Is constantly thinking about death psychologically damaging?

Bhagavatam class at ISKCON, Perth

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Shri Prabhupada ki Jai! This describes the pregnancy of Deeti. Here, Deeti is, her spiritual disposition is revealed, despite her temporary lapse into material temptation. We see that, when she hears that her sons are going to be great demons, and she is disturbed, but when she hears that her sons are going to be killed by the Supreme Lord, now, she doesn’t focus on the fact that her sons are going to be killed, she focusses on the fact that they are going to be killed by the Supreme Lord.
And, we see a similar, when there is a spiritual disposition, there is a reorientation of disposition, there is a different understanding of reality. In the first canto of the Shri Mat Bhagwatam also, when Parikshit Maharaj, his horoscope is being told by the astrologers, and at that time, they describe his many virtuous qualities. He will be as powerful as this king, as charitable as this king, like this, they give a long list of attributes.
And at the end, in just one fragment of a verse, it is said, he will die because of being cursed by a Brahmin. And Yudhishthira Maharaj doesn’t even ask any question about that. Normally, you know, if a horoscope, at the time of birth tells, oh, the son will die at this age, by this first thing he will ask, oh, is he going to die? What can we do? Can we prevent the death? What can we do about it? So, Yudhishthira Maharaj doesn’t even ask any question about that.
So, I am very grateful that he is going to be a great devotee, he is going to follow the path of Dharma. So, that means that there is a spiritual vision of looking at things and there is a material vision of looking at things. From the material vision, death is unfortunate.
In fact, that is considered the greatest misfortune. So, the idea is that, from a materialist perspective, we are nothing except just some blob of protoplasm that has somehow come alive. And we are just wobbling around for a few moments between two infinities of nothingness.
Before we were born, we were nothing. After we die, we are nothing. And in between, somehow we are something.
So, this is actually a worldview. If we take it down to its essentials, it is a worldview of meaninglessness. Many times, atheists, they criticise religion.
You do all these rituals. Now, what is the meaning of these rituals? They say, your rituals doesn’t make sense. Even if we argue, except for argument sake, that some rituals don’t make sense, actually, in the materialistic worldview, nothing makes sense.
So, materialistic worldview is like people who are… it sentences people to drowning in an ocean of meaninglessness. And in between, they say, okay, this thing makes sense, this thing makes sense, this thing doesn’t make sense. So, it’s like you are reduced to finding little islets of meaning in an ocean of meaninglessness.
That’s what materialism ultimately reduces one down to. And death is the ultimate exposure of the futility of material existence. And that’s why the human mind recoils from the thought of death with a very furious force.
There’s a Greek philosopher who said that, when I am there, death will not be there. When death will be there, I will not be there. Therefore, I will never die.
Now, people may do facile reasoning like this, but that doesn’t change the reality that they are going to suffer the agony of death. Woody Allen, he said that, it’s not that I’m afraid of death, it’s just that I don’t want to be there when it happens. It doesn’t work like that.
Death is going to happen to us. And there is, now sometimes we hear in scripture that we should always remember that we are going to die. And by remembering that we are going to die, that will make us serious in our spiritual life.
So, Sri Vaishnava Acharya said that, remember two things always. Remember death and remember Krishna. Remember the Supreme Lord.
Now, this is good. On my website, I answer questions. The spiritualscientist.com. So, many people ask different kinds of questions.
So, there is one devotee who asked a question. Young upcoming devotee, Mataji, she said that, you know, I always had, I used to get panic attacks. I used to be very fearful.
And then I came into the temple and I heard a class where they said that death can come at any time. And since then, my panic attacks have increased a lot. And when I went to my psychiatrist, the psychiatrist said that, this philosophy is causing you psychological damage.
So, stop hearing this philosophy. So, what should I do? If I think that death can come at any time, I feel fearful when I am driving a car. I feel fearful when I am sitting.
I feel fearful when I get a heart attack. So, what does it mean? Is it that, I like the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness, but I am becoming so fearful. So, here, you have to understand that, So, when we think about death, the way we think about death is also very important to understand.
That means, there is a basic disposition of the mind. There is Tamoguna, there is Rajoguna, there is Satoguna. And of course, there is transcendence.
So, depending on our disposition, the same thing may be perceived differently by different people. So, for example, the standard example I usually give of how the modes shape our perception. Say there are three people sitting in a bus and their bus is travelling through a forested area.
The first person is in goodness, second is in passion, third is in ignorance. And the person who is in Tamoguna is trying to sleep, lazy. And the bus is moving up and moving up and on, bumping.
And the person sees the forest, so green, so comfortable. Such a nice place, I couldn’t sleep so peacefully yet. The second person is in the mode of passion, in Rajoguna.
And the person remembers the latest romance movie that they have seen. And they see the greenery of the forest and they think, Oh, if I had a partner, I would enjoy in this forest. The third person is in Satoguna.
In Satoguna, they look at it and they are trying to, so this person is trying to read a book and the bus movement is causing disturbance in reading the book. Such a serene atmosphere. I could absorb myself in the wisdom of this book if I was there in the forest.
So the same forest, it is perceived differently based on the mode that the person is in. So just as the modes can shape and influence our perception of objects like forest, similarly, the modes can influence our perception of death also. So always when we are practising bhakti, the defining principle in the practise of bhakti is anukulyase sankalpa, pratikulyase varjanam.
Accept that which is favourable and reject that which is unfavourable. So now, when the scriptures tell us to think about death, the basic platform of understanding is, I will first explain how death, thoughts of death can act in different modes in different ways. So when a person is in ignorance, ignorance means one is, one is basically living in the mind.
In goodness also people live in the mind, but the mind is under control. So in ignorance, sometimes somebody may come and, I like classes very much. Why? I can peacefully sleep in the class.
So that is, so a person in goodness may be sitting at one place, a person in ignorance may be sitting in another place. But there is a world of difference internally. In the ignorance the mind is under control.
And the mind is, sorry, not under control, the mind is in control. And mind is so much in control, that one cannot even do anything to control the outer world. There is a mind, there is a soul, there is a mind and there is a body.
Body is connected to the outer world. So in ignorance, the mind is so wild, that the mind cannot even control anything in the material world. So that’s why, people just want to go into an imaginary world.
Say eating, sleeping, mating, defending. When people have, people want to have say romantic affairs, that is in the mode of passion, where people try to use their, their mind is wild, but the mind tries to control the external world. But sometimes people become couch potatoes, just watching movies for a long, long, long time.
