Krishna is here now not far away in future Birmingham Gita 7.7 Chaitanya Charan

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. It’s working.
Okay. It’s visible for those behind also. Can you read it? Or you may have to come a little ahead for that purpose.
So, this is a I am grateful to be here with all of you today. And the Bhagavad Gita is a book of wisdom. Simultaneously, it’s also the instructions given by the Lord.
So, Krishna doesn’t just give us instructions and tell us do this and leave us. Krishna wants to empower us to apply his instructions. So, if we consider Krishna to be here above us and we are here below.
So, at one level, Krishna is giving us instructions, wisdom in the Bhagavad Gita. Now, I have been writing in the Bhagavad Gita for the last 15 years on my website gitadaily.com I have more than 5000 articles. And everyday I have been writing one article.
From the start of this year, I have started writing prayers inspired by the Bhagavad Gita. So, I saw that the Bhagavad Gita is not just analytical, philosophical book. It’s also a book where Krishna is expressing his heart.
So, if we can take the verses that Krishna has given and see them as inspirations for prayer. That prayer that Krishna, what you are telling me, help me to apply that in my life. And that way we can see how there is a whole wealth of not just wisdom but devotional connection through prayer that can be inspired.
So, there are many prayers of the Acharyas which are directly inspired by the verses of the Bhagavad Gita. For example, Krishna says tesha maham samudharta vrityu samsara sagarath. Krishna says I will deliver you from the ocean of material existence.
And when Krishna says I will deliver you from the ocean of material existence, what is happening is that Kulashikara Maharaj is praying samsara sagara nimagnam ananta deenam uddharatum arasi hare purusho tamosmi He is saying that this ocean of material existence is unsurpassable but you O Lord can be who is you to uplift me from this ocean. So, what is the mood over there? Why does it be who you? Because you have promised that O Lord in the Gita. So, like that we can see the Gita’s verses as inspirations for prayer.
So, we will talk about 7.7 today. So, can you just, you have a copy of the book? yeah. So, actually this is a, in that book there is, we have till chapter 6, we don’t have chapter 7 but I am writing the next part of the book but I will just, what we are doing over here is, we have a, you see there is a picture of a deity of Krishna and there is a prayer inspired by the verse and then there is each verse and then there is a poetic translation of the verse so that we can connect with that verse better and then there is a there is a small one page prayer and this way I have found this whole so much of our daily challenges and daily needs we can connect with Krishna.
So, I have taken 122 verses from the first 6 chapters and that’s become one book, like that I am trying to make 3 books 122 and 366 verses. So, let’s look at we will look at something from that book but let’s look at, because we are on 7.7 let’s focus on that. Is this visible? Visible for everyone? Okay.
So, if you like you can repeat after me. My dear lord, let me cast far away the illusion that you are far away the illusion that you are far away So, let’s recite the verse. mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat mayi sarvaṁ idam protham mayi sarvaṁ idam protham sūtre mani ganaiva sūtre mani ganaiva Beyond me, nothing exists.
On me, the whole world subsists. Into being, all things I bring like shiny pearls on a string. This is a poetic translation.
So, I’d like to request different participants to read one-one paragraph if you like. Who would like to read one paragraph? We have a second mic by any chance? It’s not working? You can read loudly otherwise. My dear lord, grant me the intelligence to see all you who is visible to sustain all that is visible.
It’s so easy, almighty lord, to get caught in the things that which are in this world. There are so many sights and smells and sounds and similar sensory manifestations that can attract and amaze. You alone can empower me to see beyond them to what is actually sustaining them.
You, just as an art connoisseur appreciates a classic work of art but never fails to appreciate the artist whose creativity made the art possible. Bless me to similarly appreciate not just the beauty of nature but also you as an incredible hand that draws on the canvas of nature. So, the Bhagavad Gita has its own internal and dynamic flow.
Broadly, when Krishna starts the Gita, his purpose is not necessarily to teach Dhyana Yoga or Karma Yoga or Bhakti Yoga. The Gita starts with Krishna addressing Arjuna’s question. And Arjuna’s question is, what should I do? Should I fight or should I not fight? Now, from that point, Krishna keeps speaking.
As Arjuna keeps asking questions, Krishna keeps answering the questions. So, broadly speaking, we could say that the Gita’s structure is that 2.7 begins the question. The question is, what is Dharma? What is the right thing to do? Pucchamitvam.
Dharma is a mudhjeta. And the whole Gita is the answer to that question. Now, while answering that question, while Krishna answers the question, Arjuna is not very clear.
Arjuna is confused. So, it’s like, say, if our child is sick and we go to a doctor. Now, we are not really interested in allopathy or homoeopathy or this pathy or that pathy.
We are interested in treating our child. Now, for treating our child, the doctor may say, okay, allopathy can do this, homoeopathy can do this, naturopathy can do this. So, then, we might get involved in understanding those things.
So, like that, Krishna starts by addressing Arjuna’s problem. What should I do? And during that process, there are, in the course of the Gita, there’s one, this is the one, we can say, meta question or the mega question that drives the whole Gita. And within that, there are multiple other questions that keep coming.
So, these questions drive the Gita at various places. So, right now, like that, there are total 18 questions in the Gita. Now, we are in the 7th chapter.
And the 7th chapter, so the way the Gita flows is that Krishna has not really directly talked about himself till now in the Gita much. So, Krishna has talked about Karma Yoga because Arjuna is basically confused about what to do. Should I act or should I renounce? So, Krishna says, first act, do your responsibilities and then later on you can renounce the world.
But when Krishna talks about renunciation, so the way the Gita goes is that, if you can see the first 6 chapters, chapters 1 to 6, 1 to 5 Krishna is talking about Karma Yoga. In the 6th chapter, Krishna talks about Dhyana Yoga. And then he says in 6.47, the perfection of Dhyana Yoga is to absorb the mind in you.
yoginam api sarvesham madgate nantaratmana shraddhavan bhajate yo mam samayukta tamo matah So, there, Arjuna says that, before this itself, Arjuna has said that in 6, the process you are giving is very difficult. This doesn’t seem to be practical for you. So, Krishna outlines this process and then after that, as you could say, as an alternative pathway to the same summit, Krishna gives Bhakti Yoga.
So, from the 7th chapter onwards, Bhakti Yoga starts. And, so, in the first few chapters, the focus is on detachment. Krishna says that stay equipoised amidst happiness and distress, be let go of the results, be detached.
