Overcoming discouragement in spiritual life

[Sunday feast class at ISKCON, Central New Jersey, USA]

Video:

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
peace with you. Hare Krishna. Grateful to be here amongst all of you today.
And I’ll speak on the topic of overcoming discouragements in our life, and specifically in our spiritual life. And I’ll speak on the theme of how if we can’t succeed in Krishna consciousness, we can fail in Krishna consciousness, not fail out of Krishna consciousness. I’ll explain what I mean by this.
The Srimad Bhagavatam is a story, it’s a main story, and it has many sub-stories within it. And the main story at one level can seem like a tragedy. Parikshit Maharaj is a young, powerful, virtuous king.
And somehow, under the pressure of the circumstance, where he’s been out in the forest for a long time, without any food, without any water, he just feels so overwhelmed by thirst that he’s desperate for water. And when he finally comes to the sage, Shyamak Rishi’s ashram, he greets the sage, and he just wants some water. But the sage is absorbed in meditation.
Normally, our perception is shaped by our conception. That means, how we see things is shaped by how we think of things. So at that time, his mind was filled with thought, I just want some water.
And he saw everything in terms of, whether I get water or not. And normally, if we are in very strong bodily consciousness, the body is a tool which we have, and at that time, we can’t appreciate someone who might be in very high spiritual consciousness. Suppose, say, it’s a fasting day.
And say, Janmashtami, it’s fasting. And say, the Janmashtami Katha is going on for a long, long, long time. And say, we have fasted all day, it’s 12 o’clock at midnight.
Once it happened with devotees that Prabhupada was hearing the Krishna book. And it became, Prabhupada started late in the night, and he kept hearing, next chapter, next chapter. And it became 12 o’clock.
And everybody was waiting, let’s take some food. But, Prabhupada said, next chapter. Next chapter.
And it just went on and on. Prabhupada was not even aware that 12 o’clock is over. Prabhupada was absorbed in Krishna.
And the devotees, we are hungry, we are thirsty, we want some food. So, if somebody is in a very high spiritual consciousness, and somebody is at that time in a very high, very intense material, has some intense material need, then he can’t appreciate the other person. So, what happened for Parikshit Maharaj at that time was, he just couldn’t appreciate, why is this sage not responding to me? Most of the times, even if somebody is closed his eyes, and is meditating, it is not often that during meditation, people get lost in trance.
In meditation, quite often, a lot of effort is required to meditate. And we are sometimes in partially spiritual consciousness, so he thought the sage was like this, and the sage is deliberately neglecting him. It’s like sometimes, you want to talk with someone and that person is sleeping, say.
And you talk with someone, and they don’t respond. And if you feel that actually they are awake, but they are not responding to us, then we may get annoyed with them. Why are you not responding? Now, when somebody’s eyes are closed, we can’t really know whether they are asleep, or they are awake.
Similarly, when the eyes are closed, we can’t know whether they are actually meditating, or they are just trying to meditate. So, in that case, because he was in such bodily, he had such intense thirst, that he just didn’t think about anything else. He felt that the sage was deliberately neglecting him.
And he put a, as he was passing by, he took a dead snake, and just hurled it around the sage. He put it around his neck. His idea was that, if you didn’t garland me with, you didn’t welcome me with a garland, I will see you off with a garland.
And he put on a dead snake. Now, it might have been a minor offence. It is certainly not the right thing to do.
But the result of that was, he was cursed. And Shringi cursed him to die in seven days. One principle of justice is, that the punishment should be proportional to the crime.
Not proportional to the anger we feel at the crime. Something may anger us a lot, but our anger is never, our emotions are never the best judge of the reality. So, he himself was a king, and he himself knew the principles of proportionate justice.
So, this was totally disproportionate. And at that time, he could have resented, he could have tried to take revenge. But what did he do? Just accepted it, and decided to focus wholeheartedly on becoming absorbed in Krishna.
And when he took the resolve to go to the sacred river bank, and sit in austerity, at that time, the great sages came there. And it’s revealing, what Parikshit Maharaj asked at that time. He didn’t ask them, why did this happen to me? Why was I cursed? Why did I have to suffer so severely, for such a minor mistake? He instead focusses on, O great sages, now that my death has come upon me, I am grateful, that you have come to assist me in my final journey.
Your darshan is very rare, but so many of you have come to give me your darshan. I am so fortunate. Now, we could say that, what was his fortune? He was unfortunate that he had to die so young.
Yes, that is also true. But he focused on, the fact that, he had got the sages association. So, we could say, that his act, in garlanding the sage with a dead snake, that was not a Krishna conscious act.
That was a lapse in his consciousness, lapse in his behaviour. So, we could say at that level, he did not succeed in Krishna consciousness. He failed in the proper action.
