How Krishna Consciousness is the Solution to all Problems (7)

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Sriman Chaitanya Charan Prabhu Ki Jai So, we will discuss the topic of how Krishna Consciousness is the solution to all problems.
You may have heard this earlier about how Srila Prabhupada met his spiritual master. At that time, Srila Prabhupada was involved in the Indian National Movement for getting freedom. And he felt that if India was to be culturally and spiritually rejuvenated, that first required India’s political preparation.
So, Srila Prabhupada had joined Nandi’s movement at that time with that purpose in mind. But then when Bhagavan said, Srila Jaggu talked to him and he said that Krishna Consciousness is actually not just an emergency. At a material level, we may change things, but there will be no lasting benefit as a result.
Therefore, we must act for liberating the soul from material existence, not just liberating India from British rule. And that talk transformed Srila Prabhupada and he became dedicated to assimilating and sharing Krishna Consciousness. So, Srila Prabhupada would often say that the only problem in the world is the lack of Krishna Consciousness.
Now, we may have some vague idea of how this works. But, if we look at the newspapers, we’ll see reports of various kinds of problems. This is a one month seminar.
This is actually an 8 part seminar that I have. So, one month seminar I take for each of the problems and how this can be solved. So, we’ll see how many we can take over a period of time.
So, today I’ll be focussing on the political aspect of corruption. So, we’ll see in the world there are these 8 broad kinds of problems. So, at the political level, we see that the administrators are stinkingly corrupt at times.
And that creates shortage and poverty and imbalance. Then, if you move from the political to the psychological level, people at the individual level, people, one of the biggest problems at the psychological level is stress. So, how does Krishna Consciousness help us deal with stress? We’ll discuss that.
At the ecological level, ecological means environmental level. So, there is the phenomenon of climate change. That means the temperature of the earth is rising, the rivers are drying up, the soil is becoming desertified, the forest cover is being cut down, many important species are becoming extinct or endangered and the fossil fuels are becoming shortened, the air, water and land are getting polluted.
So, varieties of problems are there at the ecological level. So, all these have contributed to climate change. Then, at the family level, there are relationship conflicts.
There are intergenerational conflicts between say, parents and children or there are same generational conflicts between brothers and sisters or husbands and wives. Then, at the social level, we see that there is poverty. So, the difference between corruption and poverty is, poverty is when society can divide broadly into haves and have-nots.
So, corruption is among the haves. People have and they want more and more and more. Poverty is where people don’t have.
So, they may cause each other, but we have to analyse them differently. At economical level, we will see that there is recession. The whole economy seems to be in a downturn and although our recessions keep going up and coming and going, but over the last 7-8 years, there still seems to be a persistent downward trend.
At religious level, there is a fear of communal violence. Sectarian riots break out at times. At a cultural level, if we see, we will see newspapers filled with reports of say, rapes and child abuses and paedophilia and similar sexual violence.
So, this more or less covers the gamut of problems that the world faces. Now, nobody can essentially move a magic wand and solve the problems of the world. When we talk about Krishna Consciousness as a solution to the world’s problems, we will address what it practically means.
So, this we will discuss in four parts. We will look first at the gravity of the problem. Then, we will look at the root cause of the problem.
Then, we will look at the root solution for that problem. And then, we will look at the material solution for the problem. So, like that, we will be going downwards, upwards.
We will look at the problem, how broad it is. Then, we will look downwards to see what is the cause of the problem. Then, we will look within to find out what is the solution to that problem.
And then, when we come upwards, how will that solution be applied? And what can we as individuals do? So, not all these problems may seem relevant to us individually. Probably for us, say, relationships and stress, and maybe recession to some extent. These may be the immediate problems for us, at the individual level.
They may press on us most. But, they are problems in the society in which we exist. And, over a period of time, we can get affected by them.
Negatively. Or, we can affect them positively. So, let us discuss these one by one.
So, now, corruption. What does the word corrupt mean? Everybody knows it. What does it mean, basically? Dishonest.
Dishonest. Okay. Yes.
Dishonesty is a general term. Corruption is a little more specific. Corruption is a type of dishonesty.
Lying can also be dishonesty. So, corruption basically means that if you have various meanings, but in the context that it is used in politics and economics today, is that where people have certain powers and they use their powers to accumulate more and give out less. So, when a person is corrupt, that person may, like in the 2G scam that has happened, the government would sell resources that are worth much much more for very little official price.
Instead, they get kickbacks. They get some huge amounts of profits under their table. So, basically, corruption is generally used in a financial or economical sense.
So, I will not go into the statistics of corruption, but there are several statistics that do indicate that the kind of corruption that we have presently. So, this is a property, right? Yes. So, now, what is the level of corruption? Just a small indication.
What we are experiencing is not corruption, but national plunder. So, So, Swiss banks are like the safe havens where people can store their money without getting taxed. So, if you look at the statistics, the amount that India has invested in the Swiss banks is more than what Russia, UK, Ukraine and China have all invested combined with India.
So, from Swiss bank’s perspective, India is not a poor country. India is the world’s wealthiest country. So, that means that actually the problem in India is not a shortage of resources.
If you look at India from a natural resources perspective, India is a rich country. But, it is not, the resources are not being used properly. So, now this amount which is described, 1.4 trillion dollars.
