Oh My God! with QA

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
I welcome all of you to this Sunday Peace Programme. So thanks to Siddhama Prabhu and so there is a first time for everything in life.
So I think it’s first time in the history of Radha Gopinath Temple that we are having a Sunday Peace class on a movie. So most of this class I hope will be question answers. So I’ll just give a brief background and then whatever questions you have, either based on the drama or on the movie, I’ll try to answer those questions.
So when this movie was released a few months ago, one of my services is that I answer questions on my website, thespiritualrealities.com. And many people ask me questions about this. And I wrote an interview article also about it. And several devotees felt that this required a bigger response.
So I have written a small book on this topic. Oh my God, re-answering the questions. So re-answering the questions means that there are certain questions which are raised in the movie and then they are answered, but they are answered in a skewed way, with only one perspective in mind.
I’ll explain what I mean by that shortly. So I have tried to give a more balanced answer in those. So I have taken 32 questions from that based on the issues that are raised in the movie and I have answered those questions.
So when Gaurang Prabhu came to know about this, he suggested that I speak on this topic. What I will do is, I’ll just give a brief background of the situation that leads to this kind of critiques of religion. So in general, all of us try to be discriminating in order to get the best in life.
When we go to a shop, we discriminate. Okay, here this shop is selling this at this cost, this shop is selling this at this cost. We look at the quality, we look at the cost, and then we decide.
So in most fields, we do discriminate. But when it comes to the field of religion and God, often many people, when they come to a temple or they go to any religious place, or they even come to some person who seems or claims to be religious, often it is that people seem to leave their brain at home when they come. So it is almost as if when people come to religion, they are ready to believe anything and everything.
And because of this sentimental belief, many people get cheated. And it is not necessary that they are to be blamed. Some people think that actually intelligence is not meant to be used in religion.
You just have to believe. And this sort of sentimental belief, if you imagine a pendulum, a pendulum at a vertical steady state. So one extreme of the pendulum is sentimental belief.
And then, as a reaction to the sentimental belief, there are intelligent people who think this is just nonsense. What are all these people believing and practising? And as a reaction to that, people go to scepticism. People go to extreme scepticism where they reject everything.
And they say this whole business of religion and God, it is just nonsense. It is just meant to fleece and exploit people. So in between these two extremes of almost unthinking belief, and on the other hand, there is total scepticism.
Total belief and total scepticism. Total sentimental belief and sentimental scepticism. There is actually a balance of intelligent belief.
So intelligent faith. And that is what is needed. So if we go to any field, there are certain standards.
There is certain basis for evaluation, like it was shown in the documentary, that there are many people who are in the medical field, but they are there just to make money. And not only make money, they make as much money as possible from every patient. It is as if all the money that they have spent on their medical education, they want the first patient to repay that to them.
There are people like that, unfortunately. But if somebody has experiences like that, is it that all doctors are like that? So not at all. So often the reaction to sentimental belief is extreme scepticism.
So actually, both in a sense are irrational. Just as belief can be irrational, even disbelief can be irrational. And to be able to arrive at a balance in between the two, we need some sort of basis for evaluation, basis for applying our intelligence.
So this movie, which basically talks about how godmen, rituals and temples, the whole idea is these are all just money-making institutes. And there is nothing transcendental or nothing spiritual about it. If you want to approach god, god is in your own heart, and you can approach god directly.
There is no need for anything in between. There is no need for any teachers, there is no need for any rituals, there is no need for any temples. So this idea at first glance seems good to many people.
Because it is true that there are a number of, among those who claim to be spiritual teachers, or those rituals that are performed, those institutes that are called as temples, often a lot of unfortunately exploitation happens. But this idea, if you look at it from the medical perspective, it’s like saying you can get health without any doctors, without any medicines, without any clinics or hospitals. Health is good, but you don’t need any of these.
Just become healthy. How do you become like that? So the idea that we can have a devotion to god without any process, any assistance, any guidance, that reuses the whole concept of devotion to just a hollow sentiment without any utility or potency. Just as the concept of health without any medicine, treatment or doctor is just a fanciful idea.
There was this serial by Aamir Khan, where he talked about the quackery, the policing that happens in the medical profession. Imagine if that episode ended with the message that all doctors are bad, don’t go to any doctors. That would be irrational and it would immediately strike us as irrational.
But when the same thing is talked about with respect to religion, people don’t think of that as irrational. They think, oh this is very intelligent. Why is that? So that is for several reasons.
First of all, it’s like sometimes we say that if copper is made, is coated in such a way that it will look like gold. So it’s possible if copper is coated, then it can be gold coated. Some people mistake it to be gold.
But actually most people with respect to religion, they don’t know what is the purpose of religion? Why should I practise religion? And after practising religion, what should I expect? So somebody goes for gold, but they don’t know gold so much that somebody sells them potatoes and they think it is gold. So that’s what unfortunately happens. So we need education.
The whole idea that I don’t need any spiritual teacher or if somebody says, you don’t need any spiritual teacher. This is a standard logical fallacy. Logical fallacy means a wrong logic.
It is an absolute negation which never holds. To say that I don’t need any spiritual teacher is like saying, suppose I say, I can’t speak one sentence in English. I already spoke one sentence.
Or if somebody says, I don’t exist. I have to exist to say that I don’t exist. So similarly, these are statements which are self-contradictory.
So like that, if somebody says, you don’t need any spiritual teacher, the person who is saying that is acting as a spiritual teacher. So by the very statement that the person is making, that person is taking the role of a spiritual teacher. So you can’t avoid having some kind of spiritual teacher.
Even the person who tells you he has no spiritual teacher is acting as a spiritual teacher. So in the main, Kanchi Bai says, don’t go to any of these gurus, don’t go to any of these mathas. He says, you don’t need any guru.
But while he is saying that, he is himself acting as a guru. So in a sense, we cannot avoid the principle of someone to guide us, to connect us with God. So then the whole discussion shifts to who are the people who can truly connect us with God.
And for this, there is scripture. Today if you see in society, there is a huge gap that separates scriptural religion from popular religion. So what goes on today in the name of religion, much of it doesn’t have anything to do with scripture.
So it’s like there are medical textbooks and there are doctors who can practise based on those textbooks. But there is a whole group, pottery of quacks, who practise without referring to any textbooks. That’s why the first criteria, if you want to look at any spiritual teacher is, how much are their teachings based on scripture.
And their role is not that they just present their brilliance to us. Their role is that they present scriptural teaching to us. So scriptures are the words that God has given to us so that we can become reconnected with him.
And scriptures are not just books that can be studied in isolation. These are books to be made. Just like if somebody tries to learn a language.
If I stay in India and suppose I decide to learn some language like Swahili or something, and nobody here speaks that language, then it will be extremely difficult to speak that language. On the other hand, if I join a group of people, if I go to that country and there I have to do some business and there I try to learn that language, then when there is some subject which is to be learned so that it is to be applied in the day-to-day life, that can be learned best from those who are actually applying it. If I learn a language divorced from the culture in which that language is spoken, first of all it will be very difficult for me to learn the language.
And even if I learn the language, my speech will be very filtered and artificial and I will make all sorts of embarrassing mistakes. So language, I am taking the example of languages, because language is something which we immediately utilise it. Similarly, when we talk about religion, when we talk about applying scriptural teachings, we cannot apply them separated from the culture of those who are practising it.
That’s why those people who are practising religion based on scripture, when we associate with them, we take guidance from them and learn the scriptures, then we can learn the scriptures properly and we also ourselves develop discrimination. We develop discrimination by which we can understand this is right and this is not right. And this discrimination is not meant to artificially label someone as bad.
It is not that if a doctor points out to a patient that particular therapy that you are trying, that is not a proper therapy, and don’t go there. That is not necessarily a criticism. That could be protection, because that is not going to work, that is not going to lead to any benefit.
