Gita wisdom for hard times 2 FACT Vancouver

There yesterday? Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Okay.

Zoom. How okay. How many of you okay. How many of you are not there yesterday? Two.

Okay. Thank you. How many of you are not there today? Okay. So, I will just do a quick recap of what I have been discussing yesterday then we will move forward from there.

So broadly, they’ve been discussing on the topic of Gita wisdom for hard times. How can the Gita’s wisdom help us face difficulties in life? And we discussing this using an acronym. Does anyone remember the acronym? FACT.

So F A C D F was what? Futility. Futility we discussed how that life is tough for everyone. We may powerful, we may popular, we may prosperous but life is tough for everyone. And no matter what we do whatever world view we have somebody may want to be atheistic.

I don’t have anything to do with God. I don’t care for God. I don’t believe in God. Atheism does not remove life’s problems. It only removes the whole, the possibility that life’s problems may have some purpose.

That there may be something higher happening in our life through the whatever is going on. So basically when we look at Gita wisdom, what is it trying to do? It tells us that our life is not just about what we are doing and what is done to us. There is a bigger picture. There is God above us and God has a plan for all of us.

So some in some way whatever we do is is a part of a higher plan and similarly whatever is done to us is also part of a higher plan and this vision that is there is more going on in life than what we can pursue. That is the basic teaching of the Gita. Now what is that more that is going on? That we discussed one aspect of this. What was a?

Analyze. Analyze what? Analyze how Karma is working in our life. We discussed how the principle of Karma means that action leads to some result, some reaction. However, it is not just the present action that leads to a reaction That could be present action plus plus past action that leads to the result.

So now how much the present action contributes and how much the past action contributes That can vary from situation to situation. Present Karma and past Karma. So sometimes you might be doing lot of good things. You might be hundred positive, but if the past Karma is 90 negative, then we might get only a result of 10. So because of this, there’s a bigger picture and we understand that if we are polite to someone right now, but we were rude to that person before.

Then our politeness may not be reciprocated immediately. And then we discuss this graphical analysis on quadrants of how our present actions can be positive. Present karma can be positive or it can be negative. And similarly, our past karma can be positive or it can be negative. Mhmm.

So, if you consider these four quadrants one, two, three, four that it’s best if our present karma is positive and our past is also positive. This is the best situation. Here will be super effective whatever we are doing we’ll get a lot of good results from it like the Midas touch or the Midas touch depending on which part of the world we are how it pronounced, but that whatever we do turns out into gold. Now, at least we don’t want to be in this either of these quadrants that we don’t want our present karma to be negative, because we are creating a darker future. So, we will try to now understand how to move forward and face life’s challenges.

First is okay, I would analyze and accept. Although life does not make sense, maybe there is some higher sense over here. I can’t. So now today, I I although I can’t make sense of it immediately. So one thing we discussed is that our vision of life is finite vision is not the final vision.

So finite vision is not equal to the final vision. So with this understanding, now let us move to the second part. So today I’ll talk about c and t. Those of you who have the book from yesterday, you can use that book. Otherwise, you’ll read from here.

So you can repeat after me. My dear lord. My dear lord. Let me remember. Let me remember.

Let me remember. That my life story. That my life story. Is a part of your story. Is a part of your story.

So let’s recite the words for those of you comfortable. Then Krishna and Arjuna standing tall on their chariots white seeds and all, blew their conscious loud and bright. A sound that shook the field with might. This Bhagavad Gita 1.14. So would you even like to read one of the paragraphs?

Yeah. Okay. Yes. Thank you. So the Gita is not just because of describing a historical truth.

It’s also describing a timeless truth. Our body is like a chariot and so we as souls are in this body chariot and right next to the soul is the supreme soul is Paramatma. So Atma and Paramatma together just as Krishna and Arjuna were together on the chariot. So the world is our Kurukshetra. We will not have to shoot arrows, but we all have to face challenges in life.

We have to fight battles in life and the understanding is that we are not alone over here. So let’s look at this. Now once we understand that okay the situation I am in right now is because of a combination of my present and past actions. So then how do I deal with it? What do I do about it?

So I said I’ll talk about three broad principles from the Gita. One was Karma, the other is Dharma and the fourth is Bhakti. So in ACT, a was associated karma analyze to understand how karma is working. Now c is commit to doing your Dharma and then t, I’ll talk about t is associated with bhakti tap the power of God through bhakti. So yes let’s look at commit.

Now the principle of karma has to be very carefully understood because sometimes some people think that okay whatever problems are coming in our life it’s because of our past karma. So therefore what should we do? Just suffer them. Well that’s an oversimplification. Why oversimplification?

Because success in life or life’s progress or success does not come simply by exhausting past karma. I’ll explain what I mean by exhausting past karma. Yes, we have a certain stockpile of past karma that we have to deal with. So it’s like if say we have spent a lot of money in the past, now we have debt. Now the debt has to be repaid, but the purpose of life is not simply to repay the debt.

Isn’t it? There’s so much more we don’t want to want to do in life. So the life success does not come simply by exhausting past Karma. It comes by executing present Dharma. What we are expected to do, it is when we do that, that is when we grow in life.

So the Vedic teachings in general are not so much karma centered as Dharma centered. So I’ll give you a few examples to illustrate this point. In the Ramayan when Rama is exiled to the forest, At that time, one person becomes very angry about this. Everybody shocked. Everybody is shattered, could see, but one person is enraged.

Can you guess who is that? Lakshman. Lakshman, and there’s a fascinating conversation between Lakshman and Ram at that point. Lakshman says, he’s so angry. He says, he’s so angry with Dashrath that he is not even ready to call on his father.

He said the king has become blinded by lust for his youngest queen, and that’s why he has lost his good sense. There is no need for you to obey such a king. So, at that time, Ram is very great, he says, oh Lakshman, I was there with my father and I saw his condition. It was not infatuation, it was obligation that he was obliged by his word, promise. So now when we are angry we want to direct our anger somewhere.

So then Lakshman directs his anger toward Kaikeyi, he says you have never harmed Kaikeyi anyway, you always respected her like a mother, how could she have done something like this to you? So Ram says that don’t be angry, don’t criticize you know her love for me was just like the flow of the Ganga pure and unceasing. Lakshman is still not yet done so he says that’s what I can’t understand. How did the Ganga dry up overnight? So at that time Lord Ram says that’s why when I heard these words coming from her, I understood that this is the will of destiny.

This is just not something normal the interaction between two people. When when what do we mean by destiny over here? That in general most people turn toward philosophy as a regular small talk when they meet each other on the train or a car or a bus or a plane. Is that right? Is this first thing we ask people so what is your philosophy?

