Overcoming obstacles 2 – Focus not on rejecting desire but on selecting desire – part 2

[Seminar in Alachua Learning Center, Alachua, USA]

Talk ppt

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
so while talking about how the material is not to be rejected but it is to be selected the most standard example of this is the whole system of varna ashram the prabhupada says in one lecture that varna is for the body, the ashram is for the soul it’s a broad generalisation but still in principle according to our bodily nature and according to our bodily inclination the varna’s basically give us occupational duties and the ashramas are progressions for primarily our spiritual growth so in varna ashram the principle is that whatever is our nature that is used for the purpose of our dharmic growth and we see that at one level in the Gaudiya Vaishnavism there is transcendence of varna ashram in the famous verse of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu where it says na aham vipro na chandarpatir na api vaisho na shudro na aham varni na chandarpatir na vadastho yathirva hindu pradyam nikhila paramananda krishna poona vrudavde gopi bhartur pada kamalayo dasa dasa nidasa so he says I am not a brahmana kshatriya ashudra I am not a brahmachari grahastha anapasa sanyasi I am simply the servant of the lord of the gopis so this Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is saying this when he is beholding Jagannath when Jagannath is just coming out Jagannath yathyatra time so in principle this is our ultimate aspiration but in conduct if we see Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did act quite strictly as a sanyasi he was very strict about following the rules of sanyasi and similarly about following the rules of a brahmana so when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu lived in Varanasi at that time he stayed at the house of he stayed at the house of Chandrashekharacharya and he would go and take prasad at the house of Tapanmishra now this is very strange if a sanyasi is staying at somebody’s house why wouldn’t he take prasad at the same house because Chandrashekharacharya was not a brahmana and that time the social expectation especially among the mayavadis who were there in Varanasi was that a sanyasi who knows what is shuchi and what is muchi knows what is pure and what is impure a sanyasi should not take food that is cooked by anyone other than a brahmana so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu deferred to that expectation and so he followed not just the rules of brahmana but whatever also the expected rules of a brahmana even if they were not scriptural rules because if they felt that the sanyasi doesn’t even know basic discrimination of where to take food and how can the sanyasi speak about vedanta to us they would have disrespected him, they would not have been able to hear from him Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did what was required so he followed the rules of brahmana and sanyasi also so in an ultimate sense we have to transcend varanashram but in a practical sense we have to act according to our current situation so varanashram essentially means that whatever is our material disposition whatever material disposition we act accordingly now how does varanashram apply in today’s life the essence of varanashram is not so much of dividing people into categories the point is to engage people according to their natures so everybody has to face problems in life so if there is a brahmana and this brahmana is told there is a verse in the bhagavatam which says that in emergency situations for a higher good one can even speak a lie, can you find this verse a brahmana will look forward to it, yes ok, this verse is here, this verse is here, this verse is here and after that the brahmana will give a search and view all the references if somebody is a vaishya nature, tell them can you find this verse thousands of verses in the bhagavatam where will I search for one verse anyway, just give the class without quoting the verse who is going to notice so for the brahmana that is a relishable thing find, search, research in scripture for a vaishya, it’s a burden on the other hand, say somebody is a brahminical nature and they are told they are told, actually say somebody is a vaishya nature and they are told now we want to build a new temple and we need to raise 1 million dollars for that yeah, now I have got something to do immediately their brain will start thinking, I will go here, I will contact this person we will make this scheme, we will make this plan they will feel I have got something to do and then if we go and tell a brahmana we have to build a temple and we have to raise 1 million dollars for that the brahmana will say after building a 1 million dollar temple we are going to discuss shastra only over there so discuss shastra now, why do you have to do all that so it’s not that the brahmana is right or the vaishya is right it is that for different people, different things may be right so the expertise of Varanashram is that people are allocated the problems that they will like to face so brahmanas like intellectual challenges vaishyas may like financial challenges and accordingly when people are given challenges to face then they feel stimulated, they feel satisfied they feel as if I am doing something in life so the essence of Varanashram is that whatever is our material nature we do it but do it in a way that is spiritually harmonious but when we are doing things according to our material nature there is a danger of course that we just do it according to our material nature and forget the spiritual side so I just become an intellectual and I can become an atheistic intellectual or I can become a materialistic intellectual I can become a businessman I can just become a materially motivated greedy businessman and have nothing spiritual about it, that danger is there so when we act according to our material nature making the material nature as our entire nature that danger is there but there is other extreme also that I reject my material nature I simply try to act according to my spiritual nature that is I am a soul, I am going to serve Krishna I will do whatever Krishna tells me to do that’s very good in attitude but in terms of execution we may not be able to do it sustainably so Varanashram in its practical