But although he failed, now this, he failed also, has to be very carefully understood. When there are great saintly characters, in the scriptures, what they do is, often there is a bigger plan of the Lord behind it. And that’s why, even their failures are not like our failures.
Suppose, say somebody is frustrated with their lives, and they jump down from the top of a mountain, to commit suicide. They will just jump down, and they will break their bones, and they will die. But suppose, there is a movie star, and that movie star jumps down from the top of a huge mountain.
Then, actually, first of all, below there is a safety net, where the movie star will be fully protected. And on top of that, that jumping will be televised, and displayed as an amazing stunt. And the movie star will be paid for that.
So, although both are jumping down, both jumping down is not the same. So, similarly, for great saintly people, when they do something which seems to be objectionable, we have to understand that their mistakes are not just like our mistakes. Our mistakes may just be because of our conditioned mind and senses.
For them, there is some higher plan of the Lord. Of course, in our life also, a higher plan can act, and how it can act, I’ll talk a little later. But the point is, that when we talk about great characters, who are given scriptures, our purpose is not to judge them.
Our purpose is to learn what we can learn from them. So, yes, that particular action was not exactly a Krishna conscious action. So, even though he failed to act properly, even though he did not succeed in acting in a Krishna conscious way, when he was under the pressure of thirst, but when he failed, he failed in Krishna consciousness.
What does it mean to fail in Krishna consciousness? He, as soon as he realised this happened, okay, now, how can I make things right? How can I serve Krishna in this changed situation? How can I continue my bhakti in this situation? So, Krishna consciousness is very dynamic and very inclusive. That means, that it is not just doing a particular activity that enables us to be spiritually conscious, to be conscious of Krishna. Even if we are not able to do that activity, still, how do we see that inability? If we see that inability with humility, that can also be an action of Krishna consciousness.
So, if we can’t succeed in Krishna consciousness, we can fail in Krishna consciousness. We don’t have to fail out of Krishna consciousness. That means, we don’t have to think, oh, I couldn’t do the right thing, therefore, let me give up trying.
Let me give up the whole thing. Usually, in whatever we do in our life, we become discouraged, not just because we face obstacles or reversals. It is because of the meaning that we assign to those obstacles or reversals.
Usually, we think of happiness or distress as a one-step event. That means, this person yelled at me, that’s why I’m feeling so bad. This thing went wrong, that’s why I’m feeling so unhappy.
So, we think of the external event as the cause of the internal emotion. However, in between the two, there is something. Between the external event and the internal experience, is our conception, our expectation.
How do we see the event? What is our belief? What is our worldview? Now, this worldview, we take it so much for granted that we often don’t even notice it. So, suppose we come for a spiritual programme, we come for a programme, for a class, and then we are eager to hear the speaker. And as the class is about to start, the speaker says, Oh, after 10 minutes, the class is over, I have to go now.
And some of us may feel disappointed. Oh, I wanted to hear more. But some of us, we may be thinking this class is going too long and boring, I can’t understand it.
Other people may feel relieved. Oh, class is over, good. So now, the same event, but it’s seen differently by different people.
We might say this is just good attitude, not good attitude. It’s not necessarily like that. It’s a matter of conception.
The point which I’m making is, the events alone don’t cause the emotions. It is our expectations, our conceptions, our ideas that shape our experience of those events. So, for Parikshit Maharaj, when he got the curse, he just at one moment lost everything.
Some of us, if just one day we go to office and we are told we are fired, it’s very difficult to process it, to digest it. Just to lose one job, although we know that after little effort we’ll get another job. But here in one moment, he not only lost his job, he lost his family, he lost his life.
And actually in some ways, if you have an accident, in which you die in one moment, then there is not much realisation of the pain. It’s painful any time to die, but it’s like you have a countdown. And then you have to wait and watch.
I’m going to die and I can’t do anything about it. So, that is even more agonising. See, when death comes immediately, it’s painful, but it’s not so painful.
When death is far away, in the remote future we don’t think much about it. Yeah, it is there, when it comes we’ll see it. But when death becomes imminent, it’s just there and we can’t avoid it.
Then it becomes unbearable. So, Parikshit Maharaj, how was he able to… So, the event was of death. He was going to die.
The experience would normally for most people have been agony. Dismay, feeling of resentment, and unfairness of it all. But what was different for him was the conception.
And this changing the way we see things in our life, that is the essence of Krishna Consciousness. Whatever happens in our life, how we see it determines how it influences us and how we respond to it. So, Parikshit Maharaj, although he was cursed to die, he did not become disheartened.
Because he was fixed in his purpose of serving Krishna. As a king, while ruling he was serving Krishna. Now, when he rounds the world, also he focused on serving Krishna.
So, for us, the purpose is most important. The path is secondary. Just like when the Ganga is flowing towards the ocean, the Ganga might be flowing in a particular way.