So, what all could be done with this amount? So, for example, now there may be, the statistics may vary depending on estimates. Different people may have different estimates. But, just one scam actually, one scam can cost India a lot.
This one scam alone is believed to exceed the colonial loot of 200 years. That is what India lost to British loot in 200 years. India has lost more to that in one scam.
So, now 73 lakh crores, that is what India has, is the amount which India has kept in the Swiss bank. So, what could be done with that? At a material level, India is probably completely bankrupt. We can build 2.4 crore primary health care centres.
That is 3 per village. Or we could build 24.1 lakh KMPI Vidyalayas. 24.1 lakh.
We could construct 14.6 crore low cost houses. We could set up so many power plants. And this whole thing was also, the last one, 14.6 lakh kilometres of two lane highways.
That’s a road around India’s perimeter 97 times. So, actually that is the amount of money which India is losing in corruption. And this is just one way of looking at it.
There are various other ways we could look at it. It’s an elaborate thing. Elaborate analysis.
But I think this indicates the fact that corruption is an extremely serious problem. In terms of what India is losing and what India could do if it could avoid corruption. So, it is not that corruption is a problem that is unique to India.
Corruption is there everywhere in the world. And we are focussing on India because we live in India. And because it is visible on the social level.
So, now what is the cause of corruption? So, in the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 16 verse 8 to 15, 16th chapter is called as Daiva Asura Sampad Vidhadi Yoga. The divine and demonic natures. So, what it describes is that it all originates first in a materialistic world view.
What is the materialistic world view? That is people think that matter is all that matters. Matter and material things are all that matters. So, money is ultimately what is used to get material things.
So, money is all that matters. So, Etaam Drishti Vahishyapya Nashtatmano Alpapudhaya Prabhavanti Yuga Karmana Kshayaya Jagatagita So, Etaam Drishti Vahishyapya when such a world view is accepted in 16.9th Bhagavad Gita. Such a world view is accepted.
Then what happens? Nashtatmano Alpapudhaya Every person becomes Nashtatmano. As a person is his spiritual view is lost. Spiritual awareness is lost.
And he doesn’t act for his own harm and others harm. Prabhavanti Yuga Karmana Kshayaya Jagatagita Kshayaya is destruction. Agita is harm.
So, at worst they destroy the world, at least they harm the world. But they can’t do any good. That is the idea.
So, people have a materialistic world view because their idea is they just want to grab more and more and more and more. And the basic problem at the material level is that material resources are limited. We cannot increase material resources infinitely.
So, when people want more and more and more, then naturally it leads to unequal distribution. And why do people want more and more? That is when people have a materialistic world view, then they think that happiness comes through material things. And when they think material things mean happiness, then they want more.
Everybody wants more and more happiness. So, they want more and more material things. This is Krishna describing the next verse then.
16.11-11. He describes that Don’t know what is corruption. Isn’t it? Everybody knows what is corruption practically speaking. Then why do they become corrupt? Because they feel that by being honest, I will lose more.
Or I will not gain enough. The problem with the materialistic world view is that if I think I want happiness more and more and more and more and so I need material things more and more. I need money more and more.
And if I am honest, how much money can I earn? Not really much. Therefore, let me get more and more and more. So most people feel that by being moral, they stand to lose a lot.
Pleasure, that’s what life is all about. And what will you gain? You will gain nothing. Your principles should be according to principles.
What is the use of principles? When people are materialistic, they don’t believe in the next life. They don’t believe in God. They don’t believe in the law of karma.
And it’s not just the fear of punishment. But they also can’t experience any higher spiritual happiness. So principles, what are they going to give you? Basically, a materialistic world view is the root cause of greed.
And greed is the cause of corruption. So, now, if you look at this, there is corruption. The cause of corruption is greed.
And greed is caused by a materialistic world view. So this is the three-level causation. When we go deeper into it.
Corruption is there because of greed. Greed is because of a materialistic world view. Now, if we see, at a material level, how can we try to solve the problem of corruption? Let’s look at it.
So now, we will come to that, but let’s look at this. There is corruption, greed, and materialism. Now why is materialism present? Let’s go further down.
Why do people have a materialistic world view? Because today, our education is godless. Science doesn’t have to be godless. Science is not necessarily bad.
But today, it is godless. It gives us no knowledge about karma. Cosmic abundance means karma.
And people think that fallibility of the human being or system means that human laws are easy to subvert. If a person has enough money, enough influence, even if a person has done lots of crime, the person thinks, I can get away with it. If I am clever enough, connected enough, cunning enough, then I will get away with it.
So what people feel is, I want to enjoy. And if I want to enjoy, if I am clever enough to get away from the suffering, then I enjoy. Therefore, there are no checks to stop people from being corrupt.
And there are a lot of impetuses for people to become corrupt. Two things. If I am going on a wrong track, there should be something that checks me.
Just like if we are on a road, and if the road is, on the other side, there is a fall down a mountain valley. Then what happens? Normally, there is a fencing sort of thing. There is some sort of fence or at least there is some sort of upraising by which the shadowing will stop.
So that is like a check. Now, imagine there is no check. And instead of no check, there is a force also, which pushes.
Then the people just get swept away. So like that, in today’s society, there is no, there is very little check. Because people feel that, oh, the courts, I can get away with it.
And people feel that, oh, I want to be happy. This is the way to be happy. So that’s why the root problem is, for the materialistic world, there is a lack of proper education.
