Karna character analysis – Are we doomed by destiny or by our own decisions?

[“Live consciously” retreat, session 7, at Brisbane, Australia]

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
So we are in the last session and here we will speak about probably the most controversial character in the Mahabharata, that is Karna. Karna emerges as a heroically tragic figure from the Mahabharata. The basic theme that I’ll talk about from the life of Karna is whether destiny makes us or we make destiny.
That means is sometimes destiny unfair to some people and destiny condemns some people to a life of failure or is it that we ourselves make some choices that doom us, that seal our fate. So in many ways, life is unfair to Karna. He is born as a son of Kunti before her marriage.
And Kunti, because of the conservative nature of the society at that time, she puts him in a wooden basket and with fervent prayers to the lords to guide him to safety, he puts the basket in a river and that basket is found, the floating basket is found by a Suta couple. Sutas are charioteers and they are considered lower than Kshatriyas but higher than Vaishyas, somewhere in between. So Adhirath and Radhe, they are his parents and they grow him up very well.
Now because he is born in a Kshatriya family, he still has, he has Kshatriya heroism and he grows up to become a great archer. He learns from Parshuram and he enters into the Mahabharata at a time when the Pandavas are performing, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, the students of, the students of Drona are basically exhibiting their martial skills. And at that time, Arjuna excels everyone, excels everyone else.
And then Karna appears over there and says, I can excel everything that Partha has done. And he marches in and he exhibits his skills. And he doesn’t excel but he equals everything that Partha has done.
So then in order to prove his practises, I would like to have a one-to-one duel with Partha. Now Arjuna grabs his bow and is ready to fight. But before that, Kripa says that for fighting we should know the antecedents of both the warriors, both the competitors.
So we already know about Arjuna. Tell us about you. Which race do you come from? Which dynasty do you come from? So his head falls towards the ground.
Everyone understands that he is not from a Kshatriya dynasty. At that time, Duryodhana springs up. Duryodhana has a terrible animosity towards the Pandavas.
And he has been practising fervently to get the better of Bhima. But he feels that I need someone to foil Arjuna. And when he sees Karna’s skill, he feels that Karna is the person who will foil Arjuna.
And thus he says, he gives a very eloquent speech in the defence of Karna. He says, just look at his arms, just look at his valour, just look at his skill. Can a fox ever beget a tiger? He is surely born of Kshatriya family.
And if at all you think that he is not a king because he is not born of Kshatriya family, I will make him a king. And he gives him the kingdom of Anga. Now at this point, it is very generous of him to give him a kingdom like that.
And Karna is overwhelmed. Karna says, you have saved my honour today. What can I do for you? So Duryodhana, as I said earlier, he is a politician.
So he knows how to win people over by speaking the right words when he wants to. So he says, I don’t want anything from you except your friendship. And then Karna takes a vow which becomes his undoing.
He says, that you will have till the end of my life. And now in this incident, by this time when Karna is anointed as the king, before Arjuna and Karna can have a duel, by that time, Karna, his sun sets and the martial exhibition ends. So now here the question comes up, was Duryodhana really entitled to give the kingdom of Anga? Because he was not the king.
He was not even the sole heir. So the Pandavas could have challenged that. But the Pandavas did not.
They thought, he is a member of our dynasty. If he is giving charity, if we oppose it, it will be a disgrace to our dynasty. So even if it is his charity, is it really his to give in charity? If I come to somebody’s house and I say, I give this house in charity to you.
It’s not yours to give, isn’t it? It’s ridiculous. So it’s not exactly like that. But that itself is questionable.
Whether Duryodhana had the right to give that kingdom in charity. But even if we say, for argument’s sake, that is okay. Still, the point is that Karna at this point had no idea.
We can assume that he did not have any idea about Duryodhana’s malicious nature. And so he was won over by Duryodhana. And thereafter, whenever Duryodhana would make some nefarious schemes.
For example, when they were planning to send the Pandavas to the Varanavat and burn them. Karna initially opposed. Why do you do all these devious things? Just let’s challenge the Pandavas to a fight.
We will defeat them in a straight fight. Shakuni said, you know Karna, you are a child. You don’t know the ways of statecraft.
An enemy should not be challenged to a fight unless there is a certainty of victory. And with the Pandavas’ promise, there is no certainty. My way is the better way.
Now, in the hierarchy, if you see, Shakuni was by age older than Duryodhana. And in position, Duryodhana was superior to Karna. So, Duryodhana was much more influenceable by Shakuni than by Karna.
So, therefore, Duryodhana went along with Shakuni’s ways. And over a period of time, Karna also started doing that. Now, Karna, throughout his life, he wanted a sense of acceptance.
All of us want to be, whichever social group we are in, we want to be accepted. We want to be respected in that. And when somebody is blamed for something that is just not in their hands, when somebody is born in a particular family, in the past, in India, there was discrimination based on caste.
In the West, there was discrimination based on race. That something from this life’s perspective is just not in our hands. And to be blamed for that is quite unfair.
So, when one is blamed like that, at that time, one is in an emotionally vulnerable situation. And when one is in an emotionally vulnerable situation, fearing that one will not be accepted, at that time, if somebody gives acceptance, if somebody accepts, then that person gets bowled over. That person just feels so grateful without again seeing the full picture.
So, when this happens to Karna, he slowly, because he feels so grateful to Duryodhana, he can’t oppose Duryodhana. Rather, he starts joining Duryodhana in his evil schemes. So much so that, like I discussed earlier, he eventually ends up suggesting to Draupadi, we drag him to the assembly and we disrobe him.
And not only that, eventually when Dhritarashtra gives back the kingdom to Draupadi, gives back the gifts to Draupadi, what they had lost in the gambling match, and they are going away, at that time, Karna takes a cheap swipe. Oh, look at these people, they consider themselves great heroes, but they had to depend on a woman to save them. So, by his actions and by his words, he irreversibly antagonises the Pandavas.
Now, of course, there were some incidents before this, which further, we could say, alienate Karna. Karna also was a swayamvar of Draupadi, and there in that swayamvar, he is not allowed to participate. So, he is not allowed to participate.
Why? Because not everyone accepts him as a Kshatriya. The swayamvar was for Kshatriyas, and he comes up to compete, and Dhritarashtra says, that my sister will not marry a Suta. He feels insulted.
And it’s true, unfortunately, he was insulted. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, He says, that ancient science of yoga was lost over time. And because it was lost over time, therefore, when Krishna is talking, therefore, I have come to restore it now.
What that means is, Krishna is saying, the time when the Mahabharata is being enacted, the time when the Bhagavad Gita was spoken, that is the time when Dharma has already become contaminated. And Krishna has come to establish Dharma. So, one contamination of Dharma, which had happened, is that discriminatory caste system.