There might be a whole river bed which is made because the Ganga has been flowing in that direction for a long time. But then, suppose somehow there is a landslide or there is an earthquake or whatever, and that path gets blocked. Then the Ganga, what it does is, it finds some other way.
Not this way, but this way. No, this way. Some other way it finds and it keeps moving on.
So, there is a normal way in which we keep doing things. And we become habituated to doing things in that way. When the Ganga keeps flowing in a particular way, then there the flow creates a bed for it.
And flowing along the bed of the river is relatively easy. But if the bed is blocked, the normal way of doing things doesn’t work. Then the Ganga finds some other way of moving onwards.
For the Ganga, the purpose is to get to the ocean. Ganga is attached to the purpose, not to the path. If I can’t go this way, I’ll go this way or this way.
Similarly for us, during the course of our life, there are various things that we do. In our material life, in our spiritual life, we may have various responsibilities, various services. And these are all paths for our consciousness to go towards Krishna.
If we are coming in the temple and doing some services in the temple, that’s also a way by which our consciousness is going towards Krishna. At our home, we have our responsibilities towards our family. That can also be done in the mood of service to Krishna.
That’s also a way our consciousness is flowing towards Krishna. Even our work, the Bhagavata says we can do it in the mood of worship to Krishna. So, karmanatma dhirja.
And there also, that’s a way by which our consciousness can flow towards Krishna. But sometimes, certain paths get blocked. At that time, if we just focus on the blockage, why is this not working? Why is this not happening? Why is this not happening? We become disheartened.
But if we understand that Krishna can find that there is always some other way to move on. If this doesn’t work, how can I serve Krishna in this situation? In this changed situation. If we have that attitude of service, Krishna will help us find a way.
Sri Prabhupada defined Krishna consciousness in many different ways. I find one particular way very striking. He says, when you come to the temple, and you look at the deities, and you feel, if you feel that Krishna is asking you, what are you doing for me? Then, we are Krishna conscious.
Most people come to the temple and ask Krishna, what are you doing for me? I have this problem. I prayed to this. Why not solve this problem? When is this going to happen? I had this desire.
I did this vrata. Why is this not being fulfilled? So our hood is, why is this not happening? What are you doing for me? But the path of devotion is the inversion of the normal religious dynamic. Instead of wanting God to do something for us, we want to do something for God.
As long as we want God to do something for us, our practise of religion, our practise of bhakti will be interrupted. Because if God doesn’t do what we want, doesn’t fulfil our prayers, why should I serve him? But if we think, my purpose is to serve the Lord. Okay, if this situation is not working, how can I find a way ahead? Through this.
Through this. We can always find a way ahead. So succeeding in Krishna consciousness is not just a matter of doing a particular activity.
It is a matter of being in the consciousness that Krishna is our Lord and we are his servant. And sometimes we may be able to do it well, sometimes externally we may not be able to do it well. But even if externally we may not be able to do it well, still we can grow in our spiritual life by being conscious of Krishna.
So Parikshit Maharaj faced a terrible situation where he was cursed. Now even if we, there are bad things that happen in our life, and when those bad things happen, it is very difficult to feel spiritual, to feel grateful, to feel Krishna conscious. So how can we be Krishna conscious at that time? What does it mean to fail in Krishna consciousness? That means that even if we can’t be grateful for all situations, we can be grateful in all situations.
Even if we can’t be grateful for all situations, I mean sometimes bad things just happen in our life. And it’s not possible to be grateful for those bad, to be grateful at that time for those bad situations. If you have a terrible argument with someone, somebody misunderstands us and accuses us, or we suddenly get a terrible disease, we lose our job, something goes wrong, at that time it’s very difficult to be grateful for that situation.
But we can still be grateful in that situation. How? By looking, that negative has happened, but by looking at the positives that will help us to deal with the negative. There is a negative for Parikshit Maharaj, he first was a negative.
But at that time he focused on the positive. The positive is that he had the associates of these great sages who were going to help him in his final journey. So we always have a choice of what we focus on.
And that’s why when we are practising Bhakti, say anything we are trying to do, it might be, we might be taking care of our family responsibilities, we might be taking care of some service to Krishna, distributing books, we might be trying to share Krishna Bhakti with others. Whatever we are trying to do, the important thing is that we try to be conscious of Krishna. And so I talk about how Krishna Consciousness, success is quite dynamic in Krishna Consciousness.
Sometimes say somebody decides, now it is Janmashtami, so we fast till midnight Janmashtami. Or it’s Ekadashi, we fast throughout the day. And sometimes somebody may try to fast.
I will be determined, I am going to fast. And then somehow their body troubles them too much, they start feeling dizzy, they start feeling sick and they have to eat some food. Now they may think that, oh, I couldn’t fast, that is a failure.
On the other hand, somebody may very strictly fast, not even touching a drop of water. I succeeded. Yes, that is, at one level, failure and success.
