NoI 6 Text 2 – Identifying over-endeavor in spiritual life

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
We discussed words too. Yesterday we discussed about Pratamaran and we were discussing about Prayasam. So, we discussed this work to a point.
Remember, generally people do not like to accept pain relief. That is their unfortunate position. In this country, human life, yes.
Pratyasya pravartasya Anathma dhanyo prakaripathe Narakasya dhanyo prakarsya Kamo lakaya smrta This is one of the most defining verses of the Srimad Bhagavatam. In fact, Niranjana prominent professor in theological studies was quite favourable to Srila Prabhupada and his scorn. When he met Srila Prabhupada, then he asked him, Swamiji, out of all your teachings, which would you consider the most important? If somebody wanted to understand that, your teachings in a nutshell, what would you consider the most important? Now, we have Srimad Bhagavatam, but the Acharya also explains things in context.
So actually, Srila Prabhupada said that this verse and the verse which comes after this, the next verse is Srimad Bhagavatam But this verse and the next verse are the most important part of the whole body of the teachings. So let us try to understand what is so significant about this verse. Now, you remember what is going on in this part? First we will discuss about Atyagraha and then we will discuss about Prayas.
And while discussing about Atyagraha and Prayas, Prabhupada emphasised the plain living and high thinking. And he said that when people don’t live simply, then they have to acquire shopper houses, brothels, gambling tents, liquor shops, shopper houses. And these lead to a further complicated life.
So, now there are many reasons why there is no need for all this. The primary reason is that actually ultimately human life is made for self-realisation and for God realisation. So, now this is the point which most people don’t really understand that Ahara Nidra Vrindavan is something which is common to all human beings and doing it in a better way doesn’t make human life distinctively good.
Most religions in the world think that the success of religion is to have a moral and happy human life. Yes, we should have moral restraints. But their idea is ultimately the material conception of religion.
What is this? There is Dharma which will lead to Artha, which will lead to Kama and which will ultimately lead to Moksha. So, actually most people think of this only in these three terms. Dharma, Artha, Kama.
So, in a sense, the first three are a part of Karmakandha. Dharma, Artha, Kama are a part of Karmakandha. And the last, Moksha, is a part of Jnanakandha.
This is how this Chhattisgarh Purusha Artha is. Purusha Artha. So, now the word Purusha Artha, what Purusha Artha is, so the word Artha, Purusha means humans, and Artha means meaning or purpose.
What is the meaning of Artha? We have Artha Mantra, Bharat Ke Artha Mantra. It refers to money. So, what is the meaning of what you are doing? What is its purpose? It has many meanings.
So, basically, Purusha Artha refers to the purposes of life. So, generally people these four are the purposes of life. And with this conception of these four purposes of life, four Purusha Arthas, what happens is, people think the goal of religion is to have a moral and happy material life.
Now, no doubt, religion does make us happy, even at a material level, but that is not the goal of religion. So, this is the normal conception of religion, not just within the Vedic Karmakanda process, but it is also there in Christianity, in Islam. The whole idea is, by the blessings of God, we will be happy in this way.
And, definitely, by the blessings of God, when we live according to the directions, we will be happier than otherwise. But that is not the ultimate goal of religion. So, what does this verse say? This conception is rejected in 1, 2, 9 and 10.
The verses of the Vedas are discussed in 9 and 10. So, what does this verse say, basically? So, generally people think that Dharma is for Artha. This is what people think.
Dharma Artha Kama Moksha. So, the Bhagavatam says, No, this is wrong. So, what does Dharma say here? Appavartam says here.
So, Dharma is for Appavartam. So, what is Appavartam? Does anyone know? For Varga and Appavartam? For Varga is? Yes, in Sanskrit there are sets of syllables. So, they are called as Varga.
So, the sets of syllables have the first sound in it. Fir, fir, fir, fir, fir. And this is a Sanskrit example of what we call as acronym in English.
Like a scorn is an acronym. International Society for Vishnu Consciousness is like that. Fir, fir, fir, fir, fir, fir.
That is fir, for a government. It’s not exactly an acronym, but a similar conception where a broader set of concepts are condensed in one word. So, basically fir, fir, fir, fir, fir is fir is for Vishnu.
Then fir is fir, fir, fir, fir, fir is tena, extreme hard work. Fir, fir, fir, fir is bandhan. Fir, fir, fir, fir, fir, fir.
Bandhan. All the people work very hard. People who sweat a bit pound on, but still there is a bondage.
So, we get bounded by our attachments, by our anxieties, by our responsibilities. And fir, fir, fir, fir, fir is life. And man is ultimately one dies.
So, in this way, actually speaking, material existence ultimately leads to misery. So, apavardha is the path by which one becomes free from misery. So, this is what is the word saying.
Dharma leads to artha? No, that is wrong. Dharma should lead to apavardha. For the next stages, artha leads to kama.
Isn’t it? That is a normal idea. So, if you have money, what should you do? Enjoy life. No.
So, the verse says, Dharma is meant for apavardha. Artha artha yo patanpate So, now, dharma should not be for home and little ladies. That means, when we become devotees, we are not interested in getting money through religious means.
People think that sometimes we receive good books, but sometimes we are not interested in getting money out of it. People think that we are receiving good books because we are getting some money out of it. That is definitely not our goal.
But additionally, while we are doing dharma for apavardha, if some artha comes along on its own, and we try to practise spiritual life, at that time, some people make interpretations. But artha comes along on its own also, that artha should not be used for material things. dharma se apavardha se na artha artha yo patanpate na artha siddha na ekam visya, kamo la nayanisita That means, how is he explaining this? Artha should be used for kam? No.
Artha should also be used for the same purpose of apavardha. So, the whole idea is, even when we get Lakshmi, we want to use it for the service of Lord Narayana. We want to use it for glorifying Lord Vishnu.
In various ways. So, ultimately, everything according to the Vedic conception, or according to the highest Vedic conception is, for the ultimate purpose. In other words, artha is kamasya na endriyate namo jivetayamata So, artha is not for kama.
