How conscious intention raises bhakti to the level of a relationship

[Congregation program at Melbourne, Australia]

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So when we see something as a cultural activity, the nature of culture is that it keeps changing. Whether it is from one country to another country, one state to another state or from one age to another age, one decade to another decade. Culture always has changed.
But when we practise something, what is our purpose in practising it? What is our understanding in practising it? Broadly speaking, whatever we do in our life, there are four broad reasons why we may do it. One is culture, second is tradition, third is mood and fourth is logic. I’ll explain all of these.
Why do we do what we do? One is culture. One of my friends, he went from India to America and in India he was a sold out cricket fan and he had never even much heard about baseball. But after six months of being in America, he was just cheering the local baseball team with the same mania which he had for cricket earlier.
So how did he get that? Culture. That is, people around us, everybody is doing it, so I’ll do it. So that is the basic understanding of culture.
We’ll talk about devotional culture or spiritual culture a little later. But culture means everyone is doing it, so I’ll do it. So in today’s world, culture is often what is equated with fashion.
Why do I wear a particular kind of dress? Why do I get a particular kind of phone? Why do I get a particular kind of car? Because that’s the fashion. So a British thinker Oscar Wilde said that fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to change it every six months. Or the same thing which is considered fashionable and beautiful today, after a few months, it just becomes old fashioned.
And for a person who prides themselves on being fashionable, there is no insult more painful than being called old fashioned. So if we let ourselves be driven only by the culture, because the culture keeps changing, we’ll also keep doing this, doing that, doing that. It’s fine, we have to adapt to the culture at times, but we also have to have some steady overall purpose for our life.
The second reason why we do things could be tradition. We have always done it. So my parents did it, my grandparents did it, that’s why we do it.
And this kind of tradition is not just in religion. It is there everywhere. In all walks of life, there are traditions.
So for example in cricket, when a batsman hits a sixer, the umpire raises his hands. Now what is this? This has got nothing to do with six. Literally speaking, isn’t it? But that’s a tradition.
That’s how six is symbolised. So now in every field of life, there are traditions, there are things which are done simply because that is the way they were done in the past. So even in secular life, sometimes people say, oh you are so traditional.
You follow the outdated traditions. But there are traditions in every single walk of life, when people celebrate birthdays. At that time, what do they do? You have a birthday cake and then we light the number of candles as the age of the person is.
Normally we do it for children. For older people it becomes difficult to have that many candles. But for children we do that and then we extinguish the candles.
Now what is the logic in that? Actually, there are couple of movies in India which were satires on religion. There is OMG and then PK. So they raised some questions about religion.
They had some valid criticisms about religion but some were generalisations also. So one of the questions was about blind rituals. So I have written two books about them, question and answer books.
I will respond over there. This particular ritual, if you go back in history, it comes from a mediaeval Scandinavian legend. That is that every time a child is born and a child grows to a particular age, an evil spirit starts haunting the child.
And the age of the particular age of the child, that many evil spirits will haunt the child. And that’s why when that many candles are lit and the candles are extinguished, that will cause the evil spirits to go. Now, most people who do this, who light the candles and extinguish the candles, they don’t even know about it and they don’t believe in the spirits also.
Still they do it. So tradition is also one reason why we do things. But again traditions, we don’t know the reason.
Some traditions may be valid, some traditions may not be valid. The third could be mood. Mood is, I felt like doing it.
So why did you buy this? Sometimes people go to a shop and they have a shopping list which they take with them. But then they say, let me take this also. Let me take that also.
So then they keep doing more and more things. So there are people who are called shopaholics. Like alcoholics, compulsive drinkers of alcohol, shopaholics, compulsive shoppers.
They shop till they drop. Keep shopping, keep shopping. So why did you buy it? I felt like buying it.
I thought it’s nice. So it will be good to have. So based on our feelings we do things.
But again our feelings are notoriously fickle. The same thing which I feel irresistible today might feel unbearable tomorrow. So we can’t count only on our moods.
And the last general parameter could be logic. It made sense to me. Logic.
You know, suppose somebody comes and tells us, I purchased this phone. Why did you purchase this phone? Oh it has got this feature, this feature, this feature, this feature. And these features are not present in any other phone.
I’ll also take this one. So we might decide something based on logic. However, logic is also based on certain amount of information that we have.
There was one phone which was branded to be a very, very smart and very attractive phone. But then it had batteries that were exploding. And nobody knew it initially.
And then batteries started exploding and created a panic everywhere. When last time I had gone to America, all the airports had announcements over there. If you have this particular phone, then you should not carry it with the flight.
So, now, at that time when the purchaser purchased it, it might have been a logical decision. But it is based not on, logic is based on a certain level of information that we have. And if our information is incomplete, then the logic can also be inadequate.
So, when we are starting to practise bhakti, all of these can work as impetuses why we may start. It’s my culture. That’s why I come in a community and I see some friend who is going to a temple who goes for a programme.
Let me also go. Or it may be because of tradition. Okay, my parents used to take me to a temple.
Let me also go. Go for satsang. Or it may be some mood.
I feel good when I go to a temple. So, I’ll go there. Or it may be because of logic.
Oh, the classes. They make sense. Whatever I hear, philosophy makes sense.
Now, all of these can work as reasons why we may start practising Krishna bhakti. At the same time, none of these alone are adequate. Or even all of these together also may not be adequate.
Because ultimately, bhakti is a relationship with Krishna. We are developing a relationship with the Lord. And, the essence of relationship is commitment.
So, yes, there is culture, there is tradition, there is mood, there is logic. But for any relationship to sustain, what is required is commitment. I have to commit myself to this relationship.
Now, from the culture, from the tradition, from the mood, from the logic, I may get impetuses for the commitment. But, commitment is something different from all these. So, all these, they are, to some extent, external influences.
