Make Krishna the rest for the restless mind

Bhagavatam talk on 1.5.14 at Washington D C, USA

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, today morning, this verse in the Srimad Bhagavatam talks about how nothing except the Supreme Lord can offer stability to the mind. labheta vatahat naur yuvaspadam. Vata is wind.
Naur is boat. So, when a boat is there in the, in a water body, be it a river or a sea, at that time the boat is actually in a very vulnerable position. At one level, the boat can use the wind.
If the wind is flowing in the same direction where the boat wants to go, then the wind is helpful. But if a wind comes in some other direction and that wind is forceful, then that wind can just sweep away the boat. In fact, Krishna talks about in the Bhagavad Gita, in the second chapter, in 2.68, he says that, in 2.67, he says, indriyanam charatam yanmano anvidhiyate talasya harati pragyam vayurnavami vambasi.
He says, indriyanam charatam. The senses are wandering. They are looking for some pleasurable object.
The senses are looking at various places for pleasurable objects. Charatam yanmano anvidhiyate. If the mind focusses on that, then talasya harati pragyam, that immediately the intelligence will be stolen away.
Harati. And the example is vayurnavami vambasi, just as wind sweeps away a boat. This is an interesting example.
The example is clear that just as wind sweeps away a boat, similarly, our intelligence will get stolen. But when? It is said, the senses cannot avoid perceiving the sense objects. We cannot live in this world with closed eyes.
And even if we say that, I live with closed eyes, the eye is the only sense that we can close. We can’t avoid getting fragrance. We can’t avoid hearing sounds.
So, that way, we cannot live completely isolated from the sense objects. So what Krishna is saying, the problem is not just the perception of the sense objects. The problem is contemplation of the sense objects.
So he says, indriyanam charatam. The senses are always going to wander. But anvidhiyate, when we focus.
So, when we focus on a particular sense object, then that generates the wind of passion. So, it is when we focus, it’s like the wind in the ocean. If we consider the example of the wind sweeping away a boat, it is that in our consciousness, the wind is generated by contemplation.
So the sense object is there. And we might just perceive it and we might look elsewhere. You know, if we look at some advertisement, there’s some billboards all around.
Now we might just see it and move ahead, look elsewhere and move on. But if you look at it, I just look so nice, maybe I should purchase this. I want to purchase it.
I must get it. Maybe I don’t have the money, but I’ll take a loan to get it. Whatever.
So what happens when we contemplate, the desire becomes stronger. And once the desire becomes stronger, then the intelligence is dragged away by it. I forget what is good, what is bad, whether I really need it or not.
Today, advertising promotion is an integral part of every product development. I saw a slogan for advertising, they say that growth is a function of visibility. The more visible your product is, that much it will grow.
Actually, in the natural course of things, visibility is a function of growth. The bigger you are, naturally you’ll become more visible. But today it is all a promotion driven world where growth is a function of visibility.
And visibility means that the object that people want us to purchase, they make it visible in the most titillating and alluring way. And advertising industry operates on a simple principle, which is actually a universal psychological principle. And that principle is whatever catches our attention catches us.
Whatever catches our attention catches us. Once something catches my attention, then it catches my desires. Once it catches my desire, then the desires become intentions and it catches.
So that’s why it’s important for us to choose what we focus our consciousness on. If we consider our memory, sometimes we use a computer or a mobile, whatever. We may download some file and then we feel like this is not very useful, so we delete it.
A simple delete button can delete it. But our memory does not come with a delete button. Now, whatever impressions we take in, they can be pushed in the background, they can be gradually forgotten, but they cannot be very easily deleted.
That’s why we need to be discerning about what impressions we take in. We cannot avoid seeing certain things, but what we focus on, what we dwell on, that it can agitate us unnecessarily. So labhet vatahat naurivas padam.
This verse in the Bhagavatam says that actually whenever we think of anything other than Krishna, whenever we dwell on anything other than Krishna, that often, that kind of thoughts act like a wind that agitate our mind. Our mind becomes like the, our whole consciousness becomes like the boat. Vatahat, aahat is attacked.
It is attacked by the wind of passion. And that’s how we end up agitated. So all of us, we have our own weaknesses.
Not everyone is agitated by the same things. So we have to find out which are the winds that we are especially vulnerable to. Which are the objects that agitate us too much, if we think about it.
