Materially peaceful spiritually joyful Bhagavad-gita 2.59 Pune

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So today we are discussing in Bhagavad Gita one of the most well-known sections from the Gita, or the more coded sections, the section of Krishna Prasad from 254 to 272. So before I start, I would like to ask you one question. So I will use this whiteboard as something for writing and drawing.
So are those of you behind, are you able to see this? If not, maybe some of you can come ahead. Actually, I won’t need this. So you can remove it.
If you want, you can come closer. And some of those who are sitting on that side, you can’t see, you can come ahead. I can keep this here.
This whole table can move on. Then this can go underneath. Please come ahead everyone so that those who can’t see and don’t want to see, that’s fine.
But those who want to see but can’t see, please you can come ahead so that it will be difficult for you to understand what I am saying if you’re not able to see. I think will bringing this forward make a difference or not much difference? This is clear. Okay, is the font size clear or I should write bigger? Okay, I’ll write in a bigger thing.
Okay, fine. So when we study the Gita, if the question comes up, let me do one thing. You could bring this closer to me and move this closer so that in that people will be able to see the… Is this okay? Yeah, so can you get a position such that they can see this also? Maybe you want to keep it? That’s okay, yeah, I don’t think they can see this, that’s okay.
So, what is the… if someone asks, if you… Okay, try it now. Okay, is this better? Okay, so if someone asked you why do you study the Bhagavad Gita? What do you seek to get out of the study of the Bhagavad Gita? What is the value in studying the Gita? How would you answer the question? How we can live better in this world? Okay, how to live better? That’s a good point. The Gita is a guidebook for living.
Thank you. Anything else? Yes, please. To understand the correct way of living, like to understand the rules and regulations and all instructions given by Krishna to us.
Yes, we could say to get… to learn Krishna’s guidelines for living by which we know what is beneficial, what is not beneficial. Okay, anything else? Yes, please. How are we? Okay, so to know our identity.
Yes, that’s a good point. To understand ourselves and our relationship with the universe in the possible way. Okay, so to understand our, we could say, place and purpose within life, within the world, within the universe.
Our place and purpose. That’s a good point. Anything else? Solution to our problems.
To understand? Solution to our problems. Yes, so we have problems. So to find solution to problems.
Yes, thank you. To detach from material world and get attached to spiritual life. Okay, to be detached and attached.
Well, is that the reason why people study the Gita? That is the result. If you start a Gita course, first time person coming. So, if you study this Gita, you become detached from the world.
I don’t want to be detached. So, we will talk. There is value in detachment.
But most people don’t explore something to become detached. There are few people who are very spiritually minded who will be like that. But, we could say this is, in one sense, one of the results of the study of the Gita.
But, people may be driven for various reasons. Differentiate between good and bad. Okay, so to learn Krishna’s guidance, you can put good and bad.
Differentiate. Okay, good point. Yes, please.
To understand our relationship with Krishna. Yes, to understand our relationship with Krishna. So, if there is some being overseeing the world, like if you are working in a company, then okay, what is my role in relationship with the person owning the company? It’s important to understand this so that we can function properly.
So, if there is an overarching divine being, then how should I function in this world? It’s better to understand our relationship and the role there that we have. Yes, thank you. Anything else? Searching for God.
Searching for God. So, now this, again, there are few people who may be doing that. There are a few people who are actually seeking for the ultimate reality for the Paramahamsa.
Okay, thank you. These are all overall very good answers. So, we will try to look at some of these.
Broadly speaking, what the Bhagavad Gita does is that Arjuna is confused at the start of the Gita. So, basically, at one level, if we consider Arjuna at the start and Arjuna at the end. So, Arjuna is having, we all have a mind and an intelligence.
So, at the level of the mind, he is discouraged. At the level of intelligence, he is confused. Now, for all of us, even one of these problems can be disorienting.
Confused means that I don’t know what to do. Discouraged means I don’t feel like doing anything. So, having both of these as problems.
Say, if we appear for an exam and we are not able to pass that exam. If we apply for an interview and it doesn’t work, we don’t get through it. So, we will be discouraged.
This didn’t work out. But suppose we apply for an interview, it doesn’t work, and then we start thinking, maybe I should not be in this career only. I should change my career completely.
Then that is a much bigger problem in oneself, isn’t it? I didn’t get this interview, that is discouraged. But should I even have given this interview? Should I have been in this career itself? So, that is confused. So, if both are there, it’s a big problem.
So, Arjuna at the start of the Gita is both. And by the end of the Gita, he is convinced, he is clear-headed, convinced, and he is confident. He is encouraged, so encouraged that he is confident.
So, basically, externally nothing changes for Arjuna, but internally everything changes. So, how does that happen? Now, that journey can be understood in many different ways. But we will focus on one particular way of looking at it.
That, as we are guided by the Gita, so, Gita’s, we could say, Gita’s vision. When we get Gita’s wisdom, by that we get a particular vision. So, initially for us, the world is very big.
And God is quite small. But once we understand the Gita, the world becomes big. Does the world become big? No.
The world becomes small. And God, Krishna, becomes big. And that changes the way we function in the world.
And it is not just this. So, this is definitely a difference. Many people may believe in God.
30 years ago, when I started studying the Bhagavad Gita and practising Bhakti, I started sharing it with my relatives. So, one of my uncles said, yeah, I believe in God. He is happy there, I am happy here.
