Overcoming obstacles at the level of mind, intelligence and faith

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, here we are discussing how transcendental knowledge is acquired.
In the fifth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, the verse after this is the famous verse, 5.18, how the enlightened person sees everyone equally. He sees a brahmana, a dog, a dog-eater, everyone equally. So, how does one get to that level of transcendental knowledge? The process is described in this verse.
That one has to make Krishna the supreme goal. And making Krishna the supreme goal involves offering him our mind, our intelligence and our faith. So, what exactly is mind, intelligence and faith? How it can be offered? We will discuss it in the converse way.
That means, what are the obstacles at the level of the mind? What are the obstacles at the level of the intelligence? And what are the obstacles at the level of faith? So, three distractions. These are abstractions, but they are distractions on the spiritual path. So, we have to offer our mind, intelligence and faith to Krishna.
But, when the mind gets diverted, when the intelligence gets distracted and when the faith gets damaged. So, these three are distinct things. Let us see what is the distinctive feature of each of these.
And how they may be obstructed and how they can be kept focused. So, what will happen, Krishna is saying, if we offer all these three to him. By offering all these three to him, we make him our supreme goal.
And if he becomes our supreme goal, then Krishna says, गच्चन्ति अपुनराव्रतिम् गच्चन्ति means to move along. How will we move along? अपुनराव्रतिम् Not coming. अपुनराव्रति means come back.
अपुनराव्रति means not coming back. So, we will move along the path by which there is no return. We will move straight back.
How will we move forward? घ्यान निर्धूत कल्मश How? That, कल्मश is, Just look at these words. What is कल्मश? Contamination, sinful world, contamination. So, by घ्यान निर्धूत कल्मश the obstacles will get removed.
So, we offer all these to Krishna. The resulting knowledge will free us from obstacles. And when we become free from obstacles, we will straight return back to Krishna.
So, actually if we can develop a vision of equality towards all living beings, then most of our obstacles will go away. If we develop an equal vision towards men and women, lust will go away. If we develop an equal vision towards gold and stone, greed will go away.
If we develop an equal vision towards material talents and abilities, our envy will go away. We will not see somebody as greater or lesser. Our pride will go away.
So, this is quite a great result. And naturally, it will take a substantial amount of time and practise. But, let us see how this happens.
And at our level, what can be the obstacles? So, now, the scriptures give the example of the Bhava Sagar, the ocean of material existence. And, different metaphors are given. To cross the ocean, we need a boat.
Sometimes, bhakti itself is called as the boat. Sometimes, the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord is called the boat. Sometimes, the human body itself is called as the boat.
So, it depends on what is the context we are talking about. So, the human body is the first level of the boat. Unless we have a human body, we cannot practise bhakti.
We cannot get shelter of the lotus feet. So, at this level, we will focus on the human body as the boat. So, we are in the Bhava Sagar, and we are trying to go across it with the human body as a boat.
When we have the human body as a boat, in an ocean, everywhere, all that we see is water. So, we just don’t know which way to go. So, if we just base our decision of travelling, decision of the direction to travel, based on where the water seems calm, we will never reach the right destination.
Because if I am here right now, and I feel the water is stormy here, and I feel the water is calm over there, by the time I get there, maybe the water becomes stormy over there. So, in material life, we don’t have an ultimate goal in life. We have some transitional goals.
For example, I may want to become an engineer now. I want to get a job of this level of salary. I want to go to America.
These are all goals which we have. But these goals, when we achieve them, it’s not that we are going to solve our problems. There we face some other set of problems.
So, when we are in the ocean, to know where to go, we need a compass. And along with that, we need a supportive wind. So, if the wind is supportive, then we can go along in that direction more easily.
So, in this analogy, when the mind is diverted, we have a compass, and we know that this is the direction I want to go to. But the wind sweeps me off in another direction. The wind sweeps me off in some other direction, although I don’t want to go in that direction.
So, this is, what is the wind over here? The wind is desires. See, what does the mind produce? The mind produces desires. And our mind is a channel of desires, whichever way you want to look at it.
So, when the desires overpower us, we know this is wrong. But still, we have swept aside. But then, we can always look at the compass and say, what I am doing is not right.
And then as the desires abate, we pull ourselves back on the right track. So, the example for this is Kala Krishna Das. What happened to Kala Krishna Das? He was actually an intimate associate of Lord Chaitanya.
A personal servant of Lord Chaitanya, travelling with him. And Bhattacharya sent their women to attract him. And he got seduced and left Lord Chaitanya.
Actually, this is an incredible pastime. Because, generally we think if we are in a devotee association, we are protected. So, if you look at Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as the Supreme Lord, we should be supremely protected.
Or even if you consider Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu playing the role of a devotee, still he is the greatest spiritual master. So, we should have the greatest protection in his association. But even from his association, Kala Krishna Das got pulled away.
So, Srila Prabhupada writes in this collection, that Maya is so strong, that if we are not determined, even the Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot help us. That if we are not determined, even Krishna cannot help us. So, the materialistic people have the idea, God helps those who help themselves.
And their idea is that, that means, that we just need to do our work. If I keep doing my work, God will help me. But that is not the Vaishnava understanding.
But still it is true. Krishna can help us only when we help ourselves. That means we have to do our part.
Why can’t Krishna help us if we don’t do our part? Because Krishna doesn’t want to intrude on our way. Krishna respects our freedom. So, if we are desiring something, Krishna says, I won’t forcibly stop you from doing that.
If you don’t want to do that, then I’ll help you to stop it. But if your desires are coming, and you want to get carried away by that, then I will stop you. But still, we see that he went off in that direction.
Because what did Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu do? He said, oh, he is my associate. It is my responsibility to protect him. So, then he went to Bhattaraj and got him back.
And then, when he came back, Krishna was very, very repentant. What did I do? And he was very ashamed of what had happened to his side. So, that means, he was not very deeply damaged.
I’ll explain what I mean by deeply damaged shortly. But the point is, he was overcome by desires, and as soon as he came back to his senses, he returned to normal activities. So, I’ll tell you Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
So, generally, when the desires overpower us, the effect of that is temporary. It is very short. If our intelligence is not attacked, if our intelligence is not weakened, then our intelligence brings us back on the right track.
It’s like a strong storm comes, the boat moves off in the wrong direction. When the storm abates, the compass is still pointing in the right direction, it will come back in the right direction. So, now for us, for example, how this may work is, we go to the hostel to meet some friend.
And there, that friend on the laptop is just browsing some nasty sites. And then, he just catches a sit-and-see. And somehow at that time, we feel a little weak-minded, we start seeing our mind gets all contaminated.
And then, maybe some time passes, and then the whole thing gets over, whatever is done, whatever excitement gets over. And then, what did I do? Why did I do that? So, what has happened over there is, at that time, the storm came, we didn’t plan to go that way, we didn’t want to do that, but just the storm came, it overpowered us. But then, the compass is still there.
And the compass is pointing in this direction, okay, keep going this way. So, then we understand, okay, I should not have done this. So, this is the first level attack of maya, when desires overpower us.
So, we’ll discuss how to combat this at the end, all three. But the second level, much deeper attack is, when the intelligence gets distracted. So, suppose an enemy wants to mislead me, at that time, the enemy puts a hostile magnetic field.
And that magnetic field misdirects my compass itself. So, when the compass gets misdirected, while the storm carries me away, after the storm stops, I don’t know which direction I should be going. So, at that time, what that means is, my intelligence is destroyed.
My intelligence is destroyed. So, there is still a difference between intelligence and faith. And I’ll discuss this shortly.