It is doctor’s duty to educate. Similarly, when Srila Prabhupada presented Krishna Consciousness, one of the main things that he did was, first of all he taught based on scripture and he taught people how to understand who is presenting scripture. So the idea here of course is not to claim that if one alone is presenting scripture, there are four sampradayas.
The sampradayas are disciplic lines, they come directly from God. I think continuing with the doctor metaphor, we cannot have a self-declared doctor, isn’t it? One day I just decided, you know, all those people who are doctors, they make a lot of money. So I just come home and I decide, I’ll put a plate, doctor so and so.
I declare myself to be a doctor. It doesn’t work like that. How does a person become a doctor? A person has to be trained, educated and certified by a pre-existing panel of doctors.
So in India, there are various forums which do that. Every country has some kind of forums. So similarly, those who are spiritual teachers, they have to be trained, educated and certified by a pre-existing panel of spiritual teachers and that panel of spiritual teachers is called as parampara.
So the parampara is a chain of teachers which starts right from Krishna and it comes down generation after generation, millennia after millennia and it comes down till today. And as I said, there are four sampradas and it is not just that by being led to the particular samprada, somebody becomes a proper teacher. No, that person has to understand those teachings, apply those teachings and then share those teachings.
So in the spiritual realm also, there is discrimination. We have to use our intelligence. If you see the Bhagavad Gita, time and time again, there are question answers over there and the question answers are all intelligent question answers.
Now Krishna asks Arjuna at the end of the Gita, that deliberate deeply and decide what you want to do. So Krishna has given Arjuna a message, the wisdom and even he is asking, now you decide what you want to do. So it is clearly an appeal to Arjuna’s intelligence.
There is no dogmatic demand by Krishna from Arjuna in the Gita and that is the overall Vedic ethos. So the first point I wanted to make is that we all need spiritual teachers and how do we recognise who are the spiritual teachers? The first is, this is based on scripture, that they should be teaching scripture and not just anybody teaching scripture, they should be teaching scripture in a forum, in a panel that is going back to God basically. From that parampara when we get that knowledge, then that is bona fide.
Now another characteristic of spiritual teachers is that they are basically interested in God. That they are interested in sharing God’s wisdom and God’s love with the world. So this is a primary characteristic.
When George Harrison, the famous teacher, Maitreya Prabhupada, one of the things he asked is that, Prabhupada, he had been introduced to many other spiritual teachers from Indian tradition as well as from the West before that and he asked, how can we know who is a spiritual teacher? Who is actually representing God? Who is taking us to God? Vishal Prabhupada gave a simple answer. He said that if you want to love God, then the teacher who is going to teach you to love God should have love for God. If a doctor himself is sick to the extent of dying and the doctor says, come I am dying from this disease but I will cure you of the disease, naturally I will feel suspicious.
So if the spiritual teachers themselves are not devoted to God but are simply attracted to material things and are pursuing material things, then by learning from them, we can’t really learn devotion to God. So the Bhagavad Gita describes in 9.13 and 14 the internal and the external characteristics of those who are devoted to God. So internally it describes, So it says these are the great souls who are, they are taking shelter of me.
They shelter of me and They understand that there is no truth beyond Krishna, no truth higher than Krishna. Their mind doesn’t go anywhere apart from Krishna. Because they know Krishna is the source of everything.
Now how do we know what a person’s internal conceptions are? How do we know? From the actions. So that is described in the next verse. Constantly speaking my glories.
It is not that they are lazy and living in luxury. Endeavouring constantly. They offer obeisances to me.
They are constantly worshipping, constantly serving me. So Shri Prabhupada answered George Harrison that if you want to become devoted to God and you want a teacher, look at who is most addicted to God. Who is? Prabhupada used a precise word, not just attacked, addicted.
Because a true devotee cannot live without Krishna. Actually Prabhupada went from Vrindavan to America. He did not leave Vrindavan and go to America.
He took Vrindavan in his heart and went to America. We can take a devotee out of Vrindavan but we cannot take Vrindavan out of a devotee. Vrindavan always stays in the heart of a devotee because the devotee is always connected with Krishna.
And we can see this in the life of Srila Prabhupada. Normally almost all Indians, one of their cherished dreams is to go to America. So when people go to America, there are so many fanciful dreams that come in their minds.
Srila Prabhupada saw America. What were his thoughts? Srila Prabhupada wrote a poem at that time and that is the Markali Bhagavad Dharma. And for the first time he sees broad roads and fast cars and skyscraper buildings.
And what is Srila Prabhupada saying? Srila Prabhupada is saying that all these people are covered by the modes of passion and ignorance. They are suffering in material existence. Krishna please bless me by which I can share your message with them.
Please give me the words by which they can understand what you have given for them. So no being enamoured by the prosperity over there. Srila Prabhupada went in utter poverty to America.
Then later on when he went from, he first started the first time from New York and then the devotees asked him to come to Los Angeles. So that was the first time Srila Prabhupada took a flight. So many people, nowadays flights are quite common for many people.
But 20-30 years ago to fly in a plane was considered to be a big achievement in life. So now what was Srila Prabhupada’s thoughts when he first flew in the flight? After he landed in San Francisco devotees asked him, Prabhupada how was your flight? Prabhupada said, you know from that height all the big big buildings look so small. So I was thinking from Krishna’s height all of us will be so small.
So this is actually a devotee that wherever the devotee is always thinking of Krishna and always connecting everything with Krishna. Wanting everything and everyone to be happy by serving Krishna. So that is one of the characteristics that a spiritual teacher is one who is devoted to God.
Now some people have a notion that spiritual teacher means they should be completely away from all luxury and they should probably live on a footpath and don’t even take a train to move around and walk bare feet and eat very sparse food. So this idea actually is based on a very negative conception of spirituality. Now there are in general three attitudes towards the world.
Some people romanticise the world. Romanticise means you think oh this world is such an enjoyable place. You know we think we can enjoy in this world.
So that is the romanticised view of the world. There are other people who are in the preliminary stage of spiritual life and they demonise the world. This world is all very dangerous, full of illusion, full of temptation, full of danger.
Just get out of this world. So again these are the two extremes of pendulum. The Bhagavad Gita either romanticises the world nor demonises the world.
It actually tells us to utilise the world. So utilise the world means that what this world is meant to ultimately created by God and is meant to be used as his service. So it is not that the great that the spiritual teachers have to renounce everything of the world.
They renounce many things so that they can offer many more things back to Krishna. So the idea is that this whole world is meant to be offered to Krishna and for the sake of offering everything in the world to Krishna, the devotees may utilise these things. When Isha Prabhupada was in Hong Kong, so at that time the devotees had arranged a press conference in one of the top hotels over there, Hilton Hotel up there.
There is a five-star hotel. So a lot of Isha reporters came over there. So one of the journalists asked Swami, you are a spiritual teacher.
Why are you living in a hotel like this and holding a press conference over here? So Isha Prabhupada replied, I can stay under a tree. But if I had called a press conference under a tree, would you have come? So the idea is that the spiritual teacher may also use the things of this world in Krishna’s service. So if we just think that the defining characteristic of a spiritual teacher is their rejection of the world, then we are misunderstanding what a real spiritual teacher is.
Yes, they reject the world as far as for their own enjoyment is concerned. But they do use the world in Krishna’s service. And actually if we find such spiritual teachers, then we are extremely fortunate.
Some people say that okay, God is right in my heart. I can directly go to God. Why do I need somebody in between me and God? Why do I need a guru between me and God? Actually, the guru does not come between us and God.
The guru removes that which is between us and God. So what is there that is between us and God? Actually, it is our own lust, anger, greed, pride, envy, illusion. So these create a wall between us and God.
And sometimes we might get some experiences that seem spiritual. But spiritual life is not just about occasional spiritual living experience. Spiritual life is about a transformation and reorientation of our life.
And for that, this wall that is there between us and God, that needs to be broken down. And the guru offers us the process, the guidance by which we can break down the wall between us and God. And ultimately, all of us have a personal relationship with Krishna.