application in today’s world will be that rather than thinking about how to divide society who is going to divide, who is going to accept that division all that is very complicated the essential principle is we harmonise the material in the service of the spiritual that whatever I am materially how it can be harmonised so that it can help me grow in my spiritual life that is the essence of Varanashram and its practical application may vary in drastic ways in different situations so Varanashram is a big subject I will not go into that over here my point is simply this that the Vedic wisdom was not about rejecting the material it was about not whatever nature you have rejected no, it is about selecting the material this is your nature, use it in Krishna’s service then, now all this I talked primarily about the mind and how we have to act according to its nature but along with that I said the mind is the generator of desires and some desires are meant to be engaged so say I am an intellectual, I like to study I am a businessman, I like to earn money, deal in money so those are desires which can be doted in Krishna’s service and they should be doted but there are also many desires the mind comes up which are to be rejected so I started by talking about focus more on selection rather than on rejection when we deal with the mind but that doesn’t mean that rejection doesn’t have to play a role rejection also is required many times the mind will come out with certain desires which can be deadly for us and we have to say no to them now when we talk about saying no to desires there is something which is important that intention alone is not an adequate protection from temptation sometimes when people do something wrong I never intended to do that and you never intended to do that but if we see let’s consider this from the positive perspective if somebody says somebody doesn’t prepare for a class at all and then they come and they just the class is not a test of Krishna the class is a test of everyone’s patience person is just rambling and not speaking anything at all and then they say that I intended to speak well well intention is good but you have to prepare just as when we are thinking of doing something good intention is important but it is simply the beginning point intention is not everything intention is important but okay intention is important but when we are doing something good you know the intention has to be followed with proper planning execution then the result will come so same way for doing something good just as intention alone is not enough similarly for not doing something which is bad for that also intention alone is not enough say I don’t want to do this but we all have our vulnerabilities we all have certain temptations to which we are vulnerable and then just by saying oh I never intended to do this that is not adequate protection we may have to do something more practically what does that mean in terms of so once we understand okay this is dharma and I have certain desires which are adharmic which I have to give up so then just say that I don’t want to do this that alone will not work so the example for this is in the Ramayan where Sugriva when he became a king he was a prince but then because of the misunderstanding between Vali and Sugriva he was banished and he lived in great austerity in the forest and then by Ram’s arrangement he was made into the king again but then he had promised Ram that I will help in finding Sita but because the four months of winter were there of rainy season were there so they said we cannot search now we will search afterwards so according to some Ramayan commentators actually Vali was the son of Indra and at that time because Vali had been killed so Indra became very angry and he showered unprecedented rains at that time the rains were so torrential that they just reduced to helplessness otherwise some people ask how can this wife has been kidnapped how can you search because there are rains so I can’t search it’s not like that the rains were terrible at that time he just couldn’t do anything at that time so in those four months Sugriva had full intention as soon as the rains clear I will arrange for finding Sita but what happened after being deprived for so long when he got royal comfort and royal luxuries he just lost himself he lost himself in revelry forgot about all his promise and then he had to be reminded by someone else Hanuman reminded him Tara also reminded him Lakshmana came and chastised him then he came restored to his right situation so he had the intention but if he is put in a circumstance where there is so much temptation then he forgot that so if there is temptation just saying my intention is right that may not necessarily always protect us from the temptation so what do we need to do then apart from that here why sometimes our intention is not enough to understand that we have to understand what is conditioning when we say we are conditioned to do something there are various ways of understanding the word conditioning but one way is when we are conditioned to do something means we do it even before we understand that I am doing it we do it almost subconsciously so it just gets done from us unthinkingly so for example somebody has decided I am putting on too much weight I am going to diet now and then they put some they decide I am going to diet but they are at their work place talking on phone, working on computer and they have below some snacks maybe they have some fatty snacks, some oily snacks and they decide I am not going to eat it and they also kept some healthy snacks some fruits, some vegetables, some salad now if they are conscious when they feel hungry they will go and take the healthy snack but if they are not conscious they are talking with someone on phone and there is some tense phone call going on and they don’t realise it the hand goes and eats it I never intended what happened so what happens, the conditioning means we do something even before we realise what I am doing that is the meaning of conditioning so Krishna, Arjuna also expresses this when he says in 3.36 Arjuna asks by what am I impelled to do things which I don’t want to do I don’t want to do it it is as if something something is forcing me to do it so how does it work out so when Krishna talks about how calm, selfish desire that is what makes us