Let incidental dissatisfaction trigger existential dissatisfaction

[Brahmachari class at ISKCON, Chicago, USA]

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So I will take this verse from the Bhagavatam 1.5.18 tasyaiva hetaho prayate takovido tal labhyate brahmatam uparyadah nalabhyate tal labhyate dukkhavad anyatah sukam kālena sarvatya gabhīraṇaṁ hasā So it says, tasyaiva hetaho, for that purpose alone, prayate takovido, the wise person endeavours for, tasyaiva hetaho prayate takovido nalabhyate brahmatam uparyadah, that which is not attained, nalabhyate, brahmatam, by going, by wandering up and down, uparyadah, tal labhyate sukhavad anyatah dukkham. What do we get over there by such wandering? We get sukhavad, we get happiness, anyatah dukkham, or we get distress. But we should endeavour for that which we will not get by wandering in material existence.
The happiness and distress, kālena sarvatya gabhīraṇaṁ hasā. The happiness and distress will come in its own course by the passage of time. This verse comes in the first cantos, one of the most fundamental conversations, that is the Nārada Vyasa Samvād.
So Vyasa is feeling dissatisfied even after having composed, compiled a phenomenal amount of literature. And he’s wondering, why am I dissatisfied? He’s an intellectual and he has written. Writing is like the joy for intellectuals.
So he’s thinking, I should be satisfied. Now many times in life, we try to achieve something and we fail, and that causes frustration. And it’s difficult to deal with that frustration.
However, that frustration coming from failure can discourage us, disorient us, devastate us also. But actually, far more disorienting is the frustration that comes after success. What do you mean by frustration coming after success? That means we dream of achieving something.
We crave and slave to achieve it. And after we achieve it, we find it is a damn square. We find that it doesn’t satisfy.
We find that it is unfulfilling. And that time, if we had made that as the purpose of our life, and then when one doesn’t get satisfaction in that, when one doesn’t know, what am I living for? What should I? This is what I dreamt for. I achieved it now.
I should be on the summit of happiness. But I climb on the summit and I find there’s a quicksand. So I get sucked in.
I don’t know what to do. So the frustration after success is most disorienting in life. So that is what has happened to Vyasadeva.
He has been successful. He has written a phenomenal amount of literature. For a writer, writing each book is like birthing a baby.
You go through, the mother goes through the labour pains. So like that, there are so many sleepless nights, so much toil is required to write a book. And so every book is special.
It’s like a new child. And yet, Vyasadeva, after writing so many books, is profoundly dissatisfied. So some sort of dissatisfactions are there when we feel that, why didn’t this person speak like this to me? Why did that happen like that? There are incidental dissatisfactions.
That means, this incident didn’t go this way, that incident didn’t go that way. And that’s what causes a dissatisfaction. Can you move this ahead? Okay, that’s enough.
So there’s incidental dissatisfaction and different from incidental dissatisfaction is existential dissatisfaction. Existential dissatisfaction means that actually we feel, what is the very point of existence? So when that happens, that is profoundly disorienting. For all of us, life by its very nature will cause many incidental dissatisfactions.
And this has gone wrong, that has gone wrong. And we have to deal with them, we have to live with them. But the difference between incidental dissatisfaction and existential dissatisfaction is that actually, when there’s incidental dissatisfaction, we just think that, okay, this incident had gone this way, or if a future incident goes that way, then things will be fine.
So basically, we are looking for satisfaction at the same level of consciousness at which we got dissatisfaction. This person behaved like that. If I can communicate, if I can clarify, and then they start behaving nicely with me, things will be nice.
So incidental dissatisfaction, it is dissatisfying, but it does not propel any major change in life. Because we feel, okay, I just have to make this adjustment from here to here, from here to there. And serious spiritual advancement happens when there is existential dissatisfaction.
What is the point of my existence? We all will face incidental dissatisfactions, and then be starting points for our spiritual journey. You know, we may have a relationship with someone, and they leave us for someone else. It can be at that time devastating.
