Krishna has faith in our potential – let’s have faith in his potency

[Congregation program at ISKCON, Portand, USA]

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna.
Thank you for coming today evening. And I’ll speak on Bhagavad Gita 18.58. I’ll speak on the topic of, we often talk about how we need to have faith in Krishna. But I’ll talk about how Krishna has faith in our potential.
So let us have faith in His potency. Krishna has faith in our potential. Let us have faith in His potency.
So 18.58 in the Bhagavad Gita states, mat-cittaḥ sarva-durgāṇi mat-prasādāt tariśyasi ata-ceta-mahāṅkārāṇa śoṣyasi vināṁśyasi Krishna says, mat-cittaḥ. If you become conscious of Me, sarva-durgāṇi, all obstacles, mat-prasādāt tariśyasi. By My grace, you will be able to cross over them.
ata-ceta-mahāṅkārāṇa, if out of ego however, śoṣyasi, you do not hear Me, vināṁśyasi, you will be lost. So Krishna is telling very clearly here, the benefit of becoming conscious of Him. The relationship between us and Krishna is eternal.
At the same time, it is not eternally realised. Krishna is always present in our heart. He is in the heart of each one of us.
But just because Krishna is in our heart, does not mean that He is in our consciousness. Our conscious awareness goes towards many things. Say right now, in this room, there are so many things.
But we may not be conscious of those things. There may be people also over here. We meet, we just glance at people, we greet them if we know them.
But sometimes there may be someone who may not even notice. So our conscious awareness is like our energy. It is like a light.
Just as the sun gives light to the whole universe. Similarly the consciousness is illuminated. Consciousness illuminates for us so that we can observe and act.
But what we are conscious of is up to us. And we may come to a temple, but if we are coming to the temple, and say we have had some negative interaction with some devotee, and we are very tense or angry or upset with that devotee, and then we may come to the temple, but we may not be conscious of that Krishna is present in the temple, we may be thinking, oh, is this person going to be there? That person is there, then we will feel so tense. We will feel annoyed.
So we will be more conscious of that person than of Krishna also. So basically where our consciousness goes, it is determined by our attachment and our aversion. Raag and Gratia.
So for example, some child likes Lego toys. As soon as they come to some home, the first thing they look, are there any toys over here? There are many other things in the house, just look first at the toys. What can I play with? So that’s what they are attached to, that’s what they will look at.
So our consciousness, so if we consider consciousness to be like a torch, it’s like a torch is giving light, a torch we focus on different things at different times. If I want to look at you, it’s dark, I’ll take the torch and focus on you, who is this person who is here? I’ll try to identify them. Now similarly for us, our consciousness is like a torch.
And we are meant to focus it on those things that will help us concentrate. But this torch, suppose we are having a torch with us, and suppose somebody else is also there with us, you have a torch, but there is a friend with you, and that friend keeps shaking your hands. So the friend shakes the hands, you are trying to look here, but the friend moves the hand here, and you suddenly see things over there, you can’t see what you want to see.
And then you want to see in this direction, and you move the hand in that direction, but that friend comes and shakes the hand. So basically, if it’s our torch, but if the torch is not in our control, then we will not be able to see things properly. So our consciousness is like our torch, and it is meant to be under our control, we direct it, this is what I want to be conscious of.
But in between us and this torch, it’s like our consciousness is our mind. And the mind keeps shaking our consciousness, keeps shaking our focus. So you want to think about one thing, you want to focus on one thing, but suddenly our thought comes up, our consciousness goes in that direction.
So we might be, say, studying Shastra, and suddenly I had to do this work. When I came home, did I lock the car properly or not? If I did not lock the car, then what? I had to go and check it immediately. So what happens is, we may get distracted because this mind keeps popping up many, many thoughts within us.
So now, when especially we want to do something which requires attention, which is difficult, which requires concentration, sustained concentration, say, I want to study for a difficult exam, that requires focus in a sustained way. And at that time, that focus can become very difficult because the mind will be restless. And what does the mind do when it is restless? At least with respect to a torch.
The torch, we know, okay, somebody is here, but my torch has gone in this direction, so I can’t see properly. But I know somebody is here. But with respect to the mind, it doesn’t just shake our consciousness, get it disfocused, but also distorts our vision.
It also makes us believe things which are not for real. That means, whenever we try to do something new, I remember first time, maybe 30 years ago or something, I gave my first public talk. It was even before I was introduced to Krishna Consciousness.
I was in school, college at that time. So when I gave that, I went on the stage and started speaking. I had a full talk rehearsed, memorised, everything prepared.
But as soon as I went on the stage, it was almost as if something spoke to me. And I could hear that voice louder than the voice of the people around me. You are going to make a mess of yourself.
You are going to make a fool of yourself. And then, such a real voice, where did this voice come from? I started to neglect it and I continued speaking. But then, what happens for me in general is that if I am not prepared very well for a talk, I tend to speak fast.
And so I started speaking, and I started speaking fast. From my childhood, I used to like English. So my English was, I used to use such words that people don’t use.
Commonly. So what happens, when I start speaking fast, and I start using unusual words, so people start becoming restless. They can’t understand what is going on.