We don’t ask such questions. Most people turn toward philosophy at times when life does not make sense. In fact, the simple definition of philosophy is or the purpose of philosophy is to make sense of things. To make sense of things when things don’t make sense. To make sense of things when things don’t make sense.

Normally if we are able to make sense of things, okay. I work and I get some results, and if I don’t get results okay this person is to blame, or this happened, or that happened. But when life just doesn’t make sense that’s when we turn to a philosophy. Now some people may have a philosophy itself that nothing makes sense. That is not really philosophy, but so one concept that is very commonly there in the in the Indian tradition, but it’s almost there everywhere.

The idea the idea of the evil, the evil or destiny is there. Now, in the Islamic tradition, there is the idea of Kismet, in the Egyptian tradition, the Japanese tradition, the Chinese tradition, there are equivalent concepts. Shakespeare also said that there is a tide of fortune. When we sail our boat at that particular time, we go a long distance, but otherwise we don’t go forward. So interestingly what Rama is saying is, when something bad has happened it just makes no sense.

That is destiny. Lakshman is still not done he said. He says, only cowards accept injustice as destiny. He says heroes fight against injustice. His rise against Dashrath, and I will be by your side.

The throne will be yours. At that time Lord Ram says that, oh Lakshman, it was as a duty to my father that I was going to ascend the throne. And now as a duty to my father for honoring his words, I will go to the forest. So he says my concern is not what is destiny. My concern is what is my duty?

What is my Dharma over here? So later on for example when Sita is abducted, Lord Ram doesn’t say oh you know it is probably destiny that Sita was abducted. If she is abducted later we abducted, I can’t do anything about it. No, the idea of destiny, now what is destiny? Destiny is basically like our baggage of past karma.

When we come into a lifetime, our life does not begin with birth. We have lived before, and when we come into this life, above us is a karma baggage from the past life. It is the karma baggage means, all the unprocessed karma from our previous lives is stored like a stockpile, and this karma baggage is essentially what is called as destiny. Sanskrit word is Daiva. Now, this past karma baggage is something which we all have.

Now some people have a carry on bag, some people have a check-in bag. So people have many check-in bags. We all have this karma baggage that we carry with us, and a major installment of the karma baggage comes right at our birth itself. A lot about us is determined at our birth. Now our ethnicity or nationality, our complexion, maybe our basic starting financial level based on the financial level of our family, maybe our IQ to a large extent, our it’s largely driven by birth.

We can improve it no doubt. Somebody can find one twenty can go to one thirty, one 30 five. But a person one twenty is not going to likely go to one sixty or one seventy, no matter how much they try. But a certain level of things are fixed. And like that, this past karma baggage keeps coming in our life intermittently.

Now sometimes it may give us something positive, sometimes it may give us something negative. But the karma baggage keeps coming in our life. So it keeps unloading at different times. So that’s how the past karma and present karma combined to give us the results. So the point I’m making is that the purpose of life is not simply exhausting past karma.

And okay, whatever may have happened was Sita’s abduction because of past karma? Maybe. But the was Rams exile because of past karma? Maybe. The point is not what am I supposed to do is determined by whether it is past karma or not.

The consideration of past karma is to help us to come to peace with what is happening. We analyze to accept. Like yesterday I discussed that life may feel unfair, and in the big picture what happens is, life is fairly unfair. Fairly unfair. What this means is that sometimes what we get is worse than what we deserve or what we have worked for, and sometimes what we get is better than what we deserve.

That’s because the past karma baggage is also unloading at that particular time. So but when we decide to accept something that is happening which seems unfair, we can say okay, this may be my past karma, let me let me come to peace with what is happening, but how to respond to what is happening? That’s a completely different ballgame. That is to be decided based on what is my Dharma right now? What is the right thing for me to do?

And this can have different approaches. So we commit to doing our Dharma. So I’ll explain this in two with two three different examples of what committing to Dharma means. So Dharma basically means doing the right thing. Let me always ask the question what is the right thing to do?

So to understand that I’ll have to become a little more conceptual, but I’ll take world conceptually then I’ll become a little more practical. The word Dharma has many different meanings. Now one of the most inclusive meaning is harmonious belonging. That each one of us when we say it’s duty. The word duty doesn’t really convey the full import of the Dharma.

What it means is harmonious belonging is say each one of us is a part of a larger whole. So when we belong to a larger whole that larger whole uses something and we have to give something to the larger one. So for example, now, right now, you have come for this talk. So then, if you are going to come for this talk, there is a dharma of how to belong to this talk properly. That would be if your phone is there, keep your phone in silent mode.

If you need to talk with someone urgently, don’t talk talk right now over here. If you’re going to sit for this talk, it’s not that you turn your back to the speaker and sit. You know that each one there’s a harmonious way to belong. Now that is from your side, but if I am representing the larger whole over here, then for me if you are giving your attention, then I also need to give something meaningful, something valuable. If you come for a spiritual talk, and I go on a political rant against a particular party or a particular community, then you may say I don’t want to be here.

I didn’t come here for this. So Dharma is both individual and collective. So the individual Dharma is whatever larger unit we are a part of we need to belong to that larger unit properly. So that is what Arjuna asked Krishna about. That I need to, I want to know what is the right thing to do.

Now, there is another meaning of Dharma which comes in say 4.8. Well Krishna tells Arjuna, That, I come here to establish Dharma, and that is referring to social order. The larger whole, has to sometimes be fixed. Sometimes the individual has to fix themselves so that things work out properly. Sometimes the larger whole has to be fixed, and both involve Dharma.

So it’s not just, so harmonious belonging means, the individual should do their part in the larger whole, and the larger whole should also be doing their part for the individual. So if we go on, if we drive on the road, then going on the road means we should be following the rules of traffic. That is we do our Dharma. We pay taxes, whatever taxes are required for using the road transport system. But then the larger whole that will be the government or the authorities, they should be keeping the roads proper, and they should not be pulling over people or fining people, based on discrimination of some kind, or people of a particular ethnicity they are pulled over more.

People of a particular group even if they do something wrong they are not pushed, they are not pulled over. So Dharma has both these aspects that there is the individual and the collective. Now, now in in politics there is the right and there is the left. These words are very common, but sometimes they’re not so easy to understand what they mean. So the right a simple way to understand this is that, the right is concerned with what is right in the existing system.

So the right is often focused on individual responsibility. That the system is right, it is working right, you need to work harder. You need to raise yourself up here by your bootstraps. You need to fix yourself. So in general, many religious organizations, religious traditions tend to be on the right.

Because this is something which has worked in the past, this is ancient, this is time honored, and it is you who need to fit into this. So the right is concerned about the individual contributing to the whole. So the right is concerned about what is right with the existing system. The left is concerned with those who are left out by the existing system. Every system will leave out some people.

So the left says, the system needs to change. So left is all about social change, social justice. Now who is right? Does the individual need to change or the system need to change? It depends.