But the example for this is Ajami. Now, when Ajami was overcome by material desires, at that time, his fall was not short-lived. It went on for almost a lifetime.
30, 40, 50 years, whatever. He was a young man, when he went out to serve his father, get the flowers. And at 88, when he saw Yamadutas, and Vishuddhas, he came back to his senses.
So, it was almost like 50, 60 years that fall was there, which is a lot of time. And now, in the case of Kalkrishna Das, he did not have any intermediate association to protect himself. He got into Maya, and the Lord Chaitanya came and protected him.
But if we look at Ajami, the kind of culture that he was living in that is described, he stopped caring for his parents, he abandoned his wife, and he gave up his Brahminical profession. Brahminical, respectable profession. He started actually muting people, in order to maintain his wife, and maintain the children that were coming.
Basically, enjoy his senses. So now, although it’s not explicitly mentioned in the Bhagavatam, it’s quite sure that people would have tried to give him good advice. His parents would have tried to advise him, when he left his wife, like that.
Other people in the village would have tried to advise him. But, in this case, it was not just a desire overpowering him, his intelligence was damaged. That’s why, he did not listen to anyone.
He couldn’t listen to anyone, because the attack of the desire had gone deeper, and his sense was lost. So, it was like his composite self had gone. But still, there was something left.
That was his faith. And how do we know that his faith was still there? Because he named his son as Narayan. So, Vishwananda Thakur explains that some sages were passing by his house, and then, they saw that he had fallen, and they just told him that, you know, now you’ve got a new child, why don’t you name him Narayan? So, he had some faith, okay, let him name him Narayan.
So, in that sense, although his intelligence was lost, he had not become directly averse to Krishna. He had not become averse to Krishna. So, he had still some faith, and then, that came to his rescue.
So, when our intelligence is distracted, that means, our compass gets, because it starts malfunctioning. So, now, how this might happen is, there are atheistic philosophers, who give such deceptive arguments, which just confuse the mind. For example, a common argument of the atheists against the design argument is that there are contrary designs in this world.
What do we mean by contrary designs? The design argument says that, because we see such complex design in this world, therefore, there has to be a designer. This is the topic of our discoveries in first class. So, the opponents of the design argument, the atheists say that, actually, you will see that there is a tiger and there is a deer.
So, the tiger is designed to catch the deer, and the deer is designed to run away from the tiger. So, on whose side is the designer? If there was a designer, has he designed the tiger? And if he designed the tiger to catch the deer, then why would he design the deer in such a way that the deer can run away from the tiger? So, here, basically, what they say is, actually, there is no designer. Both are struggling for existence.
In the survival of the fittest, both are existing. So, their argument is that the contrary designs prove that there is no designer. Now, when we hear this argument, we cannot lose our faith in God.
So, you wonder, how do you refute this argument? Is it real? It does seem to make sense at one particular level. Yeah. In fact, this was one of the reasons, Darwin was born a Christian.
And at one particular time, he was thinking of becoming a Christian father. But then his daughter died of tuberculosis. That time, she was incurable.
And after that, he became an agnostic. And he, there are letters of his, with some of his colleagues, and other scientists, many of them were devout Christians. So, he said, you say God is so kind.
He says, but I just can’t see any kindness in nature. I see only cruelty and bloodthirstiness in nature. I say that, no? One animal is ripped apart by another and eaten in, eaten in ruthlessness, joy.
So, I can’t see where there is love, where there is compassion. I don’t see anything. I see just the struggle for existence over here.
So, actually, few things gave atheism as much of a flip as this Darwin’s theory of evolution. So, that’s why actually, Prabhupada was so strongly against it. But then the point here is that this is not just the desire going towards materialism.
This is actually an intellectual level attack, where the argument for the existence of God is in challenge. So, what is the, so most Christians did not have an answer to this. The problem is, can you close the door? Where is sound coming from? So, let’s do it.
So, their problem is, the problem with this argument is that in many of the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, they are mostly at the level of karma kanda. Karma kanda means, we do good and God will give us good results. That means, I follow God and I will get happiness as a result.
But that doesn’t always work because it’s more difficult. And sometimes, I may do good but the past karma still will give me bad. So, their idea of the proof of God’s goodness is that we get happiness in this world.
So, the problem is that every design is associated and orientated for a certain purpose. And if I divorce the design from the purpose, then I can find fault with any and every design. If I take a spoon, if I take a knife and I try to use the knife as a spoon and I put some rice on it and put that rice in my mouth, I start screaming, what a stupid designer.
Whoever designed this knife, he has cut my tongue. Stupid designer. Suppose I use a cell phone.
I decide on the cell phone, I’m going to type my next book now. Now, the cell phone can be used to type small essays. But it’s not using a cell phone to type a book.
And then, it takes so long to type each essay. What a stupid designer. He has no intelligence.
How can he? He should have made it bigger. There are so many things you could argue. So, every design has to be evaluated in terms for the purpose of the design.
And, if we don’t have a proper philosophical understanding, then we assume that the purpose of the design of this world is our enjoyment. And then, this world, if we assume that this is a place for enjoyment and God has arranged it for our enjoyment, the design argument falls on its face. Because we will find that it is not for our enjoyment.
This world is actually for our purification, for our reformation. This world is like a hospital, so that we go out of this world back to Krishna. So, why is the tiger designed perfectly to catch a deer? So that the tiger makes the world a place for the deer.
And why is the deer designed perfectly to run away from the tiger? So that the deer makes the world a place for the tiger. So, these contrary designs, when we see them from the perspective of purpose, then we will understand that actually, they are not contrary. Even a modern day example would be some video games, say in which there are policemen and thieves.
So then, the policemen are designed in such a way to catch the thieves. And the thieves are designed in such a way that they can run away from the policemen. Then who else will run away from the policemen? Who else will run away from the thieves? Now, that basically serves some other purpose.
That purpose is maybe to give enjoyment to the person who is playing the video game. So the point I am making is, here also we see contrary designs, but if the policeman is designed very expertly to shoot accurately, the thief is designed very accurately to fall and slide and jump and run expertly. Then, although the design is contrary, we understand that neither could have come automatically.
The policeman’s expertise, nor the thief’s expertise could have come automatically. The fact that both are expert, means that there is a designer. But, the purpose is something else.
So like that, contrary designs in and of themselves don’t prove that there is no designer. But at this level, our faith gets destroyed. So, much of science, at least atheistic science, flourishes on word jugglery.
Flourishes on word jugglery. Word jugglery, that makes simple concepts sound very complex, and then we start wondering what is happening over here. So now, at the level of intelligence, distraction, it’s like, not only the wind takes me away, but more on that, my compass gets misdirected.
And I don’t know which direction I am going in. So even after that, when the wind comes, it will take me further away. But even if the wind goes away, I don’t know where I am supposed to go.
So if my intelligence is lost, then I don’t know that Krishna, I just don’t know that Krishna is the goal of my life. So then I will go here and there. So the deepest level of the attack is when faith is damaged.
When the enemy comes and tells us, this compass is not necessary, just throw it away. So then, we are completely lost. So that happened in the case of Kaikeyi.
For Kaikeyi, it was not just a temporary desire of greed to possess the throne in front of the sun. It was not even just that her intelligence was overcome. Actually, her faith in the Supreme Lord Ramachandra was lost.
How did that happen to her? Again, more or less, it was by bad association, bad association of mantra. So the Ramayana describes that Kaikeyi was kind, gentle, and wise. She was kind.
