Inner transformation – from wild forest to agricultural field to Vrindavan | Bhagavatam 10.63.26

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. I’m grateful to be here with all of you today at the lotus feet of Krishnabal Brahmavada Shyamsundar Kovinathai. And today we are discussing from a very philosophical intermission within a very dramatic section.
The Bhagavatam has this feature that there is drama going on, there is a battle happened. And between the… after the battle between the forces of Lord Shiva and the forces of Lord Vishnu, Lord Krishna, now the Shiva Jwara is offering prayers. And you may think, in a battlefield, how does one think of such complicated philosophical concepts to offer prayers? But the idea is that in the… these people who are there, these characters are not ordinary characters.
They are rooted in spiritual wisdom. And thus even when they offer prayers, those prayers have a significant amount of philosophical substance to them. They are not just, oh please forgive me, please help me, please remove this problem from my life.
There’s far deeper philosophical grounding within it. So, in this particular verse, the theme is how this material world is a place of bondage. And there are various elements of material nature that are described.
And then finally it says, you are the solution. You are the way out. And therefore, I surrender to you.
So basically, I’ll write some things over here. Spiritual growth, it involves two things. That we take Maya seriously.
And we take Krishna seriously. And interestingly the two are related. Just like if somebody has a disease, they need to take the disease seriously.
This can lead to a lot of serious consequences in the future. And when we understand the gravity of the disease, then we will take the treatment seriously. And as we take the treatment seriously, we’ll also start getting more positive, we’ll see the changes happening within us.
And our health is improving. We’ll also feel more inspired to take the treatment. So basically, these two are not just two distinct steps, but they are also mutually nourishing each other.
So the more we take Maya seriously, the more we’ll take Krishna seriously. The more we take Krishna seriously, the more we will relish a higher taste, we will relish greater freedom and joy within ourselves. And the more we’ll feel inspired to take Maya seriously.
I don’t want to get entangled in this. I want to stay away from this. So to understand this particular dynamic, why to take Maya seriously and why to take Krishna seriously, that will be the essence of the class today.
So the first part, why to take Maya seriously, for that, I’ll speak on the bija roha pravaha, that part. In the words, bija roha pravaha, the flow of seed and sprout, we’ll see what it means, and then, tvant nishedham prapadye, that you are the negation and therefore I surrender to you. So how the disease is serious and how the treatment is powerful, the two parts we’ll be discussing in our session today.
Many times in our lives, we may wonder, why do I do what I do? That, we sometimes yell at someone, we sometimes overeat, we sometimes oversleep, we tend to do things that we intend to not do. So we tend to do what we intend not to do. So this is our predicament in material existence.
Now, why does this happen? That is because our actions are not determined by us alone. There are bija, bija is seed that are inside us. These bijas are present in our subtle body, as also referred to in this verse, and just as if there is a seed in a field, if the field is allowed to grow on its own, then that seed will grow into a sprout and into a full vegetation.
It might be a weed, it might be a crop, it might be a flower-bearing tree, a fruit-bearing tree, whatever. So the metaphor or the transformation that I’ll be talking about is that our inner world, our subtle body, consider it in three stages. Our subtle body is presently like the bhava aranya.
Bhava aranya is the forest of material existence. In a forest, things grow wildly. This is what is talked about in the fifth canto, by the teachings of Jada Bharata to Maharaja Rao Guna.
So, in a forest, nobody goes and waters the trees and the plants and the shrubs. They just grow by their own cycle. So, there is that there are seeds which fall from trees, then by the environment itself, the seeds are nourished, they grow, and they become future trees.
And often, what grows in a forest is hardly in our control. So, bija roha pravaha. So, this is often our condition in material existence.
Then from there, we want to make our inner world, our inner world or our subtle body, from a bhava aranya, we want to make it like a kshetra. Now, kshetra specifically means a field or agricultural field. In agricultural field, we carefully cultivate what we want to grow over there.
And if weeds are growing, we cut them off. We try to prevent them from growing. So, the seeds, same seeds may be there in the agricultural field that are there in the forest.
But the human agency, the human effort tries to regulate what will grow on that kshetra and what will not grow. And from that kshetra, we want our inner world to eventually become like another one. That is Vrindavan.
So, Mahaprabhu says, moraman vrindavan. That means, for the gopis of Vrindavan, for the vrajavasis, they don’t have to carefully think. Is this thought anukul to Krishna? Is this desire pratikul to Krishna? For them, their entire inner world is devoted to Krishna.
And whatever arises in their heart is naturally for the pleasure of Krishna. So, whenever the gopis cook for Krishna, here in Vrindavan, we have the pavan sarovar where Radharani comes and cooks. So, when the gopis cook for Krishna, it is not that Krishna has to send a menu.
These items are forbidden. You cannot offer these to me. Don’t make these.
No. The gopis, their natural desires are to please Krishna. Now, they know what Krishna likes.
