How can we face problems caused by others without falling for the blame game?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Okay, so if we face problems in our life, what is the solution bright way in which we can deal with them, see first of all it is not that as devotees we are meant to become masochists and subject ourselves to misery, if misery is there we do try to counter it, in whatever way practically is possible, but the way we counter misery is not by fighting harder but by rising higher, it is not that we are meant to stay miserable, but when we fight harder means this problem is coming, I just fight back harder, but often that does not lead to a solution because the problem often gets more complicated, when we try to fight the other person tries to fight, just fighting harder makes the problem worse, but by rising higher, rising higher means raising our consciousness, so essentially the process of bhakti is not meant to be a replacement for material problem solving, it is meant to be a complement, it is not a replacement, yes if there are certain material problems, there are, if somebody falls sick, we have to go to doctor to take medicine, but in the process while we are taking medicine and while we are getting healed, what happens inside us is important, some people can get so broken down because of the sickness, that they just lose the spirit of living, why did this happen to me, so as devotees that does not have to happen to us, how can we avoid that, now the two points which you said, intellectually they are true, but emotionally it is quite difficult to accept, I may say that oh I am suffering because of my karma, was I such a bad person, what all I could have done, we may get that question, so the point is that there are two ways in which we can move forward in life, when something happens, something bad happens, if we ask this question, why this, the question why this ultimately has no answer, we don’t, yes in principle we understand that it is because of past karma, but usually speaking that is not the focus of anyone, even in shastra, those who are suffering, that is one statement, yes it is because of past karma, the focus is not on why this, the focus is on how now, if ask not why this, ask how now, ok how can I serve Krishna now, what can I do now, that itself redirects our energies, and when we try to focus on this, ok this situation has come, why it has come, I don’t know, but it is there, what can I do now, once we focus on this, it is actually liberating, liberating because all that choked up resentment that is there, generally speaking our response as we talk about blame game, we can blame in three directions, one is that we can blame others, because of you, you, you, you, this problem came up, now we can blame others, the other way is that we can blame ourselves, now blaming ourselves can also become self-pity, and self-pity is not humility, self-pity is actually a negative form of self-centeredness, it is not really a solution, so I am so bad, I am so bad, I am so bad, and ultimately the focus shifts from bad to I, and there is no solution that comes up, so either we can blame others, we can blame ourselves, or we can blame God, you know God is so cruel, and but none of these offer any solutions to us, so the important point for a devotee is, ok this has happened, what can I do now, so if you focus on that particular, ok what can I do now, then, Krishna gives us the intelligence about how we can move forward in our spiritual life, not just in our spiritual life, every walk of our life, so this mental choking, you know like sometimes the engine of a vehicle chokes, and the engine of a machine chokes, the machine just can’t move, so like that when problems come, the mental choking that happens, and that paralyzes us, so we have to find out which way our mental choking happens, is it happening because I’m blaming someone, am I blaming myself, am I blaming God, so the point is, that none of these are solutions, and if we are blaming someone else, then it is good if we could pray for that person, we may feel that this person is a child, he’s causing so many problems, why should I pray for that person, even if we don’t feel like praying for that person, by praying for someone, we start seeing that person as a partner, and not an opponent, because we understand, yes, this person also is having conditioning, is having anarthas, and because of that, all those problems, that person is creating trouble for me, so what happens is, when we can, praying essentially means we see that person’s connection with Krishna, even if that person is not a partner, express ourselves, now, we should, we don’t have to be judgmental, if we feel that someone is to be blamed, we express that, and then get things clarified, and remove the mental choking, so that we can move onwards in our life, so as a focus, we may not be able to understand why some things are happening, but if we focus on Krishna, how can I serve you, then we will always find some way in which we can move onwards, and the wonderful thing about bhakti is that, there are two things, one is getting over with things, getting over things, and the other is getting on with things, getting over things means, oh, some big problem has come up and I am overwhelmed by it, to get over it is often difficult, but we can still get on with things, we can start doing some activity, when we are mentally choked, and then we try to deal with a particular issue, we just can’t, because the mind doesn’t allow us, so we find out how can we get on, now do some activity, do some linga bhakti, by which we can connect with Krishna, maybe it is hearing kirtans, maybe it is coming and praying to the deities, singing bhajans, taking guidance from some senior devotee or whatever, we get on with things, and once we start getting on with things, that mental choking goes off, and gradually our mental energy also gets re-channelized, and over a period of time, we will not only be able to go through that situation, but we will grow through that situation, because we will realize that no matter how big a problem is, Krishna is bigger, and in that sense, every problem can become an opportunity for us to realize the shelter giving potency of Krishna, and that way we can go beyond that problem. Does that answer your question? Thank you. So,