Kind is referring to the heart. Gentle is referring to the speech. And wise is referring to intelligence.
So Kaikeyi was kind, gentle, and wise. But by the association of Kaantara, she became cruel, harsh, and foolish. She became cruel, at the heart of heart, harsh, in speech, and foolish.
So actually, what had happened by mantra’s association was that her very faith was destroyed. Her very faith was destroyed. And how did that happen? Actually, Kaikeyi made two mistakes.
Her first mistake was that she heard submissively her mantra. Very submissively and attentively she heard her mantra. It’s one of the most dramatic examples of how bad association can completely pervert a person.
Eventually, Kaikeyi schemes to banish Ram and Ram decides, agrees to go to the forest. At that time, Lakshman is very angry. And Lakshman says that, you know, we should mount a rebellion.
And I will make you the king. He says, no. So he says, I know that Kaikeyi loves me like her own son Bharat.
So her love for me was as pure and freely flowing as the Ganga. So Lakshman is still very angry. So Lakshman says, that’s why I can’t understand how did one night the whole Ganga dry up? In one night, how did Ganga dry up? Lord Ram says, calm.
And he says, yes, that’s why when I heard such words of Kaikeyi, I understood that this is the will of destiny. Lord Ram is the lord of destiny, but he’s playing the role of a human being. So the point I’m making over here is there is a completion in her perception.
So her first mistake was she heard submissively from Kaikeyi. And Kaikeyi initially came and she told, I’ll go more into this past time because this illustrates so many deep points. First Kaikeyi came and Mantara came and said, you know, Kaikeyi was relaxing on her throne.
What are you doing sitting here like this while everything is getting destroyed for you? So now Mantara was like a motherly figure for Kaikeyi. She had come from the Kaikeyi kingdom. She had been like her nurse wife from the childhood.
So she knew that she had a little irritable disposition. He says, what is the matter? Kaikeyi said to Mantara. She says, don’t you know that the king has decided to make Kaushalya’s son the prince regent? And Kaikeyi was actually happy.
She took out her necklace and gave to Mantara. He says, this is the best meal that you have ever brought to me in my life. Here, take this necklace as a reward.
And Mantara took that necklace and threw it on the ground. You foolish lady! Don’t you understand that everything is getting destroyed for you? And you are happy about it? She says, Ram is just like my son and he is the oldest. Naturally, he will become the king.
What is there to lament about this? He says, don’t you understand? There is a conspiracy afoot over here. Kaushalya has influenced Dasharatha so that her son will become the queen and she will take revenge against him. Kaikeyi had been the favourite queen of Dasharatha Maharaj.
And for Kaikeyi’s sake, Dasharatha Maharaj had neglected Kaushalya and Sumitra. So you say that now once Kaushalya’s son becomes the king, then Kaushalya will make you her maid servant and Ram will make Bharat his servant. Or worse still, Ram may even exile Bharat or even send him to the next world also.
She says, what stupidity are you speaking? Ram will never do such a thing. Ram and Bharat love each other very much. I have seen their love.
She says, if you don’t believe me, then think, why is this coronation being done in the absence of Bharat? What is the hurry? Why has Bharat been sent away and then such a thing may happen? Actually, the Ramayana describes that Dasharatha Maharaj, this is in the later Ramayana literature, Dasharatha Maharaj was once getting ready to go to the court and he started combing his hair and he saw one white hair over there. So he thought, oh, I have become old now. And he said, I should hand over the kingdom.
Then he talked to his ministers and then he agreed that Ram should become the king. And then he talked with astrologers and the astrologers said that he should do this as soon as possible because we see according to astrology, the more you delay this, the more inauspiciousness will come in your life. Therefore, do it as quickly as possible.
And at that time, Chhatrapada and Bharat happened to be out of the situation. So because of the astrologers’ request, Dasharatha Maharaj decided to do it immediately. So there was no conspiracy.
But when a person is determined to make a case, the person will bring some evidence from somewhere and use it to boost the point. So then, Kalki started saying, yes, what is the hurry? Why is this being done when Bharat is not here? And then, slowly, slowly, Kalki saw that. Kalki started hearing me.
She kept poisoning me. And then by the end of that poisoning session, Kalki was thinking, Ram is my greatest enemy. And I have to drive him out.
The first mistake was, she heard something. And second mistake was, she did not consult anyone else before taking the decision. She did not consult Sumantra.
She did not consult Vashishtha. She did not consult any of the Brahmins. She did not seek any clarification from Ram.
She did not talk with anyone. She just went and made the demands to Dasharatha Maharaj, who was the last leader. And Dasharatha Maharaj tweeted to her, and Vashishtha tweeted to her, Sumantra tweeted to her, but she did not listen to anyone.
So, by the end of the day, actually what had happened, she was lost. And then, actually, it was only after Dasharatha Maharaj died, then also, the bubble of her own misconceptions did not go away. It was when Bharat came back.
And she very happily told Bharat, now the kingdom is waiting for you. What do you mean? She said, your father has gone to the destination where everyone has to go. She became philosophical.
Father has gone to the destination where everyone has to go, and now, the kingdom is waiting for you. Bharat was shocked. He fell on the ground with his hands in hands.
He said, but how did it happen? He said, Allah, Allah, I was not there. Ram and Lakshman must have been very fortunate. Ram was so fortunate that he was there right by the side of my father when he departed.
Surely my father must have remembered me and must have given some message for me. Please call Ram here so that he can tell me what was the message that my father gave for me. She said, the last word that your father spoke was, Ram, Lakshman, when you come back, those who will see you, they will be most fortunate.
So, Bharat became completely bewildered. What do you mean? Were Ram and Lakshman not there? Then she told the whole story as if she had done a very great thing. And when she finished the story, she said, Bharat, the whole kingdom is yours.
As Bharat was hearing it, he was horrified. He said, what have you done? Do you think I will ever take the kingdom away from Ram to enjoy it for myself? You have sent my brother to the forest, you have sent my father to the next world. He said, you are not my mother.
You are the goddess of destruction, Mahakali, descended into our family to cause the destruction of our family. He said, I reject you as my mother. And she tried to persuade Bharat.
And Bharat was so angry. He said, what possessed you? Why did you do such a thing? And then Kaikeyi said, Kandy started telling everything that Mantara had said. And then Bharat was so angry.
Bharat completely rejected her. And at that time, her bubble burst. She had actually, in her own mind, constructed an imaginary Bharat who would approve all that she had done and in fact for whom she thought she was doing all this.
So in her case, actually her faith in Rama itself had been destroyed. And by that time, it was too late. Rama had gone to the forest.
He refused to come back. And Vishwamitra departed. So it was 14 years of agony that resulted.
So actually speaking, this level of damage is the most dangerous when our faith itself gets damaged. So this is like, somebody makes me jealous. Actually this compass itself is unreliable.
Throw it away. So that happens. So this can happen to us especially nowadays on the internet.
There are so many people writing so many things. So there are so many blasphemous websites which contain total falsehoods. And many of them contain some fragments of truth embellished with mountains of exaggerations, distortions and untruths.
So actually speaking, these when we read, they may contain blasphemy of some devotees whom we know and respect. And then many times, I have come across at least a few boys who just go to some website like this, they read it, and then they say, Wow, prayer. All these things also happen.
And then afterwards, I will never go to this corner. I will never go to a place I will never associate with anyone. And just by reading one site, then they just cut off from devotees forever.
Actually they just go and try. They will get a proper understanding. And there are many boys in the hospital or sometimes relatives of the boys who have become devotees who think that we are doing a great service to this boy by saving him from this.
