Keep the mind on the spiritual track to keep it out of trouble

[Talk to NIT students, Juhu]

Video:

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, I’ll speak today on the topic of how when life hurts us, don’t let the mind hurt us more.
I’ll speak about how when we are put in a difficult situation, when we are put in a sorry situation, the mind makes us feel sorry for ourselves and that worsens the situation. So, I’ll speak this based on the pastime, the sixth canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, the pastime of Rutrasura. This is 6.12.15. Rutrasura is speaking to Indra.
So, the Rutrasura’s pastime is told over four chapters, broadly speaking. It starts from the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th chapters of the sixth canto and this chapter is called as Rutrasura’s glorious death. How many of you have heard the story of Rutrasura before? Okay, almost most of you.
So, in summary, Rutrasura was in the previous life a great king named Chitraketu and somehow he was cursed to become a demon. As a demon, he acted in a demoniac way and he attacked Indra. So, although he became a demon, he appeared as a demon through the yajna that a brahmin performed in order to take revenge of Indra.
So, Tvashta had a son Vishwaroopa who had been killed by Indra and Tvashta wanted someone who would kill Indra. But, Tvashta chanted some mantras wrong and that’s why he got a son who would be killed by Indra instead of who would kill Indra. So, it was nowadays for many people, one of the worst nightmares for them is say, if they get a diagnosis, you have got cancer.
Cancer is almost, in many cases, incurable. I was just in America for three months and in the devotee community itself, I met around eight devotees, all young, who have got cancer. They’re all in different stages.
Some are fighting and have got cured of it. Some are about to begin the fight. So, it’s so advanced that it’s only a matter of time before the body falls apart.
So, in such a time, a big problem that comes is the gloom and doom in the mind. Actually, the cancer, my life is over now and especially if the cancer is in advanced stage where there is just no hope for survival. Then, and if it happens when somebody is young, it just creates so much agony.
One is just not able to bear it. I knew one devotee couple in America and their Mataji, she’s got cancer. They’re thinking that, you know, when I see I’ve got cancer and husband has to work so much hard to take care of me, they have two kids to take care of them.
They’re thinking who will take care of them afterwards. She’s just, she’s become physically not very injured, but the cancer has made her a mental wreck and it’s not just she alone. It happens to many, many people.
So, now, when I give the example of a cancer, it’s like Rudra sir was born with a death sentence. Since you were born and his father also realised when he chanted the mantra, oh, I chanted the mantra wrong, but the child is already born. So, right from his birth, it was known that he was going to die and he’s going to die at the hands of Indra.
But now, if we know that, okay, I’m going to die at the hands of Indra, he will stay far away from Indra, isn’t it? But curiously, he goes and attacks Indra. And not only attacks Indra, actually Indra and Devadas are so powerful that seeing their attack, all the soldiers on his side run away and he’s left all alone. But instead of being fearful, instead of himself running away, he goes to the soldiers and says, what kind of cowards are you? Fight here.
And they refuse to fight. He fights alone and he fights so forcefully that the Devadas panic and many of the Devadas, soldiers and warriors just run away. When Indra sees this, at that time, Indra attacks him.
And Indra tries various ways to attack him. But the battle is just going on and on. And finally, Indra has been given a vajra by which he can kill Uttara.
But he uses his own mace. So he uses the vajra once and he lops off one arm of Indra, of Uttarasur. But as Uttarasur is falling, Uttarasur still keeps marching forwards and still with one hand is fighting, is devouring.
And then Indra uses his mace and throws it. And when he throws the mace, Uttarasur is so sharp that he catches the mace before it hits him. And it holds it and turns it around and throws it at Indra.
And that goes and hits, not Indra, but Indra’s elephant, Airavat. And Airavat just flies into the air. And Airavat falls a huge distance away and Indra falls down.
His crown has fallen down. His elephant’s teeth are broken. You are thinking, how do you fight with such a person? How do you fight with such a person? So to give a more contemporary example, suppose there is a champion leg spin baller.
And he gets anybody, you know, just bowls such a googly, gets the player out. And he bowls a googly and the batsman hits a googly for a sixer. What should I do now? It’s my best weapon.
So Indra is just, he feels so ashamed of himself, so disheartened, just standing there. So at that time, what does Uttarasur do? Uttarasur tells Indra, come on, fight. Come on, get up and fight.