But, the whole focus here is attachment. But attachment to Krishna. There is divine attachment.
Attachment to the divine. The whole 7.1 itself begins with, the first word is, mayi asakta manaha. Don’t make your mind detached, make your mind attached to me.
Mayi asakta manaha. And, for making the mind attached, now Krishna will give the knowledge. That, 7.1 states that, if you want to make your mind attached to me, what do you have to do? Touch Shrunoom.
Hear from me the knowledge by which you will be inspired to take shelter of me. You will become free from doubts and you will become attached to me. Your mind will become attached to me.
So, now, to help Arjuna become attached, the mind to become attached to Krishna, Krishna is describing the nature of the world. And, in this particular verse, so, if you go to the 7th chapter, in chapter 7, Krishna gives, in one sense, the Gita’s flow is, it starts at the top and then gets to the top gradually. So, 7.1 is the top and how do we get to the top? That’s what is described now.
So, the glory of the knowledge that is described in first three verses till 7.3 and then, 7.4 to 6, Krishna describes material nature. And he says that, bhumi raapon alo vayu, that all these material elements are there. And then he says, these are my energy, but they are sustained by me.
So, mattaha parataram na anyat, that there is nothing beyond me that exists. By me, everything subsists. And, sutre maniganaiva, it’s one of the most beautiful metaphors, that God, God is present with us, within us.
God is present in nature. And, the theme I talk about today is this itself, that Krishna is not far away from us. See, we may think that this is my life and this is the world I go through and if I go through the world, then at the end of my life, I will go to Krishna.
So, Krishna is, we may see Krishna as our destination. And, there is some truth to that. But, Krishna doesn’t just exist up there in the spiritual world.
This is the material world where we live in and that is the spiritual world. But, Krishna doesn’t just exist up there. Actually, everything exists within Krishna.
So, Krishna is right now with us as our companion. So, Krishna is here now. And, the illusion is, the title of this prayer was, free me, please send that, that you are far away, that is an illusion.
That let me cast far away the illusion that you are far away. So, when Krishna says that, I am like the underlying pearl of truth. The underlying necklace and the pearls of this, underlying thread in the pearls that are there in this world.
So, what does it mean? We see many visible things over here which are very attractive. The necklace looks very attractive because of the pearls, the jewels in it. But, there is a thread.
And, Krishna is the thread. Krishna is what enables everything to be sustained. Let’s try to understand that a little bit more.
So, Krishna is not far away from us. Krishna is here right now with us. Who would like to read the next paragraph? Anyone? Yes, please.
My unfailing lord, you are much more than the brilliant hand behind nature. You are also its beating heart. You exist everywhere and always in nature through your imminent manifestation as a super soul.
You are never far away from your creation, but as long as I believe you are far away from me, I end up being far away from you. You permeate the very fabric of creation and exist within its every fibre as its elusive yet essential sustainer. Elusive, yet essential sustainer.
One of the things that the Bhagavad Gita does is, it expands our conception of God. That we may think of God as a being who we pray to, and that is true. But God is much much more than that.
And this idea that we all, now what does this mean practically where we are right now? That when we try to develop love for Krishna, when we try to remember Krishna, many times if we do not have a proper understanding of God, then we tend to compartmentalise our life in a very disruptive way. It’s that let’s say this is the spiritual world, this is the material world, and we may think that going to God is I just leave this world and go to Krishna. And the idea is this world is the place of Maya.
This is all Maya. But what is important is that this is Maya and that is Krishna. But the Gita is understanding yes, this world is Maya, but actually Maya is also within Krishna.
Later on in the section Krishna will say mama maya duradaya mama maya, maya is my energy. That maya is also under me and within me. So there are two distinct ways of looking at the world.
We can look at the world as a place of entanglement, as the domain of Maya. And there is a reason to see it like that and I’ll talk about it. But we can see this world also as the domain of Krishna.
And we see it as the domain of engagement. That I engage in this world in a mood of service to Krishna. So basically when Arjuna wants to renounce the world, Krishna says you do not leave the world and go to me.
Krishna says you go through the world to me. Krishna says this world is real. Sometimes we may get a very negative understanding of this world.
Yes, it is a place of distress. But that does not mean Krishna is saying this world is a place of distress, you stay in distress forever. No.
The message of the Gita is Arjuna is in distress and Krishna’s message solaces him. It relieves him of his distress. So it’s a very affirmative, life affirming, world affirming message.
In fact, Krishna considers this world so important that when things go wrong in this world, he descends to this world to bring order over here. And he does this again and again. You gain, you gain.
He comes again and again. So basically the world, you can see it in two ways. One is, you see it as the domain of Maya, then we see it is a place of entanglement.
I just have to get out of this world. But we see the domain of Krishna, then it is a place of engagement. That I engage in this world for the sake of Krishna.
For serving Krishna. So the idea is, Krishna doesn’t just exist in the future. It is not that I am alone in this world struggling and fighting, managing all my responsibilities and trying to practise my bhakti, dealing with all the conditionings of my mind.
And I am alone struggling over here, somehow I have to fight my way and finally when I fight my way and succeed, then I will find Krishna at the end. Krishna is not simply waiting for us at the end of the battle. Krishna is with us working with us for us to fight the battle.
So this idea that God is here with us right now, it’s a it’s such a empowering understanding. Like in the Bhagavad Gita itself, Krishna is with Arjuna. Right now with him.
Can we go back to that, the book that you have been given? I would like to read one particular thing from there. Because this concept of God, please go to 1.1 Radhanasami. 1.1 Yeah.
You can go to 1.14, that is page number 22. So that Krishna God is right now here with us. You can repeat after me if you like.
Let me remember my dear Lord that my life story is a part of your story. So Krishna’s plan is not that you come home then we’ll have a life with us. No.
Our story is a part of Krishna’s story. So this is 1.14. I’ll just read the translation. Then Krishna and Arjuna standing tall on the chariot white steeds and all, blew their conches loud and bright a sound that shook the field with might.
So Arjuna is blowing the conches. Just like here say, my dear Lord, you are always with me in the chariot of this body just as you were with Arjuna on the battlefield. So the Gita is not just describing a historical truth.
Just like the body Arjuna was on the chariot, our body is also often compared to a chariot. And on that chariot, Krishna and Arjuna were there like that, in our body chariot, we as the Atma is there and the Paramatma is with us right now. Krishna is here with us.