Because when they reject us, we feel as if I am unworthy of love, I am unworthy. We get a sense of, our own sense of self-worth may get questioned. And then we feel, you know, I want to do something else, I want to look for something else.
So most people, when one relationship doesn’t work out, they simply go and try to explore another relationship, and then another, and then another. So what has happened? The incidental frustration is there, but that incidental frustration, they’re trying to deal with it by going to another incident. Maybe this time it might work out better, this time it may work out better.
Now as long as the consciousness is at the same level, then the patterns will keep repeating themselves. Of course, at a material level, some situations are better than other situations. Some careers may be more compatible for us than other careers.
Some relationships are more compatible than other relationships. Some weathers are better for us than some other weathers. Sometimes we may like warm weather and we may dislike cold weather.
Some people may like cool weather and they dislike warm weather. So for our body type, certain weathers may be good and certain weathers may be bad. That’s the objective reality.
But similarly, certain emotional weathers may be good for us. So every person when we are with them, or in a group of people when we are, there’s an emotional climate over there. So certain climates are favourable for us and certain climates are unfavourable.
So now, it is natural for us, say if I’m outside, it’s hot, and I come to a room where there’s a fan or AC, I feel comfortable. That’s natural. So like that, if you’re in an emotionally uncomfortable environment, then we naturally would like to go to somewhere where there’s emotional comfort, which is fine.
At the same time, the very nature of this world is where I’m getting emotional comfort today, I may not get it tomorrow, because people change, I change, the dynamics of relationships change. So the circumstantial or incidental dissatisfaction, sometimes some dissatisfaction triggers such awakening, such a jolt in the heart, we start questioning, what am I doing here? What is the point of life? What am I living for? Actually, there’s two questions, what am I living for? And what am I meant to live for? All of us, we have some purpose for which we are living. It may be fame, it may be a degree, it may be money, it may be whatever it is, you know, to be conscious is to be desirous.
To have consciousness means to have desires, this is natural. So all of us have certain desires for which we are living. And how we orient those desires, where we direct those desires will be determined by our own mentality, our circumstances, our inspirations.
But when we grow spiritually, at that time, we start realising that, or when we start not even growing spiritually, just beginning our spiritual journey, that time, what happens is, there is a change in the nature of our dissatisfaction. You know, okay, setting this right thing right from here to here, that’s not going to really make a big difference in my life. So when sometimes we may achieve something which we dream to achieve, and then we find, it’s not satisfying.
I don’t know what to do after that. That’s the time when we become ready for spiritual enquiry. And that’s the time when we start looking, what is there more in life? So if you see, in that in traditional cultures, there’s always been some form of regulation.
So humans basically act at four levels. We need food, sleep, sex, and power. So eating, sleeping, mating, and defending.
And these are all there. Every society, every culture has had some systems of regulating them. And Prabhupada writes in the 18th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, that the purpose of marriage is to regulate, is to make the mind peaceful, so that one can practise spiritual life.
What does that mean? How does marriage make the mind peaceful? What it means is that the mind, especially when you start coming to youth, in teenage years, when puberty hits, the mind starts imagining that sexual pleasure is the greatest pleasure of life, that it is not only the greatest pleasure of life, it is the purpose of life. That what Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita is, that nishchitah, these people have ascertained, that sense enjoyment is the supreme goal of life. Prabhupada says that it is the prime necessity of life.
So with this conception, the mind becomes very restless, agitated, wild. I want this, I want this. And the idea is, when that is made available at the appropriate time in marriage, then after that, the person says, okay, I was so excited about it.
Okay, I got it. Nothing great, nothing so great about it. It’s not that the person has become free from that desire.
The desire is still there, but the obsession that is there, something extraordinary over here, that is not there. And the person can think of something higher. Now, when the culture is excessively materialistic, then what happens is, when people find that, okay, you know, I dreamt that this pleasure will be so great, and it turned out to be not so great.
And they think that maybe the problem is with this person. So maybe if I form a relationship with someone else, then maybe it will lead to something better. Or sometimes people try all sorts of different forms of sexuality or whatever it is.