Say, even in the devotee community, sometimes some people may have come from a Hindu to a nationalist background. And then we may hear, oh, Muslims are doing this, Christians are doing this. They’re converting so many people.
And we may get very agitated. We get agitated. And then what happens is when we start labelling, oh, Muslims are bad, Christians are bad.
This is actually a non-philosophical vision. The philosophical vision is there is goodness, passion and ignorance everywhere. So there will be people in every religion who are in goodness and passion.
Some may be more in some religions, some may be less in some religions. But when we start getting overwhelmed by material vision, oh, these are black, these are whites, then we start labelling people and that increases our material conditioning, our material consciousness. And that agitates us.
So we have to find out what are the things that agitate us and then we have to minimise our exposure to those things. And not just minimise our exposure to those things, more important is we maximise our exposure to Krishna. So Krishna is like the anchor for the boat, whereas the worldly objects, they are like the wind.
So a boat, if it’s to be stable, it needs to be anchored. And the more we focus on Krishna, that when we focus the mind on Krishna, we become fearless, we become reassured, we become calm. So hearing about Krishna, chanting his names, worshipping his deities, all these are means by which the mind becomes peace.
dhautātmā puruṣaḥ kṛṣṇa pāda-mūlaṁ namañcati muktaḥ sarva-parikṣeṣaḥ pārthaḥ svaśaraṇam yathā Krishnamurti Bhāgavatam describes the effect of remembering Krishna, especially says how the remembrance of Krishna is perceived by a liberated soul or by a purified soul. dhautātmā dhauta, dhauta is to wash away, cleanse. So that soul who’s of a cleansed, whose heart has been cleansed, puruṣaḥ kṛṣṇa pāda-mūlaṁ namañcati, such a person never gives up the lotus feet of Krishna.
Why? Because in holding on to his lotus feet, muktaḥ sarva-parikṣeṣaḥ, there is freedom from all anxiety, there is freedom from all misery, all insecurity, and the example is pārthaḥ svaśaraṇam yathā, that just as a traveller after a long weary journey, when they come back home, they feel comfortable, they feel safe, they feel happy. So like that, our consciousness has to go to various objects, but when it comes back to Krishna, we feel at home, we feel safe, we feel secure. Now this example of home is appropriate also for another reason that we can’t always stay at home.
We have to go out for our work, we have to go out for shopping, we have to go out for so many practical things we need to do, but then when we go out, you know, we long to come back home, isn’t it? At least nowadays people have so much conflicts in their homes, so then they may not want to come back. For some people if their home is like Kurukshetra, then they may want to stay outside, but normally home is the place where we get relief, it’s where we get comfort, we long to come back home. So like that, for our functional purposes, for our jobs, for our responsibilities, we have to think about other things, but we try to bring our thoughts back to Krishna as soon as possible.
So the process of bhakti is not just about chanting the holy names, or having deities, or going to the temple, or even wearing a particular kind of dress. The essence of bhakti is making Krishna the home of our heart. It is making Krishna the home of our heart.
Or we look at our own heart, it has some home. Let me say if somebody is very attached to cricket, then when they have nothing to do, they need to start thinking about cricket. Actually, they start thinking about cricket even when they have other things to do.
But whatever we are most attached to, that is where our thoughts gravitate naturally whenever we have some time, some free time. So that is, whatever our attachment is, that is presently our home. And we need to make Krishna our home.
That means we cultivate attachment to Krishna, we find out within the realm of bhakti, whatever it is, that we can become connected with easily. It may be a kirtan, it may be shloka recitation, it may be remembering the deities, worshipping the deities, whatever it is. And we try to take our thoughts back to that.
So as soon as we have some free time, immediately we make it a habit, let me chant the holy names, let me sing some kirtan, let me recite some verses, let me sing some bhajans, let me meditate on how I can serve the deities, whatever it is. So we strive to make Krishna our home, inner home. And when we do that, we will find that we will get enormous amount of peace.
In 6.27, the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says, The mind becomes peaceful. Shanta is peaceful, prashanta is deeply peaceful. The yogi experiences transcendental peace.
How does this peace come? That comes by shantarajasam, the mode of passion within one’s heart goes down. And brahmabhutam akalmasham, one understands that I am spiritual, akalmasham, and the impurities go away. So people often want to get peace by going to a peaceful location.