So because there is no proper education, so there is materialism. Because there is materialism, there is greed. Because there is greed, there is corruption.
So now, what happens because of this law of destruction? Morality appears entirely dispensable. Dispensable means unnecessary. Whenever I want, I can throw it away.
When I want, I can use it. So there is a saying, morality means lack of opportunity. So when people are moral, why are they moral? Because they don’t have an opportunity to be moral.
As soon as they have an opportunity, they will become immoral. So morality is simply due to lack of opportunity. This may not, of course, apply to all people, but it applies to a substantial number of people.
So for those who feel they are powerful enough or shrewd enough, then they just give up. And in such an environment where there are forces towards immorality and corruption, there are no checks. Let us be honest, let us be not corrupt.
This is called platitudes. Platitude means empty words. Just good-sounding words.
They will not help much. They will not have any lasting transformation. So then what is actually required? So there are industries towards genesis and nemesis.
Genesis means source and nemesis means destruction. So according to the Bhagavad Gita, actually there is a psychological genesis. Psychology means in the mind.
So corruption ultimately originates in the mind. What is the conception in the mind that causes corruption? Material things can give me happiness. Material things can make me happy.
That is the root of corruption. And then if it has to be destroyed, there has to be spiritual nemesis. What is a spiritual nemesis? Real happiness comes by enriching my spiritual traits.
That means by making spiritual advancement, by developing my deeper spiritual relationship with Krishna. When I start experiencing inner happiness, then I feel that there is no need for me for too many external things. I need some external things for functioning in this world.
But I don’t need an endless variety and quantity of these things. So, in the mind, as long as materialistic conception, people will tend to become greedy. And once people start experiencing inner spiritual enrichment, then they will no longer need these things.
So this is the we are now moving from the root cause towards the root solution or the basic solution, foundational solution. So now, there is Lokpal and there is Gopal. So Lokpal, basically, the idea is what? In Vedic culture there are Brahmanas and Kshatriyas.
So the Kshatriyas would administer the law. They are not just warriors who would go and fight in the war. But they were kings who would administer the law.
And for that purpose they might have to fight. So basically, the idea of a Lokpal is the idea of a Kshatriya. We should have an administrative body and that administrative body should have the powers to punish those who are corrupt.
So there is a big agitation especially last year it was there and this year there was an attempt to repeat that but then it fizzled out. But still, that cause has some sympathy. And it’s a valid cause.
So what is the idea? That if people know that there is an administrative body with tooth. With tooth means that it can bite. It can punish you.
So then people will be afraid of being corrupt. So Lokpal uses power of fear of human law. Yes, there is a human legal administrative body and that will punish me.
Therefore, I should not become corrupt. So this is how Kshatriyas work. Kshatriyas, what they do is they show visibly.
If you did this wrong, we will punish you this way. And that is required in society. But Gopal, in one sense it means Krishna.
We are not necessarily using it in the sense of Krishna. But Go also means senses. Power means protector.
So, actually why do people want so many material things? Because their senses are uncontrolled. Their senses are being exploited by others and their senses are being filled with material desires. So Lord Gopal acts as the protector of our senses.
He acts as Gopal. Now, there is the spiritual, Brahminical solution. What is that? That is firstly, there is fear and then there is higher taste.
So fear of divine law means, actually when there is proper philosophical education which is what the Brahmanas provide, which is what Lord Krishna, Lord Gopal provide in the Bhagavad Gita, then we understand that there is a law of karma. And by that law of karma, everybody has to suffer the consequences of what they have done. Nobody can escape.
It is said that on a dark night, on a dark floor, a dark ant, nobody sees, but he sees. On a dark night, on a dark floor, a dark ant, nobody sees, but he sees. So Krishna lies, sees everything, everywhere.
There is a divine vision. Karmana divine vision. So everything happens under the law of karma, under divine supervision.
Karmana divine vision. So actually when you understand that in the divine vision, there is the agrade, which will bring upon me and upon everyone else the consequences of their actions. Then our inner security guard awakens.
If I do this wrong, I will get the consequences. Therefore, this is the ultimate check. Because if we think of it objectively, if everybody in society becomes a criminal, or if everybody feels intended to become corrupt, then always the number of policemen in society will be less than the number of citizens.
You can never have more police persons than citizens. And if at all we can have a lot of police people, okay, the police people are supposed to protect ordinary people from corruption. But then who will protect the police people from corruption? What if they become corrupt? Or you can have a higher-end security body for that.
But then what if that body becomes corrupt? If we have a ladder, if there is just a futuristic world, in a ladder you can have rungs. Okay, there’s a ladder. Ultimately the ladder has to rest somewhere.
No matter how well constructed the ladder is, if it doesn’t have any place to rest, it will fall down. So we can have a structure of power for legally punishing those who are doing wrong. But then how will they ensure that those who are in power, those who are meant to punish others, they don’t become corrupt.
Where does this ladder ultimately stop? So that ultimate stop, ultimate resting place is God. Now God, Krishna, He is self-satisfied. He is completely incorruptible.
He is eternally perfect. And those who become connected with Him, they become pure gradually. So therefore, at a material level, we can have legal law enforcing agencies.
But they, if they are not connected with God, then they will eventually collapse. So, now we will see also among the most corrupt among most people are generally those who have power. In today’s society, who has power? It is the Kshatriyas and the Vaishyas.