And that is what, that is actually second-hand mating, second-hand eating. It means one is not even able to control the outer world, one is just in the mind. So when the mind is completely out of control, and there is no connection with the real world, or not much connection with the real world, not much capacity to control the outer world, that is the mode of ignorance.
In mode of passion, being driven by the mind, one tries to control the outer world. And in the mode of goodness, one with the mind under control, tries to interact in a harmonious way with the outer world. And of course in transcendence, the mind is focused directly on Krishna.
And everything is harmonised with the service of Krishna. So when one is in ignorance, at that time, when one is anyway unable to control things, so the mind may go into paranoia. The mind may go into great fearfulness.
And with that fearfulness, the mind may go, this may go wrong, that may go wrong. What should I do about this? What should I do about that? And constantly fearful. Very fearful.
In the Bhagavad Gita, 18th chapter, 35th verse, Krishna states that determination in the mode of ignorance means where one is daydreaming or morbidly fearful. So paranoia, paranoia is a psychological disorder or psychological problem, that is persecution complex. People always fear that somebody is going to attack me, somebody is going to target me.
So this is a psychological disturbance. And that is Tamasic. To think that the world is just out to get me all the time.
That is a very negative perception and that causes fearfulness. Now if a person in Tamoguna is told that you can die at any moment, at that time, the result of such a… So if a person is in Tamoguna and they are constantly fearful, so the devotees ask Prabhupada that if a third world war takes place, will that make people more favourable for the practise of Bhakti? And Prabhupada said no. He says there is fear always in this world.
There is danger always in this world. That may temporarily get people to come towards God, but that can also cause people to go away from God. It’s not guaranteed that people in general, just because of fear and danger, will come towards God.
Krishna says that people in distress come towards Him, but He says those are Sukruti. Chaturvidha bhajante mam janaha sukrutino arjuna artho jijnasa artharthi jnani chavar tarshama So distress can make people come towards God, but not all people will come towards God in distress. There are people who are already pious.
That means those who are in goodness. At that time, a distress will cause them, or at least in some level of goodness, distress will make them come towards God. Now, when somebody is in the mode of passion, and then they hear about death.
So what happens? They, in goodness, those who are spiritualists, they’ll tell, life is temporary, youth is fleeting. Don’t waste your time. Focus on bhakti.
The materialists, those who are in passion, they’ll take the same facts. They will say, life is temporary, youth is fleeting. Enjoy before your youth goes away.
So I saw an advertisement, you know. Freak out before you become a dirty old man. You’re also going to grow old, you’re going to be sick.
Enjoy before that. So the same fact of the temporariness of life can impel people towards greater enjoyment because they think that, oh, I’m not going to get this in the future, so let me do it right now. So the temporariness of material enjoyment need not lead to detachment for people who are in the mode of passion because depending on our mode we are in, our disposition becomes focused that way and then the intelligence becomes subordinated according to that disposition.
That means, the intelligence starts interpreting things according to the kind of mode that person is in. So once, there was an anti-alcohol campaigner. He wanted to get people to give up alcohol.
So he was giving a lecture and he was just forcefully, how dangerous alcohol is. And people were just listening and not much happened. So one day he decided to do a demonstration.
In the demonstration, he brought a, he had a small box in which he had brought a fly and a big bottle of alcohol. He took out the fly and threw it into the bottle and the fly fluttered for a few moments and just sank down and died. Everybody could observe this and then he says, what do you learn from this? Everybody came, they looked down, they didn’t want to admit it.
There was one person who was very cheerful, Johnny, raised his hand. Yes, what do you learn from this? He said, when I drink alcohol, all the germs and worms in my stomach will die. So here, the person is interpreting according to one’s own desires.
So in Rajoguna, they just tell people about death, they will say, you are just pessimistic. You have right now life, enjoy life. Why worry about the future? In goodness, it’s different.
So when there is, when the person is in goodness, at that time, they understand. Krishna describes, what is the characteristic of knowledge, of goodness? He says, that, sarva-bhuteshu yenaikam bhavam avyayam ikshate vibhaktam vibhakteshu tad jnanam viddhi-sattvikam In the mode of goodness, we understand that there is an imperishable essence to all living beings. That beyond my material body, there is something which is eternal.
So, in goodness, one understands that there is matter and there is spirit. And, when one is reminded of the temporariness of matter, then, one’s attention becomes focused more on spirit. And one feels inspired to redirect one’s life towards spiritual direction more.
So in goodness, because there is an understanding of matter and spirit, and, the reminder of death, the thoughts of death, they impel people to go towards spiritual stuff, to focus more on the spiritual, to get more knowledge. So many people, there are people, when some loud one dies, at that time they start becoming sober. What is the point of it all? What is this? So for many people, if they have some basic level of goodness, death can act like a guru.
Death can act like a guru who prompts existential questions, very fundamental questions about the nature of existence. What is the purpose of life? What really counts in life? That question about what is of ultimate value is awakened in people when they understand that when they see face to face the temporariness of death, temporariness of life and material existence, and the inescapability of death. And of course, for the advanced devotees who are transcended, life and death don’t really matter much.
Whether they are in this life, in this world, or in next world, they are going to focus on serving Krishna. But still, as long as they are in this world, they do share whatever resources they have. So they focus on using matter in Krishna’s service.
Because they understand that Krishna is the lord of everything. And everything is meant to be used in his service. So in ignorance, thoughts of death can make one morose and paranoid.
In passion, thoughts of death can increase one’s fever for material enjoyment. In goodness, thoughts of death can prompt enquiry about the spiritual side of life and prompt more focus on the spiritual side of life. In transcendence, thoughts of death, reminder of death, inspires one to use the material in the service of the spiritual.
To inspire everyone to practise bhakti. So we, when we are preaching, we are meant to give the complete package. Our essence is, we want to help people to rise towards Krishna.
And as a part of inspiring people to rise towards Krishna, to cultivate spiritual consciousness, as a part of that, we may talk about death. But just talking about death in isolation and focussing too much on that, that can cause problems like this. And more importantly, Shri Prabhupada did not use too much of fear as an impetus for the practise of bhakti.
Prabhupada, there are descriptions in the 5th Canto of the hellish planets and there are especially Christian preachers sometimes, hell and brimstone preachers, say, if you don’t surrender to Jesus, you are going to burn in the fires of hell forever. So Prabhupada did not use that kind of preaching. So he focused on philosophical education.
