In the treasure hunt for happiness, avoid the leads that mislead

[Talk at Phoenix, USA]

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Good question.
What appears easy is often dangerous. And what appears difficult is often auspicious. Whereas, there is deep inner dichotomy, diversity between the apparent and the actual, between the appearance and the substance.
We all look, try to find the ideal in our life, and then we go by the appearance of things. We look at what looks attractive. We look at what it is that we can do the best in our personal situations.
And often it is the silence of nature that allures us. When it is allured, what we need to bear in mind is that life itself is never straightforward. Life often involves back and forth in our various ways.
We have various manoeuvres as we try to seek pleasure. It is to the extent that we can learn to direct our consciousness in an intelligent way that our search for happiness can be constructively successfully fulfilled. Happiness is something that we all seek, and whether the quest is fulfilled or not will depend on how we are directing that quest.
When people are trying to solve a mystery, at that time, on many occasions, there are false leads. There is something that makes it but actually isn’t the way it is going to be. So, those false leads have to be rejected, and the true lead, the clue that points to the reality is to be accepted.
So, what makes a lead false? Suppose somebody is hunting for a treasure, and they find that there is a particular lead which actually does not lead to the treasure. Then, it’s considered a false lead. The point of following the lead is to get to the treasure.
But if one is not getting to the treasure, then the lead misleads. And then, the person trying to find, solve the mystery, the person trying to get to the level of finding the desirable result needs to actually have the intelligence to discern the right leads from the wrong leads. Without the discernment, they would end up misled.
Similarly, we are all on a search for happiness, and when we get some leads in our search for happiness, we need to use those leads properly so that we are led and not misled. The nature of material nature is that it is receptive. But it often ends up making us do things that are counterproductive.
Things counter perceptual nature, counter perceptual nature means that that which the reality is opposite to the perception. So this counter perceptual nature of material pleasure is pointed at in Bhagavad Gita 18.37-38. Krishna states there that … … … … So that which tastes like poison to the brain will taste like nectar in the end. And that is happiness in the mode of goodness and that activates our spiritual intelligence.
It bestows upon us spiritual intelligence, ātma-bhakti. In contrast, the next verse in Bhagavad Gita 18.38 states that … … … … … … … It is contact with senses, with the sense objects. Initially it tastes like … … … … … … … So what appear to be and what they actually are, Krishna is saying, are different in our quest for pleasure.
So you see, there is the appearance and there is consequence. Appearance of nectar is the consequence of poison when we pursue sense pleasures and appearance of poison is the consequence of nectar when we pursue spiritual joys. So by understanding this differentiation, by appreciating that there is a higher reality beyond the apparent reality.
If we look at the appearance of attractiveness in something as a lead to the discovery of pleasure in that thing, then we will end up being misled. We will end up being denuded. And if we do not wish to be denuded, if we wish to be elevated, if we find the treasure of happiness, then we need to say no to the leads that mislead, the appearance of pleasure that leads to the substance of misery, consequence of misery.
And we need to say yes to the appearance of misery that leads to the consequence of joy. So how do we avoid being misled in our search for happiness? For this, we need to first of all understand why at all there are leads that mislead. Why at all there are situations in which we find ourselves overwhelmed by desires for things which are undesirable.
I was asked this question by Arjuna in the 3rd chapter 36th verse. What is one implied towards sin, Krishna? As if by force, even against one’s desire. And there Krishna says it is selfish desire, kama, situated in our consciousness, and which, avrutam jnanam etena, jnanino nitya vayena, kama rupena kaunteya, rishkum rena nalena cha.
So Krishna tells Arjuna that it is avrutam jnanam, covered knowledge. It covers the knowledge of the soul who actually has knowledge. Jnanino nitya vayena, jnanino, the soul who has knowledge is covered over by this kama.
Now this is not, the covering is not one that blinds. The covering is one that distorts. Sometimes if say we have some lens, sometimes say if you look in the rear view mirror in a car, the things appear to be at a different distance from what they actually are.
And when driving car, one of the key things is that one needs to learn to estimate distance correctly. Without that correct estimation of distances, one will be misled by one’s perceptions. So when kama covers our intelligence, our knowledge, what does it mean? It means that it is not that it blinds us, but it distorts things.