But in what consciousness? If somebody is fasting, but then they go to the kitchen and see who all are eating what all things. This person so attached, this person no self-control, this person useless. Then their body is fasting, but their ego is feasting.
And although they may succeed in fasting, they will actually fail in Krishna Consciousness. Because they, why they fail? Because they are not conscious of Krishna. They are conscious of their superiority over others.
Similarly, on the other hand, if somebody can’t fast, but they take some food. Krishna, I don’t have this capacity to perform austerity. Please forgive me, but still I want to serve you.
And with that humility, they again try to connect with Krishna, pray to Krishna, chant his holy names, hear some Katha. Then that taking the food is just a one-time event which consumes a few moments. But after that, again they are focused on Krishna.
On the other hand, somebody may not be taking food at all, but they are not focused on Krishna. Then they will not make much spiritual advancement. So similarly for us, what matters most is that we stay in Krishna Consciousness.
So here, fasting is not a bad thing. Sorry, fasting is a good thing and not fasting is also not a bad thing. If you can fast, it’s wonderful.
If you can’t fast, fine, you can still serve Krishna. But from a particular perspective, somebody not being able to fast is a failure. But we can fail in Krishna Consciousness or fail out of Krishna Consciousness.
So fail in Krishna Consciousness means what? Okay, I needed to take some food, I take some food and then I continue to serve Krishna. Or fail out of Krishna Consciousness means, I tried to fast, I can’t fast. Therefore, just give this up.
Not only I am not going to fast, I am not even going to be Krishna Conscious. I am going to eat and I am going to compensate for all the fasting that I did. And then we just… Some people, they treat their tongue like a conveyor belt.
All kinds of food just go in. And then what happens? There is no Krishna Consciousness there at all. So this is that the important thing is Krishna Consciousness is not restricted to doing this, this, this.
Bhakti is a matter of a relationship with Krishna. We cannot reduce bhakti down to bullet points. You know, oh, I chanted my rounds, I went to the temple, I read Bhagavad Gita, therefore I am Krishna Conscious.
Yes, we should do those things, no doubt. But bhakti is not just those things. Bhakti is doing those things in a mood of service to Krishna.
Sometimes when we devotees do japa together, they chant the holy names. At that time some people do what is called Radar Japa. Radar Japa is what? Their eyes are like a radar.
They are looking at everyone, who is sleeping, who is slurring, who is absent minded. During their chanting they don’t miss anything except the holy name. So in that case what is happening? They are doing the activity but not the consciousness.
Now moving forward with this point, I said that bhakti is not just a list of bullet points. If I do this, then I am a devotee. If I can’t do this, I am not a devotee.
It’s not like that. We all go through different situations in life and sometimes we might be in a particular situation where particular things may just not be possible. Actually Prabhupada, before he started his con, he had a pharmacy business.
He was in Allahabad. So there was an interview with a doctor with whom he was working. So Prabhupada had his dispensary where he would give the medicines.
And there was a doctor nearby who would prescribe the medicines. So at that time it is described, this doctor says, Prabhupada at that time was on Abhay Babu. Abhay Babu was a very religious person.
He said that he had so much knowledge of scripture. He had so much devotion. He was a very religious person.
But at that time the main question he had was, how can I earn more money? At that time he had family responsibilities. He had sons to be educated, daughters to be married. At that time that was his question.
And some of his God brothers at that time, they thought, why is he spending so much time in his family life? He doesn’t come to the temple. Prabhupada was somehow circumstantial, not able to go and associate with the spiritual master so much. So circumstances may sometimes limit some people.
And Prabhupada’s intention was always to serve Krishna. Even when he wanted to earn a lot of money, his purpose was, if I can earn money, then I can contribute to my spiritual master’s mission. It was his humility at that time.
He thought, how can I preach? My spiritual master will preach. I will support his preaching. But Krishna had another plan for him.
So from the external perspective, people may have thought that he is not coming to the temple so much. He is not coming to meet his spiritual master so much. But Prabhupada was still conscious of Krishna.
Circumstantially, sometimes some things may not be possible. So when that happens, it is not a failure in Krishna consciousness. If we see those circumstances positive, our devotion is like a flame.
It’s like a fire. So now if we have a candle, and if a wind comes, a strong wind comes, what will happen to the candle? It will get extinguished. So for us, our devotion is like the candle.
And our association is, spiritual association is what we need for this candle to burn. Separation from spiritual association, not being with devotees, not coming to an association with devotees, that is like the wind. Separation from spiritual association is like the wind.
And that will extinguish the fire. However, consider another situation. If we have another kind of fire, this is not the fire of a candle, but it is a forest fire.
When a forest fire is burning, and at that time wind comes, what will happen? It will spread, it will become bigger. Sometimes, last time when I was in California, I was giving some classes, there was a big forest fire in California. It was going on and on for days.