He focused on using one’s intelligence to understand the reality of the spiritual and thereby to redirect oneself to the spiritual level. So Prabhupada’s preaching was primarily in the mode of goodness. And the way he spoke, Prabhupada did not focus too much on entertaining people.
There are some people who rate spiritual wisdom based on the laughter test. That means if some preacher makes a lot of jokes in the class, oh, very good preacher. Well, the goodness of the spiritual content is not determined by how much laughs it evokes.
So Prabhupada was not an entertainer. There is nothing wrong in entertaining. But that is not the primary focus.
Prabhupada’s preaching was in the mode of goodness. Intelligent, reasonable points presented based on Shastra to inspire people to raise towards spiritual consciousness. And we as sadhakas, we also, should we think about death constantly? Yes, the point is we should think about Krishna.
And whatever is favourable for us in thinking about Krishna, we should accept that. So if thinking about death can inspire us to focus on Krishna, you know, our mind is caught in too much this temptation, that temptation, that temptation, I may die. Do I want to die thinking about temptations? Do I want to think about Krishna? So that sort of thoughts can act as a cerebral jolt, as an intellectual shock, and they can inspire us to focus on Krishna.
But at the same time, when we are doing this, we have to be careful that we shouldn’t become more death conscious and less Krishna conscious. Because there is, the human mind is so distorted that it can incorporate anything and everything in its programme of sense enjoyment. So the human mind can incorporate anything and everything in its programme of sense enjoyment.
And in today’s world, people do see death. For example, they may see death in violent movies. Sometimes there are movies which are called action movies and they have some grisly scenes where, you know, there is a big building and boom, the whole building blows and there’s a mass of gore and blood all around.
And people say, It was fun. So what happens in such a situation when people, when there is, the mind has a perverse delight in destruction. Then, the sight of death also becomes the source of material pleasure.
Now, there are two yantras within this. One is, there are a class of people called sadists. Sadists are those who delight in causing pain to others.
So sadists, so Mrigari was to some extent a sadist. He would not kill animals. He would kill them half.
And when he would see them in torture and terrible pain, he, the soul wants to be the controller. And that controllership desire can come in various ways. So the thought that, you know, I have so much power that I can cause such pain to these animals, that gave him some perverse pleasure.
So there, the sight of death, it can actually just induce material pleasure. So the mind can incorporate death in its own programme of sense gratification. One can get tamasic pleasure.
So there, actually, seeing death gives one pleasure. The other is, another yantra which is masochism. Masochism means where one gets pleasure in causing pain to oneself.
There are, it’s very peculiar, the way the mind can work. There are some people who are, the cutters, they like to cut their own body. And when they see blood coming out, they get some perverse pleasure out of it.
Or at a lesser level, we could say, there are people who watch horror movies. Now, when they get, they watch horror, they start trembling and their teeth start chattering and they start feeling very fearful. And they’re going to be miserable over there.
They’re going to be fearful, they’re going to be horrified and they get some delight in that. So here also, there is perception of death, but there is no realisation of the temporariness of material existence. So, the perception of death or the contemplation on death, they should lead to the realisation of the temporariness of material existence.
If that is not happening, then focussing on the perception of death or focussing on contemplation of death, that can very well be pratikul to bhakti. That can be unfavourable for our spiritual life. So if somebody is getting psychologically damaged by hearing about death and is becoming paranoid, then that people should not think about death.
They needn’t think about death. That is not favourable for their devotion. So when we talk about the fear of death, like another person once asked me a question, that if I take, he’s a serious devotee, he said, if I think that I’m going to die today, then I may think that, why should I go to office? I should just sit all day and chat with Krishna.
Because I’m going to die today. Is that if, they say that, so he had a class and a preacher said, every morning when we should wake up, we should think, I’m going to die today. That will make us chant very seriously.
That will make us practise bhakti very seriously. So if I think I’m going to die today, I’ll not feel like doing anything. And should I just become? And so he had said this, and I would feel just like chanting Hare Krishna, not going to office.
So that preacher has said, so what is the need to go to office? Just chant Hare Krishna. That is the perfection of life. Well, we may say like that, but if we see, that is not the Vedic standard.
Arjuna, when he was practising archery, he was becoming an archer, and we know that he was champion archer, but he did not become champion archer just by, just by divine arrangement. He practised. He practised meticulously.
You know how tirelessly he would practise that. All day he would be practising every single trick, every single tip, every single guidance, the technique that his guru would teach. He would practise more than others.
It was not just that he had innate talent. Now talent doesn’t automatically lead to achievement. The bridge, the distance between talent and achievement is actually bridged by commitment.
There has to be commitment. Even if a person has talent, talent doesn’t automatically lead to achievement. One time Brahmananda Prabhu asked, Prabhupada, how do you do classes so well? Prabhupada said, I practised.
I practised. For many years I practised. So the point is that if anything we have to do tangible, anything we have to do worthwhile in this world, it requires absorption.
It is not that as devotees we have to cultivate some kind of spiritual split personality disorder where I am doing my job, and in the background I am thinking, now I may die. I am working on the computer and I am thinking, maybe this computer will blow up and I will die. It is not like that.
As devotees, our purpose is to serve Krishna. And when we have to serve Krishna, we have to do the service well. So doing the service well means, suppose if somebody wants to do some artistic decorations, and at that time when they want to do artistic decorations, they want to learn art.
It is not that when they are learning art, constantly they will be thinking about Krishna. They may think, this art requires like this, this requires like this, this requires like this. They have to get into the art at that time.
So that is done in the mood of service, and that needs to be done. So Chanakya Pandit says a very interesting thing. He says that, when you think of pursuing sense gratification, think that you are going to die today.
When you are cultivating knowledge, think that you are going to live for a hundred years. Think that you are going to live a long, long time. Because the cultivation of knowledge requires patience.
It requires effort. Sometimes some devotees study Bhagavatam, but they are like, studying Bhagavatam is like running a race. Okay, in one month I want to complete one canto.
So every year I have to read say 20 pages. And their whole purpose is in trying to meet the target. Now how much they assimilate, that is, they may not assimilate much.
So if we have to study scripture, we have to have patience. Sometimes the same verse we may have to read a dozen times, the same purport we may have to discuss, same time we have to discuss with other devotees. Sometimes you get the answer to one question, you may have to ask many devotees.
So cultivating knowledge requires patience. And if I am thinking that, if I think that life is some kind of race, and I will go back to Godhead if I have completed the last page of the Srimad Bhagavatam. So let me just run this race and complete the full Srimad Bhagavatam.