They know what they can cook nicely. And Krishna doesn’t micro-control their creativity. Only this is in the menu, nothing else.
Not like that. You surprise me. And they cook for Krishna using their individuality and their creativity.
So, what grows naturally in their inner world is for Krishna’s pleasure. So, the journey from the bhavaranya to a kshetra to Vrindavan. That is the journey that we would like to see how we can go on.
So, in our inner world, there are many beejas. And the seeds, they basically just like seeds grow into trees. So, our karma beeja, it prompts us to certain actions.
So, if somebody has a habit of yelling whenever they get angry, then whenever something provokes them thereafter, even without their thinking, the urge will rise within them and they will yell. So, the inner environment is made in such a way that that beeja grows very quickly. So, we have inside us forces that are not in our control and forces that may not even be in our cognition.
We may not be even aware of their existence. But they prompt our actions. Now, these forces, this beeja, they can be classified into broadly two categories.
Some are positive, some are negative. Now, the terms in Sanskrit sometimes themselves are confusing and the English translations can also be confusing. But I’ll use two simple terms over here, vritti and vasana.
Now, even different devotees use these terms differently. So, I’ll tell you in what context I’m using it. Vasana refers to lust, anger, greed and weep, pride and illusion, the sadhanarthas.
Vritti refers to brahman, kshatriya, like that. We all have a particular vritti. So, from our past, if any of us are parents and we have children, then we may say sometimes our children, a child may be naturally drawn toward music.
And some children may be just naturally good at dancing. If they are small children, any child who dances, it’s cute to see that. But some children are actually very graceful dancers.
Some children are naturally good at music. Some children are not. When they grow into adults, they may dance.
Now, some people have no aesthetic sense in dancing actually. Their body is just not in their control. And they may try to make some dance steps.
Even the simple swami steps may be difficult for them. And they may say, no, this is hard. And the onlookers may say, yeah, it is hard to watch.
The idea is, we all have certain vrittis. Vritti means that which we are naturally interested in doing, that which we are naturally good at doing. This vritti, Krishna associates with guna and karma.
So, if we have the guna for something, we feel good while doing it. If somebody has a language instinct, then they just like to read well-written stuff. They like to see wordplay.
They get immersed. So, they feel good doing it, that is guna. And karma is, they are actually good at doing it.
So, they themselves can compose nice wordplay. If somebody has a vritti for music, and they have the guna and the karma, that means they are interested in music and they themselves compose good music. So, this is vritti.
And the vritti, Krishna says, we should not repress it. In fact, Krishna talks about it in 3.33 to 35. He says, nigraha kim karishya.
What will repression accomplish? Nothing, he says. The vritti that we have, that is meant to be used in Krishna’s service. Used to do dharma, used to execute our responsibilities in this world, and it is meant to be used for bhakti.
So, in the inner field that we have, there are some seeds, some bija that are good. So, the vritti, it is to be used at a basic level for dharma. Dharma doesn’t just mean religion.
Dharma means the right thing to do. Prukshami tvam dharma samudha cheta. Arjuna is asking, what is the right thing to do? So, in our family, there is a particular right thing to do.
In our job, there is a particular right thing to do. When we are driving on a road, then there is a particular right thing to do. Drive on a particular side, within a particular speed limit.
So, our vritti is to be used to do dharma and dharma culminates in bhakti. Ultimately, the highest dharma is sarvadharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja. So, if we consider our inner world to be like a field, then within this field, the journey from bija to roha, seed to sprouts, we want to encourage and facilitate the growth of our vritti.
Arjuna had a natural vritti for Arjuna and he used that. He had a natural talent but he also had a huge amount of commitment. So, he practised.
One of the reasons why his name is Gudakesha is that when he would learn archery skills from his guru in the day time, he would practise that late into the night and that’s how he would stay awake at night. So, there is of course a spiritual meaning of the word Gudakesha but from the perspective of vritti, he was naturally drawn towards this. So, what vritti we have, we need to develop that.
And this can also give us a certain level of absorption and that can help us to fight against the vasanas. So, basically vritti is like the wanted seeds. Now, wanted seeds are not like a wanted criminal that we want to shoot down.
Wanted seeds are the desired seeds that we want them to grow. But then there is the vasana. So, the vasana is all of us have certain amount of lust, anger, greed.
All of this is present within us. Even if there is a small baby, all babies cry. But some babies cry as if they are going to bring the whole house down.
So, it is possible that the samskara, the impression associated with anger might be stronger in some babies. So, we all have these vasanas. These are like weeds.
And the weeds, first, what we need to do with respect to them is regulation. We don’t want them to grow too much. So, first is regulation.
That when they are there, we all may have certain anger within us. But we all also have a certain sense of boundaries to our anger. We may get angry, but all of us, when we get angry, we may raise our voice, but we may not speak foul words.
We may not speak obscenities. We may raise our fist sometimes, but we may not hit someone with it. So, everyone has certain boundaries.