So, that is just the way the culture was. When we study scripture, there are certain sections of scripture that are descriptive, and certain sections are prescriptive. Descriptive means, they are simply describing the situation as it was at that time.
They are not saying that this is how it should be. Prescriptive means, this is how, this is what you should do. So, for example, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam charanam vraja This is a prescriptive one.
You have power over religion, you surrender to it. But on the other hand, if you consider some other one, dehino smritha dehe kaumaram yavanam jara In the soul, in the body which is changing, there is a soul. There is no prescription in this.
You can draw a prescription from it, that we should live at the spiritual platform. That will come later. But in scripture, there are descriptive sections and there are prescriptive sections.
And the descriptive sections are not necessarily the teaching of scripture. Everything that is in scripture is not the teaching of scripture. For example, in the Chaitanya Charitaam Vrat, it is described how Haridas Thakur was not allowed entry into the Jagannath Puri temple.
Now, it is described. But Lord Jagannath, who is also Lord Chaitanya, himself comes out and gives prasad to him everyday. So, Chaitanya Charitaam Vrat describes this, but Chaitanya Charitaam Vrat is not describing this.
It is not approving this. It is not mandating it. So, the kind of caste discrimination that was there at that time, that was just a fact of life over there.
Was it fair? Was it unfair? In every society, there is some kind of unfairness. Maybe we are going more towards the egalitarian society. But even here, there are subtle or gross discriminations always there.
We all have to live in the society we are born in. If we say that, oh, Karna was discriminated against because he was never given the honour that was due to him as a Brahmin, as a Kshatriya. That’s true.
But then, we can look at the Pandavas. The Pandavas, for no fault of theirs, they became orphans when they were young. Their father passed away.
So, almost like becoming orphans. And then, they were put in the midst of a kingdom where their cousin was targeting, trying to kill them, where their uncle was facile. And they had to suffer so much because of that.
The Pandavas did not get the kingdom on a platter. Because the Pandavas also were subjected to unfairness. So, everybody in life is subjected to unfairness, actually.
It is not that Karna alone was subjected to unfairness. The Pandavas also, at least there is no record in the Mahabharata of anybody attempting to kill Karna. Nobody tried to poison Karna.
Nobody tried to burn Karna alive. But this was happening to the Pandavas. So, yes, unfairness is there, but everybody faces some unfairness of the other in life.
And with respect to his not being allowed to compete, yes, it was humiliating for him. But then, he has to be aware that in the same Swayamvar, when Arjuna rises, Arjuna is the Brahmana god. So, before Arjuna goes to the abode, he actually asks, he says, this is the assembly of Kshatriyas.
Is a Brahmana allowed to compete in this? Although Brahmanas are traditionally considered higher than Kshatriyas, but still, the normal expectation was that this is a Kshatriya princess and a Kshatriya prince will marry her. So, he asks and Dhristadyumna consults Drupada and says, oh, the Brahmanas are always venerated by the Kshatriyas. So, surely a Brahmana can compete.
And actually people make fun. So, the Kshatriyas say, oh, this Brahmana has become lusty on seeing Draupadi’s beauty. That’s why he is not able to control his senses and he is thinking that he will be able to do what we are not able to do.
And he will make a fool of himself. But then Arjuna goes and effortlessly picks up the bow and everybody falls silent. And then he shoots the arrow.
And he hits the target. Everybody is stunned at that time. So, the point is that, yes, he was hurt at that time when he was not allowed to compete in Draupadi’s Vyambara.
But then he also chose. He also chose to put himself in a situation where he could have been hurt. He could have known that not everybody accepted him as a king.
And he could have been a little more discreet in checking whether he would be allowed to compete or not. He is going straight in front and then being rebuffed. Unnecessarily distasteful situation it was.
But even if he felt insulted, it’s one thing to not be allowed to compete in a Swayamvar. And it’s quite another to disrobe a woman in public. Again, there’s no sense of proportion in what he suggested.
What he wanted to do. He’s calling Draupadi a prostitute. He was also grievous.
Now, later on, just before the Kurukshetra war, Krishna came as Shanti Doodh, tried to persuade Duryodhana. Duryodhana did not listen. Then Krishna said to Karna, I want to talk with you.
The morning before, Krishna departed. Krishna approached Karna. And Krishna told Karna that you are the son of Kunti.
You are the eldest Pandava. And what has been denied for you throughout your life, you can have it now. Come on the side of virtue.
And Yudhishthira and all the five Pandavas will follow you just as the Devatas follow Indra. You will become the king. At this point, Karna says, I have promised Duryodhana that I will be loyal to him.
And it is based on his confidence in me that he has embarked on this war. I cannot let him down now. He said, I have lived as a son of a Suta now.
I have got wife, I have got children, I have got my whole family. I cannot leave it all. And he says, I know that Duryodhana has acted adharmically.
I had a dream. I saw that Duryodhana is going to die. I saw that he was on a cart drawn by donkeys.
And he was dressed in black. And he was being dragged downwards towards the lower regions. And I saw Yudhishthira dressed in white on a chariot of horses rising upwards.
So based on the omens, I knew that Bhima is going to kill Duryodhana and Arjuna is going to kill me. But I cannot abandon Duryodhana. Then Krishna hugged Karna and he said, then we will meet on the battlefield.
Now, this was actually a decisive moment for Karna. We talked about destiny. Does destiny make us or do we make destiny? That is the theme we are talking.
So yes, destiny determines many events in our life. For example, destiny determines which family we are born in, what complexion, skin we have. It may determine what kind of brain we have, what IQ level we have.
Destiny also determines certain events that may happen in our life. Destiny, broadly speaking, is like a weather forecast. It describes certain events that are going to happen in our life.
But how we respond to those events is up to us. So our free will is not taken away by destiny. Our free will is always with us.
But destiny determines some broad major event that happens in our life. And it’s like if you are playing a game of cards, then we all get a particular hand. And then we have to play with the hand that we have.
So destiny determines the hand that we get. But how we play it is up to us. So here was a chance for Karna to relieve himself.
Karna had a choice between his word of honour and a life of honour. Word of honour means I have promised Duryodhana, I will be by his side and I must be by his side. Life of honour means okay, he had promised it.
But who was the honourable side? The Pandavas were honourable. Duryodhana was time and time acting in a dishonourable way. So is the word of honour more important than a life of honour? He, to give an example, say in some country like Pakistan or Afghanistan, where there are a lot of extremists.
There is an orphan child who is starving. And some people come and save that child and provide him food, clothing, shelter. That child will become very grateful.