No, it is not how many pages of Srimad Bhagavatam that we have turned that will determine whether we will go back to Godhead. It is how much our heart has turned towards Krishna. That is what will take us to Godhead.
And the turning of our heart requires not just reading of the Bhagavatam, not just completing the pages of the Bhagavatam, it requires getting attracted to the person who is depicted in the Bhagavatam, Bhagavan. And so, when we have to work in this world, so Chanakya Menon talks about knowledge. He is talking about knowledge, but knowledge can be in various fields.
So if somebody is building a temple, then they may have to study, okay, how the architecture is, what kind of architecture would be sustainable, what is suitable for this environment. So, when the devotees were in New Vrindavan, at that time, Prabhupada wanted them to develop a farm. And the devotees had no idea, the young hippies had no idea of how to live in a farm.
And the land over there was very marshy. So, they would call that road on which they would go up to New Vrindavan, they would call it as Aghasur road. Why Aghasur road? Because Aghasur swallowed the Gopas, so that road would swallow whatever vehicle would go along the way.
And at that time, Prabhupada himself actually drew with dimensions the design of a particular vehicle that would enable them to travel. And Haiguru Prabhupada’s book, Hare Krishna Explosion, actually used that sketch also. So, he says, yeah, Prabhupada, how did you know this? He said, this is required for the service of Krishna.
That’s what I’m telling you this. So, Prabhupada was transcendental, but he was eminently practical also. Now, Haiguru Prabhupada says in that book, he says, that we were impressed when we saw that Prabhupada’s knowledge of Sanskrit shlokas was encyclopaedic.
But we were delighted when we discovered that Srila Prabhupada’s knowledge of vegetarian recipes was also as encyclopaedic as his knowledge of Sanskrit shlokas. So, Prabhupada, his head was high up in the clouds, it was with Krishna, but he was very much down to earth. And he learned all these things.
And learning these things requires time. It’s not that these things, we are born with these. So, when we are serving Krishna, the thought of death can inspire us to serve Krishna.
But within the service of Krishna, the thought of death makes us distracted. Then, we should put the thought of death aside. And we should just focus on the service of Krishna.
And service of Krishna doesn’t just mean directly devotional activities. It definitely means directly devotional activities. Say, if we are hearing, in the Bhagavatam it is said that, in the Sukh Shukadeva Goswami tells the sages that, there is no need to fear that death may come and kill any of you.
Because, he says, even Yamraj is coming and hearing this Bhagavatam. Therefore, there is no fear. So, basically, he is not telling them, oh, death may come, focus on this Katha.
He doesn’t tell like that. He says, don’t be afraid of death. Because if there is constant background anxiety, we cannot focus on Krishna conscious philosophy also.
So, anxiety can act as an impetus in some situations. But if we want to study, we need to do this. And anxiety is more or less a result of passion and passion regenerating into ignorance.
So, devotees need not, shouldn’t be insecure. Now, so when we talk about our service of Krishna, it is not necessarily only our direct service to Krishna. Even the job that we are doing, even our family responsibilities, if our life’s intent is to serve Krishna, then whatever else we are doing in our life, that is also a form of devotional service.
So, yes, so this devotee was asking that, oh, if I am chanting, if I think I’m going to die today, and I think, why should I go to office? Yes, okay, I may go, I may die today. That’s fine. It’s possible that I may die today.
But what can I do about it? Is it that by thinking about death, I can avoid death? No, is it? The point is, there is the temporariness of material existence, and there is a process for raising our consciousness above the material level. The material level is temporary, and there is a process for raising our consciousness to the spiritual level of reality. And that process needs to be followed.
And an important, essential, indispensable part of that process is intense devotional activities. Chanting, hearing, worshipping the deities, all these are important. But the process of bhakti yoga, it does not bifurcate our life into material and spiritual.
Rather, it unites our life in the pursuit of the spiritual. So, bhakti doesn’t bifurcate our life. Your material is unimportant, your spiritual is important.
Bhakti, actually, is a disposition that underlies both the material and the spiritual. So, devotional activities, somebody might be decorating the deities, but the person decorating the deities may be thinking, Oh, if I decorate the deities more, then somebody will come and give donations. And that is doing, is that really done in a devotional mode? So, something spiritual can be reduced down to the material.
And that person, if somebody is giving class and that person is thinking, Oh, how many people are respecting me for my class? So, maya can act in such a subtle way, that I may be giving class and by my class, others are remembering Krishna, but I am not remembering Krishna. Maya can be very subtle. So, I may be remembering my own ego.
I may be thinking, Oh, I am so clever. And why are these foolish people not appreciating my cleverness? So, I may be completely in the egoistic platform. And other people, there will be somebody in the audience, they will be very, this is Bhagavatam going on.
I am hearing Bhagavat katha, I am remembering Krishna. So, by my giving class, an audience may make more advancement than what advancement I make. So, bhakti is very subtle.
We cannot just simplistically divide things and say, this is bhakti, this is not bhakti. So, bhakti is a disposition that underlies our performance of spiritual activities and that underlies our performance of material activities also. So, we do our profession and we think that the profession is also meant for the service of Krishna.
I am doing this profession so that I can have financial stability, so that I can serve Krishna properly. I am doing this profession so that I can contribute directly to Krishna’s mission by financial assistance. I am doing this profession so that I can have a respectable position in society where I can share Krishna’s message to others.
So, we can actually have a spiritual motivation for even our worldly activities. And that way, even if a devotee is engaged in worldly activities, the intent is to serve Krishna, then that is ultimately bhakti. So, that means there is the thought of death.
Our purpose is not to think about death. Our purpose is to remember Krishna. Our purpose is to inspire ourselves to follow the process of bhakti, which will redirect our heart from the world to Krishna.
And for redirecting this, if thoughts of death are favourable, then we contemplate on death. But if it turns out to be unfavourable, we avoid contemplating on death. The important thing is to think about Krishna.
Some people ask you, you think about death, death, death so much, you are so pessimistic. If at all there is pessimism in the Vedic philosophy, the pessimism is only initial. It is never final.
Initial means, just like a doctor may tell a patient, you have got cancer. It’s very serious. But the doctor tells, this cancer is curable.
But you have to take treatment diligently. Now, initially the doctor may be very serious, very grave and may give even a dystopian picture. Utopia is a very positive future reality.
Dystopia is a very negative future reality. So, initially the doctor may print a dystopian picture, just for the purpose of making sure that the patient understands the gravity of the disease. And thereafter the patient takes the treatment seriously.
