Gita 12.08 Living in Krishna is a matter of not just relocation but also of realization

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thank you Bhagavad Gita 12.7 8 rather 9 10 11 12 13 15 20 23 27 28 29 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 46 49 51 52 53 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 71 72 73 77 78 79 80 that Krishna is present with us even now and he's in our hearts and we are in him because ultimately at one level the whole material existence is he only he is everything even when we are in the material world we are in Krishna Krishna says Matskhani Sarvabhutani 9.4 all living beings are situated in me 6.29 and 30 Krishna says that Sarvabhutastham Atmanam Sarvabhutani Chaatmani Ikshate Yoga Yuktatma Sarvatra Samadarshanah Sarvabhutastham Atmanam that Sarvabhutani Chaatmani that absolute truth is situated in the hearts of all living beings and all living beings are situated in him. Sarvabhutanchatmani is situated like that.

Ikshati yoga yuktatma. Those who are engaged in yoga, they are yogically situated. Ikshati, they see like this.

Sarvatra samdarshana. They see everywhere equally in this way. So, living with Krishna is also a matter of realization.

That means, living in Krishna, living with Krishna. We are already living with Krishna. Actually, Krishna as the Paramatma is there with us.

So, in that sense, we are living with him. And everything that exists is Krishna in one manifestation or another. It is Krishna's material energy.

In that sense, we are living in Krishna even now. And if our mind and intelligence are absorbed in him, then we realize this. If our mind and intelligence are absorbed in something other than him, then we don't realize it.

So, just as a child may be at home comfortably with one's parent, one's mother nearby, but the child is watching the TV and is caught in watching the TV. The child is consumed in, say, by a horror movie. As the horror movie shows horrific scenes of suffering and danger and disaster, the child is getting increasingly horrified.

Now, as long as the child's mind and intelligence, consciousness that is in the TV, till that time, the child cannot see that he or she is safe, that their mother is right next to them and they are happy. Let us say, there is nothing for them to worry or fear. So, here, when we absorb our mind and intelligence in Krishna, then we become purified.

When we absorb our mind and intelligence through the practice of sadhana bhakti, then that is like the child slowly turning away from the TV and actually looking at the real world around them. Like that, as our spiritual vision awakens, then we start realizing that Krishna is with us. So, Krishna Prabhupada writes in the introduction of the Krishna book, in the Bhagavad Gita, that actually the mind and intelligence, if they are absorbed in Krishna, that is the art of Krishna consciousness.

So, that is the essence of the Bhagavad Gita. And that absorption in Krishna is what we all can strive and achieve by the consistent practice of sadhana bhakti. Initially, our mind and intelligence may not be absorbed in Krishna.

But if we just keep practicing, if we just keep striving, if we just keep endeavoring, when the mind wanders, bring it back to Krishna. When the mind goes here, when the mind goes there, bring it back to Krishna. Wherever and whenever the mind wanders, we bring it back to Krishna.

That will enable us to come close to Krishna and to attain Krishna. So, the mind will wander here and there, but we don't have to necessarily wander with it. We can actually stay focused on Krishna, we can move closer to Krishna, we can attain Krishna thus.

For us, as spiritual seekers, what we need the foremost is a sense of devotion in our relationship with Krishna. To the extent we have that sense of devotion, to the extent gradually the connection with Krishna will be established. And to the extent the prediction of Krishna is established, to the extent we can progress in our bhakti, progress towards absorption in Krishna.

So, sometimes when we feel, oh, I'm far away from the spiritual world and I'm lost here, far away from Him. Yes, the feeling of separation, if it inspires within us a desire to come closer to Krishna and thereby a desire to commit ourselves more to the process of bhakti, then that sort of longing is good. But if that desire takes, that desire makes us feel that there is no hope for us, makes us feel hopeless, makes us feel de-energized, disheartened in our bhakti, then that is undesirable, that is counterproductive.

So, we strive to the best of our capacity to deal with our emotions in a way that those emotions take us towards Krishna and not away from Krishna. Our mind and intelligence, they are channeled by our emotionality and our rationality respectively. And both these core faculties of ours, we can channel them towards Krishna by the steady practice of bhakti.

So, this indeed is the essence of the practice of bhakti, that we channel whatever emotions we are experiencing at our present level towards Krishna. Bhakti yoga practice provides us a structured set of activities as well as an inclusive vision by which we can do this kind of channeling of our present emotions in a spirit of service to the Lord. And thus, by invoking the presence of Krishna through the consistent practice of sadhana bhakti, we will gradually come to the realization that we are not only living in Krishna as a possibility in future, but that living in Krishna is the reality in the present.

Thank you.