At that time, he starts speaking deep philosophy. He says, ultimately, we are all servants of the Lord. And therefore, we are all meant to do our parts in the service of the Lord.
And just do your part. The victory or failure are never sure. From a winning point we may lose, from a losing point we may win.
But all that is in our hands is fighting. And as an example for that, he gives his own example. And he says, just see, your own enemy is nirjitam.
He says, I have practically defeated now. He says, that my arm as well as the weapon has been cut off. And therefore, still, therefore, I should be disheartened.
But no, I am still with all my effort. I am trying to defeat you. So normally, when one friend is discouraged, you may encourage him, come on, I am also tired, but I am fighting, you also fight.
But if your enemy is discouraged, you will be happy, you don’t want to encourage your enemy. Come on, kill me. What is this? So why is Uttarasur doing like this? Actually, there is a material way of looking at things and there is a spiritual way of looking at things.
And sometimes the material and spiritual go in parallel, and sometimes the material and spiritual go entirely opposite. So at the material level, what Uttarasur is doing is stupid and suicidal. Your enemy is discouraged, save your life and come back and attack him again.
You can save your life now. Apart from the spiritual level, he’s spoken in the previous verses, oh, my dear Lord, I just long to be with you. He says, just as a अजात्पक्षयमातरंख्रगान् सन्नम्यतावत्सतरक्षुदार्था प्रियंप्यैवविषितन्मिशिन्ना मनोऽर्विन्दाक्षदिद्रुक्षतेत्वान् So he says that just as a अजात्पक्षयमातरंख्रगान् सन्मियताविषितन्मिशिन्ना प्रियंप्यैवविषितन्मिशिन्ना प्रियंप्यैवविषितन्मिशिन्ना प्रियंप्यैवविषितन्मिशिन्ना प्रियंप्यैवविषितन्मिशिन्ना प्रियंप्यैवविषितन्मिशिन्ना प्रियंप्यैवविषितन्मिशिन्ना प्रियंप्यैवविषितन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिश प्रियंप्यैविषितन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिशिन्मिश This is the opportunity for me to get liberated.
So for us, when we start practising bhakti, bhakti is not a mechanical process. It is a process of conscious continuous cultivation. The essence of bhakti is conscious continuous cultivation.
What cultivation of what? Cultivation of a spiritual way of looking at things. Cultivation of a spiritual way of doing things. And it is a cultivation means it has to be done consciously and continuously.
Just like if we are cultivating a garden, then we have to water the plants of the garden. And if we keep watering the plants, then they will grow. That is continuous cultivation.
It is not that one day I water, I put a flood in the garden and seven days I don’t look at it. Continuously it has to be done. And also consciously.
Consciously means that inside our heart there are devotional desires, but there are many other desires also. So which desire we are nourishing, we don’t know. Sometimes we may be doing service.
I want to preach about Krishna. Preaching is very good. But if I am preaching about Krishna, if I am thinking I want to prove to the world how famous I am, how popular I am, how clever I am.
Then actually I am not really nourishing my bhakti, I am nourishing my ego. Of course I am doing service to Krishna, but the purification will be very gradual. So conscious.
Conscious continuous cultivation. And this choice becomes very apparent for us when we face difficulties. So difficulties means that we had a particular plan to do something and suddenly things go wrong.
And quite often the mind’s tendency at that time is to blame Krishna. Or at least to question Krishna. I am doing so much bhakti, why is Krishna doing this to me? Why is Krishna not doing anything to help me? Maturity is something which is not very easily achieved.
We all become physically, we all physically grow up. But to emotionally and spiritually grow up again requires conscious effort. What is the meaning of maturity? Maturity simply means to understand that no one is obliged to fulfil our needs.
Maturity means to understand that no one is obliged to fulfil our needs. Let me explain. When the baby is small, the baby starts crying.
And the baby expects that the world should come and feed her or him. And the baby cries and the mother comes running. Mother is not there, some nanny is there, some babysitter is there, somebody else is there to take care.
So when the baby grows up, all that I have to do is cry and it is the world’s responsibility to fulfil my needs. The baby expects, the baby demands. But then as the baby grows up, he becomes a child, a youth and then becomes an adult.
