Philosophy of Karma through Srimad Bhagavatam 1, ISKCON Balaramdesh Bahrain – Chaitanya Charan

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Hare Krishna I'm grateful to be here with all of you today morning and Today we are discussing from the Shrimad Bhagavatam in a section that very much foreshadows the bigger story of the Bhagavatam that the bigger story of the Bhagavatam is Parikshit Maharaj departing from the world and and He finding shelter in the Bhagavatam So that same bigger story is symbolized in the departure of Bhishma Pitamah So in Bhishma is departing at that time Krishna is present in a manifest form directly visible form so just as Just as the Lord was present for Bhishma Similarly he will be present for Parikshit also and The way in which the Lord is present is different, but the principle is the same that in the bigger narrative of the Bhagavatam starting in the second canto till the twelfth canto because Parikshit Maharaj actually conversation starts in The second canto at the end of the first canto Shukadeva Goswami appears and Parikshit Maharaj asks some questions Shukadeva Goswami actually starts speaking from the second canto. So we could say this whole Bhagavatam is like Parikshit Maharaj hmm is on a arrow bed just like Bhishma was on the arrow bed and With Parikshit Maharaj Shukadeva Goswami Speaking the Bhagavatam hmm Shukadeva Goswami speaking Bhagavatam So that is like Krishna standing next to him hmm That is Krishna with him. So why is that compared to the arrow bed? Because that's also painful The arrow bed was not just the physical pain of the arrow, but the constant reminder that death is going to come soon so In some ways Bhishma Padma stayed much longer on the arrow bed Hmm and Krishna was not with him in a manifest form throughout.

He was of course remembering Krishna throughout But so what is going to happen in the second canto that is being described or depicted here in 1.9 That there is Bhishma and then there is Krishna Now, of course there is a slight difference It is Krishna is present directly and Krishna will himself hear Bhishma speaking Speaking to Yudhishthira now in the case of Parikshit Maharaj He is hearing about Krishna from Shukadeva Goswami, but the point is that both are Symbolizing Shabda At Antakal Shabda is Shabda Brahma Shabda Brahma is Krishna manifesting through divine sound at Antakal at the last moment So both are taking shelter of the Supreme Lord, so whether it is through we speak or we hear the point is to take shelter of the Lord and The broader context of Life is That both of them Hmm are suffering Are suffering now we could say if we compare Parikshit Maharaj situation, you know that He we could say he made a mistake The mistake was that he disrespected he misunderstood the sage Shamik Rishi, and he thought that he's deliberately neglecting and disrespecting me, so he put a snake garland around him That was a mistake but the result of that mistake was disproportionate a Small dishonor and he's cursed to die So it is again what we could say it's so unfair Because he was so devoted he was so virtuous he was so devoted he had fought off Kali protected the kingdom No Parikshit Maharaj was so dedicated not just to Krishna, but also to his practical service to Krishna that When he heard Kali is there somewhere he himself went on his chariot searching to find traces of Kali and Stop it It's like normally In some countries you're very crime-ridden now if if there's a crime you go to the police and you report to the police and The police still don't do anything in fact in some parts of Some in some cities especially in a say in Chicago is considered to be a not the all of you Hope some part is so crime-ridden That if you go there, and you are robbed you report to the police the police say why did you go there even we don't go there It's not to demonize Chicago, but like the different localities are very different so sometimes the police Even if you go and complain, they don't do anything But some cities where there is really good security Not only the police act on complaints that you make after you go over there the police are constantly sending out patrol squads and They are proactively seeing where there is danger where there is crime being committed and immediately They are there so Parikshit Maharaj going out to search for Kali's influences is like a proactive leader So he was very very responsible. He was doing great service for Krishna, and he hate for such a small mistake He was being punished and he had to die so now if you consider the situation of Bhishma's Bhishma had been a very principled person throughout his life If you consider the goodness in his life You know he had lived a life of celibacy and not to be the celibacy itself is difficult but Generally celibates will live in forests or In places where there is not much temptation of the world But Bhishma was living in royalty Where there was all kinds of prosperity and opulence and enjoyment around him Bhishma being a celibate in Hastinapur is like somebody being a brahmachari in Swarga Swarga is the opposite purpose and to be a celibate over there is almost impossible So what he had done Bhishma if you want to look at the positives of Bhishma So his celibacy itself is a great positive And celibacy was his his dedication his dutifulness to his father That it was not just dutiful. It was beyond dutiful.