It’s like, suppose you get into a car, and then before we can even put on the seatbelt, suddenly the car starts moving at 80. Hey, what happened? So I just got on the stage, and started speaking like a super fast express. And then, as people started getting distracted, I started thinking, why are people not paying attention? And I started speaking faster.
And it was, I was supposed to speak for 7 minutes, and I finished my talk in 3 minutes. So, that was a time when it struck me, what was this voice? I was fully prepared, and I had rehearsed also many times. But, you are going to make a fool of yourself.
Hey, what is this voice? Where did this voice come from? So, I never understood. I knew there was something within us, which works against us. But what is that? Then, many years later, when I read the Bhagavad Gita, then I understood, whose voice is this? Consciousness? Yes.
The mind, yes. It is the mind’s voice. The mind always keeps distracting us, discouraging us, diverting us.
And, in this way, the mind works against our best interests. The mind, often, it can work in two ways. Sometimes, it makes us more confident than we need to be.
It can make us overconfident, or it can make us diffident. Overconfident means, say, somebody doesn’t know driving at all. They say, no problem, I can drive.
And, somebody has never driven a car, they say, I’ll get in the car and drive. I’ve seen many people drive, no problem. And, take a car and start driving, lead to disaster.
So, the mind can, sometimes, make us more confident than we should be. But, sometimes, the mind can make us less confident than what we need to be, also. And, especially when we are doing something challenging, if we try it once, twice, it doesn’t work, it won’t happen.
We just give it up. So, I was talking with one person. He had been practising bhakti earlier.
And, now, he had given up the practise of bhakti. So, we were friends earlier. I asked him, what happened? He said, have you given up the practise of bhakti? I said, no, I’ve not given it up.
I’ve only postponed it to my next lifetime. So, I asked him, why did you postpone it to the next lifetime? So, he said, actually, when I try to chant Hare Krishna, my mind wanders everywhere. I feel those two hours of chanting, I am simply wasting my time.
So, I felt that, maybe I can use that time constructively. I’ll do some punya in this lifetime. Next lifetime, my mind will be more controlled.
Then, I’ll practise bhakti. So, I was saying that, you are not chanting, because you are saying that your mind is not controlled. He said, yes.
But then, when you give up your chanting, what are you doing? No, I am just giving up chanting. He said, no. He said, when you are giving up chanting, you are actually further giving yourself to the control of the mind.
It is your mind which is telling you, don’t chant. Isn’t it? So, if we want to control the mind, if we give further control to the mind, how are we going to control the mind? It is, for us, we have to have that inner tussle. It is required.
If you want to do anything constructive. So, by giving control to someone, we are never going to get control. If say, if somebody is riding a horse, and that horse is very wild, and trying to control the horse, rein in the horse and get it to move in the right direction, and horse is very forceful and is just moving off in the wrong direction, and if somebody says, okay, now the horse is wild, I’ll just let the horse go where it wants, then afterwards I’ll control it.
And for all the journey, when you let the horse go, it can go anywhere. It can go anywhere. The nature of the mind is, that it will always keep us dissatisfied.
It will always keep us dissatisfied. No matter what we do. If you are practising spiritual life, the mind will say, this spiritual life is very difficult.
Don’t do this. Then you start getting materialistic, the mind will say, you’re being too materialistic. Don’t do this.
What should I do? The mind will say, try this out, try this out, try this out. And then eventually, whatever we do, the mind will keep us dissatisfied. What do you want me to do? If we ask the mind, I only want one thing.
I want to keep you dissatisfied. I want to keep you dissatisfied. The mind is such a thing, even if we go to paradise, where everything is wonderful, the mind will say, yes, but, so whatever happens in our life, the mind will keep us always dissatisfied.
That’s why, if we keep listening to our mind, if the horse is out of control, then we have to fight to get the horse in control. If we let the horse go further out of control, then the horse gets the habit of being in control. And the more the horse gets the habit of being in control, the less it will ever come under control.
So, of course, we want to work with the horse. We don’t want to control the horse so much, we don’t want to beat the horse to death. We want to work with the horse.
So the horse has energy, and energy needs to be directed constructively. So with respect to the mind, the mind is like the horse. If it’s a long distance, we have to go and we don’t have any other transportation, the horse is what we need to use.
So we need to properly manage the horse so that we can get to the destination. Similarly, with respect to our practise of spiritual life, or our doing anything in life, actually the mind is a vital tool. Because we perceive the world through the mind.
But, if the mind gets distorted, if the mind distorts our perception, then we can’t see things properly, we can’t act properly. So that means, we need the mind, but we don’t need to be controlled by the mind. We need to work with the mind.
So when a rider is riding a horse, the rider doesn’t work, rider doesn’t go where the horse wants to go, the rider doesn’t either go against where the horse wants to go. The rider goes where they want to go. So we don’t work for the mind, we don’t work against the mind.
We work with the mind for Krishna. Work for the mind means, whatever the mind says, do this, do this, do this, do this, we start doing that. Work against the mind means, the mind says, do this, I’ll exactly do the opposite.
That will be torture. We can’t keep doing things that we dislike. But the problem with doing the things that we like only all the time is that when we keep doing, if we keep doing whatever we like, we end up disliking ourselves.