Now, kama can mean lust, kama can mean desire. So, he says, kama, normally when I have desire, what do I do? I gain some servation. So, he says, kamasya na endriyate This is the next verse, beside this verse.
labho jivetayamata labho jivetayamata jivasya tatra jivtyasa jivasya tatra jivtyasa narko yashchena karmabhi narko yashchena karmabhi So, kamasya na endriyate So, people think that the purpose of kama is to get endriyate. No, that is not. Kama is not meant for endriyate.
kamasya na endriyate labho jivetayamata jivetayamata Then what should we do with our desire? jivetayamata jivetayamata means for survival. Yes, we need to remember existence. We need materials.
We cannot give up all materials at any time. We need to eat, we need to sleep. So, all these things are jivetayamata means for survival.
Whatever is required for survival, we do that. Kama is not meant for endriyate. I have desires.
So, why should that not be there? jivasya tatma jivyasa narko yashchena karmabhi So, this jivetayamata we have a desire at the material level we should use it for survival. But the desire we primarily focus it for tatma jivyasa at the spiritual level. As devotees, we cannot give up desire.
But we focus it on spiritual enquiry. And in this way, the purpose of Amma Varadhanam is served. I will explain this once again, what I am saying over here.
Let us look at a very striking statement in Prabhupada’s purport over here to understand this point. Sri Prabhupada writes over here Seekers of the absolute truth Fifth sentence from the book. Sixth sentence.
Seekers of the absolute truth. So here, the idea is that seekers are never endured by unnecessary engagement in self gratification. It is a very significant phrase.
Unnecessary engagement in self gratification. And Prabhupada is not saying self gratification is entirely unnecessary. Some amount of self gratification will have to be there.
Because the senses are there. When they come in contact with sense objects, there is some gratification. That doesn’t have to be given up entirely.
Unnecessary engagement in self gratification. And why does it make sense? Gratification is the goal of one’s life. And why does one do that? Because the seekers are always overwhelmed with the work of researching the truth.
Overwhelmed. There is so much to understand. So many scriptures to study.
So many concepts to understand. So when we understand how exciting it is to explore the absolute truth, then that task overwhelms us. Overwhelms not in the sense of burdening us but overwhelms in terms of exciting us.
There is so much to do. So much to explore. So much to understand.
So the whole idea is jiva-siddha-pujita-yamsa. Our desires redirect them towards Krishna. That’s how.
Let’s go over this once again. So what is Shri Prabhupada telling over here? That dharma based on this 1, 2, 9 and 10 dharma is normally thought to be meant for artha. But no.
Dharma is meant for liberation. Now when I get artha anyway while practising dharma, the normal idea is as soon as I make money I will enjoy my senses. But no.
Even the artha should be used for the ultimate purpose. For our power. Now I have desires.
What do I do with that desires? Normally I use my desires to get happiness at the material level. But instead of that, instead of giving everything to the material desire, to the dharma, at the material level we focus on just jiva-yam-artha. Basically what is required for survival.
And we know that at the spiritual level tattva-jijnasa one does spiritual enquiry. And it is tattva-jijnasa that leads to, you know, spiritual happiness in the long run. And that’s how a person becomes purified and uplifted.
Okay? So, any questions about this? This is how this is a dharmakundam. Second verse it says, dharma-projita-kaitabodhra-dharmam nirmatram stham dharma-projita projita means that the material conception of religion is rejected. It’s rejected.
It’s involved. Yeah. So, now this is the description about kathya-bhara.
So, our first step is occupational engagement is performed according to scriptural indication. This refers to dharma. You know that famous one.
… … … … … Now, this verse is interesting because we often say that dharma is the only difference between humans and animals. But then some people may say that there are so many other differences. Animals don’t have technology.
Animals don’t write books. Animals don’t exhibit culture in the way that humans do. Animals are not developed languages.
Animals are not enquired into science. So, why do we say only that religion is the difference between humans and animals? There are so many other differences. Yes.
We talk about religion over here but in this particular verse in the Mahabharata, when the word dharma is being used, I have an article on my website. Science and spirituality. Are we special? That analyses elaborately.
Basically, we are not talking here about activities. We are talking about purposes. So, the question which we are discussing is dharma the only difference between humans and animals.
We may say that there are other differences also. So, actually the focus is not on external activities but internal purposes for those activities. That means, actually speaking, all science, literature, technology, science or art are used for glorifying and facilitating eating, sleeping, waiting, defending.
So, when this happens then in the external purpose the animal may not be surfing on the internet. Or animal may not be sending SMS to its mate by mobile. But the idea is, what is the purpose? What do people do most of the time? They remove the technology.
People are ultimately just going for eating, sleeping, waiting and defending. So, on the internet quite often the most popular search items are related with sex. That’s because that’s the primary thought that is there in the minds of most people.
So, then there is no essential difference. And religion that aims for these same goals doesn’t make humans higher than animals. Religion that aims for the same purpose.
If I am doing religion also so that I can get better eating, sleeping, waiting, defending. Actually Prabhupada would say that in some religions pray that O father, hallowed be thy name, give us our daily bread. So, now it’s good that people are going to God for bread.
But if they are going for bread, then that shows not their love for God but their love for bread. So, that is basically aahar, vipra, pema and kundalini. People go to God so that they can get a good spouse and marriage.
Yes, in material life, if a person wants to be a married person, a spouse is important and a proper, compatible spouse makes life relatively better. As Socrates said, if you get a good wife, you are fortunate. Otherwise, you become a philosopher.
So, the idea is that getting a good spouse makes material life much more tolerable. But still, that is not the goal of religion. So, if people go to religion just for the sake of getting a spouse, that is not really a very elevated form of religion.
This doesn’t mean this is not Vedic. It is Vedic. In the Vedic tradition, that’s talked about.
Even when Nimaya Pandit was little Nimaya, at that time many of the young ladies would go on the banks of the Ganga and they would worship so that they would get a good husband. And Nimaya would curse them, you should give all your offerings to me. You don’t give the offerings to me.
And I will curse you that you will get an old husband who already has three co-wives. So, then they would become very frightened. Whatever you want to take.
So, the idea here is that this is not necessarily wrong. This is there in other religions. This is there in the Vedic religion also.
But this is not the level of religion in which we harbour the thoughts. Harbour means talking about a lofty level of religion. So, this sort of dharma doesn’t really differentiate between humans and animals.
So, here in this verse, dharma that raises humans above animals is the metaphysical enquiry and pursuit of spiritual truth. That means only when a person understands that there is some higher reality beyond the material and the person tries to perceive that reality only then is the person actually in the process of practising actual dharma. So, in this way the focus of all this point is that we as human beings we need things at the material level and endeavouring for them is not wrong but that should not be the ultimate purpose of our life.