They will especially provide such links, provide some sites. Please read this. And see internet is an age.
Internet is a medium where anybody can write anything. There is no way to verify what is true and what is false. Anybody can write anything on the internet.
You see that in Chaitanya Charita Amrit, when in Sivastakam, the devotees were doing Kirtans, what was the notion that what are the rumours that were being spread? And all these people, they were doing Kirtans behind closed doors. What are the rumours being spread? That actually they are getting young women, they are brainwashing those women and then they are enjoying with those women. And the music that is there, that is actually of these people enjoying with women and singing.
Now anybody could hear that was Hare Krishna Mahamantra. It is so obvious. And there is no question of women over there.
But even at that time, the blasphemers who were there, they were distorting everything so much. So actually there are people who distort anywhere and everywhere. So in general, the first mistake of Mantra was that of Kaikeyi was she heard from Mantra.
So if we can avoid that, that is the best. So there are so many people who are saying so many things that we just start surfing on the internet, reading this, reading that, we unnecessarily get disturbed. And second is even if somehow it happened that we read it, then it is important that we cross check.
What is the truth about this? Please tell me. And then we can ask questions, get clarification and then resolve for ourselves what is the clear understanding. But if we just hear one side of the story, it can be a complete perversion of the story and it will ruin our spiritual life.
So therefore, when our faith is damaged, it is the most dangerous. So in general, among these three, as I said, each of them is different. So when the mind gets destroyed, that is one level damage.
When the energy gets destroyed, deeper level damage. When the faith gets destroyed, that is the deepest level damage. So how do we deal with this? In general, the desires change fastest.
So they go down also quickly, they come up also quickly. Sometimes we feel, oh, I just want to forget all sense gratification, just become a pure devotee of Krishna. We feel that for some time and it’s like a sine wave goes up, sine wave will go down to a trough also from the crust.
It will go down, you know, yeah. I just don’t want to see the faith, I just don’t want to be a devotee anymore. It will go up and down.
Actually, on the other hand, intellectual understanding and conviction takes more time to develop. And beyond that, faith takes even greater time to develop. So each of these is progressive.
So what is the process for developing all these things? The first part of the process is actually associating with devotees. Because only when we associate with devotees, will we get good desires, will we get clear understanding and will we develop faith. So without association of devotees, we will just get distracted in everything.
That’s why association is of critical importance. But in association, what we do is also important. Because sometimes in association, there are devotees who are relatively lax in the practise of devotional service and there are devotees who are serious in the practise of devotional service.
So if in the association of devotees, we associate with devotees who are more lax than us, then what will happen? We will become very complacent. Oh, he is so lazy. I am much better.
And we will just stay where we are. In association, we need to associate with devotees who are more serious than us, more advanced than us, more knowledgeable than us. That will inspire us to develop our purity, our faith, our knowledge.
So equal association is good. Junior association is also required so that we can share Krishna consciousness with them. But we shouldn’t compare the devotees around us as our standards.
We should look at advanced devotees, more serious devotees. And in association, when we have the right models, then we can move forward in our spiritual life smoothly. So I’ll take one month beyond the principle of association.
I’ll talk about one month measure for increasing our purity, keeping our desires focused, keeping our emptiness focused, and keeping our faith focused. And then we will have questions and answers. So regarding our desires, all of us have to find out that what is the spiritual stimulus that most strongly stimulates our spiritual desires.
We all know what stimulates our material desires. Generally, for most of us, it is the up-down of the opposite sex. But even within that, in material life, people may have, okay, this particular movie agitated me, this particular film star agitated me the most, or this picture, or something like that.
So, because all of us are individuals, like in cricket, some people may like this particular batsman, some people may like this particular bowler. So people get agitated, while that particular batsman bats well, or bats poorly, or whatever. So, because all of us are individuals, our desires are individual.
So just as, materially speaking, certain things stimulate our material desires, so spiritually speaking, there will be different things that stimulate our spiritual desires to different degrees. So, for example, for some devotees, they may feel spiritually inspired most by hearing kirtans, and not just kirtans, maybe kirtans of a particular devotee. Or some devotees may feel spiritually inspired, spiritual desires may be stimulated by taking darshan of a particular deity, maybe a particular deity is in a particular dress.
Now, we don’t have to go into a very deep analysis whether the desire is actually for Krishna’s pleasure or my pleasure. See, at our level, Bhakti, there are two levels, Anya, Vilashita, Shuddhi. You know that? Without any desire, just devote yourself to Krishna.
That is pure devotional service. But before that, at the preliminary level, Rupa Goswami is telling, Somehow or other, fix the mind on Krishna. So, okay, purely fix the mind on Krishna comes later.
First, fix the mind on Krishna. Then, purely will come. If I wait for purity to fix the mind on Krishna, purity will never come, independent of fixing the mind on Krishna.
So, once Jayadvait Maharaj also asked, Maharaj, how do we become serious about Krishna consciousness? He said, somehow or the other. So, the devotee, how do you feel? Somehow or the other. So, Maharaj said, You find out within devotional service, any one thing that you like.
And become serious about that one thing. Become serious about that one thing, that will become your sturdy Krishna connection. So, for example, I cannot commit myself to high quality chanting, high quality surveys, high quality hearing, high quality absorption, If I try to do everything, it is impossible for me.
But I can find one thing, which I like to do. Maybe I like to hear classes. Then, maybe a particular devotee also I will just commit myself to doing that.
This, I do more, it doesn’t mean that I will not chant and I do this. But, we all have, apart from our prescribed devotional duties, and our material duties, extra time. Some free time we have.
And so, as soon as we have the free time, we use that for doing that particular activity. So, that way, if you find out, this is what stimulates my spiritual development. When I read, when I hear, when I sing Vaishnava songs, I feel, I should just do this so much.
I should do this more and more. This is so absorbing. This is so devotionally illuminating.
Then, if I cultivate that desire, then as soon as I get that opportunity, I will start doing that. Then what will happen? My devotional desire will get stimulated. So, we find out, what is it that stimulates my devotional desire the most.
And do that as much as possible. Do that as much as possible. Similarly, if I move forward, then, this is with respect to our desires.
So, if we can stimulate our devotional desires in this way, then we can crowd out our material desires. Because ultimately, the heart is one. And if there are spiritual desires, then material desires cannot stay there.
If there are material desires, spiritual desires will not stay there. So, if we find out what stimulates our spiritual desires and connect with that repeatedly, then our spiritual desires will be always alive in our hearts. And that will help us advance nicely.
Then, coming to the intelligence. So, what is the difference between, say, the mind and the intelligence? As I said, the mind is much more unsteady. The intelligence is steadier.
The winds will change, the compass will stay steadier. So, our intellectual conviction tells us what is right. Our mind only tells us what is pleasant.
This feels nice. But our intelligence tells us this is right. So, with respect to our intellectual conviction, all of us, when we read the scriptures, when we hear classes, we will find that some points that we hear, some points that we read, just strike us like thunderbolt.
My God! I never thought this way. I never thought. I know many devotees who have heard this point of Sri Prabhupada saying that, Prahlad Maharaj is saying that, actually, just ultimately, the pleasure and pain of our life, all is just time.
So, just as misery comes without our endeavour, happiness will also come without endeavour. Why do you spend so much time endeavouring on it? So, several devotees have told me when they heard this for the first time, yes, misery comes. Why should I waste my time chasing after pleasure? Just like a bow.
My God! This is true. So, we may find, this is just for the example, all of us may find different points. So, these are points which we hear, that they give a strong boost to our intellectual conviction.