Now, regulation essentially means we tighten our boundaries. Whatever boundaries we have, we tighten them, we regulate them more and more. But eventually, what we would like to do with the vasanas is just eradication.
Now, of course, this eradication happens through redirection. So, we know at one level, we can say lust is bad, but at a foundational level, lust is nothing but desire. And that desire can be directed toward Krishna.
And then, So, from regulation to eradication of the material direction which they are going, and eradication of the material, and redirection toward the spiritual. So, this is basically the vritti and the vasana. So, each one of us has to become like a farmer, a person expert at agriculture.
Observing which bija are there, which seeds are there, which should be growing, and which should not be growing. And gradually, as we start practising bhakti more and more, then, what will happen is the inner world will become filled with more and more desires for Krishna. Maa ichcha tum dhananjaya.
Krishna says in 12.9, by the practise of sadhana bhakti, our ichcha for Krishna, our desire for Krishna becomes stronger and stronger. When that happens, then we become spontaneously absorbed in Krishna. And that’s when moramar vrindavan happens.
So, now, if we are not, with respect to our inner world, either we are inert, we are alert, or we are inert. Now, if we are inert, that means we are just passive. A desire pops up, just go along with that desire.
And sometimes we are not even aware of what we are doing. Sometimes we use the word spaced out. So, spaced out means what? Our inner world is like a vast space and what is out there, we don’t even know it.
Just lost in it. So, if we are inert, then what will happen is, by default, the bija will lead to roha, and the roha will lead to bija, and there will be no selection over here. So, quite often, our lower propensities, our lower desires may act.
So, a person might be a little short-tempered, but if they do not try to regulate their temper, then they’ll become more and more short-tempered, more and more short-tempered. And eventually, they may become violent over small things. And that would be terrible.
So, we have to become like an inner farmer. So, understanding that if we are not doing anything, a lot is being done inside us, and it is often against us. It is often for our harm.
So, there is no choice of being inert over here. If we are inert, basically, we are on the path to self-destruction. It’s like, somebody has a disease, and I’m not doing anything.
Well, by not doing anything, you are letting the disease grow, and it’s going to worsen. So, we cannot afford to be passive and inert. But then, okay, if we’ve taken the disease seriously, that this is a problem.
If we do not become alert in our inner world, the inertness will keep us bound. Punarapi jananam, punarapi maranam. Punarapi jatari, janani jatari shayanam.
Life after life, the samsara chakra will keep going on and on and on. So, the bija to roha, roha to bija. Lifetime after lifetime, this will go on.
Some time or the other, we have to get out of this auto-mode. Auto-mode is where something comes up within us, we do it, and then again something else comes up, and we keep doing it. So, we have to stop that auto-mode of our mind.
And then, how do we do that? How do we change our inner world from a bhavaranya to a kshetra where we’re consciously choosing? So, I’ll talk about three points over here, and then we’ll have question and answer if we have time. So, take aim, A-I-M. So, A is association.
So, the sangha that we have is extremely important. Now, association can help us over a spectrum. At a basic level, association can provide us accountability.
Accountability means that when we are in a good association, for example, then if we are not doing something good, then someone else will point out to us. If we are chanting. Now, what happens is, whenever we start chanting, our mind starts like a TV inside us.
And we start watching that TV. Oh, this person said this, and this happened, and that happened, and that happened. And we get so caught watching the TV that we either forget to chant or our lips are chanting but we forget that we are chanting.
And then, we might doze off, our mind may wander off. But, if we doze off, then somebody around us, they will wake us up. Hey, don’t do this.
So, association at the basic level provides us accountability. This was the mistake that Bharat Maharaj did that he got attached to a deer at one level because there was no association to keep him accountable. Now, sages generally would meditate in isolation.
But still, they would have their time to come together. Like each Goswami here in Vrindavan has their own bhajan kutir. So, everybody needs their space.
Generally, as people grow older, the need for space and autonomy becomes more to some extent. So, everybody needs their space. But when the Goswamis had their own bhajan kutirs, they would also come together in some way.
So, association at one level gives us accountability. But at another level, association also gives us, it shapes our aspirations, our desires. Normally, this refers to from our attachment, our infatuation comes.
But Prabhupada in one lecture says, sanga can also mean association. From our association, our desires develop. So, we may all have a particular kind of desires.
Say for example, from our past life’s karma, the karma bijya comes from purva karma. So, we may have material desires. We may have a desire for, I want a big house, I want a big car, I want this, I want that.
We have desires for material things. But how do we get spiritual desires? So, that happens through association. See, when I use the word aspiration, generally aspiration talks about cultivated, good, even noble desires.
We have many desires, but this is by aspiration. Very few people will say, my aspiration in life is to watch six hours TV for the rest of my life, every single day, without fail. People may end up doing that.
But that is really the aspiration of people. So, aspiration is only something healthy, something good, something which we want to cultivate. So, often we think of desires as linear.