do these things but the point is that when we have certain conditionings then we do those things without even realising what we are doing so it is like sometimes in our computer we may have a default programme say if we have made a particular browser as a default browser now if I click on a link I may I may not consciously choose to open that browser but because that browser is made as a default browser so as soon as the link is clicked immediately that browser gets opened suppose I find out that a particular browser consumes too much power so I don’t want to use it but if that is a default browser although my intention is not to use it as soon as I click the link it will get opened why? because that is a default setting so just as there can be default settings in a machine similarly the mind is also like a machine and our conditionings are like the default settings of our mind so when there is a link from that link different browsers can be used to open that link but when there is a default browser set then automatically that browser will only open whenever we click similarly say if we are conditioned to eating a particular food item then whenever we feel hunger we can consume different foods now I can eat a fatty snack or I can eat a healthy snack but our conditioning basically means that we have certain conceptions of what food is enjoyable that is our default setting so as soon as the hunger attacks me at that time it’s like a link is clicked and by the default setting automatically I’ll go towards that particular fatty food and I’ll eat it so purification essentially means that our default settings get changed so that takes time that changing our default settings takes time and if I am not so tech savvy and I don’t know how to change the default setting but I know this browser takes a lot of energy then what I may do as soon as I click a link that browser opens up and I’ll actually consciously go and close that browser and then maybe open another browser and put the link over there it requires labour, it requires effort so Krishna while describing the qualities of a Brahmana in 18.41 he says two characteristics Shama and Dama Shama is actually peace of the mind peacefulness or control of the mind we could say and Dama is control of the senses so he says ideally we should just keep our mind peaceful don’t let it get agitated that’s the characteristics of a Brahmana but still there are situations in which we’ll get tempted and agitation will happen so at that time even when the agitation happens, the Brahmana is one who does Dama the mind is agitated but at least I’ll not act at the level of the senses the best is control the mind so that there is no agitation but even if there is agitation let there not be any action at the sensory level so Shama and Dama so ideally we just reset the browser so that that undesirable browser that power sucking browser doesn’t open only ideally we reset that browser but till we if the wrong browser is opening up then what do we do? we have to shut it down that wrong desire, unhealthy desire has come up within me, I’ll not act on it so conditioning means the desire comes up and we act on it even before we realise it and for this so that’s why I said my intention may be to do one thing but I find out I’m doing something else why is that happening? because hunger going back to the example of food hunger is something which is natural for me so I have to click a link but that connection between the link and the browser that is something which is set and I have not yet changed it so if I’m conscious, I’ll change it I’m hungry I feel like eating this but no I can eat this but if I’m not conscious enough then subconsciously what will happen is I’ll eat something which is unhealthy there is a survey done which involved asking people about how many food related decisions they make everyday should I eat this item or that item so on an average this is done by I think Stanford University they asked on an average people said we do around 15 to 20 decisions daily should I eat this or should I do that eat that and then they went back over the full day and analysed and they found that people make around 200 to 220 food related decisions everyday what do they mean 200 to 220 everyday we are going along the road we see some advertisement should I eat this, should I not eat this or if I eat this, how much should I eat this if I have a plate, there are four items which item should I take a second survey which item I should take a third survey so all these are decisions but they are all decisions which are made for us we don’t even realise that we are making those decisions so if sometimes we are making those decisions which are unhealthy for us the conditioning is making us do it and we don’t even realise it so when we have to reject certain desires, first of all we have to have the intention, ok I am not going to do this but intention alone is not enough so for example if somebody wants to not eat that fatty diet that fatty snack then best is not keep it anywhere close by because if it is close by, even before I realise it I will be eating it but if it is not close by then I will not indulge in it so this is taking this point further now when we focus on making decisions should I do this or should I not do this now we can focus more on what is wise or what is unwise rather than what is right and what is wrong once we get into the zone of right and wrong we all are very expert at proving that what I did was right it was with the right intention simple example of this could be suppose somebody is a recovering alcoholic and that recovering alcoholic also has a business and he has a business meeting in a bar actually I went there for business, my intention was good you could say there is nothing wrong in going to a bar for a business meeting but for a recovering alcoholic over there it is putting oneself in terrible danger so you may say that there is nothing wrong in going to a bar it is right I am not going there for drinking but is it wise because I have a particular conditioning because of which I am wondering so once we get into the zone of right or wrong then people can become very strong in defending no, this is right, this is wrong, there is nothing wrong in it but the point is not whether there is nothing wrong in it the point is there may be unnecessary danger so is it