Is our capacity to practice devotional service limited by our prarabhda karma and the resulting guna configuration?
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
Hare Krishna. Question, what is the role of prarabdha karma in devotion? The configuration of our three modes is in coherence with our prarabdha karma. So, does one conquer the prarabdha so that he or she can at least begin to think about Krishna? Is not our ability to pray determined by the configuration of the modes? Similarly, is not the purity of our devotion and our devotional progress linked to our prarabdha and therefore to the guna configuration? If this is not so, why is devotion interrupted by distractions? If we say it's our free will, then even the free will is not free.
The free will is also under the influence of our gunas. If we end up taking a wrong turn and if it is gurus and Krishna's mercy, then that mercy shouldn't let us fall down or fall away. Sorry, I'm a bit lost.
Please do shed light on these questions and doubts. Answer, yes, our free will is free, but free doesn't mean that it is entirely free. Let me explain with an example.
Our behavior is shaped by various factors, but it is not determined by those factors. It is determined by our choices. We have choices.
So what are the factors that may affect our behavior? Now, generally it is nature, nurture and culture. So nature refers to whatever our inborn nature is. That means that is what we have got from our past karma.
Modern science may say it's because of the genes that we have. So that's called genetic determinism, that the genes determine how I will behave. Now that does shape our behavior, but that doesn't entirely affect our behavior.
Twins have identical genes, but still twins, especially the twins are monozygotic, coming from the same zygote, but still they have different behaviors. So nature is one factor. Second is nurture, how our parents bring us up, what is the kind of atmosphere we had around us in our formative years.
And subsequent is culture, as we grow up, whatever we are exposed to, the kind of social circle, the kind of friends, the kind of environment, that shapes our behavior also. The nature, nurture and culture all affect our behavior, but beyond that, there is the free will which we have. So nature, nurture and culture will shape, but they will not determine the behavior.
These things impel, but they don't compel. So same applies to the modes also. The modes can affect us externally, if we go to passionate places, we feel the mood of passion pulling us, and sometimes mood of passion affects us internally also.
Either way, the modes push us, but they don't force us, they impel, they don't compel. We always have free will. So now is our ability to pray, now with respect to the prarabdha karma, how do they relate with nature, nurture and culture? The prarabdha karma determine our nature, first of all.
Whatever karma that we have done in the past, that's how we get a particular psychophysical nature. And to some extent, we get a certain set of parents. So the nurture, you can also say, is determined by our prarabdha karma.
But then, we have free will. Just like by my karma, depending on how much amount I have paid, I'll be put in a particular plane. It may be economy class, or it may be business class.
Now once I'm seated there, there are certain things which are limited for me. But when they are limited, within a certain framework, there are different things I can do. If I try to hijack the plane, I may be arrested, and when I come out of the plane, I may be in jail.
Or I may find out some other person who may eventually become a business partner for me. And I may have a promising business prospect, and I come out of the plane. Or I may just sleep in the plane, and then there's no difference to my overall life.
So the point is, certain things are determined by, but certain things are free. So actually I have answered elaborately on destiny and karma. Just give a search for destiny on thesmallscientist.com. You'll find the answers to those questions.
The audio has two links for those questions, and you will understand this better. But I'll focus on modes over here. So the modes… So by our prabdha karma, certain modes influence us.
But the modes do not force us. They push us. And we can push back.
In fact, when we talk about the modes, the modes are not one. There are three modes, and different modes can affect us at different times. And even in material life, we choose.
A student, when exam is coming up, can choose to study, can get frustrated and go and watch a movie, or can just go to sleep. So choosing to study systematically, and there's a rough correlation over here, can be in the mode of goodness. Rushing off to watch a movie can be in the mode of passion.
And going to sleep can be in the mode of ignorance. The student has the capacity to choose that. The modes pull, but we can counter-pull.
We can counteract that pull. And actually, by our free will, we can counteract to some extent. But when we get connected with God, then we can get His power, by which we can counteract even more.
So now the question comes up, do the modes determine our ability to pray to Krishna? No. The soul can always perceive God and pray to God, whatever be the mode the soul is in. Now, specific forms of prayer and the capacity to do them in a sustained way.
Anybody can go to a temple and fold the hand in front of God. Anybody can dance in the kirtan of God, kirtan of Krishna's name. That is possible for anyone.
It's not in the mode of ignorance, absolutely prevents it. Even the modes, they give us some leeway, some freedom is there. When a person, say, has got a fractured hand, then the person is trying to recover, the bones have been put together, they start moving a little bit, start moving the finger.
Then after that, start moving the hand. Then start moving the forearm. Then start moving the arm.
And then start exercising the arm. So like that, gradually, the movement capacity increases. So when we are in the lower modes, we may not be able to do as much devotional activity as we may be able to when we are in the higher modes.
So whatever capacity we have, we use it. And by no mode can we say that we are completely blocked from the practice of devotional life. So we have the capacity to choose and certainly the capacity may be restricted or the capacity may be facilitated by the nature of the modes that are influencing us.