So, when he says God, it does not feel relevant. Even if God exists, how does he matter? So, God is small, somewhere in the background. But when we study the Gita, we understand that actually God is a far bigger reality.
And it is not just who is the bigger reality and who is the smaller reality. It is also which is the more desirable reality. In the initial stage, even if people turn to God, God is a means to the world.
That means, oh, I want to achieve something in this world. I am not getting this job, this disease is not getting cured. I want to get married, but I am not finding a partner.
So, I may go to God and pray. I was in Varanasi, and there was a Hanuman temple nearby where I was going for a programme. And there I saw a prayer.
It is quite an amazing prayer. He says, tum to ho baal brahmachari, mujhe dedo ek nari. So, the idea is that God, even if we go to God, the aims that we seek is the world.
I want better health, I want happier life, I want greater power, greater fame. So, God is a means to the world which is our goal. But when we grow spiritually, then the world becomes a means to God for us.
So, for Arjuna, what happened was, he fought the war, but he was not fighting the war to win a kingdom. Karishe vachinam tava. He was fighting the war to serve the Lord, to attain the Lord ultimately.
So, essentially, spiritual growth means that the spiritual reality, which is ultimately centred on God, becomes the bigger reality for us. And the world becomes a smaller reality. Now, this is, in one sense, similar to what you mentioned about, one of you mentioned about being detached from the world and attached to the Lord.
Now, why should we do this? So, basically speaking, in the words that we recited, param drishtva nivartate, when we get the bigger vision, drishtva is vision, param is higher. So, when we get the higher vision, then we become peaceful. So now, why should we want to make the world smaller and God bigger? What difference does it make? There are twofold reasons for it.
One is that the world itself is a place of duality. Up and down. Kabhi kuchi, kabhi down.
So, now, this is just the nature of the world, that there is duality. But not only there is duality, things keep going up and down. But for many of us, the dualities affect us much more.
So, when something good happens, we go up, sometimes bad happens, we go way down, then again way down. So, when we go way too up and down, people have mood swings. And when somebody is too much tossed up and down, then they become unreliable.
You cannot count on them. If somebody is going to get very… If something good happens, they become so excited, so happy, that they forget their responsibility, they forget what they are supposed to do. That’s not healthy, isn’t it? See, life is tough.
In life, there are many different challenges that come up. And we need to be level-headed to deal with the challenges. So, even from the perspective of functioning within this world, if somebody is tossed too much up and down by dualities, they can’t function.
And of course, if they become dejected, then they just feel like, I don’t want to do anything at all. One day… So, this kind of, at an extreme level, such people become manic-depressive. You know, manic-depressive is kind of a depression where at one time, people have so much energy, I will shake the whole world.
That’s one day. The next day, they need the whole world to shake them out of their bed. They just won’t do anything at all.
So, this is something which makes functioning in life difficult for that person and for the people around them. Some people go the other way. They may go up, and when something bad happens, they go down and they just keep going down, down, down only.
So, these are not manic-depressive, they are chronic-depressive. Constantly depressed. So, life’s duality is they take a toll on us.
They take a toll emotionally, and eventually they take a toll physically also. Mental health problems are becoming huge. And there can be many different causes and names for mental health problems.
At a basic level, all mental health problems arise from the inability to handle duality. Bad things will happen to everyone. And some bad things will happen to us and we may worry about them.
And some things may happen in the future. So, even from the perspective of functioning in this world, if the world is too big in our eyes, then we become dysfunctional, or at least we find it difficult to function, not dysfunctional. So, from one perspective, we want to function better in this world and we can’t function better if we are unable to handle what? Duality, ups and downs.
By the way, what I am writing, is it visible for you behind? Now, somebody may say, ok, if the world becomes small, then maybe I will be more stable. But where? Where will I get any happiness? So, the thing is, if we are seeking happiness from the world, the world is filled with ups and downs. And whatever goes up, it’s like a wave will come down.
So, the very thing that gives us happiness one day will eventually, in some way or the other, cause some distress. So, if our happiness is dependent on the world, then we will be very vulnerable. So, when God becomes bigger, what happens is, God is not just bigger in size, which is there.
We understand that Krishna is actually the source of happiness. So, basically, through spiritual growth, spiritual growth means we turn towards Krishna, Krishna becomes bigger for us. These are two results.
Peacefulness with respect to the world and happiness with regard to the Lord, with regard to Krishna. So, through Him, we get happiness. So, these two are the reasons why detachment from the world and attachment to the Lord.
So, it’s very important that detachment is not irresponsibility. Being detached, that does not mean to be irresponsible. So, suppose our child has an exam coming up and the child is not studying at all.
Say, why are you not studying? Your exam is coming. I’m following the Bhagavad Gita. I’m detached.
So, now, detachment is after the responsibility has been done. After the work has been done. After we do what is expected to do, then, okay, it’s not in my control, let me be detached.
But irresponsible is to not do the work itself. That’s why, करमन्ने वाधिकारस्ते महः पलिश्यु कथाजिना. So, detached is from the results.
But irresponsible is where we give up the work itself. That is not the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita. If that was the definition of what the Gita was teaching, then why does Arjuna become ready to fight a war at the end of the Gita? So, now, with this understanding broadly, that spiritual vision is where Krishna becomes bigger and the world becomes smaller.
And the result of this is, with respect to externals, we’ll become more peaceful. And Krishna is inside us. Internally, we’ll become more joyful.