But that personal relationship cannot be established automatically or sentimentally, just by imagining that I am seeing God, I am talking with God. So in this particular movie, Oh My God, the hero Kanji Bhai, Krishna comes and protects him in miraculous situations and Krishna guides him. So how many people, assuming for the time being that that particular situation is okay.
But for how many people is Krishna going to personally come and intervene in their life? No. And in the same movie also, at the end, Krishna doesn’t appear to everyone. So Krishna came and gave some knowledge or some guidance, some protection to the hero in the movie.
But what about all the other characters, all the other people, who is going to enlighten them? Well, Kanji Bhai is taking up the role of that. So that means, we can’t expect that Krishna is going to come in everybody’s life personally. Then who is going to represent Krishna? That is, those who are devoted to Krishna.
So if we have this argument that we don’t need any spiritual teacher, then there is, at the end, there will be no connection with God of anyone. And we will just be left in this world. So therefore, the first criteria is that the spiritual teacher should be connected with God, they should be speaking based on scripture, scripture in a parampara, and then they should be devoted to God.
And their connection with the world should be such that they help us, they are themselves engaging in the world God’s service, and they are also helping others to become engaged in God’s service. So are there any questions? I can speak a lot more, but if there are any questions, I would like to deal with them. Yes, sir.
Is there a mic? Thank you very much for a wonderful talk. In the beginning itself, you made a very nice point that we have to know what is religion, what religion gives us, what we can expect from religion, and what is the difference between religion and irreligion. Can you explain that and you can make it clear enough? So what is a religion, what should we expect from religion? Very important question.
Bhaktivinoda Thakur, in his Chaitanya-sikshamrita, explains that religion acts at four levels, or rather, different people approach God at four different levels. These are fear, desire, duty, and love. And religion works at all these four levels, in a sense.
So the idea of fear is that there is God, and if I don’t obey him, he will punish me. Now, that is okay, but that is only the beginning of religion. So that is only a preliminary understanding of God as a punisher, as a judge.
And if you look at the standard understanding of, say, God is like the father and we are all his children, the children need to have a little bit fear of the father so that they will be disciplined. But that is not the only conception of the father that is required. So when there is only the understanding of religion at the level of fear, then the conception of God becomes quite negative.
And this can be misutilized also. Sometimes there are some people who say that, like it was told in this movie, if you don’t give donation, tumhara beta vimar ho jayega. So this is actually emotional blackmailing in the name of religion.
This is entirely unscriptural. It is not that somebody can force people like this and say that if you don’t do this, you will be cursed like that. That is completely wrong.
But the idea of religion at the level of fear, although it can be misinterpreted, the basic principle is that at this level, it is thought that there is God everywhere and if you do something wrong, you will be punished. Therefore, we should not do wrong. So in the Bible, it is said that fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
It is important, but it is not the end of wisdom. Then after that, there is desire. At the level of desire, we see, okay, I want so many things in my life.
How will I get them? So maybe I am working so hard, but I don’t know whether I will get it or not. So maybe I will go to God. And if I pray to God, then God will give it to me.
So at this level, the conception of God is not so much of a judge as it was at the earlier level. Here it is like a business partner. I do business.
So I offer worship and God gives me some results. So religion at this level may also work. When I say religion at the level of fear works, it means there are some objectives, there are certain things that we do wrong, if we harm others, if we are immoral, there will be actions which will lead to consequences.
We may escape the rule of the law, but we cannot escape the divine governance. So religion at the level of fear, it protects us from acting immorally and harmfully towards others. So religion at the level of desire, where when we go to God, we go because we want certain things.
Now at this level, religion, it works in the sense that if we approach God, God will give us the results. But often God’s results come according to his time. So that’s why if people have the expectation of immediate results, then people may find that I went and prayed so much to God and God did not respond.
There is no God. So at the level of fear, one may develop a negative conception towards God, which may make one atheist. At the level of desire, one may become frustrated.
I prayed so much and God did not give this to me. So actually, we have to recognise that in this material, God is omnipotent, God is unlimited, but we are living in a world that is limited. So therefore, if there are 50 students in a class and everybody says, God, please let me come first in the class, it’s not going to work.
So at the level of desire, things may not always work out. So that’s why at the level of fear and desire, the relationship with God is not stable. Then beyond that is the relationship at the level of duty.
So here we understand that actually God has already provided me so much. God has given me life, he has given me health, he has given me the world to live in. He has provided all my necessities.
So I wrote an article about how if we had to pay bills for the air that we breathe, for the sunlight that we get, in the sunlight that falls on just one state of America, Oklahoma, and if we had to pay even a little bit bill for that, the bill for one month will be more than the annual budget of America. So where are we getting it from? Krishna says in 15.12 in the Bhagavad Gita, this is actually the sun and its sun, moon and fire, the illumination is coming from me. So we see that there is so much that we are already provided.
Actually speaking, even when we eat food, some people say that, God, unless I work hard, I shed my sweat, is God going to provide food on my dining table every day? Well, we have to work, but even for providing food, our work is secondary. What does secondary mean? Every morning when the birds wake up and they start flying, they start searching for grains and other food. Now they have to fly around and search for grains, but their searching does not produce the fruits.
Isn’t it? Their searching, their endeavour is essential, but it is God who arranges for their food. So actually our endeavour is necessary, but not sufficient. If there are no grains anywhere, the birds may search everywhere and still they may starve to death.
So even for our bodily necessities, it is God who provides those necessities to us. So His provision is primary, our endeavour is secondary. If there are no grains, if there are no fertile soil, then you cannot have grains.
And Srila Prabhupada used to basically say that, your science and technology cannot help you at the dining table. What does that mean? You know, with all the science and technology, we don’t have a single food production unit. We only have food processing units.
The only food production unit is nature, and that depends on God. And not only that, so in our very existence on this planet, the provision of food, and even after we eat food, you know, Krishna says that it is God who digests your food. It is I who digest the food for you.
Actually, the only time we think about digestion is when it doesn’t work. But there are researchers and doctors who think a lot about digestion. Why? Because they want to make digestion work when it doesn’t work also.
So nowadays, by science and technology, if somebody’s arm is broken, you can make an artificial arm. Somebody’s heart is not working properly, you can put some device to help stabilise it. So the researchers thought, so many people have digestive problems.
Can we put an artificial digester inside their stomach? So anybody who can’t digest food, just put a digestive machine. So they started doing the research, and they found that a sheer number of chemical reactions and processes that happen, you won’t need a machine, you need a factory. And this research was done before nanotechnology came up.
So at that time, they estimated the length of the factory would be two miles. So maybe with nanotechnology, it would be half a mile or whatever. And they found, actually, some of you know mechanics, we talk about work in terms of force into displacement.
If I take this and carry it, how much work I do is how much effort I require to carry and how much distance I carry. So they found that when we eat one morsel of food, for that morsel of food to go from the mouth down to the alimentary canal, there is a peristalsis movement that is there. So the amount of work that is required to digest one morsel of food, that is more than the amount of work that average human being performs throughout the day.
So who is doing that work? So actually speaking, it is Krishna. So when we become a little more aware of how the world is working, we understand that God has provided so much for us. They say that God gives and forgives, we get and forget.
So at the level of beauty, we understand that God has already provided me, therefore I should reciprocate with him. So I should worship him, I should chant his name, I should go to his temple. And this relationship is more stable because that relationship is not based on what God will give me, which is uncertain, but it is based on what God has already given me.
So this is a stabler relationship. But even beauty can over a period of time become a burden. Now I have to do this all the time.
But beyond beauty is love. So the purpose and perfection of religion is to help us to love God. And we love God because he is the supremely loving and lovable person.
And by loving him, we truly love everyone else. Because we treat, we love others, not just because of what they are doing for us, but because we see them connected with us. So this level of religion is what is ultimately the scriptures teach us.
Even in the ten commandments that were given by Moses, in that the first commandment is, love God with all thy heart, all thy mind and all thy soul. So when Jesus was asked, which is the most important commandment, he said the same thing. The Bhagavatam also says that that is the ultimate purpose of religion.