The doctor’s purpose is not to make the patient paranoid. The doctor’s purpose is to make the patient committed to taking the treatment. Similarly, our purpose in talking about death is not to make people paranoid.
It is, the thought of death is meant to make them, yes, this is serious, I am working so hard and everything that I am working for is going to be taken away. Imagine, suppose we are doing some higher education. We spend 20 years getting a medical degree.
And then we are told, this degree will last with you for one year. Should I spend my time 20 years getting a degree which will last for one year? So, then we will rethink our priorities. Similarly, when we understand the temporariness of material existence, then that will make us rethink about how much time we spend just in materialistic pursuits.
But, after that is done, there is the spiritual redirection of life. And for that spiritual redirection of life, that has to be a central message. Central message that we give is, that spiritual reality is so beautiful.
Krishna is so attractive. Remembering Krishna is so joyful. The same Bhagavad Gita that tells us that this world is Dukkhale Mashashvatam, that same Bhagavad Gita also says that, su-sukham kartum avyayam.
Bhakti is practised joyfully. In fact, the same famous verse, Dukkhale Mashashvatam, I’ll conclude with this point. 8.15 in the Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna says that this world is temporary and is a place of misery.
Actually, that is just a passing point that Krishna is making in that verse. 8.15 is, mam upetya punar janma dukkhale mashashvatam na apnuvanti mahatmanah sam siddhim paramam gatha So, he’s saying that those who become devoted to me, they will attain my eternal abode and they will not come back to this world, which is a place of misery and death. Which is temporary and miserable.
So, the point is, point of the verse is, the elevating and liberating potency of Bhakti. And while talking about the elevating and liberating potency of Bhakti, it’s also said that this world is miserable and you will not come back here. The point of the Bhagavad Gita is not to tell us that, oh, this world is miserable, you all have to be miserable.
The world is a miserable place, but we don’t have to be miserable. If we practise Bhakti, we can actually be joyful. So, the world is like a hospital.
In a hospital, misery is a fact of life. But the hospital is not meant to make the patient miserable. The hospital is meant to help the patients follow a process by which they can actually become free from misery.
Similarly, in this world, it’s not that we are meant to be miserable. It is, we are actually meant to be happy. We are meant to be happy.
And how can we be happy? Just as in a hospital, the doctor doesn’t want the patient to be constantly miserable. The doctor gives treatment, doctor may also give some painkillers, by which the patient’s pain is minimised. So, like that, the process of Dharma is the treatment in the hospital of this world.
And the process of Dharma as a treatment in the hospital of this world is meant to help us not only become happy by being fully cured eventually, but to also be as happy as possible in this world. There is a lecture of Shri Prabhupada where he is addressing a couple of disciples who are getting married. And Prabhupada says in that lecture, the purpose of marriage is to be happy.
And I read this, I was shocked. The idea that, oh, Grahastha Ashram is like a deep dark well in which you fall and then you are trapped and you have to come out of it. But the point is that is materialistic way of living.
Everything in life is ultimately meant to take us towards Krishna. And Grahastha Ashram, we should focus more on the ashram, not on the Grahastha. Grahastha Ashram is also an arrangement by which we can get ashray of Krishna.
It is an ashram. It is a place where we can get ashray of Krishna. And the focus has to be on that.
So, if often our own mind’s expectations, our own mind’s perceptions, they can become like self-fulfilling prophecies. So, if somebody thinks, oh, Grahastha Ashram is going to be a place of misery and they go inside, then they will themselves act in ways where they will make the place miserable. There is the other opposite where there is a rosy picture, which is in the romantic movies.
A boy sees a girl, both of them love at first sight and then happily ever after. Now, that is an unrealistic fantasy. That is utopia.
But it is not that we shouldn’t be carried away by the utopia. But nor should we let ourselves be crushed by dystopia. There is, if we are practising bhakti, wherever we are in, whichever ashram we are in, we can actually be happy in the remembrance of Krishna, in the service of Krishna.
And there is initial pessimism. Just as there is initial pessimism about death, there is initial pessimism about Grahastha Ashram. If you think this is going to give you pleasure, remember, it’s not going to give you pleasure.
But that doesn’t mean it is going to give you misery and we should go in and act negatively, act pessimistically by which we increase misery in our life. No, our focus is on practising the process of bhakti. And to the extent we practise the process of bhakti, even in this world, we can experience the presence of Krishna and that presence of Krishna can give us peace.
It can give us satisfaction. And of course, it brings us purification and ultimately liberation. So, I’ll summarise.
I talked about how here Diti on hearing that her son is going to die at the hands of Vishnu, she’s happy. Why? Because death at the hand of Vishnu means liberation. So, from the material perspective, that is very auspicious.
But just as Diti over here and we discussed about Maharaj Yudhishthira also and hearing about Parishad Maharaj’s death, they are not concerned. They are concerned whether a person is really going to, what is going to be the destination after death. So, if he is going to be killed by Vishnu, he is going to be liberated.
If Parishad is going to live spiritually throughout, even if he dies by a snake bite still, he is going to be liberated. And that is success. So, in the materialistic world, we try to deny death.
We think that I am not going to die. I quoted about Epictetus and Woody Allen, how they try to use word jugglery to avoid the reality of death. And facing the reality of death can sober us and inspire us to practise spiritual life.
But then we discuss elaborately about how can thoughts of death cause psychological damage. It is not thoughts of death that are causing death. Hearing about death that causes psychological damage.
Rather, it’s one’s own disposition that is already psychologically disturbed. If one is in Tamoguna, then thoughts of death can cause paranoia. And one can become much more fearful.
Because in Tamoguna, one is still at a materialistic level of consciousness. But one is not able to control anything in the outer world at the gross physical level. And one is not able to control anything at the subtle level also.
So, that sort of paranoia, if it is coming, constant fearfulness, then that is, Krishna says, Tamasik. So, in that case, hearing about death is unfavourable and that should be avoided. We discussed about how impassioned people hear about death and they think, therefore, let me enjoy before I grow old and die.
So, the worldview is focused on gratification and death is also incorporated into that. And we discussed in that connection how there is sadism and masochism. That some people delight in seeing others suffer and die.
Because they think, I have so much power. Sometimes people in a perverse way delight in causing pain to themselves. That is because, that is because perverse way the person enjoys.
So, this is Rajoguna going down towards Tamoguna. People watch horror movies. And so, rather than thinking that I am going to die and I should look for something eternal, they seek to take some perverse delight in that.