So, peaceful, joyful. These are the two results that we can get. Externally peaceful, internally joyful.
Is this something good to have? If you could have it, that would make our lives so much better. So, now the section that we are discussing is talking about this. So, when we say the world is bigger for someone, it’s not so much in geographical size.
It’s more in psychological size. So, the size of something, it depends on our attachments. The attachments, or rather the size is proportional to attachments.
When I started travelling to America, for the last 10 years, I’ve been speaking of the Gita all over the world. So, I often knew contemporary examples. I knew examples about cricket, for example.
So, when I went to America, several of my organisers of programmes, especially for American audiences, they said, don’t give any cricket example. I said, okay, why is that? Isn’t it that Americans love baseball, they don’t like cricket? They said, yeah, but more importantly is, for Americans, cricket is an insect. When they hear the word cricket, they don’t think of the game.
They think of the insect cricket. So, that which is so big in India, that is almost unknown in America. Now, because the Indian diaspora is becoming large, so some amount of cricket is becoming more well-known over there.
But the thing is, how important is cricket? That depends on how much we are attached to it. So, for each person, based on their particular attachments, that object becomes bigger. So, for an alcoholic, say, the alcohol bottle is the biggest thing in the world.
When they see an alcohol, sarva-dharmaan panikte chahiye. He has forgotten everything else. They will be in office, in a serious meeting, talking with their boss, suddenly the desire for alcohol comes up.
Then, the body of their boss changes into a sheep of alcohol. So, our attachments, they distort our perception. And they make things bigger than what they actually are.
And we all face temptations of some kind or the other. And whatever tempts us, that basically starts becoming bigger and bigger in our consciousness. So, basically, in 262-263 Krishna will talk about how temptations come in.
But the principle there is, whatever gets our attention, whatever gets our attention, gets us. So, the thing that captures our attention, eventually, it will capture us. In fact, many sociologists are calling the present economic situation as the attention economy.
Advertisers are competing to get people’s attention. Once they get the attention, then people will eventually have the desire and the interest and then they will buy things. So, basically, in our consciousness, some things are big, some things are small.
So, for us, if we are to grow spiritually, there are two things we need to do. The things which are already big in our consciousness or things which we are attached to, we need to minimise our exposure to them. We need to create some boundaries so that if we are constantly perceiving the world, then the world will naturally become bigger in our mind.
So, now we cannot cut ourselves off from the world and that’s not the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita. It is not saying that the world is all illusion and only Krishna is the reality. No, Krishna is the biggest reality.
The world is also reality. And for many of us, the world is the means to Krishna. Say, for example, with respect to the body.
Now, the Gita teaches that our identity is not limited to our body. So, we are not our body, but we live through our body. We function through our body and our body is not a complete identity, but it is a vital part of our functional identity.
So, the body is the means to the soul, to realise the soul, to liberate the soul. So, the idea is that the material is important, but the spiritual is more important. The world has its value, but Krishna has the supreme value.
The world is Artha, Krishna is Paramartha. It is the supreme value. So, in the world, whatever things are there which tend to consume our consciousness and become bigger and bigger, we need to keep some distance from it.
Like in our phone screen, something comes as a small notification. Your friend has updated the Facebook photo. What photo have they put? It just sounds small.
Notification has come up, but then we click on it and it becomes big. It occupies the full screen. And then we look at that photo.
Then we click this photo. Then we scroll down the page and look at this. And we look at that.
And what we thought, okay, I will wait one minute, it will take one hour. So, quite often, we will be reading something of value, we will be studying something, we may be reading the Bhagavad Gita. So, those who can’t face books, seek shelter in Facebook.
Not shelter or escape in Facebook. Whatever it is. It is not a very good shelter.
But the idea is something which is small, if we give unregulated attention to it. If we are not monitoring the attention we are giving to it, it will become bigger and bigger. So, basically, for us, if we have to go spiritually, if we have come to this level of param drishtva, that’s what I was talking about.
So, there are two things required for it. First is, at least some level of disconnection from that. So, that was mentioned in the previous verse.
So, if I am here, and the world is here, then I need to create some boundary between me and the world, by which my exposure to the world is minimised. So, the example is given just as a tortoise withdraws its limbs into its body. Similarly, we need to withdraw our limbs.
So, each one of us, we need to create some safe space for ourselves. A safe space where the world will not be invading and pervading our consciousness. The world doesn’t just exist passively over there.
The world rushes in. It invades. And there are some invaders who come in, they plunder and they go back.
But the temptation, they don’t just invade, it pervades. It starts ruling over you. And that’s how the world tends to become bigger.
So, we need some boundaries. And each individual needs to find out what are the boundaries that I need. So, nowadays, social media is so big, technology is so big.
So, people get hooked by technology. And maybe we need boundaries over that. Every age, every time has something.
In the past, many people would sit and gossip more. And they would gossip about their neighbourhood. Now people gossip about the whole world.
The principle of gossiping is still going on. So, the idea is that whatever it is that tempts us, whatever it is that will invade our consciousness and then pervade our consciousness, we need to minimise our exposure to it. So, that way, at least the world is not going to become bigger and bigger.
So, everyone will have to take individual responsibility. For somebody, it may be movies. For somebody, it may be sports.
For somebody, it may be politics. For somebody, it may be food. For somebody, it may be sex.
For somebody, it may be money. Now, some of these things are necessary in life. But even what is necessary can be done excessively.