The primary focus, the essential purpose of our life should be transcendence, going beyond this material existence to the material existence and attaining lasting happiness in spirituality in relationship. Okay. Any questions, please feel free to ask.
Now? Yes. Okay. So most people don’t know about religion.
So is it better that we tell them for example this worship, Tulsi. Tulsi only has seen me. Okay.
Just offer some water. Right, right. So, there is much there is some religion which people practise at a cultural level.
Not because of any philosophical understanding but because it’s just that rare tradition. That’s what our ancestors have been. That’s what our culture is.
So we should continue it. So, generally speaking the younger generation will not want to do things just because it’s a culture. Because they get exposed to education.
They get exposed to the media. And they have worship. The questions don’t get answered.
Why don’t people want this? Generally speaking, as people grow older by the time they become 40 or 45 in general, youth wants change. By the time people come to middle age they want continuity. They want more than change.
They want a sense of continuity in their lives. And that’s why people may want to continue with their traditional culture also. So the important point is if people are doing something just because it’s a culture, their doing age will not be with great conviction.
It’ll just be very superficial. You know, in Chennai there are Vidha Ganesh and Vidha Venkatesh temples. Many places also.
What is the temple? That actually, oh my dear lord, I want to go to Ganesh’s Vignanash. The destroyer of obstacles. So, the purpose and perfection of my life is to go to America.
So, Lord Ganesh, the biggest obstacle going to America is, I don’t get a visa. So Vidha Ganesh temple is you offer some offer some bhoga or offer some naivete at the Ganesh temple and he will grant visa to you. So now, is it really the blessing of Lord Ganesh that one gets to go to America? Well, at one level you could say, but in many ways people become less spiritual and much more materialistic.
And then many of them become unfortunately, they lose their moral fabric. Then that is not really a blessing. So, nowadays you see some Ganesh temple, Ganesh puja that happens, especially in Maharashtra.
Very popular festival. But in Ganesh puja they are having film songs only. And the film songs have got nothing to do with Ganesh.
They are just mundane romances. So one time I was invited for Ganesh puja festival and they asked me to give a lecture. So I spoke about the blog of Indian culture.
I was asking the organisers, this is Ganesh puja, how are you having Bollywood songs only? So the organisers said, actually, Ganesh loves it. So, Ganesh loves his devotees, therefore, whatever whatever his devotees likes, he likes that also. So, nowadays, so, whatever his devotees like, he likes that.
So, nowadays, Ganesh devotees like Bollywood songs, so Ganesh should also like Bollywood songs. No, this is a total perversion of religion. So, that’s why when people do religion primarily at the cultural level, you remember the four lighthouses, four reasons why people act? Did you remember we discussed? There is mood, we discussed this, remember? What are they for? Culture, everybody does it.
Then tradition, we have always done it. Mood, it feels good. The logic is, it makes sense.
These are the four normal reasons by which people do things. But the problem with these four is, that they are all family. So, generally speaking, when people do Ganesh puja, it’s because of the culture, law, culture, tradition, or mood.
Then that is not a very sustainable focus basis for doing things. That’s why if people are doing like this, it’s good. We can appreciate that they are having some cultural values with them.
That their cultural values can also become complemented by philosophical understanding. Then their practise will become stable. So, that’s why we can invite them for some Gita courses and get them to also appreciate the philosophical aspect.
So, if they do that, then their sadhana will become relatively stable. Otherwise, they are just sadhana, sadhakas are those who are seeking, who are doing sadhana, who are seeking spiritual advancement. There have been many people who are dharmic.
All people who are dharmic are not sadhakas. So, most people are in some way dharmic. Some religious information, some occasional religious practises are there.
But sadhakas are those who are actively seeking spiritual advancement. And they are there. So, that’s what we want.
Let’s say, when we give them sadhana, so, some dharmic people, they become sadhakas by understanding siddhanta, that is philosophy. So, our goal is not just dharmic. So, people who practise religion on the cultural sentiment, this is my culture, I should continue it.
Then these people, they will not be very sustaining practitioners. We want them to sustain practitioners, we want them to become sadhakas. And they will become sadhakas by understanding siddhanta.
That’s why Srila Prabhupada spent so much time writing his books. And you will see that, in Srila Prabhupada’s lectures, he did not focus so much on pastimes. He was always focussing on siddhanta, but also understand that we are not the body, we are the soul.
So, this gratification is not the goal of life. So, by this understanding, Srila Prabhupada enabled people to rise to the level of becoming sadhakas. So, what is the difference between a dharmic person and a sadhaka? What is the difference between a dharmic person and a sadhaka? So, for a sadhaka, for a dharmic people, religion is just a part of life.
Life has many parts. Life has entertainment, life has sports, life has picnics, life has this. Religion is a part of life.
Whereas, for a sadhaka, life is a part of religion. Life is a part of our spiritual journey. That means, life is a part, we understand that we are going through many levels.
And this life, now, which is a part of my life’s spiritual journey, this life I have an opportunity to make spiritual, to make this spiritual journey. And even I can go for a turn back to Godhead. This vision of a spiritual journey which spans across many lifetimes, which I am pursuing in this life also, that vision actually transforms our understanding.
So, my God, actually I have to go from this life to the next. And I have to move forward. Is this clear? So, we should encourage people to rise to the philosophical level.
Are the Dharam people who perform religion for, say, cultural sentiment, are they doing it for Ardhas? Yes, in many ways. They do hope that by their practise of religion their material life will become better. So, Radha Gopinath wrote a paragraph on that incident.
He had a college friend who was an astrologer and he often talks with him but he would never be interested in spiritual life. Then one day suddenly he came to my temple and he gave a big donation. I said, really? He said, you started believing in God? I said, no.
He said, I have started a new business. In case God exists, I should take some precautions. That’s why I am doing this.
So, the idea is that people are not really interested in God at all. They are just interested in making sure that material life goes on nicely. So, one way that they can think that the material life will go on nicely is that if there is a God, it should not create any trouble in their life.
Another could be that by worshipping God, you will provide them blessings. Another could be that by worshipping God, I get prestige in society. Many people are really mad after prestige.
So, that could also be an objective. Yeah, so, cultural sentiment ultimately, you know, Ardha is not just financial prosperity. It is also people want Ardha so that they can get prestige in society.