It depends, isn’t it? That sometimes the individual needs to change to fit into the system. Sometimes the system is unfair, and the system needs to be changed. So Dharma can be both ways. It is not only one thing.

So what is the when we are facing a difficult situation, this this might seem to be tangent, but I’ll bring it back to what we are trying to say. The what we are trying to discuss over here. That, Dharma is not a very simple concept that, okay, you know, these are your elders, respect them. This is your this is the way society does function, this is the way you are to function always. That’s not necessarily Dharma.

Dharma involves harmonious belonging. Harmonious belonging means, that the individual and the whole, both need to reciprocate. Individual contributes to the whole, the whole contributes to the individual. So now, what does this mean? Let me give you some examples to illustrate this point.

Yesterday, I told about how I got polio because I was given a faulty vaccine. So I have a uncle in America, he’s one of the early persons, as this was nineteen seventies, ‘1 of the early people who came to America from India and he he had already imbibed the American spirit. So he told, he told my father, the first thing is that you should sue the doctor. The doctor who give the vaccine. Now, my father is one of the most peaceful persons I know.

His favorite was from the Bhagavad Gita is Sitapragya. This stay peaceful. He said the Indian legal system is such that even if we sue probably the court case will come for hearing by the time we have grown old. And he said already the polio has happened what can we do about it? He said let me focus on taking care of my son.

And they work very hard to try to help me recover, to do some exercises, so I am functional to some extent at least, but that is what he decided. So okay, this is the system, it fit into the system. But, I have a friend in Florida and, even he was, his wife was expecting a child. Some complication happened, so she was taken to the NICU. And then there was some medical negligence because of which when the baby was born, the baby had cerebral palsy and several other issues.

So he is my, he is my god brother. We have the same spiritual master. So he wrote Radhanath Maharaj, my spiritual master and asked him, Maharaj what has happened? Should I accept it as my past karma? Or should I sue the doctors, sue the hospital for what has happened?

So Maharaj told him that, yes, what has happened, you have to accept that. At the same time, you also need to accept the responsibility of taking care of your daughter now. And if you can get some support for taking care of your daughter, you should seek that support. So he sued the hospital and because it was a clear case of medical, not malpractice, but negligence, the hospital itself settled outside court and he has got a a fairly good financial arrangement for the care of his daughter lifelong. Now, of course, that does not undo the fact that she is she will have a very limited, ability to function in this life.

But the point is that in America, the legal system is slightly different. So where we can if the larger whole has done something wrong to us, it’s not just fair to tolerate it. We can fix it. America is probably among the most litigious countries in the world. I was in LA and I saw a big holding with only three words in it.

Who hurt you? Only three letters over there. So now that means that Dharma is it, the Dharma means okay whatever matter happened accept it. Dharma means whatever matter happened fight against it. Well it depends.

It depends on what the larger whole is and how we belong to the whole. So Dharma is that way, Dharma se tatvam nhitam govayam. It’s complex and it depends on many factors. But the important thing is that whatever larger unit we decide to belong to, we need to belong harmonious. So if say many of you are Indians over here, you may have felt that okay in India there’s not that much possibility for financial growth or other kinds of prospects are not, so career prospects are not that good.

So, you decided to come abroad. You came to Canada over here. So, you are a part of a one whole, now you come to another whole and whichever larger whole we are a part of we need to belong harmoniously to that. We do our part there in a larger whole does something for us. So Dharma is in that sense reciprocity.

So, the key point in this is that when the right says it is individual responsibility. So this this broadly aligns with two schools of thought in the Vedic tradition. What Lakshman and Ram were discussing. So, there are two schools of thought that one is Daiva vad, and the other is Karma vad. So, Daiva vad holds that you know we all have our destiny and everything is this time.

People sometimes say that everything is written in the finger in your palms. Well, that’s not completely true. We have a destiny no doubt, and that past Karma baggage is fixed. However, what happens in our life is not determined only by our past karma. It is also determined by our present karma.

So now the other extreme is Karma wad. Karma wad is everything is determined by our actions. By actions means our present actions. So you work hard and you will succeed. So now to a large extent in the Western world has more or less aligned with the idea of Karma Vad.

You work and you will succeed. And to a large extent the Eastern world was aligned with the idea of the Imbavad. Okay. What is the strand will happen? Now both of them are partly right.

See what happens is with Karma Wadh we can make a lot of physical change and physical progress. Right. Nothing is the stand you work hard you will succeed. That’s how we developed technology. We had made so many astonishing advancements, but the problem is if you adhere to Karma bath too much, then if somebody works hard and does not succeed, then it is your problem.

You are wrong. No, I did everything right, but still not succeeding. Then what happens is when we don’t get success, then we start beating ourselves up mentally quite a bit, But there is physical progress, but quite often there is mental regress. Regress means there is agitation. Because why if everything or success is determined by my own work, and if I’m working, I’m not getting success, then what does it mean?

So there’s something wrong with the world or something wrong with me, and both of them are very difficult to live with. So we see this paradox that although there’s a lot of progress in the world now at a physical level stress, anxiety, depression all these are increasing. But because when something doesn’t work we overreact. We think, oh, life is ruined. I am ruined.

Things are jinxed. Just come to the other extreme. That’s how people get into depression. Yesterday, I talked about remember, situations are reversible. Situations lead to emotions.

Emotions also reversal, but sometimes we may take decisions and the decisions can be irreversible. So we don’t want that. So for example, everybody will face loss in their life. Now loss, we may lose a job. We may lose a limb in an accident, we may lose a loud one, we may lose a relationship.

It’s painful, but we can process a loss in many different ways. I have lost. This is the most objective in the Gita’s philosophy Gita’s analysis will be satua. I am lost. This is much more disorienting.

Somebody invests their whole life in a particular career, a particular job, then just lose that, not just that particular job, but lose that career itself. What am I going to do? So this is much more damaging. This is Rajas. But what what am I talking about here?

How do we interpret loss? How do we emotionally process loss? Now the most damaging is, I am a loser. Now this is Tamas. Now when somebody starts interpreting things like this, now I am a loser.

That can be devastating. If we were in a relationship with someone who we thought was a loser, then we would want to break, break up and that relationship as quickly as possible. But if we think we are a loser, then can we break up with ourselves? We can’t, or can we? In many ways, suicide is a tragic attempt to break up with oneself.

And I often speak in, colleges and universities. So it’s tragic sometimes students because of too much pressure in their lives. Now while this whole phenomena is very this whole it’s a tragic thing, but broadly what I’ve seen in India, it is more because of academic pressure. That in that students may end their life. And as parents, we want our children to do well.