If we keep doing whatever we like, we end up disliking ourselves. Suppose with respect to food, somebody keeps eating whatever food they like. Then eventually, what will happen is that their health will get spoiled and they will become very obese.
And then they’ll say, what is this? I have no control. Why am I like this? You’ll dislike yourself. If we are sitting and reading something on a computer.
But then the man says, come on, read this. This news looks interesting. And then we read one news.
Whenever you read one article, there are 10 other links of related content. And you read that. Then there’s one video over there.
You go to the video. And as soon as you see one video, there are 10 or 15 or 20 other videos over there. And if we keep clicking whatever we like, 10, 4, 5, 6 hours may go.
What a fool I am. I wasted my time. So in general, if we keep doing whatever we like, we end up disliking ourselves.
Many people nowadays face self-esteem issues. And they face self-esteem issues not so much because they don’t have abilities. It is.
It is not that they don’t have talent, but actually from talent to achievement. The journey from talent to achievement requires commitment. Even if somebody has great talent, unless they’re disciplined, they’re committed, they cannot go from, the talent won’t translate into achievement.
So what happens when we keep doing whatever the mind likes? Then there is no commitment to anything. And because there is no commitment, then there is no achievement. And if there is no achievement, then the person starts feeling, I am worthless.
I am good for nothing. Arjuna became a top archer because, not just because he was talented. Yes, he was phenomenally talented.
But also he was phenomenally committed. All day, you’d hear attentively whenever Drona would be teaching anything. And then, all night practically, he would be practising those archery skills.
So, by being talented and by being committed, he became an achievement. But, when we keep doing whatever our mind tells us to do, we end up disliking ourselves. Now sometimes, we may also understand, why am I so restless? Why am I so restless? 1, 2, 3, 4. Nowadays, with gadgets so much available, many kids especially have this attention deficiency.
So, attention just goes from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. It just goes so restless. Our attention is like a bird sitting on the perch of a branch. The smallest noise, and the bird flies away.
So, at one moment, the bird is there, and we just look somewhere. The bird is gone. So, like that, at one moment, we say, we are sitting here attending a class, trying to understand.
Next moment, our mind may have gone to the other side of the world also. Just be in India. So, our attention is like a bird sitting restlessly on a perch, about to fly away at any moment.
So, this attention gets distracted by the mind. And how do we get it to focus? That requires commitment. So, this is where our faith in Krishna is important, because Krishna has faith in us.
Many of us, we feel, I tried to discipline my mind, I tried to commit myself to do things, but it never worked out. Therefore, I just give up. I won’t be able to do anything.
I just give up. But instead of giving up, no, instead of giving up, we need to look up. Look up means look towards Krishna.
What is looking towards Krishna means? Say, suppose somebody wants to become a, some young person wants to become a cricketer. Now, they are dreaming that I want to become the next Sachin Tendulkar or the next Virat Kohli. Now, thousands and thousands of players may be aspiring cricketers.
But at that time, very few are actually going to become top cricketers. In between that journey of everybody who is trying to achieve something special gets doubts. Will I be able to do it? Will I not be able to do it? But if while they are trying to play cricket and become a good cricketer, at that time there is some special coach.
And then that coach tells, You have got talent. You can become a great cricketer. Then just that gives so much encouragement to the person.
The aspiring cricketer, Oh, this coach said that I have good potential. Almost all people, all sports players who have been phenomenally successful, there have been at least one person in their life who had faith in them. Yes, you can be an achiever.
Actually, at a conscious as well as subconscious level, we are affected by others. If we tell a person that they can be better than what they are, they will become better. Not just by telling, but if you encourage them, inspire them, they will become better.
But if we keep telling them, they are good for nothing. If, then that’s how they will stay. Of course, the mind can work in the opposite way also.
If we keep encouraging someone and the person becomes complacent, I am already good. I don’t have to do anything. That’s not good.
And then the mind can work. Somebody tells you, you are good for nothing. How dare you call me good for nothing.
I will show you how good I am. The mind can work in different ways also. But in general, we need someone who has faith in us.
So, actually, around us there are different people. Some may encourage us, some may discourage us. But beyond them all is Krishna.
And Krishna has faith in our potential. How do we know that? That we know from the fact that Krishna never gives up on us. Krishna is always there in our hearts.
He never abandons us. And because He never abandons us, that’s how we can know that why would He stay with us if He did not have faith that we could do something wonderful. We could become someone wonderful.
We can grow, we can contribute, we can advance. Krishna ultimately wants us to come to Him. But even along the journey, Krishna wants us to do wonderful things.
Krishna has given us some talents and He wants us to use those talents in His service in various ways. So, Krishna has faith in our potential. Now, what is the potential referred to? It can refer to some talents which we have.
It can also refer to the commitment that we need to show by which the talent will become achievement. This can apply in our spiritual life also. Say, I want to study Shastra.
Now, yes, I have the talent, I can study, I understand concepts, I analyse. But then, for me, we hear some inspiring class and say, okay, I am going to study Shastra. And for one week we study.
And after one week, then something comes up and we are not able to study for one day. That one day becomes two days. Two days become three days.