He was he sacrificed for his father's sake Because he was he had was already appointed to be the king say in the case of Lord Ram KK took away the kingdom from him and Lord Ram gracefully accepted that but in the case of Bhishma for his father's sake and Not even for his father's word of honor just for his father's pleasure He voluntarily gave up the kingdom So he agreed not only will I know never become the king. I will never have any children and Then on top of that Hmm see it's it's one thing to give up the give up some position when We are giving the position to someone who is better than us Say if we are to give a class and some other senior devotee comes Please you can give the class but if somebody is actually Not as good as us and Then we give up the position for them Then there is certain amount of resentment over there. Why? and on top of that imagine that if we are supposed to give a class we are prepared for the class and then suddenly last moment Somebody else is giving the class and that person says can you give me your note so that I'll give the class And so we have to help them prepare for their class So Bhishma was like that.

He was actually doing all the royal duties So it was remarkably selfless And Yet after doing all this now he was on an arrow bed Now an arrow bed is actually The opposite of what we would consider required for a bed. In a bed even if there is a small lump somewhere, it's uncomfortable If there's a nail on the bed, we can't sleep at all. But if the bed is only made of nails How will we sleep? So it's an immense pain and among everybody Who died in the Kurukshetra war? Nobody was subjected to as much pain as Bhishma Drona was killed in the moment.

Karna was killed in the moment. Even Abhimanyu was killed in one moment Even the Pandavas sons and others who were on the side of virtue. They were killed by Ashwathama while they were sleeping So Bhishma was awake and in pain for a very long time and Was there a mistake on his side? Well Yes, his mistake was, if we want to call it a mistake, his mistake was that he was stuck to his word I have taken a vow and I will stick to my vow.

Now was that a mistake? Well, yes, he fought against Krishna and That could be considered to be a mistake. Again from a devotional perspective, it is a part of the Leela of the Lord But from an ethical perspective Now even when he stuck to his word, his hope was that Duryodhana will somehow or the other see sense But it just never happened So now the same principle of okay a small mistake. If there's a mistake, it's a small mistake But the amount of pain that he has to suffer is far far greater now Yudhishthir is also in a similar situation Yudhishthir is right now in a situation where he feels as if I should not fight Why should I not fight? because Sorry, not I should not fight.

I should not become the king Why? He feels that because of me this war happened. Because of me So much bloodshed happened Because of me, see for Yudhishthir Maharaj, you know, he is overcome by guilt and He feels actually there are four reasons for his guilt broadly speaking See first is there is so much death So much death that has happened and Then not only has so much death happened in general The bloodshed and all that has happened. It is almost all his sons have been killed What did we fight for at all? Arjuna's son Abhimanyu was killed.

Bhima's son Ghatotkach was killed. All the five Pandavas, five sons were killed So, you know, we work hard We work hard so that the future generation can have a better life So the idea is that if the future generation itself is not there What is the point of fighting at all? What is the point of doing anything and he felt for my for the sake of my gaining a kingdom We were Everybody was killed and then as if that was not bad enough He came to know about Karna's identity That when the last rites were being performed there was a brother of Duryodhana Yudhishthir who performed the last rites for the Kauravas But everybody from Karna's family was dead So Karna had some sons, Karna had some brothers, all of them were dead and Kunti just could not tolerate that. There was no one to perform the last rites for Karna and at that time Kunti told that he is He was my first son and Yudhishthir was completely shattered by that Again, why? Because among all the Kauravas, he feared Karna the most and He said that Karna Had an opportunity to kill me on the 17th day of the war But he did not kill me Because he knew I was his brother because he knew that I that he had given a word to you to his mother and He felt that he did not kill me when he had the opportunity but I celebrated when he was killed He says what kind of person am I? And then the last thing that broke him was what he felt was Kunti's betrayal He was angry with Kunti that she didn't tell him this But more than that See when we are in a particular frame of mind We interpret all events in a way in a particular way See if you're angry with others, then a small mistake by others Makes us especially even more angry with them But for him what he felt was that that Kunti did not tell this to me Means that she didn't trust me And if my own mother doesn't consider me trustworthy Then how can I be trustworthy enough to take care of a whole kingdom? so He just felt completely crushed And he felt I cannot take up this kingdom.

