God as the supreme therapist 2 – To be others’ well wisher means to channel their emotions towards proper use of their free will

[Narasimha Chaturdashi series on Prahlada’s prayers to Narasimhadeva 5.18.8-14]
[Bhagavatam class on 5.18.9 at ISKCON, Denver, USA]

Video:

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna So, today morning, we continue our discussion on the Srimad Bhagavatam. The prayers offered by Shri Prahlad Maharaj to Narasimha Dev.
And in this prayer, he says Swasthya swishwasya That let there be auspiciousness for all the universe. And let the envious people be pacified. So, the Lord is described in the Bhagavad Gita as Suhrdam sarva-bhoktanam In 5.29, it is said that He is the well-wisher of all living beings.
And later, in 12.30, in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that Advaishta sarva-bhoktanam Maitraha karuna He is the cure. That those who are the devotees of the Lord, they become like Him. They also become the well-wishers of everyone.
They also want the good for everyone. Sarva-bhoktanam Maitraha. They become the friends of everyone.
So, we are discussing on the theme of how Krishna is the ultimate healer. He is the supreme therapist. Yesterday, I talked about how God has been recast in mainstream religion from the cosmic supplier to the cosmic therapist.
And this corresponds with people’s primary distress in today’s world being the distress at the mental level. Now, what causes distress at the mental level? It is the impurities in the heart. And, what are the impurities in the heart? We could say, now, first of all, what exactly is the heart? Sometimes people say, you broke my heart.
Well, if you take an x-ray, you won’t find any break in the heart. Isn’t it? So, when we talk about the word heart, we don’t use it in literal terms. It doesn’t refer to the biological organ heart.
Heart refers primarily to the seat of emotions. And, our capacity for emotions comes from the soul. But, almost all our present emotions come from the mind.
They are triggered by the mind. Somebody is very attached to baseball. They experience intense emotions when their favourite team wins, and they experience agony when their team loses.
Now, this emotion associated with baseball, they’ve got nothing to do with the soul. But, the person is experiencing it. So, if the soul were not present, there would be no emotions we experienced.
The soul is the source of our capacity for emotions. But, currently, most of our emotions come from the mind. That means, yesterday I was giving the example of a person watching a horror movie.
A child watching a horror movie. The child may be safe at home, but because the consciousness is caught in the TV screen where the horror movie is going on, all the emotions are experienced in relationship with that, with the images and the narrative on the screen. So, we could say, the soul is like the child, the TV screen is like the mind.
पुरुष्यः प्रकृति स्थोहि भुंग्ते प्रकृति जान्गुणान कारणं गुण संगोष्य सद असद यो जन्मसू In 30.22 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that the soul becomes situated in material nature because of the desire to enjoy worldly things. And that desire causes the soul to go through various experiences of good and bad in this life and in future lives in various species. So, basically for us, ultimately, the heart is meant to coincide with the soul.
But presently, the heart coincides with the mind. That means if we say heart is the seat of emotions, most of the emotions that we experience right now are based on the impressions present in the mind. They are not based on the innate nature of the soul.
So, we could say that the soul exists primarily in a distorted condition. In physics, there are two concepts. The centre of mass and the centre of gravity.
So, the centre of mass is where the mass of the object is concentrated. But, if the object is tilted, then its centre of gravity will be somewhat different because its mass gets unevenly distributed. And accordingly, with respect to gravity, the centre of gravity shifts.
So, the earth is not vertical. It is slightly tilted. And that’s why its centre of mass and centre of gravity are different.
Similarly, we can say for us as souls, the centre of mass is the soul. But the centre of gravity where we experience the pull of desires, that is different. So, the centre of gravity is where the mind is situated.
The centre of mass is where the soul is. And, depending on how inclined we are, to that extent, there is a distance between the mind and the soul. So, a person in the mode of ignorance experiences no emotions when they come to a temple.
But, when they go to a bar, they experience immense emotions. So, a person in goodness experiences some emotions when they come to a temple. A pure devotee experiences the highest emotions when they come to a temple.
Why? Because, for a pure devotee, there is a seat of emotions. The mind has become the same as the soul. Moraman Vrindavan.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, My mind is the same as Vrindavan. That’s Krishna residing over there. Krishna delighting over there.
And the devotee delighting in the remembrance of Krishna. So, basically, for us, the mind is where the impressions are stored, which trigger our emotions. Somebody who has never watched a baseball match, for them, there are no impressions about baseball stored in their mind.
So, they experience no emotions associated with when they watch a baseball match. But, somebody who has been hooked to baseball for many, many years, when they watch a baseball match, so many emotions come in. Because the impressions are stored in the mind.