wise to do it so if I find that I have a tendency to to spend a lot of time surfing on the net then I may decide, do I need to have unrestricted net access all the time not having that access may restrict me a little bit and there is nothing wrong, many people may be able to have unrestricted net access and they will not get into any trouble but if I have a tendency to waste time then I may decide that ok, I will not always have unrestricted access I can have unrestricted access sometime I have access, sometime I don’t have access so we all may have to take decisions based on our vulnerabilities so that we create some protection for ourselves so rather than right and wrong we focus on what is wise what is wise for me, based on my situation and what is unwise for me so if I am doing a particular service and that service involves doing particular, some services are very provoking sometimes we may have to work with some people who provoke us very much and we get agitated by them and sometimes we may have to work in that service sometimes we may have a choice so I have to find out what my vulnerabilities are and I have to minimise the danger for myself so that way it will become easier for us to act on our intentions we always need some external support by which we can transform our intention into execution one more point in this there is a psychological term called propinquity propinquity in bhakti, propinquity it is technically it means the effect of distance and time on human behaviour now that seems very abstract the effect of distance and time but it is a very simple principle and it has quite a lot of application, so for example say if this is my office, this is my home and in between there is a hotel and that hotel has my favourite snack and in that hotel if I pass by that snack is very fatty it is very expensive, I don’t want to eat it, I resolve not to eat it, I pass by that area, when I pass by that area, if I find oh that hotel is empty I can go there and within two minutes I will be I will be munching on my favourite snack, that even before I realise it, I will be driving my car inside I will be going out, taking out my credit card and I will be eating it, hey why did I eat it but if I am going along the same road and I see, there is a big crowd over there, so it will take me half an hour in the queue to stand by the way, after which I will get to the counter and then probably they will take 15-20 minutes to give the serving also so it will take 45 minutes later later I will do it later so what happens, when there is certain difficulty in doing something then that difficulty itself creates a deterrence in doing that activity, so this is not always, if I am infatuated by the desire to take it, I will want to speak for 45 minutes, I may spend 6 hours waiting to get it, sometimes people travel from one end of a country to another end of a country, just to get a favourite snack or favourite food so if the desire has caught me I may go to any extremes to do it but sometimes, the desire just comes as a casual desire and when the casual desire stray desire comes in and if the opportunity is readily available I will immediately indulge in it if the opportunity is not there, okay later so the mind tends to be lazy anything that requires effort, the mind says no so we can use the mind’s laziness in our battle against temptation how? by making the tempting objects not easily available for us so if something is not available easily and I have to go ahead and purchase this get that, get that and after that I will get it forget it, I will take it afterwards just like there is alcoholism there is also another form of addiction which is called shopaholism shopaholism means people are compulsive shoppers keep shopping shop, shop, shop, shop till you drop so many times people have like a whole their home becomes like a warehouse, so many things they have purchased and they kept it so now, often they may not need it but when they go to the shop maybe I can take this also so when something is very easily available then we are tempted to take it but for example, people who become shopaholics they are told if you are going to go for shopping take limited money with you maybe you don’t purchase with credit card, purchase only cash or if you take credit card, take a small credit card so what happens, if I have to purchase something which you are not planning to maybe it’s important, but maybe it is not who knows, so if we cannot act on it immediately what happens is, okay I have to go back again I have to get another money I have to get a bigger credit card and come back and then the mind starts thinking should I do this, should I not do this again going all the way, maybe I will purchase it next time and then next time by that time that casual desire has gone away so this is not a sure fire solution to all desires but for stray desires for deep rooted attachments I will talk about it in our last session about the heart, but we all have stray desires, which we indulge in desires comes in and we act on it so one way to deal with the stray desires is to not make the indulgence very easily available to create some obstacle between us and the indulgence and that way we will be able to more easily resist it and thus we can move onwards so what may be a particular temptation to which I am vulnerable that may vary from person to person and I find out, okay this is a particular area where I find out that I just get too much into this so then I may decide I will restrict this myself and there is nothing wrong in someone else doing it, but for me this is not advisable so that way we can make our battle against temptation less demanding for us less bruising for ourselves Bill Gates is the founder of Microsoft last year I was giving a lecture at Microsoft in Seattle and there one of the Microsoft employees told me that Bill Gates for the first 10 years of his, some phase of 10 years, every day he would come in the same dress same dress he would and they asked him why are you in the same dress he said that is one less decision to make one less decision to make so that my intelligence, my brain power is available for making other decisions so now we can we can say, okay this temptation is there I can resist it, but why face the battle, if I don’t want to do it anyway just keep it away and then I can move onwards and do