But unfortunately, Maya makes us forget these points. Sometimes, when we hear the points, we feel, hey, once I understand this point, I will never again fall to self-gratification. Because it’s so obvious that it’s miserable.
It’s so obvious, when I think of it. But then, our mind, imagine if I’m typing on my computer, and somebody else is continuously pressing the F2 button. Delete button.
So, I’m typing, and somebody is deleting. So, what is the end result? Actually, all my typing just goes off. So, like that, we are hearing the philosophy, and the mind is pressing delete, delete, delete, delete, delete.
So, of course, the very fact that we are hearing, that is going into our consciousness, that is beautiful. But, we have to make a very conscious effort to keep things in our mind, or keep things in our intelligence, to say. Keep things in our consciousness at large.
Otherwise, we forget. It is just a natural human tendency to forget. So, if you find certain points that are really very inspiring for us, very revelational points, then it’s good to note them down.
Maybe, make a small pocket diary, or make a periodic reminder. So, some devotees, they make a sort of, I’ll talk a little bit about a personal diary later, but some devotees, they make a, like we have these faith and doubt sessions. All of you have attended faith and doubt sessions.
So, in those faith and doubt sessions, we basically discuss, okay, this gives me faith, this causes me doubt. So, that is fine, and whatever I doubt, we get clarified. And that way, at an overall level, we get a clearer understanding.
But we make our own list of what are the points that give me conviction. What are the points that strengthen my intelligence, when my desires start overpowering me. So, we make our individualised conviction list.
Because, everyone of us is individual. So, what will give each one of us conviction will vary. So, we make such a list for ourselves.
And then, when the disturbances come, we go through this. And then, this sort of list will act as our counsellor. In the sense that whatever a counsellor does, he is basically helping us to deal with the troubles that we are getting internally.
So, the counsellor is there, no doubt for us, to help us. But then, as we grow in our spiritual life, we also need to create defence mechanisms for ourselves. So, we create intellectual conviction list for ourselves.
That way, whenever we hear points that are really powerful, keep them in a shorter list, which is very readily accessible to us. And then, beyond that, is that third is the faith. So now, what exactly is the difference between I am talking about intelligence, intellectual understanding, intellectual conviction and faith.
So, we would say intellectual conviction and faith is the same thing. So, what is the difference? Actually, here, desires are with respect to the mind. Conviction is with respect to the intelligence.
Faith is with respect to the heart. That’s the progression. Desires, mind.
Conviction is intelligence. And faith is with respect to the heart. There are many things which we have faith in, which we may not be able to intellectually explain or defend.
Somebody starts saying, actually say, somebody starts arguing, Krishna’s relationship with the devotees is so material, they are dancing at night together and this and that. Now, that person may give some argument and we don’t know how to refute those arguments. But we know in our heart, that there are so many single devotees who are renounced and they are worshipping Krishna.
That relationship cannot be material. So, we may have something which are a deep-rooted faith for us, although at an intellectual level, we may not be able to explain it or defend it. So, conviction is intellectual, whereas faith is actually at a deeper level of experience.
Now, what is the meaning of faith? You can call it an acronym. F-A-I-T-H. Faith is full acceptance in the heart.
Full acceptance in the heart. That is faith. So, there are some things we fully accept.
Now, there are some things, for example, like I am not the body, I am the soul. I may not be able to live at that level, but nobody can convince me that I am the body. It’s not possible.
Or somebody tells me that God doesn’t exist. It’s not possible. There are certain things which are very deeply accepting.
For all of us, this may be different. But faith is something which is much, much deeper. And when our faith starts getting damaged, we have to be extremely careful.
But right now, we are talking about how our faith is strengthened, how our faith is protected. What can we do to enhance our faith? So, how does faith actually develop? Faith develops just not by discussing the philosophy. Faith develops primarily in two ways.
One is by observing the lives of devotees. Mahajano yena Actually, when we see, when we live with devotees, we see how dedicated they are, how committed, selfless they are. So, in the early days of ISKCON, there was a professor, Silsil Jura, one of the professors, he came to ISKCON.
He had studied Gaudiya Vaishnavism before in India. He had come to India. And then he heard that Bhaktivinand Swami has come to America and started his, started this movement.
So, then he went and talked with the hippies. He was very surprised that this movement had become popular among hippies. And then he started asking some questions to the devotees.
Now, because he was quite learned in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, he was a scholar. When he started asking questions, the devotees couldn’t answer very clearly. So, he said, I just couldn’t figure out, these people were so confused and unclear intellectually about what they were doing.
And still they were so clear and committed about what they were practising. He said, how is this to be possible? That is, of course, for those, for the new Americans who became devotees, for them, everything was so new. So, their knowledge of Gaudiya Vaishnav philosophy was very limited.
But still, their conviction was so deep, their commitment, their determination, their conviction, their faith was so deep. So, he said, I just couldn’t reconcile the two. So, at the intellectual level, they couldn’t answer questions.
But at a practical, at a level of commitment, they were so totally committed. Chanting so many rounds and practising the 400 rituals in America was not easy. And then going around and preaching.
He says, I just couldn’t reconcile the two till I met Shri Atul Gopal. He said, he was the source of their faith. Gopal was the source of their faith.
So, although they did not intellectually fully comprehend what was happening, what he was teaching, what were the broader traditions from which he was coming, but his life and his love, his example, that was the basis of their faith. So, like that, now we cannot legislate who will get faith from the asujan of which devotee. We all have our counsellor, we have our spiritual guides.
But, it is not that everybody will get faith from the same devotees. So, all of us may get faith from different devotees. Generally, we get it all from our spiritual master.
So, those devotees whose association boosts our faith are cherishing that association extremely importantly. Cherishing is not just taking that association, but cherishing. Cherishing means, if we have had some interactions with them, or we heard some interactions about them, we note them down, we contemplate them, we meditate on them.
By that, our relationship with Krishna deepens through our relationship with those devotees. Actually, attraction to spiritual master is not different from attraction to Krishna. So, the more we become attracted to spiritual master, the more we become attracted to Krishna.
So, therefore, whenever we hear so many pastimes of Prabhupada, in which Prabhupada is so clever, so cutting, so illuminating, so if they inspire us, then we can meditate on them, maybe choose our own pastimes to relish the most, and then cherish them, especially treasure them, meditate on them. So, that way we can boost our faith. And when we do this, when we preserve, keep our desires focused, let our interiors stay focused, let our faith become focused.
Then by this, achyantya punaram nityam jnana nirdhutaka yunashyaha, we’ll march back home, back to Godhead. So, I’ll summarise, and then we’ll discuss, if you guys have any questions. We started by talking about … Okay, sorry.
Good point. One is associating with the devotee, and second is our own spiritual experiences we may have. What do you mean by spiritual experiences? Sometimes we may go for a yatra, we may associate with, we may say some special darshan, some very ecstatic kirtans are there.
So, in material life, when people have some enjoyable moment, they click photos of those, and they try to prefer those. So, clicking photos is fine, but for us, you know, just the external situations or external photos don’t convey the intense emotions of the heart. So, that’s why, writing a diary is often helpful.
Not everybody can do that, because different devotees have different natures. But especially, preserving our memories of our most special emotional moments. See, as I was telling, we will have crests and tufts.
Our spiritual consciousness, our consciousness of spiritual life will always be like a sine wave. It will keep going up and down. Sometimes we will feel ecstatic, sometimes we will feel terribly bored.