Linear means what? I am here and I see some object. When I see the object, I get the desire. I think of that as a linear desire.
So, we are sitting here, suppose somebody carrying Mahaprasad passes by over here. And then we smell the fragrance of the sweets, we see the delicious sweets. So, we see it and we get the desire.
That’s a linear desire. And yes, desires are linear like this, but desires are not always linear. Desires can also be triangular.
Triangular means, I am here and there is some object here and someone else is here. And that person has a strong desire. When I observe that person, then I get the desire for that.
So, generally for Rajasic objects, the objects themselves are attractive and we get the desire naturally for those objects. But for Sattvic objects, the desires generally are not linear. How many people see a gym and say, Oh, I want to go to exercise.
Not many, but if you see somebody, some friend coming out of the gym and they are looking very fit and healthy, Hey, maybe I should also become healthy. So, seeing somebody else gives us the desire. I was in, when I visited Australia for the first time in 2014.
So, one devotee had invited me to his house for prasad. So, after the prasad got over, he said that for dessert, we have baklava. How many of you have heard of baklava? Some of you.
Okay. Now the Mataji has heard about it. So, now, I had never heard of baklava till then.
And to the Indian ear, the sound of baklava is not very sweet. Baklava! Baklava! So, I said, maybe later. And then, as another devotee who had come with me, a local devotee over there, he had come with me for prasad over there.
So, I said, yeah, I would like to have. And then I was talking with the host, and then I saw this devotee, he got the baklava, he is eating it, he is closing his eyes and really savouring the baklava. And when I saw that, can I also have one? So, there was no linear desire, but there was triangular desire.
Seeing someone else do it gave the desire for me. So, for us, especially with respect to spirituality, the desire generally grows triangularly. If we see someone else sitting and doing chanting, okay, what are they doing? Maybe I should also try.
Most people, when they get a Bhagavad Gita, very few people, just by seeing the Bhagavad Gita, oh, I want to read it. Now, people take Bhagavad Gita as it is and keep it as it is. Unfortunately.
But, if we meet some devotee who is alive with the knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita, they are rejoicing it, they are sharing fresh realisations from it, and they are so eager. Then we say, what is there in the Bhagavad Gita? I want to find out. So, the desire comes that way.
Sangat Sanjayate Kama. So, for us, at one level, we need association to protect ourselves from our vasanas. But at another level, association is meant to nourish our vrittis, our healthy vrittis.
So, if we see somebody who is a good singer, and we also have some interest in singing, hey, this person sings so nicely, and is able to do so much service, I also want to do that. One of my services is writing. So, I have written some 30 books till now.
So, when I was learning writing, at that time, I read some books on writing. So, there is one principle they said, generally you will say, tell authors, read books that are well-written to get inspiration to write. But they also say that read books that are terribly written.
He says, why? He says, that will give you inspiration in a different way. If this crap can be published, then surely I can get published. So, sometimes you may say somebody is singing, and they are not singing very well.
You think, okay, I need to learn to sing. We will see somebody is sharing Krishna’s message, but maybe they are not answering properly. I want to learn to answer properly.
So, either way, association can be a very valuable outer tool for cultivation. Which beager to cultivate, and which beager to eliminate. So, what was the acronym I was using? AIM.
So, I is intelligence. So, association is external. Intelligence is internal.
Jiva Goswami explains in Sandarbhas that till we come to the stage of Prema or Prithi, he uses the word as he calls Prithi Sandarbha. Till we come to the stage of Prithi, what will keep us in Bhakti is our Buddhi. Once we have love for Krishna, naturally we will be immersed in Krishna.
But till that time, we need our Buddhi. So, sometimes external association may or may not inspire us. It may be available, it may not be available.
But, we need our Buddhi to be active. And what does the Buddhi do? Buddhi does broadly two things. It guides and it guards.
Guides means go in this direction. Guards means don’t go in this direction. So, if we have the Buddhi, okay, this is something which I should be doing.
Pravrttimcha nivrttimcha karyakarya bhaya bhaye. So, if the Buddhi is good, we know what is to be done, what is not to be done. So, when we study Shastra, it is not just to memorise verses.
It is not just to learn something about Krishna that we have never heard before, so that we can show off our spiritual knowledge to others. Or we can just get titillated. Oh, I know something.
Some new story of Krishna. Oh, that is good. It is connected with Krishna.
But the primary purpose of hearing and reading Shastra is to equip our intelligence. So that the intelligence can guide and guard us. The intelligence can tell us, okay, if the intelligence is well nourished, then the intelligence is like a guard next to us.
That guard is, hey, don’t go here, go here. Some people, the big VIPs, they may be targeted for attack, assassination and then they will have their security details with them. So, they will have their bodyguards.
And those bodyguards will watch, okay, where should they go, where should they not go. So, for us, our intelligence is like, not our bodyguard, but our soulguard. It is our buddhi that will protect our atma.