The Bhagavatam says that actually it doesn’t mention that Hinduism or this particular religion is the greatest religion. It says parodharma is that by which one develops love for God. So these levels, fear, desire, beauty and love, they are non-sectarian.
We can see these levels within the divisions that we call as religions. We can see fear, desire, beauty, love in Hinduism. We can see it in Christianity.
We can see it in Islam. We can see it in all religions. So this is a non-sectarian analysis.
And the purpose of Krishna consciousness and the purpose of the Bhagavad Gita is to elevate us towards the level of love. So the level of duty, as I said, can become a burden. But when there is love, then religion always brings happiness for us.
Because Krishna is always available in our heart and by remembering him, by serving him, we can always be happy. So what can we expect from religion? If we expect whatever has gone wrong in our material life to be set right, sometimes it will be set right, sometimes it may not be set right. But if we expect that God help us in terms of giving us inner strength, in terms of helping us grow by which we face the challenges of life and we approach God not in a demand basis but in a loving basis, then we will find that God will never fail us.
So God will always be with us, helping us to deal with whatever problems come in life. But why sometimes people say that religion doesn’t work is because they expect God’s help on their terms, not on God’s terms. So the idea is, many people say, I have faith in God.
But people have half faith in God. What do you mean half faith in God? Generally people define God by two characteristics. One is that he is all-powerful and he is all-knowing.
He is omnipotent and he is omniscient. So far more people trust God’s power than his intelligence. That means, oh God, you know, I want to come first in my class.
And you have the power to make me come first. So I will come and worship you and you make me come first in class. So now I don’t come first in class.
I somehow, whatever happens, I say, God, why did you do this for me? Why didn’t you consult me? Actually, if we have faith in God, we should have faith not just in his power, but also in his wisdom. So the idea is that when I approach God, God will always be the best for me. And sometimes certain materially good things may not be the best for me.
I don’t know that. So our idea is that, God, I will use my intelligence and you use your power. You keep your intelligence aside.
So, that’s the reason. We have faith in God’s power, but not in intelligence. We have faith in our intelligence and God’s power.
That doesn’t work. So, if we have faith in God’s power as well as his intelligence, then you will understand that, actually, if I surrender to God, then whatever he does will ultimately be for my good. I may not immediately understand it, but in the long run, he will take care of me.
Now, going back to the hospital metaphor, when I come to the doctor, I want to be treated and become cured. Sometimes, the doctor may have to do some surgery, which may increase my pain. So, I came to the hospital to get renewable pain and I found my pain had become worse.
And I wonder what kind of doctor is this? But no. See, if we think that my plans are not just the best plans, they are the only plans that will work. And if my plans don’t work, then everything has gone wrong.
Actually, the scriptures provide us another option. Even when things go wrong from our perspective, they are going right from the Krishna’s perspective. In the hospital, things may not go according to our plan, but they are going according to the doctor’s plan.
So, at this level, when we approach God to develop a relationship of love with him, then at a material level, things may not immediately work out to be right. But in the long run, they will work out. And more importantly, we will get shelter of God.
Now, Sri Vaishnavacharya gave a beautiful example for this. They say that sometimes, why I am talking about why sometimes things do not appear to work right at a material level. So, for a devotee, sometimes there may be problems in life.
And sometimes we pray to God and still the problems do not get solved. You wonder, is God really hearing my prayers? People make movie songs and God retires. They think that God is not there, God is not hearing.
But actually, it is not that God is not hearing our prayers. It is we who are not hearing his responses. We expect God’s response to be only one particular way.
That does not work. We think that God is not responding. But, so the idea is that sometimes there is a student who has not done the homework.
So, when the student goes to school, the teacher sees that the student has not done the homework. And before the teacher is going to school, before the child goes to school, the mother sees that, oh, my child has not done the homework. I told him, the teacher has also told him to do homework, but he has not done.
So, the mother knows that the teacher is very strict. The teacher says, you have not done your homework, show your hand. So, the stick will fall.
So, the mother thinks, she does not want the child to be punished. At the same time, she does not want the child to become lazy and undisciplined. So, what she does is, she puts a nice thick glow on the hand of the child.
And the glow is exactly of the colour of the skin. So, nobody sees the glow is there. And then the child goes to school.
Have you done your homework? No. Okay, come, show your hand. So, actually the stick hits, but the child does not feel so much pain.
Why? Because there is that glow that protects. So, that mother is like Krishna. The teacher is like Maya.
It is material nature. So, we ourselves have acted in ways that are going to give us some karmic reaction. All of us have acted in no wrong ways.
So, Krishna does not want us to suffer. At the same time, if we do not heal ourselves, then we will ourselves suffer in the long run. So, Krishna gives us the glow.
That glow is his remembrance. So, a devotee may also get diseased. A devotee may also go through financial problems.
A devotee may go through relationship issues. But if the devotee remembers Krishna at that time, then the devotee will not go through the same pain. Externally, it may appear to be the same.
But internally, that remembrance of Krishna protects. But unfortunately, this child who thinks, you know, why has my mother put this glow on my hand? Such a big burden. I will take the glow out and then go to school.
You see what will happen? The stick will hit. So, actually, we can take shelter of Krishna. And Krishna, for his devotees, he makes his remembrance easier.
But if we do not take shelter of that remembrance, then we will also suffer. So, Krishna, the religion is meant to definitely help us even at the material level. But how that help will come at the material level will vary.
But more importantly, God wants us to grow at a higher level internally. And that growth happens when we take shelter of him, when we remember him. That is why most people want to serve God, but as advisors.
No, God, you do this, you do this, you do this. But real service is as a servant. And if you serve him that way, then Krishna definitely protects.
So, to gain his devotion for him and to develop remembrance of him, that is the ultimate purpose of religion. And that we gain by associating with those who are remembering him and loving him. Does that answer your question? Yes.
Can I ask you one more question? Yeah, you can ask. Talking about this movie about, Oh, my God, definitely there are some negative factors, there are some positive factors also. So, you discuss many things that is somewhat not able to, it has not been clarified.
But there could be something which might be very much useful for the common public by watching that movie. Can you just tell us what are those very positive factors which are there in that movie, which will help our movement also at the same time in the general public? So, what are the positives of the movie? I think the next question deals with that. So, there are some issues.
I’ll talk about them again over the question and answers. Yeah. So, as I said, one of the things is the discrimination in recognising who are proper spiritual teachers.
That is important. And it has done, the movie I would say has done an important service by at least making it widely aware. People realise that, yes, there are people who are using God as a means of business.
But then there are not only people who are like that. There are people who are serving God and that part has not been shown. So, actually, education means to know that we don’t know and then to know what we don’t know.
To know that we don’t know. Okay, I don’t know this. And then what I don’t know, I should come to know that.
So, to know what we don’t know. So, the movie does the first part. It says that we know that we don’t know.
But then how do we know what we don’t know? That it doesn’t talk about. So, it does talk about the hypocrisy, the arrogance, the exploitation that is there in religion today. But actually, it is there in all fields.
In medicine, it is there. As it was shown in the drama. In offices, it is there.
In every industry, it is there. In every field, it is there. So, like that, it is one thing to expect that only the field of religion will be completely pure.
No. Ultimately, religion is made of human beings. Religion is practised and shared by human beings.
And human beings come for a couple of different motives. So, it is one thing to expect that everybody in religion is pure. And it is another extreme to say that everybody in religion is impure.
Everybody is bad. So, we have to develop criteria by which we know who is right and who is wrong. So, now there are some other issues.
One of the issues which people ask is, why do we waste money on beauty by making dresses with lakhs of rupees, instead of giving charity to poor people? Yes. So, in general, it is mysterious that when money is spent on God, that’s when people start remembering poor people. One of the most memorable lines in OMG is, Shraddha ka dhanda.
