Learning from Dhritarashtra – Does destiny make us or do we make it – 2?

[Seminar at ISKCON, Perth, Australia]

Video:

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. Thank you for coming today evening. Am I audible behind? So I’m speaking on a two part seminar series on destiny.
Do we make destiny or does destiny make us? Lessons from Dhritarashtra. So before I move forward, I’d like to know how many of you were there yesterday? OK, so more than 50 percent. Can you raise one’s hand once again, please? OK, thank you.
It’s almost 50 percent there, 50 percent not there. So I’ll summarise what I spoke yesterday and then I will move on. Yesterday, I talked about how in the life of Dhritarashtra, before the Kurukshetra war happened, when he was saying, oh, this war is destined, what can I do? So Vidura told him that destiny determines the results of our actions, not our actions themselves.
And Vyasadev told him, what is destiny is very difficult to know. Focus on what is your duty. And after the war was over and his sons were killed, at that time, Vyasadev told him, O king, do not lament.
This war was destined. So was the war not destined before it happened and became destined after it happened? What exactly is destiny? So we discussed how in the course of our life, we sometimes face situations where factors beyond our control determine the results, no matter how much we try. So we may plan a career in a particular field, but if the global economy changes, no matter how well we are prepared, we might just not get a job.
What to speak of a promising career? We are like in an ocean and we can swim or row our boat. But if giant waves come from the opposite direction, we will be swept aside. So the factors in our control are our endeavour, which is our duty to do.
But the factors beyond our control comprise destiny. And acknowledging, acknowledging that there’s something beyond our control helps us focus on that which is in our control. So I talked about an equation involving four Ds.
Does anyone remember that? Yes. Yes. Duty plus destiny plus duration leads to a desired result.
Karma plus daiva plus kala leads to the phala. So I give two examples of farmers ploughing a field and sowing the seeds. That’s their duty.
Rains coming is destiny. The season changing to the harvesting point is the duration. And then finally, the harvest coming is the fruit.
Similarly, with respect to a man and woman trying to conceive a child. So now before the war happened, it was in Dhritarashtra’s control. Whether he endeavours to stop the war or he doesn’t.
After the war is over, it is gone now. It’s no longer in his control. So therefore, as they told him, now it is destiny.
So the simple way to understand destiny is the things which are beyond our control are destiny. And for all of us in our life, if we learn to focus on the things in our control, that’s how we can do something positive. But Dhritarashtra, unfortunately, always craved for that which was not in his control.
He was born blind and he couldn’t have a kingdom. But somehow because of that craving, resenting that he didn’t have a kingdom, lamenting that he lost the kingdom or he couldn’t hold on to it, then projecting his desires onto Duryodhana. Because of that, he became unethical.
Going along with Duryodhana’s unethical ways. And he never focused on that which was in his control. Trying to control Duryodhana, trying to reciprocate with the Pandavas, Yudhishthira was more respectful to him.
Although Dhritarashtra was not the father of Yudhishthira, still Yudhishthira was respectful. But he never reciprocated with them. And then concluded by how our expectations in life can sometimes come in the way of our life.
We are here in the life or reality is here and expectations are like the middle man in between. If we give an agent money to construct a house, and the agent keeps taking the money but doesn’t construct the house, we are wasting our money. So similarly our expectations sometimes become like a middle man.
And the greater the gap between the expectation and the reality, the greater is our agitation, the greater is our frustration. Now this gap if we understand is caused by destiny. And we accept that gap.
Then we can focus on the reality and deal with it. If we wanted to exhibit our rowing skills, and we went out in a boat with all our friends and acquaintances and relatives watching. And suddenly a wave came and knocked us out of the boat.
Now there is no boat, there are no oars in our hand. And still we are rowing. We will drown by that.
Now the reality has changed so drastically that we have to swim and get out. So similarly when life changes our situation drastically, at that time accepting that certain things have happened by the will of destiny, helps us recalibrate and deal with the reality as it is. So today I will focus on three related points.
First is that what determines destiny. Second is what all does destiny determine. And within destiny what all can we determine.
So that means, determine seems, if the word repeated use of determine makes you lose your determination to understand. It’s not that complicated. I just like to play with words sometimes.
So what determines destiny means, what is destiny actually? Is it that there is some being out there, cruel, who wants to frustrate us? And that’s destiny. Destiny is simply the sum total of our own past karma. If we consider karma to be like a water tank, all the activities that we do, they will bear some reactions.
And the reactions that come upon us, some reactions may come immediately. If I spill water on the ground and then I put my foot on there and fall. That is my own foolishness that I spilled the water and I fell over there.
So there is, in that case, there is action and there is a reaction, which comes immediately. If I put my hand in fire, my hand burns. That’s an immediate action reaction.
But in some cases, we do an action, but the reaction gets delayed. Just like sometimes we sow seeds, but some seeds may fructify after months or years also. So when we do actions, the reactions get, if the reactions are not coming immediately, then they get accumulated.
If you consider like a karma tank, then all the good actions and the bad actions that we have done in the past, for which we have not got the reactions, they get accumulated in this tank. So in a water tank, say water is going in and water is coming out. So water going in is called the kriyaman karma, the karma that we are doing right now.
The actions that we are doing, they are increasing the karma balance, the karma water level. And we are also getting some reactions. We are also facing some difficult situations, some pleasant situations.
That is the water coming out. And that is how the karma tank is getting depleted. So now all of us have got a combination of good and bad past karma.
And accordingly, there is a combination of good bad results. And based on our own past karma accumulated together, our destiny is formed. So in that sense, we are the makers of our destiny.
We, by our own past actions, have determined what will be there in our destiny for us. And destiny, after we understand this point, that destiny is not some arbitrarily unfair being. The destiny is simply a mechanism by which our own actions are accumulated.
The reactions to our own actions are accumulated and they come upon us at appropriate time as per higher plan. Now that’s what determines destiny. Now the second question is what is determined by destiny? So is it that everything in our life is determined? If everything in our life is determined, then that would mean that we are basically like puppets or robots with no free will at all.