Otherwise, atmanasham cha, we will destroy ourselves. Or rather, the vasanas within us will destroy ourselves. So, that is the role of buddhi.
And the last is M. That is mercy. Now, association is what we can select. Intelligence is what we can develop.
But, ultimately, we need mercy. By association and intelligence, what we try to do is, okay, these bijas are growing, I don’t want them to grow. So, I cut them off whenever they grow.
And that is something which we have to do. Again and again, a particular urge will come. Yell at this person.
Again and again, I want to eat this, I want to watch this, I want to touch this. No. We have to say no to it.
Krishna says that these will just come because we are in an embodied condition. He says, just tolerate it. So, that is a difficult process.
But we need to do our part. Like in Damodar Leela, there is our endeavour, Yudhishthira endeavour, that’s one finger. And in Krishna’s mercy, the second finger.
So, mercy is actually a game changer in our inner world. What mercy does is, till we get mercy through association and intelligence, we are cutting off those weeds that keep growing but we don’t want them to grow. We have to keep doing it again and again and again.
But by mercy, what will happen is, our vritti will just shoot up. It will just become positive. Whatever it is that we can use for serving Krishna, whatever desires take us toward Krishna, they will become much much stronger.
And by mercy, the vasana will go down, will decrease. So, after some time, we’ll find some desires just stop troubling us. And that is the magical mercy of Krishna consciousness.
Maybe some of us used to eat meat before we came to bhakti. Maybe that is a part of our habitual diet. Now, maybe in the past, we used to watch movies, maybe used to play cricket or watch cricket.
Maybe we were interested in politics. Now, if we are going in a train or a plane, if somebody else is reading a newspaper, somebody is watching a movie, we might get tempted by that. But generally, if a person next to us is eating meat, most of us will not get tempted by that, even if we had been eating it before.
Why? Because Krishna’s mercy has come at that level. That particular vasana has been completely eradicated. It’s not that we have to consciously tell ourselves, hey, don’t eat that, don’t look at that, don’t dwell on that.
No. It is at least for that desire, sometimes our lips curl in distaste, I don’t want this. So, maybe for others they don’t, but for others also, it will happen.
So, mercy is a game changer. By mercy, the vasanas will just go away and when the mercy comes, suddenly we will feel drawn to read shastra, we’ll feel drawn, not as a duty, that I have to wake up and come to the darshan of the Lord. No, we’ll feel drawn towards it.
So, when that happens, that is the time when our inner world has started becoming Vrindavan. So, when that mercy will come, we do not know, but we keep trying. We keep doing our part, choosing our association carefully and developing our intelligence diligently and making the right choices, even if they are difficult for us.
So, broadly speaking, it’s like till, from shraddha, till we go beyond anarthani vritti, it’s like a steep climb. It is a climb, it is tough. But from anarthani vritti, once we come to nishtha, the journey becomes relatively easier.
From nishtha to ruchi, to bhav, it becomes easier. And afterwards, it almost becomes like a downslide. Not that our consciousness is going down, but we just effortlessly move towards Krishna.
So, bhav and prema, that is the time when sushkham kartum augaya. Anandam budhi vartanam pratipadam puranam rtah svadanam. So, right now, it may be a visual, a little bit of poison will be there, because we have to go against the tendency that arises in our mind, but we will all come to that level, where every moment will become joyful, because our connection with Krishna has become steady and strong.
So, I’ll summarise what we discussed today. I talked about three broad points. First is, I talked about self-transformation.
If we are to do that, we need to take seriously two things. First, take maya seriously, then we take the disease seriously, and we take Krishna seriously. And for the self-transformation, we talked about the journey being from the bhava, the inner world being like a bhavaranya to akshetra, to a Vrindavan.
This is the journey we want to go on. And then, to go on this journey, I discussed about how our inner world is. So, to take maya seriously means that to understand that in our world, so, take maya seriously.
That means, understand that there are vrittis, and there are vasanas. So, we discussed elaborately about this inner world dynamics. So, vritti needs to be nourished.
And the vasana needs to be removed. So, nishedha, so this, by default, if we are inert in our inner world, then the bija will lead to roha, the sprouts will come, and again they will cause bija. In a forest, we will stay, if our inner world is like a forest, then we will stay in the samsara chakra.
Without even doing anything, we will stay entangled, like a disease growing without our efforts. And then, we take Krishna seriously. What that means is, we take A. A was association.
So, by association, at a basic level, we get accountability. That association prevents us from going on the wrong track. And at another level, it awakens our healthy aspirations.
We talked about how desires can be linear, but also triangular. Especially, sattvic desires involve things that may not necessarily look immediately attractive. That’s why we need to see those who are attracted to those things and that’s how we become attracted.
I was intelligence. So, intelligence is like our soul guard. So, intelligence is meant to guard us and guide us.
Don’t go in this direction, go in this direction. So, basically, through these, we learn which vijas to cultivate and which vijas to not cultivate. And lastly, is mercy.