And money is important. No doubt in life. But money should be what we live with.
Not what we live for. Money is like fuel in a car. If there is no fuel in a car, we can’t move.
Let’s say our neighbour rushes out of their home and is racing as fast as they can. Now, if you watch out, say in the middle of your concern, what happens? You will get a heart attack or what happens? Can I help you? So, what happens? Where are you going? I am going to put fuel in my car. Okay.
After that, where will you go? I will go to the next gas station and put fuel in my car. Okay. And after that? I will go to the next gas station and put fuel in my car.
But where are you going? I am going to put fuel in my car. You know, fuel is what we drive with. Fuel is not what we drive for.
Sometimes in emergency, we will drive for fuel. But the purpose of driving a car is not fuelling the car. Isn’t it? There has to be some other purpose.
So, like that, money is important in life. But money is what we live with. It is a tool for you.
It is a necessary tool for you. But it can become what we live for. And then it can become a distortion.
So, money is known as Artha. Now, Artha means it has value. It has meaning.
So, money is Artha. But obsession with money Obsession with money becomes an Artha. It is an Artha of Lova, of greed.
So, when money becomes what we live for, that becomes a problem. In the way we live today, internet is necessary for most of us to function. That’s what we live with.
But if internet is what we live for, then we become more concerned about what is happening in Cuba than what is happening in our child’s life. We are more concerned about what is happening in Syria than what is happening in our spouse’s life. That is a complete distortion.
One friend showed me a cartoon. Yesterday my broadband Wi-Fi went down. So, I spent some time with my family.
They seem like nice people. It’s like you don’t even know them. So, what is necessary, when it is excessive, it can become counterproductive.
So, basically, we need things in this world but we don’t want them to become too bitter. That’s when we need to create boundaries. Now, the safe space, how do we create a safe space? There are two things I will talk about.
Safe space can be in terms of categorical and chronological. Categorical means that some things as a category, I am not going to have them at all in my life. Say, for example, we may decide we don’t eat meat, we don’t drink.
Now, there are certain things we decide I don’t want this in my life. So, there are many temptations of this world which categorically say no. So, in the West, drinking is very much a part of people’s lives.
There was one European, British thinker, he said, the taste of wine is the proof that God loves us. If God didn’t exist, how could something as delicious as wine exist? There are so many other ways we could consider the existence of God. But, this is what it is.
So, in the West also, when people drink routinely, there also they have some sense. Drink, but don’t get drunk. It’s like saying, go to the edge of a lift, bend down and see as much as you can, but don’t fall down.
Well, one gust of wind, one push, you topple over. So, it’s dangerous. So, for some things, categorically, nothing doing.
We say no to those things. Now, for some things, when we are trying to create a safe space, we cannot say no to those things. But, what we can do is, chronological means like a full no to some things.
Chronological is no till this time. Chronology is a sequence of time. So, for example, somebody may decide that, my morning time is for my spirituality.
So, till I completed my prayers, completed my chanting, I am not going to look at my phone. Or, I may decide, if I am going to look at my phone, maybe for something urgent, I look only at my WhatsApp if there is an urgent message. I am not going to social media and check it.
So, each of us may need to create some chronological, safe space for us. So, if we go to work, we can always chit chat with friends. When we go by the water cooler, we go for a sip, and when we go for a sip, we gossip.
I am going to complete this much work, then I will do that. So, each of us needs to find ways to create a safe space. So, safe space is not just categorical or chronological.
It can also be geographical. Geographical means, let’s say, in our community, if we have a temple, the world is filled with so many temptations and distractions, I go to the temple. That is the place where the temptations of the world cut off.
The temptations are there, but it is not that much, not that flaccid. So, in our own home also, we can have an area which will be like our altar. We come in front of that.
We are reminded of bigger realities. The world’s temptations, they don’t affect us that much. So, every one of us needs to find out how can I create a safe space for myself.
And by that safe space, the world will become lesser and lesser. This is the first part. The next part, I will conclude the class.
So, this is, withdraw your senses from the sense objects. Or what this is, Now, having a safe space is important. But, actually, trying to live for safety is the most dangerous way to live.
Because we don’t just want safety in life. We want to be safe, but can somebody say the highest purpose of my life is to be safe? No. If we are in constantly danger, say, I was just in UK, I met several devotees who were living in Ukraine and they had to flee from there.
They had to relocate. So, if I am in danger, then safe space is the most important thing. But, after safe space is there, I need something else.
As it is said, ships are safest in the dockyard. But ships are not meant to be in the dockyard. They are meant to sail in the sea.
So, for us, safety alone is not enough. So, basically, when I am talking about safe space, what it does is, it decreases the effect of duality. So, we want to become steady, the world becomes smaller.
Then we disconnect from the world. Many of us in Ekadashi, if you have practised in Makri, you start fasting. So, I have got a group of friends, so, we are trying to experiment in Ekadashi.
We fast from technology also. It’s difficult. It’s actually far more difficult than fasting from food.
But, okay, maybe half the day. So, whatever it is that distracts us, whatever tends to make the world bigger. And we realise, okay, 6 hours I was away from technology, I didn’t see much of Facebook, then nothing really went wrong.
It is not that the world came crashing down. And if the world had come crashing down, it would have come even if I had been on Facebook also. We can’t really change that.