Basically, what is happening, that incidental dissatisfaction is simply making them look for other incidents where they find satisfaction. Okay, with this, this way, it didn’t work out. With this person, it didn’t work out.
With this thing, it didn’t work out. So let me try this way, let me try this way, let me try this way. And that way, if we consider objectively, you know, the sense pleasure the mind fantasises about, millions of people are having it.
And it’s not that they are jumping ecstasy throughout their life. Well, it’s a part of their life, they have it, they can’t give it up. They desperately crave for it.
But after getting it, what next? It’s not that that makes them happy. It’s usually sensual desire or sensual indulgence is less a form of pleasure, and more a relief from the torture of desire. That is a desire which keeps craving, which keeps tormenting us, do it, do it, do it, do it.
And when we do it, it’s relief. And that relief is a mistake to be pleasure. So there might be some pleasure initially, but after some time, it’s largely relief from the torture.
And because the torture of the craving is so unbearable, we can’t not do it. But doing it doesn’t bring pleasure. It simply brings largely relief from it.
There is some pleasure over there, but it is definitely far, far less than what the mind fantasises it to be. And the strength of the craving for sensual pleasure comes not from the magnitude of the pleasure, but rather it comes from the unbearability of the torture we feel when we don’t indulge in that activity. It is not that the pleasure is irresistibly enjoyable.
It is rather that the craving is unbearably intolerable. Just can’t bear it. So I have to do it.
So that’s why at some point, the soul, either in this life or next lifetime, some lifetime, the soul has to realise, I need to look for something higher. So Prabhupada writes in the purport of 3.37 in the Gita that, you know, after many life… Prabhupada gives a very striking purport over there. He doesn’t use the specific words, but he says that actually after many lifetimes of indulgence, soul starts thinking, what is there more in life? So that question, what is there more in life? Now, unfortunately, the materialistic culture makes us more of the same thing, more of the same thing in a different packaging, in a different form, in a different way.
But when we talk about what is more in life, is there something qualitatively different? So the wise person looks for that one thing in life which is qualitatively different from all other things. Other things, everybody is getting it. The bodily pleasures, they are available for people.
The point is, the materialistic culture is aggressively glamorising this pleasure. So in the initial stages of our spiritual life, if we especially try to live life of a renunciate, we may aggressively demonise that pleasure. It is bad, it is bad, it is bad.
The point is, neither glamorisation nor demonization. The point is elevation. You know, glamorisation and demonization, both are at the same level.
This is so good, this is so bad. What we want is elevation. Is there something better? I want something which is qualitatively different, qualitatively higher.
So we need to go beyond the glamorisation and demonization of sensual pleasure to elevation of our consciousness in our pursuit for pleasure. When that happens, that is the time when the spiritual journey takes off. So of course, when we are talking about Vyasadev here, Vyasadev was not at all involved in any sensual pleasure.
His pleasure was very, very refined. That pleasure was the pleasure of writing, of contemplating profoundly wise material and writing it down. And he wrote it and after that he found that it was just a dissatisfaction.
And at that time his spiritual master Vyasadev, sorry Narad Muni tells him that actually your problem is you have not glorified the Lord. So our dissatisfaction comes primarily from our disconnection from Krishna. We are all parts of the whole.
The whole universe, the whole of existence is interconnected. And this interconnection is not physical. It’s not like say this hand is a part of the chair.
It’s a physical connection. So our ceiling is connected with the wall through a physical connection. Our connection with Krishna is not physical.
It is metaphysical. So now our connection with Krishna is not physical. It is metaphysical.
What does it mean? It means that it is a connection that we have to understand through metaphysical enquiry. What is the form of that connection? That connection is through a consciousness that is directed with love. When we are directed by a loving intention towards Krishna, when we direct our love towards Krishna, Krishna is not just some historical personality.
Krishna is not just some extraordinary personality. Krishna, Prabhupada explains, means Sarva Akarshati Krishna. One who is the reservoir, one who attracts everyone.
Sarva Akarshati. Now how does he attract everyone? He attracts everyone by possessing within himself everything that attracts everyone. How does Krishna attract? How does Krishna attract everyone? By possessing within himself everything that attracts everyone.