more productive things, so the focus of this talk was on selecting desires but selection also involves a process of rejection it’s like when a candidate is selected for a job and that means other candidates are rejected, so like that when we are selecting desires we are selecting a particular desire to act on we are also rejecting other desires so we can make the process of rejection easier by creating obstacles in the execution of that desire and the focus always has to be on the positive side, this is what I want to do but while this is what I want to do if this is distracting me, that is distracting me then I cut off my access to those things or decrease the access to those things make those things less easy to achieve and then whatever is more important for me I will be able to do it more effectively so I will summarise and so I will talk now about a Varanashram, the essential principle is not just dividing people into Varanahs it is, the essential principle is actually harmonising people’s material propensity so that it can help them in their spiritual growth, so everybody has to face problems give people the problems which they like to face, which they are good at facing and that way the selection of the positive works out and then I talk about rejection of the negative for rejecting something, just the intention I will not do it, it is not enough despite our, just like I will do this, that intention alone is not enough, after that there is a plan and there has to be execution, so like that if I decide I don’t want to do something then it will be advisable if I can make that activity more difficult for myself to do, so conditioning means it is like a default setting even without thinking of doing it, we end up doing it and so we think that we are doing 15 decisions about food but we may be doing 200 decisions and all the other 185 decisions, they are done subconsciously without our thinking about it also so these decisions which we do without thinking they, we may have to rethink them and to be able to rethink them and do them rightly, we can we can create some obstacle between ourselves and that particular tempting object so rather than focussing on this is right there is nothing wrong with it there may be nothing wrong with it but it may be unwise for me, so if I am vulnerable then let me protect myself let me not increase the danger for me in a particular situation and then I talk about proper equity that the mind is lazy so it is normally about how the mind is lazy and doesn’t want to practise bhakti and that is unfavourable and I will talk about that, overcoming that in our last session but the laziness of the mind can also be used to resist temptation that if some temptation we make it difficult to achieve for ourselves then if some just stray desire comes in our mind just like a desire to eat a snack comes in but it is not available immediately if a desire to purchase something comes in the mind but the money is not there immediately then the chances of our succumbing to that desire become lesser and in this way when we make it easier for ourselves to reject the negative then selecting the positive becomes much easier so thank you very much so we have some time for questions ok there were 2-3 questions which I was asked earlier also I will come to them ok the story about the paranoid woman I don’t think it is a story as such but I explained that to her and she was satisfied I don’t even know her she just asked one question on the website and then I answered the question and she said that yes I will focus on more devotional aspects of the philosophy rather than that aspect so yes so there were there were one or two questions I was asked in the break, I will answer them when we come there one question about if we have to make decisions in our life then should we make the decision based on simply what is favourable for our bhakti or should we also consider our material nature material situation and sometimes we make a decision which is favourable for our bhakti but then we find that it is not favourable for our material for our material situation or our material nature then do we need to rethink that decision did I paraphrase the question right ok I will come to you so I will give a again I will start with a little graphic example and then I will come to more subtler examples in many cities if we have temples, temples are at the heart of the city and there the real estate is very expensive and some devotees may actually want to have a house close to the temple but especially metropolitan cities it may require taking a huge amount of loan to get a house close to the temple itself and I may say actually I want a house close to the temple so that I can go to the temple but then a person takes a huge loan and after taking a huge loan there is a huge instalment that they have to pay and because of that they have to work so much they are close to the temple but they never get to go to the temple they may say you know I purchased the house with good intention hell, yes intention is good but Krishna has also given you intelligence use your intelligence if we don’t have the capacity to have a have a house very close to the temple maybe our intention is good I want to stay close to the temple but we have to use our intelligence to check whether that intention will translate into action so you may say okay monetary considerations are Monday but if I have a loan I have to repay it I cannot just dismiss as Monday those who have taken the loan they are not going to accept that they are going to extract it from me so being realistic about the changes that we make in our life even when they are favourable for bhakti it is important also to be realistic so Srila Prabhupada of course whatever Srila Prabhupada did ultimately is transcendental it is orchestrated by the lord but when Srila Prabhupada got the instruction from but we can also learn at a practical level from Srila Prabhupada so when he got an instruction from his spiritual master that you preach Krishna consciousness you are young educated you preach all over the world now what was Prabhupada’s reaction Prabhupada he felt that if I had not been married I would have done it immediately but now if I do it it will be unfair for my wife so it will be unfair for my wife so he did that responsibility of course that is all Krishna’s plan so that