And one of the distortions is that, that which is actually distressful, it makes it appear pleasurable and even irresistibly pleasurable. And that which is joyful, it means it appears too difficult, too austere, too demanding. And thus we end up misled by our perception.
And Krishna says this kama, this avarana, which covers us, is present in indriyanimano buddher. It is present in the senses, the mind and the intelligence. This kama, which is present in our consciousness, acts to distort our vision and that’s why things appear to be the opposite of what they are.
Kama conditions us to see things as pleasurable when they are things that we are attracted to, things that we are attached to. And it doesn’t see the long-term consequences of things. It sees only the immediate perception.
And based on that immediate perception, an alcoholic sees the appearance, oh, a bottle of alcohol looks so attractive. And similarly, of course, you can see a lusty person looks at a sensual object and thinks, oh, this is so attractive, irresistibly attractive. Now, if even the intelligence is taken over by selfish desire, then how can we, what hope do we have of protecting ourselves? Actually, our protection comes primarily because the intelligence is occupied by lust, but it is not dominated by lust.
A section of our intelligence is overcome by lust and it’s like a disputed territory. Some part of the territory may be occupied by a hostile force and some part may not. So like that, some part of our intelligence is occupied by lust, but some part is also free.
And that part which is free, which needs to overcome, resist and drive out the lust from the remaining part. So, which part we identify with is very important. Somehow the government decides to support the insurgents, the invaders, then that is the government’s suicidal strategy.
So, we need to now identify with the lusty part, because if we do that, then we will use our intelligence to enjoy in a way by which we can cover our tracks. But, that’s not the point. That’s not the point of the intelligence.
We don’t want to act in a way that simply aggravates our stress. We want to act in a way that mitigates our stress. And for that purpose, we need to be conscious.
We need to be aware of the wrong reality and we need to do that which helps us to function in a way that improves the wrong reality. So, we are at our core souls. And the soul is a part and whole, a part and God, Krishna.
And the soul is all blissful. It’s the source of all happiness. To the extent we live for that whole, to that extent, we too will be happy.
To the extent we live for our own pleasure, and often at our condition stage, our idea of pleasure, our own pleasure, is determined by our mind and senses. Which are much more dominated by lust than the intelligences. So, if you consider, Krishna says that in these three places, the senses, the mind and the intelligence, lust is situated.
The amount is clear. Everything is not the same. In the mind, the senses are appreciated the most because the senses are interacting most with the objects, perceiving the objects.
Of course, perception of sense objects alone doesn’t cause agitation. It is the imagination that follows the perception that causes agitation. Imagination happens in the mind.
To the extent we can indulge in that imagination, we indulge in the imagination, to that extent we will get agitated. To the extent we can avoid the imagination, we will not get agitated. So, we could say that in the senses there is perception, in the mind there is imagination, in the intelligence there is rationalisation.
And through it all, there is delusion. So, we perceive the sense objects. That is not a very big problem.
We can’t move around in the world with closed eyes. Eventually, we will perceive things. But what follows the perception? If we let the perception be followed by imagination, if I could read this, if I could touch this, if I could just watch this movie, then I would enjoy so much.
So, it is the perception of the mind, the perception by the senses, the imagination by the mind and the rationalisation by the intelligence that propellers deep into delusion. Relatively speaking, the sense perception can be minimised but it can’t be avoided. Because we live in a world where we will see the sense objects.
And there is the mind’s imagination. That is certainly avoidable. Now, of course, in some cases, if we are very habituated to enjoyment, then the imagination happens even before we realise it.
Oh, this is so pleasurable. How can I be without it? I will be so deprived and I cannot be deprived. So, the sense of deprivation is largely because of imagination.
Suppose, say we are going in a crowded party and we just, while talking with someone, we move our hand backwards and we touch someone. And we look back and say sorry. And then we find that we had touched, the person whom we had touched was a beauty queen.
And he was walking by and we touched her with our elbow or something. We touched her in the mirror chest. So, now people may fantasise of touching the private parts of an attractive female.
But when that contact is accidental and there is no imagination associated with, there is no pleasure. If we are busy talking with someone, very important, we don’t want to be distracted. So, we may just touch someone behind and we may not even turn to look back at whom we touched.
