How does KC take us inwards when it involves many external activities?

From Raja Parikshit Prabhu

Transcript

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Question from Raj Parikshit Prabhu How does Krishna Consciousness take us inwards when actually it involves doing so many outward activities like going to the temple and going to holy places there are so many external based activities in Krishna Consciousness so does it actually take us inwards answer going inwards or taking us inwards is a very attractive sounding phrase especially for people who want to be spiritual now going inwards what does it actually mean first of all physically we can’t go inwards so it means largely in terms of taking our thoughts and contemplating inwards so for one who does not know what is there inside for such people going inwards is like venturing in the dark sometimes some people enter into a dark cave or go into underground passage so it’s a risky journey where one doesn’t know what is there at the next step nor does one know what is the ultimate destination nor does one know how the path is so the whole idea of going inwards when applied in a practical way is very hazy if we don’t know the internal territory now what bhakti yoga does is it has a propositional side and a transformational side propositional or theoretical side means that it tells us bhakti philosophy tells us that you are not the body you are the soul and then so going inwards means going inwards towards from the body we go inwards towards the mind from the mind we go to the soul and from the soul we go to the super soul so this is the progression in going inwards now for most people when they go in they just don’t know what is inwards and often going inwards basically what they do is they come to the level of the mind and they sometimes pacify the agitating thoughts of the mind and that itself gives some relief but there is no further journey beyond that and some people rarely may come to the level of aham brahmasmi and get some understanding of the soul but what bhakti does is that so in this inner journey so we first we are bodily conscious then we become mind conscious then we become soul conscious then we become Krishna conscious we become god conscious this is the progression in the inner journey but what bhakti does is it directly connects us with the ultimate destination that is Krishna like in the process of ashtang yoga this is also for going inwards yam niyam focuses on the body then asan and pranayam starts going from the body to the mind and then dhyan then afterwards means shut out the external dharana dhyan samadhi they go towards the inwards and samadhi is what actually one connects with the supreme so Ishwara pranidhan as it is talked about surrender to the Ishwara so what bhakti does is it directly offers us connection with the super soul with Krishna as he is manifested in the world giving us accessibility that is as the deity as the holy name as the holy places as the temple as the association of devotees so with this now some people may just do it in an external sense and some people may just say ok it’s a social culture to go to temple so let me go to temple it’s considered to be a pious activity to go to the holy place so let me go to the holy place so teertha yatra now if you see the bhagavatam doesn’t appreciate such external centered performance of even devotional activities so it says that it’s a very strong condemnation that somebody is going to a holy place and such a person is being compared to a cow or a an ass why? because the consciousness is largely material or external so what bhagavatam says is janeshu abhigeshu abhigeshu is those who know janeshu is those people who know so once one associates with those people who know then one learns to see the spiritual as it is manifested at the material level so often when we come to a temple many people may think of the deity just as a statue it’s a decorated statue but when we associate with devotees understand the philosophy then we see that this deity is manifestation of krishna descending from the transgenital level to the material level so now here the point is that it is so if there are practical activities in devotional service then there is a philosophical understanding of devotional service without the philosophical understanding the practical activities may seem to be simply external so for skeptics they will remain largely external and these people will think that there is nothing really spiritual there is no going inside into this at all for those who are pious those who are having some religious piety they will to some extent develop some introspection also but many times such people may stay at the level of ritualism so again what is happening rituals means people just do the externals without really going on a inner journey and that’s why sometimes people who do religious activities at just the level of ritual they don’t get transformed even if they keep doing the religious activities for a long time but when there is a philosophical understanding there is an understanding that there are anarthas in our heart and we need to get rid of the anarthas also then that is actually largely an internal thing yes some people may give up some sinful activities when they start practicing bhakti that is good but that also requires discriminating this is good this is bad these desires are good these desires are bad so the way we go inwards in bhakti is first of all by connecting with the innermost reality that is Krishna now once we become connected with Krishna then the Bhagavad Gita also says in 5.16 that yesam adityavaj jnanam prakashayati tatparam that yesam by whom adityavaj jnanam just like the sun jnanam prakashayati is illuminated so when there is the realized when there is connection with Krishna then just like the sun illuminates the outer world Krishna illuminates the inner world and then we start understanding this is the mind so in that sense for the devotee the understanding of the mind the understanding of the soul and a deepened understanding of Krishna all these come by the contact with Krishna so how do we go inwards because firstly in bhakti through the philosophy we understand at a broad level what is the inner territory and then bhakti by connecting it with the innermost reality it takes us inwards towards bhakti by giving us a clearer understanding of the mind what are the contents of the mind that should be accepted what will be rejected and giving us experience of higher happiness by the connection of the soul with Krishna so now this will also depend on nature to nature that means some people are introspective and those people will be more internally inclined even when they are practicing the process of bhakti others may not be introspective they may be more of extrovert nature and for such people also the purification will happen so that means if we say bhakti if we say spiritual life requires going inwards and there are people who are extroverts they don’t have that psychological disposition of looking within of thinking very deeply does that mean that the process of spirituality has to be they have to be kept away from that process no they also have a means to attain that process by the practice of bhakti so that means two things for going to inner journey bhakti enables us to go inwards by connecting us with the innermost reality and then progressively by practice giving us deeper realisation and understanding of how Krishna is the innermost reality and secondly even for those who are not so inclined or adept of towards introspection bhakti makes the connection with the innermost reality accessible even for such people so in that sense bhakti is the best process for going inwards