Now adult may also feel hungry, but if the adult starts crying, people may come and feed, people may not come and feed. The adult understands that if I am hungry, it is my need, I have to arrange to fulfil it. I may have to earn a living or I have to go to some friend who can provide me some help.
I have to go somewhere where I can get my needs fulfilled. So it is not that the need will not be fulfilled. But fulfilling the need is not the world’s responsibility.
Fulfilling my need is my responsibility. This understanding that no one is obliged to fulfil my needs, this understanding is the defining characteristic of adulthood. As long as we think the world is obliged to provide me things, to that extent we are still in infancy or childhood.
Infancy or childhood we cry, I want this toy. And we don’t do anything, we just keep crying, the mother provides the toy. The mother or father provides the toy.
So many, this is a big problem in the western world, many kids grow up with what is called the entitlement mentality. Entitlement mentality means they think, I am entitled to get this. No, I have to provide this to me.
There is a documentary, one devotee who is into parenting showed me, they are comparing children in America and children in Africa. He said there is Africa in the desert, there was this 10 year old girl, people were going on a safari. And she also went on the safari, the villagers, her family was not there, but others were going and she also went with them.
And the safari was camping at various places and wherever the safari camped, everybody started dispersing, started doing various things. And this girl herself found some course to do. Fold this clothes, arrange this over there, clean this clothes, do this, do that.
Nobody told her to do it, but she found a way to make herself useful. On the other hand, they showed 10 year old kids in America. They were taken to a picnic in a 5 star hotel or a 5 star resort.
And while they were in the 5 star resort, they intentionally arranged for the power to go off. And these kids were playing video games, they were in a beautiful natural setting, whereas this girl was in a desert, Africa is a desert, very barren country. These kids were in a beautiful resort setting, greenery all around, swimming pool.
But the moment their video game, the power went off, and they couldn’t play the video game, they threw up such a tantrum, yelling, screaming, crying. And eventually, they started hitting the attendants, get this, get this. One of them picked up the video game and flung it and broke it.
So now, what happened over here? The kids are the same age and materially speaking, these kids, the girl in Africa, she is having nothing. But the difference is of the entitlement mentality. Entitlement mentality means, I am entitled for this comfort, I am entitled for this enjoyment.
Whereas that girl in Africa, she grew up in a poor family, no entitlement mentality. In life, when we work in any relationship with anyone, there are two aspects of the relationship. There is expectation and there is contribution.
We expect something from someone and we contribute something to someone. Now if we consider in infancy, there is only expectation and no contribution. I cry, my mother will come and feed me.
I demand for this toy, my parents will provide me the toy. But as we grow up, we start understanding that my contribution needs to increase. And my expectation needs to decrease.
In fact, if we grow adult and our parents grow old, then the parents may not contribute anything. But it is for, we can’t expect much from them, rather we have to contribute to them. When this understanding, so maturity means that we decrease our expectation from others and increase our contribution to others.
So to the extent we do this, to that extent we will stay peaceful and purposeful. Peaceful means, our mind, if we are expecting too much from others, we don’t get it. If we are expecting too much from life, from the world, from God, we don’t get it, we will be frustrated.
Now, this dynamic which I talked about with the parents, the parents, children have expectation from the parents and they demand almost that the expectation be fulfilled. But as the child grows, now there is a finite way in which they recognise that actually my parents are also limited beings. I want this, a child may say I want a toy, the parents may give a toy.
But the child grows up into a young man, he says I want this girl. The parents don’t have the power to provide a girl like that. The child has to, the adult has to become mature, responsible and then they might be provided that.
They might be able to get that. So what happens, because the person, because the person is expecting so much, they get frustrated. Sorry, with respect to parents, we understand our parents are all limited.
So I can’t expect so much from them. But with respect to Krishna, we start thinking Krishna is unlimited. Krishna is all powerful.
So Krishna can do whatever he wants. So then why is Krishna not doing it? So sometimes Krishna’s infinitude can make us have infinite expectations from him. So sometimes we start thinking that this world, yes, this world is a place of dukkha, but I am a devotee, I should not get any dukkha.
It is dukkhalayam, but no, for a devotee there is not any dukkha. Yes, that’s true. But the devotees are also in this world.
What defines a devotee is not that distress does not come at the physical level or the mental level. It is that the devotee transcends the physical and the mental level by absorption in Krishna. So, if it’s cold, it’s going to be cold for everyone, whether you are a devotee or non-devotee.