He was crushed. He was drowning in guilt at that time So now if you consider among these incidents For none of them Yudhisthira himself was responsible Hmm Yudhisthira tried his very best to avoid the war. That's how Krishna went with the peace proposal of just five villages Yudhisthira was not the cause of any of this death It was Duryodhana who was the cause.

Now was there some mistake of Yudhisthira? We could say yes, he gambled and that is a mistake But as compared to that again The extent of suffering that has come upon him Okay, I gambled and for that I was lived 13 years in prison. I lived one year in incognito exile which was actually very humiliating for them because they had to hide their identities and act like Menial servants over there. So they did that So how long? How long will it go on? So the point is that when we face life Especially when we are trying to practice bhakti and try to serve Krishna then Pain is one of the most difficult emotions to process In general, it's difficult to deal with pain That nobody likes pain in general but Especially when we are practicing bhakti at that time we feel that Because I'm practicing bhakti.

It's not that I want great pleasure in life, but at least from the pains of life I should be protected And we can say that's a reasonable expectation But what happens we see the great characters They also suffer enormously so This is the context in which Bhishma is speaking to Yudhisthira So, what is he saying? He is almost flipping the narrative around See now when Yudhisthira is going to see Bhishma, he is thinking this is my grandfather and because of me he is lying on the arrow bed you know say suppose we have to go to see somebody in the hospital and They had an accident and They got into an accident because of our mistake Maybe they were driving our car and we had not fixed the brakes of the car and the car got and they got into accident Then we will feel even more guilty So Yudhisthira being taken by Krishna to meet Bhishma that could have increased Yudhisthira's guilt and Bhishma anticipates that So normally when we go to see somebody in the hospital who is very sick and near death, our question is, how are you? Oh You must be in great pain But Bhishma completely flips the narrative and he says, oh how much pain you have suffered So rather than saying, oh, I am in so much pain. He says how much pain you have suffered and His whole narrative that goes on is That you did not deserve to suffer such pain He gives various reasons that he says that the theme of unfairness That this pain was unfair. This pain was undeserved.

He talks about it from two distinct perspectives from the moral perspective and from the material perspective Moral perspective means that you are Virtuous person. Here it is said, vipra dharma chutashrayaha You were always a good person And not only good Next verse he will talk about, you are also a strong person You had strong people on your side. He said that The next verses he will say that how you had Hmm He says yatra dharma suto raja gada paani rukodara krishno astri gandivam chaapam surat krishnas tato vipad He said you are dharma suto raja, and then you had Bhima who was extremely powerful gada paani rukodaraha and then krishno here refers to Arjuna astri gandivam chaapam.

He had the gandiva And on top of that krishna was also there, but still Tato vipad in spite of that distress came upon you So both from a moral perspective you are a virtuous person and From a material perspective you are a strong person So you did not deserve this. This should not be happening to you so What does he want to convey through this he To Understand what is going on over here? And what is them now we could go words by words and try to exactly understand what Bhishma is saying But that will require several sessions So To understand Krishna's plan, you know One of the biggest most difficult what makes it most difficult to understand Krishna's plan is The problem of pain that when there is pain when there is suffering when there is distress does Krishna have a plan Does Krishna even exist that kind of questions can naturally come for all of us? So here I would focus on one key point that understanding the difference between cause and purpose Cause refers to Karanam It refers to from where something comes If we are here in life, what is the cause of pain? that means from where has pain come and Purpose refers to where the pain is meant to take us so purpose is Cause is current. Sometimes we may equate the two, but they're not the same the cause and the purpose that from where has the pain come and What is the pain meant for? Hmm, so understanding this difference is critical that now in the future verses Bhishma will say that actually Nobody can understand the plan of the Lord Nobody can even the great sages when they try to understand the plan of the Lord Naysa Karachit Rajan Puman Veda Vidhi Chitam yet Vigyan Sayayukta Muhyanti Kavayopi That Muhyanti Kavayopi Even the wise are bewildered This is echoing what was said in the first verse of the Shrimad Bhagavatam that Muhyanti Suryaha that even the gods are bewildered about About the position and the purpose of the Lord.