Culture and tradition are physically external to us. If we consider, from the reference point of the body, culture and tradition is what other people, outsiders, have practised. But, if we understand that we are the souls, from the soul’s perspective, even the mind and the intelligence are external.
Our existence is three-level. There is the body, there is the gross physical body, there is the subtle body, there is the soul. Subtle body has the mind and the intelligence.
Within it, it has two of its features. So, with the mind, we may get feelings, moods. I feel like doing it.
With the intelligence, there will be logic. And that is also important. But, the soul can consult the mind’s mood, the soul can consult the intelligence logic.
But ultimately, it is the soul’s decision that is required. So, everyone of us has to have that power of intention, which needs to be channelled. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna actually is primarily calling to Arjuna to invoke his power of intention.
He says in 18.73 at the end that विम्रिष्षेत तशेषेन यथेच्यसि तथा कुरू He says, deliberate deeply and then decide what you want to do. So, Krishna is giving, acknowledging Arjuna’s independence, respecting his intelligence and then he is asking what is your intention going to be. And Krishna, Arjuna responds ten verses later by saying करिष्षे वचनम् तभ I will do your will.
So, for us to practise bhakti or for that matter, for us to have any relationship with anyone. All the other factors are important. Culture, tradition, logic, mood but ultimately it’s our intention.
Because, unless that intention is there, all these external pushes, they can aid us but they can’t substitute for the intention. It is that the the mind and the intelligence are very important resources for us. And our emotions and our reasonings they are also very important.
At the same time, sometimes something may seem very reasonable. I don’t feel like doing it. Sometimes I feel like doing it but it’s not at all reasonable.
Both ways it may work out. So, मै अरपित मनो भुद्धेर Twice in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna uses this phrase, तस्मात सर्वेशु खालेशु मा मनुस्मर युध्यच मै अरपित मनो भुद्धेर मा मेवैश्यस्य संशयः All times remember me internally. Do your prescribed duty externally and offer your mind and intelligence to me.
मै अरपित मनो भुद्धेर मा मेवैश्यस्य संशयः In this way you will surely come to me. So, here when Krishna says मै अरपित मनो भुद्धेर That means, he says मन and भुद्धी are two faculties. You could say the faculty of feeling and the faculty of reasoning.
मन, mind and intelligence. He says both of them are there. Both of them you have to offer them to me.
And that offering comes through our intention. So, what is it that triggers our intention? In the Vedanta Sutra which is very condensed philosophical classic. The second, first sutra is that अखातो ब्रह्मजिक्यासा Now, enquire about Brahma.
Now, try to understand what is Brahma? So, Ramanacharya has almost a hundred page commentary on this one sutra. Just three words, huge commentary. And he is analysing what are the, what is it that kindles ब्रह्मजिक्यासा in some people and what is it that doesn’t kindle अखातो ब्रह्मजिक्यासा So, ब्रह्मजिक्यासा is spiritual enquiry.
So, once I brought one of my friends to a temple when I was 20-25 years ago when I was just reintroduced. And there was all this Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavatam, all these wonderful books were there. And I was delighting in these books.
And we had a library. And so, I showed him all the books and I said, I am reading this book. I am finding it beneficial.
He said, if you like, you can take any of these books. You can take it on, you don’t have to remember, you can take it on my account and you can give it to me later. He looked through all the books and in the corner at the bottom, some devotee who had been reading the books over there had kept a dictionary over there.
He said, can I borrow this dictionary? It’s good to learn English but among all the hundred books that were there, he had no Brahma Jigyasa, he had English Jigyasa. So, even when the books are there, there is no enquiry that comes. So, what is it that kindles spiritual enquiry in some people and what is it that it doesn’t kindle in some people? So, the capacity for enquiry is there in everyone.
In fact, sometimes some people say that science is all about enquiry and religion is all about faith. Somebody has said something and you have to believe it. But that is not the approach of the Vedanta Sutra at all.
Rather the Vedanta Sutra says, enquire. Athato Brahma Jigyasa. So, now Einstein said that the sciences, the arts and the religions are all fruits of the same tree of human knowledge.
So, when we look at the world around us and try to find out what makes the world work, that enquiry leads to science. So, last year when I had gone to Cambridge University, I passed by a tree where Newton saw the fruit falling. So, when I passed by that tree, that was literally like, it’s a pilgrimage place for scientists.
People come there with such a reverential mood. This is the place where the great scientist Newton came up with the breakthrough and inaugurated the age of science. So, it’s a memorial place.
Now, if we see what happened over there, Newton saw the fruit falling. Millions of people before him had seen fruits falling. Isn’t it? Most of those people picked up the fruit, ate it and went their way.
And, now, he could also have done that. But what did he do? He enquired, what made this fruit fall? And interestingly, what was his answer? He came up with the principle of gravity, the gravitational force. And if you see, sometimes people say, seeing is believing.
If you show me God, I’ll believe in him. If you show me soul, I’ll believe in him. Actually, even in science, if Newton had insisted on seeing is believing, he would never have been able to postulate gravity.
All scientific advancement happens by moving from visible phenomena to invisible principles for explaining those phenomena. If you see, electricity. Now, we can’t see electricity per se.
We can say, I can feel electricity. That’s fine, but what about the laws of electricity? What about the concept of electrons? Most, if we consider the principle of thermodynamics, most of the theories that are involved in science, the laws that are involved, the principles that are involved, the concepts that are involved, they are not tangibly visible. In fact, if we go into quantum physics, most of the things are not only not visible, they are not even conceivable.
There is one, I think, Neil Bohr, one quantum physics scientist, he said that, if you think you have understood quantum physics, then you have not understood it. So, actually, in all fields of knowledge, if we have to make serious advancement, what do we do? We look at observed phenomena. We come up with invisible principles to explain those phenomena.