So, they are making a business of faith. Well, the Omegawar movie was produced for 20 crores. It earned 80 crores.
How much was given to poor beggars? I mean, ultimately it is the same thing. So, the point here is not to say that poor people should be starving. Actually, there is a spiritual culture in society, then those people who have influence, those who have money, those who have power, they will create systems by which poor people will be fed properly.
And that is an important part of society. Every society has to take care of its poor people. No doubt about it.
But, that doesn’t mean that we should not worship God. If at all we are concerned about poor people, there are so many other places where money is spent. You know, there are millionaires and billionaires and trillionaires.
No, they are living in luxury. Actually, according to a UNESCO survey, the amount of money that the United States and European Union spends on perfumes, that money alone is enough to feed all the hungry people of the world. The money spent in perfumes and not cosmetics, only perfumes.
There are many cosmetics, perfumes are only one. So now, why are people spending so much? They are spending all that because they are so much infatuated with their bodies. It is, my body is who I am and I have to make my body as attractive as possible.
It’s not that we have to make our body unattractive, but why spend so much? So, this is completely a, you could say, wasteful expenditure. So, similarly, if we look at it, there are the whole entertainment industry. Now, so much money is spent in that.
Who does that serve? Why don’t we remember the poor people when there is such lavish money spent in entertainment? We don’t think about them. So then, somebody may say, no, no, actually, when you worship God, God doesn’t need all these things. God doesn’t need all these things, so why offer it to God? It’s true that God doesn’t need all these things, but we need to offer it to Him, because by that we will become purified.
So, connecting these two issues now. So, people are wasting so much money. I talked about two.
One is perfumes in the bodily level, entertainment, which is at the mental level. So, to get some pleasure, which is actually non-essential at the bodily level or at the spiritual level, we are wasting so much money. Now, if we connect ourselves to God, if we develop devotion to God, then we experience happiness at a spiritual level.
And the more people experience happiness at a spiritual level, the less becomes their craving for enjoyment at the material level, at both the bodily level and the mental level. And so, when we devote ourselves to Krishna, then that, in a sense, frees people from the cravings, which makes them want to possess more and more and more. So, now, how will people become attracted to Krishna? Actually, Krishna is all attractive, but we cannot perceive His all-attractiveness right now.
Therefore, Krishna’s all-attractiveness has to be manifested even at the material level. And that’s why there are beautiful temples for Krishna, magnificent temples. And, you know, recently we had the Pune temple inauguration.
So, ISKCON has been there in Pune for a long time, but not many people used to visit, because earlier we had a small temple. And then, during the inauguration, the President of India came to inaugurate the temple. And, after that, we were expecting a few thousand people will come every day.
But then, thousands and thousands of people are coming. And they are coming because they think, if the President has a place to look at, then we will have a place to look at too. So, now, this is the logic of people.
So, now, if we just had a small temple in a corner, the President would not have come and all the people would also not have come. Now, when they come, they get prasad, they get darshan, they may read some books, they may hear some philosophy. Their spiritual journey will begin by that.
So, when Krishna’s greatness, Krishna’s beauty, Krishna’s all-attractiveness is manifested at a material level, then that attracts people to come. So, that’s why there have been grand temples. And, similarly, Krishna’s beauty, actually, when Krishna’s beauty is decorated in the most beautiful way, then that, Krishna doesn’t need our decoration to be beautiful.
He is Bhushanam Bhushitha. He is the ornament of all ornaments. He is himself beautiful.
Whatever is connected with him becomes beautiful. But, at our level of material vision, people don’t see that. We can’t see that ourselves also.
So, when materially opulent things are offered to Krishna, that attractiveness at a material level attracts people. You know, in the Radha-Radha-Rasabihari temple, on Janmashtami, I think two, three years ago, they had some famous Bollywood wardrobe designers make the dress for Radha-Radha-Rasabihari. And, when that dress was made, Science of India published it on the front page on Janmashtami.
So, now, that wardrobe designer, I mean, he charges a lot. But, then, when that was done, people don’t allow attraction to Krishna. But, could Krishna dress by so-and-so famous Bollywood wardrobe designer? That’s what we want to see.
So, the point here is, when Krishna’s attractiveness is manifested at the material level, that attracts people to Krishna. And, that’s why Krishna deserves to be offered the best. And, when Krishna is offered the best, it is not just a sentiment to say that people will be benefited by that.
I said that there are so much bodily and mental pleasures for which people spend so much. When people become attracted to Krishna, devotees, they give up the indulgences that are not only unnecessary, but are harmful. For example, meat-eating, intoxication.
Now, if you are looking for, say, starving people, so much of the land today is used to grow sugarcane, instead of grapes. Why sugarcane? Because from molasses you can make alcohol. So, if people stopped drinking alcohol, then all that land which was used to grow sugarcane would be freed to grow grapes.
And, all over the world, those who are food experts, they say one of the biggest problems in the world is, the land resources are diverted towards cash crops rather than staple crops. So, why are people growing sugarcane? Because people want to drink alcohol. So, if people become purified of that desire to drink alcohol, because they experience a higher happiness, then all that land could be used to feed the poor people, could be used to grow grapes, which can solve the starvation problem.
Similarly, with respect to eating meat, when people, actually speaking, when people eat meat. So, in my book, I have given statistics also, this research is done by United Nations and various other organisations on this, that when people eat meat, at that time, there is a double processing which leads to a lot of residual losses. So, if a person decides to eat flesh, say pork or beef or whatever, so say this much amount of grains has to be fed to the animals, and from that most of it is passed out as refuse from the body, a little bit of it becomes flesh, and then that flesh is eaten.
So, surveys show that the amount of land that is used to feed one vegetarian person, one person who eats meat regularly, that much land can be used to feed between 5 to 20 vegetarian people. So, just by shifting to vegetarianism, all these food shortage problems of the world can be solved. So, you know, it is very, it is sentimentally very jarring when somebody says, oh, there are so many starving people and the duties have been recorded so beautifully.
It is such selective targeting of religion that is done, that is simply emotional manipulation to take people away from God. Why don’t we target other sources? And if you think deeply, by the practise of religion, many of the problems are tackled at a root level. That’s why this sort of purification of God, it is not that this causes that, it is not that glorifying God causes starvation.
Rather, it is by glorifying God, we create a spiritual culture that tackles the problem of starvation at its roots. Any other questions? Okay. You spoke about parampara, then how do we understand Narasimha Mehta, Tukaram, Bilwamangal Thakur? Please explain.
Parampara is primarily for those who are the bona fide spiritual teachers. But that doesn’t mean that Bhakti Devi cannot manifest outside the parampara. Bhakti Devi is independent.
And somebody might have been a great devotee in a previous life. And that person will be continuing bhakti in this life. And in this life, that person will not be connected with the parampara.
So we are not at all saying that bhakti cannot be present in a parampara, outside the parampara. It can be. But when it comes to a forum where things are systematically taught and learned, for that we should go to parampara.
We respect devotion wherever it is manifested. Just like I was talking about doctors. In every house, there are grandmothers and mothers who know some domestic remedies for some diseases.
And those work. And if they work, they can be used. But if I want to get a medical degree, I won’t go to my grandmother.
So I respect her medical wisdom also. But if I want proper medical knowledge, I have to go to a proper doctor. Similarly, there can be people with devotion outside the parampara also.
But if we want systematic spiritual knowledge, then we should go to parampara. One of the equivalents, cognates of parampara is sampradaya. Sampradaya means samyak rupena pradayatyanti sampradaya.
Samyak rupena means completely. Or as it is. So in sampradaya, we get the knowledge in a complete format.
In a proper, coherent way. So we should respect devotion wherever it is manifested. But if you want to learn the philosophy properly, it is safe and intelligent to take that knowledge from parampara.
Any other questions? Okay. Distinguish and explain religion, dharma and spirituality. Okay.
The word religion comes from the Latin religio, which means to bind. So the word religion is that which binds us to God. So religion is the set of activities and practises and beliefs by which we become reconnected with God.