Thank you, you have saved my life. I would have died. I will serve you.
Life long. But if the child grows up and the child realises the people who took care of him were terrorists. And they are killing innocent people.
Now does that child, because of a promise made earlier, have an obligation to also become a terrorist and kill innocent people? No. He has to use his good sense. So yes, that time they saved him and he is grateful to them for that.
But that doesn’t mean just gratitude should not lead to the disorientation of our own moral compass. Moral compass tells us what is right and what is wrong. But in the name of gratitude, if we abandon our own moral compass, then we are ending up doing terrible things.
So Karna’s mistake, if you could put it that way was, his misdirected sense of loyalty. Loyalty is a good thing. But a misdirected sense of loyalty is a terrible thing.
And when Krishna asked him to come to the side of the Pandavas, it was not because Krishna didn’t have confidence that Arjuna could defeat Karna. Actually prior to this, prior to the Kurukshetra battle, the Virata Yudha had happened. And in the Virata battle, Arjuna had single-handedly defeated all the Kauravas, including Karna.
So in that sense, it was not that Krishna was afraid of Karna, or afraid for Arjuna about Karna. It was that he wanted to minimise the violence. Krishna knew that the other generals in Duryodhana’s army, Bhishma, Drona, Kripa, Shalya, none of them were antagonistic towards the Pandavas.
They were obliged to fight, because of certain circumstances, they had to fight on Duryodhana’s side. The only person who was as antagonistic as Duryodhana was Karna. And if Karna’s antagonism could be ended, then it would be like breaking Duryodhana’s back.
And then maybe Duryodhana would become ready for peace also. So Krishna tried his best. But Karna rejected Krishna’s offer.
And when Karna rejected Krishna’s offer, that’s when he doomed. He, by his choice, sealed his fate. So yes, destiny may put us in a bad situation.
But we, by our choices, can make that situation better, or we can make it worse. So destiny doesn’t determine our decisions. Destiny determines our situations.
We determine our decisions. When we make wrong decisions, then we are responsible. And eventually, when the fight took place, on the 17th day between Karna and Arjuna, so Karna was fighting fiercely, but eventually his chariot started sinking into the ground.
And he told, he got off his chariot and he told Arjuna, Oh Arjuna, remember the codes of warfare. Do not act in the way that cowards act. Wait for me to be ready to fight with you.
And Arjuna lowered his bow. And then Krishna spoke across. Karna said, Oh Karna, it is fortunate indeed that you remember the codes of virtue today.
Was it the codes of virtue that made you suggest that Draupadi would disrobe? Was it the codes of virtue that made you join the Kauravas in trying to burn the Pandavas alive? Was it the codes of virtue because you called Draupadi a prostitute? Was it the codes of virtue because of which you joined the Kauravas in a rigged gambling match that stole everything from the Pandavas? Was it the codes of virtue because of which you joined five other warriors in killing the 16 year old Abhimanyu so brutally? If it was the codes of virtue, Arjuna will use the same codes of virtue to kill you today. Arjuna shooed. And in the moments Karna… Now the Mahabharata at one level is a transcendental book.
But the Mahabharata also is a very realistic book. So it said that there are three kinds of Nitis. Nitis is morality.
There is… There is Brahaspati Niti, there is Shukra Niti and there is Kanaka Niti. So Brahaspati is the guru of the gods. Shukracharya is the guru of the demons.
And Kanaka is the assistant. Kanaka is a Brahmana who is the assistant, who is a friend of Shakuni and who gives advice to Dhritarashtra. So Brahaspati Niti is that whatever other people do, you should always stick to the codes of morality.
Even if the other person is immoral, you stay moral. Shukra Niti is that with the moral be moral, with the immoral be immoral. Kanaka Niti is that with everyone do whatever it takes to win.
Your supreme duty is to see to your own prosperity. So when Dhritarashtra has some reservations about the whole many plots to try to kill the Pandavas, Kanaka comes and advises him. And he says, ultimately you are a father and taking care of your son is your greatest duty.
So whatever you have to do to take care of son, do it. So Kanaka Niti is completely wrong. It is not that for furthering our interest we can do anything and everything.
Shukra Niti, sorry, Brahaspati Niti is idealistic. No matter what the other person does, always be moral. At one level, it is good to try to always be moral.
But at the same time, in the real world, if the other person is duplicitous and backbiting, and if we try to be moral, we may end up being destroyed by that. There is in Indian history, the story of Prithviraj Chauhan. He was a very famous king.
And there was an Islamic invader who came time and time and time. He attacked and Prithviraj Chauhan defeated him. Once, twice, thrice, four times.
And each time, he would again regroup and attack. And one last time, so each time when he was defeated, he would ask for mercy. He says, I surrender to you.
And Prithviraj Chauhan would forgive him and let him go. And one last time when he was defeated, immediately the aggressor cut off the head of Prithviraj Chauhan. So, now with some people, we have to be realistic.
So, Krishna demonstrates the shukramiti over here. Shatho shatham. With the cunning, be cunning.
We don’t have to ourselves start cunningness. But if somebody is starting cunningness, starting by being cunning, we may have to respond in kind. The Pandavas and the Kauravas, before the Kurukshetra war, they meet.
And at that time, the commander of the Pandavas is Dhristadyumna. The commander of the Pandavas is Bhishma. But Duryodhana also comes over there.
And Duryodhana says, Pandavas, remember the codes of morality. Always fight according to the codes of morality. And Dhristadyumna hears this and he is a little suspicious and surprised.
He says, it is the Kauravas who have always been immoral. Why are they reminding the Pandavas of the codes of morality? So, then Dhristadyumna says that we will not be the first to break the codes of morality. But if you break the codes of morality, we will not hold ourselves back.
The war codes, if you break, then we will also break. So, now Arjuna’s shooting karana when he was on the ground was definitely not according to the Kshatriya war codes. But Arjuna was only repaying the Kauravas for what they had done.
On the 13th day, when Abhimanyu was trapped inside the Chakra Bhiva, at that time also, his chariot was broken. He had no weapons left. And he was on the ground and he was simply using a wheel to defend himself.
And at that time, according to the law codes of Kshatriya, the warriors should not have fought with him from their chariots. But Karna was one of the warriors who attacked Abhimanyu when he was chariotless and weaponless. On the 14th day, the next day, when Arjuna had taken a vow to enter into the Kaurava assembly, enter into the Kaurava ranks to kill Jayadrath.
At that time, Arjuna went deep into the Kaurava ranks. But the army formation was so strong and the fight so fierce that soon Arjuna’s horses got tired, got exhausted. And Krishna told Arjuna, your horses need rest now.