So, it is at the Raghma Ardha Kama Moksha. That is basically, Raghma Ardha Kama is the middle conception of Moksha. You took the practise out of cultural sentiment, they are also in the middle conception of Moksha.
So, if you take Ardha in the strictest sense of money, then everybody who comes to a temple on Janmashtami, they are not just coming for money. But they may also have an idea that, oh, people should think that I am a good religious person. I am not an atheist.
And that is basically a middle conception of life. So, for these people, those who practise religion out of cultural sentiment, for them, religion is a social cosmetic. Now, what is a cosmetic? Cosmetic is something which we wear so that we look better.
So, religion is a social cosmetic means, to look better in society, they have some religious practise. So, when they come, when they come to the temple also, they come to the temple not to take darshan of the deities, but to give darshan to everyone else. See, I also come to the temple.
I am a pious person. So, religion is a social cosmetic for them. This is not necessarily bad because Krishna says that, चिद्दुर्विधावजन्तेमा जिनासुदुर्तुनवर्जिना आर्थो जिज्ञासुद अर्थार्थी ज्ञानी के बदधार्शिया। So, all these four kinds of people come to Krishna.
Krishna says, they are good. But they have to rise to a higher level. Otherwise, it will not be sustained.
It will not become a transformation. Okay. Let’s move forward.
Any other questions on this? So, Srila Prabhupada talks about, yes, there are various misconceptions. Hindu, Christian, Hebrew, Muhammadian. All these religions, they have some understanding.
But there is some higher reality. And we need to harmonise with that higher reality. So, even in Buddhism, they do not accept the existence of God directly.
But still, they have some higher conception in mind. Yes, there is a higher reality. And when we harmonise with that, we will become happy.
We will become peaceful. And that’s why they have the path of dharma. They call it dharma.
And that’s what one has to follow. Now, Srila Prabhupada explains the same point that religion entails understanding the laws of God. Because the proper execution of these laws ultimately leads one out of middle land.
So, dharma is yet a power. This is the ultimate purpose of religion. Now, as sadhikas, who are living in an institution, we will often be expected to produce results, even at a material level.
For example, if we talk about distribution, then normally we discuss how many books have been distributed. And then we may even cheer those who are distributing more books. We have maybe some functions where those who are the number of books distributed, they are appreciated.
They are given some gifts. They are glorified. And this can be at another extremeness.
Say, it can go into fundraising. Now, in some temples, when the fundraising rises a lot, in the morning, they not only announce how many books are distributed, but they also do announce how much funds were collected in the previous day. And when they talk about that, then they also talk about who has collected how many funds.
That is the number one fund collector. And then, when it goes in that direction, then the whole conception can become very mundane. So the idea is, when we are distributing books, the primary purpose of distribution is not to collect books.
It’s an important purpose, no doubt. But our goal is to share spiritual knowledge. And while sharing spiritual knowledge, we can also get resources for continuing our mission.
That is my goal. So, in general, the material success at some level is important within an institution. Because the institution has to function.
But the material success is not the primary parameter for success. How many people come for a programme is not as important as how many people are committed to the process of delivering the service. Ultimately, the attendance at a programme is not necessarily an indicator of commitment.
It’s one indicator. But it’s also important that how many people are committing themselves. How many people are practising the principles.
How many people are becoming sadhakas. So, we should not give undue importance to material success in our services. That doesn’t mean it is not important.
But there should not be undue importance to it. That means that just because we don’t get success in a particular service at a material level, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we are failures as devotees. Nor does it mean that somebody doesn’t get success at a material level in a service.
That also doesn’t mean that that person is not a good devotee. There may be many devotees who may be very sincere and they may be pleasing Krishna. But although they are pleasing Krishna very deeply, they may not have any extraordinary talents which will dazzle them, dazzle people or impress people at a material level.
So, when that happens, then we shouldn’t let these people be neglected. Make them feel as if they are not doing anything worthwhile. That will be a very erroneous conception.
Once Jaya Dwaita Maharaj was asked in a question, and he says you know, what is the thing that gives you the greatest faith is the pursuit of Krishna consciousness. So, he said that he mentioned this one devotee in Vrindavan temple. He says for the last 32 years, I have seen every morning, he serves Charanam.
Very old devotee. He is in Brahmachari for almost 40 years. He is a pastor in India.
He has a profile about him also on his description about him on his website. So, he said you know, this devotee, people are not appreciating his classes. He is not a guru.
He doesn’t have any disciples. He doesn’t have anything but really impressive to show. He is a proper disciple.
Good cook. And he says, day after day, month after month, year after year, decade after decade, he is doing this simple service of doing Charanam. And what is the great success about? The success is that he is able to do this year after year and he is satisfied with it.
That is the speciality. So, now, what does this indicate? This indicates that there is some higher happiness in the person’s life. Otherwise, the person cannot just keep doing that at the same thing, again and again at the cultural level, year after year, after year.
So, it’s not that we want all devotees to keep serving Charanam. But the point is, devotees are satisfied in their services. And not necessarily requiring fruits of the service of satisfaction.
Naturally, if we do our service well, the fruits will come about. But, we are not looking primarily for the fruits. We are happy with the service.
That means, we speak about Krishna, we share about Krishna, we do whatever service we want, we decorate the deities, we cook prasadam. And if people are attracted, people will be attracted. But that is not our primary focus.
Our primary focus is trying to help people, try to stay satisfied in our service to Krishna. So, let me just discuss this point quickly. What does this actually mean? Material success in our service.
So, do we want it? Yes. Because, it leads to the spreading of Krishna’s mission. We want Krishna’s mission to spread.
And the more books we distribute, it spreads too. But do we need it? No. We are satisfied in our service to Krishna.
We don’t need the results of the service for satisfaction. It’s a fundamental difference between the two. So, there are some things we want, but we don’t need it.
Now, Srila Prabhupada would often say that he was satisfied in Vrindavan chanting Hare Krishna. He didn’t need to go all over the world. But he wanted to because that would please the spiritual master, that would please us, that would please Acharya.
That would fulfil the prophecy of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So, as devotees, as sadhakas, we do want that Krishna consciousness spread far and wide. But we don’t need it for our own sense of self-identity or self-love.