Kshatriyas means the politicians, Vaishyas means the business families. And generally there is a nexus. Nexus means an illegal connection.
There is a nexus between the business families and the political leaders. And the business families fund the elections and do the help in the campaign so that the political leaders win. And when the political leaders win, they make laws and they pass resolutions and they pressure the judiciary by which those who have supported them, they don’t get convicted.
So, in this way, there is a nexus. So, in general, those who have power, if they become corrupt, how will they do it? Who will? Because the Lord will get to them at all. How will they be changed? So, for that, there has to be education in the law of karma.
Without that, we cannot have freedom of corruption. Imagine if there is a city. At the entrance of the city it is written, in this city, there are no police people.
Please follow the laws. How will people follow the laws? Very few, isn’t it? Why? Because at a certain level, there is a fear required. But that fear of the law is greatly diminished in religious religion.
That’s why, along with this fear of human law, there needs to be fear of divine law. However, fear is only beginning. It is not the end.
God is not just a punisher who is out to catch us doing wrong and waiting to punish us. You did wrong, I caught you. Now I am going to punish you.
Krishna is not like a critic. Krishna is like a coach. When a sports person has a coach, the coach observes him.
You are batting like this. When a spin ball comes like this, you should hit like this. Don’t hit like this.
Hit with a straight bat. Don’t hit with a tilted bat because you might give an edge and get caught. The coach catches what the player is doing wrong.
But the purpose of the coach in catching is not to highlight the fault. It is to help the player correct the fault. So, similarly with Krishna, he is not devout in finding faults with everyone.
Actually, he acts to the law of karma. It is only to help us to become better humans. To evolve ourselves so that we can get greater happiness in life.
So, Krishna is not a critic. He is a coach. Even if he looks at our faults, that is not his focus.
His focus is our potential. What we can become. And he wants to help us develop our potential.
That’s why the process of bhakti yoga as taught in the Bhagavad Gita doesn’t hurt too much on the law of karma. Yes, the law of karma is a reality. We do it in our daily life.
But more important is to develop a higher taste. When we connect with Krishna and experience higher happiness, then we feel that yes, actually I might be able to do some immoral things, get some more money and get some more gadgets but that will not bring me happiness. And certainly not I will be happy because I can get that connected with Krishna.
I don’t need him in my emotional service. So, then when we become convinced of that, then we don’t need the fear of the law of karma. We certainly don’t need fear of the worldly law.
We have a higher motivation. Remember, the root cause is everybody is looking for happiness. So, it is not that those people who are very very corrupt, it’s not that they are demons in the sense that it’s not that they are permanently evil people.
But they are also souls like us. But because they have got this deep rooted conception that actually material things will not make me happy. So, therefore, they have got caught.
And they are caught, they are in my sense victims but they are also victimisers. They are victims in the sense that they have become victims of materialistic misconceptions. But now they are victimisers.
Victimisers means they are making others victims. They are inflicting suffering on others. But we can get out of this whole business of victims or victimisers by experiencing happiness at a spiritual level.
Now, is this possible for a broad society? Can everybody experience spiritual happiness? Yes. By the principle of Bhakti Yoga, it is not that everybody may become a pure devotee. But everybody can to some extent experience spiritual happiness.
For example, now, we have this huge Dhyatara festival on the basis of Dhyataras in the whole world. So, thousands and thousands of people come over. Nobody is begging them to come.
Why are they coming? Because they experience some sort of fulfilment. If it was just a room’s accommodation, they won’t come year after year after year. So, actually, the facilities are provided for people.
It is not very difficult to experience a higher taste. Yes, to live entirely pure lives, to become pure devotees requires a lot of effort. But initially, to experience a higher taste, just an exposure to devotional culture and a little bit of spiritual knowledge is required.
So, actually, the real lack in today’s society is that there is neither philosophical education nor devotional culture. So, philosophical education uses, in one sense, awareness of the law of karma. And spiritual devotional culture gives us the experience of the higher taste.
So, now, so now, it is not that the Lokapal is not important. The Lokapal is also important in the sense that, actually, this 3.21 is So, what we are discussing now is, we have come to the fourth point. The third point was the room solution.
We were discussing how this room solution can be applied at a practical level. At a practical level, Krishna describes that just as the leaders are common people, if the leaders are corrupt, common people will become corrupt. If the leaders are honest, common people will become honest.
So, therefore, the leaders are not just meant to improve the laws, they are also meant to set an example. So, what happens is, values, social trends, seep rapidly from the top to the bottom. So, the way the top people are, the way the bottom people are.
So, it not only perpetuates, but it will multilize. It becomes much, much more by the time it reaches to the bottom. So, therefore, it is important that those who are the social and political leaders, they need to have some level of integrity.
Now, how does that come about, let us see. So, now, what is the idea of a Lokapal? It is a disability body. So, you remember I talked about the psychological genesis.
At the mind level, it comes. Can I read this whole sentence? The disciplinary body will help combat corruption at its psychological genesis, curbing the temptation for quick monetary gains in the fear of sustained punitive retribution. All it means in simple language is bad.
At the level of the mind, people think I just want some money quickly. And then, nobody will detect it. So, that is psychological genesis.
But that temptation can be curbed. People understand that punitive means punishment. So, retribution means punishment that comes from some higher agencies.