That’s inevitable. Overall, of course, what will happen is the net direct trajectory of the sine wave will be upwards. We will be getting purified.
And secondly, the amplitude of sine wave will decrease. Sometimes, in the early days, we will find, oh, I just want to enjoy in such a way that I want to break all the regulative principles. But now, even if I want to enjoy, what is my enjoyment? You know, everybody is getting two gulab jamuns, I want ten gulab jamuns.
Isn’t it? Maybe that is a kind of enjoyment. Actually speaking, even the definition of enjoyment changes. There is one devotee, Prabhupada Dayavadin Narayana who was telling how when you become a devotee, the value changes.
So, here is an example. He said, two times, when I was offering obeisances, I had an expensive camera and I forgot the camera in the temple. And I went back, the camera was still there.
So, three times, I had just taken the Mahaprasad and I kept it in the temple. And I offered obeisances, I forgot about it. When I came back, the Mahaprasad had disappeared.
We were saying, what? In the temple, there are only devotees. So, for devotees, the values have changed. The camera was not valuable, Mahaprasad was valuable.
So, as devotees, all of us have a special moment in our spiritual life. And when we preserve those memories, so when the crests come, we are happy. But when the troughs come, when our, so, when the troughs come, then at that time, we need some inspiration to keep going forward.
And that will be the memory of our devotional experiences. So, now, earlier I was talking about the memory of the point that gives us devotional conviction. But now I am talking about, we have had some sweet experiences in our spiritual life.
And those memories, if we keep, then they help us to tolerate the troughs when they come. When our consciousness is just too dry and we don’t feel any rasa in spiritual life. At that time, we just have to tolerate it.
We will go. But how will it go? How will we be able to tolerate? We will remember. Actually, life is not always like this.
It may happen sometimes, but it is fast. Let me hang on over here. And there are so many sweet memories that I have had.
By recollecting that, I will be able to hang on over here. So, in this way, we can protect our, not only protect, enhance our faith. So, I will summarise.
We started by discussing about how knowledge comes to us when we make Krishna our goal. And making Krishna our goal means offering him our mind, our intelligence and our faith. And we discussed how all these can be distracted.
When the mind gets distracted, it is like a strong wind taking us against the direction the compass is pointing. The example is Kala Krishna. For example, for others, distracting us with some nasty sights, something like that, involving sensuousness.
Then, when the intelligence gets distracted, it means the compass itself is spoiled by some inimical magnetic field. So, I gave an example, the design argument being criticised by some word juggler type of arguments. I have a scripture like that example, Vajamain, getting spoiled.
Almost a lifetime went off for it. And then, at a deeper level, our faith itself may get destroyed, very strongly damaged. And for that, the example is Kaikeyi.
So, her two mistakes were, she heard some message before Mantra and did not hear from anyone else, did not consult anyone else. Then, I gave an example of there are so many blasphemous sights that are there. And people show those sights, and sometimes people just read those and don’t consult anyone.
And get confused. And then, leave Krishna Consciousness also. And they will regret it later.
Then, we discussed, how do we protect and increase each of these? The broad principle is association. We need association for purifying our desires, for focussing, stabilising, strengthening our conviction and deepening our faith. And specifically, for our desires that we discussed, we need to find out what stimulates our spiritual desires the most.
And expose ourselves more and more to that. For our intelligence, there are certain points which act like thunderbolts, which illuminate us. So, we need to cherish those points.
We need to preserve those points and keep them ready for equipping ourselves whenever the going gets tough. And for the faith, faith comes by association and experience. So, association we cherish, and experience also we preserve, treasure them.
And then, we can march forward straight in our journey back to Krishna. Any questions? Yes, please. What is sentimentalism? A wide variety of behaviours could be called sentimentalism.
The broad principle is that when we get influenced by or carried away by emotions that are not rooted in scripture. I’ll explain. I’ll write this down.
This is an important point. The balance between thoughts and feelings. Our feelings have to be directed and regulated by thoughts.
Our thoughts have to be enlivened by feelings. Let me explain what this means. Our feelings have to be directed and regulated by thoughts.
That means say, someday we are doing darshan and somebody starts saying, today Radharani looks so beautiful. Now, there is nothing wrong directly in that statement. But, you know, if we are dragging our material conception of beauty, then that may not be appropriate.
For us, Radharani is first like a mother. For Krishna’s consort. One time some Mataji came to Prabhupada.
He said, actually I was circumambulating Jagannath and Jagannath started pulling away my saree. Prabhupada started really ruling. He got so angry.
He said, Jagannath is now attracted to a body of flesh and bones. This is stupidity. Maybe just something was blowing it away and that Mataji or woman was imagining something.
This is not a scorned devotee. Just some local lady was there. So, these are absurd ideas.
These are absurd ideas. So, you know, we may say that we are having feelings, but these are not according to scripture. So, sentimentalism means we let ourselves get carried away with feelings that are not rooted in scriptures.
So, certainly we all want sentiments. We want devotional feelings. They are important.
But sentimentalism means when the feelings are not directed according to scriptures. For example, in the early days of the movement it happened that the devotees just didn’t know how to deal with the senior devotees. Of course, it happened with Prabhupada also.
One day Prabhupada was giving a class and at the end of the class, one woman said, Swamiji, I want to marry you. She told Prabhupada. And Prabhupada very calmly said, you know, that’s not possible.
I am a sannyasi and I have already announced my family in life. He was very calm. So, you know, now the spiritual master, we have Mataji disciples also.
So, the Mataji disciples are not very well trained. Sometimes there is a gospel celebration when the spiritual master is glorified by the disciples. So, the disciples will start glorifying, you know, Maharaj, when you dance in such a way, my heart starts throbbing and things like that.
That would be stupid to say to the spiritual master. The spiritual master is representing Krishna as the father. So, that means, when the emotions are not according to scriptures, are not directed and regulated by thoughts.
Here the thoughts means thought based on scriptures. Then that would be sentimentalism. So, sentimentalism can be in terms of imagining oneself to be very advanced or it can be imagining oneself in a relationship to the spiritual master or Vaishnavas or Krishna, that is not appropriate.
That is not appropriate according to the scriptural understanding. That would be sentimentalism. At the same time, we do hold sentiments.
Our thoughts have to be enlivened by feelings. That means, there are many academic scholars who may study about Krishna and they may know about Krishna from an informational point of view, much more than what we do. But actually, they have no attraction to Krishna.
Because for them, Krishna is not the object of devotion. Krishna is just an object for academic study and dissection. Just like somebody may study a bacteria in a laboratory under a microscope.
So, for them, Krishna is a laboratory specimen, a historical laboratory specimen. So, they may have a lot of knowledge but they have no emotions. So, that is also not appropriate.
When we want to think about Krishna, we want to think about him with affection. But affection, that is according to scriptures. So, that’s why we need a balance of this and this is indicated in Prabhupada’s name itself Bhakti Vedanta.
Bhakti is the emotion, Vedanta is the knowledge. There is a balance of both. So, generally by associating with devotees and taking guidance from them, we learn this balance.
Naturally, when there is kirtans, we feel happy. When there are some special darshans, we feel very attracted. That is wonderful.
And those feelings are fine. But especially the feelings are not in accordance with scriptures and that will go into sentimentalism. Any other questions? Yes, where is the mic? Hare Krishna.
Guruji, I wanted to ask in our lives, sometimes we have a tight schedule. It’s so crowded and then we have to go for preaching and often times we hear that when we let our mind free, then it will be distracted. So, we engage ourselves.