And Satvaguna, we know there is material, there is spiritual. And the thought of death at the material level inspires us to shift to the spiritual level. In transcendence, we remember death, but our focus is on engaging everything and everyone in Krishna’s service.
And that is the, when we speak about death, death is only a part of our message. And if we focus too much on death, then that can alienate people. We are trying to get people to Krishna through the impetus of fear and that doesn’t work.
People just either become fearful of psychological damage or they just go away. They say, you are too pessimistic. So, our focus should be on appealing to people’s intelligence and inspiring them to take practise Bhakti using their intelligence.
And as a part of the package of Bhakti, death is one aspect which we can talk about. And the point of thinking about death is not to become fearful, but it is to follow the process of Bhakti Yoga that takes us beyond death. So, the hospital is not meant to make people miserable.
It is meant to, the sobering diagnosis that a doctor may give in a hospital, which may involve a lot of future misery, which may involve talking about a lot of future misery, that is meant to inspire the patient to take the treatment. Similarly, if we talk about the miseries of material existence, their purpose should be to inspire people to take to the process of Dharma and Bhakti, by which they can rise beyond this misery. And that is the thrust of Krishna also in 8.15. And when we are doing some service for Krishna, when we are taking up some responsibility, at that time, we shouldn’t, if thoughts of death distract us from doing that service wholeheartedly, we should put aside the thoughts of death.
Chanakya says that if you want to cultivate knowledge, think that you are going to live for a hundred years. Because then only when we, if we have constant existential insecurity or anxiety, we cannot absorb ourselves in anything. And doing quality work in any field requires absorption.
And that requires freedom from anxiety. So, our focus is not fear of death, our focus is absorption in Krishna. And if the fear of death can distract us from absorption in Krishna, then we avoid thinking about death.
We think, in life or death, let me just keep serving Krishna. Let me focus on the service of Krishna. And I conclude it by talking about how this world is a place of misery, but it is not that we are, our message is a message of misery.
Our message is a message of elevating people above our misery. And that should be the thrust of our message. By practising Bhakti, if just as thoughts of death can be negative, have a negative effect, then even, yes, there is a negativity about Grahastha Ashram, it is a place of entanglement.
But it is a place of entanglement if Krishna is not there. If the disposition of Bhakti is not there. So, we shouldn’t go into a negative attitude which makes problems worse.
We should focus not on the Grahastha part, but on the Ashram part. That this is a place where I can get Ashram of Krishna. And rather than thinking this is a problem, this is a problem, this is a problem, okay, amidst all these problems, how can I take Ashram of Krishna? If that is our focus, then we will find whatever situation we are in, we will experience the Ashram of Krishna, and through that Ashram of Krishna, even amidst problems, we will experience peace, we will experience security in the remembrance of Krishna.
Thank you very much. Are there any questions or comments? In the sentence we are saying that the demon receives the same result as one who is being killed by Krishna, as one who has performed many, many years of penance and austerity. So, could that imply that that demon might have been a devotee in his last life? And also, the part of liberation, is it a liberation where he is serving Krishna, or is it just a liberation where he is free from material miseries? Yeah.
Krishna Prabhupada says in the Purport that the demons get the same destination on being killed by the Lord as do the devotees who serve the Lord. So, how does this happen? Here Prabhupada is talking in terms of general principles, that there is material existence, there is spiritual existence, and the practise of bhakti takes one beyond material existence to spiritual existence. So, that is what happens.
Now, usually, those who have an inimical attitude towards Krishna, the demons, they have very little if any disposition to serve Krishna. And because of that, even if they get liberated, the contact with Krishna, which happens with them at the time of death when Krishna kills them, that contact cleanses them of their material impurities, because Krishna is all-pure, He is all-purifying, pavitranam pavitram yo, mangalanam cha mangalam. So, He is very pure, purifying.
So, that means the negative contamination that are there, which keep them bound in this material existence, they get cleansed away. But, for entering the spiritual world proper, that means going beyond Brahmajyoti to the Goloka planets, or to the Vaikuntha planets, for that, one needs not just freedom from material contamination, one also needs a service attitude. And so, just by being killed by Krishna, the demons will go to the spiritual plane of existence.
But they will go usually to the Brahman level. In some special occasions, say for example, Putana, she had a malevolent intent, but she also acted at least in a mood of service. She wanted to feed Krishna her breast milk like a nurse.
So, at that time, Krishna focused on that microscopic service attitude that was there. And Krishna magnified that. And that’s how she was able to go to the spiritual world.
And similarly, it is said that Aghasura, because his body acted like a play field for the Gopas, Gopas were just playing and entering into his mouth. So, because he took Krishna in, so Krishna took him in. So, Vishwanath Chaturthi says that some demons who unintentionally, unwittingly served Krishna, they may also get liberated and they attain the spiritual world.
Not just Brahmajyoti, but a spiritual world. But usually, those who are inimical towards Krishna, being killed by Krishna, grants them Brahman liberation, not the attainment of Vaikuntha planets. Now, regarding their past lives, yes, we have to look at different demons and we have to see whether there is any, in the Purana, describe anything from the previous lives.
So, Garga Samhita talks a lot about the various demons in Krishna Nila and who they were in their previous lives. So, by this, we can know about their previous lives and then we can understand that they also had some spiritual inclination from the previous life. But they were cursed or they did something wrong because of which they were demons.
At the same time, not everybody in Krishna Nila was already a great soul. It could be that there are also ordinary souls who are there and just by contact with Krishna, they become liberated. So, the liberation is Krishna’s mercy.
If they get liberated, it is not because they were already great sages in the previous life. They are great sages that they were and they did something wrong because of which they were cursed. That may have enabled them to be present when Krishna performed pastimes.
But their liberation is Krishna’s Kripa, it is Krishna’s mercy. Their liberation is not because of whatever they were in the past life. It could be that some of the demons were great sages or something like that in the past life.
But the act of Krishna liberating the demons is an extraordinary act of mercy on the part of Krishna. And that should not be forgotten when we look at their… when we try to enquire about their past life antecedents. Any other questions? Okay.
So, how is liberation the mercy of Krishna when it is just like a drop of water as compared to the ocean? Now, there is the devotional perspective and there is a philosophical perspective. And these two should not be confused. So, for example, from the philosophical perspective, the worship of the Devatas is good.