So, for us, we all can decide what kind of safe space we want. But that is not enough. The param drishtva, to see Krishna as bigger, see God as bigger, for that, what is bigger right now, we do need to make it smaller.
But we will not be satisfied just by making it smaller. After we have got safe space, then the second thing we need is a strong base. What am I trying to do? So, as I said, we cut off from our technology, but then, okay, I want to read this book.
I want to chant attentively. If I am meeting this person, I want to focus on understanding, talking to this person. If I am hearing a spiritual class, I want to focus on the class.
So, we need to generate this strong base in our life. Without that strong base, we won’t be able to work. So, this param drishtva, I will conclude this point, that if we understand Krishna as the bigger reality, we open ourselves at least to the possibility that okay, maybe if Krishna is the bigger reality, he could also be the source of a bigger happiness.
The world gives me some happiness, but if everything in the world has come from Krishna, that even the capacity of worldly things to give me happiness has also come from Krishna. Isn’t it? So, maybe Krishna is the source of our bigger happiness. At least open ourselves to this possibility.
Most of us have had some experience of the world. We have enjoyed some of the things of the world. And we all sooner or later come to the realisation that the promises of the world, they don’t live up, things of the world don’t live up to the promise.
Maybe I thought okay, I will get a big house, I will be happy, I will get this big job, I will be happy, I will have this relationship, I will be happy. Maybe those things did make us happy, but they don’t make us as happy as we thought they would make us. So, often, worldly pleasure, worldly achievement is an anticlimax.
When the climax comes, oh I got this, I got this, what happened? It’s not that fulfilling as we imagined. So, maybe there is some source of higher happiness. So, how do we connect to that? So, basically this param drishtva, to make Krishna the bigger reality, there are three stages in that.
First is, we need a higher vision. That higher vision comes from education. We get that, okay, maybe it’s possible that Krishna is the bigger reality.
So, when we come and hear classes, we get a higher education. It says, now after from that higher education, we get a higher purpose for our life. So, previously the world was my end, but now God becomes my end.
God is what I perceive. So, that higher purpose. We may do the same things, but we do them for a higher purpose.
Somebody may be a teacher. Say, imagine there is a class and there are four teachers. In the school there are four classes and four teachers.
You ask the first teacher, what are you doing? I am teaching these dumb students this dumb subject. Okay, you go to the next teacher and ask, what are you doing? Yes, I am earning my living from teaching. The third teacher you ask, what are you doing? I am shaping the minds of those who will be shaping the future of the world.
Now all three are doing the same thing, but their vision is very different. And because the vision is different, their inspiration will also be very different. Their motivation level will also be different.
So, the activity is the same, but the purpose becomes different. So, these three examples that I gave, that is basically tamas, rajas and sattva. In tamas, whatever we are doing, we only see the problems in it.
In rajas, we only see the immediate being. In sattva, we see the bigger picture. Now, if we go beyond sattva to shape the sattva, and if a teacher is a devotee, what does the teacher say? Teacher’s vision would be, I am using the gifts that God has given me to help others find their gifts.
And use them in the service of God. That is a much nobler vision. Not just, I am trying to do some good, but actually God is there.
God is helping me to do some good. So, from a higher vision comes a higher purpose. So, this higher purpose is what leads to dedication.
Dedication means dedication to our sadhana, dedication to our seva. So, when we have, yes, Krishna could be the higher reality, let me experience that. So, when we sit down to do our chanting, put aside the whole world.
At least for a few moments during our praying, during our meditating, during our chanting, we should get that experience that there is a bigger reality. Krishna is that bigger reality. Krishna is with me.
And by focussing on my sadhana, I can be with Krishna. And then after that, when we go out into the world, we find that the world’s dualities won’t affect us so much. Some problem comes up, we won’t be so shaken.
Some temptation comes up, we won’t be distracted in that. That higher purpose. And from that higher purpose will come, finally, the higher taste.
Param Dhrishtva, Sri Prabhupada translates as the higher taste. So, here, at this stage, higher vision means that God is the bigger reality. We accept it as a theory.
It makes sense. But here, when we get the higher taste, God is a higher reality. It is not just a theory, it is a lived experience for us.
It is a reality for us. In between the higher purpose, that is the experiment. So, in one sense, this is like a spiritual science.
The postulate is, there is a higher reality and that higher reality is a source of higher happiness. So, for that, what do I have to do? I have to make that higher reality, make that bigger reality a bigger reality in my consciousness. Let me give focus, attention to it.
Through our sadhana, what are we trying to do is, exclusive time for Krishna. Whatever work we do, our family response, professional response, their seva, we make it into ultimately meant for Krishna’s speech. So, by this, we can get that higher taste.
That Param Dhrishtva Nivartate. When we get this taste, then the temptations of this world will not affect us that much. Because we will be experiencing joy through our connection with Krishna.
And then we can actually be much more effective in this world also. In our relationships, in our professional roles. When we are not so dependent on external validation, then we can be more enriched internally.
So, this saves space to get a strong base. That is the two point summary of how for Arjuna this transformation happened. From being discouraged and confused to becoming encouraged and convinced.
So, I will summarise what I discussed. We are talking today about the message of the Gita for our life. So, I talked about primarily three war parts.
The first part I discussed is, what is the Gita’s purpose? It is to in one sense for us, the world is a bigger reality and Krishna is a smaller reality. From there, we want to make the world a smaller reality, Krishna the bigger reality. So, when this happens, two things will happen that we will get, we will become peaceful with respect to the world.