And one month I must open Shastra also. And again, what happened? Again we may start after some time. So, actually sometimes we feel I will never be able to do this.
But that feeling is coming from the mind. And if we look at Krishna, instead of looking at the mind, suppose there are two boxers who are fighting. And as the two boxers are fighting, suddenly one boxer just gives a punch.
And as the boxer gives a punch, boxer falls down. The other boxer has fallen down. Now, when the other boxer has fallen down, at that time, it is quite discouraging to be knocked down.
He is knocked down, not knocked out. But when he is knocked down, at that time, this boxer looks at the opposite boxer and says, you knocked me down. Will I be able to fight and win against you? Now, if this boxer asks the opposite boxer only, what does the other boxer say? Never.
Give up right now. I have defeated you. If this boxer wants to fight, the boxer should not look at the opponent.
The boxer should look at whom? At the coach. He says, come on, you can do it. Do this, do this.
The coach will guide you. So, when we are discouraged, we have to look at those who will encourage us. Not at those who are going to discourage us.
So, unfortunately for us, it is the mind which distracts us and the mind which discourages us, the mind which diverts us and then we ask the mind only. Will I be able to concentrate ever? Never. The mind is like that.
But instead of looking at the mind, we look at Krishna. Sometimes we think that practising bhakti means I have to do this, this, this, this, this. If I can do this, this, this, I chant this many rounds, I do come to the temple, I do this worship, I take this prasad.
If I am doing this, I am practising bhakti. Yes, that is true, there are certain external activities which are there in bhakti. But bhakti is much more than that.
It’s actually an attitude. So, if we can’t succeed in Krishna consciousness, then we can still fail in Krishna consciousness. Not fail out of Krishna consciousness.
What does it mean fail in Krishna consciousness and fail out of Krishna consciousness? Fail in Krishna consciousness means we may decide to do something. Ok, I want to study the Bhagavatam now. And we just start studying for a few days and we can’t study.
At that time, fail out of Krishna consciousness means think that I’ll never be able to study, I’ll just give it up. But fail in Krishna consciousness means, Krishna, I want to study, I am not able to study. Please help me.
Please help me so that I can manage my time better, I can manage my mind better, so that I can focus. So, if that inability to do something makes us more dependent on Krishna, makes us turn towards Krishna more, then actually that is making us Krishna conscious. The purpose of studying the Bhagavatam is to become conscious of Krishna.
And if inability to study the Bhagavatam also makes us more conscious of Krishna, then actually we are Krishna conscious. Krishna consciousness is not just a set of activities, it is actually a level of consciousness. And if we have that level, then we are growing spiritually.
So, Krishna has faith in our potential. That means even if we are not able to do something, Krishna doesn’t give, doesn’t tell us to go away. Krishna doesn’t abandon us.
Krishna stays with us. So, we need to have faith in his potency. Faith in his potency means that even if my mind is super distracted right now, but Krishna has the capacity to control my mind.
Even if I don’t have, Krishna can help me overcome all my conditionings. Even if I have some external difficulties in my life, Krishna can help me to overcome those difficulties. It is that faith that enables a devotee to move straight towards Krishna.
In the Mahabharata, on the 13th day in the Kurukshetra war, the Pandavas, the Kauravas diabolically conspired together and six of them came together. And they killed one of the foremost Pandava warriors. Who was that? Yes, Abhimanyu.
And that night, when Arjuna came back, he was shocked, he was shattered. And then he was infuriated. When he heard about how six of them had come together to kill him, he said that wicked Jaidrath, since he, the Pandavas had a full plan, Abhimanyu was going to go into the Kaurava ranks, the Sat Chakra Bhiva, and the other Pandavas were going to follow him.
But Jaidrath had blocked him. So, Arjuna felt that it was Jaidrath who was responsible, the prime person for the killing of Abhimanyu. Because he, Jaidrath, cut Abhimanyu off from those who could have assisted him, those who could have protected him.
So, he said that by tomorrow night, by tomorrow sunset, I will kill Jaidrath or I will enter into fire. And when Arjuna took this vow, on the Pandava side, everybody was morose, everybody was shattered. And suddenly, when Arjuna took this vow, everybody became jubilant.
The Pandavas started blowing their conscience in anger, in determination, in a fierce resolve to fight and avenge the death of Abhimanyu. On the other side, the Kauravas were there and they were celebrating. Duryodhana was very happy.
He said, Duryodhana, well done. Abhimanyu was a big thorn in our side. He was saying, maybe tomorrow, set up another Chakravyuha.
I will catch another warrior tomorrow. So, they were planning like this. Suddenly, when the Pandavas blew conscience, they blew so fiercely that the sound went across the battlefield.
Why are the Pandavas blowing their conscience? And they all had spies over there. Pandavas had spies with the Kauravas, Kauravas had spies with the Pandavas. Some of the spies came and told Jayadratha.
And Jayadratha came running over there. And Jayadratha came running, he said that, he was panting, his face was white, his eyes were white, his hair was dishevelled. He said, oh Duryodhana, that evil son of Indra begotten through Kunti has vowed to kill me by tomorrow sunset.