And it was worsened because the wind was there also. So now, the fire is the same thing, the wind is the same thing, but the situation is different. So, separation, when somehow, suppose somebody is very sick, somebody has got a job which is far away from devotees, circumstantially for whatever reason, somebody is not able to come to a temple, not able to practise bhakti.
Some people might say, you are not coming to the temple, you are failing, you are not doing the activity of associating with devotees. That is a failure. You are not succeeding in Krishna consciousness because you are not coming to the temple.
That is true. But one can fail in Krishna consciousness or fail out of Krishna consciousness. That means, okay, I can’t come to the temple, I am so far away from devotee association.
This bhakti is not practical at all. Better give it up. That will be failing out of Krishna consciousness.
But, you can also say, okay, I am not able to come to the temple, but then, let me cherish whatever association I can get. Let me hear some classes online, let me remember the devotees, let me read scripture, let me be Krishna conscious in the way I can in this situation. So, for some devotees, separation from devotee association can decrease their devotion if their devotion is like a flame of a candle.
But in some cases, separation from devotees can increase one’s devotion if their devotion is like a forest fire. So now, of course, we shouldn’t assume that our devotion is like a forest fire and stay away from association. No.
We all need association. But somehow, if for some reason we are not able to come in association, we can see this as an opportunity for intensifying our desire for Krishna, our desire for associating with the devotees of Krishna. We see it that way, that even in that separation from association, we can make spiritual advancement.
By that increased desire for Krishna, we can go closer to Krishna. So, failing in Krishna consciousness means, okay, I can’t come to the temple, but still, Krishna, please arrange for me in such a way that I can come to the temple, I can associate with devotees. When we have this attitude of always being conscious of Krishna, then, of praying to Krishna, of trying to connect with Krishna however we can, then we will always be moving forward in our bhakti.
Similarly, all of us may be trying to follow certain standards. Say, I want to follow some principles. I won’t be doing this, this, this.
I want to do this, this, this. And sometimes, we may fail. We all make some resolutions, but it’s sometimes that we make a resolve and whatever resolution we make, sometimes, or most of the times rather, that resolution doesn’t last for long.
There’s a survey done. I gave a talk show on New Year resolution couple of years ago. So, at that time, I was doing some study.
So, almost 90% of people’s New Year resolutions are not new. Because the same resolutions, they keep doing again and again. So, now, we may say, I want to do this.
And I’m going to give up this. And if we fail in that, we think, oh, I have no discipline, I have no self-control, I have no willpower. It’s not necessary to be disheartened like that.
We have to understand that actually, all of us have our conditionings. And the conditionings are present in our mind. And the mind often misleads us.
So, failing in Krishna Consciousness or failing out of Krishna Consciousness would mean, okay, I tried to do this. I can’t do it. Okay, I couldn’t do it.
But what can I do right now? Let me do that and move on. That is failing in Krishna Consciousness. Krishna, I can’t do this.
But I’ll do this right now. But failing out of Krishna Consciousness means, I tried to do this. I can’t do it.
Therefore, let me just give up the whole thing. So, the mind often makes us, our conditions, our situations sometimes prevent us from doing certain things. But our mind makes things worse.
The mind will make us not only fail in Krishna Consciousness, it will make us fail out of Krishna Consciousness. Suppose, you are living a normal, law-abiding life and a friend comes to you and says, do you want to rob a bank? What? He says, I have got a foolproof plan. You can earn a lot of money.
What is the plan? He says, let us rob a bank. He says, what? He says, no, no, no. I have got a foolproof plan.
It will not be caught. He says, let us rob a bank. He says, no, no, no.
I don’t want to do this. But somehow this friend is very persuasive. And then we just get persuaded.
And we go. And when we are at the bank, about to rob the bank, suddenly an alarm rings and security comes charging in. And this friend runs away.
This friend runs away and we are left over there. We are caught. And when we are taken to the, when we are arrested and we are taken to the court, and then we find sitting on the judge’s chair is that same friend.
And he says, you are a criminal and you will be sent to jail. He says, you only made me do the crime. So, if somebody, a friend, persuaded us to do a crime and then punished us for the crime, we would be enraged.
Our mind is like that. Say, our mind, say, we decide, okay, I want to wake up early in the morning. And we set an alarm.
And then the alarm goes off. We wake up and the mind says, go to sleep. And then we say, okay, let me go to sleep.
And then maybe after one hour, two hours, when we wake up, the first thing the mind says, you fool! Why did you sleep so much? You are such a lazy idiot. You never learn. You never improve.