Actually speaking, if that were the case, then scripture itself will become meaningless. Scripture tells us do this and don’t do this. If destiny has determined what we are going to do and what we are not going to do, then scripture itself becomes meaningless.
Krishna’s descent to this world becomes meaningless. At a practical level also, we don’t consider all our behaviour to be destined. If suppose somebody suddenly approaches you and slaps you.
Why did you slap me? That was your destiny. And that person is slapping back. This was your destiny now.
So obviously all relationships and all systems of law and justice have an implicit understanding within them that we are accountable for our actions. And that means that our actions are not destined. So we could understand destiny in two different ways.
What is determined by destiny? We can consider destiny to be like a weather forecast. So if we are driving along a particular road, then what kind of weather we are going to meet along the road? Is it going to be stormy, rainy, windy? Is the road going to be slippery? That weather forecast is determined by destiny. Just like weather forecast determines the weather, similarly destiny determines the situations that we will meet in our life.
And thus, it may be that sometimes we may go through bad phases in our life. If you go on a long journey, if you go, then sometimes there may be hot weather, sometimes cold weather. So like that in our life journey, sometimes we have good phases and sometimes we have bad phases.
These are determined by destiny. And in the long run, for most people, in most cases, destiny evens out. When I give talks in colleges or schools, I ask students, how many of you have this experience that you studied very well, studied, worked very hard and studied very hard for an exam, but you didn’t do well in that exam? There are many students here.
Do any of you have this experience? You study, but you don’t do well. We all have this experience. Then I ask, now do you also have the experience that you study a little, but whatever little you study, that comes in the exam and you do well there also.
There are times when we have that experience also. Isn’t it? It happens. It’s like, say, if you consider cricket as a game, as an example.
Sometimes in a cricket match, the umpire gives a wrong decision. The player is out and the umpire declares not out. Or the player is not out and the umpire declares out.
Now, when a batsman is declared out and is not out, the batsman feels it’s very unfair. And sometimes when a player is going through a bad phase, once, twice, thrice, again and again, decisions go against him. He says, I was not out, why have I been given out? But then if we look at the overall career of the player, there are times when he is out and he will be not out also.
So in the long run, things even out more or less. So although destiny can sometimes appear to be unfair, but destiny is not unfair. It is reciprocal.
The actions that we have done, they come to us. So destiny determines the kind of situations that we are going to face in our life. However, destiny also determines one more thing.
See, when we are going on a car, if we are driving, say, cross country, if you’re going from, say, Perth to Melbourne, long, long drive, you’re going, then one thing is you may need to know what kind of weather you’re going to encounter. But another thing that will determine how your journey will be is the vehicle that we have. So destiny also determines the vehicle that we have.
The vehicle is our body. Ishvara Sarvabhutanaam, Rudreshe Arjuna Tishtati, Brahmayan Sarvabhutani, Yantrarudhanimaya Yantrarudhanimaya That this body is like a vehicle and this body is directed by the Ishvara, by the Paramatma, the Krishna And the particular body that we get is determined by our destiny So all of us have a different body Some of us may be fair, some not so fair, some tall, some short Some of a particular race, some of another race, a particular nationality, another nationality Some of us may be healthy, some of us may be sickly All these are variations in the bodily vehicle that we have And these variations are also determined by destiny So if somebody has got a Mercedes Benz And somebody has got a Fiat or a simple car Now both of them can drive But each car will have its own strength or weakness And accordingly their drive will be shaped So for us the situation that we face in our life journey And the vehicle that we have in our life journey These two are determined by destiny At the same time what is not determined by destiny is How we drive the vehicle That driving is up to us So somebody may have a very attractive face But if they are always frowning They are always frowning and glaring Then even the attractive face will look unattractive Somebody may have not so attractive face But if they are cheerfully disposed, they are smiling Even they will look attractive So destiny may determine our face But we determine our expression on the face So it’s up to us What kind of expression will be there on our face Destiny determines what kind of face we have Whether we smile or frown that is up to us So in every situation there is always something in our control So what we discussed What determines destiny and what destiny determines Now we are discussing what we determine Destiny puts some limits on us But within that we have free will So in the 9th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, 6th verse Krishna gives an example यथा आकाश्य स्थितो नित्यम् वायू सर्वत्र गोमहान् तथा सर्वाणि भूतानि मत्थानि त्योपधारया So he says just as the mighty wind moves within the sky Similarly the souls move within me The souls are situated within me Now if we compare the sky to an upside down ball Then the sky determines the area within which the air will move The sky doesn’t determine the direction where the air moves The air can move left, right, up, down That’s up to the air But the overall area is determined Similarly for us, it is the will of destiny that gives us a certain framework within which we need to function That framework we can’t change When Indians immigrate to America or any western world But in America it’s quite common So some Indians especially, Indian kids who are born in America They want to be like Americans Indians also want to be like Americans initially But after some time they realise this culture is very different I want to belong to my culture But those who are born in America They want to be more American They want to become like entirely American But they can’t First of all they have brown skin Can’t change that skin So there is an acronym to describe the plight of these people It’s called ABCD ABCD is American Born Confused Deshis So Deshi is an Indian word belonging to a local country So in fact there was a South Indian movie also made by the title ABCD So what happens? They may try to become American Somebody might adopt American mannerism Somebody might start using American accent But they can’t become American In the sense that they have a particular body The bodily complexion, the bodily colour That is going to be the same So we have a certain restriction which we can’t remain I was given a talk in America in a hospital And there they had a plastic surgery department And it has the dubious record of having this one person Who has done something like 63 plastic surgeries on his nose To try to change the nose so that it will look perfect Now a nose in a nose you know what you do You can change it a little bit But how much amount of money to spend on doing plastic surgery If it is broken we have to fix it But somehow try to keep changing You can’t change much So there are certain things which are limited So we all operate within certain limitations But just because we operate within those limitations Doesn’t mean that we don’t have freedom The air has freedom within the area of the bowl Within the area of the sky Similarly within our limitations we do have freedom So to the extent we focus on using this freedom properly To that extent we can create a brighter future for ourselves There are two different concepts over here We are discussing what all is in our control What all can we determine So here to discuss this I will talk about two concepts There is free will and there is freedom The two are not the same thing Free will is internal Freedom is external Even a person in a jail has free will But the person in