If it’s going to be hot, it’s going to be hot for everyone. But some people, they don’t talk anything except about the weather. Oh, today the day is so bad, today it’s so hot, today it’s so cold.
Okay, it’s called war with life now. What can you do about it? So, there are certain things which are just not going to change. They are the nature of the world.
But sometimes we expect unrealistically from Krishna that there should not be problems in our life. I was in Canada about a month ago. And there, there is a devotee who is a psychotherapist.
And he told me that he had been practising psychotherapy for many years at an individual counselling level. And now, he has started group psychotherapy. So, I asked him, you know, who would want to come in a group and tell everyone their problems? He said, no, we have a vow of confidentiality that nobody should tell anything in the circle.
The big advantage of having group psychotherapy is that when everybody hears others’ problems, they start feeling, my problem is not that bad. See, the mind, whenever we get problems, the mind makes us think, no one has problems like you have. You are suffering so much.
And that is what makes us very miserable. I just gave a class before this on the mental health problems in today’s world. What has happened? Why are mental health problems so much in today’s world? Many reasons.
One reason is that actually many people have a false expectation about the nature of life in this world. Because of technology, because of the media, because of the movies, we think that the world is a happy place. That things are going to be wonderful.
And then when things don’t turn out to be wonderful, we have grown with this entitlement. Life is going to be great, but it doesn’t turn out to be great. Then the movies still keep showing on how things are wonderful.
People outside are still smiling. People are going on with their life. So we start thinking, I alone am suffering.
Everybody is happy, I am suffering. Why am I so unfortunate? So this devotee told me that after one very good psychotherapy session, everybody spoke their heart. He said, I did an exercise.
I asked everyone, if every one of you could take out your problems and put them on the table. Would any of you want to exchange anyone’s problems? Nobody said. Now my problems are okay.
So, actually in this world, everybody has problems. And as devotees, if we start expecting that devotion will act as an insurance from problems, then that is an unrealistic expectation. But what we can expect is that even amidst problems, if we take shelter of Krishna, then we can get relief from problems.
So I talked about how there are two tracks of reality. There is a material reality and there is a spiritual reality. And even if we are practising bhakti, there is no guarantee that our thoughts are going on the spiritual track.
Our thoughts may still go on the material track. And even when we are doing some service to Krishna, we may start thinking, I work so hard, but nobody appreciates me. That devotee does such little service and so much praise comes to them.
So, there are so many ways in which even in devotee circle, our mind may take us on the material track. See, when I speak, so many people listen to me. If I come to a temple, I look not at the deities to offer obeisances, I look at how many of my juniors are offering obeisances to me.
So, I am coming to a spiritual place, but my mind is in material consciousness. I am going in front of the deities and offering obeisances, and my mind is thinking, why didn’t this person offer obeisances to me? What has happened? The mind is still in material track. That’s why I said bhakti is conscious continuous cultivation.
Our consciousness will go on the material track, get it on the spiritual track. Go on the material track, get it on the spiritual track. On the spiritual track means what? That a devotee learns to see life spiritually.
Life spiritually means what? When we face problems in life, one response with material consciousness could be, material track response is, why is this happening to me? Why is Krishna not doing something about it? On the spiritual track, the response will be, see, scripture had told, this world is a place of distress. Now, I am experiencing distress. Therefore, what Krishna has said in scripture is true.
So, the same distress, which could have made us resent Krishna, can deepen our faith in Krishna. What Krishna has said is true. But that doesn’t mean, of course, this world is a place of sorrow, so stay sad.
That is not the mood of scripture. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna, this world is a place of sorrow. At the start of the Gita, Arjuna is sad.
He is crying with tears in his eyes. Now, Krishna doesn’t tell Arjuna, this world is a place of sorrow, you are sad, stay sad now. No, that is not the point.
Krishna gives him the spiritual wisdom by which Arjuna regains his composure. In 18.73 he says, He says, my mind has become calm, I have become composed. So, what this means is, that Krishna is also providing Arjuna the process by which to become calm even amidst life’s storm.
Life will give us storms. But if our consciousness is fixed on Krishna, we can experience calm. An example to illustrate this, say outside it is very hot, and we are feeling tormented by the heat.
And here there is a room, in which there is air-conditioning. If we come inside the room, we will experience relief. But if we stay outside the room, the heat will torment us.