So, basically, all that we experience in the conditioned stage, almost all of it, is based on the impressions stored in the mind. And, to the extent these impressions are negative, to that extent, we experience distress. And, from the soul’s perspective, anything disconnected from Krishna is ultimately negative.
It’s… That, just as Bhagavatam says, maya means to see anything disconnected from Krishna. So, to the extent our centre, we could say, our mind is distanced from the soul, that means our emotions are caught in more and more worldly things. To that extent, we are prone to agitation.
Two people may be going in the same train. One is in goodness, one is in passion. The person in passion, the simple fun, the same act of entering into the train, catching the train, finding a seat in the train, that will cause much more anxiety and agitation to a person in the mode of passion than it would cause to a person in the mode of goodness.
The same event of catching a train, that may cause a feeling of helplessness and self-pity for a person in the mode of ignorance. How will I catch this train if there’s too much crowd? If I don’t reach in time? Or if this happens, if that happens? So, basically, the emotions that we experience are shaped by the mode that we are in. And that means that for us, when we are trying to connect with Krishna ourselves, and we are trying to connect others with Krishna, at that time, we want to shift the centre of their emotions from something in this world to Krishna.
We want the centre to shift from the mind to the heart, from the mind to the soul. And for this to happen, they need to have some level, they need to be peaceful. If we are too agitated, we can’t practise anything sustainably.
Bhakti can be begun in any mode. A person who is drunkard can see the world is dancing in kirtan and may join in the kirtan. And they may also smile and laugh and they may experience something spiritual.
But, for them to take that special experience as an impetus to start the steady practise of bhakti, that requires some goodness. In general, sustainability is a feature of goodness. So, Vishnu maintains.
Similarly, for us to sustain ourselves in bhakti, we need some amount of goodness. And so does anybody who is coming to Krishna’s lotus feet. So, as devotees, when we understand that in today’s world, the main distress that people experience is psychological.
Of course, there is physical distress also immensely in many parts of the world. In many parts of third world, there are people who are starving, there are people who are living in materially deprived conditions. But along with that, in major part of the world, even major part of the developed world, people are in immense distress at the psychological level.
And, we need to attract them to Krishna. And bhakti is a voluntary activity. Turning towards Krishna is an act of free will that each soul has to choose.
So, it is for us to act in such a way that people feel inspired to use their free will to come towards Krishna. Suppose, there is a person who is wildly drunk. And, they have got a million dollar check in their hands.
Now, whoever comes and speaks some sweet words to them, they might just give that million dollar check to that person. Now, somebody might come and just abuse their money for their selfish purposes. Somebody else may come and just steal the money away from them.
And, leave that person with nothing. But, if somebody is that person’s well-wisher, they want that this person should use this million dollars carefully. And, right now, they don’t know how to use the million dollars.
So, then, this person in the drunk state has to be persuaded. The sober person, the sober well-wisher will have to come to the drunk person and speak in such a way that that person becomes willing to hand over that million dollars to the well-wisher. And then, the well-wisher can use that million dollars properly or guide that person how to use it properly.
Similarly, we can see that each soul is like a drunk person. People are materially drunk, intoxicated by their worldly infatuation. In the teachings of Rishabhadeva, it is said that we are all intoxicated in this world.
And, the million dollar check that we all have is our free will. We all have some free will. And, by that free will, we can do a lot of good and we can do a lot of harm.
So, this free will is extremely precious. It defines how we use the free will is going to define not only our future, but also the future of many others connected with us. So, when we as devotees interact with others on behalf of Krishna, we have to understand that somehow or the other, we have to give them the faith by which they will entrust their free will to us.
So, the free will is not like a physical check which will be taken from one person and given to another. But, the free will can be entrusted in the sense that they can take the guidance of someone else about how to use their free will. And, the mood of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita is not domineering.
It is inviting. At the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells in 18.63, Now, deliberate deeply and do as you desire. So, Krishna is acknowledging the free will of Arjuna.
But, at the same time, he is appealing to the intelligence. Arjuna, deliberate and then use your free will properly. Nowhere under Bhagavad Gita does Krishna rely on his Godhood to demand obedience from Arjuna.
He doesn’t say, I am God. If you don’t obey me, I will send you to hell. Therefore, obey me.
No, nothing like that. Krishna is persuading, explaining, reasoning and then eventually, he concludes by appealing to Arjuna. Do as you desire, but please deliberate.
And, 10 verses later, in 18.73, the success of Krishna’s strategy is seen when Arjuna surrenders. He says, I will do your will. I will do your will.
So, that free will which each soul has, that, as I said, is a very precious asset. But, it is not like a transferable check. It is not something which I have and I can give to someone else.