That means if we are attracted to a particular person. Now Krishna explains in the Bhagavad Gita that So he says that whatever is attractive in this world, it manifests a spark of Krishna’s all-attractiveness. So that means we are attracted to x person, y person, z person, c person.
The attraction is there. It’s fine. And that person has something attractive.
But it is just a spark. The spark can provide only very little illumination, little warmth. What we want is much more.
When there’s darkness, a spark doesn’t help. We need a proper light. When there is no source of proper light, even a spark seems very great.
But the spark doesn’t replace a proper light. It doesn’t certainly replace the sun. So when we are disconnected from Krishna’s all-attractiveness, anything that is attractive in this world, it balls us over.
We just rush for it. We fall for it. We are ready to die for it.
So rather than thinking that, oh, I have to give up this for this. How can I give this up? I can’t. Rather than we can think about it, you know, if this is just a spark, it can attract me so much.
If a spark has such attractional power, how much attractional power will the whole have? And if we think this way, then we can redirect our search towards Krishna. So when I talk about incidental dissatisfaction, that means I was attracted to one spark and somehow I didn’t get it. Then we had to look for some other spark, look for some other spark.
But existential dissatisfaction, this business of chasing sparks doesn’t work. I need something more in my life. And that something more is redirecting our love from the spark to the flame, from the part to the whole.
To the extent we do this, the process of bhakti yoga is a time-honoured process by which we redirect our love from this world towards Krishna. To the extent we do that, to that extent, our heart starts experiencing satisfaction. And there are different ways to do that.
There is the path of renunciation. Also, the focus is not on renunciation, the focus is on connection. Our focus is on connecting with Krishna, not on disconnecting from the world.
Sometimes, especially in the renounced order, the focus can get misdirected. No, renunciation is not the basis of bhakti. Bhakti is the basis of renunciation and bhakti is also the summit of renunciation.
So when we want to practise renunciation, we want to do it because we want to be devoted to Krishna. And the fullest manifestation of our devotion to Krishna is also that we are, fullest manifestation of our renunciation is that we become completely emotionally invested in Krishna, emotionally fulfilled in Krishna. So here in the Bhagavatam, in the Vyasadeva, it’s being told by Narada Muni, endeavour for that one goal which will bring lasting satisfaction.
That one goal, that one purpose which cannot be achieved simply by wandering in this world, chasing after one spark, chasing a spark, another spark, another spark, just go towards seeking the whole. And when that purpose is clear, then we don’t feel deprived. Say, we have given up something, others have that.
Where if we have not understood the qualitative difference between what we are pursuing and what the world is pursuing, then we feel deprived when we see others have certain sparks and we don’t have that spark. Others have a particular pleasure and we don’t have that pleasure. But when we understand that what I am aiming for is of a different quality entirely, it may take time to attain it, but once I attain it, it’s going to lead to supreme satisfaction.
That way we can pursue with wholehearted determination and we leave it to Krishna how best He wants us to pursue Him. Sometimes it may be in a particular ashram, sometimes it may be another ashram, sometimes in a particular way, another way. That is changeable according to time, place and principle.
The principle is that we want to focus on Krishna and we want to stop chasing after the sparks. We want to start seeking and savouring the whole. And that is the opportunity that we have when we can practise undistracted bhakti.
So I’ll summarise. I started by speaking about there is frustration that comes from failure and there is a greater frustration or dissatisfaction that comes from success. When, that’s what happened to Vyasdev, he succeeded in writing books and yet he found it unfulfilling.
So the frustration that comes from success makes us think, what am I living for? What am I meant to live for? Everybody faces frustration or dissatisfaction in life. Incidental dissatisfaction is caused by specific incidents and we just want better incidents to take place in our life. But spiritual journey takes off when the incidental dissatisfaction leads to existential dissatisfaction.