There will be steadiness amid duality and then we will be joyful in our relationship with Krishna. This is the purpose of the Gita. Now, how do we go about doing this? The first stage is, how do we make the world smaller? For that purpose, we need to boundaries.
We need to create some disconnection from the world because whatever gets our attention gets us. Whatever our mind dwells on, that will become bigger for us. So, in our mind a notification comes up, some thought comes up, we dwell on it, it becomes bigger.
So, we talked about boundaries in three different senses. One is categorical. Just say no to an entire category of things.
I got nothing to do with this. Then second is chronological. So, till this time, I am going to complete this and then after that I am going to do it.
So, and last is geographical. Where we need to create a physical safe space, but broadly the idea is we create a safe space where the world does not invade and pervade our consciousness. And that way the world will become smaller gradually for us.
And then what we want to do? We want to make Krishna bigger. And for making Krishna bigger, what do we do? We need basically, as I said, just safe space is not enough. Strong base has to be there.
We need to do something in our safe space. That is our sadhana is where there is exclusive focus on Krishna. That I turn away from the world so that I consciously take Krishna through my praying, through my chanting.
It’s not a ritual. It’s a ritual in the sense that we do it daily. But while we are doing it, we need to be consciously striving to make Krishna the bigger reality for us.
When we are praying, I turn away from the world just to immerse myself in Krishna. And then after that, there is seva. Seva means we see that for me, the world where I act, that is a means.
So my gifts are meant to be used for Krishna’s service in this world. This is more like inclusive. Inclusive means that I understand that I can serve Krishna through this world also.
The world is not completely separate from Krishna. The world is included in the domain of my relationship with Krishna. So I take care of my children, my family, not just because they are my family, but they are all Krishna’s parts.
Let me take care of them. I function in my job not just because it has given me money, but because this is the place where the gifts Krishna has given me, I can use them to do something of value. Arjuna did not just reject his archery skills as mine.
He used the archery skills to help Krishna’s mission for establishing Dharma in the world. In this way, all of us can be enriched and empowered by the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna. Are there any questions or comments? I will think of questions. I will do what I should have done earlier.
I will introduce you later. Okay, see nobody after a movie likes to read the credits, you know. Still, thank you.
Is there a question or a question? Hare Krishna. While you think about questions, right? I should have read Prabhuji’s introduction earlier when I was going to read it. So, Prabhuji is a spiritual teacher for nearly 25 years in Bhakti Yoga tradition.
Thank you. Through modern day expression, ISKCON. He is the author of 27 books that explains the relevance of Vedic wisdom texts including Bhagavad Gita and Ramayana.
He is the author of world’s only daily blog on Bhagavad Gita where Prabhuji has written 4000 articles on Bhagavad Gita. He is invited speaker at TEDx, World Peace Conference UNESCO, Intel, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, Universities Navy, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, MIT and Cambridge. Every year he gives 400 talks, 400 times he gives lectures across 100 cities in 4 continents every year.
So, we are very blessed Prabhuji that you are here today. And before I thank him, are there any questions? Yes, this is not working. So, you can go ahead and ask question.
Yes, please. This is a journey. How do we measure our progress? How do we know that we are progressing and the hurdles that come along the way, how do we overcome them? Ok.
How do we measure our progress on the spiritual journey? Generally, with respect to duality, we can look at our own response. So, maybe one year before, say I am facing some problem right now. If one year ago I had faced this problem, what would my response be? Now I am a little worried about it.
But maybe one year ago I was in panic completely. So, it is the effect of the duality on me is decreasing. So, the world will always be having duality.
But maybe in the past I was going way up and down. But as things go, maybe I become much steadier. So, that is one indication.
Our response to life’s ups and downs becomes less extreme. Now of course, some people by nature may be more emotional, more excitable. And some people may be more expressive.
So, it is not that everybody has to become stoic and unemotional. That is not the point. But there is an internal steadiness.
Something could happen. Some people are there and they are just very expressively happy. And they are expressively dejected when they are unhappy.
That is okay. We all have our particular way of functioning. But internally we are not so disoriented.
So, that is one parameter. Our response to duality. So, now the other is that is our attraction to Krishna increasing? So, generally speaking, love, the presence of love is seen in two ways.
Whenever there is love, what we give to the object of love. Say, if we love someone, we want to give what we can. We want to give the best of what we can.
So, what we give and what we give up. So, if parents care for their child, then say the child has some school function, the child is functioning in a drama. And the father says, I am busy in my office, I can’t come.
The father says, I love you. Your actions don’t show that. So, maybe sometimes the meeting cannot be abandoned, but sometimes it needs to be.
Let’s do something. What we are ready to give up. So, what we give, parents make the best facility for their children, we put them in the best schools.
So, what we give, what we give up. So, now sometimes it is a conscious effort, but it is when there is love, we don’t have to think about you, of course. So, we can see in our relationship with Krishna, what are we ready to give to Krishna? And what are we ready to give up for Krishna? Say, maybe we were very attached to Kalki today.
And say, a cricket match happens on the same day when there is a festival. So, do I give up the festival to watch the cricket match, or do I give up the cricket match to go to the festival? So, what I give up? And, ok, you can give up reluctantly, you can give up effortlessly, it depends. But broadly speaking, love is seen by this.
