Is frustration a wrong motive for starting spiritual life?

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Is it wrong to have frustration as the impetus for practicing spiritual life? No. See, frustration is definitely one reason why people turn towards something higher in life. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says there are four kinds of people who come to him.
Those who are in distress, those who are in distress, those who are in distress, and those who are in distress. Actually Krishna says those who seek knowledge, those who want wealth, those who are inquisitive, that’s also there, but actually distress is a common denominator. In today’s world, if somebody is inquisitive, there can be hundred and million things that they can be inquisitive about.
Why would they be inquisitive about spirituality? There must be something which has gone wrong in their lives. So, similarly, if somebody is needing money, nowadays people will go to a bank to seek loan. They will not go to God to pray.
So, basically, there has to be some kind of dissatisfaction with life as it is. Which will make people seek something higher. Now, distress can be the starter of spiritual life, but it cannot be the sustainer in spiritual life.
We have to develop some positive attraction to Krishna. So, I would say that it’s not what my concern over there was, somebody becoming a brahmachari because of that. Somebody starting spiritual life because of that, somebody intensifying spiritual life because of that, that is good.
But somebody thinking that I can do this for life just because of this frustration, that is not likely to work. Because, in every, this world is a place of distress. Just because somebody is in a renounced order doesn’t mean that they don’t face troubles.
Just by being in the world, everybody has to go through issues. So, if because of frustration we go from one ashram to another ashram, but if you have frustration in that ashram, then what will you do after that? So, distress can be the starter of our spiritual life, but to sustain it, we have to develop some positive attraction towards Krishna or at least a positive conviction about the value of spiritual life in its own, on its own merit. Not just because I don’t get this, so I go towards this.
So, either through that attraction or through that conviction, there has to be positive momentum. Only then we will be able to continue. Well, not exactly cynical.
Today morning we were talking about how we might be naive and just believe anyone or we might be cynical and believe no one. It could be that you become cynical about people, things, this world, there is no happiness, so let me seek something higher. But, the problem is that even on the path to going higher, there are problems there also.
So, if my purpose in practicing spiritual life is only to get relief from life’s problems, in the pursuit of spiritual life also there are problems. So, if escaping from problems or avoiding problems is only my purpose, then I won’t be able to sustain it. So, we need to have some higher purpose to our lives.
This is the way my consciousness will evolve. This is the way I’ll grow in wisdom. This is the way I’ll grow in devotion.
So, one might have cynicism about people or the world at large, but cynicism can only tell us what is wrong. Cynicism cannot tell us what is right. We have to have some conviction about what is right.
If somebody is very cynical, then they will not even accept the existence of God. They’ll say this, if you say that this material world is illusion, is okay, you can say it’s a good realization. But that same cynicism, God is also an illusion.
But then what will you do? Nothing. Cynicism is actually very unhealthy. Being cynical is like trying to drive your car with the brake pressed full.
Only two things happen. Lot of noise comes and lot of fuel gets wasted. You don’t move at all.