Similarly, you could say, outside the room is material consciousness. Inside the room is Krishna consciousness. Whatever be the situation we are in, if we just become conscious of Krishna, then we will feel peaceful.
We will feel calm, we will feel some relief. So, whatever be the problem, first let me just chant Hare Krishna. Let me try to hear about Krishna.
Let me try to speak about Krishna. Let me try to read about Krishna, something. Let me pray to Krishna’s deities.
Become conscious of Krishna. Then we will get some relief. We will get some calmness.
Unfortunately, what we do is that we come to the air-conditioned room, and we open the door, and we demand that the world become air-conditioned. What does that mean? That means we have problems, and Krishna can give us relief from the problems. We come to Krishna, but instead of becoming conscious of Krishna, we remain conscious of our problems even in the presence of Krishna.
That means we come to Krishna, and we say, when are you going to solve this problem? Yes, problems will come, problems will go. When I do this workshop for gratitude, I did one in London recently. So, we have some exercises that we do.
So, one exercise is, we don’t have time for it now, but maybe if you want, you can do it later. Now, look back at the last 15 years of your life, as much as you can remember, and think in every three years ago, what was the biggest problem in your life? Three years ago, maybe, you are going to get admission in engineering, and you have a 12th exam. Three years before that, maybe your favourite toy had broken down.
Three years before that, something. Now, just look at our life, or even one year before, and look at what was the biggest problem at that time. You know, at that time, that problem would have seemed overwhelming, if I had given you a 12th exam.
If I don’t pass in this, my whole life will crumble apart. But that problem, now if you look back at how worried you were you don’t need to be so worried. So, you have survived that problem.
When problems come, the mind catastrophises the problem. Catastrophises means, everything is going to fall apart, if this problem stays. But, things go on.
When the mind catastrophises problems, let the intelligence contextualise the problem. Contextualise means, see in context, see in perspective. This world is a place of distress, problems come, problems go.
No need to get so worked up about it. And Krishna will help us to deal with the problem. So, if we can just get our consciousness on the spiritual track, then whatever problems come, we will be able to deal with them much better.
But if our consciousness stays on the material track, then our devotion will start seeming pointless to us. I am doing so much seva, I am doing so much chanting, why is Krishna not helping me? Krishna’s help is not just in solving the external problem. Krishna’s help is also in changing our internal consciousness.
That is his primary help. So, if we seek that help, Krishna, how can I be conscious of you? Krishna, how can I serve you? I am your servant. Please guide me, how can I serve you? If you have that mood, then Krishna will show us the way.
I will conclude with one point, last point. Prabhupada says in a lecture, how do we know whether we are Krishna conscious? You could define Krishna conscious in many different ways. Always chant Hare Krishna.
Think of Krishna’s pastimes in Vrindavan. Think of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, whatever. Prabhupada says, when you come to a temple and you look at the deities, and if you feel that Krishna is asking you, what are you doing for me? If you feel Krishna asking you, what are you doing for me? Then, you are Krishna conscious.
So, our defining relationship with Krishna, our eternal identity is an identity of service. If we feel, Krishna, how can I serve you? If that is what will keep us always focused, that will keep us on the spiritual track. Most people come to the temple and ask Krishna, what are you doing for me? This is, what am I doing for you? So, this is, if we have this mentality of entitlement, now I am a devotee, now I should not have any problems.
If I have too much expectation from Krishna, then, even in devotion, you will experience frustration. But if you focus, devotion means not so much expectation from Krishna, but contribution to Krishna. Krishna, how can I serve you in this situation? Just that attitude of service will actually empower us.
Because, if we want to enjoy in the world, if we want some success in the world, that depends on so many conditions which are not in our control. But if I want to serve, in any situation I can serve. So, in that sense, the service attitude is empowering.
I got this big problem, but I am a servant of Krishna. As a servant of Krishna, what can I do? If I chant Hare Krishna, my mind becomes calm. You know, in this situation, I can take this one step forward.
Take one step forward. Sometimes we make a bold plan of our life and suddenly everything seems to be disrupted. So, it’s like the road ahead is lit and suddenly power goes off.
So, when power goes off, some of us may curse, some of us may rant. But then, afterwards, we take our phone out, turn on the flashlight. It may not replace the street light, but the flashlight can show us one step ahead.