the jail does not have freedom Their movement is restricted They have to stay in the jail In the past there was slavery in the world The slaves also have free will But they don’t have freedom So free will is internal which you always have Freedom is the external facility to exercise that free will And now complicating this issue a little bit more I talked about how there is the externals Which are determined by destiny in terms of the weather forecast What kind of situations we are going to meet in our life And internal also I said the vehicle we have is also determined by destiny So by our destiny we may have a particular disposition Some of us may be more emotional Some of us may be more rational Some of us may be a little more short tempered Some of us may be more prone to get depressed easily Some of us may be very sensitive If somebody speaks one harsh word we just find it unbearable So all of us have a particular nature This nature is the result of our destiny And nature is not just bad it is also positive Some kids they come to a temple, they come to a kirtan And they pick up a kartal and they start playing And nobody needs to teach them to pick it They get the music and they start playing it Some kids are just brilliant at maths They are prodigies Some people they come to a house As soon as they look at the house They come into the home and they say You move this picture here, you move this sofa here You change the colour of this curtain You put this bed over here, it will look very attractive And somebody has been staying in that house for one year They couldn’t figure that out So all of us by our destiny also have certain strengths So destiny as I said it doesn’t just give us negatives By destiny we have positives also So to the extent we understand our positives And tap our positives And to the extent we become aware of our negatives And beware of them So if somebody has a tendency to be short tempered Then they have to be aware of that And they have to make sure, take precautions So that they don’t explode on others But somebody has a particular talent Then they need to use it properly And for using it properly Self observation is needed When the Pandavas won the hand of Draupadi In the Mahabharata At that time they were dressed like Brahmanas Because they had fled from the Varnavar palace Where an attempt had been made to burn them alive And while escaping they had to stay incognito They had taken on the garb of Brahmanas Now naturally Drupada, the father of Draupadi Wanted to know Who are these people Who is this young man who got the hand of my daughter So he invited the Pandavas to his palace For a feast And when they came he received them And invited them, please come and sit in this room It is a big hall He said I will be back in a few minutes And then they sat in the hall On the other side of the hall there was a long table And on that table in one corner There were various scriptures The Vedas, the Puranas, all these books were there Then next to that In another pile, little separation There were various weapons Bows, arrows, spears, maces Then there was agricultural equipment There were ropes, ploughs And other things used for farming And then there were some artisan tools So basically there were There was the paraphernalia associated with Brahmanas Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras And as the Pandavas sat in the room They looked around each other And they all looked at the table And they all got up and went straight to the weapons And they picked up the weapons Arjuna picked up an arrow Bhima picked up a mace Yudhishthir picked up a spear Nakula picked up a sword Sahadev picked up a saddle He was an expert horseman And they all started talking, comparing This bow is very good This mace is not that good That mace is good And within moments they were lost deep in discussion About the various weapons And Drupada was from behind the door Watching with his son Dhrishtadyumna And as he saw them Deeply immersed in discussion about the weapons He started smiling They are not Brahmanas They are Kshatriyas They are Kshatriyas So you know Actually although they were devotees But their nature was Kshatriya So naturally they were attracted to weapons So basically We all have certain strengths And if we note consciously If we note consciously What we notice automatically Then we can understand our strengths There are some things which we notice automatically Some people they come into a room And immediately they notice This colour is good This colour is not good This colour is nice So what we notice automatically If we note that Note consciously Then that gives an indication This is my strength This is my interest This is where I am good at One of my main services is writing So I am quite conscious of words So whenever I come into any room I become like a self appointed proofreader Looking at everything in the room If I see a beautiful picture of Krishna also Somehow below I will look at the caption first And then if any spelling is there I will get agitated Spelling mistake is there So that is just the way My body mind is wired So all of us by destiny Our body mind is wired in a particular way And if we understand that Then we can make the best use of whatever gifts we have Unfortunately instead of noting What we notice automatically We keep noting what the world notices That means what is glamorised in society And we keep craving for those things If I could be like this If I could be like that If I could be like that And that way we often feel inferior We feel insecure Because we are comparing ourselves Based on a standard In which we may not be endowed But that doesn’t mean we are not endowed We also have our gifts But we just need to discover those gifts So when we go through life At that time If we learn to accept ourselves Okay this is the vehicle I have Let me see what are the strengths of this vehicle And let me understand what are the limitations of this vehicle Then we can function properly A lot of people face depression And depression itself can sometimes be a clinical condition That requires treatment But quite often depression results Because of just persistent negative thinking Actually when we feel angry When that anger is expressed outwards That leads to aggression or violence But when that anger is directed inwards Then that leads to we beat ourselves up Why am I so foolish? Why can’t I do this? Why am I like this? And that beating ourselves up It can be very damaging That can lead to self-loathing People start disliking themselves People start having lot of negative feelings about themselves And yes we all have limitations We have to acknowledge those limitations But there is no need to feel negative about them Focus on the positives and move on So if we understand them by destiny There are some things in my life which are the way they are I can’t change them So let me look at what are the positives and how I can change them Even the negatives we can decrease them It’s not that we can’t decrease them But we have to accept where I am So Dhritarashtra by destiny was blind But his real problem was not his physical blindness His real problem was his metaphysical blindness Metaphysical blindness means that He always remained blind to life’s metaphysical side To understanding his own spirituality To understanding that the opportunity for spiritual growth Was always there for him Even if the opportunity for political growth Had been taken away from him Politically he could not become the king But that didn’t mean that he couldn’t grow spiritually So because of his physical blindness Was aggravated by his metaphysical blindness That is how he ended up in big trouble And finally he did become enlightened But when was that? After all his sons were killed And then Vidura came and spoke Strong words to him Vidura said you tried to kill the Pandavas You stood by, you sat passively while their wife was being dishonoured And yet now you are living at the mercy of those very Pandavas Bhima Pavarjitam Pindam He says that you are eating like a household dog Is given the remnants of the food After people have eaten in the house Like that you are eating the remnants of the food that Bhima has left That is not true Here it is not like that Actually this should offer him great respect But the point was that the whole kingdom It was the Pandavas’ kingdom And he was living on that So now Vidurashtra