That is the original meaning of the word religion. Now today, the word religion is used to refer to certain belief systems, say Hinduism, Christianity, Islam. So this, so when you talk about the principles by which you become connected with God, that is also referred to by the Sanskrit word dharma.
So dharma and religion are not the same. Dharma refers to, it comes from the Sanskrit root dhagri, dhagriyate, that which sustains. So what sustains our existence, ultimately all of us are living beings, what sustains our existence is not this food, clothing, shelter.
Now many people have food, clothing, shelter, they commit suicide despite having all that. Why? Because ultimately all of us want to love and be loved. So love and love expressed through service, that is our essential nature.
And that is our dharma. So love, in order to be fully satisfactory forever, needs to be directed towards the eternal object. That is why sanatana dharma, eternal dharma is love for God.
So dharma is related with religion as its root. But religion as it is practised today is, somebody can be a Hindu, that person can become a Christian, somebody can be a Christian, that person can become a Muslim, they can change their religions. But whatever they are, they still remain people who need love, who need to love and be loved.
And their loving nature will be satisfied only when they love God. So dharma refers to our essential nature, our hunger for love. And that is fulfilled when we direct that love, that pressure of loving towards God.
And spirituality refers to the whole process and the practises by which we revive our spiritual nature. Just like if you have science, in science we have theory and we have experiment. So for example, Newton’s theory says that if you throw a ball up, it will fall down.
That is a theoretical proposition. And I can do an experiment, throw it up and it falls down. So similarly in spirituality, spirituality is like a higher dimensional science.
In spirituality there are two aspects, there is philosophy and there is religion. So philosophy is the theoretical aspect, just like science in theory that is there. And religion is like the experimental aspect.
So sometimes the children may be just playing with balls. They hit the ball at a wall and then they catch the ball and they are just enjoying it. But there may be somebody who is a mechanical engineer looking at structures.
Now he may throw a ball at the wall and he will catch the ball. And he is doing the same thing but he is observing. Okay, if I throw the ball at this point, it comes back with this force.
If I throw it at this point, it comes back with this force. The wall is thicker here, the wall is not so strong over here. The wall is damp over here.
So externally both are throwing balls. But because the knowledge is different, the understanding that comes is different. The inferences that become different.
So like that, many people may come to the temple and chant and dance and think, maza aagaya. People will say, yeah I enjoyed it. So that’s fine.
But most people are like the children throwing the ball at the wall and just enjoying. But those who understand the philosophy, those who understand the philosophy, the philosophy tells us that you are not the body, you are the soul. And the soul gets real happiness only by connecting with God, only by loving God.
So when I understand this philosophy, then when I chant and dance, I feel so happy. Why do I feel happy? Because by the chanting I am connecting with God. So then when we have a philosophical understanding and we practise religion, then the practise of religion helps confirm our philosophical understanding.
And in this way our conviction becomes deeper. So spirituality is the broad framework that includes philosophy and religion. Religion is like the experimental or practical aspect of spirituality.
Are there any other questions you would like to ask? What should be our relationship with Krishna? Is it of a friend, master, creator or sustainer? Please explain. Well, at our level, now we should think about Krishna whatever way we can. Generally, the scriptures recommend that first of all we should have a relationship of a master-servant.
But this Prabhupada writes that this master-servant relationship is unlike a material master-servant relationship. It is the form of intimacy. So we consider Krishna to be our lord and we to be his servants.
But because it is an intimate relationship, we can share our heart with Krishna. Actually, in prayer and meditation, prayer in a conversation, what happens is two people talk. When I talk, you hear.
When you talk, I hear. So actually when we practise Krishna consciousness, when we are praying, God is hearing us. When we are meditating, we are hearing God.
And in this way, there is a conversation between us and God. But actually, often we do both so half-heartedly that when we are praying or meditating, we never hear God at all, nor do we speak to God. We are just thinking about everything in the world.
But the whole idea is we should have an intimate relationship with God. And both prayer and meditation, for us chanting is both a combination of prayer and meditation. Because we are uttering the prayer, we are chanting Hare Krishna, we are asking Krishna, please engage me in your service.
So Krishna is hearing that. But Krishna is manifesting as the sound of the holy name. So it is a meditation also and we are hearing.
So it is a way in which we can develop a very intimate relationship with Krishna. But in general, we should see Krishna as our greatest well-wisher. So often if we have some burden in our heart, we share that with Krishna.
And Krishna will help us to carry that burden and transcend that burden. Yes, please? Yeah. Hare Krishna.
During your talk, you said that you referred scriptures. Even when we hear Prabhupada, he refers scriptures. But then when I tell my friends about this is written in scriptures, they think it’s a bit fanatic.
They say, it’s written by someone. Why are you willing so much to this? That’s one question. And can I ask one more? Yeah, let’s take one at a time.
So yeah, why should we have scriptures as the authority? See, initially, it may be difficult for us to conceive of the idea that scriptures are the word of God. But basically, let’s start from principles. If a father arranges for a child to stay at a particular place, and that father is not directly available for the child, will the father not provide guidance for the child of what that child is supposed to do? If you look at the world objectively, God has provided us, as I said, air, water, heat, light, food.
So if he has provided us so much to live with, will he not provide us the knowledge about what to live for? So forget whether specific scriptures are the revelations of God, look at broad principles. If God has provided us life, God has provided the means to live, will he not tell us about the purpose for which to live? Obviously he will. So in principle, we can understand that there should be some way by which God communicates to us.
So when we talk about scriptures, scriptures are the revelation of God, by which he is giving his wisdom, his knowledge about why we are living in this world. Scriptures are the manual for life. And how do I know that something is a manual? I get a new laptop, say, or I get a new complicated machine, and then I see another book.
How do I know that that book is a manual for this machine? One will see whether by reading that book, the machine, I understand it better, and I can use it better. Similarly, we may not, we first believe that scriptures are the word of God. Fine, but just study scriptures as books of wisdom.
But look at that, if you study the scriptures, does it help us to understand the world better? Does life start making sense? Life starts like a jigsaw puzzle, things are falling in place. And then after that, whatever the scripture teaches, if I start living according to that, I find that my life becomes better. I start becoming more peaceful, I start becoming more happy.
So, the process of developing faith in scriptural wisdom is gradual. And we don’t demand that right in the beginning, you have to accept Bhagavad Gita as the word of God. That can come gradually.
Even if somebody says that scripture is not the word of God, at least treat it as word of wisdom. And then see if it helps. So, even if you don’t consider religion to be a revelation of God, but still religion is also based on certain principles.
And those principles are given in scriptures. So, first we start off with the principle that God should have given us knowledge of how to live. Then we look at whether that knowledge is given in scriptures by trying to see that scripture, whether it helps us to make sense and whether it helps to make our life better.
And over a period of time, as we start living according to scripture and developing a personal relationship with Krishna, then when we are just hearing a jumble of voices, we may not recognise a person’s voice. But once you develop a relationship with a person, then you can recognise that person’s voice. So, as we develop a relationship with Krishna through devotional service, we will realise internally through our connection that actually scripture, the Bhagavad Gita is the voice of God speaking.
That’s a gradual process. But initially just as a manual we can start with it. We can treat the scripture as a manual for life and see whether it helps us to make our life better.
Okay, other question? Can I ask a second question? Yes, yes, please. I’ve seen my friend, there is a new book coming up which is Shiva’s Trilogy, wherein it’s mentioned that Lord Shiva was just a person and he did a lot of things to just balance the world, psychological balance and other balances. And that thing in itself is a fiction.
And the readers of that, they believe that’s a fiction. But on a psychological level, they think, okay, Lord Shiva was just a person. But as the whole scriptures are saying, he was more than a mortal person.
He is Shambhu Tattva. So, in general, the question is that there are certain books which treat the divine persons like, say Shiva, or there are other books who do the same thing as Krishna, that they say that these are just people who did something extraordinary and later on they were made into God. So, these sort of ideas are the result of the modern materialistic worldview, which assumes that there cannot be anything supernatural.