By mercy, what happens is, as I said, it’s a game changer. The vrittis, dramatically, without our effort, the vrittis become stronger. That’s what empowerment means.
We find that we are able to do wonderful things for Krishna. And the vasanas, they dramatically go down. The things which were distracting and agitating us in the past, they no longer agitate us.
And this is the stage when we get mercy, then our bhakti becomes sushukham. It becomes joyful at every moment. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Thank you very much.
I think the format you’re using is frankly very pleasurable. Thank you very much. I just want to make a note about the word transformation.
Because our philosophy is about sat. And there are many books and many philosophies popular today about self-help. And they all emphasise transformation.
But actually, I would just suggest that in this great science that you’re explaining, we might want to avoid the word transformation. Because the sophisticated word in English is to have nomenclature. Nomenclature means the scientific terms.
Terms are labels. Labels of actions and objects. So, we want to avoid the concept that in Krishna consciousness there is a transformation.
I think. I would suggest. But I’ll give it back to you.
What would be the alternative word that you would suggest? Awakening. Cleansing. Awakening.
Cleansing. I’m only suggesting. Because, you understand the difference? We are already eternally what we should be.
What we want to be. There is sadhya. That’s what our goal is.
And there is sadhana. Only in Krishna consciousness does sadhana and sadhya become one. Because in the end what we want to become is what we do.
Yes. Thank you. Thank you.
I’m sorry if I seem to criticise. I think your class is fantastic. Thank you.
It’s a good thought to keep in mind. That we don’t mix our ideas, our conceptions with other people’s conceptions. I think that is the metaphor of the alchemy where iron becomes gold by initiation.
So transformation can also be used. But I’ll keep it in mind. Awakening also.
Thank you so much for your wonderful class. Prabhuji, I have little question related to vritti. Not related fully from this class but little related.
So, this shloka in 18.47, Lord Krishna described this. You know, one’s own explicit duty and don’t accept the others even if he can do very better. Like that way.
So, you know, I’m reading Srimad Bhagavad Gita many times but I did not get any practical example related with that shloka. Because Srila Prabhupada writes, just like Viswamitra, he accepts the duty of a Brahman. And Parushram is a Brahman but he accepts the duty of a Kshatriya.
So, in our practical lives, which example we can use for that particular vritti changing? Yes. So, two things. Let’s look at the Gita in context.
See, the Gita is both a timeless message and a timely message. Timely means it is spoken at a particular time. So, specifically for Arjuna, Arjuna was thinking of fight or don’t fight.
And now when he was thinking of not fighting, he said, okay, the Kauravas have done terrible things. Let’s just forgive them. Let’s live and let live.
Like that. So, he was thinking of acting like a Brahmana. Brahmanas are meant to forgive.
Brahmanas are not meant to take revenge. Kshama is called as the quality of a Brahmana in that same section, 1841-42-43. But Kshatriyas, they can forgive.
But Kshatriya’s primary focus is not Kshama. It is Nyaya. It is justice.
And that’s why sometimes Kshatriyas have to punish. The police may sometimes, or the courts may sometimes say, they give amnesty, they give mercy, they give pardon. But that’s occasional.
The general policy of the police and the legal system should be, you did this action, you have to be punished. So, Arjuna is acting, is a Kshatriya, is in a Kshatriya role and Krishna is telling Arjuna, don’t act like a Brahmana. It won’t work for you.
You are by nature a protector. Right now, you may say, oh, these Kauravas are doing terrible things to me, I’ll just let them go. I’ll forgive them.
Okay, you may renounce the world, but later on, when you hear about the Kauravas doing atrocities against innocent people, the protector within you will not stay silent. It will come up again. And you will want to protect.
So, don’t repress. So, that’s the timelessness, timely message rather. It’s specifically for Arjuna, that don’t give up your Kshatriya role just because it is difficult.
Now, the timeless message is that basically, whatever gifts we have, whatever gifts can be our abilities, they can be our interests, they can be our resources. So, these give us like a breathing air in our life, A.I.R. Otherwise, the world is so big and we appear so tiny that even when we are practising Bhakti, still does my existence even count? Am I doing anything of value? So, Krishna has given every one of us some things, some abilities, some interests, some resources and we are meant to use that in Krishna’s service. So, the whole principle of Varanashram, acting according to our vritti, is using what we have in Krishna’s service.
So, when Prabhupada would find that some devotees have good ability to paint, they would encourage him to paint for Krishna. So, he found that some devotees were good at English. He told them, you edit the books.
You become editors for Back to Godhead magazine. So, Prabhupada is an expert in identifying talent and engaging devotees in the content of talent. So, in our situation also, we can observe ourselves.
What abilities, what interests, what resources do we have and we try to use those in Krishna’s service. This doesn’t mean we defy our teachers or our guides, but we inform them that this is what I have some ability, interest or resource and then we try to see how we can engage it cooperatively. Thank you.
Behind please. Okay. You can speak loudly till the mic goes there.