So, science largely looks for material explanations for material phenomena. It looks for, what is the world around me, and how does it work? And, science tries to look for all material explanations, which are important. But, what about non-material explanations? They are considered to be out of the scope of science.
Whether they exist or they don’t exist, science says, we don’t bother about it. So, the same spirit of enquiry, when human beings, I am explaining here, Einstein said that the sciences, the arts, and the religions, they are the fruits, they are the same tree. So, I am explaining how they are, the fruits of the same tree.
So, when we try to look for material explanations for material phenomena, that’s how the sciences result. When we try to replicate the beautiful things that we observe in nature, through our creativity, that’s how the arts come about. So, every art is an act of imagination.
It’s not imaginary. It is, often art is based on reality, but the representation of reality is done using imagination. So, again here, what we are doing? We are observing, and we are trying to get a better sense of things by which we can feel it in a different way, in a deeper way, in a sweeter way, in a more emotionally evocative way.
When we come to religion, here, nowadays there is a big difference between the word religion and spiritual. I am not religious, I am spiritual. So, there is a whole group of people who call themselves as SBNR.
SBNR is spiritual, but not religious. So, their idea is that they think religion is dogmatic, close-minded, leads to extremism, fanaticism, I don’t want to be associated with that. But spiritual means, they say that, oh, somebody is open-minded, they want to have some higher experiences.
They are broad-thinking. They say, I want to be spiritual. There is an atheist who identifies himself as a spiritual atheist.
Now, atheist is basically one who believes only in the world of matter. So, doesn’t believe in anything non-material. How one can be a spiritual atheist? So, their understanding is, they equate spiritual with anything that makes them feel good.
I went and saw that sunset. It was so spiritual. Yes, how was it spiritual? It made me feel so good.
Basically, people equate the mental with the spiritual. Anything makes me feel good, call it spiritual. That’s a different subject.
My point here is, this differentiation between religious and spiritual, this is a post 1980s-1990s differentiation. In the past, religious was used for everything non-material. So, Einstein said, religions are the fruits of the same tree.
He is not using that religion in the negative connotation which the world has today. So, what happens in religion? In religion, we try to look for the fundamental causes of things. The first principles in everything.
Science operates, science enquires, but it enquires based on certain assumptions. The assumption is that we live in an orderly universe. Newton asked, what made the fruit fall? So, this question is intelligent that he asked the question, but before that there is a presumption that things don’t happen by chance.
There is some cause-effect correlation by which things happen. So, Einstein said that the most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible. The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.
What he means by that is that actually why should the universe work according to rational principles which we can make sense of. So, that first principle, science just assumes that nature works according to certain laws, but where do those laws come from? That is what religion is meant to enquire about. The first principles, the fundamental causes, the starting points of things.
So, this what we are discussing over here is how we can pursue bhakti as a relationship. And I said that the Vedanta sutra says it begins with enquiry. So, we are talking about how all arts, sciences and religions are based on the inquisitive spirit.
But the same inquisitive spirit is directed towards material explanations or material phenomena that leads to sciences. When it is directed towards creative replication of the observed material phenomena that leads to the arts. And when that inquisitive spirit is directed towards first principles, where does it all come from? How did things begin? So, when we go to the root and ask for fundamental questions, that’s where religion comes up.
So, some people ask, if God created everything, who created God? Now, at one level, this appears to be a very logical question. At another level, it is a question which reflects a lack of understanding of what do we mean by the word God. In every field, we have to begin with definitions.
And the definition of God is that he is the cause of all causes. He is the starting point of everything. Even from the point of pure logic, the cause of all causes can’t have a cause.
If the cause of all causes had a cause, then the cause of the cause of all causes would be the cause of all causes. So, wherever the chain of tracing backwards stops, that is the point we call God. So, rather than starting with God as some image we see in a temple and say, how can this be God? No.
Put that aside for the time being. Don’t start with depiction, start with definition. The cause of all causes is, it cannot have a cause.
And that cause of all causes is what we call as God. So, the question is if God created everything, who created God? That is actually logically incoherent. It’s like asking what made a circle circular? A circle by definition is circular.
Nobody makes a circle circular. You can say I draw a circular circle, somebody did not draw a circular circle. But a circle by definition is circular.
So, God by definition is the cause of all causes. So, we can’t have, if you ask what is the cause of all causes, then the definition is not understood. Another way to understand this is that God exists outside the time domain.
He is, it’s like if a child reads a novel, say somebody reads Harry Potter and after reading the whole book child comes to know, okay there is an author who wrote this, J.K. Rowling and starts looking through the whole book where is J.K. Rowling? Where is J.K. Rowling? Now, even no matter how exhaustively we read the book, we are not going to find J.K. Rowling in the book. J.K. Rowling created the storyline, created the timeline, created the characters, but she exists outside the world of the book. Similarly, God, He creates time, He creates cause and effect chain, but He exists outside it all.
So, when we have this Brahma Jigyasa, this spiritual enquiry and that is how religion results. So, how does the spiritual enquiry come about? In the Mahabharata, when the Pandavas and the Kauravas are at war, so on the 13th day, the Kauravas form the Chakravyuha and they trap Abhimanyu. 13th night, Arjuna takes a vow that tomorrow I am either going to kill Jayadratha or I will enter into fire.
And then after that, the next morning, Kauravas arrange their whole force to just defend Jayadratha. And Arjuna penetrates into it, breaking it through. And Arjuna goes deep, deep, deep into it, all alone.
All the other warriors are fighting in different places. And finally, Yudhishthira starts thinking, yesterday Abhimanyu went into the Kaurava forces and he got trapped there. What if Arjuna gets trapped there? So, he tells Arjuna’s student and friend Satyaki, you go and follow Arjuna and you assist him.
He is your teacher. Satyaki goes. And Satyaki is actually quite young.