Means you go to some place which is very close to nature, not much traffic, not much sounds, you feel peaceful. Yes, going to a peaceful location is one way of cultivating peace. But that is not sustainable.
We cannot always be able to live in a peaceful location. And even if a location is peaceful today, it may not stay peaceful tomorrow. So a more sustainable way to get peace is not just by moving to a peaceful location, but by cultivating a peaceful disposition.
So a peaceful location is not as important for peace as a peaceful disposition. And peaceful disposition comes by the decrease in the mode of passion. By the decrease in the mode of passion.
That’s why Krishna uses the word prashanta first and then he says shantarajasam. So when the mode of passion becomes pacified, then we become peaceful. So when the mode of passion is there, then whatever we have to do, we become agitated.
Now suppose somebody has to go from one place to another. Now we have to pack the luggage. Now there are same activity of packing the luggage can be done in different ways.
You know, some people okay and plan, make a list. Okay, this is all I have to take. And then make sure put all the things.
And then somebody else, you know, they just okay pack this, pack that. Hey, I’ve forgotten that, get that. But where do I keep that? And they go out in the car.
Oh, we’ve forgotten that. Let’s go back and get it. So now sometimes it may happen.
But if that is what is habitual, then that means the way we are functioning is itself increasing our anxiety. So cultivating a passionate disposition does not necessarily mean that we cannot work effectively, that we cannot work hard. In the Amrit Manthan Leela, in the eighth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, when the demons and the devatas together are churning the milk ocean with the Mount Meru as the rod.
At that time, it is described that the three modes entered the people in different ways. So the Vasuki, the snake which was acting as the rope, the mode of ignorance entered into it, so that it would go to sleep and it would not trouble when it was being used as a rope. And in the demons, the mode of passion entered.
And in the devatas, the mode of goodness entered. Now interestingly, both of them were pulling from two different directions, the devatas from one side, the demons from another side. Now when they’re pulling like this, if the churning rod is to be pulled properly, then the force from both sides has to be equal.
Otherwise it will get tilted and you get imbalanced and churning will not happen. So this means that the force from goodness and the force from passion, both was equal. Although the devatas were in goodness and the asuras were in passion, but still both of them were able to balance with equal force.
That means it’s not that when we are in goodness, we can’t work so much or we can’t do so much. It is that we do the whole thing in a more calmer, more organised and ultimately more productive way. And we will see that if we do our sadhana well, our sadhana, our chanting, our studying scripture, our worshipping the deity, it is ultimately meant to take us to Krishna, who is beyond the three modes.
There’s ignorance, passion, goodness, and there’s transcendence. Krishna is in transcendence. But from a practical perspective, doing our sadhana well situates us relatively speaking in goodness.
And when we’re in goodness, our mind is calmer and clearer, and we can function better. So cultivating a peaceful disposition means primarily cultivating a disposition in goodness. That basically means doing devotional activities properly, by which our consciousness is connected with transcendence.
And then after that, we focus on doing our activities, whatever responsibilities they are in a responsible way. But we will be able to do it much more competently, less much less agitated. So essentially, even when we are serving Krishna in this world, we have to see what my focus is, is it the world or is it Krishna? So when a if I’m doing some service for Krishna, if I’m making a garland for Krishna, then if my eyes are on the world, then I’ll be thinking how many people are going to appreciate me for making the garland.
If I’m giving a class, and my focus on the world, I’m thinking how many people are going to appreciate me for my class. So actually, things can be so subtle that I may be speaking about Krishna, but I am thinking of the world. And the audience who is hearing me is thinking more about Krishna than I am thinking about Krishna.
It can happen like that also. So basically, the point is that by doing service to Krishna, if our focus is more on the world, then even within the service, we’ll get more agitated. If our focus is more on Krishna, we will be less agitated.
Yes, doing anything in this world requires some agitation. So I’ll talk about another point now, and then we can have question answers. So I talked till now about how focussing on Krishna can decrease our agitation, and can help us to become more calm, and it can make our mind peaceful.
There’s another principle in bhakti, that is that we need to take up anxiety for Krishna. Now, Sri Prabhupada would say that we make spiritual advancement to the extent we take up responsibility for Krishna. So one time, when Sri Prabhupada was constructing the temple in Juhu, they’re getting the land, and the owner who had sold the land was a very manipulative kind of person.