It is a free will, which is our possession always. And, on a moment to moment basis, it has to be handed over. It has to be used wisely.
So, the super soul is right next to us in our hearts at each moment. And, he is guiding us, prompting us. Of course, if we are too much covered by the lower modes, then we don’t even hear his voice.
So, the free will is something which we have to use at each moment. Now, sometimes the free will may appear to be, hey, it’s not like a million dollars. But, it is something trivial.
Whether I go here, I go there. Whether I read this email, or watch this TV, or watch this movie, watch this video, or do this. It all seems trivial.
But, actually, even people who earn a million dollars, or a billion dollars for that matter, they earn it because they use their free will properly. Properly in terms of working, investing to earn that money. So, the moment to moment use of free will is in the long term enormously consequential.
There are some times which are defining in our life. If somebody decides, okay, I’m going to go in this career or that career. Am I going to marry this person or that person? Am I going to, say, if you’re on a spiritual path, am I going to join this path or that path? Am I going to take initiation from this spiritual master or that spiritual master? Those moments are especially defining.
At that time, we understand a lot is at stake. But, how we act in those moments is not just a matter of that we can decide at that time. That is, at a subconscious level, shaped by how we have acted throughout our life.
Because the way we act throughout our life shapes the mode that we are in. And that mode shapes the decisions we make. So, that’s why every moment is consequential.
And, at every moment, we need to inspire each other to use the free will rightly to come towards Krishna. And, first of all, we have to use our free will rightly to move towards Krishna. So, the free will is very highly influenceable by emotions.
All of us have two sides. We have an emotional side and a rational side. We could broadly correlate.
The emotional side correlates with the mind. And the rational side correlates with the intelligence. So, most of us, we tend to be very emotional.
Although we may think that I am rational, we may pride ourselves on our objectivity, our rationality, our calm thinking, but still our emotions exert an enormous amount of force on us. And, especially in today’s world, which is what is called the post-modern world. In the post-modern world, the idea of objective morality has largely been rejected.
So, in this world, people think that if anybody says this is right and this is wrong, you know, all moral structures are simply covert power structures. That is the idea of post-modern people. When you say that this is right and this is wrong, this is simply your way of gaining power over me and making me do what you want me to do.
And, unfortunately, many systems of morality have been misused like that. Religious morality has been used like that. Ideological morality has been misused like that.
So, basically, there is a strong aversion to any normative idea. This is right and this is wrong. So, therefore, what is it that people will act on in such a situation? It’s largely based on feelings, based on what makes me feel good.
That is what I will act according to. In general, if we consider, we make our decisions based on four broad factors. What are they? Tradition, culture, logic and mood.
Tradition means this is what we have always done. Why do you go to church on Sunday? Why do you go to temple on holy days? That’s what our ancestors always did. So, we have always done this.
So, we will do it. One is tradition. Second is culture.
Why do you do it? Because everybody is doing it. Hey, why did you buy this phone? All my friends have got this phone. That’s why I bought it.
So, culture means, tradition means what has been done in the past. Culture is refers to what is being done now. Then, logic is, it makes sense to me.
I thought about it, it made sense and that’s why I did it. So, we logically analyse and take some decisions. And fourth is mood.
Why did you do it? I felt like doing it. You know, why are you reading this book? I just felt it must be a good book. I felt like, I like the cover.
So, I am reading it. So, if we see broadly, these four factors determine the way we behave. Now, tradition in many ways is revived in today’s world.
The culture itself today that is there, it is a very feel good kind of culture. The culture actually is basically an expression of our mood. Whatever people feel like doing, they do.
And this process, logic often goes for a toss. Logic just gets cast away. People do whatever they feel like doing and when many people start doing that, then this becomes the culture and everybody starts doing that.
So, the point which I am making is we are all very feeling driven. So, our free will, we tend to use it based on our feelings. We are meant to use our logic.
Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita appeals both, appeals actually to all four of these. He talks about that this same knowledge has been given in the past. एवं घ्यात्मा कृतं कर्म पूर्वयि रपि मूक्ष्मि कुरु कर्मईव तस्मात्तम पूर्वयि पूर्वतरम् कृतं And this way people have acted in the past and they have become liberated.
This is 4.15. Therefore, you should also act in this way and you will also become liberated. So, he says that this is the tradition. Then he also talks about culture.
He says that actually in the present world also we all are not just the receivers of culture, we are also shapers of the culture. Krishna says यद्यद् आचरति स्रेष्टस् तत्तद एवे तरोजना सयद् प्रमाणं कुरुद्धे लोकस्तद नुवर्द्धे As all great people act, so common people will act accordingly. Actually, Prabhupada, when he met George Harrison, he quoted this verse.