But at the same time, we have to make sure that we don’t let our children’s self worth become equated with only their marks. Because if they don’t do well, it’s it’s a problem, but it is not the end of the world. So we have to see how they are processing loss. So I am a loser in a very toxic way of processing. In the West, I have not seen Western student ending their lives because of academic pressure so much.

I think job and career are don’t seem to be that important. When I came to America, I’ve been coming here for ten years. It is I noticed that in India, if Indians lose a job, it has a huge problem. I don’t even want to tell my family I lost my job. But many many westerners, it’s like, they don’t even say I’m jobless.

I’m between jobs. Like, you know, okay, I’m here, I’m here, I’m between jobs. So it’s that, it’s important. And now there is a reason for it. Historically, India has had much more population, much more financial struggles.

In the West, there is generally some kind of social security or social agreement people are taken care of. It’s curious in America that the unemployed people are the most obese. Now, I don’t know how it is in Canada. There are many reasons, but one of them is that the food that they get is not a very healthy food. Through soup kitchens they get food and that’s quite fatty.

But anyway the point is that people can so in the West, if young people end their lives, it’s not so much because of academic pressure, it’s often because of romantic loss. They identify their self worth the relationship and if they are rejected if they are they say ghosted or something, I am a loser. So this is something sometimes what happens to us is not about us. We could say it’s our own past karma, but that’s a different thing. There’s nothing that we could have done right now to fix the situation.

So this is the extreme that Dharma if it goes towards extreme, oh everything is written by your present actions only. Sometimes, no. The system is such that you can’t do anything about it, and things just don’t work despite our best efforts. I need to accept that. On the other hand, Daibwaa, what it leads to is, it leads to physical regress or stagnation.

So India for many centuries did not really progress. There has never been in the history of the world anything like the British and British rule of India. What do I mean by that? So few people ruling so many people for so long. India had become used to being ruled by foreigners because of the prolonged Islamic rule, and when the British came, the British had even at the height of the British Empire there are only very few thousand British’s were there in India.

And these were millions. So what it is to a large is the Daigwad. Okay. This is what meant to happen. It happened.

But what happens with Daigwad is there is certain level of mental peace. Because we are not filled with resentment. Why did this happen to why this happen to me? Okay. It’s destiny it’s happened.

Now the ideal situation is that we understand it’s both. So what has happened to me? That is because of Daiva, that is because of destiny. So we accept that Daiva is also there, but karma is also there. So accepting Daiva will give us a certain level of peace.

What has happened it was because of destiny I accept it, but accepting karma will help us progress. It is not just because something has happened that I had to leave it. I have to let it stay like that all the time. No. We have a responsibility to do our Dharma.

So what does doing our Dharma mean? It means that we use our God given intelligence to decide how best we can face this situation. So I’ll make two more points about Dharma before we move ahead. That quite often the idea of tolerance is there in philosophical circles. Now tolerate, yeah, it’s in effect of your past karma tolerated.

Now tolerance is no doubt important. If you consider 2.14, Krishna says tolerate. But it’s important what to tolerate. It’s Krishna sorry. It’s Krishna telling Arjuna, oh, tolerate the Kauravas atrocities.

You know, they they dishonored your wife, they stole your kingdom. Just it’s all your past karma. Tolerate it. Is that what Krishna is telling Arjuna? No.

It is what he is telling is tolerate the pain of fighting Bhishma and Drona. I know you don’t want to do it, but this is what you need to do as of Kshatriya. So before we decide to tolerate we need to know what to tolerate. Because see just as we are imperfect whichever larger whole we are a part of can we say that we always do our part perfectly in the larger whole? No, we cannot.

And similarly whichever larger whole we are a part of that larger whole also has problems and that larger whole also, so we will all have to tolerate something. Like you say you came from India to America, now you Canada here now. Now, yes, maybe there is more financial prosperity, maybe there is more physical comfort, but then maybe then what the nowadays sociologist call us or cycle is called social capital. Maybe we don’t have an extended family with us. We don’t have a larger like minded community.

That’s why if you come to temples like this, then you get a sense of belonging to a larger community. Right? So maybe in India, we are tolerate the traffic, we are tolerate the logistical limitations, and here we may have tolerate a bit of loneliness, we might tolerate a little bit of social social distance that term came in, the pandemic, but even before that there is a certain level of social distance that is there. When I came to America for the first time, I realized that how are you, it’s not a question, it’s a greeting. It like people ask how are you, they don’t expect you to tell how are you.

Okay. How are you? So how are you? And then move on also. So it is people are polite, but it’s not that our relationships are very close and personal.

It’s not a criticism, it’s just observation. My point is whichever larger whole we belong to there is some things we’ll all have to tolerate. But the important thing is what to tolerate. So that’s where before Krishna talks about tolerance he gives intelligence. Intelligence in that context is what?

Arjuna you are the soul you are not the body he knows he talks about it. So, intelligence broadly means that we need to understand what are the big things in our life and what are the small things in our life. So this is intelligence And once we have intelligence then we have tolerance. So what is tolerance? Tolerance is to keep big things big.

Keep big things big. And keep small things small. So in one sense tolerance enables us to do our Dharma. So in Australia and I go, once a year I go there. So there’s one at one particular place is one young man who is quite analytical intellectual.

So after my talks, we have nice discussions that he gives me some, candid feedback of which points he found understandable, which he found not persuasive, whatever. So once he came for my talk, but he came a little late, so he’s sitting way behind. Then my talk at that time was on tolerance. So after my talk he came to meet me and says so what, how did you find the talk today? He said normally your talks are quite intellectually stimulating, but today I had an opportunity to practically apply your toggles.

Now I started thinking so my talk was on tolerance. I said do you mean you had to tolerate my talk? So he saw my expression and he said no, no actually what happened I came late I was sitting behind and when I was sitting behind there’s a person sitting next to me was constantly busy on the phone. The phone was sometimes beeping and the phone was sometimes ringing and this person was talking on the phone. Initially I got very annoyed and I wanted to speak something strongly to that person but I thought the class was on tolerance.

So let me tolerate, but because I tolerated I couldn’t hear any of the class. So I told him with all due respect, Normally anyone starts a sentence with all due respect what is going to follow is not going to be very respectful. So I told him with all due respect that is not tolerance that is importance. That is importance. Why?

That, because if you are coming for a talk, what is the big thing over there? You want to listen to the talk. Isn’t it? If you are not able to do the big thing, then that is that is we are not exercising, we are not able to do our Dharma. So what happens is, if you want to understand about tolerance, that tolerance is it can go off in two districts, two extremes.

One is when the big things become small. That means we are not able to do big things. This is importance. On the other hand, if small things become big, now that is intolerance. So for most of us, the problem would be say now right now you come here for a talk and maybe you are not habituated sitting on the floor and you might feel a little uncomfortable and you may think okay this talk probably will go on for half an hour, one hour more at the most twenty, thirty minutes more whatever.