Then, Yudhishthira starts thinking, what if Satyaki gets trapped inside? So, he looks around and there is one person who is itching to fight. Who is that? Bhima. So, so then, then Yudhishthira says, Bhima, can you go? Yes, he says, immediately.
And Bhima just charges in. The trail of devastation that Arjuna has created, which Satyaki has retraced. Bhima follows that.
And, as Bhima keeps going forward, forward, forward, he just, you know, he, although it is Arjuna who is especially infuriated because of Abhimanyu being slaughtered the previous night, but Abhimanyu was like the son for all the Pandavas. He is very dear to everyone. And Bhima felt especially angry about it because Bhima had been the part of the team who had told Abhimanyu, you go inside, we will follow you.
And we will break the Chakram from inside. So, he felt as if he too, he had failed Abhimanyu. So, he also had a lot of anger within him.
And, the Kaurava forces, they had already been battered by Arjuna’s assault. When Bhima came behind him, it was just unbearable. Many soldiers had started fleeing.
And then, finally, the major maharathas from the Pandavas, from Kaurava side, they started trying to stop the Kauravas. But, many of Duryodhana’s brothers, they came and they fought with Bhima. And, Bhima, he would also, like most warriors, that time they had the chariots, Bhima would fight also with bow and arrow.
But, when Bhima would get very excited with anger, he would feel that his bow and arrow, not enough impact. You shoot an arrow, you don’t feel the impact. You hit somebody with a mace, you feel the impact.
So, what Bhima would do is, when he would get very excited, just put aside his bow and arrow and just jump off his chariot and charge into the enemy forces. And, when he would charge in like that, they would be shooting arrows. But, Bhima was so expert in his mace that the arrows which would come to him, they would just fly away, they would not even reach him.
And, even if some arrows reached him, nothing would happen to him. He was so infuriated. So, when he would just go into the enemy ranks, his mace would be swinging like the mace of death and everybody would fall back.
So, sometimes when he would just charge into the enemy forces, what would happen is Bhima, he was not just shooting from a distance, he was right into the enemy ranks. So, you know, his whole body would be covered with blood. His own blood, his opponent’s blood.
And, all red, the only white part would be his eyes, pupils and his tooth. He would laugh. So, just seeing him would create terror in the enemy.
And, Bhima was expert among all the Pandavas, Bhima was the most expert at intimidation. He would like scare the opponents. Cricket Australians are known to be sledgers.
You know, they sledge, they intimidate the opponents. So, now, Bhima started fighting and in less than an hour after Bhima entered, Duryodhana’s thirty brothers, hundred brothers, thirty brothers, they lay on the battlefield floor. Finished.
Duryodhana heard about this. Shocked. He put his head in his hands.
What happened? He said, I have my full army, I have Drona, I have Kripa, I have Karna. And, how can it be that I am not able to stop them? Stop Arjuna, stop Krishna, stop Bhima. How is it possible? Arjuna was relentlessly pressing towards Jayadratha.
And the way it was going, it appeared as if his whole army would be devastated in one day. And he started looking and thinking. Holding his head in his hands, he started thinking.
How can it be? Their forces are less than mine, I have got more experienced warriors, I have got more warriors. How can I be defeated with this? A voice spoke with him. Maybe Krishna is really God.
Krishna is really God, that’s why I am being defeated. But as soon as that voice came, immediately, another voice came. But, if Krishna were God, and Krishna loves Arjuna, and Arjuna loves Abhimanyu, how, if Krishna were God, how could I have been able to kill Abhimanyu? Because, I was able to kill Abhimanyu, therefore Krishna is not God.
So, in this way, he again, got back his demoniac zeal, and tried to stop the Pandavas. Of course, he was not able to stop. Arjuna still relieved Jyadrath by Krishna’s grace, and Arjuna fulfilled his vow.
But the point I am telling over here is, that, if a person has a demoniac intention, no amount of evidence will ever be enough. The mind will find out some reason to doubt. Some people say, no, I don’t believe such things.
Ok, what does it mean? They think that scepticism is a sign of their intellectual prowess. You people believe things. We don’t believe.
We are sceptics. We have used our intelligence and we doubt. But actually, when somebody is doubting, what are they doing? They are simply believing their doubts.
Nobody can prove the non-existence of God. So, atheists, they believe that God doesn’t exist. So, even when the evidence is there, they neglect the evidence and look at some other evidence.
If you look at the whole system by which rains come, it’s a magnificent system. How water is raised from the oceans, it’s brought through the clouds and it showers on the earth. So, the clouds are like mobile airborne water tanks that are made of aircraft proof technology.
Even the twin tower designers couldn’t come up with aircraft proof technology. But that’s what they are. So, there’s no leakage at all.
Even if an aeroplane goes through it, there’s no leakage. It’s remarkable how the clouds are made. So, when we human beings try to replicate clouds or try to create artificial rains, it’s extremely difficult to do it.
Most of the times, we are not even successful. So, if you look at the whole system, it requires a tremendous amount of intelligence. And all this intelligence is something which is essential for our existence.
A whole intelligent arrangement would be there. It would not exist if it had not been there. So, a wise person would say, oh, this rain and fall, it’s an arrangement that makes my existence possible.
There is some benevolent and intelligent brain behind this. The atheists will look at the same rains and say, if rains were arranged by God for providing us water, then why does it rain on oceans? There is already so much water. Why does it rain on oceans? Yes, it rains on oceans so that atheists can ask this question.
So, what does it mean? If say, if we go to a house in which there are 10 rooms and 9 rooms are spick and span, very clean, and one room is disorderly, then we can ask, okay, why is this room disorderly? And that is a valid question. We can find some answer for that. But, if the 9 rooms are orderly, the presence of order in the 9 rooms indicates the presence of some order maintainer.
Now, why that order maintainer has not maintained the order in the 10th room, that’s a different question, which we can address afterwards. But the point is, the presence of order indicates an order maintainer. So, similarly, the fact that we see order on the earth indicates that there is an order maintainer.