had Had a special resentment or anger towards Bhima Because Bhima had killed all his sons So of course the sons had done misdeeds Because they got their worthy punishments Fair punishment But the point was he felt He felt quite resentful about Bhima And that’s why when Vidura spoke this He got This is what I am doing Sometimes we get so caught in the stupor In the hallucination created by the mind That we don’t even realise what we are doing And somebody has to come and speak harsh words And show to us what we have become What are you doing in your life? What are you producing? He said you are not producing anything in your life except cough You are just growing old You are vomiting mucus And you are going to die soon What are you doing with your life? At that time Vidurashtra got jolted And then he left the world He left the kingdom to which he had been attached for so long And he sought self-realisation And by Vidura’s guidance He attained success So Vidura The Dhrashtra Had to lose everything Before he lost his attachment He had to lose all his sons And to lose all the dreams that he had Then finally he gave up his attachment But it doesn’t have to be like that He did focus at that time finally by Vidura’s guidance On what was in his control His sons He being blind It was not in his control His sons Turning evil He couldn’t control that His sons Conspiracies to kill the Pandavas Failing he couldn’t control that The war happening and his sons dying He couldn’t control that But finally he could control What? What he did So By Vidura’s guidance He was able to attain Spiritual elevation Despite whatever he had done in the past Similarly for us We all have limitations And the nature of the mind is That often it makes us feel sorry for ourselves This didn’t work out in my life This doesn’t happen like that Why is this person like this? Why is this like this? And because of that When we keep feeling sorry for ourselves We don’t do anything practical To deal with situations We just internally keep beating ourselves up But when we understand that destiny has its role in life While we also have our role in life That we can do certain There are certain things in our control Then we can become more proactive More responsible in making our choices So I’ll conclude with An analysis of when we face difficulties Which may come for whatever reason How do we deal with them? Yesterday I mentioned this briefly in question and answers When we face an unpleasant situation When we face an adversity Then there are broadly Three ways in which we can deal with it Tolerate Mitigate Or emigrate So if we come to a place which is very cold If we go to Melbourne or Sydney or somewhere Extremely cold And then we are not able to bear it Then if that’s where our job is That’s where our life is That’s where our family is Then we have to learn to tolerate it If we can’t tolerate somehow Then we have to mitigate it Get as many warm clothes as possible As necessary Have proper heating in our home, in our car And try to counter the situation If we can’t do that Then emigrate I have to go to some other place where the weather is more conducive The Pandavas also did all these three things Initially when the Kauravas were performing atrocities They tried to poison Bhima They tried to burn the Pandavas alive This is a family issue, don’t make it a big issue Just keep it in the family They tolerated it But when Draupadi was dishonoured At that time a line was crossed And even after the Pandavas went to the exile And stayed there for 13 years Even after that The Kauravas refused to give them their fair kingdom back And not only that, the Kauravas far from being reformed Were not even remorseful Just arrogant Then the Pandavas decided this cannot be tolerated It has to be mitigated And they fought a war for that purpose The Pandavas did not fight to attain revenge They fought to establish Dharma Dharma samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge Krishna descends to establish Dharma And Krishna used the Pandavas in his mission for establishing Dharma And eventually when Krishna departed from the world The Pandavas also emigrated They also renounced the world So for all of us When difficulties come in our life At that time All these three options are open for us Now which option we choose That depends on what can help us To best serve Krishna in that situation In general If you consider tolerate, mitigate or emigrate The tolerate option focusses on inner change Just deal with it Just tolerate it Whereas mitigate and emigrate focus on outer change In general eastern cultures Which are more traditional India, China They focus more on inner change Western cultures focus more on outer change Why tolerate? Mitigate Or just move away Now all these approaches Whether inner change or outer change They have their strength and their weaknesses When we focus too much on inner change only We just learn to tolerate it Then we may end up becoming passive And we may end up letting people become abusive To some extent Of course this is a complex political issue Political, economical, historical issue But to some extent a small number of Britishers Were able to rule India for so long Why? Because Indians were more passive Just learned to tolerate it When Indians had to arise against the Britishers The Britishers couldn’t stay for long So if there is too much passivity Then the result is that We may let abusers become abusive On the other hand The western culture focusses too much on external change And when there is too much focus on external change Then that causes instability That leads to lack of continuity Lack of commitment Something doesn’t work, just change it And this overemphasis on external change Is one reason why The family structure in the western world is breaking down Because when people have difficulties in relationships Why should I tolerate it? Just go, just end it all Just separate So when we focus too much on external change When we don’t learn to tolerate Then there is no stability left There is no stability left Either we try to change the situation Or just try to go to a different situation So all of us Based on our particular situations We may have to choose which option to take But the important thing is We have to understand that I am a soul who is meant to serve Krishna So how best can I serve Krishna In the situation that I am in right now So sometimes By tolerating I may be able to move forwards Okay, this is a small thing What does tolerance mean? Tolerance means That we keep small things small So that we can focus on the big things Suppose say we are We are travelling in a local train in India Say in a place like Mumbai The local train has a capacity of The coach has a capacity of 50 And 250 people are squeezed in And then as they are squeezed in Say there is some person who is like a bully And we are standing And that person starts pushing us Who do you think you are? I’ll push you back And we push them back He pushes us back We push him back And as we get so caught in pushing That our station comes and goes and we are still pushing That is ridiculous Okay, you want to push? Okay, I’ll just move aside It’s a small thing Where we stand in the train It’s a short journey So tolerance means To keep small things small So that we can focus on the big things The big thing is I want to get to my destination Where I stand Okay, you think you are stronger than me? Okay, I have that satisfaction I don’t care What difference does it make? In the big scheme So tolerance means to keep small things small So that we can focus on the big things But suppose That person starts pushing us out of the train itself Then we can’t tolerate You want to push? You can push No, at that time we have to take a stand We have to protest We have to do something else at that time So Why do we protest at that time? Why do we oppose? Because at that time What he is doing is Stopping us from doing the big thing The big thing is to get to our destination If he doesn’t allow us to get to our destination only Then tolerance That’s not tolerance That’s impotence It is being powerless So Shrila Prabhupada writes in the 10th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita Parpod That intelligence means To see things in their proper perspective Things in their proper perspective means This is more important This is less important And how will we evaluate this? That is based