So, basically, I may try to get a little bit pleasure, but by the law of karma, I get punishment. So, basically, at the level of philosophical education, it helps to use the power of fear. The power of fear is important, but that is not all important.
Now, Lokpal, it just uses as a government laws. The government laws have to be important. Justice should not only be done, justice should be seen to be done.
This is a very important principle in justice. When justice is done invisibly, and people don’t come to know that justice has been done, then people’s faith in justice is not there. That’s why there has to be this worldly justice as well as other worldly justice.
See, somebody may say that all the people who are corrupt, they are going to suffer the consequences. So, why bother? Isn’t it? Somebody can argue like that. No, but that is a wrong argument.
Because all of us have responsibilities in this world. If we can extend this argument in any level, if a baby is crying and the baby wants mother’s food, the mother can say, oh, he is crying because of his past life karma. So, we cannot use past life karma to justify irresponsibility for our dislikeness.
So, now the administrators, the political rulers can say that all those people who are suffering because of corruption, they are suffering because of their past life karma. And those who are doing corruption, they will suffer in the next life. Well, those who think like this, they should become sannyasis, they should be saints.
You know, this has, actually, such an idea, it is a misunderstanding of philosophy. At the level of, there is, at the level of this world administration, the kings are called as Naradevs and the Brahmanas are called as Bhurdevas. Bhurdeva.
Naradeva means, there is God on there. The king is not considered to be God, but he is considered to be a representative of God. And he has to administer God’s laws in this world.
And Bhurdeva, the Brahmanas are called as Bhurdevas, Brahmanas, they are supposed to represent God’s knowledge in this world. The king represents God’s power and the Brahmanas represent God’s knowledge. And in this way, they actually make God accessible to the world.
See, if you can imagine, it’s like this hierarchy. So, say, here is Krishna in the spiritual world. And this is the whole society.
So, Krishna is closest to the Brahmanas and then the Kshatriyas. So, Krishna’s will is represented through these two. So, actually, they said that the Shastra and the Shastra.
The Shastra is used by the Brahmanas. So, that represents Krishna’s knowledge. And Shastra is used by the Kshatriyas.
And that represents Krishna’s power. So, through these two, Krishna’s will is administered in this world. And those who are taking up responsibility in this world, they are meant to act in a way that will reflect and represent Krishna.
So, that’s why the king is not interfering with the law of karma. The king is actually implementing the law of karma. Then the king is punishing the wrongdoer.
And if the king doesn’t punish the wrongdoer, then the king becomes guilty of neglecting his responsibility. And that was the mistake of Arjuna. He was thinking, I will not fight.
But then, those who were wrongdoers, they needed to be corrupted. Therefore, the idea over here is that Lokpal is an administrative body which will punish the wrongdoers. Punish the corrupt is important.
But still, if we just come to have an administrative body, the end result of it will be that eventually this power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Power corrupts. When you have absolute power, then there is absolute corruption.
So, we just cannot ensure the protection from this corrupting influence of power if people are in a materialistic conception of life. Only when people develop a spiritual conception of life, not just a conception of life, but they get spiritual happiness through practical experience, then gradually this corrupting influence of power and money starts decreasing. That’s why the Lokpal solution is like the Kshatriya solution.
A partial solution. It is important. It cannot be removed.
It is essential. But it is not complete. It is incomplete.
Why? Because it cannot be sustained. First of all, to establish it is difficult. Second, to sustain it is difficult.
That’s why at a material level, when you try to solve the problems, the problems often just get complicated more and more. So now, what is the solution to Gopal’s laws? Spiritual education broadens our vision with the understanding that we are accountable to the escape of cosmic order. We are accountable to God, to Krishna, to Karma’s laws, which will give us our karmic due sooner or later.
Sooner or later, we will have to suffer our consequences. And then this is the important point. Choices are pregnant with consequences.
Every action that we choose, it is pregnant. Like an infant that is inside, the consequences will come out of it. And then we understand this.
Choices bring consequences. I cannot avoid them. Then it will become great.
It’s like the law of Karma, it’s just like the law of Karma. If somebody comes from a 10-story building, nothing will happen to him. He will not be able to see what happened afterwards.
Because he will be there. He is disembodied, so he will be there to see what happened. So, we can never break the law of gravity.
We can only break ourselves against the law of Karma. Similarly, we cannot break the law of Karma. We can only break ourselves against the law of Karma.
The difference between the law of gravity and the law of Karma is that the law of gravity, often we can see it. The law of Karma, we may not be able to see that. But, the law of Karma acts more gradually.
It may act after a few years, a few weeks, or maybe in the next lifetime also. How many of you were there when I took the seminar on unravelling the history of Karma? Only you were there. Okay, fine.
So, actually, how the law of Karma works is an elaborate subject. I had a separate seminar on this. But, according to that, it is in my site also.
The articles are there. But, right now, we will not go into the details of the Karma. But, the point here is that imagine a child who is just looking at one story of a building.
And then the child just picks up an object and throws it down. What happens? It is the child’s favourite toy. The child is not looking down at all.
He just throws the object at the window. It’s gone. Gone.
Gone. But, the child learns, okay, I can look out of the window and I see that my favourite toy broke into pieces completely. So, there, the child is looking only at one level and the child cannot see what happened.