What am I ready to give? We may give, when I have been travelling across the world, and I have been reconnecting with my school friends, college friends. So, as a Krishna consciousness, ISKCON has become a fairly positive brand name now. So, I met one friend in Australia, in Sydney.
So, he said, you know, I regularly come to ISKCON. Really? How regularly? Every Janmashtami. Ok, that is also some level of regularity.
But, you know, that is not really much. So, what are we ready to give? Say, if somebody is serious about spiritual life, they would want to, not just once a year, maybe once a week, maybe twice a week. So, what do we give and what do we give up? And it’s not just what, you could say, how.
How means, what is our emotion? Do we do it easily? Is it reluctant, somebody has to force us to do it? Or, is it eager? I want to do it. So, broadly, these are the two parameters of spiritual growth. Now, with respect to obstacles, that can be understood in many different ways, but the obstacles, we can say there are internal and there are external.
The internal obstacles are doubts and desires. So, doubts arise at the level of buddhi. And desires arise at the level of manna.
So, is Krishna really there? Is Krishna really the source of happiness? These are doubts. And that means, is Krishna really the bigger reality? There are doubts about that. And desires is, okay, Krishna is good, but mine is also not so bad.
So, I want this and I want that, I want that. So, doubts and desires. So, these are the obstacles.
Now, we need to deal with them. So, doubts we deal by philosophical education. We study and understand the scripture and gradually, we associate with people and say, oh, these people are also intelligent, they are not just sentimental.
If they are accepting, maybe there is some substance to it. And eventually, doubts go away by realisation, when we ourselves experience something higher. Desires go away gradually by purification.
First, we need some regulation. We talk about creating some safe space. Now, externally, there are distractions and obligations.
So, distractions means so many things. We may have no desire for them, but they just pop up and then we get attracted to them. Okay, eat this, watch this, go here, go there.
So, distractions are there. And then, we may say obligations, how can they be an obstacle? Yeah, we have certain obligations that are required for us, but we often may increase our obligations. Say, I do this, if I am in work, I take up this also, and I take that also, and I take up that also.
So, these can be obstacles for us. So, we need to see which are the obstacles that are keeping you. Some people may be spiritually interested, but they are so socially engaged.
You know, I am a part of this group, and I am a part of that, and I do this, and I do that. Okay, all those may be of value, but Krishna is much more valuable. Okay, thank you.
Any other questions? Yes, please. My question is with respect to the beauty of the world. So, when you said that movement came, should we be aspiring, should we stay in a Samgha, should we aspire to that, or maybe you can explain in a bit more depth what should be the ultimate aim of the movement? Yes, that’s a good point.
Thank you. So, the idea is, there was someone else who came to make this point. Okay.
See, basically, we want to be peaceful so that we can be purposeful. Like I said, the safety is alone not enough. Samta mein rehna hai, but samta se humein ekagrata hai.
If I am studying in a library, then, oh, this person is saying this, this person happened over there, that happened over there, this person said that, that happened over there. But I can’t study. So, for us, we all have certain things which we need to do, which we have to do.
So, the steadier we are, we can be more focused on what really matters for us, what is truly important for us. The world will be presenting hundreds of things and each thing will seem as important. Propaganda basically means to make things that don’t matter seem to matter supremely.
That’s propaganda, that’s advertisement. So, samta mein when we stay, then, when we are equipoised, then we can focus on what is important for us. Say, somebody insults me.
Now, I can go, how dare you speak like this to me? And then I, if you think you are like that, then I’ll show you what I can do. I’ll insult you back. And then, it will just become hugely escalated.
But if that person is important for me, then, rather than taking that insult personally, okay, what happened? What’s going on? Hurt people, hurt people. This person is hurting me, but maybe we are hurt. So, instead of simply reacting to how they are dealing with us, we try to understand, okay, what happened? What’s going on? How, instead of asking, how can you speak like this to me? You say, can you tell me what happened? Can you tell me what is disturbing you so much? You did this, this, this, this.
Okay, then they may just blurt out, and within that, then you say, okay, this is the issue. So, basically, if the relationship is more important for us, then the immediate reaction won’t be determined just by the other person’s behaviour. We will be able to see beyond.
You are behaving like this with me, but I am, there is something bigger going on. So, now, you say, I am here, and someone else is here. The nature of life is, you know, we interact with others, they interact with us.
Unfortunately, what happens is, if I am interacting with you, I disturb you, and you disturb me. And together, we create a disturbed world. Now, this is, it unfortunately happens at times.
But suppose, say, I am here, you are here. Say, suppose, this person is an attendant in a cloth shop, and this person is a customer. So, now, normally, if a customer comes, the attendants will want to go and greet the customer, and they want to make the sale, so that it will go in their record, and they will get the fee or whatever.
But some customers are so difficult. They will look through a hundred clothes, and they will criticise everything and not buy anything. There are two kinds of people.
Some people bring happiness wherever they go, and some people bring happiness whenever they go. So, suppose there is some difficult customer, difficult, demanding customer, whenever that customer comes, all the attendants go away. But suppose one attendant comes forward and beautifully talks with that person, and tries to please that customer, but still that customer is an unhappy person.
Now, you could say, this person was so rude to me. This person was so disrespectful, so impolite. Why should I be impolite? But, suppose, that customer, that attendant knows that there is a boss sitting, and the boss has a CCTV camera, the boss is watching everything, and the boss may see that the sale didn’t happen.