What am I meant to live? What is the point of my existence? And at the material level, the propaganda of material society is such that even when one incidental dissatisfaction occurs, we are bombarded with a hundred other opportunities. So the traditional arrangement was that, okay, the mind is infatuated with sense pleasure, we get it and then realise there’s something, there’s nothing great about it. In today’s world, even after we get it, we are presented with so many other alternatives that we keep choosing those alternatives.
So if our incidental dissatisfaction is to lead to existential dissatisfaction, we have to get this conviction that things at this material level of reality, things at the material level of consciousness are never going to fulfil, no matter how well those things work out. And philosophically, we understand this from the perspective of bhakti that what we get at the material level are sparks of Krishna’s all attractiveness. They have tremendous attractiveness and in this complete dark, the enormous spark will be seen as a lifesaver.
So like that, when in this world, we are attracted to someone or something, we feel this is my life, this is my life’s central purpose. And if you’re told you have to give this up, how can I give it up? But if you understand that, instead of thinking that this is so attractive, how can I give it up? You can think that if this spark is so attractive, how much more the whole will be attractive. And let me focus not on so much on giving up the spark, but on connecting with the whole.
And bhakti yoga is the process by which we redirect our attraction from the sparks to the whole. And bhakti yoga practise in the renounced order offers us the opportunity for undistracted redirection from the sparks we hold. To the extent we connect with the whole, to that extent we experience fulfilment.
And renunciation is not the basis of bhakti. Bhakti is the basis of renunciation. Bhakti is the foundation of renunciation and it is also the culmination of renunciation.
Because we want to practise bhakti, so we may choose the renounced order. Although in other orders also we can practise bhakti. And the culmination of our renunciation is not that we are fully renounced.
The culmination of renunciation is that we are fully attached to Krishna, absorbed in Krishna, satisfied and ecstatic in Krishna. Thank you very much. Are there any questions or comments? Yes.
Can we do like objects? Yeah, objects. Probably like, like mind is only one. God is only one.
That is good. If you like something, you see something. How would you buy the car? You buy the car, you wouldn’t buy the car, you wouldn’t buy the car.
Yeah. Why not? Correct. How to deal with it? Because sometimes, you see something that you like, but you say no.
Yeah. So if you like something, and if you have to say no to it, you can’t say no to it actually without choosing something else. That’s perfectly true.
And the whole process of bhakti means we shift the focus from saying no to something, to saying yes to something better. So we all, we will all ultimately do what we feel inspired to do, as we like to do. At the same time, we don’t have to be governed simply by our incidental, circumstantial feelings of what is likeable.
Today I feel something is, I want it, tomorrow I feel, it’s so boring. Our feelings are not very, if we make feelings the compass of our life, then we will just keep getting disoriented. Because today that compass will point this way, tomorrow it will point this way, tomorrow it will point opposite direction entirely.
So feelings are important, but feelings have to be integrated in a life of intelligence. With our intelligence, we understand this is important for me. Today because of my circumstantial feelings I may not like it, but this is worthy of my pursuit.
And through the philosophical understanding of the Bhagavad Gita, we understand that Krishna, God is the most worthy object of our pursuit. And by learning to focus on Krishna, we can find the highest fulfilment. Now, while we are serving Krishna, that doesn’t mean we have to give up worldly things entirely.
We all have certain talents, certain interests, certain hobbies, or whatever. We can find out how they can be connected with Krishna, how they can be engaged in Krishna’s service. So the material is not to be rejected for the spiritual, rather the material is to be integrated in the pursuit of the spiritual.
How that integration is to be done. Somebody can sing nicely, they can sing for Krishna. Somebody can paint nicely, they can paint for Krishna.
So these are areas in which the abilities are clear and the utility of those abilities are also clear. In some other cases, the specific abilities may not be that clear. The way to utilise may also not be that clear.
So we have to think, we have to consult, we have to pray, and then it will be revealed. But the point is, we have to make Krishna, put Krishna first in our life, and everything else will get integrated appropriately. Does that answer your question? So we don’t focus on saying no to things.
Not things, although I like it, how can I say no to it? That’s not our focus. Our focus is on that which is the most worthy aspiration of my life. And I see everything else, all my likes and dislikes, in the light of that supreme aspiration of my life.