So, like that, if we look only at one level, at the immediate literal level, we cannot see the consequences of what happened. But, the child grows and says, okay, from the balcony, I can look down and see what happened. So, like that, when we have philosophers who broadens our vision, when our vision becomes broadened, then we can see what are the consequences.
And then, when we understand that choices are pregnant with consequences, every choice will bring consequences, right? We become more cautious, circumspectly cautious, thoughtful. We don’t act for short-term gains. We think about what will be the long-term consequences when we act.
And then, from spiritual education, we can come to spiritual experience. Education means to know what is right. But, spiritual experience is not just right, this is joyful.
If I connect myself with Krishna, I experience a higher spiritual happiness. And then, what will it lead to? A re-spiritualization of human consciousness. Re-spiritualization means, all of you are being spiritually meaningful.
You have to become spiritual again. And when that happens, then these emotions become transformed. Instead of greed, we have gratitude.
Instead of exploitation, we have service. Instead of grabbing, we have sharing. And when this happens, this is the solution at the root level.
Nowadays, what do we all do? More and more. Grab more and more. There are bumper stickers and many American well-conscious people.
He who dies with the most toys is the winner. He who dies with the most toys is the winner. And if you are dying, what is the victory? Isn’t it? Toys means, the idea of toys is, you know, you have this gadget, that gadget, this TV, this, that, you have most toys.
But actually, that is just a bumper sticker slogan. That is not wisdom. That is just a catchy slogan.
So, we understand that. By grabbing, grabbing, how much am I going to carry? I am not carrying anything with me. But if I use what I have for sharing with others in Krishna’s service, then I will get something in return.
That is a deep connection with Krishna. It will change everything. So, we understand that.
Okay, I have got so many assets, no matter whatever I have, it is in Krishna’s service. So, actually, greed means we see what we don’t have. Gratitude means we see what we have.
Many times, people talk about optimism and pessimism. And they say, okay, a glass, you don’t see it as half empty, see it as half full. But, actually, optimism and pessimism, they are not just simple choices.
They are not just simple choices, they are determined by our worldviews. If I have a materialistic worldview, and if I see, okay, that I have got a cell phone, which, okay, it is good, but when I see somebody else has a cell phone, which has a very good view camera, I don’t have a view camera. I will say, you know, okay, look at that, why doesn’t he have a cell phone? But, no, I want to look at that one who has got that cell phone.
So, what happens is, if I have a materialistic worldview, then optimism and pessimism are not just simple choices. Because there are underlying worldviews which push me in certain directions. So, if I think that a catchy cell phone is a source of happiness, attractive cell phone is a source of happiness, then I will always look at what is better.
But then, when I understand that, actually, material things don’t matter so much, then what I can do? I can look at what others don’t have. Okay, I have this. There are so many people who don’t have this also.
At least it is going to work out. So, actually speaking, when we experience what will happen, then it is possible to be grateful. Otherwise, if I am on a materialistic level, I don’t think I should be grateful.
It is very difficult for me. Because our materialistic worldview never says, I have more, I have more, I have more. And then, at a spiritual level, we understand that experience happens through service, not exploration.
Now, what is the difference between a material worldview and a spiritual worldview? When I have a materialistic worldview, as soon as I see another person, I think, what can we do for him? If I have a spiritual worldview, I think, what can I do for him? As soon as we see a person, what can we do for him? What can I ask him? What can I get from him? So, you know, there are these salesmen. If a person comes along to an immature salesman, he will tell, he has got a new car. He wants to sell a car to him.
And he says, so, sir, would you like to have a car? And now, when he asks a question, he says, no, I don’t want. So, a seasoned salesman, what he will say is, so, sir, which car would you like to have? The green one or the yellow one? So, what happens is, you give pseudo-choices without actual choice. But this is, assuming you are going to take the car, and give a pseudo-choice, which choice do you want? Do you want a green car or a yellow car? So, what happens is, at a materialistic level, people are not interested in selling a car.
If I just clean this car, then what will happen? Then I will make my money. The interest is not so much in sales. It’s more in exploitation.
It’s more in getting what we can out of others. So, when this is the motive, then they naturally grab. As soon as they see another person, they will grab as much as they can from that person.
So, this is very tragically seen in the medical profession. When a patient goes to a doctor, often the doctor charges the person so much more. Often the doctors, according to a survey in America, and many people in America, people think America is very good in many things, but actually in health, America is super expensive.
Very, very expensive. And actually, there, for one small problem, if I have a running nose, I may have to do tests for 3 hours. You know, examine the nose from this angle, examine the nose from this angle, do an x-ray, do a CT scan, this and that.
And then they say, this is common cold, just wait for 3 days. But, before you wait for 3 days, give us this $1,000 bill. So, actually speaking, they call healthcare as healthcare.
Healthcare. So, what has happened is that a doctor, when a doctor sees a patient, not as a person to be served, but as a person to be exploited. So, in many of these big hospitals, whenever there is a connection between the doctor and the doorkeeper, and every patient who comes to the doctor’s clinic, the doorkeeper tells, this person came in this kind of car.
Oh, that means he has this much money. And you can tell him, do this test also. Put more tests for that person.
So, actually speaking, when there is the attitude of exploitation, instead of an attitude of service, then everything becomes corrupted. That’s all. But why should I not have the attitude of exploitation? It’s only when I understand that there are higher happiness available through service.