So what does this imply? That’s what I’ll talk about three main things today. That this understanding that God is here with us. That there is God’s presence.
So if God is here, there is God’s presence, there is God’s purpose and there is God’s power. We talk about Arjuna becomes empowered. So the idea that Krishna is here, the God’s presence, let’s look at it one by one, what it means.
That we look at the things of this world and we may desire, oh, I want to get this. Or we may say, this is a lot of trouble, I want to avoid this. So for us, generally speaking, in our life journey, the world is very big.
And God, even if he exists, he is small. When I was introduced to Bhakti about 30 years ago, I started talking, I was so inspired by it that I started talking about it to all my relatives and friends and colleagues. So one of my uncles told me, God, I have a very good relationship with God.
And I said, okay, I never heard him talk about anything spiritual. He was not a person who went much to the temple. I said, what do you mean a good relationship with God? So he said, our relationship is mutual non-interference.
I am happy here, he is happy there. Let it be as it is. But the thing is that we won’t be happy here for very long.
We are all going to grow old. Things are going to go wrong. So for many people, God seems to be irrelevant.
Even if he exists, he is irrelevant. But as we grow spiritually, what happens is, the world becomes smaller and Krishna becomes bigger. So, Krishna becomes the bigger reality.
What does it mean, bigger reality? That Krishna is more important. The world can give me many things, and things are important. We need food, we need shelter, we need those things.
But actually, our well-being depends not so much on the things that we have, it depends on the thoughts we have in our inner world. And it is Krishna who can provide us with positive, joyful thoughts. Even the best things in the world cannot create the best thoughts inside us.
So that understanding that there might be a lot of things going wrong in our life, if we come to a temple, we hear some kirtan, we go to some sacred place, we start feeling some calmness. We may not rationally understand why we are feeling calm, but we feel some calmness. What is happening is, we are being ushered into the presence of a far bigger reality.
So, when God becomes a bigger reality, God’s presence in our life that calms us. See, the world is always filled with ups and downs. Kabhi khushi, kabhi down.
And, when the world is very big for us, the highs we go very high, the lows we go very low. So, we become almost bipolar, unstable. One day, on top of the world, the other day, we are under our blanket, and we don’t want to get out at all.
So, we become very unpredictable, unreliable. We become very moody. Why? Because life has ups and downs, and we go up and down with it.
But when the world becomes small, the world’s ups and downs also become small. So, here, the first result of the world becoming smaller because Krishna becomes bigger is that we feel peaceful. God’s presence brings peace.
And that understanding that, you know, Krishna is here now, all I have to do is tune my consciousness to His presence. I was in Australia a few years ago, and there was an interfaith panel discussion, and the topic was Why has God not died till now? Now, what do you mean by that? Their idea is that, there are many sociologists and philosophers, they said that the idea of God is basically irrational, unscientific idea. And as science grows, rationality grows, people will reject the idea of God.
While it has happened that materialism has grown, atheism has grown, but in many parts of the world, faith in God and the religion has also grown. So one reason is that, no matter how much scientific and technological advancement we make, that cannot provide us peace of mind. So God’s presence, if we bring ourselves into God’s presence, we experience peace.
So Krishna is not in the future, in the spiritual world. He is here with us, and if we just learn to tune our consciousness to Him, so the practise of bhakti, when we chant the holy names, when we worship Krishna, when we come and hear about Krishna, all this is meant to remind us that Krishna exists and Krishna is the bigger reality. When I said God becomes bigger for us, what it means is, God is always the biggest reality, but for us He becomes the bigger reality.
The problem is, quite often for us, the world is visible. You can say maya is not just visible, maya is ultra-visible. And Krishna is invisible.
But Krishna, although Krishna is invisible, Krishna is not inconsequential. What our practise of bhakti and spirituality can give us, none of the visible things in this world can give us. So Krishna’s presence, we just, it’s a matter of, through bhakti what are we doing? We are tuning ourselves to Krishna’s presence.
So bhakti is a matter of tuning our consciousness. Now beyond that, okay, we may say I come to a temple, I do some kirtan, I feel nice, I feel peaceful, and then I have to go and face my life. And my life is filled with all challenges.
So it’s like a nice retreat going to the temple. But it’s not just that. That, actually, for us, God’s presence is not the only thing.
That God has a purpose for us. That if you look at this, understanding God’s presence can give us peace. Arjuna had to fight a war, he didn’t want to fight.
But Krishna said that beyond what you are thinking or what you are analysing, there is a plan over here. And understanding that made him peaceful. He said that nashto moha smriti… we have become peaceful.
But beyond that, God has a purpose for life. And we as parts of God have a purpose within His purpose. So, does anyone know what is 15.7 in the Bhagavad Gita? mamai vamsho jivaloke Krishna says, all living beings are my parts.
So we are parts of Krishna. And Krishna, he says, we are parts of Krishna always. Now often, this is a philosophical truth.
But we only stick at a philosophical level. However, it has a psychological and a practical application. If we are parts of Krishna, that means we have parts in Krishna’s plan.
And we are parts of Krishna’s plan always. It’s like, say, if somebody is a part of the Indian National Cricket Team or somebody is a part of the English Cricket Team, if they are a part of the team, then they have a part in the team. It could be they are a fast bowler, they are a medium pacer, they are a spinner, they are opening batsmen, they are middle order batsmen, whatever it is, they have a part.
Now of course, in a cricket team, players will be dropped out. But Krishna says, sanatana. We will never be dropped from Krishna’s team.
We may forget that we are a part of Krishna’s team. But we are always a part of Krishna’s team. That means that not only is Krishna existing, Krishna is here through all the chaos that is going on in our life.
Now Krishna has a plan that is going on. And Krishna has a part for us in his plan. So Krishna tells Arjuna, you are thinking, how can I fight against Bhishma and Drona? I don’t want a kingdom.
He says, I don’t want you to fight just to gain a kingdom. I want you to fight as a part of my plan to bring Dharma into the world. To bring a virtuous order into the world.
So our actions, we are taking care of our family, we are doing our jobs, we are living in a particular country. These are not disconnected from Krishna’s plan. We are meant to be a part of Krishna’s plan.
So our life story is a part of Krishna’s story. Now we may be conscious of it, we may not be conscious of it. We may be participating in it wholeheartedly, we may not be participating wholeheartedly.
But we are always a part of that. So, this is, actually this brings a sense of purpose, it brings a sense of reassurance for us. That it’s not just, okay, peace is more passive.