So, I was talking earlier about how culture, tradition, mood and logic, all these are important. But ultimately, it’s a matter of intention. Duryodhana lived in a place where the culture was very godly, the tradition was godly.
He, there were times when logically he was explaining things. At one time, actually on the 8th day of the battle, Duryodhana had suffered a severe defeat. And he had fought with Bhima, and Bhima had not only battered him, Bhima would have killed him on that day only, but his charioteer would have pulled him away.
And he ran away unconscious. And whole elephant division was destroyed on that day. So, when this happened, he became a little introspective.
And he asked Bhishma, how, how was I being defeated? And Bhishma told him, he says, O king, O prince, Dhritarashtra was the king at that time. So, I have been crying myself hoarse trying to explain to you. I’ll explain once again.
And then he talks about Krishna’s glories. How Krishna as a small child had killed Putana, how he had lifted Govardhana, how he had performed such stupendous feats. And he says, as long as Krishna is in the chariot of Arjuna, you will never attain victory.
He is the supreme lord Narayana. He has descended to this world. So, all this when Dhritarashtra heard, in the past whenever he would hear, he would sneer at it.
And Krishna actually showed the universal form. He said, this is just a magic. I can also show many forms.
He never showed any form. He said, I can also show many forms. But, at this particular point, because he had been battered, he was a little humbled.
That night, when he went to sleep in his tent, he thought about Krishna and he bowed down to Krishna. He said, maybe if Krishna is God, there is no harm in bowing down to Him. But the next morning, when he woke up, again his demoniac mentality came out.
So, for someone who is attached, spiritual knowledge does not come as a light. It comes as a lightning. It’s there for a few moments, understand, but then, again darkness comes.
So, it’s important that the power of intention has to be there. Without that, even if we explain things logically, even if sometimes the mood is good, sometimes the mood is bad. So, this intention to connect with Krishna is extremely precious.
And that intention comes primarily by the association of devotees who have an intention. Bhakti Sanjayate Bhakti. It is the association of devotees that the intention comes.
The potential for practising spiritual life is there in all of us. Because we are essentially spiritual. But that will not be activated unless we associate with someone who is spiritually inclined.
Just as a candle has the potential to be lit and to light its vicinity. But that potential will be tapped only when the candle comes in touch with another candle that is lit. So, similarly, when we associate with devotees, they are like their candle of Krishna bhakti, their intention to serve Krishna is lit.
And then our candle can be lit by their association. And that’s how our bhakti can vote at the level of intentional bhakti rather than circumstantial bhakti. Circumstantial bhakti means that yes, people around me are doing bhakti, so I’ll do it.
The circumstances can be external in terms of culture or tradition. Or the circumstances can be internal also. This logically makes sense.
This, I feel like doing it. Because the mind and intelligence are also external to us in a sense. So, this intention, if it comes to us, when we rise from circumstantial bhakti to intentional bhakti, that is where we are becoming committed to our relationship with Krishna.
And ultimately from intentional bhakti, we will come to transcendental bhakti. Transcendental bhakti means that whatever be our circumstances, we become transcendentally connected with Krishna. When we are connected with Krishna that way, then bhakti becomes constantly joyful.
Because beyond whatever is happening in the world, in our hearts, our connection with Krishna stays strong. And in that connection, there is satisfaction. In that connection, there is protection.
And in that connection, ultimately there is liberation. So, to come to the level of intentional bhakti from circumstantial bhakti, that is the gift which we get through the association of devotees, if we take that gift. So, there are special periods.
For example, recently we had a Damodar month in which we all because of the culture or because of the tradition, we practise some more intense bhakti. We may everyday offer a lamp to the lord. We may go to the temple to offer lamp, may sing a special song.
And this sort of special circumstances, holy times, when we practise bhakti, this is circumstantial bhakti. And many times people say, okay, it’s Diwali, let’s light a lamp, let’s do some festival. That is very good.
At least at those times, at least in those circumstances, we are practising bhakti. However, the transformation will happen if we move from circumstantial to intentional. And when we do that, then bhakti doesn’t remain simply a cultural or traditional activity, it becomes our connection with Krishna.
We always have a relationship with Krishna, but we do not realise that relationship. When we make bhakti an intentional choice, okay, during this circumstance, I did some special bhakti. In this month, I did some vrata, I did some japa, I did some tapa, whatever.
I did that, that is good. But now, let me continue. I may not be able to continue at the same level which I did.
In a special month, we may have been able to make some special resolutions and do that. It may not be possible to stick to that level. But still, some level, we connect with Krishna.
Because when the bhakti is only circumstantial, then it is not very much transformational. It is during that period, there is, we are devoted. But after that, it is almost like a relapse back to our normal way of living.
But if you want to experience the transformational potency of bhakti, where we steadily connect with Krishna and experience spiritual peace and joy in that connection, then we will come to the level of intentional bhakti. I conclude with this point. How can we rise from circumstantial to intentional till we ultimately come to transcendental? So, I said one is that intention comes from association of devotees.
Within association also, we have to find out what is it that connects us with Krishna. Even if there is one activity which we feel inspired, I like to do kirtans. I like to hear some lectures.
I like to worship the deities. I feel inspired when I study, recite Bhagavad Gita. Whatever it is, I like to go to the temple and do some seva over there.
So, whatever it is that we feel inspired to do, we see that and make that as a commitment. This one activity, I will do steady. The quantity of time we do it, that is something which will vary based on our particular situation.
But the principle is what can be immeasurable. I want to move forward in a steady relationship with Krishna and I will commit myself to doing this one particular activity. Sometimes, it is difficult in life to be consistent that I decide to do this but somehow this comes up, that comes up, that comes up.
It is difficult to be consistent. And consistency is actually a very great sign of serious intention. But even sometimes it happens that consistency becomes difficult.