Prabhupada at the age of 70 when nobody would be able to do such a thing Prabhupada did miraculous things so ultimately it is transcendental but at a practical level also we can learn that Prabhupada did not neglect the practical things so in the Nilayam also it is said that when Prabhupada in Allahabad one of the persons was interviewed so he says Swamiji was a very religious man but at that time Swamiji was asking only one question he was not calling Swamiji Abhay Babu at that time he was not a Swamiji Abhay Babu was asking only one question how can I earn more money how can I earn more money at that time that is what was required so if you look at Prabhupada’s life Prabhupada did a lot of things he had a company he was working in Kolkata then he came to Mumbai then he went to Allahabad very resourceful in trying out various things so the material factor also needs to be considered now practically speaking we need a balance if we consider only the material factor then what will happen is the material will never be fully favourable for our bhakti if I wait for everything material to work out nicely then I will start practising bhakti that’s like somebody who is waiting on the coast of an ocean for the waves to stop then I will swim the waves will never stop so if I everything material has to work out well then I will practise bhakti we have to start practising bhakti wherever we are right now but at the same time deciding everything only on spiritual considerations and not considering the material that may also that is also something which we can’t sustain in the long run. We may do it for some time but we need to practise bhakti in a way that is sustainable and for sustainable practise of bhakti we also have to consider our material side now if you see 6.17 in the Krishna is saying so Krishna is saying that one who is regulated in eating sleeping, recreation and work for such a person the practise of yoga will lead to freedom from misery so and the previous verse is even more categorical it says that one who eats too much or eats too little, one who sleeps too much or sleeps too little, such a person cannot practise yoga and one very significant thing here is Krishna is talking about this for a person who has already renounced the world. This is 6.17, 16, 17, 18 and 6.10, 11 Krishna is talking about one who is, goes out of the home in a jungle, sits on a kusha grass.
So even for one who has renounced the world Krishna is saying you have to balance your body needs only then yoga practise will lead to perfection otherwise you cannot actually be a yogi. You may be able to practise yoga for a few days but you won’t be able to practise sustainably. So balancing the material and the spiritual both are required so we can’t reject the material for the spiritual at the same time we can’t reject the spiritual for the material also.
We give due consideration to both and then make a decision. Does it answer your question? Yeah. Yes.
Yes, Madhuri. Two things. The first is how one person may have a genuine intention but then still they don’t want to do it.
I just have the impression that a genuine intention, like if someone has if someone has a genuine intention then they’re not going to, no matter what conditioning or whatever, isn’t someone’s actions a reflection of their genuine intention? Like if someone said I’m going to blow up your car if you stop at that hotel. Every time you stop at that hotel I’m going to you know, take $200 out of your bank account. Their intention may change immediately.
They might say, oh my gosh, I just asked at my dinner and I just popped it in my mouth. So it just seems like the actions are a genuine reflection. Same with like worshipping Krishna.
Someone could say like I genuinely want to worship Krishna and maybe they keep offering him like food that has onions and garlic or meat or something and it’s like if I’m genuine and I have a genuine intention I’ll make the effort to give Krishna food that he tells me he likes. Okay, let’s take one question and come back to this. So aren’t our intentions reflected in our actions? If I’m really genuine about doing something then won’t I do that? And if I decide genuinely I won’t do something I won’t do it? Yes, that’s true.
If I have a strong intention to not do something I will give it up. But a part of that intention is also the intelligence to be able to act on that intention. So I’m not saying that intention is unimportant.
But I’m saying that intention itself will express itself externally also in reorganising things by which I’ll be able to execute that intention. So yes, the intention, if you consider the principle of Manas Puja that is the idea that if somebody has an intense desire intention to serve Krishna even if they are not able to execute the service, Krishna accepts it. The Bhakti Samudra Sundari has talked about it.
So we have the example of Nanda Maharaj. No, Vasudev. He is in the prison and at that time when Krishna was born he gave lots of cows in charity in the market.
Because he had no facility to do it at that time. And later when he was released, Kamsa was killed, he was given power, he gave it actually also. So the point here is there is intention there is the circumstance and then there is the action.
So sometimes the circumstance may prevent us from doing the action. At that time, the intention itself is appreciated. But my point was that when there is intention, we will also try to reorganise the circumstance.
And if you are not reorganising the circumstance, when it is in the power to do so, then that means that our intention is not genuine. We are not actually working on it adequately. So Prabhupada also says that Manas Puja is good but if you can actually do the activity if you can actually do charity and you say I am doing charity in the mind then that is not really genuine intention.
Yeah, I would say that rather than, it is possible that somebody is using that I had a genuine intention as a subterfuge for not doing it, but it is also possible that somebody may be well intentioned but they may not be intelligent enough or equipped enough to do it. So what I am saying is that okay, you have intention but also you need something more to be able to translate that intention into action. Reordering our circumstances or changing our circumstances in some way so that the intention can become an action.