Like I said, that okay, I come to a temple, I feel nice, I go back, and again my whole life agitation is there. But Krishna wants us to serve him through what we do in the world. The idea is that if there’s a mountain and there’s an ocean, the river moves towards the ocean, like that all of us are meant to move towards the ocean of Krishna.
But different rivers take different paths towards the ocean. And each river, when it’s taking its particular path, it benefits so many life forms by providing life-sustaining water along the way. Like that, through our journey in life, we provide that life-sustaining water for our family, for our community, for whatever is the circle of influence that we have.
That is, this, the path that we influence during the course of our life, that is our Kshetra. Kshetra is our area of influence. So, Krishna is, in the future verses, Krishna will talk about, I am ability in human beings.
Now, what does this mean? I am ability in human beings. So, before I go into that part, Krishna’s purpose. When we say, what does, if Krishna has a purpose, does that mean that how does it work with our free will? And sometimes we may misuse our free will.
Yes, that is true. But Krishna is so expert that he can work his plan in various ways. So, Krishna’s plan is such that he can work it in, even through the misunderstanding that we may have, the mistakes that we may face, the mistakes that we may do.
Krishna’s plan keeps working. So, let’s consider an incident from the Ramayana. That is, the story of Sugriva.
Now, Sugriva was a younger brother of the Vanara king. What was his name? Wali. Yes.
Now, they were not just brothers, they were the best of friends and best of allies. Unfortunately, there was a misunderstanding because of which Wali thought that Sugriva tried to kill him. And Wali decided that before Sugriva can try to kill me again, I will kill him.
And he started sending assassins all over to kill Sugriva and he tried to kill him himself. Sugriva had to flee all over the earth, trying to find some way or the other to hide. Constantly he was looking over his back, looking over his shoulder, wherever he would go.
If I am in this place, what is the easiest way to get out of this place? Where are the hiding places? From where can I run away? And he was chased all over the world. Now, the whole thing was a terrible misunderstanding. But Wali was just not ready to listen to reason.
And then finally, Sugriva found a safe haven. Where was that? Sorry? It was the Rishya Mukha Mountain. It was right next to Wali’s kingdom.
Wali could not come there because of a curse that a sage had given to him. So now, Sugriva could have been frustrated. This place was so close by, I have been searching all over.
Why didn’t I think of this place? Why didn’t I find this place before? Now, I was giving this talk in Singapore and one devotee raised his hand. He said, you know, now Sugriva was frustrated, Wali was also frustrated. Sugriva is right here, but I can’t do anything to him.
So he said, the way Wali must have felt about Sugriva, China feels about Taiwan like that. But anyway, then eventually, Wali was killed and then Sugriva was assisting Lord Ram in finding Sita. And when he had called all his Vanaras and he was giving them instructions.
Detailed instructions he gave. He says, you know, when you go in the east, go this way. When you come to this mountain, here it’s very difficult to cross.
Go from here, it’s easier to cross. And when you go northward, there is a river over here. The river is very dangerous to cross over here.
But here, it’s much more easily crossable. And he gave detailed instructions. Lord Ram was hearing and after that, Sugriva approached Lord Ram and Ram said to him, in school, was geography your favourite subject? He didn’t say that literally.
He said, you seem to know a lot of things about the world. And when Sugriva was explaining that how he had been running from Wali, at that time it struck him that through all that running away from Wali and discovering hiding places and pathways across the world that he had done, he was being prepared for serving Lord Ram over here. So, the misunderstanding between Wali and Sugriva was terrible.
But Krishna’s plan can work even through the misunderstanding that happened in our life. So, the idea is that Krishna has a purpose for all of us and our mistakes or anybody else’s manipulation, nothing can thwart that plan. Krishna’s plan is too big to be thwarted by any human being.
So, Krishna in that sense is like the ultimate GPS. It’s God’s positioning system. That we may take some wrong turns but we are no turn is so wrong that there is no GPS coverage over there.
We may be lost but we are never lost to Krishna. From wherever we are, Krishna has a path ready to get us back. So, this understanding Krishna tells Arjuna, you may feel lost, you may think why do I have to fight against Bhishma and Drona? These are my elders.
I want to worship them, not attack them. You may think this life is going crazy but Krishna says I have a plan through all this. So, that Krishna is here with us now.
That Krishna has a purpose. That brings us to the last part that is I talked about God’s power. Krishna doesn’t just have a purpose for us and leave us.
It’s like somebody tells us, you cook food for 100 people. I don’t know cooking. I don’t care.
Not like that. Krishna will equip us for the challenges we are facing. And Krishna gives us empowerment.
Empowerment means that whatever challenges we may face in life, it is not that Krishna abandons us, you know, it’s your karma, you deal with it. No. Whatever karma may get us through, Krishna will get us through.
Above karma is Krishna. And Krishna is guiding us. Krishna doesn’t care if somebody has done bad karma.
We may be unqualified to practise bhakti. But we are never disqualified from bhakti. Krishna never rejects us or abandons us, no matter what we may have done or what we may have not done.
So the power that we talk about is, sometimes we think that, I conclude with one last point over here, when we are cultivating Krishna consciousness, sometimes we think of Krishna consciousness as forcing Krishna into our mind. It’s like when we are chanting, it’s like, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Hare Hare Krishna, where are you running? Come into my mind now. That’s not the way.
Sometimes our mind is running, we want to take our mind towards Krishna. But the point is that it’s not about forcing Krishna into our mind. It is understanding that it is just opening our mind to Krishna.
Krishna is here and I just need to open my mind, even when things are going wrong. Sometimes things are all going wrong in my life and I just want to run away, I want to tune out from the whole world and just focus on Krishna. Yeah, sometimes there’s relief and rejuvenation when we need that.
But even when things are going wrong at our level of perception, things are not wrong at Krishna’s level of perception. So, the empowerment that Krishna gives us is at one level to understand that things are things are as they are meant to be. As they are meant to be.
That ultimately, within the plan of the Lord, things are happening. That doesn’t mean everything is perfect. That doesn’t mean things don’t need to be fixed.
In the outer world or in our inner world. But even when things are not fixed, that doesn’t mean Krishna has abandoned us. So, Bhaktisiddhanta Sri Thakur would say that there are many people who think I’ll be a reformer for the world.