Even if we can’t be consistent, we can be resilient. Resilient means, okay, I can’t do it now. It goes on a little bit but again I rise.
So, there may be some ups and downs. But it is overall steady movement towards Krishna. And when that happens, when that level of commitment comes through our conscious intention, we will find that Krishna doesn’t remain a cultural figure in our culture or a historical figure in our tradition.
Krishna starts becoming a living loving reality in our lives. It may not be that we get some supernatural visions of Krishna or dreams of Krishna but that Krishna becoming a living loving reality happens through the calmness that we get, the inner strength that we get. In situations when earlier we would just have crumbled under the pressure of those situations, we will find that we are able to stay calm.
We are able to deal with those situations with a far greater maturity than what would have been possible for us earlier. So, in this way, Krishna becomes our inner guide, our inner light, our inner strength. And in that way, we go through life with much more confidence and much more clarity.
The result of or the difference between godless life and a godly life is not just in terms of the consequence. Okay, godless life, there will be some consequence in future life. Godly life, we will go back to Krishna.
That consequence is there. But more importantly, in terms of what we can experience, actually the difference between a godless life and a godly life is in terms of the inner strength that we get. The inner strength helps us to cope with whatever life sends our way.
Life will inevitably put us in difficulties. But when we are internally sheltered by Krishna, then Krishna, our devotion to Krishna becomes like a shield. When life hits us with blows, life hits us with problems, the shield, we can protect ourselves.
When the shield is not there, then we hurt ourselves. Actually, we do something worse. It is not just life hits us blows.
Life hits us blows and then whatever has gone wrong, our mind goes on a perpetual auto-replay of that. Why did this happen? Why did this happen? So, life has hit us one blow and internally the mind keeps hitting us blows again and again and again. And frequently, the mind’s blows hurt more than the world’s blows.
Somebody has you know, I go to some programme, I go to some party, some get-together and I greet someone and that person just snubs me and goes off. How dare! You know, it’s just I get so angry and then the mind starts replaying that snub on a 50 feet screen. You know, so many people saw, I was so badly insulted.
I will show you. And then it just goes on replaying replaying replaying and we become so miserable because of that. But that, so firstly life’s blows don’t hit us so much.
Even if life’s blows hit us, then our mind is fixed on Krishna. Our mind doesn’t go into this replaying of small hurts. Just keep it small.
Doesn’t matter. You know, maybe in the past I snubbed someone. That’s why somebody has snubbed me now.
Doesn’t matter so much. So, we are protected from life’s blows. Firstly, we get the shield to minimise them and from external blows also.
But more importantly, our mind, we’ll find, will become much much more much much more manageable. The mind induced aggravation of our problems will substantially go down. And in that way, Krishna will become our inner shield and our inner strength.
Even in this life, we can march through with much more clarity, much more confidence. And we march through towards an eternal relationship with Krishna, wherein we will find eternal life, eternal love and eternal joy. So, I’ll summarise what I spoke.
I talked today about moving from bhakti as a cultural activity towards bhakti as a relationship with Krishna. So, whatever we do, there are broadly four reasons for it. What are they? Culture, tradition, food, logic.
All of these are valid in their own ways for doing things. But they are not necessarily authoritative or decisive. And they are all external.
Culture and tradition are physically external to us. Mood and logic are external to us as souls because they come from our mind and intelligence. So, to develop a relationship with Krishna, all these can be important.
But in our day-to-day relationship also, we can’t have a committed relationship just because of the culture, just because of the tradition, just because it’s my mood. We have to have commitment which comes from conscious intention. So, how do we get that intention to serve Krishna? How does that So, some people say that religion requires faith and science is based on enquiry.
But the Brahma Samhita, the Vedanta Sutra, Brahma Sutra says that spiritual life begins with enquiry. The same inquisitive spirit when directed towards looking for material explanations of material phenomena leads to the development of science. The same enquiring spirit when we try to give artistic representations of reality in order to make more sense of it, that leads to the arts.
And the same inquisitive spirit when we look for fundamental answers, the first principle of things, that’s what leads to religion. And when we look at the world around us, the most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible. Science begins with the, science discovers the order but it doesn’t explain where the order comes from.
That’s a presumption. And that order, we understand, comes from the absolute truth, God. So, if somebody asks who created God? It’s like asking who made a circle circular? To understand there’s a definition of God.
He’s the cause of all causes. He’s like the author who is not to be found in the novel but who exists at a different level. So, this spiritual enquiry which will lead to spiritual understanding, which will lead to the commitment to Krishna, that spiritual enquiry comes through association.
The association of devotees, those whose inquisitive spirit towards Krishna is kindled, that’s a candle of our heart, gets lit by associating with the candle of their hearts. And from the world, if we look around we can get evidence which will support our devotion. But if our intention is not there, we will reject the evidence.
Like Duryodhana did. Even when he saw the evidence in front of his eyes, he said, no. How could we have been able to kill a man? Therefore, Krishna is not God.
So, if the godless intention is there, then no evidence will be enough. But if you have a godly intention, then we will find that there is not only just the evidence of Krishna’s existence, but we will see Krishna’s benevolence, Krishna guiding us, Krishna strengthening us. I concluded by talking about how we need to move from circumstantial bhakti to intentional bhakti.
So, whatever circumstance is there, prompts us to intensify bhakti, that is good. Like Damodar Mantra is there, from there we carry on to intentional. Find some activity in bhakti which we can commit ourselves to do and do that.
And from there we will come to transcendental bhakti. And there we have a constant connection with Krishna which makes bhakti constantly joyful. So, the result of a godly life is not just in the consequence of the destination that we get.
It is also in the composure that we get during the journey. That when life’s blows hit us, our devotion will give us the inner strength to shield ourselves from those blows. And it will shield us especially from the mind replicating those blows.