So I can I can deal with it, I can sit on the floor for that visit? It’s a small thing. So if something is small, tolerance should be able to help us keep it small. But if suppose somebody feels so much discomfort in their back or their legs because sitting on the floor then find a chair, or request a chair, and there is a facility for chairs also. The point is, that if somebody just tolerates and their whole body is in pain and they’re sitting on the floor, And they say, I sat on the floor, but nothing went into my head, because all my consciousness was in my legs or my back.

Then that small thing has become a big thing. So tolerance is basically these two dimensions, that we keep the big things big, and we keep the small things small. And that’s why the concept of Dharma is important. The concept of Dharma is, what is the big thing for me, and what is the small thing for me? So if we are at a job, and maybe the work culture is not very good over there.

Maybe the boss is a little exploitative or abusive. See, I I would rather not be in this job, But then maybe we need the money from that job. So maybe that job is good for our career. So then we may decide that is the big thing for me. And because that is a big thing, this I’ll make it a small thing.

I’ll live with it. So now what happens is, if we do not do this mental mental prioritization of what is a big thing or a small thing, then we may keep complaining about the small thing in life. Oh, this is so bad. This is so bad. This is so bad.

Well complaining about that is so bad. Don’t do that. So there is, in life, there are small things, and there are big things. Let’s suppose somebody has decided, okay, I have experience of twenty third, twenty third, twenty years, and I don’t have to take this kind of work culture, but I’ll I’ll find some other job. That’s also fair enough.

It’s a moment that I don’t want to belong to this large whole because what it is giving me is not worth it. So in general we need to recognize that Dharma can take many different forms. Dharma means that we want to do the, we want the right way to belong, but sometimes what is that right way? For two different people it might be different. So, the in this context in mind that you know we all belong to some larger wholes.

So Dharma is commit to doing our Dharma. So we commit to doing our Dharma. Dharma can be done in three different ways. I like to use the acronym MET for that, m e t. What is it?

Sometimes we may decide to mitigate. This is wrong and I have to fix it. So we fight to fix the situation. Sometimes we may decide to immigrate. I don’t want to be here at all.

I don’t want to get involved in this and just leave this. Sometimes you may decide I’ll tolerate. Let’s look at the example of the Pandavas for example. Say initially when the Pandavas came from the they were born in the forest, from there they came to the kingdom. When they came to the kingdom, they now became a they were always a part of the family, but they’re not physically a part of the kingdom and the family.

And then, Duryodhan tried to kill Bhima. And then, at that time, when Bhima survived somehow miraculously by Krishna’s arrangement, he came back, he wanted to beat Duryodhan. How dare you do this to me? At that time the registrar told him, you know, we don’t have any clear evidence. It’ll just be your word against his word.

And we are new over here. We don’t know who will support us right now in the family. We don’t want to split our family. So it’s just, maybe he’s just insecure. Let’s be careful.

But let’s not do anything like this. Now Bhima did not want to do that. If you think of siblings, sometimes you know we have different difficulties in getting along with our siblings. You know you cannot think of a pair of siblings who are as different as Yudhishthir and Bhima. Now if you say Yudhishthir and Bhima, Yudhishthir was like a, both of them are Kshatriyas, but Yudhishthir was more like a Brahman Kshatriya.

You know, what does that mean? That he was more interested in philosophy, and then he bend backwards to try to avoid war. Now, Yudhishthira was like a Kshatriya Kshatriya. You can say it was a Kshatriya square. Itching for a fight.

Now, now who is right at that particular time? Was Yudhishthira right in that particular situation? Well time would prove that, that Duryodhan continued his own things. But then, then next time they did a bigger conspiracy. They had to burn all of them alive.

Then they decided that okay, this must be a bigger conspiracy. We will not evolve the part of it. So they decided to emigrate. They said to emigrate. Let’s leave it.

Now in fact they adopted the policy of emigrate repeatedly. Even after they married Draupadi and came back, Duryodhana pressured his father and they were given a wilderness, the half of the kingdom, but a wasteland like that. A forested part can’t have as their half, but they accepted that. Let’s not fight. So they immigrated.

Even when they were through a fraudulent gambling match they were exiled. They accepted. But after the thirteen years of exile, when Krishna came as the peace messenger, and they rejected Krishna’s peace proposal and they tried to arrest Krishna, then the Pandavas decided enough is enough. That is at the same place where Draupadi had been dishonored, the same place now Krishna was dishonored. This Duryodhana is never going to learn.

So this is where we have to fix the system itself. So now they fought the war and that was also Dharmayuntha. So if you consider in terms of our metaphor, so what happens is tolerate means that we are doing our part but the whole is not giving us good enough. We say, I want to tolerate. Mhmm.

Emigrate means that okay, I will just leave this and I will go to some other larger whole where what I give is properly rewarded for me. Let’s integrate. Now, mitigate is where while we are here, in one sense, we go over here so that what is returned over here is also proper. We fix the system. So now, which of this is the right thing?

That depends. So the focus should be on how can I do my part right now properly? And Dharma is. Dharma is not a simple thing, but the important point is that we need to accept that each of these will have its consequences. Thus, not tolerating is not suffocating.

To tolerate is not to suffocate. To emigrate is not to run away. And to mitigate is not to retaliate. When we what does it mean? Suffocate means, you know, sometimes, somebody tolerate something, but they’re constantly complaining, complaining, complaining, complaining, complaining, and they’re filled with bitterness.

Now, if if you’re going to be filled with so much bitterness, then don’t just do something about it. Tolerate means, you should feel that there is a greater gain over here, and that the big thing is good for me, and I need to focus on the big thing. And that’s what will help me to deal keep this thing small. So similarly, emigrate is not runaway. It’s not that we are in tariff in terror.

Oh, that we were that is so terrible. That is so terrible. No. I could deal with this, but I don’t want to get involved in this. I just want to go to some other place.

That’s immigrate. And mitigate is we want to fix the problem. It is not that we want to get even with someone. When the Pandavas fought a war, that was not so much for revenge, it was for justice. And that’s why the Pandavas, after Duryodhana and his brothers were killed, they did not, they did not retaliate against the Trastha, because Trashta was not a threat to them.

The system was more or less fixed. So in psychology, these terms are called as these are unhealthy responses, fight, flight, freeze. So these are not healthy. The idea is Dharma is that which enables us to grow in our life. So Dharma is in this situation, what is the best way ahead for me?

And especially if we learn to practice bhakti, we learn to pray to Krishna, then we’ll get greater clarity about what is the big thing for me, what is the small thing for me. Krishna says, And that brings me to the last part. What is the acronym we are discussing? Fact. So c was commit to doing our dharma, but then c was associated with dharma.