That’s why as devotees, what can we do at a practical level? So, at a practical level, when we understand that Krishna Consciousness, what it will do is, it will tackle these problems at a foundational level. It will give people spiritual education. It will give people spiritual experience.
And in general, this all big changes always start in the grassroot levels. Small, small, small, one person changes, second person changes, third person changes. You know, when a cancer is growing in the body, basically in cancer, what happens? Some cells in the body start reproducing abnormally.
At an abnormal rate. So, at that time, one of the ways to cure cancer is to stimulate the growth of healthy cells. So, one healthy cell is growing, growing, growing, growing.
It pushes out the sick cells. So, like that, right now, most of the society is filled with sick cells, cancerous cells. They are growing rapidly.
But every one of us, we can become healthy cells. And the more we share Krishna Consciousness with others, we empower others to become healthy cells. In general, most people are not bad.
We have a few people who are very evil because of their past life conditions and their mislife upbringing. But most people are highly influential. So, if they get exposed to those who are corrupt, then they will become corrupt.
If they become exposed to those who are honest, those who are very valid in their thinking, they will start becoming valid in their thinking. So, as devotees, we try to share Krishna Consciousness more and more with others. I’ll conclude with an incident in the life of Janaki Pandit.
Janaki Pandit, as we know, is called the king maker of India. He never became a king, but he became the king maker. Whom did he make as the king? Chandragupta Maharaj.
Now, Chandragupta Maharaj was an unknown, he was an unknown person, but he came and he made him the king. And eventually, when he made him the king, he was a very good administrator under the royal Janaki. So, a traveller came to China to observe.
And he said, all over the kingdom, the administration was so good. And then he started doing administration works. He went to the palace of Janaki Pandit.
He said, I have travelled far and wide, and nowhere have I seen such good administration. I should have praised him. And Chandragupta Maharaj said, actually, if there is any credit for the good administration of this, of the kingdom, the credit for that goes to my minister, Janaki Pandit.
He is not just my minister, he is actually my teacher also. He said, I am working under his guidance. So, he said, where is your minister? I would like to meet him.
So, he said, yes. When he told his lord, he said, he is Janaki. And then he started working out of the city.
He used to have a big palace. He said, I am taking you out of the city. He said, where are you taking me? He said, we are taking you out of the city to a small cottage.
And that cottage was… He said, the minister stays over here? He said, yes. In the small cottage? He said, yes. And he went to the cottage and he sat over there.
He saw that Janaki was writing something with a lamp. Writing something with a lamp. It was like a lantern.
And he just stood there for a few minutes. And he computed it. And as he computed, he took a candle.
And lit the candle. And he switched off the lantern. And he said, yes.
How can I serve you? He said, just a minute. Actually, the lantern was giving more light. Whereas, the candle is giving less light.
Why did you switch that off? He said, actually, I was doing some work for the government. So, the oil for the lantern comes from the government. So, when I was doing the army work, I used the lantern of the government.
But now, I’m talking with you in a personal way. So, I have got this candle in charity. I’m giving you this.
So… So, he is a Chinese minister. He said, now I understand why there is such good administration in the government. The top people have so much conscientiousness.
Naturally, that will percolate on themselves. And it will percolate on the scene. So, Shri Adi Bhupath, he, when he went all over the world and shared Krishna Consciousness, actually speaking, the results were dramatic.
Dramatic in what sense? It was not just that so many people all over the world became devotees. That is a big deal. But what was dramatic was the transformation of people that happened.
The way people changed their hearts. They changed their hearts and they became… We knew one kind of change of heart that happened was that people who were addicted to all kinds of bad habits, they gave up their bad habits. That is definitely true.
But along with that, actually, it was… it was not that they had bad habits. Underlying the bad habits was a materialistic world. And what Shri Adi Bhupath changed was that materialistic world.
He changed that worldview and made people all over the world into persons of Bhakti Yoga, persons of Krishna Consciousness, to experience spiritual happiness. And once people start experiencing spiritual happiness, then whether they have little or they have a lot, it doesn’t matter. In the person of Bhakti Yoga, we don’t have to live in poverty.
It is not that we have to be poor to be perfect. Not only we have to be well-being. Whatever we have, we can use in Krishna’s service.
So the idea of experiencing spiritual happiness is not some abstract conception. It is something which all of us can practically experience if we practise spiritual happiness. And by this experience, all of us can ourselves become free from greed and we can enable others to become free from greed.
And actually one consequence of becoming free from greed is that we can become free from the mentality towards corruption. So I’ll summarise what we discussed. We started by discussing four parts.
We focused on the political problem of corruption. So we discussed the visible statistics of how much India is being plundered. And we discussed that at one level, at the gross level, the cause is that the corrupt are not being punished, so they are becoming more and more corrupt.
At a deeper level, the cause of corruption is what? Greed. The cause of greed is materialistic world. And materialistic world is because of lack of spiritual education.
And then we discussed how what should be the solution? It should be spiritual education, spiritual experience. And then we discussed about Lokpal and Gopal. So Lokpal is basically like a Kshatriya world which punishes those who are the wrongdoers.
So because the human law legal system is always fallible, it always has problems. People can escape from it if they have enough influence or enough cunningness. That’s why people also need to know that there is a system of law that I cannot escape from.
So spiritual education works, spirituality works in two ways. It is education about the law of karma. Broaden the vision.
And then it is spiritual experience. It is higher happiness. And then I don’t need all these materialistic things for happiness.