He says, oh guarantee me my protection or I am going right now to the Himalayas to hide. So now, when Duryodhana heard this, he immediately saw an opportunity. He said that, if we can stop Jayadratha from being killed tomorrow, then Arjuna will die.
Arjuna will choose death and he said, don’t worry, we will arrange the whole army to protect you. Jayadratha will never be able to reach you. Isn’t it Drona? Now Drona was thinking that if Arjuna, he was thinking in his mind, Arjuna alone, angry would be difficult to stop.
And he could arrange the army in such a way that he would make it almost impossible for Arjuna to stop. Arjuna to reach Jayadratha. But Arjuna was not alone.
Arjuna was with Krishna. And when he was with Krishna, he said that he knew Jayadratha is as good as dead already. So he said, just to pacify him, he said, oh Jayadratha, we will arrange the whole army to protect you.
Arjuna will find it very difficult to reach you. And he couldn’t resist the bar. Drona said, if he reaches you, Jayadratha said, Trimlik, if he reaches you, actually there is no shame in dying a hero’s death on the battlefield.
So Drona said, no, no, he will never be able to reach you. Don’t worry. On the other side then, what happened, after they all took the blow of the conches and then they made a plan, they decided that, they made some tentative plan, but they knew that everything would depend on how the Kauravas formed their military formation.
They said, tomorrow morning we will observe and then we will decide. Then as Krishna and Arjuna were going to their tents, Krishna told to Arjuna and he said, oh Arjuna, you became impulsive and took a terrible vow. He said, how? Tomorrow it will be very difficult.
Drona will stop you from reaching Jayadratha. So Arjuna was without any fear. Krishna, I cannot understand your anxiety.
He said, you know my power and I know your power. You know my power, I know your power. So then, both Krishna and Arjuna went and they took rest.
And that night, when Krishna was there, Krishna was awake throughout the night. And Arjuna went to sleep. He had a long day of fight.
And Krishna got up and in his mind, he called his charioteer, Daruka. And he told Daruka that, you keep my chariot ready at the outskirts of the battlefield. If Arjuna is not able to reach Jayadratha, then I will get on to my chariot and I will kill Jayadratha.
I will ensure that Arjuna will never die. And Daruka was very touched to see Krishna’s determination to protect Arjuna. And after telling this to Daruka, Krishna felt a little relieved.
And Krishna came back and saw Arjuna was sleeping. And Krishna said to himself, just look at my devotees. You know, they put me in anxiety and they go to sleep.
So, the next day’s fight is a long story. But the next day they started and Arjuna just broke into the Kaurava rank. And he won after another, after another.
Whoever came along the way, Arjuna just overpowered them. And the Pandavas had planned a strategy well so that all the other major Kaurava warriors were engaged with other Pandava warriors. Arjuna just kept going straight, straight, straight, straight inside.
And they were wreaking havoc in the Kaurava camp. And Arjuna was moving inexorably forwards. It’s like sometimes if a tsunami wave comes, in the ocean it doesn’t look like a tsunami.
It just looks like another wave. In the ocean, it just looks like another wave. But when a tsunami actually comes to the coast, when it meets an obstacle, that’s when how big it is, how much water is there in it, how forceful it is, it is revealed.
Otherwise, even if a ship is going along in the ocean and a tsunami is there, the ship will rise a little bit but the ship will come down. The ship will not get swept away. Because the tsunami is, the wave’s force is distributed over the distance.
But when it hits land, at that point, its onwards force is checked at the same time. When it is hitting the landmass, its force rises. So like that, as Arjuna was charging through the Kaurava ranks, the Kauravas were getting tired, they were just not able to fight them.
But Arjuna’s strength seemed to be getting stronger and stronger and stronger. And finally, he could see Jayadrath standing. And he could see behind, the sun was quickly going towards the horizon.
He charged forward at full blast. And Duryodhana was shocked. The sheer ferocity of Arjuna’s attack had left him stunned.
But then he looked at the sun, he had become very disheartened. But he looked at the sun, it was so close to the horizon. So he decided, yesterday I had six warriors attacking me.
Today, I will have eight warriors. And he told Drona and Kripa to come from the front. He told Karna and Chalya to come from one side.
He told Ashwatthama and Vikarna to come from another side. And he told Ashwatthama and Shakuni to come from one side. And he himself, along with Dushasan, attacked Arjuna from another side.
As all of them attacked Arjuna together, Arjuna became overwhelmed. It was like a shower of arrows coming on him from all sides. It was so thick, like a complete dark cloud.
When rains are coming and battering us, that’s bad enough. But the rains are coming through such thick clouds that it becomes completely dark. Then, we are not only being battered by the rain, but we are also blinded by the clouds.
And then we just can’t see or do anything. So at one moment, Arjuna was charging forward. And the next moment, suddenly he found that such a rain of arrows coming towards him, he practically couldn’t see anything.
Arjuna was fighting to his full potential, countering all the arrows with all his energy. But this combined attack was too much even for him to counter. And then, Arjuna started despairing.
So close and yet so far. At that time, Krishna looked at Arjuna. Krishna looked at the arrows coming ahead.
And he realised that Arjuna needs my help. And Krishna decided, Krishna could have immediately called his chariot and Daruka. But he wanted Arjuna to have the credit.