Now, t is associated with bhakti. So t is tap, God’s God’s power through bhakti. It’s not just that we are all alone trying to bear our karma. We are not all alone struggling to do our dharma. Actually, Krishna is with us.

We are not alone. So about bhakti, I’ll make two quick points and I’ll end end the session. So now what does bhakti mean? You say Bhakti may mean okay I come to the temple, I do some puja, I do some prata, I do some japa. It’s all these are important.

However, Bhakti has some very important meaning to it. That when we grow on the path of bhakti initially for us the world is very big and God is small. But as we grow on the path of bhakti the world becomes small and Krishna becomes big for us. So, the world becomes small and Krishna becomes big. So to the extent this is happening to that extent actually we are growing in.

Now, what does this mean? That the world becomes small? The world is always filled with ups and downs and like we discussed earlier sometimes if our mind is not stable the ups and downs become much bigger. This is, this is the situation and this is the emotion coming from the situation. So when the world is very big, we are subjected to the ups and downs very much.

But in the world itself becomes small, then it’s ups and downs also becomes small for us. So these are the two results of bhakti. What is it? When the world becomes small, we become externally or materially peaceful. Yeah.

This is bad, but it’s not the end of the world. This is important, but it’s not the most important thing. Say the relationship issues are there, some job issues there, some health issues there. Yeah. It’s it’s a concern.

I have to deal with it, but it’s not the end of the world. The material becomes smaller for us. And along with that what happens is, that our connect Krishna becomes bigger for us. We understand that Krishna through whatever is happening, there is a plan for me. So we become internally or spiritually purposeful.

What is the purpose? I want to connect with Krishna. I want to serve Krishna. So this is what happens as we grow spiritually. If you look at Srila Prabhupada’s life, Srila Prabhupada was given an instruction by his spiritual master that you travel and share Krishna Bhakti all over the world.

And that’s what Prabhupada tried to do. Now if you consider what Srila Prabhupada did, that was he wanted to share Krishna’s message. And he also did those three things, you know, and MET what I talked about. If you look at Srila Prabhupada’s life, that initially when he was trying to share Krishna bhakti in India from 1922 from 1922 to almost 1965. He was trying to share Krishna Bhakti in India, and it just didn’t work for various reasons then Prabhupada decided to immigrate.

He said that, okay. People in India are very infatuated by the West, so let me go to the West and let me try to share Krishna Bhakti in the West. Now when he came to America, he was staying at the house of Anasali Agarwal. Now, they had sponsored his visit, but they were not interested in becoming devotees. They had just done this as a courtesy to their father-in-law.

So Gopal Agarwal’s father and there’s a inter religious marriage or inter, cross cultural marriage. So Prabhupada saw that and when he was staying in their home at that time, he would keep this bhoga in this their fridge. At that time there’s a great protein myth in American history that unless you feed your children beef they’ll not get enough proteins. So, they had small children and they would give them liquefied beef. So Prabhupada had to keep his bhoga what he was cooking for Krishna in the same fridge in which the, meat beef was there.

Now, Sally Agarwal had some sensibility. She says, Swami, I’m sorry. We have only one fridge here. And Prabhupa’s reply was think nothing. Now, do you think if say twenty thirty years long down the line if ISKCON had been established, and Prabhupada came to know that there’s beef in the fridge, would Prabhupada think nothing about it?

He said, think nothing except this. How did this happen? Who allowed it to happen? Who did this? So thing is at that particular time, I’m not going to stay in this house forever.

I’m here as a guest, and I have a larger mission. So right now while I’m here, I’m tolerate it. Now later on, specifically, Prabhupada just emigrated from India. If you consider, he had tried to build a temple in Jharsi. The but he started a league of devotees.

When people didn’t support over there, he just left over there. But then, if you consider, so from Jhansi he immigrated. When he was in Butler, Pennsylvania, he tolerated. But later on when he was building a temple in Juhu, Mumbai, the the owner of that land was a double dealing person. He want to take the money and not give the land deed also, and Prabhupada wrote to one of his supporters.

If he wants to steal Krishna’s land, he will have to walk over my dead body, and Prabhupada fought, not just metaphorically, but even literally. There are thugs who attacked the devotees, and to fight, and finally, the temple was built. So even for the service of Krishna, Prabhupada had the bigger picture. So for Prabhupada, it was not that oh, you know everything that is happening is Krishna’s plan. Yes.

It’s Krishna’s plan, but Krishna’s plan means I should also be doing something, and what should I be doing? That is determined by our service attitude. So when we chant Hare Krishna, it’s not just a ritual that we have to meet a certain number of quota. The mood, please engage me in your service. What does that mean Krishna?

You are the ultimate large whole and how can I contribute to the large whole? How do I see how you are reciprocating with me? So for Prabhupada, he was he was internally or spiritually he was purposeful. He was always purposeful. Even when he was in 1965 he came to America, he had nothing to show for his forty years of attempts.

He did not have any money, he did not have any followers, he did not have institutional support. But generally if a person tries a lot and does not succeed the person often becomes bitter. Oh this person didn’t help me, this didn’t work out, that didn’t work out. But even if Prabhupada is unknown Swami working on the streets of New York, who had met him saw that he was so happy. He was happy speaking about Krishna, writing about Krishna, cooking for Krishna, singing about Krishna because for him always Krishna was the bigger reality.

And this is seen most dramatically in the large chapter of Srila Prabhupada’s life. As I said Prabhupada fought to build the Juhu Temple and does anyone know when the Juhu Temple was inaugurated? It was 1978, Jan ’14. That is Sankranti. Now when did Srila Prabhupada depart from the world?

1977. ’19 ’70 ‘7. November ’14. So just two lousy months. Now Prabhupada fought to build this temple and Prabhupada could have said to Krishna, Krishna please let me be here to see this temple.

But when one of his life one of his supporter asked him Swamiji do you have a last desires? Prabhupada replied, kuch ichani. I have no desires. How is that possible? Would you not have desire to see Krishna to to see the temple built for Krishna?

Of course, you are desired. But you know devotion means that we can and we should have desires, but the desires never become demands. And the desire certainly does not become an ultimatum. Krishna, if you don’t do this, I’ll stop worshiping you. That is not the mood of devotion.

So Prabhupada knew that this is not just his mission, this is Krishna’s mission. And Krishna had a particular role for him to play, and Krishna was calling his back Prabhupada accepted it. He had the confidence that Krishna would empower others to carry on the mission and that is what happened. So, by our practice of bhakti it is Krishna’s that it is not just that we do our dharma. Yeah.

We have to do our dharma, but slowly our worldview shifts. What we do in the world is important, but how we connect with Krishna is the most important. Because ultimately, no even if we do our dharma very well in this world, the world is temporary. Now we may be the best parents, we may be the best professionals, we may be the best citizens, still at the end we have to die. And what is going to be with us is our relationship with Krishna, or bhakti for Krishna.