Now, he was just a musician. How is he a great person? Well, greatness can be measured in different ways. And if a particular culture considers someone to be very famous, very popular, then in that sense they are great.
So, the movie stars, the sports stars, the media icons, the way they act, that soon becomes the culture. So, Krishna appeals to the culture also. Arjuna, you are meant to be a culture shaper.
Act in an exemplary way. And as I said, Krishna appeals to the intelligence, reason. Deliberate deeply and decide how you want to act.
But along with that, he also appeals to the heart. This is the appeal to the head which he makes in 18.63. But Krishna doesn’t stop with that. In 18.64 and 18.65, 18.63 is deliberate and decide.
But in 18.64 and 18.65, he appeals to the heart. He says that, sarva gohyatam ambhuyah, sunu me paramam vachah, ishto sime drudhamiti, tato vakshamitehitam sarva gohyatam ambhuyah The most confidential knowledge I have given to you once again. sunu me paramam vachah, this is supreme knowledge.
And why I have given it to you? ishto sime drudhamiti You are very dear to me. You are dearly loved by me. One acharya will translate this as I am determined to love you.
drudhamiti, ishto sime drudhamiti, tato vakshamitehitam Therefore, for your well-being, I am speaking this. So, Krishna is bearing his heart, revealing that his heart is filled with loving concern for Arjuna. And Arjuna represents every man.
He represents all of us. Krishna is appealing to the heart. So, the mood also shapes our decisions.
And in this way, we see Krishna appeals to all four of these, uses all four of these when he is trying to persuade Arjuna to make the right decision. Similarly, for us, when we get agitated, when we turn towards Krishna, or when we approach people who, in general, we can assume are agitated. No matter how peaceful, how wise people look, internally everybody is in a state of agitation.
In Australia, I was doing a programme and I was speaking about gratitude and grace, how these can help us to cultivate positivity. And I was speaking and then there was a lady she was, she echoed some of my work after that, and we were having some reflections and discussion. She spoke some very beautiful points about gratitude.
And all of us were very impressed by it. But then, after that, she came to talk with me privately, and just within one minute of talking, she started crying. She said, I am trying to cultivate all this, but recently, I lost my son, and I know all this, but I am not able to apply it.
So, it was a dramatic realisation for me. She was talking as if she were, the way she was speaking was like a very wise sage, speaking very deep points about gratitude. But scrape a little below the surface, and there is so much distress over there.
Of course, it is appreciated that even amidst the distress, she was trying to find some wisdom and shelter in the wisdom. But then, we need not just intellectual knowledge of the wisdom, we need spiritual strength also. We need a way to connect ourselves spiritually with higher reality, and that often is not available for most people.
So, even if they mouth high sounding wisdom, unless they have a process for raising their consciousness, that wisdom, they can’t apply it in their lives. So, actually, everybody is agitated in the world. They may sometimes be peaceful, but below it, they are agitated.
And how can we know that they are agitated? Because simply, the world fills us with so many desires. And Krishna says, three forces drive the mind mad. Raga, Bhaya, and Krodha.
Raga is attachment. I want this, I want this, I want this. The more things we want, that makes our mind agitated.
And then when we want something, if somehow we get it also, then there is Bhaya. What if I lose it? What if I lose it? There is fear. So, getting something which is out there, that causes agitation of mind.
And, then losing it, or the fear of losing it, that causes another agitation of the mind. And then eventually, when we lose it, there is frustration, there is anger. And that is another agitation of the mind.
So, everybody in the world is agitated. Because we all have desires and the culture that we live in tends to keep increasing our desires by exposing us to so many agitating stimuli. So, amid this situation, people are becoming very emotionally vulnerable.
That means, emotionally vulnerable means, whatever makes them feel good, that they will do. And whatever makes them feel bad, they will avoid it. Because there is so much distress at the internal level, that anything that makes them feel bad, they are already having so many bad feelings, I just don’t want anything more.
So, for us, we want to give a spiritual message about bhakti. But we have to be aware of people’s feelings, people’s sensitivities. Because people are very emotion driven.
We may logically explain that your conception is wrong and tomorrow I will speak about effectively communicating Krishna’s message. Sometimes, if we speak too strongly, we think my intention is to enlighten this person. But people feel bad by our strong speech and they are simply driven by their feelings.
They just go away. So, what we have to do is, somehow or the other, recognise that their feelings are driving them, they are very emotionally vulnerable. And, just like a person who is drunk, they may just give a million dollars to anyone, million dollar check to anyone.
So, like that, people they are emotionally very vulnerable and anybody who makes them feel good, they will go in that direction. So, Bhagwat Maharaj is praying over here, let there be auspiciousness on everyone. And how will that auspiciousness come? That is, when they become devoted, when they become connected with Krishna, when they become free from the negativity in their hearts.