Because at least the person is not a materialist, that person is not a godless atheist. A person is a pious, religious materialist. So, from the… if you consider Tamoguna, Rajoguna, Sattoguna, the person who is a worshipper of the Devata, that person is definitely somewhat elevated.
Much more elevated than those who are godless materialists. From the devotional perspective, which is the ultimate perspective, that is less intelligent. Alpamayudasa Krishna says.
But relatively speaking in FEC, if we focus too much on the ultimate perspective and do not look at the… we could say philosophically from the material hierarchy level, it can distort our perception of reality. For example, if we go to a place where… we are going to a new city and we want to start preaching. And at that time, there are people who are there, who are interested in the propagation of dharma.
But they may not be worshippers. They may be worshippers of the Devatas. But if we teach Bhagavad Gita, they are interested in helping us.
They are interested in arranging programmes, providing resources and facilitating the conduct of things. So now, as compared to them, all the other people, they are apathetic. So if we see from a practical perspective, they may not be devotees of Krishna, but they are quite favourable to overall the culture of dharma.
And that they are being favourable is no small thing in the practical conduct of life in this world. So if you want to see it, we sometimes think that bhakti and the perfection coming from bhakti is like one rigid cut-off point. It’s one circle and everything outside it is maya.
So if you are a devotee and go to Goloka, everything else is low class. But actually, rather than seeing it like that, dharma is not just one circle with a rigid cut-off point. It is a set of concentric circles of expanding latitude, expanding radii.
So a person who is practising demigod worship, they are also doing some level of dharma. And they may not be doing a high level of dharma. They may not get eternal benefit by that.
Immediately they may not go back to the spiritual world. But they are definitely higher than common people. So now the problem comes when the demigod worshippers think that this is all I need to do and I don’t need to do anything more.
Then it may become a problem. But relatively speaking, they are definitely better than those who are non-devotees. In the time of Bhaktivinod Thakur, there was an iconoclast Indian leader, Swami Dayanand Saraswati.
Iconoclast means he was very strongly against deity worship. And he wrote a very strong article condemning the Shaktipuja, the goddess worship. See, this is like this, this is like this, this is like this.
And Bhaktivinod Thakur, who is a harmonist, wrote a whole long article defending the worship of the goddess. And he says this is required, this is not the highest, but there is a Vedic programme in which people are in Tamoguna, they can also be elevated. So he is very respectful.
He says the learned Swami doesn’t seem to have understood the purpose of the Vedas, which is to elevate people gradually. And therefore, the worship of the goddess is also important for elevating people who are in Tamoguna. So Bhaktivinod Thakur, he defends Shaktism at that time.
Why is that? Because he sees that is also part of the broader Dharma. So similarly, we as devotees, if we focus too much on only the transcendental aspects of Bhakti, then the whole Vedic programme for gradual elevation which is there, we can become very derisive or dismissive of that. Sometimes devotees got to speak of Mukti, they think, oh, I am going to go to Goloka, Vaikuntha.
Vaikuntha is like my backyard, you know. Vaikuntha is also the spiritual world, life eternal with the Supreme Lord. So when the great Acharyas from their very transcendental perspective, they give us a vision of how things they see.
Now we can appreciate their vision, but that vision doesn’t cancel the validity of other things. Other things are also important. And they need to be given importance.
So now, is Mukti a blessing as compared to Bhakti? Yes, Mukti is definitely a deprivation for the soul. The soul does not get the nectar of loving and serving Krishna. But from the point of your material existence, it is a great thing.
Prabhupada himself gives the example of what existence in Brahman is like. Suppose somebody has a terrible disease. Say, I once had TB.
One year I was sick. And after that, I took the treatment, and the doctor told me that you cannot start normal activity now. For two to three months, you are in convalescence.
Convalescence means the disease is no longer there in the body, but the body’s health and energy has not come back. Now at that time, actually, one is not in great pain. As we were when we were deceased, we are not in pain when we are in convalescence.
So, Prabhupada explains that impersonal liberation is like convalescence, where the material enjoying mentality is no longer there. So, the disease is not there, but the health and the energy for doing practical activity is also not there. That means the desire to serve Krishna and connect with Krishna is also not there.
So now, from the point of view of healthy life, convalescence is not a very pleasant state. You just have to sit in one place and do little things. You can’t do much.
But from the point of view of the sick state, convalescence is like blessing. There is no pain in the body. You are good, actually.
So, the Acharyas are describing from the perspective of spiritual health, the impersonal liberation is like convalescence. That may not seem very great, but from the point of view of material existence, it is great. It is definitely a great thing to actually be free from birth, old age, disease and death, to be free from the miseries of material existence, to be free from the torment of material desires.
It is, there is, see there is, the Atma’s nature is Satchitananda. And, but the Atma’s nature is also to be a part of Krishna. So, because the soul is finite, the soul is finite, so when the soul becomes self-realised, that means one understands Aham Brahmasmi, I am Atma, at that time the soul gets some pleasure.
But because the soul is finite, the pleasure that the soul experiences is finite. But when the soul performs Bhakti and connects with Krishna, because Krishna is infinite, the connection with Krishna gives enormous happiness. So, that’s why in Bhakti the happiness is far, far greater than in Mukti.
In Mukti also one has realised Aham Brahmasmi, I am Atma. I am the soul. And as soul, the soul is Satchitananda.
So, there is happiness in Brahman realisation also. As compared to Bhagwan realisation, as compared to Bhakti, it is very less. Because Bhagwan is infinite, we are finite.
But as compared to the false temporary illusory pleasures of this world, that is real happiness. Krishna says, So, in 18.54 he says, when one comes to the Brahma-bhuta level, when one realises that I am Brahman, I am spirit, I am soul, at that time, one becomes joyful. And this is not the joyfulness that is coming from Bhakti.
Because Krishna is saying, at the end of this verse, that at that stage, one gets Bhakti to be, pure devotion to be. And what is the happiness? One is not craving, I want this, I want that. One is not lamenting, I lost that, I lost that.
No, one is self-satisfied. So, how is Mukti a mercy of Krishna? Because it’s like a person who has been terribly sick, and the doctor comes and one magic touch, and the whole disease is gone. That is a great mercy, that is a great miracle.
But it is not a complete miracle, because the normal health has not yet been fully restored. Any other questions? Should we stop here? Yes, bro. So, when everybody in the material nature is under the modes, why do we give Brahman initiation? See, the purpose of Brahman initiation is the same as first initiation.