So when we tap Krishna’s power through bhakti that means Krishna uses the higher sense of purpose. Krishna gives us that divine connection. Krishna uses inner happiness irrespective of life’s ups and downs. And finally, add when we depart from the world at the time of death of a devotee, a devotee does not leave home. And normally, when we die, we leave home.

But a devotee does not leave home a devotee goes home because for a devotee the home is where Krishna is So, in this way we all can make our life meaningful and successful through the dedication to Dharma and ultimately dedication to Krishna through bhakti. I’ll summarize what I discussed today. I discussed the last two parts of the acronym fact. It was, c was what? Commit.

C was commit. So commit, I spent a lot of time in commit to doing our Dharma. So now in this, I talked about four main points that we talked about how whenever action comes in our life, whatever is happening the two philosophies are, there could be Daivavad, where everything is determined by past karma and Karmaavad, where everything is determined by present karma. The actual reality is both. And both helps us.

If you understand both, we can have peace. And whatever is happening, I come to peace with it by understanding my past karma. But we also have a sense of progress and purpose, because we’re also doing our present karma. So we discuss stories from the Ramayana to illustrate this. Incidents from the Ramayana to illustrate this.

And then the idea of Daeva was what? That when we go through life, there is a baggage of karma that will come on us. That is Daiva, but our present actions also matter. So when we understand this, then I talk about what is the concept of Dharma. Dharma is that we belong to a larger whole.

And when we belong to the larger whole, we do something for that whole, and that whole does something for us. So it’s dharma is harmonious belonging. And when the belonging is not harmonious, then we need to decide how to move ahead in our life. So tolerance needs to be grounded in intelligence. The essence of tolerance is not we discuss how it is not we don’t let the big become small.

That would become importance. And we don’t let small become big. That would be intolerance. What we want is, we want to keep the big, big and the small, small as tolerance and that connection I discussed how do we practice Dharma. I discussed about these four things met.

That is sometimes we tolerate. That okay, even if the larger whole is giving me something less right now, But I am also getting something, so I will continue to contribute. So even if this feels a little less right now, that’s okay. I will deal with it because I am getting something else. Now, emigrate is where I decide this larger hole is not reciprocating with me.

So I will just go to some other larger hole, where I will be rewarded properly. And the mitigate is where we try to shift, so that we can fix the larger hole and what it contributes. So, all of these can be dharma and I discussed from the Pandavas lives how they did all of these in different times. And then lastly was tap through bhakti, what do you tap tap into tap into God’s plan, into God’s purpose, God’s power So, through Bhakti and in that I discussed that for us it by the practice of Bhakti is not just a set of rituals, and what happens is the world becomes smaller and God becomes greater. So, by our sadhana when this happens then we will become materially peaceful.

Materially peaceful is not materially passive. We will accept the ups and downs will come and they will go and we’ll become spiritually purposeful. That through the ups and downs, whatever I want to do, I will do whatever I’m meant to do, I’ll try to do for Krishna. And the other aspect of bhakti is that our desire for Krishna becomes greater than our desire for the world. Even our desire for serving Krishna in a particular way in the world.

So that was what we discussed with the example of Shruti Prabhupada that when he served diligently, but at the end he was ready to let go of even the Juhu project. So through salibhakti, death does not mean we leave home, but what happens? It means we go home. That is the this is how even through tough times, the Gita’s wisdom can help us to be a part of Krishna’s plan and achieve the ultimate perfection of life. Thank you very much.

Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Is there any one or there any one or two questions which anyone has? We don’t want to go too much over time. Yeah.

Yeah. It’s a tough thing. In general, our enthusiasm goes down with time. So there are two ways to deal with that. One is that make the enthusiasm very specific.

Now you could hear a lot of things, but try to take one or two points. So how to sustain the enthusiasm? Make it one is specific. That means this is one point I’ll apply in my life. And then revisit that regularly.

Then maybe once a maybe once a week or once in once a day or once in two, three days, whatever. We okay. How did I for example, if you found the point of tolerance and intelligence important. Keep small things small, not big things small. So think of how you could apply that.

Make it specific. And then what happens? Once we apply one thing and we say it benefits me, then we may decide, okay, now this has become a bit of a part of my system. I do it for one week, I do it for one month or something, then I can move to apply some other point. Thus, if we try to, it’s good.

If we can remember a lot of point that’s fine, But when it come to applying, we can’t apply everything at the same time. We try to we just get overwhelmed and we’ll end up applying nothing. So try to be make it specific. And the second part is that try to see what is relevant for us. Relevant means, you know, which is the area where I feel the need to change, where I will be benefited for changing.

So in general, when we talk about improvement, there are many areas in which we could improve. But improvement centers broadly on two factors that it is the on one side is the reward. The reward of change. How much is it? If that is high, that is good.

And the second is the cost of change. If that is low, that is also good. Now, sometime the cost of change feels very high. So okay, I’ll do this later. But is there we could say rather put let’s put another way over here.

Yeah. The okay. Let’s see. The cost of change only. So basically, we’ll have to see for each one of us which is the area where change will help me in a tangible way.

So say if we tend to tend to oversleep, then okay, then making a certain amount of regulation or if I don’t study Shastra so much, but then I also have to share scripture with others. Maybe I have to do some classes. Oh. And if I study scripture regularly, then what will happen is it’ll help me over here. So let me make a plan accordingly.

So try to see where ideally speaking both are there, where the cost is cost can be high, or the cost can be low, and the reward can be high or the reward can be low. So, in this case this is the best situation to be in. You know, this is where we are most likely to start a change and sustain a change. And then gradually from there as a confidence increases, as we see start the results, then we see we start seeing the results, then we can make changes in other areas also. Okay.

Thank you. Yes, bro. So do problems serve a purpose? It depends. I use this when we have pain or problems in our life, we can get a IAS degree in the problems.

Or the IAS, there are three kinds of problems. One is some problems are just inevitable. They are a part of life, and we just need to learn to live with them. So for example, if you come to a place like Canada it’s going to be cold, and if you go to some place in Central India it’s going to be hot, or you go to some, sir, there are some things you are just associated larger place. They are a part of life.

They are inevitable. So everybody has to grow old. Everybody has to get disease. Everybody has to die. So inevitable problems.

Now Krishna talks about these inevitable problems in thirteen point nine. But then there are certain problems that are avoidable. So many problems in our life are created by our own behavior. So for example, Krishna talks about this in 5.22. When we indulge in pleasures excessively, that causes pain to us.

And nobody has to if somebody start drinking alcohol and becomes addicted and has severe health problems, Those are not inevitable problems, those are self created problems. So, inevitable problems we need to we need to accept or we need to tolerate, we need to live with them. Now, avoidable problems we need to eliminate them. If not eliminate at least reduce them eventually to eliminate. But there are certain problems that are strengthening.