It just assumes that actually everything that has happened is just the way it is happening now. Nobody can do any miracles. Nothing can be beyond what nature shows.
So, this idea is based on an overconfidence in our own limited experience of the world. So, people think, who can do miracles? How can there be a God? Just some famous person was made into God. Now, the problem with this idea, I’ll talk it from a logical point of view and then a historical point of view.
From the logical point of view, you’ll see that if somebody tells people about half-man, half-lion, how can a person be a half-man, half-lion? It doesn’t make sense. But don’t say this is just mythology. But those same people will soon turn on a television show in which they will enjoy the antics of a half-man, half-spider, or a half-man, or a half-bat.
Isn’t it? So, the point here is, the attraction for the supernatural is natural in the human side. But what happens is, so where is this attraction coming from? Why are we attracted to people who do miraculous things, like a half-man, or a superman, or whoever. These are spider-man.
Why are people attracted to that? Because you have longs to break free from the ordinary things that you see. Like somebody who can do extraordinary, somebody who can do some miracles. That’s what we long for.
But it’s like this is the ordinary reality. And above this ordinary reality is the spiritual reality. In the spiritual reality, God, by His omnipotence, can do anything and everything.
And He does amazing miracles. That may not be visible over here. But our heart hankers for this magical world where Krishna can do anything and everything.
And Krishna’s devotees and other celestial personalities also have extraordinary powers, like Lord Shiva. But we, because of our, say, scepticism or so-called rationality, we label this world, the spiritual world, as mythology. But then because the heart’s longing is there, we create an illusory world filled with the similar mythology.
So, rather than going into illusion, why not go towards reality? Every day I write an article on the swan meditation in the Bhagavad Gita. Today morning I wrote on the same topic. People, instead of choosing to go to Krishna land, people want to go to the sea land.
So, in principle, the heart’s longing for the supernatural is not meant to be rejected as false or is not meant to be artificially fulfilled by creating an fictional realm. There is a higher spiritual realm of existence where this longing for supernatural activities can and is fulfilled. So, in principle, again, the point is there that where does this heart’s longing come from? It comes because there is some reality somewhere.
Now, if you see, most of our deepest longings, they have some fulfilment. I have thirst, there is water for that. I have hunger, there is food for that.
Similarly, the heart longs to love. And when we long to love, we want to admire, we want to adore. We want to adore somebody who is extraordinary.
So, where does this come from? There is a fulfilment for that also. And that is in God. That’s why these sort of books which try to downgrade, downsize everything spiritual, they bring everything spiritual down to everything material, they operate on a false premise.
And there are well-documented evidences of supernatural phenomena happening also. ISKCON has its own form of scientists. So, Dr. Michael Kramer has written a book, Human Devolution, and he talks about many phenomena happening which don’t have explanation within scientific realm.
So, the point is, even today, science explains a lot of things, but it doesn’t explain everything. And there are many things which are miraculous, which can happen even today. We are not saying that everybody who claims to make a miracle is true, but the possibility is there that it happens.
So, therefore, it is possible that some people, just because, there might be some people, like in the movie it is shown that Paritraval is made into a God. Or there are temples of movie stars and politicians, and there are temples of, so many people like that, which are made in India. But, how do we know that Krishna is not like that? Because, look at the quality of the people who are worshipping Krishna.
They are, if you look at Madhvacharya, Ramavacharya, Jiva Goswami, Baldevidya Bhushan, they are among the wisest people who have walked on the surface of the earth. Wisest, not just in a self-congratulatory sense, because they belong to the Vaishnav dynasty. Just look at their writings.
The philosophy that they have given, the thought that they have expressed, even if one doesn’t consider them to be the absolute truth, still they have profound thoughts. So, why would such people, who are so penetrating in their insights, they talk so much about a fictional person or ordinary person and elevate that person to a divine level? No. So, as I said, historically, if you look at the people who worship Krishna, and logically, if you look at the longing for the supernatural, you understand that there is a whole realm where the supernatural things are there.
And we need to connect ourselves with that realm by an authorised process. That is the process that is given in the Bhagavad Gita and the Vedic scriptures. Any other questions? The movies seem to have posed many challenges, and there will be many more movies.
So, as an institution, as a part of the institution, do we need an adaptation in how we present Krishna and Krishna Consciousness, and do we need a shift in the presentation? So, when we filter names like this, and do we need to adapt our presentations accordingly? See, every tradition has two parts to it. One is a central core, and the second is a periphery. So, the central core is unchanging, and the periphery is constantly changing.
Why is it changing? Because the periphery is the way the core interacts with the world. And we will have to, so that is something which every Acharya has done throughout the tradition. So, what connects us with the central core is the fidelity.
Fidelity is faithfulness. We are faithful to the essential message. That’s what connects us with the central core.
And what connects us with the circumstances is the flexibility. Flexibility in terms of using the language, using the terms, adapting the presentations. So, for example, Srila Prabhupada mainly is known as, naming this movement based on Bhagavad Gita as Interaction Society for Krishna Consciousness.
This itself is a name that Srila Prabhupada adapted based on the current time. The word consciousness is a scientific sounding word, and actually Sanskrit, if you have Antaraasht, now we have Antaraasht Krishna Bhamana Amritsanga. That’s the Hindi translation.
Srila Prabhupada adapted the name, it is based on the scriptures, Krishna Rasabhavitamati, that is Krishna Consciousness, or Machittaha, that is also Krishna Consciousness. But Srila Prabhupada used the appropriate terminology. So, yes, according to time, place, circumstance, we will have to present the essential core in an appropriate way.
And that is the challenge for each generation of spiritual practitioners, to understand and to present accordingly. Okay. So, okay.
Last question. See, you know, in your lecture you mentioned about how you give the analogy of a quack doctor versus a genuine doctor. First question is that actually today, in today’s world, and the way it is depicted in the movie is that there is more, I mean, there is more of quacks than genuine spiritualists.
So, this is what is depicted and seems to be reasonably close to the reality. So, in this situation, the common man will naturally, you know, tend to believe, yeah, even I have seen a lot of quacks. So, then they paint everyone with the same picture, and we are actually in the minority in one sense.
So, how should we react to that? So, in general, people will label all spiritualists as negative, all religions as negative, because they extrapolate from the impression of the scene, and we are also in the minority. Yes, that’s why our reactions have to be very mature. We shouldn’t seem fanatical.
In a sense, it was good that, oh, my God, nobody banned it. As it happened almost to Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroopam, there were censored and a lot of things had to be deleted. So, whenever there is a fanatical response, that makes people more intellectually aggressive.
So, yes, some people will get alienated. But people who are seekers, they will try to find answers. And if we are able to present answers properly, then people can see that, yes, Krishna Consciousness and the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, they actually withstand intellectual scrutiny.
And they are actually based on a philosophical integrity to themselves. Therefore, actually, we have to try to present ourselves in a more attractive as well as a more effective way. So, the Prabhupada would say that when he was asked about specific problems, he said that ultimately the solution is that we share Krishna Consciousness more and more.
So, if we keep sharing Krishna Consciousness more and more, misconceptions will come and they will go. But those who are seeking the correct understanding, certain misconceptions may jar and that may make them seek knowledge. And then they can come to us.
But certainly, our outreach leaves much to be desired. We have much, much more to do. And also, you know, one of the objections that was raised was a large amount of rituals that are carried out in the name of spirituality, right? And I mean, they have heavily denounced the fact that so many rituals, milk is poured and this and that.
Obviously, you answer it partly when you know, taking energy of the threads. But this is something that some people come down very heavily and even within ISKCON, people tend to criticise that do we really need this level of opulence? So, what is the chance in that? So, often rituals are criticised a lot. Actually, rituals are a part of every aspect of life.