Because they cannot go any further. So then Arjuna used his mystic powers and there in the middle of the battlefield, he created a lake with some nice grass around it. And he immediately jumped off his chariot.
And Krishna said, well done Arjuna. And he took the chariot there, took the horses there to rest and feed the horses. When this happened, Arjuna was carless, chariotless.
The Kauravas did not stop attacking Arjuna. The Kauravas kept attacking. And Arjuna fought back.
Arjuna was whirling around and the Kauravas were coming from all sides. And Arjuna was whirling around and countering them. To come close to him was to meet a wall of arrows.
That fierce was his defence. On the 17th day itself, the day when Karna was killed, on that day, Arjuna and Karna were fighting. And at that time, there was a snake bird.
Not Takshak, but someone else like that. Ashwasena. So this was a snake weapon.
So Karna called the Sarpaastra, called a particular celestial weapon. And this Ashwasena entered into that. Ashwasena was one of the snakes who had escaped when Arjuna had set fire to the Khandava forest.
And he wanted to get back at Arjuna. So he entered into Karna’s bow, into Karna’s quiver. And when Karna was about to look for an arrow, it seemed as if this arrow almost jumped out into his hands.
And he took that arrow and shot. Now, when the warriors would fight with arrows, they had different strategies. Some arrows they would counter.
Some arrows, they would just allow them to hit. And think that my armour is strong enough. I can, my armour will protect me.
So Arjuna neglected this arrow. He did not recognise that this was a celestial arrow. And at that time, as that arrow was thudding towards, rushing towards Arjuna’s neck, Krishna suddenly put his foot forcefully down on the chariot’s side footrest.
And when he put his foot heavily down, his chariot sank into the ground. And his chariot sank into the ground. At that time, the arrow that was meant to go to his neck, it went to his crown.
It knocked off his crown. And Arjuna survived by Krishna’s intervention. But in the meanwhile, because Krishna had so forcefully put his foot down, so the chariot had sunk into the ground.
Now, Krishna quickly jumped out of the chariot and picked up the chariot. Now while Krishna was picking up the chariot, at that time Arjuna’s chariot was motionless. Arjuna did not tell Karna, hey stop fighting, my chariot is motionless.
No quarters were asked for and no quarters were expected. So Karna did not himself follow the laws of morality. The law of war was.
And then, when he did not follow it, he sowed what he sowed. He harvested what he had sown. As you sow, so shall you reap, as they say.
So basically, Krishna gave Karna a chance to come on the right side. But unfortunately, Karna rejected that. And eventually, he was killed because of this.
So Karna, life may treat us unfairly. As I said, life did treat Karna unfairly. But it was not that destiny doomed him.
It was his own choices that doomed him. The law of destiny gave him an opportunity to correct whatever wrongs had happened. But he rejected those.
And eventually, he got the new results of the actions that he had done. So the foremost lesson that we get from Karna’s life is how a good person becomes bad by bad association. That because of his attachment to Duryodhana and the desire to please Duryodhana, he ended up doing one bad thing after another.
And thus, Karna, who might normally have led a life of virtue, ended up being on the side of wise and living a life of vice. Krishna gave him a chance for redemption. Some people may say that Krishna asked him to defect.
Now go over from your side to the opposite side. No, Krishna didn’t give him a call for defection. Krishna called him for redemption.
If Karna had never mixed with Duryodhana and the people who hang out with him, Karna may have led a life of virtue. And Krishna had given him an opportunity to come to that life of virtue. But unfortunately, he refused.
Even in the lives of people for whom many, many things happen wrong in life, there are always chances to do the right thing. And it is when they make the wrong choices that is what looms them. So destiny may sometimes treat us unfairly.
But in some way, destiny treats everyone unfairly. And rather than blaming destiny for how it is treating us, we need to focus on how we are treating ourselves, what kind of choices we are making us. And if we make the right choices, we can create from whatever situation we are in, a bright future for ourselves.
And Karna teaches us this by his unfortunately misdirected choices. So I will summarise. I spoke about Karna and whether he was doomed by destiny or he was doomed by his own choices.
So Karna was treated unfairly because he was deprived of Kshatriya honour. And Duryodhana got him at an emotionally vulnerable moment and he bore lifelong friendship to him, lifelong loyalty to him. And that vow was what undid him.
Initially, he tried to bring Duryodhana on an honourable track. But eventually, Duryodhana got him on a dishonourable track. And his worst moment came when he, in the assembly, when he suggested Draupadi with his robe and he called Draupadi a prostitute.
And later, in the Kurukshetra war, before it, Krishna when he invited Karna to come on the side of the Pandavas, that was his choice to come on the side of virtue. When he refused to take that choice, that is the time when he doomed himself. So his was misdirected loyalty, like a child brought up by terrorists, thinking that I had to commit lifelong to these terrorists.
And then eventually, when he was killed, yes, his killing was unfair, but then he had himself acted unfairly. So Krishna could have got Arjuna to kill Karna in a fair fight also. As I said, in the Virat Yuga, Krishna had killed, Karna had been defeated by Arjuna.
So Krishna could have done that. But Krishna wanted to teach, with the cunning, be cunning. And ultimately, destiny might treat us unfairly, but we do get chances to make right choices.
And it is not that destiny dooms us, it is our wrong choices that doom us. And no matter what a bad hand life may have given us, if we play the cards right, then we can create a brighter future for ourselves. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna. So any questions or comments about this? Yes. Yes, I was thinking somebody will ask this question.
So do we make our choices also according to destiny? Not entirely. We may be prompted towards particular choices by our destiny. So for example, nobody has to eat meat.
But if they are born in a family where everyone eats meat, in a culture where everyone eats meat, then they will have very little reason to not eat meat. So in that sense we could say, destiny has more or less determined the choice for them. It is still their choice, but the circumstances will not give them any impetus to consider any other choice.
But that is an extreme example. In many situations, we do have a free will by which we can choose. Destiny may create certain situations in which certain choices may be more likely or more probable.
But they are not unavoidable. They are not inescapable. If destiny were to determine our choices also, then our free will would become meaningless.
Baldevindya Bhushan, in his commentary on the Vedanta Sutra, Govinda Bhashya, he says that if our choices are destined, then scripture itself is meaningless. Because scripture tells us, do this and don’t do this. So if scripture is telling us, don’t do this and do this, and if you are already programmed to do only this, then what is the point of scripture telling us at all? So we do have free will.
Now, in certain situations, as I said, we may be more inclined to act in a particular way. But that doesn’t mean we are forced to act in a particular way. The choices are done by us.
The situations may be created by destiny, but the choices are made by us. So does that mean we make our own future by our choices? Both. Not that our choices determine the whole future.