Strengthening means this Krishna talked about in 18.37 in the Gita. That he says, That which tastes like poison in the beginning will taste like nectar in the end. So if somebody wants to become healthier, develop a regular health, develop a regular health exercise routine or regular diet routine, that’s difficult. But if you go through it, we’ll come to a better place. Similarly, we want to learn to do our chant mantra chanting attentively.

Habit of studying Shastra, initially it’s difficult, but if you do it will come to a better place. So is it that all pain has a purpose? Well, you could say at one level yes, But some pain has a purpose that learn to live with it. Some pain has a purpose, don’t do it. And some pain has a purpose that through this pain you will grow and become better.

So this is something which you should actually commit to or cultivate. So now I’ve given these examples from a day to day to day to perspective irrespective of theism or atheism, but at a bigger per bigger level. At the end of our life, is there something more? Even during the course of our life, when we go through very dark phases in our life, is there something going on over there? Is there some higher purpose?

So we may not always know the exact purpose of every single pain. Although Krishna is with Arjuna, no Krishna does not tell Arjuna specifically, why does he have to fight against Bhishma and Drona? Now he does not tell, at all, Bhishma was so and so in the previous life and Drona was so and so in this life and you were so and so, and he did this, and you did this, and that’s why now two of you are fighting here. There’s no like a esoteric, karma flashback revelation. So in that sense, when we say there is a purpose, it is not so much important what is the purpose.

That there is a purpose. And sometimes we get a sense of that purpose as we move through our life. Now all of you maybe after you go back you could just spend a few minutes doing this exercise. Look back at something terrible that happened in your life. That time you felt it terrible, but then look ahead from that, did something good come out of it?

You can’t say everything terrible that happened good came out of it. But many things that seemed said that seemed terrible at that time, they brought some good out of it. So we all can see that there may be a pattern, there may be a plan, there may be a purpose which may not see at that time, but it will be revealed eventually. Okay? Thank you.

Okay. So, it is a very important question. I am going from here to Phoenix after this from here I am going to Calgary to Phoenix and there I am going to two part series on this whole topic. So, I cannot do that but I will just explain two principles mainly. See the idea is a common metaphor in the scripture is that of a river flowing toward the ocean.

So the river organ is high up in the mountain like a Ganga and in the river goes towards the ocean. So each one of us is like a river and the ocean is Krishna. Now of course the Advaitins hold that the river merges in the ocean. The Vaishnavas understand that the river keeps flowing toward the ocean. Like that our consciousness keeps flowing toward Krishna all the time.

But the key point here is that each river has to find its own path toward the ocean. So there is a there is a common universal purpose for all rivers but there is also a distinct individual path for each river And while the river is going towards the ocean, the river provides life sustaining water for hundreds, thousands, millions of life forms. Like that each one of us while we are going toward Krishna, which is the ultimate purpose of life, we have to carve our path. Your life is different from my life. Your life is different from his life or her life.

So we are each a river and that’s why there’s a very individual element in bhakti because it’s a personal relationship with Krishna and each of us has to find our path toward Krishna. Now how do we do that? That’s where our buddhi comes in. So how do we balance? Srila Prabhupada himself said that if I had met my spiritual master two years before, he met in 1922.

He said if I had met him one and a half two years before, I had not been married at that time. I had joined as a full time devotee over there. But he said now that I’m married, he said it would be unfair to my wife and my child if I leave them now. And Prabhupad focused on his brother, my build is business. He tried to build his business.

His hope was that he will contribute financially to his spiritual master’s mission. So we should not see all our dharmas as separate from bhakti. It is that is second point I will make with the challenges is that see each one of us has every part of many larger roles. We are part of a family, we are part of a community, we are part of a country. So now all such larger wholes, the ultimate whole which contains all other wholes is Krishna.

God is aham sarvasse prabhamo That he is the source of all holes, and he is the sustainer of all other holes. So now, ultimately when Krishna says Sarva Dharmana Prat Jama Meikam Sharla Nvaja. What he means is, you serve me and I’ll take care of you. But that does not mean we don’t care for all the other roles. So the idea is for a devotee, Dharma and Bhakti, they go together because we understand that dharma and bhakti how do they go together because each of the units that I am part of is also arranged by Krishna There’s a beautiful prayer.

Now what does this mean? Now it does not literally mean the mother is God or the father is God. If it meant literally that then if the mother and father argue about something, which God is the child supposed to follow. Isn’t it? It’s not that literally their God, but that when the mother takes care of the child, the mother is embodying God’s love for the child.

The mother it is mother’s love of course but it’s not just the mother’s love. When the mother offers her breast milk to her newborn baby, that is one of the most intimate acts of love. It is certainly the mother’s love, but is it only her love? She doesn’t do anything special to manufacture milk in her breasts at that time. The same God who send a child through her womb into this world also arranges for milk and herbivests.

So it is the mother’s love and it is also God’s love. So Dharma and bhakti should not be separated. We see both are connected. So like that as we grow sometimes our Dharma is too our father does a lot for us, our friends do a lot for us, our siblings do a lot for us, our wealth also does a lot for us. So all these are important.

So the idea is that Dharma is associated with Artha. Artha means meaning value. Bhakti is associated with Paramartha. Paramartha is the ultimate value. So the ideal situation is, extremist only artha.

Oh, I’ll only care for my family. I’ll not care for my God, for a God at all. Or it is only paramarth. That I’ll care for my family, I’ll care for my job, I’ll care for health, but I don’t care for God. Actually, what we see is artha for per month.

What that means is that I care for my family, I care for my body because this body is actually gift given by Krishna. I care for my family because this family is all the family members are not just my family members, they are parts of Krishna. These are not just my children, they are Krishna’s children interested in my care. So artha for paramartha. So we don’t have to have fragmented that way.

And depending on time, place, circumstance suppose somebody is sick then at that time they may have to spend more time on their body but what he care. Suppose sometimes somebody’s financially in a very difficult situation, they might have to spend more time with the financial arrangement. Sometimes there’s a big festival in March at that time, I’ll spend more time on my service to Krishna. So we we have to do a balancing act, but we don’t have to divorce that the material in the spiritual. Actually, all of it is meant to take us closer toward Krishna.

And we use our intelligence to see when I say this what keep the big things big and keep the small things small. Now what is a big thing and what is a small thing that can also change a call time place circumstance. At a particular time, one thing may become very big at that time and we have to give it that attention. Okay? So thank you very much for your you have question?

Thank you very much for your thoughtful participation. Let’s quickly conclude with this prayer. Already started. My dear Lord, let me remember that my life story is a part of your story. Thank you very much.