But there is a need for self-introspection also. To get properly see what our mind is thinking. And often times we do salutations and end up in getting fatigued and not enlivened so much.
So, how to make a balance between us? If that happens, will it help or will it distract? Do we need time for introspection? Will it help or will it distract? So, first principle is we always need to stay engaged. So, an introspection is also an engagement. Introspection should not become an excuse for idleness.
So, the principle is not to be denied that we have to be engaged always. And if introspection is an engagement that helps us in focussing our emotional life better, then certainly we should do that. So, there is within the broad principles of bhakti always scope for individuality.
There are broad principles just handed. But along with that there is always room for individuality. So, everybody needs to chant, everybody needs to attend classes.
But introspection is not something that everybody can do or everybody needs to do. There are people who are introvert, there are people who are extrovert. Generally introvert people they gain strength when they are alone.
They feel, okay, now I am getting to think clearly. Now, okay, this happened, this happened, this happened. They are busy when they are alone also, but they gain strength when they are alone.
Extrovert people alone, what will I do? I need somebody. They just need somebody to talk to, to have it. Both have their challenges.
Extrovert people, because they are so habituated to be with people, they may often not take stock of how they are associating with others. They may just have mundane talks also, because it’s just a habit to be with others. And introvert people, because they are happy to be alone, what they do alone, they may just let the mind wander here and there, may not necessarily towards maya, but it may just wander here and there without any productive use.
So, that’s why it’s not that one is better than the other. It’s not necessarily that the introvert personality type is better than the extrovert personality type. But, we can’t legislate that everybody should do introspection or nobody should do introspection.
So, if we feel the need for introspection, then we can talk with our, you see, our devotees and create a little time for introspection for ourselves. And that way, we will find that we will be able to stay a little more focused. In a sense, our paying our sadhana card is one way of doing introspection.
Isn’t it? Of course, it is a more statistical way of doing introspection. It’s more quantitative. And consciousness ultimately is qualitative.
But still, it is somewhere in that direction. So, maybe what we could do is when we are filling the sadhana card itself, we can take a little more time. And along with the sadhana card, we make a small a small space for just writing down some of our own thoughts, some of our realisations, some of our apprehensions.
And within that itself, we can integrate. So, normally, if it takes us 3 minutes for filling the sadhana card, we may decide I will put 10 minutes for that. I’ll write some things down.
So, to some extent, introspection is provided for in the sadhana card. But in general, we have so much rajoguna that even that level of introspection becomes difficult for us. We don’t want to do it.
Sometimes we have to be forced to fill the sadhana card. So, if the sadhana card just becomes a number filling exercise, then the essential purpose of introspection is lost. See, the number filling is meant to as an aid for us to look inwards.
The numbers are sort of tools by which we can look inwards. But if we forget the purpose of why we are doing the number filling, then it will just become an irritating ritual that involves keeping track of everything that I am doing. So, if we feel the need, we can couple that with our filling the sadhana card.
And then we can get time for introspection. Clear? Yes. We have a Mahayana lecture.
So, in that lecture, it talks about very high level of humility, very high level of correctness. And by hearing those lectures, if we can focus the stress that if you have little bit pride also, it is a reward. So, it leads to a lot of contemplation of our consciousness.
And sometimes it goes extreme also. We are too indulgent in introspecting our consciousness. Whether I am very pure in my consciousness or not.
We can never be pure. So, how can Maharaj lecture? In that he talks about very high level of humility, very high level of correctness. And if you take it simply, let me be pride, I cannot be pure, then it can also drive your consciousness.
So, how can we practically apply the instruction that we hear about high levels of humility? It requires too much introspection and it seems not to be very effective. Because anyway we still remain proud. But we can’t neglect it also.
So, in general, we have to develop a lot of virtues. And we can’t develop all of them at the same time. So, we may have to prioritise based on what is suitable for us at our level and what our spiritual guides also feel is the best for us.
So, for example, Guru Maharaj candidly told Narada Muni that what you are telling, just tolerate this insult and ultimately go beyond divinity. I understand that it is philosophically true, but practically it is not possible. Give me an instruction that I can follow right now.
Give me an instruction that I can follow right now. And then he told him okay, you worship Lord Vishnu, you will get the claim. So, in general, Radhar Maharaj, he always, from what I have observed, he always couples this Trunavallaki Swami chain with the principle of Vaishnava Seva.
So, in my understanding, the emphasis on Trunavallaki Swami chain is expressed practically through serving devotees. It is not so much through introspecting in our heart. Okay, we have to introspect in our heart.
But okay, if I introspect, I find there is pride. What do I do after that? I will have to remove that only. And how will I remove that? In general, see, freedom from lust can be developed by avoiding the association of the opposite sex.
But freedom from pride cannot be developed by avoiding associating with people. Actually, humility is developed by associating with people only. When we associate with people, people have different opinions and then we have to tolerate all those opinions.
That’s how we develop humility. So, rather than going too much inwards to develop humility, we try to implement it on outer behaviour. Even I am interacting with you, some devotee irritates me a lot.
So, one devotee asked Radhar Maharaj, Maharaj, there are some devotees along with you, our wavelength doesn’t match. You know. So, what should we do? So, Maharaj replied, humility means to change your own wavelength so that it matches.
So, now, there are some devotees with whom we may not be able to get along heart to heart. That’s just because different people have different natures. But if they are told to do a service together, then we need to adjust ourselves a little bit so that we can do the service.
So, it is more appropriate, rather than internally checking whether I am humble or not, it is better to check whether I am dealing properly with others or not. See, humility has two aspects. One is to think myself low.
So, amani na manadhena. So, personally, I find that if I try to focus on my own humility, it is just a futile exercise. Because I look inward and if I just find more and more pride, I discover all that.
On the other hand, if I focus on trying to respect others. Okay, what is the good that I can see in this person? What is the good I can see in that person? And I try to increase my respect for others. So, that helps me in my dealing with those devotees.
That helps me in focussing on when I have to introduce and appreciate them. And overall, it makes me less self-obsessed. Actually, sometimes the desire for humility can make us more self-obsessed.
You know, am I humble or not? So, it becomes I, I, I, I, I. So, actually, I can become humble in two ways. One is by thinking that I am low. The other is by recognising that others are great.
So, actually, this way is easier. Easier in the sense that it doesn’t require so much introspection. And it is more helpful in our practical dealing with life.
And in my understanding, our humility is expressed not just by what we think about ourselves, but also by what we think about others. If you value others, treat others respectfully, and we are concerned about others, then we are in a sense becoming humble. So, pride leads to self-obsession.
So, if my desire for humility is leading to self-obsession, then am I truly becoming humble? I have my doubts. So, if my desire to serve others is… my desire to respect others is freeing me from self-obsession, then that is the way in which I am becoming free from pride. Isn’t it? So, it’s best rather than… You know, I saw when Radha once sent an email to me for something, he said, so, it was very striking.
He said, please accept my humble obeisances. So, Radha Maharaj wrote, please accept my respectful obeisances. So, then I thought about it.
And then I realised, actually, I saw many times Maharaj writes respectful obeisances rather than humble obeisances. So, I write that always. Because I feel like humility is difficult to develop, but respect is definitely easier to develop.
And respect for others will automatically bring humility in essence. So, that is a more easier way to do it. Less self-obsessed and more practically productive and useful in our dealing with others.
Does anyone know till what time we are supposed to go on? 6 o’clock? 6 o’clock? 6 o’clock we have to finish. Ok, just ask him. Because another programme may not happen.