on our purpose If we are just driving for fun Just a casual ride for sightseeing Then we see a park We may spend an hour over there We see a good movie theatre We may spend 3 hours over there We might just see a shopping mall And spend an hour or two over there But if we are actually going for a meeting Then we may still see the shop We still see the park The movie theatre The shopping mall But we may not spend much time there Why? Because that is more important So purpose provides us perspective To the extent our purpose is strong To that extent we will be able to decide This is more important This is less important So for us If we have only material purposes in our life Then some situations may become unbearable If somebody’s only purpose of life Is to become wealthy Wealth is an important part of life But wealth is not the sole purpose of life Becoming wealthy becomes the sole purpose of their life And somehow the economy goes down Or whatever happens And they lose money Then it will be unbearable for them How can they bear it? But wealth is an important part in my life But somehow this has happened So what can I do in this situation? How can I move in this situation? By the will of destiny this has happened What can I do now? We will be able to move forward Facing life’s reversals If we can understand that We have a bigger purpose Than a material purpose Krishna is always in our hearts And we always have an opportunity to connect with Krishna And to the extent we focus on connecting with Krishna Whether it is through our profession, through our family Through our talents, through our various interests Through our direct practise of bhakti Focus on cultivating a mood of service to Krishna Then whatever situation we will face In that situation Krishna will give us the intelligence How to move forward I will give you the intelligence by which you can come to me So that intelligence is a special blessing of Krishna And I recently met a devotee So this devotee when she was very young She is a Mataji devotee When she was young she got brain cancer And she had nobody else She was a devotee but she had no family members And at that time somehow She just before that had become a devotee And then it was extremely painful and distressing The doctors had very little hope for you to survive But somehow by Krishna’s mercy she survived She survived and then started practising bhakti more seriously She learned various ways in which how to cope with that cancer How to cure herself And then eventually while she was in the hospital She saw that so many people who are in so much pain Although she was in pain So that because of her bhakti She was able to deal with that pain So when she recovered She felt that these people in the hospital are in so much pain Let me go, how can I share Krishna bhakti with them And then she got the inspiration Let me become a chaplain So she did the chaplaincy course And after doing the chaplaincy course Now she goes to hospital Because she has herself been through great sickness And she has seen how bhakti has helped her So she is able to present with authenticity and conviction Bhakti wisdom to people who are in great distress And she was telling me that this particular cancer was a terrible thing which made it happen But through that I actually discovered the passion of my life Now I feel that through chaplaincy I am making a tangible contribution in people’s lives So sometimes by destiny some terrible thing may happen But if we have an attitude of serving Krishna Then Krishna will show us a way And even the bad thing that has happened Krishna will guide us to find some good in that And to move forward Lord Shiva says that in this world great calamities may come upon someone But if in those calamities if somebody remembers the Lord If somebody remembers the Lord Madhusudana Then vipatthau tasti sampatti Adversity will become a prosperity So for us we have this option tolerate, mitigate, immigrate But before that we can have a fundamental attitude, appreciate Appreciate that Krishna is still present with us That Krishna has a plan for our life And that Krishna will bring good out of the bad That destiny may be mechanical but Krishna is personal And through whatever is happening in our life Krishna has a plan for our life And if we focus on trying to serve Krishna to the best of our capacity We will be able to find a path ahead That is Krishna’s promise And bhakti gives us the opportunity to connect with Krishna And realise how Krishna brings good out of the bad that we may face in our life So I’ll summarise I spoke about the theme of how destiny, how to face destiny And today I talked about broadly three things What determines destiny, what is determined by destiny And what we can determine within destiny So what determines destiny? Destiny is like a water tank which has accumulated past karma that we have done And some actions give immediate reactions, some actions give delayed reactions And all the reactions that are delayed, they are accumulated And that determines destiny So destiny is our own actions, not something arbitrary or unfair Now what does destiny determine? If we are going on a journey, then the weather forecast What kind of situation we are going to face in our life journey We may have some bad phases, some good phases, that is determined by destiny And what kind of vehicle we have, the body, mind, machine that we have That is determined by destiny So these things we can’t change much But what we can change is how we drive the vehicle Just as the sky limits the air’s area of movement but not the movement itself Similarly destiny puts some limitation on us But within that limitation we do have the capacity to choose If destiny determined everything then scripture would become meaningless Because scripture tells us do this and don’t do this All relationships, accountability, systems of justice would become meaningless So free will is internal, freedom is external And to the extent we use our free will properly Within whatever limitation also we may have We will be able to create a better future for ourselves So destiny may limit us in some ways We may have particular kind of complexion, particular kind of body, particular kind of mind But destiny also gives us some gifts And by noting consciously what we notice automatically Just like the panda will automatically notice the weapons By that we can understand what our innate talents or interests are And then we can tap them And by destiny we determine our face but we determine the expression on our face Instead of resenting what we don’t have We focus on what we have Then we will be able to avoid negativity and cultivate positivity within us And even if we face bad situations in life In the long run destiny evens out Just like a batsman may be given out when he is not out A batsman may be given not out when he is out also So things work out So we don’t have to obsess over the bad things that sometimes happen within us And then I concluded by talking about When we are facing difficult situations we have broadly three options Tolerate, mitigate or emigrate I discussed about the pandavas, how they did all these three And how do we decide if we emphasise too much on internal change only Then we may become passive and allow others to become abusive But if we overemphasise on external change only Then we will become very unstable and uncommitted And there will be no lasting steadiness in our life So we need a balance And that balance is determined by our service attitude If we understand that Krishna is my goal, I want to serve him And how best can I serve Krishna Then by that attitude Krishna will give us the intelligence to move forwards And so I concluded by how this devotee who got brain cancer But recovered through that and found a whole life as a chaplain thereafter So that sometimes bad things may happen to us But Krishna can bring good even out of the bad So we focus on appreciating Krishna’s presence within us And looking for the opportunity to serve Krishna in whatever situation we may be in So to summarise in one sentence Whatever destiny may bring in our life, different things it may bring So whatever karma may get us to, Krishna will get us through Whatever karma may get us to, Krishna will get us through Thank you very much. Hare Krishna What happens if you put your face in fire? Your face will catch fire Not a very pleasant thing to do.