Yet the Vigyan Sayayukta Vigyan Sayaya is we try to try to understand Vigyan Sayayukta. We inquire but even after inquiring Puman Veda Vidhi Chitam, what is the Lord trying to do? It is very very difficult to understand this. So exactly where pain comes from Hmm, that is very difficult to figure out.

Let's look at one more verse. This comes in the Conversation between Bali and between Parikshit Maharaj and the bull So Parikshit Maharaj is asking the bull who is causing what is the cause of your suffering? And one 17-18 years recite this verse. He replies what is the so Parikshit Maharaj asked the bull This is the bull is Dharma personified and the cow is Bhumi personified And they are both being tormented by Kali and Parikshit Maharaj has stopped Kali now But then he is turning to the bull and asking him.

What is the cause of your suffering? And he replies over here Now I am Kleshabhijani Kleshabhijani Yathahasyo Purusharishabhaya Purusham tam vijani mo Vakyabhedavimohitaha Now I am Kleshabhijani. Klesha is distress Bijani is the root the root of distress Yathahasyo Purusharishabha. Okay, you are the greatest among people.

Yathahasyo but now I am we do not know Purusham tam vijani Mo vijani mo when we try to know Yathvigyansayayukta. The word had come Vigyansayasimala Vijani mo. So different philosophers have different people have inquired about it and Vakyabhedavimohitaha That different people have come up with different opinions and with all those opinions vimohitaha That the cause of suffering is very very difficult to determine Specifically why something happens in someone's life That's it's not easy to know sometimes We may say all suffering comes because of our own karma And yes, there is truth to that But at the same time we have to be careful that truth does not become a weapon in our hands What do I mean by weapon? That would beat people down.

I have not seen anywhere in scripture Where somebody is suffering and other people tell them you are suffering because of your own karma Now when Sita is abducted or Draupadi is disrobed Nobody tells them you must have done something in the past because of which you this happened to you when the citizens come to Maharaj Pruthu and They tell him we are starving there's a famine and there is a drought over here We don't have anything at all. We don't have any food to eat Pruthu Maharaj doesn't say it must have been your own past karma shut up and tolerate it No See why? because our focus In suffering Should not be others or even our own Karma in terms of past karma our focus needs to be our Dharma our focus should be our dharma. What is it that I am supposed to do in this situation? If In America this especially happens.

I was in Seattle and there's one devotee who works in emergency duty over there So he said there in some of the more Liberal states there's very free access to drugs So what happens people take drugs and sometimes they take a overdose of drugs So they get OD'd this is the word and they come with a drug over they've taken drugs many times And their system is already very weak and they take drugs again And then the doctor they want them don't take drugs you will die now your body cannot tolerate this So when somebody comes on taking drugs can the doctor say you're suffering because of your own actions suffer and die now No the doctor's Focus should not be what is your karma the doctor's focus would be what is my dharma? That you are in the you are a patient. I am a doctor and I am meant to treat you now Now as a part of doing our dharma of helping the patients if we are doctors Then we may also to warn them about not taking drugs But the focus has to be our dharma. Hmm.