He says, anyone who thinks the world needs a reformation, that person’s thinking needs reformation. Now, does that mean things don’t need to be fixed in the world? No, that’s not the point. The point is that, yes, even when things seem to be chaotically wrong, there is a plan of Krishna that is operating.
And sometimes, our power may be very small to affect things, affect changes. Sometimes our power may be larger. Rather than thinking that things are going wrong or thinking that I’m helpless and I’m being victimised, no.
Yes, we may be victimised at one level. But on a bigger level, Krishna’s plan is working. Even through that.
When Vidura was insulted by Duryodhana, Duryodhana spoke very harsh words. And Vidura felt very hurt by that. But actually, if you consider Vidura, he was hurt by Duryodhana’s insult.
Duryodhana’s insult hurt him but more than that, Dhritarashtra’s silence hurt him. The harshest words of our critics or enemies don’t hurt us as much as the silence of our friends. So, this was extremely painful for him.
And Duryodhana spoke out of his envy. Dhritarashtra remained silent because of his attachment to his son Duryodhana. But beyond it, Dhritarashtra, Vidura saw that it is Krishna who is acting.
That Krishna is giving me an opportunity to move away from here. Since if I am here, I will be obliged to fight on the side of the Kauravas. But I don’t have to do that.
So, what Duryodhana did was, so we could say, things are wrong. Things are not just wrong, things are terribly wrong. Things are not the way they are meant to be.
You know, a younger person should not be insulting an elder. A brother should not be staying silent when his own brother is being insulted. Things are not as they are meant to be.
And that’s true at that level. But there is a bigger level. There is a bigger level and in that bigger level, Krishna had a plan for Vidura.
Things are not wrong. So, when we talk about the power, this is the point I was going to conclude with, that Vidura realised at this particular point, I have no power over Dhritarashtra. Dhritarashtra is not going to listen to my words.
So, I accept this situation. So, at this particular place, my power is less, my role is small. But eventually, when the war got over and Duryodhana was like the cancer in Dhritarashtra’s life, once that cancer was removed, then when Vidura came back, Dhritarashtra became ready to listen to Vidura’s words.
And those words led him to enlightenment. Vidura was always wise but his wisdom did not impact Dhritarashtra. So, for all of us, when we say the power of Krishna’s power, that sometimes in the course of our life, our Kshetra might be very small.
No, we can hardly influence anything. See, a newborn baby cannot control even its own body. Isn’t it? But as we grow, our Kshetra, you could say for a newborn baby, the Kshetra is less than its body also.
For controlling its own body, it needs the mother and father to take care of it. It needs the mother to take care of family. But as we keep growing, as we grow through life, our Kshetra increases.
It’s not just linear. As we grow older, our Kshetra will increase. Sometimes in the course of our life, our Kshetra is, Kshetra means the sphere of influence.
The area over which we have power. So, when our power seems to decrease, say, we are working in a very successful job, and suddenly we are fired. What’s going on in my life? So, that Kshetra may be decreased right now.
It may be because of past karma or whatever. But just because that Kshetra has decreased doesn’t mean Krishna has abandoned us. Whether our power is large or our power is small, Krishna’s plan is still working.
For Srila Prabhupada, if you consider Srila Prabhupada’s life story, in 1922, he met Guru Maharaj. Till 1968, when actually the Krishna Consciousness Movement started moving, Prabhupada’s Kshetra was actually very small. In 1968, we were growing, but not really much.
Little growth was there. In fact, when he went to America, you could say, Kshetra increased, decreased. At least in India, he was respected as a sannyasi.
America, they didn’t even know what is a sannyasi. One devotee told me, the first time I saw a dhoti, I thought it is an oversized diaper. American devotee told me.
They had no idea what is sannyasi. So, when Prabhupada was in America in the early days, he had to stand in line every morning to use the restroom. So, his Kshetra decreased.
But then, as the preaching expanded, his Kshetra became giant. His Kshetra became huge. That across the world it spread.
Prabhupada was able to build 108 temples. Prabhupada was able to write more than 70 books. He inspired thousands and thousands and millions of people across the world.
It is not that when Prabhupada’s influence was very small, meagre, almost unnoticeable. It was not that Krishna’s plan was not there. So, Prabhupada was just as happy when he was alone walking on the streets of New York, chanting Krishna’s name and writing about Krishna as when he was speaking to thousands of people.
For him, Krishna was not a future future concept to be realised. For him, Krishna was here now always. So, like that, what the Bhagavad Gita tells? Krishna is invisible thread that underlies and unifies everything.
So, sometimes our life may be filled with very attractive jewels. Sometimes our life may be just filled with stones that seem to burden us and attract us. But Krishna is the underlying thread of truth always.
So, I’ll summarise what we discussed today. Our theme today we discussed about how Krishna is here now. Krishna is not far away.
So, I talked about first I talked about the Gita’s flow briefly that how the Gita is starting from Arjuna’s situation, action, it talks about Karma Yoga and then it talks about Dhyana Yoga and then the chapters 1 to 6 and then it starts talking about Bhakti Yoga from chapters 7 to 12 and here in 7.1 we are discussing. Krishna is telling that if you have to remember me that make yourself, initially the point was be detached. Be detached from things.
But later Krishna says become, don’t just be detached, become attached to Krishna. Attached to me. So, in that connection I discussed what is this becoming attached to that we understand about that Krishna is here now at three levels.
Remember three levels? What are the first? Krishna’s presence. That realising Krishna’s presence can give us peace. That that there is a bigger reality.
Initially, if you are not Krishna conscious the world feels big and Krishna feels small. But as we grow spiritually Krishna becomes big and the world becomes small. This happens, we feel peaceful.
So, anyone from where they are, I have to go back to Krishna and the spiritual world. Right now, what we need is tuning our consciousness. So, bhakti is basically about tuning our consciousness to Krishna’s presence and we can start experiencing peace through the presence.
Second was purpose. Purpose. That Krishna is not just a passive presence with whom we feel peaceful for some time.
Actually, Krishna has a purpose for us in this world. And this world is important for Krishna. Krishna wants things to be better in this world.
We discussed the example of, yes, ultimately we have to go beyond this world. The river has to get to the ocean. But while going to the ocean, the river is meant to sustain life forms along the way.
So, like that this is our kshetra for seva. That we have a purpose in this world. And that purpose is never lost.
We discussed how that even through mistakes, that even through mistakes that may happen, Krishna’s plan goes on. I discussed the example of here of Vidura. So, not of Vidura, of Sugriva.