So, it is the first, the mind only made us sleep and then the mind only says, you fool, why did you sleep so much? So, what is happening over here? The mind first makes us do the wrong thing and then beats us up for doing that wrong thing. Then we say, okay, but if I do a wrong thing, shouldn’t I feel bad about it? Isn’t that necessary to make me do the right thing? Yes, that is true. But, when we feel bad, what is the effect of that bad thing? We have something called conscience within us.
Our conscience is meant to protect us from doing wrong things. So, you say, Krishna is here, we are here and the wrongdoing is here. So, our conscience is meant to be here.
Our conscience is meant to be between us and the wrongdoing. Right? Okay, you should not do this. If you do this, this is bad.
The conscience is meant to be between us and the wrongdoing. But, what the mind does is, the mind comes here, in between us and Krishna. And, when we do something wrong, it knocks us down.
And, after we do it, the mind comes and stands over here. So, you fool, you are hopeless. You are never going to learn.
There is no chance of improving for you. You just give up. So, what is happening? We may fall for a conditioning and we may not be able to do a particular thing.
But, after that, what do we do? Okay, I couldn’t do it that way, but let me do what I can now. But, if we keep beating ourselves up, why did I do that? Why didn’t I do it? So, what is happening? When we overslept, at that time we were conscious of the mind. And, the mind said, sleep more.
And, then when we wake up, again the mind is saying, you fool, why did you sleep so much? Again, we are conscious of the mind. And, even when we wake up and maybe hear some lecture or do some chanting, still the mind is saying, you fool, you fool, you fool, you fool. So, our lips are saying, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna.
The mind is saying, you fool, you fool, you fool. We are not conscious of Krishna. One devotee recently asked me that, when we try to chant Hare Krishna, why is it so difficult to concentrate while chanting? I told, because we are not actually chanting.
This is the lips are chanting, the mind is wandering and the soul is wondering which of the two to do. To focus on the lips that are chanting or the mind that is wandering. And, most often we just go along with the mind wandering.
So, there are times when we may not be able to do things up to a particular standard. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t do anything. We can do what we can in that situation.
There is no need for us to let ourselves be beaten by the mind. And, this applies in every walk of our life. Sometimes, we make a small mistake and a big mess happens because of that.
Sometimes, without any mistake, suddenly some big problem comes in our life. And, at that time, the mind makes things worse. We all, at different times in our lives, will face problems.
And, we may have to live with pain. But, we don’t have to live in pain. What is the difference between living with pain and living in pain? Living with pain means, pain is a part of our life.
But, living in pain means, we think of nothing except the pain. We think only, why did this happen? Why did this happen? Why did this happen? That’s what we focus on. So, in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says in 2.70, that, He says, that we need to make our consciousness like an ocean.
And, this is a beautiful metaphor, that Krishna is saying, that desires are like rivers coming into an ocean. Normally, we think of desires as something which go outwards. We look at some object and we feel a desire for it.
Oh, I want to get this. We think of desires as something which flow outwards from us. But, Krishna is talking about desire as something flowing inside us.
That means, in the outside world, something happens and we get some emotion triggered by that. It may be a particular kind of desire that may be triggered within us. Or, any particular emotion that is triggered.
So, now imagine when a river flows in. If there is a small puddle over there, then, when the river flows in, into that, there will be complete disruption. The puddle will overflow and there will be devastation all around.
But, if instead of a puddle, there is an ocean, then even if the river flows in, it won’t disturb so much. It will still be flowing in, but because the river is so vast, it won’t disturb so much. So, for us, we need to make sure that our consciousness is not like a puddle.
Our consciousness is like an ocean. Now, what determines whether our consciousness is like a puddle or like an ocean? That is determined by what is present in our consciousness. That is determined by what we are attached to.
If we are attached to small things, then, some disruption in that will make us very agitated. I think a few months ago, there was this India-Pakistan cricket match in the Champions Trophy Final. India was expected to win and India lost very badly.
So, after that, one boy in India told me, three nights I could not sleep. How could India lose like this? And then, I told him that, probably, those cricketers went to sleep. Why couldn’t you sleep? Because what happened, the consciousness is so caught in that, that there is enormous agitation because of that.
So, whatever our consciousness is attached to, we experience emotions in relationship with that. And sometimes in bhakti also, we might get attached to certain small things. Now, I want to do this, this way.
This has to be done, it has to be done like this. I should be doing this, like this only. Now, our consciousness needs to be attached to Krishna, not even to specific activities that take us towards Krishna.
What does that mean? That means, sometimes we are able to do the activities very nicely. Sometimes we study scripture and we feel so absorbed in it. Sometimes we study scripture, we feel I don’t understand anything in this.
Sometimes we do our chanting and we do our japa and we get so much taste and strength. We feel japa should never end. And sometimes we are chanting and we feel japa never ends.
Sometimes we take out our beads from the bead bag. This is 108 beads instead of 108. This is not ending at all.