Mind vegetating over the problem and making things miserable will not be there. And we will be able to move forward to our life, through our life much more confidently and much more purposefully towards Krishna. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna. Are there any questions or comments? There are many other comments. How can we increase our quality in because increasing the quality of commitment takes more commitment.
Okay. Okay. So, how can we increase the quality in whatever commitment that we do have because we already have so many so many activities which we have to do in our daily life.
Yes. The quality at our level it usually comes through conscious contemplation using the intelligence. What do we mean by quality? Quality at one level can mean, if say if I am worshipping the deities, if I am chanting the holy names, I am doing it as a ritual or I am doing it with some focus, some emotion.
So, we can refer to the quality as the concentration that we have, the absorption that we have, the emotion that we have. So, firstly, the intelligence needs to be convinced and this is important. And the mind is going to be restless.
The mind’s emotions will sometimes work in favour of us and many times work against us. Sometimes when we are chanting, on a few occasions we feel, this chanting is so good, I am feeling so much strength, I just want to keep chanting. I feel, you know, chanting should never end.
On most occasions, we feel, chanting never ends. It’s going on and on. So, our mind’s moods are such that we can’t at our stage count on the emotions working always in our favour.
If they work in our favour, it’s great. But we need something to push us on even when the mind is not working in our favour. The emotions are not there.
And that comes through intellectual conviction. Our intention, it ultimately is something which is coming from our free will. But that free will can be supported by different things.
So, In 3.45 Krishna says, in this way, with your intelligence, understanding that you are transcendental, you are spiritual, fix your mind on the spiritual platform. So, whatever we are doing, we need some intellectual conviction for doing those things. And that intellectual conviction comes by hearing, by reading.
And not just generic hearing or reading. During our hearing or reading, if we hear purposefully, tomorrow, I usually get distracted during my chanting, I get distracted in various things. So, I’ll note some points down and before my chanting, I’ll highlight these points.
Chanting is important because of this, this, this. So, that intellectual conviction, it will not bring taste immediately, but it will bring focus. Otherwise, there is no focus only.
Sometimes, our tongue and our mind are running on two different tracks. The tongue is Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, and the mind is I got my job, what is the team, what is the cricket score, what is this, what is that. Two different tracks entirely.
Now, the mind will go on a different track, but if you have intellectual conviction, you will get the mind back on track. You’ll get the mind back on track. So, our intelligence has to be strong.
And then, there is buddhi, and then there is sangha. Sangha is association. General devotee association is wonderful, but if we want to do a particular activity seriously, then if we have some other devotee friend, who is also doing that activity.
If I want to memorise verses, somebody else is doing that. If I want to go for a programme, somebody else is also doing that. We talk after the programme, okay, what did you like, what did you like.
So, basically some amount of reciprocation is there, then it becomes much easier to do it. The mind gets us alone, and then gets us. So, if you don’t, let it come, let us get isolated.
Then, if you stay connected, then resisting the mind’s mind’s wandering becomes easier. So, reading specifically about the activity which we want to commit ourselves to, even the existing commitment or some extra commitment, whatever it is, and associating with somebody who also wants to commit themselves similarly, and exchanging notes. These two things, buddhi and sangha can help us to infuse quality into what we are doing.
When the focus comes, by the focus gradually taste will come. Because when we get connected with Krishna, then gradually the mind starts experiencing, yeah, this is good. I am thinking that TV match, TV is good, that cricket match is good, that is good, all that is okay, but this is great, I want this.
Once the mind gets that, then the taste becomes steady. But till that point we need to perceive it. Krishna says that, that which tastes like poison in the beginning will taste like nectar in the end.
So, there will be a phase of poison through which we need to perceive it. Till we get to the nectar. And perceiving through the phase of poison, it becomes easier with buddhi and with sangha.
Okay? Thank you. Any other questions? Can you briefly explain how we should strive to move from circumstantial bhakti to intentional bhakti? And the best way to achieve intentional bhakti is through association. So, in association, can association be achieved from the perspective of direct and indirect association for one who is an intro, who is more introverted in nature, an introvert or ambivert.
For example, direct association is with people, and usually events, activities, or it could be a select few people, which is the better of the options for an introvert or ambivert. Or indirect is through lectures, through hearing and reading, whereby you associate with certain personalities whom you can relate to in terms of transmission of knowledge. So, how do we strike the balance, and how can we define association? People of different natures and personalities.
So, if somebody is an introvert, how do we define association for them? Is it physically going to events and participating, or can it be by hearing classes and reading books? We all say that is indirect association, but is that also as effective as direct association? Yeah, actually, phalle na parichayate. Phalle is the result. The result should be that, karishye vachanam yo, Krishna I want to serve you.
The desire to serve Krishna has to be constrained. So, we have to find out what is it that strengthens our desire for Krishna. If some people are extroverts, what happens is, the more people they meet, the more, they come with a smile, and the more people they meet, their smile becomes bigger and bigger and bigger.
Some introvert comes to a group, they come with a small smile, and after they meet a few people, their smile also disappears. Where can I get out of here now? They can’t sustain at that time. So, when that happens, there is a certain amount of social participation that is important.
Even introverts need the human connection, the personal connection also. But, they need it more in moderation. So, whereas extroverts, they love it.
So, basically, extroverts gain strength by being with others. Introverts gain strength by being alone. Both need other things.
So, now, this strength we are talking about is emotional strength. And beyond that is spiritual strength. So, just like if I have physically no strength, then even if it is a wonderful programme, I can’t do anything because I have no physical strength.
So, the soul has to work through the body-mind that it has right now. So, if somebody is very weak, they need to first gain strength. And that’s how they will be able to function.
Similarly, whatever gives us functional strength with our body-mind complex, we have to get that strength and function accordingly. So, it is just the way our body works, our mind works. Now, it’s always good to be purposefully engaged.