So he took money, and he gave the land, but he did not give all the papers. And then he did various, he tried to hire some thugs to scare the devotees away from the land. He tried to say that you’re occupied illegally and tried to demolish the structure that was there.
He did various schemes to try to take the money and take the land. And the devotees were struggling against all these obstacles. And because he was a politician, so he had contacts in the government.
So every small permission that the devotees needed, they were not getting it. So one time, Tamal Krishna Maharaj, who was the leader of the project, he came to Sri Prabhupada. He said, Prabhupada, you know, because of this all property dealings, you know, my japa is disturbed.
Prabhupada said, yes, my japa is also disturbed. Now, he said, Prabhupada is a pure devotee. How can his japa be disturbed? But the point is that Sri Prabhupada was not like a robot.
He was a living, loving person and was concerned. So sometimes some services may require some level of anxiety. And we may have to take up anxiety for Krishna’s service.
And now this, it depends on time, place, circumstance. For example, Janmashtami is there. It’s a big festival.
At that time, to get all the things done, there’ll naturally be some anxiety. So taking up anxiety for Krishna’s service means we take up responsibilities. And those responsibilities sometimes entail anxiety.
But taking up anxiety is different from staying anxious constantly. Taking up anxiety means basically I consider myself responsible for this service. But that does not mean that I have to be constantly worried.
It’s just like if some people lift weights, you know, if I have capacity to lift, say, 10 kg weight, then I can take up 11 kg, I can take up 12 kg, then that will improve my muscles. But if I can have capacity to lift up 10 kg and I suddenly take up 25 kg, I’ll injure myself by that. So similarly, even when we take up anxiety for Krishna’s service, we have to take it up according to our capacity.
So when we do that, actually if we don’t take up any anxiety for Krishna’s service, then our connection with Krishna will remain very superficial. So we do take up anxiety for Krishna’s service, we take up responsibility, but the responsibility also we take up in accordance with our capacity. And when we take up responsibility, when we take up anxiety, the result is that our emotions become invested in our relationship with Krishna.
Because whenever we take up anxiety, this is what I have taken up the responsibility. Then I’m concerned, will this be done properly? Will this not be done properly? So our emotions get invested. And that is uncool to bhakti.
Ultimately, bhakti is emotion. And the more we can invest our emotions in our relationship with Krishna, the better it is. But while investing emotions, we have to make sure that our emotions are getting invested in Krishna and not that they’re getting dissipated in this or that or that.
So to the extent we have this balance, that we practise our sadhana, connect ourselves with Krishna, and then with that connection, we channel the energy, channel the clarity, channel the pea, the serenity that we have got in our various services. So here we asked today, he was being told by Narada Muni, that now please describe about Krishna. He will tell that if you describe about other subjects, that is not going to give people relief, that is not going to give people peace.
Therefore, O Mahanubhava, O great soul, samadhi na anusmara tad vicheshtitam, samadhi na, enter into samadhi, anusmara, remember tad vicheshtitam, the activity, the pastime of that great person, and then describe them. You describe them, by that you will do good to the whole world. Narthopashyamam saakshat, bhakti yoga madhokshyate, lokasya jananto vidwansh, chakre bhagavata samhitam.
So later on in the same, this is the fifth canto going on. So in 4, 5, 6, not fifth canto, fifth chapter of the first canto going on, in chapters 4, 5, and 6, that is the Narada Samvad, Narada Vyasa Samvad, where Narada gives instructions to Vyasadev about why it is important for him to purely glorify the Lord. At the start of the seventh chapter, after hearing the instruction of Narada Muni, Vyasadev enters into meditation, and in that meditation he sees the totality of reality.
What does he see? Apashyat purusham puranam, mayam chitad apashrayam. He says apashyat purusham puranam, he sees the absolute truth, the supreme person, and he sees maya is controlled by him. And then he sees after that, yaya sammohita jiva atmanam trikuna atmakam paro abhimanute nartham tat trutham ca vipadyate.
So this is the hierarchy. Krishna is here, maya is here. And actually the jiva is meant to be here.
Jiva is meant to be above maya, because we are souls, we are transcendental. But presently the jiva has come under maya. So Krishna is here, maya is here and the jiva is here.
Yaya sammohita jiva, because of the illusions, the jiva has come below maya. So if Krishna is like the point finger, the jiva is meant to be the middle finger and maya is meant to be below. But this position has got interchanged because of the desire to enjoy material things.