Can you speak? Yeah. Sorry, I didn’t realise you were saying to me. Thank you so much for your wonderful classes always.
They’re very scientific and they’re full of clarity and they work very well for my brain and my heart. So, I hope I form my question properly. You talked about impressions of previous lives.
So, my question is, Prabhuji, that sometimes when we are carrying impressions from our previous lives and they may reflect in this life so somebody may be very intolerant to, for instance, injustice and there’s some connection with the answer that you just gave. I mean, if it’s inherent in you, you just can’t help it. And if something wrong is going on, you know, the blood is boiling inside, etc.
But if we see that our, sorry, our intolerance to injustice, we cannot do anything about any situation because Krishnabaram have their plan and things are just going the way they’re going and they’re going to continue going. Now, the question is this, that if one understands this, though they may be feeling uncomfortable about something, but now they have realised that no action from them is going to make any change, but it’s an, it’s a conditioning, if we could use that word. Not that to speak up about something wrong is wrong.
It’s good. How should one deal with that sort of conditioning so that their energy doesn’t get wrongly channelled into feeling the frustration and towards the injustice that’s happening. But they can focus their energy on maybe what is inherent within them given by Krishna and to do a particular service.
I wonder if my question is okay and it makes sense. It’s an important question. In the 7th Canto Purport, so the question I’ll rephrase quickly is that if we cannot tolerate injustice, but then we can’t do anything about it.
So, what can we do so that we don’t get caught in resentment or negativity because of that situation. So, Srila Prabhupada writes in the 7th Canto Purport that we should always keep ourselves healthy and stout. Prabhupada uses the word stout also.
Healthy and stout in mind and intelligence. Mind and intelligence to distinguish the goal of life from a life full of problems. So, what it means is, it’s a practical yet profound statement.
Around us, there are many things wrong and that is the situation in the material world, that is situation in the devotee world. It’s just the way the world is. So, now we need to look at what is the way I can move toward Krishna.
What is the way I can help others move toward Krishna. So, let me complete this. See, we are meant to make a difference in this world.
Vedanta Desikar gives the example. He says that taking this 11.29.30.31 11.28.29 actually, he says basically that there are two examples given. One is like, just like the moth goes into the fire or the river goes toward the ocean.
When the moth goes toward the fire, it does good to no one. Neither that moth just burn to death and nor do anyone else. But when the river goes toward the ocean, the river’s essential nature is not changed.
The river is water and it continues to be water in the ocean. But simultaneously, while it is going toward the ocean, it benefits all the life forms along the way. So, similarly he says that saintly people, those who are devotees, they need to live in such a way that they are like rivers going toward the ocean of Krishna.
But all of us have certain fires which will draw us and we become like moths. So, even within our movement, okay, there are many things which are wrong and some people keep talking about this thing wrong, that thing wrong. Now, if that is our driving passion that we make that, we take blessings of some senior devotees, those who are like-minded, those who understand us.
Not all senior devotees will bless us. But under some senior devotees’ guidance, we can take that this is the service I want to do, fixing this wrong. Then, that won’t be like a fire for us.
That will be like the path that the river of our consciousness is taking in going towards Krishna. So, basically one of the qualities that Krishna says of a devotee is Daksha. Now, Daksha can mean expert.
Some places, Prabhupada translates Daksha as resourceful. Now, my understanding of resourceful is two aspects to it. Either we change our aspirations according to situations or we change our situations according to our aspirations.
And which we are going to do, that we have to carefully decide. See, from 1922 till 1965 or at least we can say from 45 till 65, Prabhupada was vigorously trying to share Krishna Bhakti in India. It was just not working.
Indians were just not interested at that time. So, what did Prabhupada do? He changed his situation. He went from India to America.
His aspiration was to share Krishna Bhakti. India was pious. There is a difference between religious and being spiritual.
Religious means people want to come to a temple, pray to God and keep me prosperous, keep me peaceful, keep me happy, like that. But Prabhupada wanted to offer something more. So, he changed his situation according to his aspiration.
He went to America. He found serious people. People who were fed up with material life, even with the progress of material life.
Now, when Prabhupada came back to India, between 1965 and 1970, after which Prabhupada focused entirely, largely on India. India became his base. It is not that India had changed dramatically.
It is India was still more religious than spiritual at that time. And that’s why we see Prabhupada did not get many dedicated disciples in India. But then Prabhupada changed that.
Prabhupada decided that India would be the foundation for the global movement. And he saw that Indians are not ready to take up Bhakti. He saw that Indians are appreciating him.
Because it was more like cultural nationalism or national cultural pride. Oh, this Swami from India, he has gone and he has made Americans, devotees who are wearing dhoti, kurta and saree. It was sensational for Indians.
So it was not a spiritual connection or a spiritual pride. It was more of a national cultural pride. But Prabhupada used that.
And so, if we complete this, Prabhupada in India, we see his interactions with the people who came to him. They became life members. Prabhupada is not pushing them.