And when we take that one step, the flashlight shows us again the next step ahead. And again the next step ahead. So, similarly, for us, sometimes we may have a plan in our life and life’s adversity is we just turn off the street lights.
So, at that time, our service attitude is our flashlight. So, Krishna, how can I serve you now? How? One step forward. How can I serve you now? One step forward.
So, if we just keep taking one step forward, one step forward, we will find that we will cover a significant distance and eventually the lights will come back. Eventually, Krishna will reveal his plan for us which was actually better than our plan for ourselves. So, Vritrasura had that vision to see Krishna’s plan that although he was dying a painful death at the hands of Indra, of Indra, he was seeing that he is getting liberated from this demoniac body-metal existence.
He is going to Krishna’s abode. And that’s why he was, he was, come on Indra, kill me. Because he was not on the material track of his consciousness at all.
So, by hearing past times like this and by trying to ourselves consciously, continuously cultivate bhakti, we can also get our consciousness on the spiritual track. And then we will see Krishna’s grace, Krishna’s mercy, Krishna’s love of flooding our life and guiding us through all the problems of life towards the eternal security of his unending love. I’ll summarise.
I spoke today about how when life gives us, when life hurts us, we don’t have to let the mind hurt us more. I talked about how Vritrasura is about to die and yet he is telling Indra, come on, fight. He gives his own example.
He says, I am fighting, you also fight. So, I talked about how some devotees get, we get cancer diagnosis, it will be devastating. And especially if it’s terminal cancer, it’s totally shattering.
At that time, the mental wreckage hurts much more than the physical wreckage. So, how do we avoid that? Talked about how this, we have two tracks of consciousness. The material track and the spiritual track.
And what keeps our consciousness on the material track is the entitlement mentality. I talked about how kids in Africa, even in difficulty in a desert, just think of some course to know, contribute. Kids in America, in a retreat, in beautiful greenery, beautiful natural setting, just because one power goes off, the video game stops working, just throw off huge triangles.
So, maturity means, to understand that no one is obliged to fulfil our needs. Fulfilling our needs is our responsibility. A baby cries and demands the world to fulfil its needs.
But we, as we grow up, we understand crying is not of use. We have to work to fulfil our needs. So, just as children expect a lot from parents and contribute very little, but as they grow up, their contribution increases, their expectation decreases.
Similar dynamic has to apply to our relationship with Krishna. But because Krishna is infinite, so we have infinite expectations from Krishna. And we think Krishna can solve any problem in a moment.
Why is he not doing it? And if we come with this entitlement mentality towards bhakti, then our bhakti will get choked. Because we will feel Krishna is not doing anything for us. So, Krishna is doing for us.
But what is he doing? He is actually helping us to raise our consciousness above the material level. This world is a place of distress for everyone, devotees and non-devotees. The mind increases our misery by making us think that we alone are suffering.
But everyone is distressed. I talk about the devotee psychotherapist doing group psychotherapy. So, for us, when problems come, if we think this is a confirmation of what Krishna has taught in scripture, then this world is a place of distress.
When problems coming, we can increase our faith. And then, just as Krishna provided solace to Arjuna, by giving him the path to spiritual consciousness, then we can say, just as Krishna helped Arjuna overcome his misery, I can also overcome my misery if I become conscious of him. So, it is our need to get relief from distress.
But if we demand Krishna change the nature of the world, it’s like we have the entry to the AC room, but we demand that the whole world be made AC. So, getting our need fulfilled, that I want to be relieved from heat, that is not the world’s responsibility to become air-conditioned. It is my need, so I have to go to a room which is air-conditioned.
Similarly, when the world is giving us problems, it is our responsibility to become conscious of Krishna and that’s how we will become renewed from problems. So, the problem may still be there, but at least our mind’s reactions will not worsen the problem. When you come to Krishna, better be conscious of Krishna, not conscious of problems.
And through that, we focus in our relationship with Krishna more on contribution rather than expectation. Not demand from Krishna, what are you doing for me? But ask, what can I do for Krishna? So, when life becomes dark around us, our service attitude can become a flashlight which will show us one step ahead, one step ahead, one step ahead. And in that way, even through the darkest of life’s problems, we will be able to go through and grow through in our devotion to Krishna.
Thank you very much. So, I have been discussing some difficult verses from the Bhagavad Gita