That is actually to increase, to solidify one’s commitment to the process that will take one towards transcendence. So, in our tradition, Brahman initiation is given primarily to demonstrate the transformational potency of Bhakti. So, if somebody has been practising Bhakti for a significant period of time, then, it is not that a person with a Vaishya nature will suddenly become a Brahmana.
But even among Vaishyas, it is said that Vaishyas are primarily in the mode of passion with some ignorance. Shudras are in ignorance. But it is, even among Vaishyas, there can be, it’s not only passion.
There is goodness, passion, ignorance. And in some Vaishyas, the passion influence may be too much. So, that’s why those Vaishyas may give very little charity, and practically no charity at all.
Just interested. Or they give charity only when their name is prominent as a donor. But among some Vaishyas, they may really have a much more charitable disposition.
So, their primary occupational orientation is mercantile. But their goodness may be more, that’s why they may give more charity, and overall their life may be more regulated. So, the point is that the basic Varna of a person doesn’t change.
The purpose of Brahman initiation is not to say that everybody is going to become a Brahmana in terms of disposition of Varna. The purpose of Brahman initiation is to demonstrate that actually by the process of Bhakti, whatever Varna one may be in, the Sattva element in those people has increased more and more. And that’s how they are becoming more committed to the practise of Bhakti.
So, historically, in our tradition, Brahman initiation was started primarily because there were caste Brahmanas who were claiming monopoly on the practise of Dharma. They themselves had no, they themselves were not in Sattva guna, they were in Rajoguna, sometimes some of them they were in Tamoguna. But still they were saying that nobody can worship the deity except us.
Nobody can perform Yajna except us. So, by their monopoly on the practises of Dharma, they were sentencing people in general to live a life of Adharma. So, then our Acharya Sir has said, such kind of Brahmanas are actually defeating the purpose of Brahmanical culture.
Then, to counter their monopoly, to break through that, Acharya said that, yes, if in terms of essential qualities of diligent adherence to Dharma, there can be Vaishnavas who may not be born in Brahmana family, they can also become Brahmanas. So, we should see Brahman initiation not as an indicator that all of us have become Brahmanas. No.
Brahman initiation is primarily, it is an indicator that we have got the basic level of Sattva guna by which we can also do Brahmanical activities, such as deity worship. So, for us, Brahman initiation is, within the Bhakti tradition, Brahman initiation is not so much a marker of change, a marker of one’s Varna, as it is a signifier of the requisite Sattva guna to practise the Brahmanical activities. Does that answer your question? Yes, ma’am.
In context theory, in that, what criteria can we apply to choose which Dharma to be chosen in a particular situation? So, Arjuna and Krishna are there, but for us, we do not have that criteria. So, in conflicting situations of Dharma, how do we choose? What criteria do we apply? So, Dharma is categorical, not contextual. Dharma is contextual, not categorical.
So, in different contexts, if there is a conflict about various Dharmas to practise, so, how do we decide which Dharma to practise? Yeah, we do not have Krishna the way Arjuna had Krishna, and we may not even have access to our spiritual master as readily, as you might want to be. That’s why, overall, we need to practise the process of Bhakti nicely. And Prabhupada writes in the introduction of Nectar of Instruction, that if one practises Bhakti diligently, one will come to the mode of goodness.
And in the mode of goodness, how to advance further will be revealed from within. That means that there are decisions where it may not be very clear what I should do or what I should not do. But there are many other decisions where it is fairly clear what I should do and what I should not do.
And to the extent we do the right thing when it is clear for us, by that we are showing Krishna that, Krishna, I want to act according to your guidance. And when we show Krishna that, Krishna, I want to act according to your guidance, Krishna will guide us more. And that way, if overall we are living a life guided by Krishna’s instructions, then within that life, whatever decisions we take, they will also be more or less guided by Krishna’s intelligence.
Krishna gives the intelligence to take those decisions properly. Having said that, still if there are major decisions to be made, we should not make them on the spur of the moment. Because Krishna’s guidance comes to us, but to receive Krishna’s guidance, we have to be at least in Sattva Guna.
Sattva Guna and looking towards transcendence. And that’s why if major decisions we do on the spur of the moment, on the spur of the moment, usually we are in Vraja Guna. Because we are running around doing things, our life is fast.
So, if we have to do major decisions, we shouldn’t think, Oh, this is what Krishna is telling me from within, this is what I’ll do. No, we can sit down, we can try to postpone the decision till the time when we have come to the mode of goodness. We pray, we chant, we study scripture, get a cultured calm disposition, maybe write things down, deliberate on them.
And then after evaluating the pros and cons, praying over them, using our intelligence, basically brings us to the level of goodness. And then using our intelligence to analyse things and then presenting our analysis to Krishna in a mood of prayer. Then that is like, just as we offer our food to Krishna, we cook it and offer it to Krishna.
So like that, our decision making process also, we cook it carefully and then we offer it to Krishna. And that means, Krishna, this is what I plan to do. Please guide me.
And then after that, we spend some more time in praying and then Krishna will give us guidance. So that way, we can first of all bring ourselves to the mode of goodness and then spiritualise also the decision making process. And if there are major decisions which are going to have major life consequences, at that time we should consult senior devotees, either our spiritual master or some other senior devotees who have been guiding us.
And even when we are consulting them, it is good if we have done our homework first. That means if we have done our own analysis properly, we have done our prayer, then we will become like a patient who is able to at least explain the symptoms systematically to the doctor. The doctor cannot just gauge everything from the patient.
The doctor has to be informed by the patient. So if we do our homework properly, then we will be able to give an informed understanding to our spiritual guides and they will also be able to give us informed guidance. And that way, we can arrive at a mature decision.
And yes, even with all this process, sometimes the decision may be wrong. Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that if you are supposed to go here and you find you are going here, it is not necessary that you have to go back and start again. From there, you can turn and move onwards.
So in general, living in this world is often a mode of constant reorientation. If we decide to go in this direction, but the force of life makes us go in some other direction, then again, we bring ourselves back on track. We go off in some other direction and we bring ourselves back on track.
And that’s why even after we take a decision, regularly hearing scripture, that is what brings us, reorients us in the right direction. Sometimes we may take a decision and at that time, in those circumstances, the decision may seem right. But afterwards, other facts come to light and then we may realise that this decision is not a sound decision.
So we may have to, not that the previous decision was wrong, but we have to do some course correction. So basically, trying to live a life of dharma as much as possible in the mode of goodness and especially making sure that our process of decision making is done in goodness, by that we can let Krishna guide us and help us make sound decisions. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.