But if we hear about Krishna, so he sees this misalignment that the jiva is transcendental, but the jiva has come under material influence. And to correct that, he speaks the shimad bhavara, anartho. So anarthas are what make us subordinate to maya.
But when anarthas are removed, then we realise our transcendence. And for that purpose, anartho pashyamam sakshat bhakti yoga madhoksha je. By practise of bhakti yoga, anarthas go away, they become pacified.
And then, lokasya ajananto. But people in general do not know about this potency of bhakti yoga. Therefore, chakre bhagvat sattvata samhitam.
Therefore, to inform people about this, the great sage Vyasadeva composed the shimad bhagvatam. So by hearing this bhagvatam regularly, hearing about Krishna, we remember our spiritual identity. We remember our transcendence.
And then when we are to function in this world, we can function without being so agitated. We can function more effectively and do our responsibilities without getting unnewly agitated while doing them. So I’ll summarise.
We talked about how the objects of the world agitate our mind. So if our consciousness is like a boat, then the objects of this world, they create winds of desires in our consciousness which sweep away the boat. So that’s what advertising operates on.
Whatever catches our attention, catches us. We can’t avoid perceiving the objects, but we can avoid contemplating on them. And what is important is not just to avoid exposure to agitating objects.
More important is increase our exposure to the supremely pacifying object, that is Krishna. And the more we focus on Krishna, what happens? It’s like I’ve come back home. I feel peaceful.
I feel joyful. I feel safe. And while this feeling can come sometimes to us when we go to a temple, when we go to a place which is especially serene, we also need to make Krishna our home.
By finding out what it is about Krishna and Krishna bhakti that we can easily become attached to, we can make it a habit to connect our consciousness with that repeatedly and thereby make Krishna our home. And we discussed that people want peace and they may choose a peaceful location for getting peace, which is fine. But what we need is a peaceful disposition.
And that comes by decreasing the mode of passion within us. And that happens by the practise of bhakti. And if we decrease passion, that does not mean that productivity will decrease or production will decrease.
We discussed how the demons in passion and devatas in goodness were able to work equally competently. So in goodness, we will be able to work equally competently, but with lesser, equally productively, but with lesser agitation. And we discussed on one side how bhakti brings peace.
But on another side, bhakti also requires taking anxiety. That anxiety is meant not to make us perpetually anxious, but to create a, to create an emotional bond between us and Krishna. When we take up responsibility for something, then we become connected with our emotions, connected through our emotions with Krishna.
And that helps us to deepen, solidify our connection with him. And lastly, we discussed about how the hearing of the bhagavatam is vitally important. And Yasdev is told that, describe the pure supreme lord by meditating on whom, by understanding whom, we understand our own position.
And currently, we become agitated because although we are transcendental, we have become subordinate to maya. And we can rise above maya by practising bhakti and by connecting with Krishna. It is for that purpose that the bhagavatam was spoken.
It is with this purpose in mind that we can take shelter of the bhagavatam when we hear it. Thank you very much. Are there any questions? Okay.
Can the mode of ignorance be used in Krishna’s service? Yes. The mode of ignorance is what facilitates bodily rest. Sometimes when we try to sleep, and we are just not able to sleep.
You know, many times people sleep not because they are tired, but because they are frustrated. You know, I try this, it doesn’t work. I try that, that doesn’t work, that doesn’t work, then I just pull a blanket and go to sleep.
Forget the whole world. But sometimes, you know, maternal nature reveals our exposure, helplessness in such a way that, you know, we can’t even sleep. We lie down and close our eyes and still sleep also doesn’t come.
So actually, even we are so powerless that even sleep is not in our power. Why? Because sleeping involves a switch of the consciousness from jagruti to swapna. And that switching of consciousness is not in our control.
Biologically we rest, but biologically we need sleep for resting. And that sleep comes by the switching of consciousness. And the switching of consciousness happens by the arrangement of Krishna through the mode of ignorance.
So the mode of ignorance is also important for us to rest our body so that we can use it properly in Krishna’s service. And in that sense, if we don’t rest properly, Krishna says He says one who eats too much or eats too less, one who sleeps too much or sleeps too less, such a person cannot become a yogi. So even sleeping is important.
So we have to fall asleep, but we don’t have to fall for sleep. Fall for sleep means we treat sleep as a temptation, as an escape way from life’s problems. That we don’t do.