When are you going to come for the morning programme? How many rounds of chanting? When are you going to take initiation? No. Prabhupada engaged them according to their level. So the idea is in India, Prabhupada adjusted his aspirations according to his situation.
Right now, we may not get many Indian devotees. But let us build the infrastructure. And actually it is from late 80s, 87, 88, 90, that our movement started picking up in India.
Now we could go into the history of why it happened at that particular time. Generally, more people became educated, more people started experiencing the stress of the western way of living and started needing some spiritual relief and that’s how they turned towards spirituality. So the point is even an Acharya like Prabhupada had to do the adjustment.
So either we adjust our situations according to our aspirations or we adjust our aspirations according to our situations. Yes, please. So just one last follow-up question if I may.
Thank you for the amazing answer. So if one chooses then, they made their mind that okay, yeah, I do want to change the situation according to one’s aspiration. What will be helpful in making that transition if you are in that same space and the problem, the situation which is a source of the problem is not changing and being there in that environment, you need to make that change of situation.
If you would like me to explain. Yeah, I got the idea. See one thing is if we want to do any meaningful service, first thing is we have to stop expecting that everybody will be happy with us.
If you want to make everyone happy, stop being a devotee, start selling ice cream. So just by being a devotee, you may say, okay, I just sincerely want to serve. But maybe we are doing one particular service and we decide I want to do some other service.
Then the devotees whom we were assisting in their service, they will not be happy because they have lost one resource. So, if we want to do some reform, some kind of change, then generally organisations are conservative. Conservative doesn’t mean they are conserving the tradition.
Organisations tend to conserve the status quo. The way things are going on, don’t rock the boat. Don’t disrupt things.
And in many ways, that is just the way organisations everywhere are. So, not all organisations, not everybody in the organisation, but okay, we have a system, things are going on according to the system. Yeah, there may be some problems here and there, but don’t rock the whole boat.
That’s the whole idea. So, if we see something going wrong and we want to change it, then we may have to accept the fact that we may become unpopular. We may become criticised by some.
Now, of course, we don’t have to have a martyr mentality. Oh, everybody is targeting me. I alone am a good person serving a noble cause while everybody else misunderstand me.
We don’t want to have that kind of martyr mentality or a victim mentality. What we need is at least have the guidance of some like-minded devotees. And then, now, I find that our movement is so big, Prabhupada has given a giant umbrella and within that, we all can have our small umbrellas that we carry.
So, somebody may find that, oh, devotees don’t pronounce Sanskrit verses properly. So, they may start some forum for Sanskrit pronunciation. Somebody else may see that child protection is not happening properly in our movement.
So, we create a forum for child protection. So, like that, basically, we find our umbrella and we hold that umbrella up. Actually, Prabhuji, my question is a little different.
I’m just wondering that within one’s heart, how does one make that transition? So, say you’ve decided you’re not going to take any action, it’s not worth it, it’s not my area, etc. You want to make the transition within your heart where you don’t be so… Okay, so you don’t want to take action. Sorry? We’ve decided I don’t want to take any action.
I don’t want to take any action. It’s not worth it. So, you’re in the situation but that transition in the heart needs to take place.
Okay, then we have to find out… That transformation of the heart where you will still be in that environment but now you’re going to shift your focus and change the situation for yourself to fulfil your aspiration and not your energy get affected. Do you know what I’m saying? So, find out something… Find out something that will absorb our consciousness. We all need something that will be our offering to Krishna.
So, somebody maybe in the Pujari department and maybe they find that the way the Deities are dressed are not so good. Or maybe they are cooking for Krishna. Yeah.
Okay, if I am going to cook this particular offering for Krishna, I will make sure that this is done the best of my capacity. Maybe other items cooked are not so well cooked. I will make sure this is done well.
And beyond the circumstantial, oh, I’m only allowed to cook this. If I was in charge of other things, I would also make sure other things are cooked properly. But just do what we can well.
If we do that, Krishna is watching and Krishna can expand our Kshetra. So, do I understand correctly then, the crux is that you get so absorbed in what you actually want to do and by doing that, the focus which was going in being affected will just wither away? Yes. Param Dhrishtva, when we say, it is, Prabhupada translated as a higher taste.
Now, if you look at the word literally, Dhrishtva, it means vision. So, first we need to have a higher vision. Okay.
This is, all these things are wrong, but this is one thing I can fix. So, we have a higher vision. From higher vision comes a higher mission or a higher purpose.
And from that higher purpose gradually comes the higher taste. So, Param Dhrishtva, what is it that I can fix here? That is the higher vision. How can I take tangible steps? This is, vision becomes a purpose.
This is what I do. And then we start seeing, this is one thing I have done for Krishna. That’s what will give us the higher taste.
Thank you very much. Krantraj Srimad Bhagavatam ki Thank you so much. Prabhupada ki.
Jai. Gaurabhakta Vrindaki.