Let’s say, now after this retreat, we are going to go back to Brisbane. Now, by destiny, say there is going to be a storm. Now, that storm is distinct.
But how we drive in the storm is not distinct. So if somebody is drunk and then they are driving, chances of accident become much more. If somebody is sober and they drive cautiously, then the chances of accident are much lesser.
If somebody chooses to say, okay, today I will not drive, maybe I will drive after a few hours. Then again, they may be safer. So, destiny determines the situations that we face.
To some extent, that can’t be changed. It’s not that our choices are going to change the situation. Our choice is not going to change the presence of the storm.
The storm is going to come. So in that sense, we can’t say that our choices create 100% of the future. Certain aspects of the future are determined by destiny.
But there are certain aspects which are in our hands. So, there are two broad schools of thought. One is Karmavada and the other is Daivavada.
Karmavada says that everything is in our hands. Everything is determined by our karma. If you work hard, you can become the next Bill Gates or whoever, world’s wealthiest person.
And Daivavada says, actually everything is destroyed. Nothing is in your hands. So, both of these are extremities of human imagination.
If you want to put this in an equation, you could say, karma plus daiva plus kala is equal to phala. Karma, daiva and kala, they together lead to phala. A simple example could be a farmer.
A farmer sows the seeds and ploughs the land, that is the karma. The rains come on time and in right quantity, that is daiva. Then the season changes till the harvesting season comes, that is the kala.
And then the harvest arises, that is the phala. Another example could be, say, a couple decide to have a child, desire to have a child. Now, they may unite and they may try to have a child.
That is the karma. But, it is not that just through union, conception will occur necessarily. So, there is something higher involved, that is daiva.
And even if conception has occurred, it is not that next day a child is going to be born. It is the period of gestation, that is the kala. So, karma, daiva, kala, when all three come together, then there is phala.
Does it answer your question? So, when it is said that certain suffering is destined for us, so why strive to avoid it? See, every statement in scripture has to be seen in context. No statement is meant to be absolute. Or rather, they are absolute in their context.
So, for example, we may say that, we may hear that our life span is determined at the time of our birth. The number of breaths are determined or whatever. But then, we also have a whole branch of knowledge called Ayurveda.
And ayu is life span. Ayurveda is that branch of knowledge which enhances our life span, increases our life span, both in quality and quantity. So, if our life span is destined, then how can Ayurveda talk about expanding it? How can it talk about enhancing it? So, the point is that whatever happens to us, is not determined by just past karma.
Present karma also matters. So, we could say that by the past, if karma is not mathematical, it is subtle, but if we assume that karma is mathematical, for understanding sake. Say, if somebody has 100 units of suffering to go through in this life, then those 100 units of suffering are going to come.
But, if somebody acts carelessly in this life, that may also add to the suffering. So, can we, by our choices, increase our suffering? Obviously, we can, isn’t it? If I go out on a cold night without many warm clothes, and then I get a terrible cold, that was not because of my past karma. That was because of my present karma, isn’t it? So, our present actions also have effects.
They also affect things. Therefore, the whole thrust of the statements in scripture, where it says that don’t bother too much about material happiness or material distress. The stress of that is focus on spiritual progress.
But, when the stress is focus on spiritual progress, that doesn’t mean be materially uncaring. If we are doing materially completely uncaring, then why eat food? Why take medicine? Why do anything at the material level? There is a body which we have been given, and we have a duty to the body also. And we have to take care of the body.
And if we don’t take care of the body, and if I get some results of that, that is not because of my past karma. It is because of my present karma. So, in general, what happens in our life, whether it is a result of present karma or past karma, or some combination of present and past karma, it’s very difficult to know.
So, what we should focus on is, what is my dharma? Am I doing that? So, if material greed starts making us deviated from our dharma, let me remember that there is daiva, there is destiny, and certain things are already in. So, better let me not get carried away by these things. But, if destiny thought of, daiva starts making me materially irresponsible, then that is not proper.
Then I am doing bad karma now, and that will aggravate whatever problems I am going to face. Okay? Thank you. Yes? Can Krishna Bhakti change destiny? The word destiny can have multiple meanings.
Destiny can refer to, at one level, what is going to happen to us. Okay, that’s my destiny. Destiny can also refer to the future that we are going to attain.
Say, for example, some young boy might be a very promising cricketer, might have a lot of batting talent. And then, say, 10 years down that line, that player becomes a famous international cricketer. Somebody where he has fulfilled his destiny.
Now, when we say he has fulfilled his destiny, what does it mean? It means that what potential he had, he has now achieved that potential, he has actualised that potential. So, in that sense, destiny can refer to two things. One is the things that happen to us, and the second is the things that we bring out of ourselves, things that we manifest.
So, to some extent, certain things are ordained to us. So, one way destiny comes to us is in the very bodily vehicle that we get. So, no matter how much bhakti we are going to practise, if my complexion is dark, it is not going to become fair by the practising of bhakti.
If I am an American, I am not going to become an Indian by the practise of bhakti. I might develop a culture which is different from what was my birth culture. But the body itself is a product of destiny.
And that body is going to be more or less what it is. That is not going to change. So, in that sense, we say destiny, that aspect of destiny will not be changed by bhakti.
But what we use the body for, and whatever happens to us, how we respond to that, that can be changed by destiny. So, bhakti, what it does is, it changes our future in four different ways. One is, it gives us the knowledge of right and wrong.
And that knowledge itself helps us to create a bright future. Somebody may go through their life not knowing, for example, if there is anything wrong with me eating. Then they will be accumulating bad karma because of that.
So, knowledge gives us the opportunity to create a better future for ourselves. Bhakti gives us not just knowledge, it also gives us taste. Because I may understand this is a good thing and this is a bad thing, but shall I feel attracted to the bad thing? But then bhakti gives us a higher taste.
The good thing starts feeling attractive to us also. And because of that, we start getting greater impetus to do the good thing. So, with respect to our choices, bhakti gives us knowledge and taste by which we can make better choices.
Remember, in the first session, I talked about how temptations and tribulations can deviate us from the right track. So, bhakti gives us the strength to resist temptations by giving us knowledge and by giving us taste. Now, with respect to tribulations, the things that befall us, the bad things that happen to us, bhakti gives us, at one level, the spiritual realisation by which we can tolerate suffering.
The suffering will come upon us, but if we have spiritual knowledge, then we will not suffer that much. Why not? Because we will understand that this is temporary. That this is temporary.
That… Now, I was in America. I was giving this example in a class and an American devotee told me I actually had a real-life experience of this. He said that sometimes, if somebody is in a swamp or a forested area, sometimes a leech may bite us.