We can continue. 6 o’clock I should go up or 6 o’clock I should finish? 6 o’clock class we go up. Ok, fine.
We have 10 minutes more. Thank you. Ok.
There are certain situations where there should be study and sometimes you should study. Because study is a very important seva for Krishna. Sometimes we get confused.
What to study? How to study? This mission is very tough. And there is so much time wasted. And we are mindful that we want to study.
How to do? You are talking about academic studies. Academic studies and what to do. And sometimes there are many things to do.
Correct. Sometimes when we are studying, we either feel overwhelmed by so much to do or we feel disoriented because we don’t know what to do or how to go ahead. And that creates a chink in our consciousness a weakness in our consciousness where our time gets wasted.
So these are things which we These are things which we learn by experience. It happens once and we think, how do I deal with this? At that time, we just already let it over. But then plan out.
If that happens, we may not read Prabhupada books but we might just take a few minutes break and do some deep breathing at that time. Deep breathing helps in calming ourselves down. Or just not for a long time.
Actually, sometimes when our mind is too disturbed, having some planned breaks helps. But often the breaks don’t stay planned. They go out of plan.
If I take a 2-3 minute break, it may become a 30 minute break. That is not good. But if you plan in advance, when my mind is disturbed, this is what I can do to get myself back on focus.
So we have to plan these things. Because overall, if you see, the mind doesn’t come up with new new new problems every day. Essentially, the kind of problem that the mind gives is overall predictable.
It may become lusty, it may become lazy, it may become greedy, it may become snappy. Snappy means shouting at others. So, we can find out what are the typical problems that we face.
And then, we ourselves based on our hearing, our study, our consulting with senior devotees, plan how do I deal with these problems. And in general, if it’s with respect to studies, we can always consult our seniors. That’s a big advantage in voice.
That how should we study? Although we are not going to apply everything that the seniors tell us, but that can give us some general guidelines. Along which we can improvise. So, taking guidance from senior devotees in voice about how to do our studies is also helpful.
So, taking guidance and planning. And that will help us to navigate through these periods. These are, as I said again, the crests and the troughs.
The key thing is that we should always remember, these are troughs. They are not going to be there forever. So, one of the great we say that middle world, the pleasures are not worth searching, seeking after because they are temporary.
That also works to our advantage because no matter how big the tension, no matter how big the misery, even that is not eternal. That is temporary. So, tam siddhi kshesho baharata.
When that is there, just tolerate and go through that period through planning and through guidance. Thank you. Do we even have? Yes.
Correct. Okay. How is the Goswami that spontaneously absorb in Krishna but we talked about how we need to absorb our in-mind and faith in Krishna.
How are the two correlated? Rupa Goswami described that there are two levels of bhakti. There is Raganuga sadhana bhakti and there is Vaidi sadhana bhakti. Raganuga bhakti is based on spontaneous attraction.
Vaidi bhakti is based on scriptural regulation. So, what we are talking about is the level of scriptural regulation. So, what are we doing now? Our impetus is the instructions of Guru Swamiji.
But then we are fine-tuning which instructions are the most inspiring for us. What points are the most illuminating for us. And then we are customising them for our own personal purposes.
So, what we are discussing all falls in the realm of Vaidi sadhana bhakti. Thank you. Yes.
Krishnamurthy, I think it goes to the point that faith comes in our life by seeing the life of senior devotees, how they are sincerely practising, how they are behaving in their life. But sometimes, like many lectures we hear, and many points we hear are very strong in our spiritual life. But sometimes we see that it grows quite many intricate points where we are not sincere devotees.
Some devotees are not following which they emphasise. So, that also results sometimes in lack of faith. But is that, is virtuous instruction very important? It doesn’t give me so much permission that should I be following it or not.
Can I leave the lower principles for the higher principles? Sometimes we see that devotees speak certain things which they don’t follow. And that takes away our inspiration to follow what they are speaking. So, in general, there are two situations.
One is that the devotee is sincerely trying to follow but the devotee is becoming overwhelmed. Everybody is battling with their conditionings. And it happens quite often that we contemplate a lot on that which we are battling about.
And then we make plans about how to deal with it. And then because we are thinking about it, we are planning about it, we speak about it also. But then, at the same time we are battling with it.
So, we are not able to overcome it. That’s why we will see this sort of mismatch. A devotee is speaking something, emphasising something but not able to practise it.
That is not intentional but that is just the conditionings to shaking the person. But still the person wants to practise. So, in general, if we don’t have any further contrary evidence, then it is always better to do the benefit of doubt.
Benefit of doubt to that devotee means, okay, this devotee is trying to practise but then everybody has their struggles. So, he is not able to practise. Then what we have to see is is this instruction important for me? We also have to make out for ourselves.
We get so many instructions, what is relevant to me at this level of my spirituality. And if it is important, then maybe I will take the philosophical analysis that I am getting from that devotee. And I may take inspiration from some other devotee.
If somebody is talking about the importance of control, about, let’s say, regulated religion, that person is eating a lot. Do not feel inspired. But the principle is valid.
And if I have the alertness of overeating, then maybe let me find out some other devotee’s example. And then take inspiration from that example. So, our attitude ultimately is that we want to advance in Krishna consciousness.
So, within the community of devotees, even among our senior devotees, not everybody will inspire us equally. So, we don’t judge the devotees but we still have to discriminate what is beneficial for me, what is actually going to help me advance in my spiritual life. So, therefore, if we understand this principle is important for me, then take knowledge from one, take example from others.
And then integrate that and apply in our lives. So, rather than becoming too focused on that devotee, who is speaking but not practising, that is between him and Krishna. That is between him and Krishna.
And that same Krishna is speaking to this devotee. And that same Krishna is exemplifying to this devotee. So, let me apply it through that way.
We don’t have to become too centred on any one particular devotee. Unless, of course, he is a direct spiritual guide or spiritual master. That’s different.
Otherwise, we have so many shiksha gurus and we can like the Brahmins, 24 gurus. Whatever he found beneficial for him, from the different gurus. Is it clear? Last question.
three questions. None of you have asked him now, isn’t it? I think we will talk about him later. So, he has come? Okay, fine.
Ask question. Okay, continue. What I said was that faith is deeper.
It is not that faith cannot be developed by discussing philosophy. That discussing philosophy is one aspect of developing faith. Discussing philosophy generally means intellectual conviction.
And that is like a one step towards faith. So, certainly discussing philosophy is very important. If we don’t discuss philosophy, then there is really not much chance of developing faith.
Because, especially for intellectuals, I was talking about, faith is a matter of the heart and philosophy is generally a matter of the head. So, of the intelligence. But generally for intellectuals, the way to the heart is through the head.
The way to the heart is through the head. That means, if somebody is also able to do intellectually persuasive presentations and then exemplifies also. That has a very potent effect.
On the other hand, if somebody only exemplifies but doesn’t present very powerfully. Maybe after we have gone through the initial stages of our spiritual life and we understand that bhakti is beyond the intellect, then we may get inspiration from that devotee also. But at least in the initial stages, the intellectual presentation is important.
So, it is a step towards developing faith. But it is not equivalent to faith. Clear philosophical understanding is the gateway to faith.
But, it is not itself faith. So, what I was saying is, philosophical discussion in and of itself doesn’t help us to develop faith. But it is an important step towards developing faith.
Is it clear? So, maybe we will discuss some other time. Thank you very much for your kind attention. Shreemad Prabhupada ki, Shreemad Bhagavad Gita ki, Gaur Bhakta Vrinda ki, Jai Gaur Premanand.
Thank you very much.