So, we can try to find out services which we can do productively even if we are not so visibly in devotee association all the time. Sometimes something can be like writing, editing, formatting, layout. Especially with now the digital world around us, all the creative arts, artistic things, they can be done quite easily.
And the results, the physical visibility may not be there, but the results are there. So, we all need also a sense that we are doing something. Others also should see that we are doing something.
Because devotees are naturally concerned if somebody doesn’t come for programme, that is not seen and they feel is the devotee doing well or something is wrong. So, if there is some tangible result seen from our services, then even if we are not directly visible, it’s not so important. So, sometimes some devotees may be too extroverts and they may push us, come for more programme, come for more programmes.
We have to find out introvert association that will understand us. And if some devotees don’t understand, that’s okay. There will be always some devotees who will think that the way they are practising bhakti is the best way or not the best way, it is the only way.
In bhakti, there are preferences and there are principles. So, principle is that we are meant to remember Krishna. Preference is how we do it.
Some devotees may sit and chant. Somebody may sit on the floor and chant, somebody may sit on a chair and chant. Somebody may stand and chant, somebody may walk and chant.
Now, how a particular person chants doesn’t matter. Somebody has got a lot of back pain, if they try to sit on the floor, that causes them so much pain that they can’t fix their mind on Krishna. They better sit and chant.
Somebody says, traditionally, where do you see sadhus sitting on chairs and chanting? You should sit on the floor. Well, that’s fine, but the purpose is not sit on the floor. The purpose is to remember Krishna.
So, if that purpose for serving it, I need some adjustment, then I have to associate with devotees who will be understanding. So, what happens is, in bhakti there are matters of principle and there are matters of preference. Well, those which are matters of preference are made into matters of principle.
That becomes fanatical. So, when matters of preference are made into matters of principle, that becomes fanatical. So, what we need to do is, if we find devotees like that, we respect them from a distance and we move on in our practise of bhakti.
So, we will find there are devotees who will be understanding. Even if there are few devotees, that’s good enough. In fact, introverts can do many services which extroverts can’t do.
So, it’s good if we can find out some service which we can do from our particular situation in our position and then we can move onwards towards Krishna. So, whoever, whatever be our body, mind, situation, we have to find our way to Sir Krishna. Nobody else can live our life for us.
Nobody else can actually, nobody else is going through the body-mind situation that I am in. So, generally if we are of a particular nature, then we need some senior devotee as a guide who understands our nature. So, we need a spiritual guide who understands our mind and who helps us to understand our mind.
One danger of being an introvert is that one can become very melancholy. One can just get lost inside one’s head. Actually, most people, they get, if they just sit alone for some time, they get bored.
But for people who are introvert, they can live inside their head for a long time and then forever. But the problem is that because our mind right now is uncontrolled, we don’t really live very productively. If we have a tangible service, then we can live inside our head and we can be productive.
There is a British poet, William Wordsworth, he said that, I spent my morning very productively today. At the start of, after breakfast, I added a comma in my new poem. Before lunch, I deleted the comma.
So, I was just absorbed with it. But for most of us, when we live inside our head, there is so much negativity that we actually become depressed. We actually become lonely.
We feel neglected. So, we have to have some constructive engagement. So, when our introvert nature is actually making us weak or because of our introvert nature, we are playing into the hands of our mind and we are hurting.
That, we need some association who will guide us about that. So, we need to have our need for space which introverts have to be fulfilled. But also, we need some protective association which will protect us from the danger of being introvert.
Thank you very much. Yeah. … … … … … … There are three questions over here.
… … Okay. So, now, how do we get to get the determination to inspire the other to read books? There are different issues in this. The first principle is that most of us learn much more through hearing than through hearing.
Most of us learn. The understanding comes by associating with devotees, hearing classes, having question-answers. A significant portion of the understanding comes by hearing.
It is said that what we can know… Why is this suddenly increased? … Maybe, it’s telling us to stop now. … … … So, it’s said, what we can know depends on what we know. … If I look at my hand pigments, I will say, this is a little discoloured.
If the doctor sees this, oh, I think you may have some immoglobulin deficiency. Check it out. The same thing we are saying, but based on what we know, we see differently.
So, similarly with respect to reading books, the more philosophical understanding we have, the more we can see what is there in the book. Otherwise, it seems, oh, I am not able to connect with it, I am not able to understand it, I am not able to find anything, any rasa in it, we may feel like that. So it’s important to hear regularly, that’s how we will get our primary understanding.
As far as reading is concerned, it is most effective when we combine it with hearing. That means we hear classes on a particular book and then we read that book. Then we can see, okay, when I read this, I didn’t think about this point at all.
Okay, this is here. So not only do we read and learn, but we also learn how to read. Okay, this could be thought like this, this could be thought like this.
And that habit will stand us in a very good stead. And with respect to reading, we can, by reading Shila Prabhupada’s books especially, we can get the association of Shila Prabhupada. He has the strongest desire to serve Krishna, to love Krishna and that we all should love and serve Krishna.
So even if it’s difficult, we can just read for some time. We decide every day, I’ll just read one purport. I’ll read one page.
I’ll read. Let’s start with that. And as we keep doing that, things become more organised.
But overall, for us, the important thing is that we have the intellectual conviction to keep practising Krishna Bhakti. And a strong part of that conviction comes from studying the books and especially understanding what is there in the books. And that comes when we study through both hearing and reading.
So when we do both, then we’ll find that not only will we start understanding better, but we’ll also get a greater appreciation of how to read and then the reading habit will become better entrenched within us, better fixed within us. And as far as my books are concerned, Shila Prabhupada simply wanted his followers to present the message of Bhakti in the contemporary language. Prabhupada told that whatever you have learned, you speak in your language.
Prabhupada told his scientist disciples, you present in the language of science. So that’s what I’m trying to do here.