So, if we become too attached, Oh, everyday I should be able to chant in such a way that I feel great devotion when I chant. And if we don’t feel that devotion, we feel why should I chant. Yes, we would like to chant with devotion.
But if we don’t feel devotion, our attachment is not just to doing chanting in a particular way. Our attachment is to Krishna. I want to serve you, Krishna.
And Krishna sees not just our emotions, Krishna sees not just our feelings, but also our feelings about our feelings. That means, say I am feeling bored while chanting. But if I feel bored, what do I do at that time? Okay, when will this get over? I just get it over and do something else.
Or, Krishna, I don’t want to feel like this. I want to serve you. Please give me strength.
So the feeling of boredom is there. But our feeling is, I don’t want to feel like this. I want to serve you.
So Krishna sees not just our feelings, but also our feelings about our feelings. And in that terms, sometimes, even if we don’t have the devotional feeling when we are chanting, that means we say that’s a failure. I am not chanting with devotion.
But we can even fail in Krishna Consciousness. Not fail out of Krishna Consciousness. Fail out of Krishna Consciousness, we just try to get rid of the chanting and get it over with.
Fail in Krishna Consciousness means, Krishna, I am trying to chant, I don’t feel like chanting, but I still want to serve you. When we have this attitude, then we will find that no matter what difficulty comes in our life, we will be able to face it with positive intention. The more we try to connect with Krishna, the more our consciousness will become like an ocean.
We will understand that our connection with Krishna is much bigger than any specific thing that we are doing in Krishna Consciousness. Yes, those specific things are important. They are not to be neglected.
But sometimes, by factors beyond our control, those specific things may not work. For Parikshit Maharaj, his ruling the kingdom was a service to Krishna. And he was doing it as well as he could.
But by factors beyond his control, suddenly that whole channel for the Ganga of his consciousness to move towards Krishna was completely blocked. And there was no way to remove that blockage. What did he do? He found another way to keep his consciousness moving towards Krishna.
Similarly, if we have that attitude that I want to become attached to Krishna, I want to serve Krishna through everything that I do, then even if one thing or two things don’t work out, that thing not working out will cause us some distress, will cause us some disappointment. But it won’t consume our consciousness. We may have to live with pain.
Yes, this thing has not worked out. It will actually cause us some distress. But we won’t have to live in pain.
When that thing consumes our consciousness and it doesn’t work out at all, then we will be living in pain. But if this was one way I was trying to serve Krishna, if this is not working out, let me see what else I can do. How can I move on? When we have this positive purposefulness in bhakti.
Positive purposefulness. Purposefulness means, Krishna, I am your servant, I am meant to serve you. That purposefulness is there.
And positive means, no matter what negative happens, this goes wrong, that goes wrong, that goes wrong, still let me see how I can move on. We’ll find that Krishna will have a better plan for us. Even if our plans don’t work, Krishna will bring good even out of the bad.
Krishna is so inclusive, so merciful, that his plan is so big, so great, that it can’t be foiled by any other person’s intervention. Sometimes we think, I could serve Krishna so nicely, if only this person started behaving properly. This person is such a big obstacle.
If this person starts behaving properly, I will be able to serve Krishna so nicely. You think like that. Or sometimes we think, only if this conditioning in me goes away, I can serve Krishna so nicely.
Because of this I have so many problems coming. Yes, it may be like that, but Krishna’s plan can work even through others’ conditionings and through our conditionings. So rather than resenting the conditionings, just try to serve Krishna with positive purposefulness.
And when we do that, we’ll find that some way, okay, this channel is blocked, Ganga of our consciousness can move this way, move this way. Some way we’ll find to move onwards. Krishna’s plan is so inclusive, that it can include our mistakes also, even if we commit a mistake somehow.
I’ll conclude with this example, that if, suppose we are driving a car, and we are using Google Maps, and Google tells us, turn left. And somehow we turn right at that time. Then what does… When we turn right, what does Google do at that time? It immediately recalculates and tells us a way from there.
If we again… It’s telling us to turn left, again if we turn right, again Google will recalculate and will tell us the right way. So no matter how many wrong turns we take, still Google will tell us how to take the right turn, how to find the right path from there. The wrong turns are not inconsequential.
Every wrong turn will mean that it will take us longer to get to the destination. But still there is a path to the destination. So similarly, Krishna is like the ultimate Google Maps.
Even if we commit mistakes, Krishna has a plan. Krishna’s plan is not foiled by our mistakes. Krishna’s plan can work even through our mistakes.
So Parikshit Maharaj, Garlanding, Shamik Rishi, at one level we could say it’s a mistake, if you want to learn from it. But Krishna’s plan worked through that mistake. And then the Bhagavatam was revealed thereby.
So for us, no matter what has happened in the past, even if we have committed some mistakes, even if we have done something terribly wrong, just let the past be the past. Now let’s try to serve Krishna with positive purposefulness. And if we do that, we’ll find that Krishna will bring hope and joy into our life.