Please don’t do that Any other questions? Yes please Could it be that a person who is trying to mitigate destiny Their attempt to mitigate destiny is also determined by destiny? Not exactly, the inclination Krishna talks about the inclination is determined by destiny But the action is not determined by destiny That means Krishna talks about say in the Bhagavad Gita He talks about brahmanas and kshatriyas in 18.42-43-44 that section So he says the characteristic of a brahmana is shama, forgiveness Shama, shanti, just if somebody insults, somebody disrespects, just tolerate it, forgive it, move on, be peaceful But in contrast, while talking about the characteristics of a kshatriya It says yuddhe chaapya apalayanam That means if there is a fight, if there is a conflict, the kshatriya will not back down Kshatriya will fight So on one side a brahmana is supposed to be peaceful But a kshatriya is meant to fight And that’s just the innate characteristic of a kshatriya So what does this mean? That when both, when a brahmana is insulted or a kshatriya is insulted Their innate reaction will be different A brahmana is just forget it, no big deal A kshatriya will say how dare you do this It’s not just an insult, it’s whenever they face any conflicting situation A kshatriya’s tendency will be to mitigate A brahmana’s tendency will be to tolerate It’s not necessary that in every situation only one is right and the other is wrong Generally brahmanas are not rulers They are teachers, they are guides So if somebody has done something wrong At an individual level, a person will decide I forgive you I’m not going to press charges, I’m not going to do anything But the justice department which the king is meant to head The justice department can’t operate only on forgiveness There are times when people have done such serious wrongs that they have to be punished So the king has to, sometimes the kshatriyas have to take action aggressively So the kshatriyas are martian guardians of society Sometimes they may have to fight They don’t chicken out from a fight If it’s required they will act aggressively So therefore it’s not that necessarily one is right and the other is wrong But even a kshatriya who is mitigating, kshatriya cannot just be trigger happy Every small conflict they make it into big Kshatriya also has to have a certain level of strategic intelligence Some political savvy and understand which conflicts to take issue with And which conflicts to just let them pass by So basically our inclinations, some people may be more inclined to tolerate And some people may be more inclined to mitigate That is determined by destiny But that doesn’t mean that we are forced to act in those ways We can choose to act in a different way also So when we have an attitude of service to Krishna Then we will be able to better choose Which would be the healthiest course of action for us And that’s why we cannot also, we cannot impose our choice on others I have been tolerating so much for so long, why can’t you tolerate this small thing Well, it doesn’t work like that Because my body, mind, machine may be different and your body, mind, machine may be different So some people, when they feel cold, just can’t bear the cold They have to wear 1, 2, 3 warm clothes And somebody else may just wear one thin cloth and they just don’t feel any cold This person says, you know, I am not feeling cold, why are you wearing so many clothes Don’t feel cold What do you mean don’t feel cold? I am feeling cold, feeling cold is not a choice This is what happens to us So similarly, by our body, mind, machine, the way we, the situation we have We will all have certain inclination, certain ways we feel So just because we feel in a particular way doesn’t mean that we are good or bad That’s just the way we are But just because we feel in a particular way doesn’t also mean that we have to act in that way alone There are two extremes with respect to emotions One is to deny the reality of our emotions Say I am not feeling anything, if you are hurt and say I don’t feel hurt Then that hurt may simply grow inside Just like if I am physically injured and pretend to be tough and say I am not injured Injury may grow So one extreme is to deny the reality of our emotions The other extreme is to make our emotions the only reality Because I feel like this, that’s why I am going to act like this No, even if I feel like this, I have to consider the big picture Consider time, place, circumstance and then act So we acknowledge our emotions And all of us will have certain default emotions coming within us But we also have to consider time, place, circumstance Consider our dharma of service to Krishna and then appropriately choose Any other questions? Arjuna went to ask for the arrows of Bhisma from Duryodhana And he said correctly if I am wrong If you want anything I will give it to you Something like that In one sense he looks very very generous And I am not sure whether he said I want the kingdom Whether he is going to give the kingdom back to him I mean he is so generous in one sense Why he has so much hatred for his I got the question So if Duryodhana was so generous that he was ready to give the Pandavas The five arrows which were meant to kill them Which Bhisma was going to use to kill them Then why was he so hateful? Towards the Pandavas Actually there are many different things going on over here So Duryodhana was a very image conscious person Although he did grievous wrong things He always tried to justify it He tried to put on an image of being a very good person So even when he did not give the Pandavas the kingdom back He did his own mathematical calculation and he said that Actually you did not hide in Cognito for one full year We discovered you before that one year ended Actually they had hidden for one year But there is lunar calendar, solar calendar So he got into some technicalities and tried to say that no So he tried to justify He is not giving the kingdom back also So similarly in this case he considered it a word of honour That in the past when he had been in danger He had promised Arjuna that I will give you some boons So at that time when Arjuna came and asked him for the arrows He gave it to him Now even when Duryodhana said What do you want? If you want the kingdom I will give it to you He knew in his heart that Arjuna would not ask for the kingdom So Arjuna said the time for asking for the kingdom The kingdom did not come here to beg for the kingdom Because the kingdom is our right So he knew the Pandavas would not ask for the kingdom So Kshatriyas did have their code of honour And especially honouring one’s word was considered very important So the Mahabharata depicts characters Who are black, who are white And who are also of various shades in between So Duryodhana is also not depicted in an entirely black way There are moments when he also acts in virtuous ways And Yudhishthira is Dharmaraj But there are times when he also acts in wrong ways So the Mahabharata depicts not just ideal characters but real characters Not people who are totally villainous And not people necessarily