And when the leech bites, you can feel its tentacles going into the skin and sucking out the blood. It’s a scary, painful sensation. But, if you try to pull the leech out, at that time, the leech has such a fierce grip that the leech will pull out the whole skin.
It’s ghastly. But, if you just let the leech do its work, the leech does not have unlimited capacity to suck blood. Once its tubules are full, the leech will itself let go.
And as it lets go, it will itself fall off or it will just flip it off. So, sometimes, suffering comes upon us like that leech. And then we become… we overreact to that suffering and somehow try to avoid it.
That is like trying to pull out the leech. And that makes things worse. But, if you understand, you know, actually, I am the soul.
This body is mine, but it is separate from me. This particular suffering is coming. It will be there for some time.
It will go. So, the capacity to tolerate increases because of our spiritual knowledge. And that’s how we can… we can endure the pain without getting overwhelmed by it.
We may have to live with pain, but we don’t have to live in pain. Live with pain means pain is a part of our life. But live in pain means pain becomes the whole of our life.
It becomes… if you consider consciousness to be like a big circle, pain is a component within our consciousness. But we live in pain means pain becomes the container of our consciousness. We can’t think of anything except the pain.
So, if I think I am the body and I get a fracture, and I feel my whole life is useless, I can’t do anything. But if I understand I am the soul, my body is fractured, okay, I am still a soul. Let me see how I can serve Krishna in this situation.
So, by helping us understand that we are bigger than our body, we are bigger than our mind, we see pains at the bodily and mental level as pains in one part of us. So, we can live with pain instead of living in pain. Our capacity to tolerate increases.
And lastly, Krishna can also minimise. Whatever karmic reactions are going to come to us, Krishna can also minimise or eliminate them. So that, what exactly karma we are meant to get and how much Krishna is minimising, that we may not know.
But broadly, by giving us knowledge and a taste to make right choices and by giving us the tolerance to not overreact to the pain and by minimising karmic reactions, bhakti can change our destiny. Yes or no? Yeah. Okay.
Okay. Okay. So, if sometimes we say cook, take food cooked by non-devotees or we get food cooked from factories or something like that, do we get the karma for that? See, first thing is, karma is logical.
Karma is not diabolical. Diabolical means, you know, it’s something evil waiting to catch us. No, it’s not that karma is like a mysterious contagious disease that’s going to jump from one person to another and we have to live in constant fear.
Oh, your karma will come to me. We have to be normal human beings and we have to function with a service attitude. We have to function with a service attitude.
In every interaction, more than thinking about whether I’ll get the karma, that’s one factor. We should think about how best can I serve in this situation. Prabhupada, when he was in India, he would often take food at the house of life members and not only he would take, he would ask all his disciples also to take.
And life members were not devotees, they’re pious people. But Prabhupada took the food at their house. At one time, they went to one family and they cooked an elaborate feast.
In Indian culture, to have a sadhu come to your house and take food is considered to be a very big thing. And somehow, in the food there was onion and garlic. And the devotees said to Prabhupada, Prabhupada, there’s onion and garlic here.
Prabhupada said, there’s no onion and garlic. He said, no Prabhupada, there’s onion and garlic. Prabhupada became very grave, there is no onion and garlic here.
And Prabhupada was so grave, the devotees became silent. And Prabhupada took that food, all the devotees also took that food. And then, when they went back, Prabhupada told, it was our fault that we didn’t tell them that we don’t take onion and garlic.
Now they have cooked with so much devotion, if you reject this food, they’ll feel very bad. So, we have our rules, but we also have a purpose. We don’t want to use the rules to stay alienated from people.
We don’t want to use our rules in a way that we alienate people. Both ways. We don’t want to stay alienated from people.
And we don’t want to use rules to alienate people. Instead, we want to focus on connecting with people in a way that elevates their consciousness towards Krishna. So, in general, we should try to take the food which is offered to Krishna, and there are levels of prasad.
So now, the best food we could say is the food which is made with grains which are harvested by devotees. You have a devotee farm, then it is transported by devotees, it is cooked by devotees, it is served by devotees, and it is honoured by devotees. So, it’s a complete devotional chain.
Now, another level could be we get grains from wherever they are, and we cook it, we offer it, and it is honoured by devotees, it is taken by devotees. Another level could be that, okay, it’s cooked somewhere, but doesn’t have any forbidden ingredients, and we take it. So, this is like, if you see there is a continuum.
So, the top of the continuum is everything is devotional. The rock bottom of the continuum is no meat eating. There is something which is absolutely no.
No matter what happens, we won’t take meat. Now, in this continuum, where we situate ourselves, that is decided by us according to time and place circumstance. Now, the tendency would be to situate ourselves at the lowest possible level and enjoy as much as possible.
Now, that is not recommended. But the point is that we have to focus more on cultivating a life of service to Krishna. So, Prabhupada writes in the 10th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, intelligence means to see things in their proper perspective.
That means, what it means to see things in their proper perspective, means to see what is more important and what is less important. Suppose somebody is in a situation where they have an exhausting 10, 12, 14 hours job, and then they are in a place where there is no devotee association, and they themselves have to cook the food. And the cooking food takes 1-2 hours, and after that, they have no energy or time to chant their rounds.
Then, in that situation, better get some food from outside, just offer it, take it, and chant your rounds. So, chanting japa is more important than cooking the food. If we can do both, if we can chant our japa and also cook the food ourselves, that’s good.
But, we don’t have to make one principle into an extreme principle. So, we have to act in such a way that the ultimate purpose of our life is served. So, that’s why Desha Kaala Patra is important.
Now, as far as karma is concerned, the principle I said is that karma is not diabolical, it’s not something like a mysterious, contagious disease waiting to infect us. Yes, it is true that the kind of people we associate with that affects our consciousness, and food is also a way in which the way people have cooked the food, that will also affect us. But, is that the sole thing affecting us? There are so many things affecting us.
If suppose, somebody has only one hour in which they can either cook their food or they can study Shastra. They are chanting around, but they have only one hour. Now, if you spend time cooking that food, you don’t study Shastra.
It may well be that we cook the food, but then, studying Shastra in that time might actually spiritualise our consciousness more. So, that’s why we also have, the principle in Bhakti is Anukulyase Sankalpa Pratikulyase Varjanam. Accept that which is favourable and avoid that which is unfavourable.
And different people have different natures. Some people love to cook. And not only love to cook, they love to cook and they actually can do it in a very devotional mood.
And then, they can actually remember Krishna. They have some spiritual, some vibrations going on while they are cooking. And then, they do it in a very prayerful, devotional mood.
Then, cooking also becomes a part of devotional service. And cooking is nourishing our Bhakti. Then, wonderful.
