How can we feel that Krishna is the doer not that we are the doers?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
although we know, intellectually based in the Bhagita, that Krishna is there in our heart, but we don’t feel that connection.
We just feel as if our mind is directing us here and there, and we don’t feel the presence of Krishna or the connection with Krishna. Why is that? Most of the time, we feel that we are doing, not that Krishna is guiding us. Yes, there is, we are individual souls who are parts of Krishna.
At the same time, we are individuals in our own right. So, it is not that we are not meant to be doers. The Bhagavad Gita tells Arjuna that now you decide what you want to do, to as you desire, and then Arjuna tells Krishna, I will do your will.
I’ll do what you desire. So, to feel that I am the doer is not the problem. To feel that I alone am the doer is the problem.
In 18.16, the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says that one who thinks that atmanam kevalam tuya, that I alone am the doer, that is durmati, that is misdirected consciousness. So, we see that I am doing things, that’s fine, but how am I able to do things? Right now I am speaking. So, I may say I am so clever, I am speaking so nicely.
I say, I am speaking, but if my throat gets spoiled, I can’t speak. If I get a memory blackout, I can’t speak. If my health gets spoiled, I won’t be able to speak.
So, in every action that we do, there is definitely our own endeavour to do that action well. But along with our endeavour, there are many other factors that need to fall in place for that action to work. If those other factors don’t fall in place, even with our best endeavours, things won’t work.
So that awareness that whatever I do doesn’t depend on me alone, that awareness is knowledge. There is something bigger than me, which also is involved in my successfully doing things. That awareness is spiritual knowledge.
And that, understand that that higher reality is God, is Krishna. That is Krishna awareness, that is Krishna consciousness. So the, rather than seeing the two as opposite, to think that I am not doing things, to think that only Krishna is doing things.
Rather, we see that I am meant to do things in a mode of service to Krishna. It is Krishna who will guide me to be able to do these things. So philosophically, if we become a little more introspective, look at our lives, and whenever we are able to do something well, even in our professional life, in any area of life, when we are able to do something well, we can think, how was I able to do this? What all was needed for doing this? I did this, but if this could have gone wrong, this worked out well.
This worked out well. Who was in control of that? I was not there. So like that, by looking at all the things that have gone right, when we have done right, and the results have come out, we can see that we alone are not the doers, and that way we can become more aware of Krishna’s role in our life, not just in doing what we do, but in making sure that what we do produces the results.
So this is introspection. This is the contemplation that we can do to become aware of Krishna’s hand in our life, and when we do this, then we want both to be elated in success, nor dejected in failure, because when we are successful only, I am so great, I achieved so much. Yes, I did my part, but Krishna also was kind.
When things go wrong, when people face failures, at a material level, people start thinking that failure is not just an event, failure is a person. That means instead of thinking that, okay, I’m a living being, I’m a human being, on a journey, and at one particular point in my life, I met failure. Instead I start thinking that because I failed, that means I am a failure, I am good for nothing.
But we want to understand that things are not determined by our actions alone. Our actions play a part, other things also play a part. Sometimes destiny is favorable, sometimes destiny is not favorable.
So when we understand properly our position in the scheme of things, then we don’t take undue credit for success, and then we won’t be blamed by undue blame for failure. That way we can just progress confidently. Don’t become too rejected when there is failure, when there is distress, and don’t become too elated when there is happiness.
Just move forward, study. So by philosophical contemplation, what we study in the Bhagavad Gita, we try to see how it is acting in my life. When we see that, then we become, we feel deeper the connection with Krishna, that I’m not just an independent doer, but I’m a connected doer.
I’m connected with the whole, and there are factors bigger than me involved in doing things. That’s how we can end that sense of fragmentation and deepen our awareness of our connection. Does that answer your question? Thank you.