Yes. Thank you. Great, Krishna.
Any other questions? Okay, good question. So why was Vyasadev unhappy even after writing the Vedic literature which were for glorifying Krishna? Actually, most of the Vedas, they don’t directly glorify Krishna. So, they focus on various principles of religiosity which gradually take the consciousness towards Krishna.
So, in some cases in the Vedic literature, there are principles of material well-being which are talked about. They are also helpful, but they are not connected with the ultimate purpose. So, much of the Vedic literature is, reflects the need of the readers.
Or rather, it reflects the desires of people. It does not necessarily focus on what is their ultimate goal. So, because most people want to look for material pleasure, so the Vedic literature says, yes, seek material pleasure, but seek in a religious way.
And while seeking such a life of we could say religious materialism. It’s a materialistic life, but religious materialism. Seeking a life of religious materialism is a gradual elevation.
And in that, the focus on Krishna is very little. The glorification of Krishna is not that much. So, Vyasadev, he felt that because most people are at that level, I should speak at that level.
And when he spoke at that level, that is helpful for people. But he needs to have spoken at the highest level also. And in speaking at that level, he got so consumed that he didn’t overlook the focus of speaking at the highest level.
And because he had written in such a way that people were gradually attracted towards Krishna, but because he had not focused on that ultimate goal, he had not adequately glorified Krishna. So he was dissatisfied. Okay.
Thank you. Yes, ma’am. You were speaking in the beginning about an existential dissatisfaction.
Yeah. An existential crisis. I wonder if someone were to have an existential crisis, they may have seen that at that very moment it’s happening, it’s maybe a short, you know, as it’s happening, maybe a very intense feeling where you’re desperately calling out to God.
I’m saying this because I have some personal experience with just what you’re talking about. As I was experiencing sort of an existential question, I’m very intense and I found myself calling out desperately to find the answer. Now that I’ve come to what you’re talking about, sometimes I feel myself kind of falling into a complacency that, okay, you know, there’s not so much I don’t feel the desperation as much as I’m wondering Yeah.
Yeah. Okay, good question. So sometimes we feel an existential dissatisfaction and that propels us to say, change our life, even take the purposes of bhakti.
But while practising bhakti, we can also fall into complacency and we don’t feel that urgent need for Krishna. So is it necessary to feel existential dissatisfaction constantly throughout our existence, even when we’re practising bhakti? No. Dissatisfaction is not the cause of bhakti.
The introspection and the redirection that comes after that, that is what helps the growth of bhakti. There are so many people who are dissatisfied in life. Almost everybody is dissatisfied with something or the other in their life.
Even when there is existential dissatisfaction, let’s say we are going in a particular direction. Existential dissatisfaction, incidental dissatisfaction means that I hit a roadblock. How do I overcome the roadblock? Existential dissatisfaction means there’s no point in going in this direction.
I need to go in some other direction in my life. When we are going in that direction, the nature of this material world is that we don’t feel existentially dissatisfied constantly. And we don’t have to feel that way.
The important thing is that we are going in the right direction. So if we are moving towards Krishna, then it’s not necessary to feel constantly dissatisfied. But it is possible that we could settle complacently in the externals of spiritual practise.
Without continuing an inner search for Krishna. When that happens, then we just skim the surface of Krishna bhakti. That’s why periodically it is good to remind ourselves, what did I come here for? I have left so much in the world.
What did I come here for? I came here for Krishna. So let me focus on Krishna. So life itself will give us reminders.
Because when we start pursuing, even in devotional life, we start giving material things too much importance. Reposition, prestige, or say, I want to I want this particular achievement, that particular thing. They can help in bhakti, but sometimes you may give them more importance than bhakti also.
So life itself will jolt us sometimes and prompt us to reorient ourselves. And some other time, it will be that our own introspection reminds me, I am going in this direction, I have to come back in this direction. That way, we can keep reorienting ourselves and so the driving thing in our life doesn’t have to be existential dissatisfaction.
The driving force of our life needs to be our intellectual conviction about the ultimacy of Krishna bhakti. And you focus on that. So, reminding us intellectually and then practically connecting with Krishna through the activities of bhakti.
