. Those things will be fixed. You are not going to change your entire life.

But, don't give up your dharma. That is the key point. Let's talk more about this.

This is a whole subject. We will discuss more of it in the future. Thank you very much.