But sleeping is essential for rejuvenation of the body. And in that sense, the mode of ignorance is also to be used in Krishna’s service. Any other questions? The contemplation of senses on the sense objects you mentioned, and also you mentioned about coming back home.
And you gave an example of even though we have a home, we go out in the world and start working and coming back to our home. Initially, as a practitioner, the struggle is there to come back to Krishna. The more the tendency is, habitual tendency is there to just keep going out to other areas, other things, anything except Krishna.
So in that stage, what should I do? Okay. So in the condition stage, the tendency is to go towards various other objects. The mind goes towards other objects.
It doesn’t really come back to Krishna as a home. So what to do at that time? We have to expect that and prepare for it. Just like, you know, a mother may tell her child, you know, sit here peacefully.
A child is not going to stay peaceful, is it? The mother knows and knowing that, she prepares for it. She may tell the child to sit here and play peacefully, and give some toys to play. The child may go here and explore that, child may go here and explore that.
So the mother, she may not always be able to sit next to the child and watch. She has other household work, other work to do also. But while doing other work also, she keeps an eye on the child.
She warns, don’t go there. So basically, the mother cannot expect that I told the child, sit here, the child is going to sit here. So the mother has to keep an eye.
And when the child goes out, bring the child back. So actually, we have to treat the mind like a child. And we have to become like the parent.
But unfortunately, we become like the child of the child. That means, we become like a child with the childlike mind. And wherever the mind starts going, we go there.
But if we have this unrealistic expectation that I tell the mind to focus, it will focus, it’s not going to work. Because the mind has been habituated to restlessness. So in 6.34 in the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna tells Krishna that the mind is restless.
He gives other describers also for telling how the mind is. But pertinent for us is that it is chanchal, it is restless. So anticipation is the foundation of preparation.
How do we prepare for something, we anticipate what is going to come next. If I’m going on a road, and I see that I know there’s a speed breaker here, then I slow down. And how does that happen? Because I anticipate, I know this is going to come and I prepare for it.
So like that, we need to anticipate, the mind is not going to stay peaceful all the time. So rather than just getting discouraged why the mind is going here and there, we prepare for it. It goes away, bring it back.
He says, wherever and whenever the mind wanders, bring it back under control. So we keep doing this, initially it may seem very laborious, oh the mind is going, bring it back, mind is going, bring it back. But that is the normal process of training.
And as we keep doing it, the mind will also start understanding, okay, I’m getting so excited about that thing. But you know, there’s not so much pleasure here, there’s much more peace, much more joy here. Once the mind gets that, then it will become less restless.
It will become more focused. But during that time, yes, we have to exert ourselves. See, when we are purified, bhakti is effortless.
When we are yet to be purified, bhakti is effortful. Sadhana bhakti is effortful In 9.4, Krishna said, we have to endeavour with determination. So by anticipating that the mind is going to be restless, we can prepare for its restlessness and count and restrict it whenever it is more powerful.
Is it because of the philosophy that maya becomes more powerful, I mean more, what do you think? Yeah. When contemplating on the object of senses, so where is that leading and actually guiding? Okay, two separate questions and answer them separately. So in the Bhagavatam, it is stated that maya means to see anything separate from Krishna.
So when I say that by contemplation, maya gets control of the living entities. How are these two conceptions connected? Yeah, the Bhagavatam, this verse comes in the Chatushloki Bhagavatam, this is the second verse. When we see anything as meaningful, but we see it disconnected from Krishna, then that is maya.
So now, there is maya, illusion, as a mental conception. And there is also the energy which causes illusion. So there are two distinct things.
There is maya as energy, that is manifestation of Durga Deni. So there is a living person who is in charge of causing illusion. But there is a specific misconception within our consciousness, which is also called as maya.
So when we say maya becomes superior, we are talking about that energy gaining control of the living entity. That is the Bhagavatam is talking from the point of view of our consciousness, where we get that conception. So for example, if we see some delicious food item.
Now if I think, oh, this is a nice food item, let me prepare something like this, let me offer it to Krishna. Madhavendra Puri saw the kheer in the Gopinath temple and he thought, oh, he looks very delicious. I wish I could learn how to offer this to my Gopal.
So he saw the same thing, but he saw it in connection with Krishna. When he said, oh, I want to enjoy this, then that is we have not seen the connection with Krishna. So the disconnection from Krishna is the essence of illusion.