Emotionally connecting with him through the activities of bhakti. That’s what will keep us onwards in the journey towards Krishna. Does it answer your question? Yes, Pramod.
How could you elaborate on emotionally connecting with Krishna? Like, you know, like, always being like, sentimentally praying for Krishna or how to do it. Sometimes I feel that, you know, I am too much becoming sentimentalist. In India, we see so many people, they cry for their, you know, always crying for their bad habits.
But still, they overcome. And it’s like feeling sentimental, emotionally connected. Okay.
What does being emotionally connected with Krishna mean? Does it mean being sentimental and always crying for Krishna? Does it mean being sahajiyaic? No. Emotionally connected with Krishna means that we make Krishna the place where we invest our emotions. It’s not that in connection with Krishna we have to always express our emotions.
But we seek emotional fulfilment in Krishna. Basically, emotions are two parts, you know. When we say love, we offer our love to someone and we expect their love.
And when we get their love, that means we feel happy, we feel reciprocated. So what we do in sahajiya, the focus is not on investing their love in Krishna. The focus is on simply exhibiting their love for Krishna.
That is sentimentality. So our focus is more on investing our love in Krishna. And investing our love in Krishna means also that we commit ourselves to Krishna.
See, if a mother has a baby, at that time, the mother is not constantly dancing around holding the baby in her hands. Oh, just see my baby, just see my baby. She loves her baby.
But the primary way her love is by her tireless efforts to take care of that baby. Isn’t it? Especially when babies are young, mothers have to stay awake all night. And then sometimes they are sick.
They have to take care of them. Krishna is extremely tired. So Krishna wakes up and cares for a crying baby.
Why is that? Because that is the nature of love which is manifesting not simply as emotional exhibitionism. It is actually manifesting as dedication, as commitment. And of course, during that commitment, there will be emotional highs.
Sometimes the mother will see her baby and she will feel a flood of love in her heart. So like that, there are times when we may go in front of the baby, and you will feel a flood of love in our hearts. There are times when in kirtans, we feel something very sweet and special.
It is good. But that is not the emotional connection. The emotional connection is primarily to commitment, to dedication.
We are dedicated to serving Krishna. And within that also, there may be certain manifestations of Krishna with which we become emotionally connected very quickly. So for example, some of us may like kirtans and not just kirtans, maybe a specific mantra or specific bhajan, a specific tune, a specific devotee singing.
Some of us may like darshan of the deities. Maybe not just darshan, maybe serving the deities or whatever. Maybe a specific dress, a specific way of decoration, specific deities, whatever it is.
There are some manifestations of Krishna with which we can connect quickly and with which we become absorbed. So those we can take shelter of more. When our emotions start going away towards the world, we can direct our emotions towards those manifestations.
So that is emotionally connecting with specific manifestations. Overall, emotional connection is not exhibitionism. It is dedication.
Okay. Thank you. Yes, sir.
I think you mentioned that the point of getting attracted to the spot and then really focussing on the whole Yeah. I just wonder how you keep that in mind. Sometimes when you are in your own moment, you are getting ready to create a connection with the whole and experience something very far out.
How can you keep that in mind better and never more and not get so distracted on the sparks and get super attached to the sparks and focus on the whole So, how can we when we are attracted to the sparks and we want to focus on the whole, how can we avoid getting distracted by the sparks and how can we redirect ourselves to the whole? Within the sparks also, there are different manifestations. You know, Srila Prabhupada said in one lecture that even the taste of wine is Krishna. So, and he says in a lecture that if somebody is alcoholic and they can’t give up alcohol, let them drink alcohol but let them think that this taste of alcohol is Krishna.
By thinking like this, one day they will become a great devotee. It is not by drinking alcohol they will become a great devotee. It is by thinking about Krishna.
This taste, what is it that is so irresistibly attractive in this? This is Krishna. So, now, it is very difficult to become attracted to the whole directly. But we can say that there are different sparks which have different effects on us.
