How can we think of Krishna constantly?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, the question is, firstly, how can we think of Krishna constantly and if we are dreaming, sleeping and dreaming, and if in dream we think of Krishna, is that thinking of Krishna also? First of all, thinking of Krishna 24 hours a day is not a mechanical activity.
It’s not like, say, the somebody wants to show something to someone, they don’t want to see it. So, bring it in their eyes. See, see, see.
Well, that is one way of making them see the thing. So, like that, we may force ourselves. Think of Krishna, think of Krishna, think of Krishna.
But, that is not sustainable for a very long time. The point is, when Krishna says, think of me constantly, that means, become attached to me. Make me your foremost object of attachment.
Now, when we love someone, we naturally think of them. So, now, that is the goal. So, we can’t think of Krishna 24 hours a day unless we have developed love for him.
At the same time, love is not just a feeling that happens. Sometimes people say, oh, we saw each other and there’s love at first sight. Well, yes, it may be possible that when too many people meet, they experience some emotions, they experience some connection.
But, the relationship will depend not on what happens at first sight, it depends on what happens after many sights. So, love, love is not just a feeling, it is a doing. It is a doing.
We have to act in that relationship by which that loving relationship continues. So, for us, to develop love for Krishna, there is a process. And that process involves that we just try to expose ourselves to Krishna as much as possible.
So, and by exposing ourselves to Krishna, our heart attraction to him develops. This happens in two ways. Actually, we human beings are creatures of habit.
Familiarity breeds serenity. Familiarity breeds serenity. What does that mean? That means, suppose, you know, suppose, after we become devoted, first time we wear dhoti kurta.
What is the dress I wore? We feel very odd. But then, we come to a temple and we see everybody is wearing dhoti kurta. It’s okay, I’m not so odd.
So, in any activity, if we keep doing it repeatedly, we get habituated to it. So, how do people develop attachment to anything? Prabhupada was asked. How do we, how can we chant nicely? How can we become devotees of Krishna? Prabhupada asked, how do you become a good drunkard? So, Prabhupada said, you drink and you associate with drunkards.
So, similarly, how do we become devotees of Krishna? We try to love and serve Krishna and we associate with those who are loving and serving Krishna. So, the point is, that for us in sadhana bhakti, we try to expose ourselves to Krishna as much as possible. And by that exposure to Krishna, our attachment to Him will develop.
Just by repeated exposure to something, gradually familiarity develops and by that the habit develops. This is true for anything. But it is especially true for Krishna because Krishna is not just any other object.
Krishna is the all-attractive supreme person. We have a natural connection with Him and that natural connection has to be revived. That’s all.
And secondly, so right now when we are told always think of Krishna, it is not practical for us to think of Krishna 24 hours till we have love for Him. But understanding that the process for developing love for Krishna is thinking about Him, is exposing ourselves to Krishna, we try to find out which is the best way in which we can connect ourselves with Krishna. So, there is a process of sadhana bhakti.
We associate with devotees, we hear glasses, we chant the holy name, we worship the deities. All these are important. Along with that, while doing this we also can find out what are the things that connect us with Krishna bhakti.
We may find that I can remember Krishna very nicely through music, through kirtans. Somebody else may find by reciting verses. Somebody else may find by hearing glasses.
Somebody else may know, I like to keep picture of deities. When I look at a picture of deities, I feel connected with Krishna. So, Bhaktira Saheb Matsyendu calls this as uddhipan.
Uddhipan means spiritual stimulus. So we, each of us have to find out what is the stimulus that connects us with Krishna. What is our uddhipan? And we try to maximize those uddhipan for us.
And these uddhipan will be different for different devotees. We have to find out what is our uddhipan. When I take darshan of the deities and I recite verses and I turn on the verses and I say that this is the same lord who is coming in front.
So, then I feel a connection with Krishna. So once I spoke this in a class, we can recite verses, we feel connected with Krishna. And after two days one devotee came and told me, he says, if I think of reciting verses, in remembering the verses I get so much tension that all bhakti goes away.
So, what is the uddhipan for me is not a uddhipan for him. So we have to find out what is our uddhipan. What stimulates our thoughts and our desires in the direction of Krishna.
And we connect ourselves with Krishna. So by exposing ourselves to more and more spiritual stimuli, we can maximize our remembrance of Krishna. That’s how we can remember Krishna as much as possible.
And more importantly, it’s like we make Krishna the goal of our life. We make Krishna the goal of our life. It’s not that we have to consciously always remember Krishna.
It’s not that if somebody may ask, how can I remember Krishna consciously? If I have to go to my office and do my work, so what do I do? Is it like I have to have a split personality? How come he’s thinking of Krishna? How come he’s doing my work? No, it’s not like that. It is more like Krishna becomes the driving motivation for everything that we do. Vishnachak Thakur gives the example.
Suppose there is a man who may be far away, working somewhere. But he’s thinking, oh, I have my wife, I have my children, and I’m working so that I can earn, so that they can be well taken care of. So, although he’s not physically with them, he’s far away, he may not even be thinking of them consciously.
But maintaining them is become and doing necessary for maintaining them, it’s become a subconscious ingrained driving motivation. And that is because of affection. So like that, as we become purified, Krishna becomes the motivation for everything that we do in our life.
So even if we don’t think of Krishna constantly, as a background, Krishna becomes an awareness for us. And as we keep practicing bhakti more and more, then Krishna’s presence starts coming more and more in the foreground. It’s like when we do something new for the first time.
Say, first time we fly in a plane. Oh, I’ve become a big person, I’m flying in a plane. But then, after a few times we fly in the plane, then more important is where is the plane going? Why am I going there? What am I going to do after that? So, as we become familiarized to the externals, then we don’t get carried away by the externals.
We focus on the purpose for which we are going through the extremes. So like that, in youth, our body is young, all the hormones are going through the body, so there is so much ambition. So we are excited about doing things.
At that time, we are, oh, I have to do this, I have to go here, I have to achieve this, we are so excited. But as we start maturing, then we start realizing what I am doing is not as important as for what purpose I am doing it. And that’s how, although we are attentive to our externals, our attention is not consumed by our externals.
We are attentive to the externals because we are using those externals for a particular purpose. Like that, gradually as we keep practicing bhakti and we start maturing, Krishna becomes a driving motivation for everything, and Krishna moves from a background presence to more of a foreground presence. And then whatever we do, we are doing it for Krishna.
So, the Bhagavad Gita, 1846, Krishna says that by your work, worship. Some people translate that as work is worship. Krishna doesn’t say work is worship.
If work is worship, then the donkey is the greatest worshipper. So, Krishna is not saying work is worship, he is saying by your work, worship me. Svakarmana tamabhyarcha.
And by our work we worship him, then what will happen? Siddhim vindatimanama. You will attain perfection, Krishna says. So, how do we actually worship Krishna by our work? That means, whatever work we are doing, the driving motivation for that work is Krishna.
That means some part of the work that we do, we give the fruits of that in charity to Krishna, and we make our home into a temple, and we use whatever we are earning and whatever we are doing, we orient it with a spiritual purpose in our life. That way, our remembrance of Krishna will become more and more. And as our attachment to Krishna increases, then we will be able to remember Krishna constantly.