We know that we are servants of Krishna and whatever we do, small or big, Krishna will accept that service. And he will move forward making spiritual advancement by rendering service. So, that’s why as sadhakas, we don’t have to do prayas in ourselves.
You know, how would we do prayas? Some devotees, when they want to do good distribution, they say, I’m so busy doing good distribution and so many people are taking the books. I don’t have time to chant my own. So, I just drop my chanting that I know how to do.
Why? That is not good. I have to actually do my daily sadhana. I’m so busy doing good distribution or doing my services that I don’t have time to study scripture.
It is also not good. I have to study scripture. At least on a regular basis.
Even if I can’t do it daily. So, if we neglect the direct sadhana aspect of our spiritual life. Because see, the difference is, the sadhana aspect of our spiritual life doesn’t give any good results immediately.
Every day I chant Hare Krishna, what is the result I get by that? Practically, if I study the scriptures, do I get any immediate result? No, I’m explaining my understanding and if I’m going to preach, it does help. But, I don’t get any immediate result. So, if we are doing, if we are, so our whole discussion, we are concluding the prayasa part now.
So, prayasa means excessive endeavour. When we neglect the sadhana aspect of our spiritual life, so as to gain material success in our service, then we fall prey to prayasa. So, prayasa means excessive endeavour.
So, when we endeavour for success at the material level, in our services, and in order to gain that success, we neglect the sadhana aspect of our spiritual life. Then, we fall prey to prayasa. So, as sadhakas, we need to do services, no doubt.
But, over a period of time, we need to arrive at a balance. That we are doing our services and we are doing our sadhana also well. And when we do these both in a balanced way, then we can go on lifelong.
Prayasa means excessive endeavour. Tatyahara prayasa is chitrajalpa only mahadeva. So, we are discussing prayasa, it’s excessive endeavour.
Yes, now, and we are not thinking of, see, Desha Amrit is a book for devotees. And here we are having brahmachari class. We are not really talking here about, say, a materialistic person working 16 hours in a company.
Or a person working, say, 15-16 hours to expand his own business. That can also be called as prayasa. But that is not the context that is applicable to us as brahmachari sadhakas.
That’s why we are not discussing it. So, as, you know, we are not going to, right now, we are not going to think that I have to work so that I’ll have a big house and a big car and those sort of things. That will not be what will distract us immediately, essentially.
What can distract us, what can be the likely sources of prayasas, is in material successes in our services. It’s a real, descriptive decision to the context of sadhakas, right. But what you are saying is correct.
In people, you know, in today’s society, people work so hard, not to speak of neglecting God, to gain success, they will neglect their families. You know, the husband doesn’t have time for the children. Or sometimes when the wife is working, and both of them they keep their sons, children, babysitters and they don’t have time for themselves also.
The father family, for their children. People don’t have time for their elders. So all that can also be called as prayas.
We are talking about primarily the relevance to the audience here. Yeah, definitely. Okay, so your question is can prayas be positive? So, okay, now you have to look at what is the concept called the multivalence of words.
See, words have multiple meanings. That means, I can take many examples of this. Let’s start with.
So, the word prayas, as it is used in a technical sense, in these words, it means over-endeavour. But, the word prayas, in general, it’s a Hindi word, it’s a Marathi word, it’s a Sanskrit word, prayas means to try. In Hindi it’s to keep trying.
So, when I keep trying in spiritual life, if I keep endeavouring in a deliberate and determined sense, that is good. So, then when Srila Prabhupada is talking about the word prayas over here, prayas to enquire about the God’s absolute truth, he is not using it in the same technical sense in which Rupa Goswami is using it as one of the things to be given. But he is using it in a generic sense to refer to basically that one should endeavour the spiritual life.
So, I’ll give a couple of examples of this multivalence of words to make this point clear. This is a concept which will come up repeatedly in the study of scriptures. Multivalence means, he refers to multiple meanings.
So, the simplest example of this which we discussed earlier was, remember the word atma. The word atma can normally mean soul, but in 6.5 and 6, remember I discussed earlier, it means mind. So, actually, if you look at the Bhagavad Gita itself, there are places where it can refer to even the body sometimes.
It can refer to God also sometimes. The atma can refer to definitely, there are various places where it can refer to various other things also. So, it can refer to intelligence, it can refer to body, it can refer to God also.
So, or for that matter, if you want to say, the word Veda. Now, actually, Prabhupada says the word Veda means knowledge. You know, he says that in the Isha Upanishad introduction.
So, Veda, in a generic, generic means general broad sense, it can refer to all knowledge. With the word Veda literally, Sanskrit means knowledge. So, Veda can refer to all knowledge.
But Veda, in a technical sense, it refers to the Vedic. Either it can refer to the four Vedas or the Vedic literature. So, like that, the words can have various meanings.
So, now, Prayasa, in a technical sense, it refers to over endeavour or material success. But Prayasa, in a generic sense, can refer to endeavour, in general. So, that’s why words can have multiple meanings.
And in a technical sense, Prayasa has to be given up. But in a generic sense, we have to do Prayasa. We definitely have to endeavour.
Without endeavouring, we cannot achieve anything. In 9.40 in the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says that my devotees, Satatam, Kirtan and Dhamam, they are constantly doing my Kirtan. And then he says, So, the endeavour, is the same as Prayasa.
The endeavour, the determination. So, definitely, in spiritual life, we do require to endeavour. Any other questions? Now we move on further.
. . . . . . . Yes. So, Chalpa, Ashoka Prabhupada explains in very practical terms. And as I discussed, through the internet, now Chalpa has got a international boost.
It has become so much, so easy. And people are so caught up. If you see how many people are.
There are four people in a room. They are all maybe taking lunch together. But each of them has got his own cell phone and they are sending SMS.
So, you know, people are sitting next to each other but they are not connecting with each other at all. They are connecting with somebody else far away. And then there were some, that is the people who say Facebook make friends.
But there was a case of a person, of a woman on Facebook. She had something like 4000 friends. And she was completely isolated.
This is one. There are many cases like this. She was completely isolated from all her neighbours.
And actually she was in her house, living alone. Not very elderly, middle aged. And she died.
And her room also had air conditioning. So she died. Her body became rotten.
And there was nobody who, none of her 4000 friends enquired about her, what happened. And eventually, because the air conditioning was there, even the rotten smell didn’t come. And finally, well, people would just come and drop some newspaper or something like this, print on and on.