That although there is a terrible misunderstanding, like a GPS, Krishna’s plan was still working, God’s positioning system. And the last was power. That when we go through life, sometimes we may feel that oh, things are all wrong.
But the fact is, things are as they are meant to be. That doesn’t necessarily mean all is right, but even through the wrong, a right purpose is being served. So, I discussed the example of Vidura over here.
Vidura, at one level, the way Duryodhana dealt with him was wrong. The way Dhritarashtra dealt with him was wrong. But through their dealings, Krishna was active and that was right.
So, now, things may be wrong at one level, but at another level, things are not wrong. Krishna’s plan is working and things are right. And what happened we discussed, that for Vidura at that time, what was wrong, he could not fix it.
So, he accepted it. And things are wrong, he walked away from there. But eventually, what happens for us, sometimes our Kshetra might be small, sometimes our Kshetra might become large.
So, we discussed when Vidura later came back, Duryodhana was no longer in the life of Dhritarashtra, his words had it back. So, Prabhupada gave us Prabhupada, when he was alone, nobody seemed to take his message seriously. It is not that he was miserable and unhappy, everything is wrong.
Now, this is also Krishna’s plan going on. So, understanding Krishna’s power, that Krishna is the source of all power and sometimes within his plan, my power may be less, sometimes my power may be more. So, I accept that and we stay connected with Krishna.
In this way, the understanding, the sense of that, let me say that, when we understand the presence, we get peace, when we understand the purpose, we get a sense of direction, we feel purposeful, we feel inspired. There is something for me to do also. And we understand that Krishna is the source of power, we get acceptance.
Acceptance that when my role is small, I’ll accept the small role. When my role has become big, when my Kshetra has become, I’ll accept the responsibility over there. And so, whatever situation, Krishna, you put me in, I will accept the role of serving you within that.
And this way, by hearing this, Arjuna becomes empowered. That Arjuna has put aside his bow saying, I can’t fight. By the end of the Gita, he has raised his bow in readiness to fight.
So, what happens to Arjuna also applies to all of us. Just like Arjuna was a chariot, our body is like a chariot. And Krishna is as the Paramatma with us.
So, life may make us, like Arjuna, putting aside a bow, I just can’t do it, I’ve had enough, I quit. But no, by hearing the Gita’s message, by understanding Krishna’s presence, purpose and power, we can also become inspired like Arjuna, to face whatever life throws our way. Thank you very much.
Shri Krishna Bhagwan Ki Jai. Are there any questions or comments? Shri Krishnaji, thank you very much for such a hope-giving class. Sorry, I’m apologising from the onset if I’m not able to articulate my question well.
But as you mentioned here, on the fourth stage, we understand our Kshetra and power. Sometimes in hindsight, it’s easier to understand it was Krishna’s plan, indeed, and that worked out well. But in foresight, when we try to live our life and plan things in certain ways, so how far do we push our Kshetra and when do we know it is the right time to give up or accept things as they are? Yeah.
So, if we are in a situation where we are very restricted, how much should we push against the situations and try to expand our Kshetra? Yeah. Now, I can tell some principles. Ultimately, each one of us has to make our decision.
The first is what is in the past that we accepted that it’s Krishna’s plan. That wherever we are, that we can’t change the past. Now, we can accept it with a sense of resignation or frustration.
Oh, I should have done like that. I should have taken this job. I should have done this, not done.
Answer this question this way. But no. That we may have taken a wrong turn but even through that wrong turn, Krishna can bring out some good.
So, come to we cannot practise bhakti effectively unless we come to peace with our past. If we are constantly resenting our past. Oh, this person mistreated me like this.
I made a mess of my life like this. You know, that is, okay, yes, maybe we may feel I should have come to bhakti much earlier when I was younger. Why did I take so much time? You know, it’s good to think like that but don’t think that Krishna’s plan is not working.
Maybe we had to go through some experiences so that we evolved to a particular level of consciousness where we could break up bhakti. We don’t know that. So, don’t resent the past.
Come to peace with the past. That’s very important. You know, my mother helped me to do that with respect to my polio.
When I was one, I was given a defective vaccine, polio vaccine. It was kept in the fridge which its temperature had got up and germs had increased so when I got the vaccine I got polio because of that instead of preventing polio. Now, I don’t remember that but overall I don’t remember ever feeling much resentful about my polio.
Yes, I need crutches for walking but for me my crutches are like my glasses. I can’t see very well without glasses but it’s no big deal. Put on the glasses and move on with life.
Pick up crutches and move on with life. And one reason I don’t have that resentment is one thing my mother said when I was about two and a half or three. She didn’t tell it to me.
She told it to a distant relative who had come to visit us and she was consoling my mother saying it’s so sad your son got polio. And my mother said whatever he lacks physically God will provide him intellectually. So now the point is that we may or may not have had somebody to remind us like that.
But we have to come to peace with our past. That whatever has happened no matter how bad Krishna’s plan is working. So we come to peace with our past.
Not a resentful peace because I can’t change it so I accept it. No. However it was Krishna will work through it.
Krishna will bring some good out of it. I don’t know how it will be. It is a graceful peace rather than a resentful peace.
As much as possible. Now after that when it comes to our present. So in general we are all meant to endeavour.
A tiger or a lion is a powerful animal but that doesn’t mean a deer is going to come in its mouth. That actually we attain success only by endeavour. So we are all meant to endeavour.
So the present we could say is the domain of endeavour for us. Now how much do we endeavour? The nectar of instruction talks about The Gita also says So endeavour we are all meant to endeavour in life. Arjuna endeavoured.
He had archery talent but he practised his archery tirelessly. That’s important. But the endeavour should not be disproportionate.
What does disproportionate mean? That endeavouring we all act in various areas. So for example we have our family, we have our job, we have our health, we have our spirituality, we have our bhakti. So now the endeavour in one area should not become so consuming that it pulls us out of all other areas.
That say in my job I am not growing. I want to grow. But I become so consumed with my job that people become workaholics.
And sometimes the word workaholic is used in a positive sense. It’s not actually positive. It’s almost like an intoxication.
The work becomes the only identity of the person. They neglect their family, they neglect their health and they may succeed professionally but they will be just completely lonely. So we need to endeavour in every area of life.
But the endeavour in one area should not pull us out of all the other areas of life. Say if one relationship is not working for us. Maybe a friend or a relative or a significant other is it’s not working.