Then you can turn towards that. Then people can easily become free from corruption. What can we do? We can individually become healthy selves.
We can share Krishna consciousness with others so that we can also become healthy. And we gave examples of this in Janak Pyaar and Prabhupada’s lecture. Thanks very much.
Are there any questions? Sometimes we are forced to be involved in corruption. So what can we do? Sometimes we are forced to be involved in corruption. What can we do? There are two issues over here.
The first and most important issue is that what is the consequence of the force? That means when that force is pushing in a particular direction what is going to happen then? So, if I go in that direction and if I don’t go in that direction that means that if other people are going to be harmed by it then certainly we should not do it. It involves breaking the four basic principles. It involves harming others.
So even if there is a complete network of corruption. Now we could say at a level all corruption causes harm. That is true.
But there are certain things which cause explicit harm. For example, if I am working in a medical factory and there there is a whole corrupt network by which instead of the actual medicines bogus medicine is being made. Then people who take the bogus medicine they will stay sick and die.
So if that sort of thing is there then we cannot be a part of that. But if the consequences are not so directly and so serious. And if it’s like a whole network where if one is not a part of the network then one becomes targeted and victimised.
Then generally speaking whatever is required one should do. But one shouldn’t actively participate. Sometimes just being in a particular situation one has to do certain things.
If one doesn’t do it the whole systems are targeting that person. So we are not campaigners against corruption. See the freedom of corruption will automatically happen if people become devotees.
So it’s not that this is a licence for corruption. When a warrior is fighting, the warrior has to choose which battles to fight. That means we cannot fight against all enemies at the same time.
So we have to fight at the root level. And by fighting at the root level we don’t contribute to the growth at the stem level. But if we can’t avoid it then we don’t have to become campaigners against corruption.
So the idea is that we have to be from our initiative we should never do that. But when there is a whole system in which things cannot just move forward without having some level of complicity then we don’t think that. So we are not we cannot live in a utopia.
We cannot live in a utopia. Utopia is imaginary. That’s what the practicality of things cannot be denied.
But in the name of practicality we cannot just sacrifice all our things. So the key thing is are we harming others? And second key thing is is it something which we are instigating for our benefit? So if we are not harming others and we are not instigating it for our benefit then that is just the way the world is. Any other questions? Sir, what do these qualities like gratitude, service and sharing etc.
they come under the mode of goodness? And other qualities like greed and exploitation and lust, they come under the mode of passion? So we are always under the three modes and sometimes some mode is better and some mode is not. We are in the mode of passion or ignorance. So always we will not be able to maintain the qualities which are in the mode of goodness.
So these qualities like gratitude and service are in the mode of goodness. How can we maintain them? Yes, so how can we maintain the qualities in the mode of goodness when the modes and influences are still changing? Generally speaking we cannot immediately stop the influence of the modes. We cannot immediately But the modes they act on the mind, they don’t act on the soul.
The modes are material and being material they can act only on material things. The minds are material. So the mind can only impel, it cannot compel.
What is the meaning of impel? It pushes in this direction. But a push is not a force. We can counter push.
That means the example is if I am driving a car and somebody else is sitting next to me in the car and that person says look at that holding, look at that, look at that and I start looking at that, the car moves back. That person may very actively gesticulate look at this, look at that, look at that. But that person is not taking over the steering wheels.
The steering wheels are in my hands. And I may get distracted by that person but still I can choose to focus on him. So like that as far as the body vehicle is concerned we are the drivers.
And the mind is the partner. Mind is the distracting partner. So the mind can impel but it cannot compel.
It doesn’t force us to do things. So we need to develop counter pushes. So now when we are saying more of goodness, that means the mind is not disturbing at that time.
And we will observe certain times also. Other time when we are influenced by the mode of passion, the mind starts looking, agitated, starts to stir. So at that time we have to make sure that we don’t get angrily influenced.
Okay, what is Krishna’s answer to this in the Bhagavad Gita? Just observe the moments. Don’t become involved with the moments. He says … … … Last week I talked about this.
Feeling our feelings. Becoming an observer towards our feelings. And not getting carried away.
So when I say these feelings are coming, they will come and they will go. They cannot get caught away. So this becomes easier if we don’t keep the objects of indulgence easily available for us.
But if the objects of indulgence are easily available for us, then it’s difficult. So we shouldn’t make life more difficult for ourselves. By making things easily accessible for us.
But in general, over a period of time, if we keep saying no, if we keep neglecting the mind becomes agitated. But if we don’t say no, the mind becomes more and more agitated. We say yes, and the mind says no, this one doesn’t suit me.
I’ll control it more and more. So we have to recognise this principle. I can neglect the mind.
And the easier way is to neglect the mind is to have a focus. That’s why Krishna first said in the 14th chapter, neglect the mind. And later he says … … … … It’s fixed in the process.
It’s fixed and straight ahead in the road. So one way to avoid being troubled by the mind is to keep ourselves well engaged. If I’m well engaged, then I feel at our level, greedy level, I want to eat a lot.
But then, if I have so many services to do, what happens? Okay, I finish my masala, I don’t want the services. So like that, if we just keep ourselves actively engaged, even if the mind is agitated, we don’t need the mind’s scope to act. That is the end of the process.
Last question. Thank you all so much. Shloka Bapadhi.
Jai. …