The kheer itself is not illusion. The disconnectedness in our consciousness from Krishna, that is the illusion. So this illusion is created in us by the maya, by the illusory energy maya, but it is created when we desire to enjoy separate from Krishna.
So we may perceive the object at that time, when I perceive the object, at that time I have an option, whether I see the object in connection with Krishna or I see the object in connection with myself, with my enjoyment. And based on what choice we make, accordingly our desires get shaped by maya. So when I choose to think of it, oh, this is for my enjoyment, then immediately the illusion becomes much more pervasive.
So yes, the illusion itself is not stored in the sense object. Maya is present in our consciousness. When Krishna talks about lust and its locations in the third chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, which is in 3.40, they are situated in the senses, the mind and the intelligence.
Krishna doesn’t say that lust is situated in the sense object. Now yes, when we go in the presence of the sense object, when we perceive the sense object, we contemplate on the sense object, that may increase desire within us. But that sense object is the trigger of lust.
It is not the cause of lust. The cause is the lust present in our own consciousness, which is stimulated or triggered by that. See a trigger, pressing the trigger is not the cause of the wounding or killing of someone.
The presence of the bullet in the gun is the problem. Somebody may press the trigger again and again, but if no bullet in the gun, then there will be no wounding happening. So like that, the perception of the sense objects is like the trigger, like pulling the trigger.
But there are selfish desires present in our own consciousness, which are the cause. So we can’t blame others. Blame others that because of you I got this, this anartha came to me.
That’s not, that’s an incorrect philosophical understanding. So there is an illusive energy which creates the conception of illusion within us based on our choices. Does this answer your question? Any other questions or shall we stop? Are you asking that when you have to take up responsibility of guiding others, at that time you feel too much anxiety or when you are not able to be connected with your spiritual master and you don’t feel accountable to them? That’s what I am not clear about the question.
First part of the second, second. Yeah, that’s true. So suppose because of a lot of services, you know, we are not able to report regularly to our spiritual guides.
And then we feel am I properly connected or not? We feel insecure because of that. So is that insecurity favourable or unfavourable to bhakti? Yeah. There are different relationships which have different dynamics.
So we have to find out first of all, in our relationship with our spiritual guide, what is their expectation? Do they expect, maybe they expect reports, how frequently is it? You know, and if they expect it very frequently, then we should see that also as a service and do that. But if they’re not, if they expect that, you know, you can report to me periodically, but not very regularly, or you can report to me when major events happen in your life, then that is also fine. We may feel the need to report.
And that is also good. But we don’t have to make that into another anxiety. Sometimes, just preparing a report of what we have done that may also help us to gain perspective.
Okay, this is what I did. And this we could have done better. And this was quite fulfilling.
This area where I can serve more, I found that I could do this well. So that way, doing a periodic review of what we have done, that can help us to ourselves appreciate how we can serve better, or where we could have served better. So in that sense, doing that is good.
The nature of the mind is that, at least in the sadhaka stage, that it will find some reason or the other to keep us miserable. If I’m doing a lot of services, mind will say, hey, you’re not doing shastic study. If I start doing a lot of shastic study, the mind will say, you know, what is the use of all becoming a scholar, we have to do some services, you’re not doing services.
You know, if you’re coming to the temple, the mind will say, you’re not taking care of your home responsibilities. You start taking care of the home responsibilities. Ultimately, this is a material, this is a temple.
I don’t even go to the temple. So the nature of the mind is it will always find some reason or the other and keep us miserable, keep us dissatisfied. So that’s why it’s good to have some overall plan for our life.
That means, you know, okay, this much time, the plan may not, we may not be able to work on the plan in a microscopic way. We try to micro control our life, that will also cause frustration. But overall pattern, we have, okay, this is it, this much time I want to spend for my this activity, this much time for this activity.
And overall, if we go a little bit off track, we bring ourselves back on track. So if we leave everything to the mind, okay, then we will, it will always keep us restless and dissatisfied. So make a plan about how frequently we need to report and then stick to that.
Maybe a little back and forth is okay. But there’s no need to let that become another anxiety. Does that answer your question? Thank you.
Hare Krishna. Vantaraya Srimad Bhagavatam ki Shila Prabhupada ki Gauravata Dandaki Ta Gaur Prema Anandayi.