So, ultimately, raag, bhaya, krodha, this desire, anger and fear, all these three, they arise fundamentally from our disconnection with Krishna. From our wanting to take the position of Krishna. In that sense, Prabhupada says that, everybody in the world is envious.
Almost everyone, Prabhupada says. So, labelling people as envious and dismissing them is unhelpful. Because then we will not be able to have anyone to connect with.
So, within the emotionally vulnerable situation that people are in, somehow or the other, we have to inspire them to serve Krishna. We have to get them to connect with Krishna. Actually, Prabhupada was expert in this.
I’ll conclude with this that, he knew how to take people’s emotional sensitivities and bring Krishna into that. Now, one hippie came to Prabhupada and he asked him, what is the bliss of the spiritual world like? And Prabhupada said, it is like an ocean of LSD. An ocean of LSD.
Now, somebody who might be a strict literary kind of literal conveyor of scriptural messages, in which scripture is it said that Vaikuntha’s joy is the LSD? He says, LSD is a drug, it is tamasic, it is ignorance. And Krishna is transcendent, supreme transcendence. But, for a person whose only conception of happiness is, primary conception of happiness is the high that they get on taking drugs, then what do you do? You have to convey it in their language.
The point is not just to get it right. The point is to get it across. We may get it right, but if it alienates people, if it remains incomprehensible to people, what have we achieved? The point is to get it across.
So, if people are very emotionally vulnerable, people are emotionally hypersensitive, then within that, how do we give that message of Krishna, then that is our challenge. And if we can, Prabhupada was able to take up this challenge, and he was able to bring Krishna into the hearts of people who were far, far away from Krishna. Similarly, by his blessings, we too can try to do the same thing.
How to do that, we will discuss in our future classes. So, today, I’ll summarise. I spoke today about how the devotee is godly, in the sense that God is the well-wisher of all living beings, and the devotee also wants to be the well-wisher of everyone.
And being a well-wisher means that we have to get people to use their free will wisely. Then, we all, people not just out there, we all are like drunkards who have got a million dollar check. And anybody who makes us feel good, we might give that check to them.
So, for us, the million dollar check is like our free will. Certain moments in our life may seem to be like million dollar moments. They are life-defining moments, but every moment actually shapes how we will act in those life-defining moments.
That’s why, every moment, we have to be inspired to use our free will properly, and we have to inspire others to use their free will properly. So, people today, in this post-modern world, are very emotionally driven because they’ve rejected any normative things, money morality, as just money moral structures are simply, they say, power structures to dominate over others by imposing one’s own sense of right or wrong. So, in general, people act based on four factors.
Tradition, culture, logic, and mood. So, in today’s world, tradition is more rejected. Culture is largely a reflection of what people’s moods are.
Culture simply stimulates that mood. And although we have a rational side, which we sometimes use, but the emotional side influences us much, much more forcefully. Krishna, in the Bhagavad Gita, uses all these four.
He appeals to tradition, saying, many people in the past have done it. He appeals to culture, saying, you are, Arjuna, meant to be a culture shaper. So, act in an exemplary way.
He appeals to reason, deliberate deeply, and decide. And then he appeals to the heart. I love you.
I care for you. I want the best for you. That’s why I’m speaking this.
Please heed this. So, similarly for us, when either we are trying to practise bhakti or we are trying to share bhakti with others, knowing that people are very emotionally vulnerable, knowing their sensitivities, we have to somehow penetrate the message of Krishna into their hearts. The sage Prabhupada did that by explaining the bliss of Vaikuntha in the language of the hippies.
It’s like an ocean of LSD. The point is not just to get it right. The point is to get it across.
Similarly, to bring auspiciousness in people’s lives, we have to pray to Krishna and Prabhupada that we too can penetrate in their hearts. The hearts of people who are, we can assume, agitated. There may not be so much physical distress, but there is an enormous psychological distress.
Even if people appear peaceful, below the surface, scrap. And they are distressed. Because three primary forces, desire for the things which are out there, which are not in our control, the fear that the things which you have got, they may also go away, and the anger when they eventually go away, these three are bound to agitate the mind.
And all these three arise from our disconnection with Krishna. Ultimately, our desire to be Krishna. So, let the envy be pacified.
Let everyone become peaceful. That is the prayer of a devotee. And there is, in this prayerful mood, that devotees try to inspire each other and inspire those who are not devotees to try to use their free will judiciously for their and others’ well-being.
Thank you very much. Are there any questions or comments? Yes. This is a beautiful thing.