Then, cook in devotional consciousness and take their food. But, if cooking doesn’t nourish our Bhakti so much, we can’t blame ourselves for not doing that. All of us have our nature.
Certain things will nourish us, certain things will not nourish us. So, if cooking doesn’t nourish our Bhakti, so studying Shastra nourishes our Bhakti, or doing other services nourishes our Bhakti, then okay, whatever level you manage the food, manage the food and continue your service. So, we have to see that we want to keep our consciousness connected with Krishna.
And there are various factors which will connect or disconnect our consciousness from Krishna. And which factors affect us how much that we ourselves will have to assess over a period of time. We don’t want to necessarily become libertarian and settle for the lowest standard.
But, it also doesn’t mean that we go for a highest standard in one thing and then, because we have limited time and energy, we neglect other important things. So, we need to have a sense of balance. And with that sense of balance, we can do whatever combination of devotional activities best help us to enhance our consciousness.
Does that answer your question? Yes or no? Yes. So, people who don’t have ambition in their life, go to the spiritual path. Yes, they can’t achieve anything in their life, they go to the spiritual path.
Yes, that is a possibility. But, I would say that that kind of people will not survive long in Krishna Consciousness. Because, you know, Krishna Consciousness makes you work very hard.
Chanting japa so many rounds is not easy. Following regularity principles in today’s world is not easy. If somebody wanted to simply escape from the struggle of material life, there are many other paths that could offer a much easier escape.
So, actually speaking, distress or frustration may be the beginning, may be something which starts us off on exploring spirituality. But then there has to be a positive or healthier impetus, why we want to move forward. That’s why Srila Prabhupada, he focused very much on knowledge.
Understand, you are not the body, you are the soul. And spiritual life is your real life. The spiritual world is your real home.
That is where we should aspire to. So, we may have our circumstances, remember yesterday I talked about the circumstantial devotion, transcendental devotion, and in between them is intentional devotion. We may start because of whatever circumstance.
So, we may start because of distress, because of frustration. But, it is, we need to come to the level of an intentional practise. Why am I practising? So, that requires, requires, cultivation of knowledge.
Cultivation of a sense of purposefulness. Why am I doing this? It’s like somebody is injured, naturally they will come to a hospital. And in the hospital they get some treatment, and then they go back.
But, if somebody wants to be engaged in the hospital, as a part of the hospital staff, then they have to work hard. And the training also involves labour. The training involves taking up difficulties.
So, when we become devotees in Prabhupada’s movement, we are not just refugees from the material world. No, we are actually activists who are representatives of Krishna, acting in this world. So, yes, we may come because of our distress to the Krishna Consciousness Movement, which is like a hospital.
We may get some relief. But, if you want to stay here, then we become the activists. And that means taking training, that means being willing to take difficulties for Krishna.
So, is it because of frustration that people come to Krishna? Some people may. But, many people who come to Krishna, they come because they are looking for something higher in life. You know, when people ask me how I was introduced to Krishna Consciousness, so, I often say I was frustrated with success.
My dream since my childhood was that I wanted to be a topper. And as in India, education is very much glamorised. So, this was my definition of happiness, that if I become number one in my class, then I will be happy.
And I worked very hard. And somehow, I was always among the toppers, but I was never the topper. So, second, third, fourth, joint first, but never the first.
So, that was a dream which was always unfulfilled for me. And then finally, in my third year of my engineering, in the first semester, I gave GRE. So, GRE is for going to America.
And generally, at that time, we had three subjects. It was analytical ability, mathematical ability and linguistic ability. So, Indians normally do well in analytical and mathematical.
In linguistic, that is struggle. So, since my childhood, I loved English. So, at that time, when I gave GRE, out of 2400, I got 2350.
So, I was not only first in my college, I was the first in the history of my college. I was first in the whole state of Maharashtra. And I was so happy.
Yahoo! Like that. So, I was so happy for some time. After some time, I realised that just looking at the mark sheet doesn’t give much pleasure.
It is only when people come and congratulate you. Oh, you achieved just amazing thing. That’s what gives pleasure.
And somehow, it happened that one after another, three of my close friends forgot to congratulate me. It is not that they had any ill intention. Everybody knows.
We also know. What is there to congratulate? Like that. So, the first time it happened, I was annoyed.
Second time it happened, I was irritated. The third time it happened, I was just angry. Infuriated almost.
But suddenly, it happens to me that when certain important moments are there in my life, it is almost as if I look at myself from an outer body perspective. Not literally, but conceptually. And then, as I was feeling so angry at my friends for not congratulating me, it suddenly struck me.
Hey, wait a minute. You thought that becoming a topper will make you happy. But instead of becoming happy, you have become more dependent for your happiness on others.
In the past, you could just interact with people normally. But now, when you are interacting, you are becoming so needy. So, where is the happiness? So, that was a moment which just jolted me.
Now, all of us have certain definitions of happiness which we grow with. Oh, I should have a very good physique. I should have a lot of money in my bank balance.
Oh, I should have a very good partner. I should have very nice children. I should have a very promising job.
We all have these definitions of happiness. And yes, these can provide us some happiness. But, sometime or the other, life brings the definition of happiness and the experience in collision with each other.
When this happens, that is the time when we can make a fresh start. So, at that time, I thought, tomorrow I can give another exam and I might again crack that exam. But what? Again, I still depend on others for my happiness.
Is there some other higher form of happiness? So, that was when a friend gave me Bhagavad Gita. And I read it. I knew about it.
The first thing I told him, he said, I have already read Bhagavad Gita. He said, okay, but you read this Bhagavad Gita. So, I said, okay.
I saw he was a friend who had been much more materialistic than me and he had changed. I could see that. So, I was a little surprised.
And I read the Bhagavad Gita and I had a lot of questions. Fortunately, I met devotees who answered many of my questions. And then, in the sixth chapter of the Gita, I read this verse.
That having achieved this, one feels that there is nothing more to be achieved. And having achieved this, even the greatest distress does not disturb one. So, I thought, this is real achievement.
Krishna is talking about the achievement of absorption in Krishna. If you are absorbed in Him, then one feels there is nothing greater to be gained. When we are absorbed in Krishna, we feel that even if great problems come, it is manageable.
It is not a disaster. So, I felt this is what I want to achieve in my life. So, it is not always that because of frustration or failure in life, people come to Krishna.
Sometimes, it is because some people achieve their dreams and then they find those dreams are not all that it was made out to be. So, how one comes to Krishna is not as important as why one comes to Krishna. Or rather, why one stays with Krishna.
So, you can analyse people’s psychology for why a particular person has come to Krishna. But the psychological analysis does not in any way speak whether the philosophy is right or wrong. There are two different things.