But still, we do have that capacity and we can increase that capacity by right choosing. So I talked about nature, nurture, culture. Fourth factor is free will.
So free will is shaped by nature, nurture, culture, but it is not determined. Free will can counter this. But the fifth factor is God's grace.
Krishna's grace which comes through Guru. And this empowers the free will and this can enable us to counter this substantially. So as Krishna says, Those who surrender to me, I help them to cross over maya.
So now if we ask, when the spiritual master's mercy is available, then why do we fall? Actually, it is because we do not accept the mercy. Krishna's mercy coming through the spiritual master is like an elevator. Now if I ascend the elevator, then I can climb, I will go up.
But if I come out of the elevator, then I will not be going up. And if I come out of the elevator and the elevator is moved away, then I may fall also. So as long as we keep remembering Krishna or keep connecting us with Krishna through some devotional activity, we will be in the elevator and we'll keep moving forwards.
So now we may say that the modes drag me out. Okay, the modes may drag us out. Then we have to find, it's not that the modes are 24 hours pulling us.
There are phases when the force of the modes is too strong and that time we may be compelled to do wrong things also or devotional, anti-devotional things. So, but the pull is not 24 hours. So afterwards, what do we do? Or in between the pulls, what do we do? If at that time we are strengthening ourselves by practicing devotional service, then that strength will stay with us and gradually will become stronger.
So these are the material forces, the forces of the modes and this is our free will which is empowered by Krishna's grace. So the battle initially, we may be like little butty and tiny and we may be crushed by our material conditions. But every day that we are practicing devotional service, even if we are falling, doesn't matter.
If we are practicing devotional service, if we are chanting, if we are studying scripture, if we are remembering Krishna, we are becoming stronger, stronger, stronger, stronger, stronger, stronger. Eventually we will become stronger than our conditionings and we will be able to overcome all the conditionings. So this will happen over a period of time.
So rather than agonizing too much over how much is the influence of the modes and how much is our free will and how much is Krishna's grace, we should try to use our intelligence to find out what is the best way in which we can stay connected with Krishna. And herein devotional service offers us the opportunity for individual creativity. Based on our nature, based on our inclinations, based on our inspiration, we can find out how can I connect with Krishna and how can I be constructively engaged.
And the more we stay constructively engaged in connection with Krishna, we are nourishing ourselves. And as we keep nourishing ourselves, we become stronger. So our free will, it's not entirely free but it is not entirely bound also.
So the extent of the freedom or the extent of the bondage is dependent on the mode which is influencing us and as we use the free will right more and more, it becomes more and more free. So whatever capacity we have right now, we use it to serve Krishna and our capacity will increase just like the muscle becomes stronger while it is recovering by exercise according to one's capacity. So why do fall downs occur? That is because, we could say because of past conditionings but it is because we give in to the past conditionings.
Now we may feel that it is impossible to resist the past conditionings. It may be so or we may feel that it is so right now and it may be so also in some cases but we can practice spiritual life and we can become stronger and eventually we will become strong enough when we will no longer be overpowered by the conditionings. So rather than thinking of this in terms of digital logic, one or no, I have free will or I don't have free will.
We understand that it's a continuum, it's analog and we have some level of free will and by using it right we will keep increasing it and eventually we will be able to practice uninterrupted devotion. So the distractions are there. There is an earlier article in which I said the way to end forgetfulness is to end our forgetfulness of our forgetfulness.
That means that okay I may forget Krishna but after I forget Krishna and I act wrong, after sometime I remember I have forgotten Krishna. So at that time what do I do? I think oh I can never remember Krishna, let me fall down completely now and I go deeper into anti-devotional activities or I think oh now I remember Krishna now let me come back on track. So like an airplane which is moving, generally it is said that when airplane is moving from Mumbai to Calcutta if you want to go to Mayapur say then the airplane doesn't always go steady on your track.
In fact 90% of the time the airplane is off track because of the winds and because of the environment conditions. Why it comes back on track is because the pilot keeps bringing it back on track. So like that because our condition is we may get distracted, we get distracted but then we bring ourselves back on track.
We get distracted, we bring ourselves back on track. यतो यतो निच्चरति मनस्चन्चलवस्तिरम् ततस्त तो नियम्यैतत आत्मन्येव्षम् नयेच नयेशनेरुपरमेत बुध्याहरति भी दया आत्मसंस्तम्मनःकर्त्वा नखिन्चितपिछिन्तयेत In the Bhagavad Gita 24, 25 verses Krishna 25, 26 he describes that actually wherever and whenever the mind wanders bring it back bring it back and fix it on spiritual reality and gradually step by step in this way with intelligence sustained by conviction stabilize the mind so that's how we work use whatever capacity we have whatever free will we have in the right way and that right way means devotional engagement that will nourish our free will and it will become more and more free Thank you Hare Krishna.