I’ve noticed it myself and I’ve seen it happen with others too that sometimes in the name of protecting myself, I may exhibit insensitivity towards others. So, is there, and I’m being a little vague because maybe this is specific to India, but is there a way that we can protect ourselves and still be sensitive to the feelings and emotions and the needs of others? Yeah. Sometimes in protecting ourselves, we become sensitive to others.
So, how can we both protect ourselves and be sensitive to others also? Generally, Bhakti’s answer, that something like aggressive intellectualism is covered atheism or covered disbelief. I won’t, may not be exact phrasing, but that is the theme. When we are very aggressive, I’m right and you are wrong, that is actually because we are ourselves insecure whether I’m right.
And if I can prove that I’m right to you, if I can convert you to my path, then I feel vindicated. And if you are doing something different, then that becomes a threat to my faith. If you are doing something and that is right, that means what I’m doing is wrong.
Maybe I should not be doing this. So to the extent our faith is insecure, to that extent our aggressiveness in interpersonal dealings is just a covered way to seek security. But if we understand that actually there are different people at different levels and everybody is at different stage in their spiritual evolution.
And what is right for me now may not be right for this person at this place. Krishna also talks about that in the Vedic scripture, there are so many different ways in which people can grow spiritually. And Krishna says, don’t disturb the minds of the attached.
Krishna says, don’t disturb the minds of those who are attached. Even if they are wrong, even if you are right. Encourage them to engage themselves in a spiritual direction wherever they are.
So basically Krishna acknowledges that there are different people at different levels. And not everybody will be able to take a significant leap forward in their spiritual life. They can’t take a leap we don’t have to kick them down.
Just encourage them to take one step forward. A baby step will also be moving forward. So basically if we become more secure in our own faith, that happens by our own serious practise, by our own systematic scriptural study, by our own strong devotional connections, then we don’t have that insecurity within us, pushing us to prove to the other person that I am right and you are wrong.
Or that you have to follow me. We can understand that Krishna has a plan for different people. And Krishna has a plan for everyone ultimately.
So if I am a part of Krishna’s plan for this person, then Krishna will use me, Krishna will give me the right words and Krishna will give this person the right receptivity by which my words will be received. But if Krishna has a plan that maybe not through me, somebody else, this person is going to become spiritually elevated, then that’s fine. I will do my part by sharing Krishna’s message with this person and as appealing a way as possible.
So if we can see, there is this, there is the beautiful prayer of Bhaktivinod Thakur where he says that if I go to a place of worship of somebody practising another religion, this is called Chaitanya Shiksha Amrita, they are worshipping God in a way different from what I know, then what should be my mood? He says that I should be there in a mood of reverence, appreciating how merciful God is that he has manifested here in a form that is different from what I know. So although I can’t appreciate whatever they are doing, the exact manifestation, the exact practises, still I can appreciate the compassion of the Lord that he has reached out to these people in this manifestation and therefore my devotion to the Lord in the manifestation that I know is increasing, thinking how compassionate the Lord is. So this way we can, if we are, if we become secure in our own faith and we understand that different people may be going differently at different times, then we don’t have to become aggressive.
We don’t have to become insensitive to them. So sometimes if we want to protect ourselves, in general education is given initially in terms of black and white. This is right, this is wrong.
Moral categories are drawn very clearly. But then afterwards as we as we could say morality intersects with reality. Then we understand that moral categories are not so rigid.
They are porous. I thought this was wrong and this was right. But then in real life this lying is bad.
But if somebody is in a situation where they will be killed if they don’t lie or if we don’t speak a lie somebody else will be killed. Then we can’t speak a lie at that time. So this is just an example.
My point is that initially education is given in black and white but then we learn to see shades of grey. So initially a student will be told that 3-5 is not possible. But they will say 3-5 is possible.
So sometimes initially when we get our spiritual education the moral boundaries are drawn very rigidly. And that tends to make us very judgemental and sensitive. And that may work for our protection initially.
But we live in an age where any kind of judgmentality is very much looked frowned at. So that’s why we also have to recognise that there are many shades of grey in between. And that’s why we don’t have to become judgemental.
So by both recognising that Krishna has many different ways of getting people to him and recognising that between black and white there are many shades of grey we can do what is best for us without necessarily needing to impose that on others or to judge others based on what we are doing or based on what they are not doing. Does that answer your question? I’ll repeat the question. In order to be to speak in a way that can appeal to people given their emotional state, we have to have some mastery over our own emotions.
Yes. I wouldn’t say mastery. It is just that we need to be able to manage our emotions.
Because emotions are a part of who we are. And we can’t conquer emotions. Bhakti ultimately is an emotion.
And we want bhakti to be our master. Krishna is our master. Radharani is the representative of bhakti.