No matter how many things we have done wrong, Krishna always loves us. Krishna’s love for us is not based on who we are. It is based on who He is.
He is our eternal Lord. And no matter what we do, He still loves us. He still wants the best for us.
He is Surudham Sarva Bhutanam, the well-wisher of all living beings. So if we maintain that spirit of positive purposefulness, then Krishna will guide us through whatever problems we may face in our life. When terrible things seem to be happening in our life, we need to know that even through those terrible things, Krishna has a plan.
It is said that when we are down to nothing, Krishna is up to something. When we are down to nothing, Krishna is up to something. So I’ll summarise.
I spoke on the theme of how to overcome discouragement because of failures. Even if we can’t succeed in Krishna consciousness, we can fail in Krishna consciousness, not fail out of Krishna consciousness. I started by telling Parikshit Maharaj’s story of how under the pressure of thirst, he couldn’t appreciate the spiritual triumphs of Shamik Rishi and he put a snake garland around him.
So at one level, it is a plan of the Lord. So it is like a movie star jumping from a high mountain. But for our lessons, for learning for ourselves, we can say that this kind of action would be a mistake.
But when that happened, instead of resenting, beating himself up for committing the mistake or resenting the sage’s son for cursing him, Parikshit Maharaj shifted to appreciating the sages who came and gave him an opportunity to remember Krishna during his final stage. So even if we can’t be grateful for all situations, we can be grateful in all situations. So when we practise bhakti, we may have certain conceptions.
If I do this, this, this, then I am successful. If I am not able to do this, this, I am a failure. But bhakti is very inclusive.
Even if we can’t do certain things, if we have an attitude of serving Krishna, then we can be still Krishna conscious. So Prabhupada said Krishna consciousness means we come before Krishna and we feel Krishna is asking me how can I serve you? What are you doing for me? So when we have that attitude, the Ganga keeps moving towards the ocean. The Ganga is not attached to the path.
It’s attached to the purpose. So we may have a particular path, a particular plan of how we want to do things. Those things don’t work out.
That doesn’t mean that we have failed. We can still find some other way. I talked about somebody may have fast successfully, but if they are feeling superior to everyone else, then they have failed in Krishna consciousness.
Somebody may not fast, but immediately they take some food and again come back and focus on Krishna consciousness. They are succeeding in Krishna consciousness. Similarly, if we want to do a particular service and that doesn’t work out, circumstantially, sometimes something may just not be possible for us.
For Prabhupada, at a particular phase in his life, he just couldn’t spend too much time externally on devotional activities to focus on more his profession. But still his intention was to serve Krishna. So separation from devotees is like wind for the fire of our devotion.
If the fire is small like a candle flame, it will be extinguished. If the fire is huge like a forest fire, then it will become further spread. So we can, by not resenting the situation or resenting the lack of association or using that lack of association to give up our devotion, we try to intensify our devotion by doing that what we can.
And even in the separation externally, we might be growing internally. So in devotion, there are things to do and things to avoid. But devotion is not just a list of bullet points.
Devotion is the intention with which we do it. Even if we want to follow particular standards, if we can’t follow them, still, if we accept that failure gracefully and humbly try to serve Krishna, we can move forwards. But our mind plays a devilish double role.
It’s like a friend who asks us to rob a bank and then punishes us for having robbed a bank, becoming a judge. So like that, the mind makes us do wrong things and then beats us up for doing wrong things. So sometimes the mind makes us do wrong things.
We may not be able to resist it at that time. But instead of beating ourselves up after that, okay, this happened, now how can we serve Krishna? We recover and keep moving on. So conscience comes between us and the wrongdoing.
If something comes between us and Krishna, making us feel we can never practise bhakti, we are good for nothing, that is not conscience, that is pseudo-conscience. And then lastly, I talked about how we need to make our consciousness not like a puddle, but like an ocean. When the consciousness becomes like an ocean, by our attachment to the oceanic reality, Krishna, then by that attachment, even if some problems come, we won’t get overwhelmed by them.
We may have to live with pain, but we won’t have to live in pain. Because we understand that our identity and our purpose is bigger than whatever painful situation we are going through. Because we are eternally connected with Krishna.
And Krishna’s love for us is not based on who we are. If I don’t do this, this, this, Krishna won’t stop loving us. No.
Krishna’s love for us is based on who He is. He is so loving that even if we commit some mistakes, Krishna’s plan can work in spite of our mistakes or even through our mistakes. He is like the ultimate Google map.
He will guide us back to the right track, no matter what all wrong things may have happened or what all wrong things we may have done. So by just being positively purposeful in our bhakti, we can overcome whatever negativity life may send our way. And we can progress steadily towards serving Krishna and ultimately attaining Krishna.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.