We just continue our talk. And so even though there was a physical contact, which could have been provocative, it wasn’t provocative. Provocative in the sense that our mind gets agitated.
Sometimes we want the mind to get agitated. And we may fantasise before that. Or sometimes the contact may provoke us.
But it provokes us when that physical contact is followed by mental imagination. If the mental imagination is not there following the physical contact, then there is no agitation. So, what this implies is that it is the mind’s imagination that causes agitation.
And if we have trained our mind to be focused and more than that we just become more alert. We just observe what our mind is doing. And even if we are trying to be mindful, devotionally mindful by focussing the mind on Krishna, then even if we are not specifically conscious, even if we are not able to control the mind at all times, just the effort to control it, just the increased awareness that results by the effort to control the mind that will make us more cautious.
And by that we will avoid getting deluded. We will avoid getting captivated by the negativity. We will focus on the positivity of purification and elevation by avoiding imagination.
And sometimes imagination may just get triggered off. Even before there is some perception or maybe there is some recollection that happens from the past. And even before we realise what is happening, we get overwhelmed.
So when that happens, at the very least we can definitely avoid the rationalisation by the intelligence. After doing it, rationalisation is justified. Actually it is not all that bad.
It exists. It is alright. I did this because of this and no one can blame me for that.
So when we rationalise, then our intelligence has become a servant of desire, has become the defender of desire instead of being the defender from desire. Our intelligence is meant to defend us from our lower desires. It is not meant to fuel those desires.
So if our intelligence role changes from being the defender from desire to the defender of desire, then that is when we are deluded. That is when we lose a source that could have protected us. So rationalisation definitely needs to be avoided.
As I said, if you consider how the senses, mind and intelligence have been occupied by the intelligence, by desire, that means that the senses are occupied most or we could say if you use the word occupation for presence, then it is present in all three of them. If you use the occupation for taking over, for domination, so some territory might be occupied by, some part of the disputed territory might be occupied by terrorists. But that does not mean that they are going to be the dominators there.
So occupation does not have to lead to domination. So if we consider in terms of occupation or the possibility of occupation, then the possibility is much more for the mind, for the senses than the mind. Because the senses are constantly in contact with the sense objects.
And it is much more for the mind than it is for the intelligence. Because the mind is much more prone to imagination by the force of habit than is the intelligence. So we can try to avoid perception.
If we can’t, we can at least try to avoid imagination. If we can’t, at least we can try to avoid rationalisation. So when we say that we need to avoid the needs that mislead in our search for pleasure, what that essentially means is that we don’t let the perception of the senses be followed unthinkingly, instinctively by the imagination of the mind.
We guard against that eventuality by determination, by discipline, by consistently becoming aware of where our mind is going and by purifying ourselves of the drives for lower imagination. And imagination itself is not bad. It is the uneducated imagination that is the problem.
For example, when we are driving, we might imagine that I’ll drive super fast. And by driving super fast, I’ll enjoy the sensation of speed. Sometimes such people are called as speed demons.
Just drive super fast. So to the extent we can work out this. So if our imagination is, oh, I’ll enjoy the thrill of driving super fast.
So then what happens is we will be impelled to go on in that direction. But if we can avoid that, we need to actually educate our imagination. So if our imagination is educated, then we won’t actually see things in a negative term.
We’ll see it positively. We’ll see that actually I need to protect myself. And see if we have seen some accidents somewhere.
We’ve seen how terribly mangled, damaged the car was, mangled the person’s corpse was. And if when our mind tempts us to become a speed demon, to drive super fast, if at that time we check that imagination by constructive, we check that destructive imagination by a constructive redirection of imagination. That means we look at things with the eyes of knowledge.
Instead of imagining, oh, I’ll enjoy the thrill of driving super fast. Instead we imagine, oh, I could meet with that kind of disaster. What kind of injury might result by that? What kind of damage might result? So directing our imagination that way can protect us.
And what will direct our imagination that way is education. To the extent we are educated about consequences, to that extent we will direct our imagination constructively. To the extent we are uneducated about consequences, to the extent we will unthinkingly let our imagination be directed destructively.