And finally the stench became so unbearable that people came to enquire. And they found a post-mortem. And it was almost like she had died something like 120-130 days ago.
And nobody came to know. So, are the friends of terrorism real friends? Do they really care? That is not to say that social networking cannot be used for positive or spiritual purposes. It can be used.
But the point is, it can be a huge distraction which creates a sense of pseudo-friendship and pseudo-security. It gives us a sense of pseudo-community. Whereas we get cut away from real people and we think that actually I am connected with so many people.
But am I really deeply connected? How much? Now, when there is to be real friendship that can be had by any means. And it can be had through Facebook. It can be had through Instagram.
It can be had through phones also. So, relationships are possible everywhere. But quite often, relationships require sacrifice and commitment.
When I am with a person, the person’s hands are troubled, and the person calls me. And if that person comes to meet me, then I have to put my things aside and talk with that person. But if I am on Facebook, I am on email, I can just niggling at the person.
So, what happens is, the aspect of relationships becomes, often, people use Facebook and other such technology not necessarily to develop positive relationships, but to avoid the sacrifice involved in real relationships. And then it becomes a problem. So, Prajalba essentially doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t have relationships.
Prajalba essentially means that, so we are discussing about Prajalba through technology. So, social networking becomes people’s excuse to avoid the sacrifices required for real relationships. When they have a sense of, when they have a formal sense of friendship.
So, as Adhaka, it is not that especially in Bangacharya, in the early stages, we may not require social networking. If that’s required as a part of our service, that is okay. But the whole point is, what is our purpose? So, if it is to avoid the sacrifices that are required for real relationships, then it is a serious problem.
So, now, what does Prajalba do? So, Prabhupada has talked about what was present at his time. You know, people would have read newspapers, discuss social political issues. So, these are the issues that he was talking about, which Prabhupada was especially concerned about old people getting into this.
He said, why old people? Because old people have more or less fulfilled whatever their worldly obligations, and now is the time when they could focus on spiritual life. But unfortunately, that is the time when they are being caught in sense gratification. Now, nowadays actually there is a pool targeted advertising for old people.
You know, people who are say above 14, 15, and this is actually there is no time to enjoy like old age. This is the advertising. What is the idea? They say, when you are in youth, you have to achieve so much.
When you are in middle age, you have so many responsibilities. He says, now you have achieved, you have done your responsibilities, now old age means pure enjoyment. And it’s not pure enjoyment, it’s pure illusion.
Old age means if the body is collapsing, the mind is getting disoriented, and signals are coming that we are going to die soon. So, to think that I can have pure enjoyment, is an illusion, pure illusion. But, you know, there is that famous verse of Shankaracharya, Mala avastha, krida sattva, karuna avastha, karuniratva, rudha avastha, chintamagna, paramdramna, kopinisattva.
That, in this way, people are attracted through various things to, they are distracted from God. So, now, actually speaking, what Shankaracharya was telling was, that there are phases of life in which people are distracted through specific things. But, if you see in Kaliyuga, things are significantly different.
So, what does he say? Mala avastha. So, when I am in childhood, then what happens? Krida sattva. So, people play.
Then, karuna avastha. Karuna avastha is a youth age. Then, karuniratva.
One gets attached to the opposite sex. So, I generally don’t use the word woman, because nowadays, there is the whole idea of gender neutrality. So, as I use the word, you know, there are, especially like I write articles in newspapers, you just cannot use the word pronoun, him.
Say, you know, 50% of your readers are women. How can you just use him? So, we use the word, generally we use the word one, or we use the plural words. V. That’s why, it’s a safe way to use the word woman, because we are not just speaking to men.
There are women also in gender. It’s good to use the word opposite sex. Karuna avastha, karuniratva.
And in pritha avastha, there is chintam. So, you know, people in times of children, they just want to play. You know, they don’t want to study.
And then we tell them to come to a temple. In the temple also, most children do not want to sit and hear philosophy. They just want to play.
Similarly, youth, the hormones are running, the passions are high, the dreams are there. And then people are attracted to opposite sex. In old age, as a person grows, you know, what will happen about that? What will happen about that? Actually, the problem is that in old age, one can’t control this.
Because one is not earning so much, one’s body is not healthy, that’s why the anxiety becomes too much. But, the great the great speciality of modern society is that there are a lot of animations Yeah. So, okay.
So, now the amazing part of Kanyuga is that, writing Bala Vastha also there is Tarunirappu. How is that? Actually, there is a whole phenomenon which is called as they call it as tween advertising. So, there is tween, there is teen.
There are teenagers and there are children. But, tween advertising means, there are these children who are not even attendees. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 that age, means children have not even come to puberty.
At that time, there is so much advertisement targeted towards them to make them dress in sexually alluring ways. You know. It’s one thing for women who are you know, who are post, who are in puberty, for them to wear revealing clothes.
But, you will see even small schools where they are just 7-8 years old, they are often, they are also often wearing revealing clothes. So, why is that? There is so much targeted advertising and the small they are neither physically nor emotionally mature enough to be treated as sex objects. But, that’s what happens.
So, actually it’s a very sinister and in many countries, there are laws banning advertising targeted below a particular age. But, the whole idea is right from childhood. So, there is Mickey Mouse and there is Minnie Mouse.
There are Barbie dolls and similarly there are dolls for men. So, everything, the sexualisation of childhood, that happens and people get so disturbed by that. So, Bala Avastha, there is Taruna.
Similarly, there is Bala Avastha Jivta Magnam also. Now, how is that? I had a devotee friend, a Congregation devotee, his son was telling me today you have been standard. We had a very good seminar today in our class.
It was a seminar on stress management. Example of standard boy. You know, it does speak sadly about the state of our society that a standard student can be feeling stressed.
Children are meant to live jolly, carefree lives. But, the sheer pressure, you have to do this study, you have to do that study, you have to do this, you have to do that. It just creates so much burden because that once a couple had a big debate and then finally it went to a court.
And the court debate was the husband was saying, our son, our child should become an engineer. The wife was saying, no, our child should become a doctor. He just said, what is the need to debate? Ask the child itself.
He says, no, we can’t ask the child. Why? The child is not yet born. Laughter Laughter So, there is so much pressure of the expectations of others where the expectations are even before a person is born.