So he wanted Arjuna to actually complete his vow. Not just to get the vow completed. So what he did? He immediately raised his hand.
And while everybody was watching, suddenly the Sudarshan chakra appeared in front of him. But although they were watching, what happened was everybody was caught in the fight. And the fight was so fierce that the arrows were coming here and there.
Nobody noticed Sudarshan was there. Sudarshan appeared on his hands and Krishna hurled it. And Sudarshan raised high into the sky.
And it became like a giant orbiting ball. And it was orbiting and covering the sun so quickly, that everybody felt as if the sun has set. And as soon as the sun has set, So what happens? The Pandavas, the Kauravas started celebrating.
Yes! We have won! We have won! But now when they said, we have won, at that time Arjuna became disheartened. He started putting down his bow, disappointed. Krishna told Arjuna in an urgent tone, There is time still.
There is time still. He says, put a Brahmastra on your bow. And pointed towards Jayadratha.
Arjuna knew that sometimes when we should ask questions, and sometimes we should not ask questions. This was a time no questions asked. Whatever Krishna is telling, just let us do it.
He had asked a lot of questions before the battle started, when the Bhagavad Gita was going on. But now no questions. So, he just shot the arrow, targeted the arrow where Jayadratha was.
And what had happened was, although all these warriors were around him, and earlier they had been protecting Jayadratha, now what happened, they had thought we have won the war. And they just lowered their guard. Even Jayadratha lowered his guard.
Jayadratha had been hiding behind all these warriors, but he also came out. He had been jeering Arjuna, should I light your funeral pyre now? So then, Arjuna took the bow, and before Arjuna shot the arrow, Krishna removed his darshan. As soon as he removed his darshan, what they saw was, the sun was still there.
The last few rays were there. It’s right in front of the eyes of everyone, Arjuna’s arrow just went whizzing through. It went and it hit Jayadratha on his neck.
And Krishna told Arjuna, that when you hit the arrow, hit it in such a way, that Jayadratha’s neck goes all the way to Simant Panchak. And there his father Vidakshatra is performing austerities. Let it fall on his lap.
So Vidakshatra knew that, Vidakshatra knew that his son was quite evil, and he knew that his son could be killed. So he had done some tapasya to Shiva, and he had got a benediction that anybody who causes my son’s head to fall on the ground, that person’s head will crack. So now Krishna knew this benediction.
So what Krishna told Arjuna is, shoot the arrow in such a way, that his head will go and fall right on Vidakshatra’s lap. Now Vidakshatra was sitting in meditation, and he opened his eyes, and he suddenly saw, there is a skull with blood on it. What is this? Just push it off.
As soon as he pushed it off, the skull fell on the ground. Boom! His skull broke apart. Krishna Bhagwan ki jai! So in this way, Krishna expertly took Arjuna to victory.
So it was not just by Arjuna’s talent. When Arjuna took that vow, I am going to do this, Krishna had faith. And the last point, that Krishna had faith, Arjuna, you can do it.
And then, when Krishna told Arjuna, now get ready to shoot the arrow, Arjuna did not ask any questions. How? Why? How can I do this? He had faith. And he did what Krishna told him, and he knew Krishna has some mystical potency.
Krishna arranged for the sun to be hidden, Krishna arranged for the sun to be seen. And in that way, he arranged for Arjuna to fulfil his vow. So similarly for us, we may not have to fight a physical war with anyone.
But we all also have to fight against our mind, fight against our senses, fight against difficult conditions in our life. And sometimes it may feel that it’s impossible. It’s impossible, I can’t do this.
But if we persevere, we persevere in doing what we are trying to do, then Krishna can work in miraculous ways. Krishna can work in ways that we have no possibility of knowing also. If we do the best we can, Krishna will do the rest.
But if we don’t do our best, Krishna is saying that we are not really interested, then he will not do the rest. Sometimes what happens, we think my best is not good enough, so we don’t even do our best. And we start worrying, even if I do the best, so many things are not going to work out.
What is the use of doing my best? But rather than worrying about that, ma chittah sarva durgaani. Krishna says, become conscious of me. Become conscious of him means that there are two ways we can be conscious of him.
One is that we always have to play our part. And while playing our part if we become discouraged, then we know that Krishna is with us. Krishna has faith in our potential.
So we do our best with faith in Krishna. Krishna has faith in my potential, so let me do my best. But in some situations, even when our best seems to be not good enough, at that time also we become conscious of Krishna and we leave the rest to Krishna.
Arjuna did his best. He fought to the fullest capacity that he could. But then he left the rest to Arjuna.
He left the rest. When he did not know how to reach Krishna, he arranged his own miraculous ways. So when we are practising bhakti or when we are trying to do anything in our life, it’s difficult and we start feeling discouraged, rather than becoming conscious of the mind, this is the mind telling me, we turn towards Krishna.
And returning towards Krishna means maybe we hear some inspiring, encouraging talks. We remember some pastimes where Krishna has helped his devotees. We cultivate a consciousness of Krishna that inspires us to persevere.
And then we will get the energy to move on in our lives. By thus being both, I’ll conclude with this point, that Krishna consciousness has two aspects to it. One is dependence on Krishna.