So we don’t master our emotions. But we learn to channel our emotions. So, our emotions are also meant to help us in serving Krishna.
And so in that sense, having intense concern for somebody that is we could say a precondition. Compassion is required when we are trying to connect with people. But at the same time, we have to evaluate whether my emotions are helping me to do this service or they are coming in the way of doing the service.
If a doctor, a surgeon has no emotions, they may become very mechanical in treating patients. But if a surgeon is treating their own child, at that time they may become too emotional. You may tell him, you don’t take to the surgeon, let somebody else do it.
So, at one level, the emotion in terms of concern or compassion has to be there. But emotion in terms of excessive investment or the concentration of emotions in a particular thing in an excessive degree, that is undesirable. So, we have to have some amount, we have to have some capacity to observe our emotions and channel them in a way that helps people to come closer to Krishna.
People do need to feel that we are concerned about them. If they feel that we are speaking about Krishna, it is just like an academic professor speaking some abstract subject, then if they feel it’s a paid job where we are not concerned for the subject or the audience, then they will not be uplifted. At the same time, if our emotion makes us insistent or domineering, there is a problem.
So, sattva guna, the mode of goodness is where there is the regulation of emotions. Does that answer your question? Yes, but it’s not necessary. Oh, not at all.
It’s okay. Okay. Yeah, so, being emotional is not bad.
Yeah, emotional is, some of us are more rational, some of us are more emotional. And that is just the way we are. We may try to balance it, but prominently some of us will be more rational, some of us will be more emotional.
And we can’t change that defining nature that we have. But, if we find it too rational, then we may have to bring a little bit emotion into ourselves also. If we are too emotional, then we may need to bring a little bit rationality into ourselves also.
So, that means, it’s said that sculptors can change the shape of the stone, but not the structure of the stone. Not what the stone is made up of. They can’t make marble into granite.
So, similarly, we could say that by our past karma itself, our structure is made in a particular way. Some of us will be structured to be more emotional, some of us will be structured to be more rational. So, that core defining nature can’t be changed.
In fact, in general, it is said that females tend to be more emotional, males tend to be more rational. Of course, again, there are boundaries which are porous. But, this is just the way we are.
But, if we understand that, okay, I am too emotional, then the structure can be structured, but it can be shaped a little bit. So, then, if I tend to be emotional, then maybe I can decide that I need to have some other friend who is a little bit more rational. And before taking major decisions in my life, I consult them.
If I tend to be more rational, then I need to also think with the heart, not just with the head. So, I need to ask somebody, am I being sensitive enough over here? Am I hearing and understanding the other person’s emotions? So, we all need to create ways in which we can balance our whatever nature we have. Does that answer your question? Yes, ma’am.
Okay. So, is there responsibility of the community also to support emotional maturity? Yes. There is the individual who has to act in a particular way and the community as well has to support that kind of action.
At the same time, the community is ultimately made of individuals. And, the change has to begin with an individual. Throughout history, if we see, even the history of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, the changes have not happened from the top down.
It is from the bottom up. Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Gaudiya Vaishnavism had become very ritualistic and corrupted. Bhaktivinoda Thakur was an outsider.
He was born in the Shakta family and then he got introduced to Krishna Bhakti and then into Gaudiya Vaishnavism and then it was he who dramatically reformed and represented Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Actually, Prabhupada was, to a large extent, an outsider in the Gaudiya Math. After the Gaudiya Math splintered due to infighting after Bhaktivinoda Thakur’s departure, it was Prabhupada who rejuvenated it.
So, in general, changes in a community, we could say a broad community of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, the community of followers of Bhaktivinoda Thakur, these changes, to expect that they should happen from top down. If it happens, well and good. But if we keep waiting for that, we will just be waiting for a long time.
So, we start doing what we can. And gradually, people will see that, okay, I am emotionally mature. Others may also take the example.
We can talk with others and we can talk with the community leaders also and we can we can say that I can assist in whatever way in doing this. But we can’t we can’t blame the community to be emotionally mature and continue being the way we are. Because that’s the way everyone is.
If we have a need for emotionally mature dealings, then it is for us to fulfil that need. I try to be emotionally mature and I try to find within the community or we have now with social media and everything, we can connect with people all over the world. We find other people in different places who are emotionally mature and get our need fulfilled.
See, one one major difference, which I may speak in later classes, between, say, childhood and adulthood is that the child thinks that it is the world’s responsibility to fulfil my needs. A child starts crying and thinks that, oh, everybody has to come and pacify me and feed me and care for me. But if an adult starts crying, okay, they may cry and somebody may come, nobody may come also.
To become an adult means to recognise that no one is obliged to fulfil my needs. That doesn’t mean that no one will care for me. There will be people who will care for me, but it is for me to connect with them.