Because of that, right from childhood the children have so much anxiety. So, the point which I am making is that anxieties have become multiplied. Similarly, we have over here Varuna Vastha, Krida Isn’t it? We have even youths.
People may not, as people become younger, they may not be so interested in playing cricket but they are mad about watching cricket. They spend so much time in that. Not only they spend time, so much emotional energy.
You know, there was in India, basically there are two main distractions. One is cricket, the other is Bollywood. So, few years ago, cricket and Bollywood decided to get married.
And their marriage produced a child. That is IPL. Laughter Laughter So, actually the whole point is people are so distracted.
So terribly distracted. So, there is Varuna Vastha, Krida Sattu And not only that, there is also Varuna Vastha, sorry, there is also Vruddha Vastha, Krida Sattu also. Old people are also sitting, they can’t even see with their eyes, they are busy watching cricket.
Or, they have their own varieties of games. Now, the whole idea is that, people say, everybody needs entertainment, everybody needs a break. Yes, everybody needs a break.
But, no, spirituality can also offer entertainment. It can also offer a break. It can offer a break that is uplifting.
But, instead of getting that kind of break, one is seeking something entirely different. So, just as this is there, now, Varuna Vastha, sorry, what I was talking about is, sorry, it’s not like this. This is there, I was talking about Varuna Vastha, okay.
So, now what is remaining is, we discussed about Taruna Vastha, also Chintamagnam is there. Definitely, isn’t it? So much tension people have. So much stress, so much pressure, so much tension.
Nervous breakdowns are so common in today’s society. Because people have so much, you could say they have work pressure, but often the work pressure is something which they have created by the lifestyle that they have chosen. So, it is said that, those who purchase the things that they don’t need will soon have to sell the things that they need.
So, those who purchase the things that they don’t need, I like this cell phone, I like this big house, I like this new car, I like this dress. So, I don’t need these, but I keep purchasing, purchasing, purchasing. What happens is, then my loan becomes through so much and I can’t manage it and my health collapses.
And when my health collapses, then I lose my job and then the mortgage comes along and takes whatever I got away. Not only do I lose the luxuries, I start losing the luxuries also. So, actually speaking, there is so much tension going on.
Similarly, the point which I was making is old people. So, there is such a tremendous sexualisation even of old age. There was this, a few years ago, there was this, they called it the Viagra revolution.
Viagra was a drug which was supposed to make old people young. Young, not necessarily physically, but sexually. That means, people take that drug, they will become again sexually potent and they will become young.
And it became so popular. Actually, many efforts have been going on, chemically, for a long time. So, Prabhupada writes in the Bhagavatam Prakod, that how sometimes when people become potent, they take a monkey gland and surgically take the monkey gland out and they put that in the human body so that they can enjoy.
So, Prabhupada says that, one monkey loses enjoyment so that another monkey can enjoy. But, now the technological ways of doing this have become more advanced. So, this Viagra was there.
So, it became an immensely popular drug. And then they found that this Viagra actually was had some very dangerous effects if people had heart problems. It was counter-indicating for people with heart problems.
So, what would happen is, people would take this Viagra and go to be excited and go to some society girl or whatever to have sex. And then, just when they are in the process of having sex, they will get a heart attack in time. And it became such a serious problem.
Because, it became such a serious problem because people maybe chemically can make the body suitable but then the whole sexual act has an impact not just on the sexual glands, it has an impact on the whole body. So, then the government decided that this happened in USA, it has happened elsewhere also, but in USA especially it happened. The government decided that this drug is very dangerous.
But, the public would just not tolerate the idea of withdrawing the drug. So, they decided that this drug will be allowed only if people get a certificate from their physician saying that this person doesn’t have any heart problems. So, only then, so actually, the people who want this drug or this drug, they already have a big heart problem.
That is, their heart is ridhrogam. In the Bhagavatam it says, lust is a disease of the heart. They already got that heart problem.
But, so then they decided and people were so desperate they were so desperate to get that enjoyment that they would not go to the normal physician who would know all their problems. They would go to some new physician who doesn’t know any about their history and get a certificate from them that this person doesn’t have any heart problems and they would go and get Viagra and try to go and have sex, get heart attack and die. So, then actually, what people need is not Viagra.
They need Vairagya. So, actually, they need some renunciation. So, what is happening is there are so many technological ways by which people are given the hope that they can continue enjoying.
Vridhavastha kriyasaktham. Vridhavastha taro nera. And of course, Vridhavastha, chintamagnam is of course there only.
So, in this way, what has happened in Kali Yuga is the distractions have become multiplied. They have become multiplied. So, actually speaking, what were the distractions earlier? They have all become made worse for all the ages.
And that’s why we have to be very careful to not get distracted. That’s why we need devotee association, we need repeated reminders. So, what does Prachalpa do? Prachalpa distracts us, distracts us.
It creates so many distractions. What does the Bhagavatam say about this? shrotavya nirajendra nunamsanti sarasrasha apashyatama pratattvam videshudra medhinam So, he says that nunamsanti sarasrasha hundreds and thousands of topics that people have to discuss and these distract them from making focussing on the absolute truth. Yes, any questions? The main cause is television.
Yes, television is an important cause. Along with that nowadays unless it has internet there is these smart phones in which you have videos being watched and television comes in between that. So, can we really blame television? In America there are incidents where young people sometimes take guns and go around shooting.
They go around shooting colleges, shoot children, shoot teachers and that creates a huge insecurity. So, there people say why should you have guns with everyone? In America the rules are that anybody can have guns if they just have a licence. So, there are some people who are saying that there is no need for guns with everyone.
And there is a very influential gun lobby which is primarily comprised of people who are manufacturers of guns. And they have a slogan guns don’t shoot others, people do. So, their idea is why are you blaming guns? No need to blame guns, actually it is people who are to blame.
But it’s true, ultimately people are responsible. But in general all of us have it. So, if we are facilitated to act on our impulses, then what we may do can become extremely dangerous.
So, that’s why it’s true that guns cannot be blamed for shooting people. It’s people who are shooting people. But when we provide them guns then we provide them the facility by which they can act on their impulses.
And that is dangerous. Similarly, in television, lust is there in everyone’s mind. Bhagavatam said, except for Nar Narayan Rishi, for Lord Narayan there is nobody who is free from lust in their existence.
But in Kalyuga, just by clicking a few buttons, one can get all the dirty images from all over the world and just inflame the lust within oneself. So, in the past what would a person do if a person lusts you? A person may just go to some local library or whatever. Something like that.