who are perfect in every way So that’s why his hatred was there towards the Pandavas Because he wanted the kingdom But at the same time he had a sense of honour Because he had given a specific word to Arjuna So therefore he gave him the arrow when he was asked So the word Duryodhana has a negative meaning So why would anyone give a name like that To their own sons Well that way if you want to ask then All the sons, Dushyasana was there, Vikarana was there All of them we could say they had negative names Well my understanding is that the names are not just negative Dhritarashtra, it is a name between Dhritarashtra One who holds on to the kingdom One who is very attached to the kingdom That is the meaning of Dhritarashtra But in Sanskrit the words are multivalent And the same word can have different meanings in different contexts So Dhritarashtra can mean one who holds on to the kingdom Or it can also mean one who holds the kingdom One who holds the kingdom means one who sustains the kingdom One who is the king who responsibly sustains the kingdom So Dhritarashtra can also have a positive connotation So Duryodhana can mean one who fights in an evil way Duryodhana, another meaning of it could be Sanskrit is a language in which different meanings can come from different words Or same word also And that is not just in Sanskrit but in all languages So Duryodhana can also mean that one who is very difficult to defeat in fighting Dushasana can mean one who is a very bad ruler Or it can also mean one whose rule is very difficult to overthrow So the names can have both good and bad connotations So the important thing is that we recognise that These are not just names which are incidentally given by their parents So ultimately this is a pastime of the lord And the lord guides the characters involved over there From orchestrating the characters involved over there To act in particular ways So when the Kauravas are named, when the various characters are named at that time Then their parents or whoever is involved, the priests who are advised for giving the names They were guided by the super soul to give them names Which would eventually reflect their characteristics So the names were given with a positive connotation But the name also has a negative connotation And eventually they turned out to live more according to the negative connotation than the positive So was it Krishna’s plan that the war occur? And even Dhritarashtra couldn’t stop it? And Dhritarashtra which option did he take? It didn’t seem he took any of the options, tolerate, mitigate, immigrate Actually Dhritarashtra was constantly trying to mitigate He was trying to, he couldn’t mitigate his blindness, that was just unchangeable But he wanted to mitigate and change the situation so that his son would have unchallenged rule And for that he was trying to eliminate the Pandavas So that was, he was, we could say Duryodhana was the active villain And Dhritarashtra was the passive villain But both of them were acting towards that purpose So he was mitigating quite a bit, trying to change the external situation But he was doing it in a adharmic way Now with respect to whether Krishna wanted that war, it’s a difficult question to answer Because at one level we can say That Krishna does come to descend to destroy the demonic But then we also know Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, when Krishna comes to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu He didn’t destroy the demonic people, he destroyed the demonic mentality And Krishna went as Shanti Doodh At that time he did try to change Duryodhana’s mind Persuade Duryodhana to give up his demonic mentality So Krishna even tried that at that time But Duryodhana was not ready to listen So if Krishna anyway wanted the war to take place Then Krishna wouldn’t have gone as Shanti Doodh also But Krishna went as Shanti Doodh So Krishna showed by his actions that he tried his best for preventing the war So one thing is very clear from the Mahabharata See, everything that we speak, it has to be seen in its original context And it has also to be seen in its current context In its current context, if we start saying that the war was Krishna’s will Then it may appear that Krishna is a warmongering God And in today’s world, whenever I go in universities and colleges where Hinduism is taught Many people are extremely uncomfortable with the idea that the Bhagavad Gita was spoken on a war field And some academic scholars equate the Bhagavad Gita’s war setting with the concept of Jihad in Islam Now they say that just as Islam has radicals, Hindus also have radicals Now if you look at the history, yes there can be radicals in every religion That’s just human nature But relatively speaking, Krishna is not talking about war as a specific call for action for all time Almost all the traditional commentators on the Bhagavad Gita, not one of them has recommended that the followers fight wars Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya, they were all living at a time when Islam was ruling India And some of the rulers were quite despotic But none of them used the Bhagavad Gita to say that you should fight against them So I answer that question with respect to, I say that look at the context, look at the content and look at the consequence of the Bhagavad Gita The context is Krishna himself tried to avoid the war The content is there is no hate speech in the Bhagavad Gita There is not a single verse where Krishna says that the Kauravas are so demoniac you’d kill them It’s a completely philosophical book. There is not a single war strategy in the book In fact, after the second chapter, the war is rarely mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita And the consequences throughout the bhakti tradition which is emerged from the Bhagavad Gita, very few people, practically no one has used it to justify war So some devotees say that actually the same Krishna wanted this war to happen and he simply used and everything happened accordingly Well Krishna, the actions of the Mahabharata don’t show that Krishna wanted the war, Krishna tried his best to avoid the war So another way of looking at it could be that there were demoniac people and demoniac people had to be eliminated And therefore the war had to be fought But the point is that it was not Krishna who instigated the war That’s very important to understand Just because something is meant to happen doesn’t mean that God is responsible for it It is the human actors who act in particular ways and that’s why it happens So it’s also if you look backwards towards the whole incident of the Mahabharata, the background, the context Krishna is giving advice to the Pandavas and he is guiding them about how to live peacefully He is not throughout instigating them towards war or anything like that So certainly we have to look at, if you look at the original context of the Mahabharata, Krishna does try to avoid the war He does his very best to avoid the war And if you look at the consequence also, it’s not that the war itself was what Krishna wanted Krishna wanted the adharmic