When a person has a birthday, you put, people put candles. Now, what is the logic behind candles? Actually, I did some research. Apparently, in the mediaeval times, in some European countries, there was a belief that for every year that a person lives, some evil elf or fairy comes and haunts that person.
And on that birthday, if you blow off that many candles, that many evil fairies and elves will go away. Now, this is just mythology. But people are just criticising that.
And it’s a part of widespread culture. And people think that, you know, if you celebrate birthday with cakes and candles, you have become modern and progressive. What is progressive about it? I’m not criticising that.
I’m not saying that that’s not what should be done. The point is that there are rituals in every aspect of life. So, rituals serve a purpose.
Rituals, they provide a template for our emotions and actions. They provide a template for our emotions and actions. So, when I have to, when I come to a particular situation, when I meet somebody for the first time, if there were no rituals to guide us, what do I do? Do I say hi? Do I say Hare Krishna? Do I embrace? Do I just look away? There are certain rituals.
You shake hands or you fold hands and say Hare Krishna. They are rituals. But they, by providing a template for our emotions and actions, they bring familiarity and order in our life.
So, in every aspect of life, there are rituals that are required. Some rituals may be rational. Some rituals may not be rational.
But rituals are there everywhere. Now, rituals intensify the experience. Imagine, say now a cricket match is going on and some batsman comes along and he hits a sixer.
And people are told, no clapping. No clapping, no cheering. Well, the experience of the batsman will think, what happened? So, actually speaking, clapping is a ritual.
Clapping is not necessary for the action in the cricket field to go on. But it is a ritual and the ritual intensifies the experience, whatever there, for the players and for the audience. So, there are certain rituals which are there, peculiar to each field of life.
So, similarly, in spirituality, there are certain rituals. And those rituals, at a level, they intensify the spiritual experience. For example, when we come in front of God, you know, God is great and we are small.
And we should feel humility in front of Him. Now, imagine if I, suppose somebody, you know, sits on a easy chair with neck stretched on the backrest and raising the legs up and he says, yes, I feel very humble now. It is not possible to feel humble at that time.
There are certain bodily postures which create certain emotions. So, when I fold my hands, when I bow down, at that time, naturally, humility is engendered. So, similarly, there are certain rituals.
Actually, the rituals that are given in the Vedic scriptures, they are not just arbitrary. Like, say, the first example I gave of cakes and birthdays, it is an arbitrary ritual. There is no intrinsic connection.
But, as I said, folding hands or bowing down, there is an intrinsic connection there. Because that particular activity automatically engenders a particular emotion. So, this whole, this psycho-physical-spiritual connection, psycho is mind, physical is body, spiritual is soul.
The psycho-physical-spiritual connection is a big science. And it is based on this science that the various rituals are given. So, every ritual has a purpose.
And that invokes the devotional emotions within the heart. So, they intensify the devotional experience. And that is why these rituals play an indispensable role.
There can be people who say that without rituals I experience God. Fine, if their experience is authentic, that’s good. But most people, tell those same people, you know, you watch a cricket match, but don’t express any emotions.
They’ll not do that. Tell the mother, you know, when the mother is crying, when the child is crying, don’t do anything. Love in the heart is there.
It will not work. So, we don’t have any other field where there are emotions are not accompanied with actions. Wherever there are emotions, they are accompanied with actions.
So, why should it be that in religion alone there should be emotions but no actions? And naturally, if we love God, we will want to offer Him the best. So, there is no imposition on anyone that you have to offer your best to God. Those who feel inspired to offer a beautiful dress to Krishna, those who feel inspired to offer a beautiful temple to Krishna, you know, why should we stop them? That’s the way they are expressing their bhakti.
So, emotions and rituals in that sense are extremely important. Of course, sometimes the rituals will be done just for the sake of rituals. Like for example, there is this, there is, often there are Ganesh festivals and then there are different Ganesh, sometimes they become just like spiritual events rather than spiritual events.
So, everybody wants to parade. Okay, I got up this big Ganesh, you got up that big Ganesh and I’ll get a bigger Ganesh. So, sometimes when the spiritual purpose is forgotten, then the rituals may just become superficial exercises.
So, that happens when there is not proper philosophical education. So, I said there is philosophy and there is religion. So, when there is proper philosophical understanding and then there are religious rituals, then those rituals become the means by which transformational experiences come about, by which you experience richer, deeper emotions and you become purified by that.
Okay. So, I, if any of you have further questions, I answer questions on my website, thespiritualscientist.com. I’ve answered almost 700-800 questions there. So, I’ll be happy to answer questions over there.
We cannot go more time now. And I’ve also written a book on this topic that is available downstairs. Oh my God, re-answering the questions.
And there is no, I’m also making this book available free for download on my website as a PDF file, because if you want to read that, I’ve taken 32 questions from there. Many of your questions will be answered in that book. And if you have any further questions, I’ll be happy to answer them on my website.
Okay. thespiritualscientist.com. That’s the site where you can download it from. Okay, after this question, we’ll stop absolutely.
I’m sorry to delay all of you. Yes, go quickly. Yeah, please, please tell me quickly.
You can speak loudly. Prabhuji, there’s a philosophy that one should follow, forgive and forget, but it is very difficult in today’s scenario to implement that. I would like to seek your guidance and coordinate with you.
Okay, I understood the question, if you don’t mind. Yeah, please, I guess. Actually, in one of my books, My Little Bhakti Companion, the whole article on this is forgiveness practical.
But briefly, we often find forgiveness difficult because we mistake forgiving with trusting. Forgiveness is for the past. Trust is for the future.
So whatever mistakes a person has committed in the past, we should forgive them. But that doesn’t mean that we give that person the authority to again commit those mistakes and again hurt us. So forgiveness should be given, but trust has to be earned.
You can forgive a person without trusting that person. So if we don’t forgive, then that negative emotion hurts us. And that keeps that person also in a perpetually defensive, self-righteous mode.
And that person also doesn’t work towards improving himself or herself. But if we forgive, then we become mentally free from that feeling of resentment. That person also doesn’t have to feel constantly on the defensive, trying to prove that I was not so bad.
Okay, whatever happened is forgiven. But now work on improving oneself. So we should forgive, but we should not just trust unthinkingly.
We have to see whether that person has earned the trust by proper rectified behaviour. Thank you. Yes, sir.
Yes, sir. Religion is the opium of the masses. Was that the question? Yes.
So Karl Marx, who said that religion is the opium of the masses, his idea was, as I was telling earlier, that there is this spiritual world, there is this world. So his idea was that religion often makes people very passionate in this world with hopes of a future world. And that’s why people don’t try to improve themselves materially.
And in that sense, he said religion is the opium of the masses. Just like when people become opium, they become very passive and inactive. They become druggers.
So his idea was religion drugs people with hope of some other life by which they don’t act in this life. However, that is based on a false understanding of spirituality. Srila Prabhupada would say that if you think that a devotee is just filled with hopes of the other world and doesn’t do in this world, one has not understood who is a devotee.
You look at Arjuna, look at Hanuman. Both of them were active in this world. So active that they actually fought to establish the order of dharma in this world.
So as I said, the philosophy of Bhagavad Gita is that we offer this world to God. That’s why religion is, it’s not that everything in all religions is just the same. There might be some religious systems which sort of sedate people with other worldly hopes.
But the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita tells us that the other world is attained by acting in this world. And that’s why devotees are active in this world. And that’s why, for example, we have the Bhaktivedanta Hospital, where people are retreated.
We have schools. We have temples and colleges, temples and educational institutions. The idea is we want to help this world come in harmony with God’s will, as much as is possible.
So certainly, if religion were an opium for the masses, if that were absolute truth, then Srila Prabhupada, at the age of 70, with no money, with no contacts, with no institutional support, how did he go abroad? And not only abroad, America, he travelled all over the world. You know, most people at the age of 70, whatever business they have, they will close it down. Srila Prabhupada started a business at the age of 70.
Thank you very much. Srila Prabhupada ki Jai! Radha Gopinath Bhagwan ki Jai!