There is psychology and there is philosophy. The philosophy explains life’s fundamental questions. Who am I? What is life meant for? What is the way to happiness? So, how I come upon that philosophy, that is immaterial.
Some people say, Oh, it is only frustrated people who come to take to spirituality. That is like saying, it is only poor people who dig in the forest and find gold. Well, they found gold, that is important.
Whether they are poor or wealthy, that does not matter. Whether it is a poor person or a wealthy person who finds gold, gold is gold. Isn’t it? So, psychoanalysing spirituality sometimes ends up missing the point of spirituality.
Are you getting this difference? That why somebody is coming to Krishna, different people can have different psychologies. But whatever psychological reason somebody may come to Krishna, the important thing is, what is the content of Krishna consciousness? So, the philosophy, if we study it objectively, it makes eminent sense. It helps us make sense of life.
And it helps us transform our life for the better. So, therefore, whether somebody is out of frustration, gone out of their home to a forest and starts digging in a forest and finds gold, or somebody consciously knows there may be gold over here and goes and digs over there and finds gold. If they have found gold, yes, there is gold there to be found.
Just value that. Why somebody came to find gold, that’s not really all that important. Yes.
Yes. Yeah. Okay.
Which Niti should we follow in today’s age? Brihaspati or Shukra or Kanaka? Certainly not Kanaka. Definitely not. In general, devotees should follow Brihaspati Niti.
See, we are not Kshatriyas. We are trying to live a Brahminical life. And Brahmanas try to live in an overall moral way.
Kshatriyas, because they are involved in politics, sometimes certain things just have to be done in politics. So, in general, we try to live for ethical purposes by ethical means. At the same time, sometimes if morality comes in the way of our spirituality, then we are not devotees of morality.
We are devotees of Krishna. So, for example, in the Chaitanya Charita Amrit, we have the example of Sanatana Goswami. He wanted to surrender his life to Lord Chaitanya and the Nawab Hussain Shah put him in jail for that.
And when he was put in jail, now he put a lifelong stay in that jail. So, he told the jail keeper that actually I plan to go to Mecca. At that time, because of circumstances, he had converted to Islam.
Internally he was devoted to Krishna, externally he had converted to Islam. So, he said, I want to go to Mecca. And if you allow me to go to Mecca, not only will I get the piety, but you will also get the piety.
And then he said, then Sanatana Goswami, he had some wealth with him, so he gave him some gold coins. Then he said, OK, you can go. Now, for Sanatana Goswami, he had no intention of going to Mecca.
He straight went to Varanasi. Because that’s where Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was. So, in this case, for the sake of Krishna, for serving Krishna, he had to get out of that jail.
For getting out of the jail, whatever he had to do, he had to do. So, in general, devotees follow the codes of morality. We try to be as moral as possible.
But, if morality stops us from our spirituality, and that is very rare, but if it happens like that, then we are ready to sacrifice morality for spirituality. OK? Thank you. Thank you.
I’ll just answer that. One question when Mataji had asked, was about what is balance in life. Is that Mataji here now? Who had asked that question? OK, I’ll quickly answer this question, then I’ll come to you.
So, how can we have balance in life, say balance in material and spiritual life, or balance in various aspects of life? Firstly, balance is something which is, in life, it has to be dynamic. It cannot be static. Why? Because life itself is dynamic.
Suppose we are driving a bicycle, or a bike. The balance state is the vertical state. But if I want to take a right turn, then the balance state has to be the right tilted state.
And after I have taken the right turn, if I still stay right tilted, then I’ll go in a whole circle. And as soon as I’m right tilted, then I have to come back to the vertical state. Then I have to take a left turn, and I have to tilt towards the left.
So my direction may be fixed, but still depending on the turning of the road, I’ll have to tilt myself. So like that, because life is so dynamic, we can’t have one formula for balancing our life. In the morning I’ll do this, afternoon I’ll do this, evening I’ll do this, here I’ll do this, I’ll do that.
We cannot plan our life to that detail. But if we have a general sense of the direction in which we want to go in our life, that itself gives us a good sense of, now this I have to do here, this I have fallen back on this, so let me do this now, let me do this now. So Narada Muni tells Yudhisthira Maharaj that when one is a grahastha, there are these three aspects, dharma, artha and kama, that have to be pursued.
So he says, religiosity, profit and pleasure. So now for us as devotees, all three are connected with Krishna. Dharma is our sadhana bhakti, our artha is the wealth we are earning so that we serve Krishna, our kama, our ambitions are all connected with Krishna, whatever we want to achieve.
So what he says is, don’t pursue dharma at the cost of artha and kama. Don’t pursue artha at the cost of dharma and kama. And don’t pursue kama at the cost of dharma and artha.
Pursue all three in balance. So broadly we could say dharma, artha and kama as related with, say for a devotee, you could say there are three aspects to the life. There is the temple, there is the home, there is the office.
So dharma is the temple, artha is the office, kama is the home. So Narada Muni says balance all three. So we need to see that our temple is the place where we get the direct inspiration to serve Krishna.
That is where we do direct service to Krishna. But at the same time our service to Krishna is not limited to the temple alone. At the home also we are serving Krishna.
In our office also we are serving Krishna. If our home is a temple, then our work is like a fundraising campaign for our home temple. So in that sense, all aspects of our life can be spiritualised.
And depending on particular situations, one particular aspect may need more time at a particular time. Say if a festival is there in the temple, then we may have to spend much more time than usual in the temple. Because there are so many programmes, there are so many services, there are so many opportunities for association.
Sometimes say in the home, there is a pregnancy, there is some sickness. We have to spend much more time over there at home at that time. Sometimes in office there is a deadline, there is job pressure, then we have to spend more time there.
So each of these may sometimes require more time. But if we understand that this is the direction in which I want to go, then overall sometimes we may focus more on one aspect, later on another aspect. But we will be able to balance it in the long run.
So the key principle in balancing is that plans may not work, but planning works. Plans means specific things. This, this, this time this, this time this, this time this.
That may not work in life. Because we are not the supreme controllers. So many things, just life comes in the way.
But planning gives us an overall sense of what all we are meant to do in life. And that helps us gain perspective. That helps us, okay, now this is what I had done, now this is what I have to take care of.
Once I have taken care of this, then I will come back and do this. So planning gives us an overall sense of direction in our life, which all are important things in my life, which all are the areas in which I need to invest time. So if we keep this overall perspective, that there are various ways in which I can serve Krishna, and then that balance will come through experience.
There is no one formula, but by our own experience, we will understand how best we can balance the various aspects of our life. So, regarding my books, I’ll just…