How can we draw practical lessons from scripture?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, how can we learn to draw practical lessons from scripture? Of course, devotion is ultimately practical.
So, but still I understand your question. See, there are different ways in which we can approach scripture. Say some devotee might be a doctor.
So, he is a doctor now. So, now, if I come to Prabhu because I have got some disease, the way I approach him and the way he approaches me will be different if I am coming as a speaker. So, we will have different kinds of interactions.
Similarly, it is our purpose that determines our perspective. So, we could approach scripture in different ways. Madhacharya talks about three levels of approaching the epics.
It is primarily the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. It applies to Bhagavatam also. He talks about Brahma Sutra Bhashya.
This commentary on the Bhagavatam, I mean commentary on the Brahma Sutra basically. So, there he says you can approach scripture at the literal, ethical and metaphorical levels. So, at the literal level, it is just the story.
And we just hear the story and relish the story. And so, this could be a very devotional approach to scripture where, oh, let us just tell the story in a very sweet way and to absorb in its uniqueness. That is wonderful.
We can do that. There are times for that also. And then there is the ethical way.
The ethical way is we approach scripture as a guide for our ethical decision making. And that means, okay, this character acted in this way, this character acted in that way. And we learn something from that.
We have to be careful that we do not judge the characters who are right or wrong. We only see those characters’ actions as guides for our actions. Because they are great characters mostly in the scriptures.
And we do not want to put ourselves in the morally superior position of judging them. But we want to learn from them. And then third would be the metaphorical, where certain characters can represent certain things.
And this, all three, to do that and to gain something from that, it requires a certain amount of maturity and certain amount of expertise. Even the first literal, if somebody literally only repeats the story, after some time, you might just get bored with it. I have heard it so many times.
But somebody who can imbue it with prasad, with devotion, that expertise there, then even the story is the same. Sometimes some people recite in such sweetness that we love it. Similarly, for ethical, if we ourselves are an experienced expert, then we can draw the right lessons from there.
Generally, it’s a big subject, but I’ll try to explain as quickly as possible. That for learning anything from some incident that is quite different from the incident that we are going through, there is something called the ladder of abstraction. The ladder of abstraction, if you consider a ladder, at the bottom of it is everything specific.
At the bottom of it is something abstract. Now, generally, for any learning to happen, there has to be a combination of the specific, the concrete and the abstract. Say, for example, if a news says that, the population of polar bears in Alaska has gone down.
It’s an interesting information, but I am not interested. Maybe I am interested, I do not know. That indicates that global warming is going on.
So, now what has happened to the specific point, but from there, there is something more universal that is true. So, if it’s only specific, it’s only entertaining, it’s only abstract, then it’s too abstract, it doesn’t engage us. So, basically, whenever communication happens, it has to be a combination of the concrete and the abstract.
So, we go up and down the ladder of abstraction. So, now, with respect to applying things to our context, so it’s like, say, the scriptures spoke of thousands of years ago. So, they are at a particular level, particular time in history.
That’s the point of concrete, at the bottom of the ladder of abstraction. So, from there, you come up and then another ladder of abstraction brings us down to our level. And then we can understand.
So, for starting from this point, going to the top and then coming to the bottom on our side, we can broadly ask three questions. Whenever any particular thing happens, anything happens in scripture, what does this mean in its original context? So, what does this mean in the original context? Then, what is the context-independent significance of this? So, some particular action is there. What is the context-independent principle underlying this? That will take us to the top of the ladder of abstraction.
And then to come down to the bottom of the ladder of abstraction, how does that context-independent principle apply to me in my context? How does this context? So, if you do these three things, what is the meaning of this in its original context? What is the context-independent principle? And what is the contextual application of that principle in my context? Then, we can draw some practical lessons from scripture. Say, talking about the ladder of abstraction and actually, it is abstract right now. Let me give you some simple example to illustrate this.
Say, we know that in Chaitanya Rila, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu refused to see the king Prakabha. So, that is an incident. Now, we see Shila Prabhupada is probably the most prominent follower of Shila Prabhupada of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in today’s times.
But Prabhupada was in America and some of his followers in India told him that it is a fortune to meet Indira Gandhi. Prabhupada cut down his America too and went all the way to India to meet the head of the state. Now, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was very conscientious.
The king was in Puri. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was in Puri. The king wanted to come to meet him and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu refused.
And Prabhupada seems to have done exactly the opposite. He went to meet the head of state. So, why is that? So, we have to look at what is the, to make sense of this, what do we learn from this? What did that action mean in that context? So, in that context, it meant that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said at least that if people see a sanyasi hobnobbing with the king, they think what is this? He is not attached.
And it will spoil the reputation of sanyasi. And if sanyasi’s reputation is spoiled, people expect a renunciate to be renounced. If people see a renunciate is attached, then they will not want to hear from him.
So, then he felt that his capacity to teach anything spiritual would be impeded. So, the point over there was, in that context, his meeting the king would have damaged his reputation. So, what is the context-independent principle? You come to the top of the ladder instruction is that we need to be conscious of people’s perception.
Not that we just let people’s perception guide our actions alone. But we have to be aware where reputation, if somebody’s reputation is spoiled, they cannot do their service. So, we need to protect our reputation.
Now, what will be the contextual application in today’s world? In today’s world, people will actually be quite impressed if a spiritual leader meets the head of state. Because at that time, the overall understanding was such that there is another world and that is the world we have to go to. Somebody is pursuing that world.
Well, what do they mean when somebody is trying to rule this world? There was an understanding. There is another world and we have to go to that world. In today’s idea, the idea of another world, most people don’t connect with it at all.
So, they think if somebody is renounced this world, then that person is living a worthless life. But if somebody is renounced this world, that person is meeting with somebody who is ruling this world. Oh, then this person is renounced, must be having something special.
So, it will enhance the reputation. So, therefore, the actions are opposite, but the intention is the same. The intention is to facilitate one’s service by shaping public perception in a way that is receptive for the service.
So, of course, this is one example, but like that, if we look more up and down the ladder of abstraction, then we can see what we can learn from specific incidents and specific stories also. Thank you very much.