But suppose the boss already knows that the customer is a difficult customer, and the boss may come and say, no, you really kept your nerve over there. You know how to deal with difficult people. I will make you in charge of this entire ring.
You train the other attendants how to deal with difficult customers. So, although, in one sense, in this interaction, there was failure. But in this interaction, there is success.
So the idea is, so the duality is how customers behave. Some customers may be very friendly and polite, and some customers may be very rude and demanding. But, if, the primary thing is, that for me, the bigger thing is to, he is my boss.
Then I can tolerate the duality. Similarly for us, people may behave in different ways with us. But if our focus is to connect with Krishna, to please Krishna, then, we will not get so carried away by the way people behave with us.
So that’s how, we want to be peaceful, so that we can be purposeful, so that we can be more responsible, so that our actions can be more constructive. So that we can be a part of the solution, rather than be a part of the problem. Thank you.
Thank you. Sir, Krishna world is small. We have to react point-based, to make it big.
In between Kavya’s journey, we have struggled between material world and spiritual world. So what is the best process or practises to govern this journey? Okay. So, in between this journey, when we are along the way, sometimes Krishna seems bigger, sometimes the world seems to be bigger.
And, sometimes both seem to be bigger, sometimes both become small. We go in various states of mind. And if both are important, sometimes we just get so tired and depressed, nothing is important.
We can go in all directions. So, I think there are two things, it’s like, in, you know this game called wall climbing? Where, it’s like a flat wall and people try to rise up. So now, when you are trying to rise up, you find a grip over here.
You hold a grip and you pull yourself. But the next grip may not be exactly there only. You find a grip somewhere here.
And the next grip might be there. So, wherever there are grips, you hold that grip and pull yourself up. So, in one sense, this spiritual journey is like wall climbing.
So, in the universe, basically there are two forces. There is gravity. Now, gravity can refer to physical gravity itself.
But it also refers to the gravity of, gravity, our attachments are like gravity. They pull us down. Because of our attachments, the world tends to become bigger and bigger.
So, gravity is the downward force. And, grace. Grace is mercy.
That is the upward force. There are these two forces. Now, whichever force we subject ourselves to, that will act on us.
So, if we don’t hold on to grace, then gravity will pull us down. So, for us, there are these grips. You know, things which we can hold on to.
There are grips along the way that we can hold on to. So, each one of us needs to find out what are the grips that I can hold on to. So, generally speaking, when I talk about those obstacles internally and externally, so, the grace for us can come from internally and externally.
So, externally, it can come through our relationships. Relationships means, say, if we take, we are in a relationship, and we take that relationship seriously, then I may not feel like doing this, but this is my relationship. So, I need to do it.
So, you know, when the newborn baby is there, initially when the baby is born, everybody is very happy and it’s an occasion of celebration. But after that, maybe the first one, one and a half years, a 24 by 7 job, it’s very demanding. And in the middle of the night, baby starts crying.
It’s not like that time the mother suddenly feels a wave of love flurrying from the baby. But then the mother wakes up and takes care of the baby. Because it’s a relationship.
So, basically, when you say, we don’t feel like doing something, but still we do it. So, for us, with respect to this, relationships are our relationship with devotees. If we have a relationship, we take diksha.
That means we take some vows. This is what I am going to do. So, my relationship with my guru, my relationship with senior devotees.
So, these relationships, satsanga is very important. Then that can be like an external grip. I don’t feel like doing it, but still I do it.
Now, relationships are important, but even in spirituality, responsibility is important. So, one of the signs that we are growing spiritually is that in a community, we move from being a guest to becoming a host. That means, I don’t just come to this programme, attend the programme and go.
I come to this programme, ok, let me serve prasadam, let me help in organising the programme, let me do some seva. Somebody new comes, I make them feel at home. So, we take some responsibility.
And that will get us out of our mind’s moods and our moodiness. Ok, I am going to, if I come to this temple, if I go to the temple, I am going to do this business seva. So, basically, externally, relationships and responsibilities can help us.
Internally, for us, we need conviction. Conviction is for the buddhi. So, we need to hear classes regularly.
We need to read shastra regularly. Then that way, for all of us, there are times when we don’t feel like doing something, but we know it is important. So, we may not feel like going to our office for a job.
But then, you know, this is important. So, there are buddhi, vishishtas, and then at the level of the mind, it is taste. We all need to find out.
Even at our level, we may have taste for some things. Maybe classes like this, now you can say, ok, this is, this has become a workout now. I am exhausted.
Ok, sometimes it happens. Some people may like this, this is very stimulating, I am understanding things. Some people may find, ok, I have taste for chemicals.
Maybe, that means, you know, I do it, I feel peaceful, I feel at home, I feel joyful by that. Basically, our mind feels relaxed and happy. For some of us, it may be, you know, we take care of our duties at home, we do some puja, while doing that we feel relaxed.
So we have to find out, within the domain of bhakti, now everything in bhakti, we may not have taste for it. But that doesn’t mean, we don’t have taste for anything. We do have taste for something.
That means, even within bhakti, there is something which creates a good feeling for us. So sometimes our emotions may not work with us, they may work against us, but sometimes they do work for us. So basically, these four are all like grips upward.
So we have to find one of these grips, and we push up, we hold that grip, and put ourselves up. And that’s how we keep moving on. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Shreemad Bhagwat Gita Ki Jai! Shreela Prabhupada Ki Jai! Gaur Bhakt Vrindaki Jai!