people to either give up the adharma or to be removed So when they refused to give up the adharma, then he removed them But it’s not that, he is not a warmongering God So in that sense we have to be very careful that we don’t say that Krishna was the person who caused the war It is the human actors who acted in demonic ways and because they are not ready to change their ways So then Krishna removed them through the war Does that answer your question? You see the Gita in universal form, where Arjuna sees all those Kauravas are going in the universal form of the God And then Krishna says, I have only killed them, you are just for the name sake So when you read in that reference, it looks like it was just a war Yeah, when we see that all the warriors are going into the mouth of Krishna Then that time it seems that the war was a stand, yes, but that is after the Shantiduta mission When Krishna goes as the peace messenger and Duryodhana rebuffs him completely At that time Krishna speaks to Dhritarashtra and Dhritarashtra says, I have no objection to your proposal but you have to persuade Duryodhana And then Duryodhana refuses to listen, Duryodhana tries to arrest Krishna And then Krishna exhibits his Vishwaroopa and eventually he just leaves from there So at that time he tells the assembly over there, all of you have seen how this arrogant prince has defied everyone Because of his actions now the war has become inevitable So the war was destined but when was it destined? So when Krishna is showing the Vishwaroopa to Duryodhana in the Kaurava assembly There he doesn’t show all the warriors going inside the mouth Krishna actually gives Dhritarashtra the eyes to see his Vishwaroopa also Dhritarashtra doesn’t see the Kauravas dying over there, he just sees the magnificent power of Krishna That means till that point Krishna was giving the Kauravas a chance to reform But when they didn’t, then Krishna, when the war had become inevitable, the war was going to be fought Krishna said The Kauravas have shown by their actions that they are not going to change Then they have to be eliminated In Hindi it is said, Laato ke bhoot baato se nahi maante Now there are some sayings which are non-translatable If I try to translate it, what does it become? The ghosts of kicks don’t learn by words It doesn’t make any sense But Don’t worry So the point is that when the Kauravas showed by their actions that they had absolutely no inclination or intention to change Then the war was inevitable But Krishna made all efforts that he could to try to get the Kauravas to change their inclination and intention So when Krishna is showing Arjuna the Vishwaroopa in the battlefield of Kurukshetra That time we could say that their death is this time Last question? Can good karma not cancel bad karma? Then how does prayaschitta work? Is prayaschitta good karma or what is it? Generally with respect to karma, it is gahana karma no gati Karma is very difficult to understand We often take one set of statements and just absolutise them When we say karma can’t be changed, when that kind of statements come in The point of those statements is that we need to be responsible while making our actions While doing actions, while making our choices But when it is said that the karma can’t be changed Does it necessarily mean that after we have made a mistake we should not try to correct that mistake? Obviously we should If I have made a mistake, now as soon as I realise, let me do course correction And if I do course correction, then the consequences of that mistake will be minimised So if I acknowledge my mistake, if I apologise, if I rectify Then again the reaction will be minimised Say if somebody is caught speeding, somebody goes above the speed limit And then the cop pulls them over Now if they refuse to pull over and keep running Then the penalty may be much more If somebody is just pulled over for the first time And they say, you know, sorry, sorry, this happened or whatever They explain, the cop may let them go also So now it’s not that there are rules But there is also time, place, circumstances to be considered So similarly we don’t have to absolutise these statements Karma is very complicated And sometimes we just take one statement and we absolutise it For example, some people say that the number of breaths that we are going to take is fixed Ok, it’s true, but then in the same tradition from which this statement has come Also comes another statement, also comes a whole branch of knowledge called Ayurveda And the whole purpose of Ayurveda is to increase Ayu Ayu is lifespan So if our lifespan is this trend, then how can the lifespan be increased So the point is that if a person has died In order to accept the death of the person At that time, accept now, life and death are this trend At this particular point, this death has happened, let’s move on in life But when we are living, we have to do what it takes to improve our health So if we have to take the right diet, we do the right exercise We act in a healthier way, that’s within our hands So no need to absolutise any one statement in Karma The only statement if you want to absolutise is That Karma is too complex to be absolutised The basic principle we understand Bhaktivinod Thakur says in his Chaitanya Shiksha Amrut That the basic principle of Karma is That our actions have consequences And therefore we should choose our actions wisely Now specifically which action has what consequence, which consequence can be cancelled Which consequence can’t be cancelled That is too technical for us to know So when we do prayaschitta, when we atone for some wrongdoing What are we essentially doing there We are simply, it’s like if we commit a wrongdoing and we ourselves go and admit Okay, I did this wrongdoing Then quite often even in our man-made system of justice A person who makes a guilty plea Acknowledges and cooperates with the justice system That person will be considered less culpable than a person who keeps running away And evading and escaping and denying Similarly for us also If this is a basic principle of fairness in a man-made system Surely it will be there in the divine system also So if we recognise we have done something wrong and we atone for it Then definitely there will be some minimisation of the reaction for that The purpose of karma is not retribution It is reformation Retribution means you did this wrong, you have to be punished with that wrong By that thing That’s not the purpose The purpose is reformation To help us to reorient ourselves so that we become directed towards Krishna Devoted towards Krishna So if that is happening then retribution itself is not required If reformation is happening then the purpose is not simply to give retribution The purpose is to bring about reformation Does that answer your question? So thank you very much Shri Prabhupada ki Gaur Bhakta Vrindaki Tai Gaur Premanandai Please give a big round of applause to Shri Prabhupada So tomorrow is a big day There are two programmes, one is in the morning and one is in the evening Tomorrow the programme will start at 4.30 here for Madhavati