Say if the husband and wife have a problem they have to deal with that. But that does not mean they take it out on their child. You know this, I want to fix this and I will try to fix this.
But that does not mean that I will not be available for my child or I will not be available for my other roles. So that understanding that endeavour in certain times one particular area may require more endeavour. No doubt.
If you have a big deadline in our company then we have to work more. We have to neglect some other areas. That’s okay.
But if every day somebody else says I have to work for 16 hours, 18 hours or something like that. That’s not a sustainable way of functioning. So we have to endeavour to fix things in our various areas.
So disproportionate endeavour means that it is disruptive or destructive of other areas in life. So don’t endeavour to that extent. Krishna says dharma aviruddho bhuteshu kamosmi.
Now kama is sometimes translated as sex that is sex desire. But kama also means ambition. So we all can have ambition but ambition should not go against dharma.
There are ethical boundaries. There are boundaries of morality and responsibility. In pursuing ambition in one area, we don’t violate boundaries.
Like say we all want our children to do well in school. And say a child is not doing very well and one day the child comes back and says that hey mummy I came first in class. Wonderful.
How did you do that? I wanted to please you so I did it. How wonderful. How did you do that? You know, I hacked my teacher’s computer, I got the whole paper and I got full marks.
That’s not the way I wanted you to come first. So with ambition the kama should not go against dharma. So that is the second part.
Thank you. Thank you again. It’s so fortunate a spiritual genius like you come and make these concepts so simple.
In fact, we were discussing this the other day. It’s not related to this. This is your daily wisdom from third chapter.
You summarised it, chapter summary. The two aspects of it. One is that no matter what you have to set an example because others follow like King Janaka and the rest.
That makes sense. The other thing which is quite relevant to book Marathan which is coming up now, where you say that you’ve got Krishna and therefore you quite lucidly have explained the saying that those who are not, I’m paraphrasing it, those who are not ready for consciousness or something which is higher obviously don’t disturb them in their own natural habitats if you like. But when you’re going to book this vision now, which is kind of relevant, keep on there.
So any words of wisdom there? Yes. So, when the Gita says that we should not disturb others minds, 3.26 na buddhi-bhedam janaye agyanam karmasanghina, joshya sarva-karmani vidvan-yukta-samaja. So when we go out to distribute books.
No, we are not letting people live their lives comfortably. We are trying to give Krishna to them. So is that disruption? Not necessarily.
If you look at what Krishna is saying in this verse is that there are two levels. There are, there’s a level of the level of people who are vidvan, who are wise and who are yukta. They are spiritually connected.
In terms of intelligence and action vidvan and yukta. And the opposite is na buddhi-bhedam janaye agyanam. Agyanam is ignorant.
And there is agyanam karmasanghinam. So karmasanghi is attached. So there are attached ignorant people and there are wise and connected people.
So now if we to some extent are here and there’s somebody who is here. Now we would like people to rise to the well connected spiritual level. But sometimes it may happen that when we want people to rise all the way up here that may become too much for them.
It becomes too much that they try to go up and they end up going further down. So for example, say somebody is worshipping Ganesh. We tell them, oh you worship only Krishna.
And we quote shastra and they go and talk with their relatives and they find this shloka says Ganesh is supreme and this shloka says Krishna is supreme and they say that this whole religion business is very confusing. So better I become an atheist. Then what has happened is we have ended up doing a disservice.
So when somebody is at a particular level we want to elevate them from that level to a higher level. If they cannot come to a higher level right away. Most people are here Indians from a Hindu background more or less.
So there is only one country in the world where ISKCON is officially banned and that is Singapore. And the reason it happened is that when our devotees, first generation devotees mostly westerners, they came to Singapore and the devotees were welcoming the people over there. Hinduism is an officially recognised religion.
And the Hindus were very impressed, oh these western people are practising bhakti. They invited them to temples to give classes. And there were Ayyappa temple and Ganesh temple and Kartikeya temple and in those temples our devotees started saying, oh that Alpameethas are less intelligent than worshipping devtas.
And that created such a disturbance for them. They told the government that these people are disturbing our religious faith and the government banned us. So now if we are going to their forum we have to speak a message that is acceptable for them.
No Hindu will say Krishna is not God. The problem is not that Krishna is God. The problem is Krishna alone is God.
Now we have to be incremental. Instead of, it’s just not proper etiquette. If we go to somebody else’s organised forum and criticise their beliefs over there.
That, if they are providing us a forum then we have to present in a way that is acceptable for them. So if I am invited for Ganesh puja kind of programmes then I glorify Lord Ganesh talk some life lessons from him and then I talk about how Ganesh’s signature contribution is that he offered his own task to write the Mahabharata. And in the Mahabharata is the Bhagavad Gita.
So this is a labour of love, this book that has been written. So let us read that book. And when they read that book they will get higher truths.
So the point is that we need to create incremental pathways with steps that people can get to the higher level. And different people may require different degrees of steps also. So some people may rise up, it will be bahunam janmanam ante.
But you will see that actually Srila Prabhupada himself if you see amongst Srila Prabhupada’s followers, there were Srila Prabhupada’s disciples who just gave their life to Krishna. They left everything and came to Krishna. But Srila Prabhupada also had life members.
The life members did not become dedicated followers. Very few of them became initiated. But they did a lot of service at that particular time.
And Prabhupada created a place for them. So that when we go for distributing books certainly we want to open the door for people to come to a higher level. And that’s what we are doing.
But we don’t have to disrespect or insult their beliefs at that time. Now if they have some other conception, we don’t have to criticise their conception at that particular time. We can just find some common ground and encourage them to dive deeper.
And end the interaction on a positive, favourable note. So to create a disturbance means what? That everybody has some worldview which makes some sense for them. Now it’s like somebody is somebody is very poor and they are on the streets, they are homeless and they are having a very thin torn, tattered kind of cloth with which they are protecting themselves from cold.
And we tell them, you know, I’ll give you this thick comforter. Just take this. Throw away your tattered sheet and I’ll give you the comforter.
Now that tattered sheet is the only relief from cold that they have experienced. If they don’t know how the comforter feels, they may not be ready for it. And if we try to pull that sheet away from them, they will fight against us with their life itself.
So whatever the worldview that person may have, their worldview is like that cloth that is helping them make some sense of life. Giving them some protection from the chilling cold of an utterly meaningless life. So what we need to do is not pull away the cloth that is sheltering them right now.
