How can we avoid becoming discouraged on seeing that the modes are pulling us down?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
If we understand that we are now being connected with or we are being pulled down by the lower boards, that itself can be very discouraging.
So what to do after that? Yes, we have to know that the mind is extremely cunning. The mind is, is like a person, say, if there’s a boxing match going on, and one boxer knocks out the other boxer. Now this boxer has fallen down, the boxer wants to get up and again resume the fight.
The boxer has been knocked down, not knocked out. Fallen down, the boxer can rise. When the boxer is to rise, the boxer should look at the coach.
The coach says, come on, get up, do this, try this. But if instead this fallen boxer looks at the opponent, can I win this match? Never! The other boxer will gloat in the victory. So, sometimes the mind knocks us down, and then after that, should I get up and fight? We ask the mind only.
Mind says, no, don’t get up, you’re never going to win. So, we at that time need to have some devotees, some friends to encourage us. Or, we can have something, some passage from scripture, where Krishna says, he always cares for us, he never leaves our heart and goes away.
So, some passage from scripture, some verses which inspire us. So, we have to consult the right person. So, the discouragement is unavoidable.
But how we respond to the discouragement is important. If we further consult the discourager only, or the person who has defeated us or knocked us down, that’s the mind and the negative emotions within the mind, we will not be able to resist. So, we need to connect with the right source, who will encourage us.
That’s the first thing. Second thing is, that even if we fall, in the long run in our spiritual life, we are not defined by how we fall, but by how we rise. If we consider our moods, if we consider this graph of consciousness versus time, so then sometimes our lower desires, the lower moods spike up, they shoot up.
And then at that time we feel very angry, we feel very greedy, very envious, whatever. We feel very gloomy, whatever. So now, when that negative emotion or desire shoots up, at that time it may almost be impossible to resist.
But it is not that, that negative mood is there 24 hours a day. So, okay, that mood came and it’s gone now. What do I do after that? It may come again, but in between, what do we do? If at that time, okay, that happened, it’s over now, let me try to connect with Krishna, let me try to serve Krishna.
Not that we minimize the wrong that we may have done at that time, but we understand that by valuing, by lamenting about the wrong that happened at that time, that is not going to make us stronger. What is going to make us stronger is how much we connect with Krishna. So, if we focus on connecting with Krishna right now, okay, right now I’m not agitated, right now I’m not disturbed, so let me connect with Krishna.
Then, that connection with Krishna will strengthen us. And next time, when the desire surges up, when the mood goes back, goes negative, at that time we will be in a better position to resist it. We may not succeed, again we will fail.
But each time, in between those phases of strong negatives, if we are connecting with Krishna, then that connection with Krishna will slowly but steadily strengthen us. And then eventually we will become strong enough that when the mood surges towards the negative, when the lower mood starts pulling us, at that time we will be able to fight back and we will be able to resist them. So, rather than getting too disheartened by specific defeats or reversals, specific relapses, we can focus on the overall pattern.
Let me connect with Krishna as much as we can. So, we may fall down, but we don’t have to fall away. Fall down means I’m going on the path, I fall down.
Fall away means I just give up the path. So, we never give up the path. We keep practicing and gradually we become purified.
So, the greatest source of encouragement is remembering Krishna’s unfailing love for us. That no matter what happens, Krishna never abandons us. He never leaves our heart and goes away.
Gajendra prays to Krishna in the Bhagavatam Siddh Canto. MADHRUK PRAPANNA PASHUPASHYA VIMOKSHANAYA MUKTAYE BHURI KARUNAYANAMOLAYAYA He says, my dear Lord, please free me from this bondage. Muktaya.
You are liberated, my dear Lord, please free me. The Lord may say, but why should I free you? He says, you are bound by your own karma, by what you did in the past. Oh, my dear Lord, yes, I don’t deserve it, but you are immensely compassionate.
Bhuri Karunaya. You are very merciful, so you will please free me. The Lord may say that I’ve been trying to free you for so long.
You never turned towards me. You never regarded, given your attention to me. Gajendra says, my dear Lord, you never get tired of helping me.
Prabhupada writes in the purport that Krishna is tireless in trying to help us. So our greatest encouragement is Krishna’s unfailing love for us. No matter how many times you’re turned away from Krishna, no matter how many times you’ve been half-hearted in our practice of bhakti, still Krishna is there with us.
Now our greatest weakness is not, maybe it’s not lust or anger or greed or pessimism or whatever. Our greatest weakness is our unwillingness to believe that Krishna loves us. Our greatest weakness is our unwillingness to believe that Krishna loves us.
No matter how fallen we are, no matter how many mistakes, no matter how many offenses we may have committed, Krishna never stops loving us. So we may not feel that love right now, because our consciousness is too disconnected. But with scriptural understanding, we try to connect with Krishna.