And the other is diligence for Krishna. Diligence for Krishna means when there is something in our control to do, we should do it as well as we can. That is our diligence for Krishna.
And dependence on Krishna means, so what we can do, we do our best. That is in a mood of service to Krishna. That is our diligence.
And what is beyond our control, we leave it to Krishna. That is our dependence. So Arjuna had exhibited diligence in doing all that he could.
But still that was not enough. He exhibited dependence. Krishna, what do you want me to do? You want me to do it? I’ll just do it.
So in that way, through diligence and dependence, we’ll find that Krishna will guide us through no matter what difficulties we may have in our life. We do our part and Krishna will do his part in his own extraordinary ways. Sometimes we think Krishna consciousness only means dependence on Krishna.
Or sometimes we think Krishna consciousness means I am doing my best. Why is nothing happening? But both are there. Diligence for Krishna and dependence on Krishna.
And I started giving, I mentioned I started giving classes about 20 years ago, 20-25 years ago as a Bhagavad Gita student, a Bhagavad Gita teacher. That time we got some guidelines. 10 guidelines we got.
How to speak. And the last guideline was depend on Krishna. But in bracket, but only after you have prepared.
So, dependence on Krishna is not an excuse for not having diligence for Krishna. So both go together. And when we do both together, we’ll find that Krishna will help us both by our consciousness of doing our best and by our consciousness of leaving the rest to Him.
Krishna will help us overcome whatever difficulties we may face. If we become conscious of Krishna, He will help us overcome all obstacles by His grace. I’ll summarise.
I spoke today on the topic of Krishna has faith in our potential. Let us have faith in His potency. So whenever we are trying to do anything difficult in our life, our mind keeps distracting us.
So our consciousness is like a torch which we need to focus so that we can observe and act effectively. But if the torch is distracted, then we can’t see clearly. And that distractor is the mind.
And this mind is very forceful and very restless. It keeps distracting us constantly. But if we keep listening to the mind, we become discouraged by it.
And if we keep doing whatever we like, we end up disliking ourselves. And at one level, we start disliking ourselves like we may overeat and become terribly obese or we may just keep clicking on whatever link comes up and spend, waste hours and hours and then beat ourselves up, why did I waste my time? So we start disliking ourselves and we start losing hope. The mind doesn’t only distract us but the mind also discourages us.
And then many times when people have self-esteem issues, they lack self-confidence, that is not so much because they don’t have talent. It is primarily because they don’t have, they are not able to have commitment. Talent plus commitment leads to achievement.
It’s only because they are not able to have this talent, that’s why they just lose heart and give up. So, how do we develop this commitment? That we discussed that if aspiring cricketer is finding it, is having doubts whether I’ll be able to succeed or not. And then some great coach says you have got talent.
Then that cricketer gets inspired. I’ll pursue it. So similarly for us, Krishna is the ultimate coach.
And he has faith in our potential, that’s why he is present in our hearts. And he wants to guide us, to grow spiritually, to contribute materially, to do our best. Then I talked about the story of Arjuna, when he was going to took the vow to kill Jaidrat.
Arjuna told Krishna, you know my strength and I know your strength. And Krishna planned, made a contingency plan, that if Arjuna is not able to reach, then I will myself mount on my chariot, have Daruka take me to Jaidrat and kill him. But when Arjuna did his very best and it was not enough, Krishna still wanted to give credit to Arjuna.
So Krishna arranged to cover the sun. Something which nobody could have imagined how Krishna would help. But Krishna helped that way.
Similarly for us, when we try to do our best, and we leave the rest to Krishna, we will find that Krishna consciousness can help us both ways. When we are trying to do our best, we do it with faith that Krishna has faith in my potential. So we have the diligence for Krishna in a mood of service to him.
And then we have dependence on Krishna for the things that are not in our power. And we leave them to Krishna. By this combination of dependence and diligence, we will find that Krishna will help us to overcome all obstacles by his grace.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Any questions or comments? Yes.
So, you mentioned that some mystic person came. But we already knew he was a Supreme Lord. So, if Krishna knew that Arjuna knew that Krishna is the Supreme Lord, then why did he talk about Krishna having some mystic potencies? No, it’s not so much mystic potency.
It is that, I know your power. That’s what Arjuna said. You know my power and I know your power.
So, it’s not so much specifically about mystic potencies. Krishna is not just yogi, he is a yogeshwar. So, the point is that the mood of devotion is not that we have to expect that we expect Krishna to do things for us.
The mood of a devotee is that I do my best for Krishna. And if something is inadequate, then Krishna will help. It is not that we we demand Krishna to help us.
It’s the difference between the two. And the difference is that Krishna can do anything. That’s true.
But, what am I doing for Krishna? That is the mood of service. So, Hanuman, he knew Ram had potency. But then by his faith in Ram’s potency, he was ready to jump across to Lanka.
So, he was able to do that because he had faith in Ram’s potency. At the same time, it was also that he did his part in it. He did not say, OK, if Ram has potency, then Ram do it.