So for example, if say this floor is inclined like this downwards and you pour water on it I may want the water to go that way but if the floor is inclined this way the water will automatically go this way. And I say, no, I wanted the water to go that way. No, but if the floor is inclined this way, it will not go that way.
Isn’t it? So, now the word inclination can refer to physical inclination of the floor. We also talk about mental inclinations. So if we have an inclination towards something automatically our thoughts will go in that direction.
So that is why just as if I want the water to flow that way then I may have to change the flooring level so that the floor gets tilted that way. So, intention if it is genuine, we will make the necessary change in circumstance so that the intention transforms into action. That’s what I’m saying.
Okay, so if a person does have a genuine intention and they also really don’t have the intellectual capacity then they may have to take guidance from someone else. Then they don’t do that. And then in regards to this it seems like this is like using willpower in a better way.
Like tricking myself into getting really tired so even my desires are just going to get too tired. So I just wanted to bring up the spiritual aspect. Tips and tricks make it harder.
You don’t pay the credit card. You only bring cash. It’s kind of like willpower is put better.
Yeah, I agree. So when we say that use propinquity in bhakti, isn’t it just like using our willpower using some tricks and tips? What about the spiritual aspect or the devotional aspect of serving Krishna? Yes, that is also important. In fact, when I talk about the last session, I’ll talk about how the devotional aspect directing our heart towards Krishna is important.
But this adjusting the circumstances it also has its value. Now, Krishna when he talks about sense control 2.54 to 72 talks about, it’s a section which talks about sense control. And the first thing he says is yadasa marate chayam kurma vangane shayindriyan indriyate vasya prajnapati sthita Just as a tortoise withdraws its limbs like that withdraw your senses.
He does say afterward, that alone is not enough to fix the mind on Krishna. But this is also important. Again, in the third chapter also, when Krishna talks about controlling kama, controlling selfish desire, he says, tasmartha indriyanyadau niyamya bharata shiva He says, begin with controlling the senses.
Controlling the mind, purifying oneself that will come later. So, this is not sufficient. By no means just using these tricks are sufficient.
But in some situations they may be necessary starting points. And in many situations, they may be helpful, to help us to do what is vital. So, the vital thing is to redirect our heart towards Krishna.
But there can be some things which may assist us in doing that. So, when Krishna is talking about yadasa marate chayam or he is talking about tasmartha indriyanyadau he is not talking about bhakti. He is talking about general principles of sense control.
He talks about bhakti later primarily in the 7th to 12th chapters. So, these principles are also there in scripture and we can apply them to the extent they are favourable for us. But if we think this is all is required then that is not true.
Yes, bhakti is definitely required for ultimately controlling the senses and for moving closer towards Krishna. Thank you. Yes.
Hello Krishna Prabhu. Prabhu, you mentioned you have 15 books. Could you give us a brief introduction about the books? Okay.
Okay. There was… I will come to that in just a minute. There were two questions which had been asked.
No, no. There are… Yes, please. Okay.
Please come to the mic. Thank you, Krishna Prabhu. Oh, that is a great event.
This sort of knowledge is a blessing. You being an expert can direct the masses. So, my question is how can we become humble enough to recognise that we need to understand that our habits need to change in a positive way.
How do we get to that standpoint where we might be doing something but we are not humble enough to recognise that we have got to change. You know what I mean? Okay. Yeah.
So, how can we be humble enough to learn that we have to change our habits? Otherwise, we just go along with our life. One major way is by associating with others, especially associating with devotees who are doing a lot in Krishna’s service. In a way, we feel, okay, I have this challenge, I am doing so much.
But when we associate with others, we find that they are doing so much more. And nobody in the world has more than 24 hours. The wealthiest person, the most powerful person, everybody has only 24 hours.
So, I may become complacent if I am just looking at myself. I am doing so much. But when I look at others and see, okay, these devotees are doing so much for Krishna’s service.
Why even devotees? Because sometimes we can look at materialistic people also. Bhaktivinoda Thakur says that by seeing how hard the materialistic people are working for their sense gratification, I feel inspired and I should work harder for Arun Krishna. Sometimes some materialistic people, they have 2-3 jobs and they are managing so many different portfolios.
And it makes the mind think, how did you do this? How can you do this? I have written some 15-16 books. So, I may become proud. But I look at, I just was searching Google, and there are something like 75,000 authors who have written more than 100 books.
More than 100 books. How much labour it is required for doing that? So, if I look at that, I could be doing so much more. I should be doing so much more for Krishna’s service.
So, that means, I think in Bhagavatam, 9th canto or somewhere, there is an anecdote of, there is a king, I think Mandhata is involved. He feels very proud of his opulence. But then he sees another king who has so much more opulence.