In the sense, the key for ensuring that we are protected is that we learn to discipline the direction of our imagination. And if we educate ourselves effectively, if we learn to see things through the eyes of knowledge, then when we say we are tempted by alcohol, instead of thinking of the pleasure that alcohol will bring, instead of fantasising about that, we can instead imagine, visualise the consequences. We might get addicted and we might make a fool of ourselves by acting stupidly, speaking stupidly in some important gathering that we might drive under intoxication and cause the death of someone.
Or we pulled over and the mind says, no, no, that won’t happen. So we can say, okay, we might get pulled over and we may lose our driving rights. So directing our imagination that way will protect us.
When our imagination tends to be directed in the opposite direction, we can control it and redirect it. So this is what the study of wisdom is meant to do for us. Wisdom is meant to redirect our mind’s imagination.
And this is where the intelligence comes into the picture. Intelligence is inevitably going to be involved. And intelligence should actually aid us in overcoming desire.
It should not aid desire in overcoming us. That critical difference in what intelligence does is shaped by how we let our intelligence be directed. If we let it be directed destructively, then we find ourselves overwhelmed by negativity.
We find ourselves overwhelmed by the desires that delude us. But if through scriptural knowledge we learn to redirect our desires positively, then we will not be overcome by the desires. Rather, we will have the alertness by which we can overcome the desires.
This positive direction of our desires is offered by scriptural education. We can’t avoid perception and we can’t avoid desires. But we can choose what we focus on and pursue.
We can choose what we desire. When we desire something, it’s basically that we imagine about that thing. If we can avoid the imagination, then a large part of the delusion that emerges from desire can be avoided.
And when it is said that we should avoid the lead that mislead, when we need to look beyond the appearance to the consequence, what it simply means is that we all tend to look at things instinctively. So, from the appearance, if the imagination connects to the consequence, then we can be protected. But from the appearance, the way things look, if we think only of the pleasure that will result, and we don’t think about the trouble that is going to ensue, then that imagination is destructive.
So, education is meant to change our imagination. And similarly, on the positive note, when we start engaging in positive devotional activities, at that time, we may also feel, this is too difficult, I can’t do this, I don’t want to do this. But instead of entertaining that kind of thought process, instead of imagining, I’ll have to follow this discipline throughout my life, how can I do this? I have to chant the holy names every single day, I have to follow the principle of bhakti throughout my life.
This is too much of a burden. So, if we let our imagination go in that direction, then we see the appearance of, okay, we need to follow the rules, and from that appearance, we unwittingly let the substance be triggered. We think of the consequences, oh, this is going to be extremely difficult, I can’t do it.
But instead, if we choose to direct our imagination in the opposite direction, I’ve seen so many people who are doing this, and they are not in any way, they are not special in one sense that they are determined, but it’s not that they are people just like me. So, if there are others who are also following this discipline, that means, these disciplines may not be as difficult as I am presently imagining them to be. So, instead of getting overwhelmed by the imagination, let me progress towards taking things step by step.
Let me take at least a small step in that direction, and let’s see what happens. Let’s see how things follow after that. So, if we act in this way, giving ourselves reason to persevere in the path of application to bhakti, in that kind of imagination, thinking that, oh, there must be some pleasure in this, otherwise, why would anyone do this? If they are doing this, and if they are able to do it, that means they must be getting some pleasure, and that pleasure must be accessible.
So, I too want to access this pleasure. And with that attitude when we function, we find that our imagination will become our friend. So, we can imagine, instead of imagining that, oh, I’ll get so much trouble because of this kind of desires, we can imagine instead that, if we have seen some devotees deeply absorbing spiritual joy in ecstasy, then we can imagine that, oh, one day I could be absorbed like that.
One day I could get that taste. And I went and found that taste. And therefore, I will persevere.
So, then we will not follow the lead that mislead us from the treasure of happiness, but rather, letting our imagination direct us towards Krishna, we will elevate ourselves. We will liberate ourselves. How? By persevering the path that leads to elevation and liberation.
Then, if we consider life to be like a treasure hunt, when we are all searching for happiness, then we will progress towards that happiness by following the leads of scriptural knowledge. Even when there is the appearance of poison, we will be able to exercise the perseverance that will take us to the consequence of nectar.