Why should I do it? It’s Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita has shown Arjuna that all your enemies are already killed by my arrangement. So then, Arjuna doesn’t say to Krishna, Krishna, you already made the arrangement, you execute it also. So, the point I’m saying is that actually a devotee knows that Krishna can do anything.
But, a devotee wants in a mood of service to do something for Krishna. And a devotee wants to do something big for Krishna. And while doing something big for Krishna, if a devotee feels that I don’t have the ability to do it, then whatever my ability is lacking, then Krishna will arrange for that.
Devotee should always feel that it’s not because of my effort. I should not put the effort. Because I have put, let’s say, 5% effort, that 5% is not enough.
OK, this is a good question here. So a devotee should always feel that everything is happening by Krishna’s mercy only. We shouldn’t think that my effort is involved in this.
Yeah, there is, I think there is two different issues over here. One is that a devotee does not generally demand that Krishna miraculously intervene to do things. So that’s why we have to, when we are doing some service, we have to realistically estimate what is our capacity.
Even our capacity is given by Krishna. But, there is some capacity that we have. Say for example, if we have to carry a book, we are going to distribute books, and we have to carry a box.
Say if our capacity is to lift 10 kg, and the box weighs 30 kg. And then I say, OK, 30 kg, I can carry for short distance, but I won’t be able to carry very long. But then if I say, no, I’ll carry it.
Then, are we expecting Krishna to come like, he lifted Govardhan Hill, so he’ll lift that bag for us? Krishna can do it. But that is not the mood of a devotee. If a devotee says, oh, I lifted this 30 kg bag, and that’s why I got a backache now, and then why did Krishna not help? No, it’s not like that.
So there is, we have to realistically estimate our capacity. Even our capacity is given by Krishna. And sometimes if Krishna wants, He can expand our capacity also.
But a devotee doesn’t expect or demand from Krishna that Krishna intervene with the normal functioning of material nature, normal laws of material nature. So, when there is a fierce fight going on, when say, Arjuna was deep into Chakravyuh, deep into the Kauravas’ ranks, at that time Yudhishthira sent Bhima inside. He said, Arjuna may need some help, you go and help him.
Yudhishthira did not go himself. Because Yudhishthira was not that great a warrior. Yudhishthira was Dharmaraj, but he was not that great a warrior as Bhima and Arjuna.
So, we have to estimate our strengths also. At a functional level, we have to be conscious of what is our capacity and choose service according to our capacity or slightly more than our capacity. Now we also understand that my capacity comes from Krishna.
But, if you see, it’s said about Shri Prabhupada, when he came to America, his head was up in the clouds, but his feet were firmly on the ground. That means that he had this whole vision that there will be a worldwide movement that will come. But the first few months when he was in America, Prabhupada was simply trying to understand the American way of living.
And Prabhupada stayed in Pennsylvania. He was staying at the house of Salya Agarwal and Gopal Agarwal. And if you ask, there is their interview given in the Nilamrit, and Salya Agarwal says, Prabhupada seemed so interested in everything American.
When he showed a vacuum cleaner, he wanted to know how the vacuum cleaner works. He wanted to know how the sink works. He was interested in everything American.
Now, Prabhupada was not interested in American things. He was interested in how to give Krishna to Americans. But for that, he had to have a functional knowledge.
That means, Prabhupada was realistically taking small, small, small steps. He had a big vision. His head was high up in the sky in terms of the vision that he was so grand.
But he was not demanding that Krishna come and intervene. So Prabhupada was saying, at this stage, this is what I need to understand. At this stage, this is what I can do.
This opportunity has opened for me. Let me do this now. He got an opportunity to go to New York.
He went to New York. He got an opportunity to go to the Lower East Side. He went there.
So Prabhupada was doing things according to his capacity. And Krishna was doing things according to his capacity. At the right moment, Krishna arranged for the devotees, for the potential souls to come and meet Prabhupada.
For those who had tremendous spiritual potential. And then the movement just spread very rapidly. So, a devotee recognises that my capacity is also given to me by Krishna.
But, a devotee recognises that this is the capacity that I normally have. And this is the capacity that I normally don’t have. So, if there is a capacity that I don’t have, I can’t demand that Krishna provide me that capacity.
Say, for example, if there is a programme and I am invited to speak at the programme. Now, I speak reasonably well in English. But if I am told to speak in Hindi or Marathi or some other Indian language, I might have a working knowledge of that.
If it’s a very important programme, then I might decide that let somebody who is good in that language, let him speak in that language. That’s because now I can say that Krishna can empower me to speak in whatever language. That’s possible.
But a devotee doesn’t demand that Krishna do miracles for me. A devotee recognises one’s capacity and that one’s capacity is coming from Krishna. But what is the capacity that Krishna has given me and what is the capacity Krishna has given to someone else? So, we see that our service to Krishna is like an orchestra band.
So, I am doing some service, somebody else is doing some service, and we are all glorifying Krishna together. So, even the particular instrument that I can play in the orchestra, that ability is also given to me by Krishna. But there is some other ability which I may not have.
That ability, I have to see who has it. But if that person is not there and in emergency I have to do it, I will do it the best I can. So, is it clear now? Yeah, we are not comparing with Krishna’s potency at all.
Thank you. Yes. Any other questions? Comments? Thank you very much.