Rather, that cloth might be there, we can put the comforter on top of it. That means give them an opportunity to experience Krishna. Give them an opportunity to understand Krishna’s wisdom.
They don’t need to confront and confound, confuse or confound them right now. There is a time that is required but the appropriate time will come. So don’t disturb people’s mind being that we should not, we should not act in a way that pushes people away from Krishna.
We may want to push them toward Krishna but we push so much that we push them away from Krishna. So that’s what we should not do. Thank you for that question.
Hare Krishna. In the past, I would think of that as a compliment. Now I see it as a matter of concern.
My question really is that how do you resist the, I suppose, you know, because intelligence and knowledge is one of the vibhutis. You have said vibhuti in search form is abundance. How do you resist the temptation of suppose becoming proud? You probably don’t have the temptation and maybe I’m being ignorant thinking like that but okay, I’ll put the question this way.
Anyone who has that intelligence and they are trying to use it right now, how would you advise not to fall in that trap of thinking of how amazing I am? Okay. Well, if you have intelligence, how do we avoid pride? Any idea? Well, I think that first of all, it’s not that I don’t have pride. All of us have struggling with that.
We have the struggle. But, see, I talk about three different levels. First, I’ll talk at a philosophical level.
See, we often think that there is ego and the opposite of that is humility. We should not be proud. We should be humble.
Well, there is truth to that but actually there are three factors involved not two. One side is ego. The other side is insecurity.
And in between is humility. So, ego is I know everything. I can do everything.
Basically, I am God. That is Mayavada. Insecurity is I know nothing.
I can do nothing. I am nothing. That is Shunyavada.
So, in between is Mamai Vamsho Jeevaloki. I am something and I can do some things. So, many times when we tell people don’t be proud what happens is it’s an important thing, don’t be proud but if we don’t differentiate between humility and insecurity we end up creating insecurity in others.
Creating a sense of worthlessness. Nobody is worthless. Everyone is precious for Krishna.
So, humility is I am something and I can do some things. So, we want humility. We don’t want ego but we don’t want insecurity also.
And many people who seem to have a lot of ego in my observation actually their ego is a mask to conceal their insecurity. That if I don’t put on this facade, if I don’t put on these airs, nobody will notice me. Nobody will respect me.
And so, it’s not a very pleasant situation to be oscillating between these two, ego and insecurity. So, humility is not insecurity. Now, having said this that having said this in general Krishna has his ways to keep us humble if we become proud.
So, for me, my challenge is that I am too intellectual for most people. What I mean by that is that see, nothing in this world is a is a pure blessing. Every blessing comes with a burden and every curse comes with a chance.
So, being intellectual is good to some extent. But many devotees tell me aapko class sunta ho to dimaag se dua aata hai. Yeah, you know that? Hear your class, my head starts smoking.
It is so much work for them. So, I asked my spiritual master Radhanath Maharaj people tell me my classes are very intellectual. But I told him Maharaj, I am not intentionally intellectual.
It’s just the way I think. It’s not that I am deliberately looking for more difficult words to use. I think of those words.
I told Maharaj, it’s very difficult for me to change. So, Maharaj said you don’t have to change yourself. Maharaj said that if Gaur Gopal Prabhu tries to be intellectual like you, it won’t work.
If you try to be humorous like Gaur Gopal Prabhu, it won’t work. And Maharaj himself is so humble, so disarming. He said that as far as I am concerned I am neither intellectual like you nor humorous like Gaur Gopal Prabhu.
So, I said, Maharaj whatever abilities we have it is by your mercy. Maharaj was grave and he said Krishna has gifted me with deep concern for others. And with that concern in my heart whatever I speak it seems to inspire concern for others.
So, Maharaj told me you don’t have to change yourself but increase your concern for others. And I wondered what that meant. How do I increase my concern for others? So, I started actually travelling outside India and doing international outreach from 2014.
So, I re-heard some of what I consider my best classes. This was about 2019, 2020 just before the pandemic. I am in this meeting with Maharaj.
So, I heard some of my classes to see to try to understand how can I show more concern for others. And those were my classes but I had to pay full attention to understand what I was saying. Some of the points I remembered, some of the points I had forgotten but why am I saying this point after this point? What is this example for? How is this linked? And then I realised that it’s so difficult for me to understand, how much more difficult it will be for my audience to understand.
That’s when I started exploring how can I make things more easier to understand. So, then I started making PowerPoints for all my classes. I made almost like 2000 PowerPoints or something like that in that time.
The pandemic. But then I found it very restrictive because PowerPoint means you have to you have to speak only what is in the slide. And it does not leave room for spontaneity or creativity in the moment.
So, then over a period of time I discovered this method of writing and drawing. So, here I can be creative and I can whatever I am speaking, I can illustrate that. So, this has worked quite well for me.
Many devotees tell me now that we understand your classes a little bit more now. So, then I told Maharaj about this. It has been a big help.
This tool has been a very big help for me. Maharaj told me it’s good, but don’t let the tool blind you to the principle. Principle is that have concern for others.
So, I think that fact that my classes were intellectual was not really helping me fulfil my purpose. My purpose was to help people understand. So, in that sense, like some devotees may be brilliant kirtaniers, but sometimes their kirtan, they sing the Hare Krishna mantra in such a complicated tune that that kirtan is not a participation.
It’s just a performance. They sing and we can just hear. It’s nice in some ways to see their musical ability, but then kirtan is meant to be participated.
Isn’t it? So, I think what has helped me to some extent is to keep the purpose in mind that our purpose is not just to show off our intelligence. The purpose is to ourselves go closer to Krishna and others go closer to Krishna. So, if we keep that in mind, it becomes easier.
now one thing is that Krishna gives us abilities, but Krishna gives all of us limitations also. And remembering our limitations alone. See, if we remember only our abilities, it’s easy to become ego.
But if we remember only our inadequacies, it’s very easy to start feeling insecure that we all have areas in which we are not good at. So, for me, it’s music. I tried to learn kirtan and there’s a devotee who was teaching me, he taught me for a few weeks and he said, you can have this as a next lifetime project.
So, now what we need to do is we have to ourselves manage that balance that how much should I remember my abilities and how much should I remember my inadequacies so that I can maintain my humility. Too much in either direction is not healthy. Thank you very much.
So, quick announcement. I already talked about this book Prayers Inspired by Bhagavad Gita. There are 122 prayers in this book.