I was at one place and there was one person, one devotee, she was becoming a devotee, and she said she would sometimes come for programmes, not come for programmes. So I was staying at their house. And she told me that, you know, last time I felt sick and I thought devotees will come and give me prasadam, they will give me maha prasad and garland.
She said, nobody came to me at all. I told her, did you tell anyone that you were sick? She said, no. I thought they should know.
How will they know? Devotees will be there to support, but devotees are not the super-souls. So if I have a need, I have to find out how I can fulfil this need. And it’s not that anybody and everybody will fulfil my need.
But there will be people who will be ready to do that. If I am connected with them. But recognising that, see, basically if we are driven too much by expectation, the community should change, then I will change.
Then change will never happen. So our focus should be not on expectation, but on contribution. What can I do? How can I contribute to bring about this change? If we do that, then we will be empowered by Krishna to bring about positive change, not just in our lives, but in the community at large.
Last question? Or you also have one? Let me know. Yeah, definitely. If we have the ability and the bandwidth to do that, we should do that.
Generally, if we give suggestions, if we are ready to implement them, then we will be given the facility to do that. But if we give suggestions and do nothing after that, then it’s not saying so positively. Yes, last question? The question is if we’ve seen some kind of community remain somewhat successful in making people feel good about Krishna consciousness, but unless they get the knowledge to use their life, then they will be kind of stagnant.
So is there a balance? Sometimes you make people feel good, but unless they get the philosophical knowledge, they will not be able to stay. Yes, I fully agree. In a future session, maybe tomorrow session, I’ll be talking about the example of the surgeon.
Sadhu’s words are meant to cut. And how does this apply in the whole feel-good analysis. But suffice it to say here, two points.
That if we present Krishna consciousness as simply feel-good, then we are misrepresenting Krishna consciousness. Because there is purification required. Purification requires doing things which may not make us feel good.
Which we may struggle with. So Krishna consciousness is a whole package in which some things make us feel good, some things we may feel nothing about. Some things we just don’t feel like doing it at all.
So we’re not saying that the whole of Krishna consciousness, whatever feels good, you just do that and don’t do anything else. But what we’re saying is that we don’t have to present that aspect of Krishna consciousness which is a challenge to people right in the beginning. Which makes them feel bad.
Which makes them feel it’s too difficult, I can’t do it. It’s too demanding. These people are so judgemental.
We have to have some moral categorisation also. But we can’t impose that right in the beginning. Just like say, if a new iPhone comes up.
iPhone 10 or 11 or whatever. Then, if Apple is going to promote that iPhone, first they’re going to say this is $1000. No.
First it’s this feature, this feature, this feature, this new feature, this camera is like this, this is like this, this is like this. And at the end, the package is not complete without the price. So the price is there.
But the price is not what the first thing they tell. They tell the features. They show the features of the product and then tell the price.
And by showing the features of the product, what are they doing? They’re making people feel, oh, if I had this, it would be so good. They’re making people feel good. So similarly, when we are presenting Krishna Bhakti, we have to tell the features of Krishna Bhakti which people can connect with, which add value to people’s life, where they are.
Which make people feel, I want to do this. And then we have to tell the price also. But sometimes we tell the price first.
What do you Hare Krishnas do? No meat-eating, no gambling, no intoxication, no illicit sex. And they’ll say, no Hare Krishna. It’s to present the price right in the beginning is simply to alienate the people.
Because they have to feel that I’m going to get something worth the price. That’s the first point. Second point is that when we are presenting Krishna Consciousness, we need to even if people don’t feel good about the message, we don’t have to make people feel bad about themselves.
Even if our message is unpalatable, if people feel that, you know, okay, I met a nice person. I don’t agree with what they’re saying, but I met a nice person. That itself will give them some Ajnaan Sukruti.
Sometimes we find out that this person is just not ready for Krishna Bhakti. They’re just too attached to their opinions. Still, we can in a cordial, polite way, end the interaction and move on.
I met a nice person. What happens sometimes, we open the door for Krishna Bhakti for people and we invite them to come in. If they don’t come in, BANG! We slam the door in their face.
You are an envious rascal and you are destined to go to hell. I may not say that explicitly, but sometimes we make the philosophical discussion into a personal confrontation. And then, people, not only they don’t accept it, but they even dislike us.
So, we definitely have to confront people’s philosophical misconceptions sometimes. But that doesn’t have to become a personal confrontation. We present our points and if they’re not ready to agree, just end the interaction in a cordial note.
Nice meeting you. And they will at least have that Ajnaan Sukruti. That unknown, positive impression of a devotee, which will get them greater to Krishna.
Thank you very much. Shloka Shloka