And then he thinks, actually, I am not that great. He is actually dharmically proud, thinking, I have done so much dharma by which I have got so much artha. But then he says, he has got so much more artha.
He is so much more dharmic. So, basically, by looking at others who are doing much more than what we are doing, we can get the inspiration to reform ourselves. That is from the positive perspective.
From the negative perspective, I can say, we can also see that some of our undesirable habits, they can lead to terrible consequences. They may not have led to it right now, but they may lead to in future. So, one small indiscretion, it can sometimes cause catastrophe.
Somebody, from the material world point of view, somebody may just drink a little bit more and then they drive a car. I think nothing happens as long as the police don’t catch me and give me a DUI. But sometimes they drink a lot and they run over someone.
They kill someone. And then they regret, like, what did I do? So, our unhealthy habits, they can actually lead to disastrous consequences also. So, we have to find out, from both perspectives, that becoming more self-controlled, becoming more positive, having more positive habits can help me to do so much more for Krishna’s service.
And tolerating or indulging in some undesirable habits, that can create me a lot of trouble. So, from both perspectives, we can inspire ourselves to serve Krishna. And ultimately, our goal is that, okay, it is, Krishna is not so much concerned about what I am doing.
Krishna is primarily concerned about who I am. So, in my heart, if I am still having conditionings, then how much am I pleasing Krishna? I want to offer my heart to Krishna. And if there are unhealthy conditionings in my heart, then I am not making a pleasing offering to Krishna.
So, from both analytical, positive and negative analysis, contemplation, as well as devotional contemplation, we can inspire ourselves to teach. Does that answer your question? Thank you very much. Vishal Prabhupada, the key.
So, let’s quickly discuss a few things. So, Kadam Kanapur asked me that, okay, there are some books which Vishal Prabhupada told his followers to write as much as possible. In fact, he told, write every day, whatever little you can.
So, there is this Spiritual Scientist series. These are articles which are on current issues, which were written in Indian newspapers, Times of India and other papers. There are two books in this series.
All are 52 articles, just 2-2 pages. They are good if you want to quickly read for yourself, also give to new people. This is a book especially for devotees.
It’s full question answers, My Little Bhakti Companion. This is question answers about managing the mind. If I find chanting boring, how can I get more taste in chanting? The practical questions about bhakti.
This is a compilation of reflections on the Bhagavad Gita. This and these two books are 121 reflections on the Bhagavad Gita. Again, one-one page article.
You can easily read. And different verses are analysed in different ways. This is ideal worship.
This is especially for people who feel that you people are idolaters. You worship stone idols. So what is the philosophy behind deity worship? It is analysed in this.
This is especially suitable for corporate audience if you are any kind. This is 10 Leadership Sutras on Bhagavad Gita. It is how the Bhagavad Gita principles can be applied in a corporate world, today’s leadership context.
This is Timeless Wisdom on Current Issues. This is about spiritual perspectives on current affairs. This is mostly back-to-world articles from the Vedic Observer column and some other articles which talk about this, which are there in this book.
And then this is Frequently Unanswered Questions. So there are 52 questions over here. Again, two-two page answers which talk about, common questions about is there any proof for the soul’s existence, for reincarnation.
And there is common questions. Here there is Science and Spirituality. It talks about the relationship between those.
There are four subjects. Has science discovered God? Can spirituality be scientific? Can science be spiritual? So there is a whole series of essays on this topic, Science and Spirituality. This is Gita for Daily Enrichment which is 365 meditations of the Gita.
One can be read, one, people can, you can read one-one every day. You can give to people also who want to read something like that on a daily basis. These two books were, probably they are more suited for Indian audiences.
There are two movies in India which were a lot of criticism of religion. So one was Om Ji, Oh My God. So this is re-answering the questions, whatever question the movie raised.
There is a movie called PK which is very critical of religion. So I wrote a book called GK for PK. So GK is three levels.
It is General Knowledge, God Knowledge and Gita Knowledge. And then there are these two small books. This is Why do we need a temple? What are the practical contributions that temple makes to the individual society? And this is more about self-help and Bhagavad Gita philosophy.
How the Bhagavad Gita can help us to become more positive in our thinking and living. The sutra for positive thinking. And we also have three wisdom pods.
I have done the recording of the full Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavad Gita Shastri course in 162 classes on all the four books. So in one wisdom pod we have chapters 1 to 12. That’s around 80-90 classes.
And another 80-90 classes and another wisdom pod. There is one more wisdom pen drive which has 2000 question answers. So just like we had question answers here, we have question answers.
So if any of you want that, please take that. Thank you very much. … …