So, for example, if I like language and I like very cleverly, insightfully worded constructions. Now, there might be an atheist who might be a brilliant linguist and present atheism in a brilliant way. There might be some material planner, material visionary for creating a social revolution society.
They might be brilliant. There might be some scientist, some philosopher who might be brilliant linguistically. There might be a devotee who is brilliant linguistically.
Now, all these, all these people who are good at words, they are manifesting Krishna’s, they are manifesting a spark of Krishna’s brilliance. But say, the atheists, if I get attracted to the atheists’ brilliance, if I get attracted to that spark, then I will go completely away from Krishna. That we could say in Tamoguna.
If I get attracted to a materialist spark, that is in the Rojoguna, in the mode of passion, I will stay at the materialistic level of consciousness. This is what we need to do. If I get attracted to a philosopher’s linguistic brilliance, not a devotional philosopher, just a philosopher, I might just delight in knowledge.
But if I get attracted to a devotee’s linguistic brilliance, that devotee is also manifesting a spark of Krishna’s splendour only. It is a spark. But this spark is taking me towards the hole.
The other sparks are keeping me away from the hole or they are taking me further away from the hole. That’s why when we are practising bhakti, we have to also, in principle, we are trying to redirect our love from the spark to the hole. In practise, we also need to connect with those sparks that inspire us to connect with the hole.
So if I like to sing, I could hear some romantic mundane songs. That will make me forget Krishna. If I like to sing and I hear some devotee who sings very beautifully Krishna’s kirtans, that will attract me towards Krishna.
So we need to find out those sparks which take us towards the hole and connect with them. So we need it. We cannot just connect with Krishna alone.
We can’t redirect our love from this world in one moment to Krishna. In this world itself, love has to be redirected also. We need some connections in this world.
But those connections need to be those of the form which take us closer to Krishna. So we seek the sparks that take us towards Krishna, not the sparks that take us away from him. Does that answer your question? Thank you.
Shall we stop here? Okay, please. … … … … … … … Yeah. How can we achieve the consciousness of being always surrendered to Krishna, which we may not have even while we are going through the activities of bhakti externally? The acharyas talk about six limbs of surrender.
… … … … … … … … … These are aspects. Now, if you see, the last four in these are dispositions. They are states of emotion.
They are going to take a long time to cultivate. Krishna is my protector. I am a long way from that.
But the first two can be actions. … … Accept that which is favourable. Avoid that which is unfavourable.
So, if we are just doing this, we are surrendered. Say, I am reading scripture. That time I feel sleepy.
That time I just recline on a comfortable chair. What am I doing? I am doing that which is unfavourable. So, but on the other hand, if I decide to just stand up, and maybe walk and read, or maybe I just read aloud, what am I doing? I am doing something which keeps me awake.
So, from the external point of view, that may not seem to be the great activity. But that is also surrender. Surrender means to accept that which is favourable, and avoid that which is unfavourable.
So, this two-point practical definition of surrender can help us to stay surrendered at all times. And by doing these two activities constantly, what is favourable, what is unfavourable? Let me do the favourable, let me avoid the unfavourable. By doing these two activities, we move onwards steadily, and eventually, the remaining four states will come.
So, when our consciousness is not clear enough, intelligence is not sharp enough to know what is favourable and what is unfavourable, how do we move on? Actually, we can at least begin with what we know. There are definitely, I would say, out of 100 situations in our life, maybe 80 situations are where we do know what is right and what is wrong, what is favourable and what is unfavourable. The 20 situations, we don’t know.
So, if in those 80 situations, we are choosing the favourable and avoiding the unfavourable, by that, we are showing Krishna our intention, and Krishna will reciprocate. He will give us the intelligence. He may give it to us directly as insight, he may give it to some devotee guide whom we specifically consult, or he may give it in just a class that we are hearing.
Speaker may be speaking something else, but that point will click to us at that time. Or we may be reading something, and this is what I was looking for at that time. So, if we show Krishna that we want to be guided by taking the guidance when it is available, by doing what we know we should be doing, then when we don’t know what we should be doing, Krishna will help us know it.
Thank you very much.