So, we can’t blame television for this. It is human beings who are ultimately responsible. But when we make it easy for people to do wrong, then people will do wrong.
See, all of us have impulses. And that’s why when we facilitate people to act on their weaker lower nature, then we will get the consequences. The point is not what is to be blamed or who is to be blamed.
The point is what is the solution. The point is what is the solution. So, is television a part of the solution? Not really.
Television can be used for positive purposes, but it is difficult. It is generally used for negative purposes. That’s why one has to be careful about this.
So, we don’t blame television, but we recognise that it is an important factor that facilitates the wrongdoing. You clear? The difference? So, I’ll just move this point. Is technology to be blamed for degradation? But it makes degradation easy.
Extremely easy. That is the problem. We are letting people succumb to their lower impulses.
So, that’s why we have to be careful. Whenever we use technology, we can use it for Krishna’s service, but we have to use it in a regulated way. Let’s move forward.
Any questions further? We’ll discuss a little more. We’ll discuss a little bit more. Let’s look at Janasangana.
Yeah? … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Prabhupada talks about association in a very practical term. He says that in any field, when we work with like-minded people, it enables us to do that activity better. If students are studying for IIT, then they would like to join with other students who are studying for IIT.
They can share notes, they can share thoughts, and they can share their visions. So, in any line of activity, working with like-minded people helps. Similarly, when we are interested in devotional life, associating with those who are interested in devotional life also helps us.
But beyond that, there are further factors also about association, which we will discuss in more detail. So, the point here is to avoid bad association. Prabhupada, in his purpose, doesn’t focus so much on avoiding bad association, as he focusses on sticking to good association.
So, we will discuss both aspects. We will discuss about good association later in the next course. Here, let’s focus on the point of avoiding bad association.
So, what does bad association do? Bad association can affect us at three distinct levels. Actually, I have a full class on this topic, but I will explain this very briefly over here. Effects of bad association.
So, one is contaminating effects of bad association. It can contaminate our desires, contaminate our intelligence, and can contaminate our faith. So, let’s make examples to understand this.
So, when we say contaminate our desires, the example from scriptures of this will be Kala Krishnadas. So, what happened to Kala Krishnadas was that he was with Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, but even while being in the presence of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, because of the association of the Vettaharis, he got allured. And I’ll tell you about my images quite a way, even from the presence of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
When Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came and rescued him, he came back. And when he was dragged back by the Kachav of the Sikha, so at that time, he did not resist. He was ashamed.
And he felt very apologetic when he came back to Navarini by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So, what had happened was at that time, desires overcame him. Desires overcame him.
And that’s how he was lost. So, how this might happen to us is, if we, if students are there in hostel, and then they go to some other student’s room, and in that room, that person has opened the computer and there’s a nasty image over there. Or, we go to our relative’s house, and there’s a television over there, or there’s a and then, there is some temptation that comes, and we just fall for it.
So that means, so the example would be student wearing, and so I’ll give you a scriptural example and a contemporary example. So, so what happens over here is, it’s temporarily the desire overwhelms the person, and after that the person comes back and says, what happened? Why did I do that? I shouldn’t have done that. So this is one level of bad association.
But what’s more serious is, when the bad association connects our intentions. It means, at that time, actually, we are not just overpowered at a level of emotions, but our reasoning itself is distorted. So the example for this from scripture is Ajami.
Now, Ajami, generally speaking, when our desires get overpowered, we get overpowered at the level of desires, that is not a nasty thing. That’s temporary. It happens for some time, and then after that it ends.
But when we are overpowered at the level of intelligence, it’s actually much more nasty. So Ajami went on for several years for that. And what happened for him was, he was a Brahmin.
So obviously he knew what he was doing was wrong. What he did was not just observe a Shudra and a Shudrani united, but he actually got that Shudra into his house, and he rejected his own married wife, he rejected his parents, and then to satisfy the Shudrani, now, the whole details of the past are not described in the Bhagavatam, but we can really envision that if he was a Brahmana, surely his parents would have tried to give him good advice, other Brahmins would have tried to give him good advice. And, naturally, he decided that to satisfy the prostitute, he started robbing and plundering.
Now why does a Brahmana have to do that? A Brahmana normally gets whatever is required for the livelihood by yajan-yajan, patan-patan. But if a Brahmana starts living with a society girl, nobody will give him Brahmanical duties to do. That means, first of all, he not only lost his wife and family, not only that he lost spirituality, he lost his livelihood also.
He became so degraded, so people would surely have tried to persuade him, but he was just not ready to see. So what happened is, eventually, he had not lost his faith, and that’s why when the sadhus came and told him, why don’t you name your child Narayana? He agreed. But his intelligence was lost.
So, now, how may our intelligence get lost? Now the most common way people lose their intelligence is that youth is not the time for spirituality. People say that, oh, yes, this is good, but not now. When you are old, now, you are old and you have so many ambitions, that’s what you should focus on.
Youth is not the time for spirituality. This is one misconception. But like that, there can be many misconceptions, which distort us.
So, see, when desires are, I just want to enjoy this, forget everything else. There is no serious thinking at that. But here, there is a rationalisation.
This is good, but it can be done later. This is what you should do. So, when people say that youth is not the time for spiritual life, they are not only wanting to enjoy at a material level, but they are rationalising intellectually the idea that we should enjoy, essentially.
So, this is trying to corrupt the intelligence. So, you can do that also. You can have these kinds of misconceptions coming, which make people feel that oh, we should not do this.
Then, at a deeper level, the example for this is KK. So, I’ll discuss this tomorrow. I’ll just mention this example and I’ll continue this discussion tomorrow.
And the contemporary example would be anti-devotional propaganda that happens through the internet. And that’s how we do propaganda. We’ll discuss about this a little bit more tomorrow.
So, today we discussed about, we completed our discussion about Prayasa. Then we discussed about Prashariva. And now we’re discussing about Janasana.
So, Shraddha’s commentary follows a similar pattern. And now, in the next parallel onwards, we’ll go to Mukta Sastra’s commentary and we’ll elaborate on that. So, we’ll discuss that tomorrow.
Thank you very much. Shri Pradesh Ambedki. Shri Latha Prabhupada Kirti Jaya.
Gaura Mukta Nithya Gita