So that's why I talk about the difference between cause and purpose Okay, why a patient why a person is sick that is important But what is even more important is what am I meant to do over here? What am I meant to do over here it's interesting that in all the reasons that Bhishma will try to say, okay Why are you suffering? He does not mention karma even once It is not mean you know, it must because of your some past karma of yours Now we can say that oh they are pure devotees and there's no karma over there that is true at one level But even that is not the reason that Bhishma Pitamah says Hmm. Oh, you are a pure devotee. He will say that so He will use the word pure devotee a little later and I'll talk about that probably tomorrow's class But the point over here is something very significant to understand What is the difference between focusing on others karma and our dharma? that is that When there is suffering to whatever extent we can we should try to understand the cause But we also have limitations in how much we can understand the cause See some people may have genetic predisposition towards some things Some people may have some heart problems of kidney problems on this problem that problem because of some genetics Now we can't blame them for having been born in that family, isn't it? Okay, that's just where you are right now Now we could say that that is because of your past karma.

You are born in such a family but in some way some cases Or in many cases Trying to focus on the cause is not very helpful Because it's very difficult to Precisely find out the cause and even we precisely found out the cause. Okay. I must have done the past karma How does that help me to deal with it right now? Because Ultimately I had to decide what am I to do right now over here? So there are many different metaphors to try to understand The nature of the world so different metaphors Metaphors analogies examples different metaphors Convey different things So I'll just talk about three four metaphors and then I'll focus on one particular metaphor So one metaphor is that this word is like a dream Jeeva jago, Jeeva jago, Kaurachandra bhole So the dream metaphor conveys see every every metaphor.

So we look at what is the metaphor and What is the purpose of the metaphor or what is the emphasis what is the focus of the metaphor? So the focus of the metaphor is that we need to wake up Wake up primarily through sound The point is that we need to do something See every metaphor is imperfect If we are dreaming if you see in our dreams generally, we are not the controllers We are watching something happening. We try to do something and if something else goes wrong and this happens that happens It's not that everything is even though we may sometimes use the word. Oh it worked like a dream That means it worked wonderful.

That's how we use the word, but actually even in our dreams. It's not that everything works wonderfully So the point is in our dream, we don't really have the choice to do particular activities We just do certain things and certain things happen to us so the point of the metaphor of the dream is not that this world is Is just a dream and is to be devalued our philosophy is the world is real But the point is that we need to wake up from the dream and therefore expose yourself to spiritual sound That's the purpose of the metaphor The purpose of the metaphor is not to just devalue the world and dismiss the world once Prabhupada He was talking about his world is just like a dream. It's Maya.

It's illusion and one of the disciples he had heard this philosophy before and He was in the temple and he said this wall is there this wall is just an illusion this wall is just a dream And he walked right into the wall bang He hit his head and he went and he told Swamiji you said this world is like a dream But I got a real bump on my head now So Prabhupada said I said it is like a dream not a dream That the world is real And but the point is that the focus of the dream is wake up wake up just as alarm sound wakes us up So the hearing of the spiritual wisdom it wakes us up here you have the Hare Krishna mantra. It wakes us up Now another metaphor is that this world is like a reflection who would the moon amadha shakam If you consider this world to be like a reflection then what it means is don't get caught in the reflection Shift your vision to the reality So Shift vision to reality So whatever we are attracted to in the reflection we attracted to beautiful things We don't say that all the beauty of this world is false What we say is that the beauty of this world is a reflection and there is something far far more beautiful And that is the beautiful form of Krishna So shift from the reflection to the reality each metaphor has a particular purpose Now if we consider this world is like a prison It's a Durga. It's a fort Now if we consider the prison metaphor if it's a jail, then what is the point of the metaphor that? Improve your behavior that we have to make better choices So each of these has a slightly different emphasis all of them involve some change but if we consider Each of these the emphasis is different like a dream The focus is on the state of consciousness Like being in a dream is not an immoral thing You have to change your state of consciousness if we consider reflection.

It's more like intellectual awareness Be intelligent enough don't be caught in the dream Hmm, but if you consider prison metaphor, it is like moral change That you have been doing bad things stop doing bad things now do better things Now another metaphor that is there which is what I would like to focus on in the hospital metaphor Often There are other there are many other metaphors In the hospital metaphor the often it is said that this world that we are all suffering from Bhava roga Bhava roga is the disease of material existence And what is the essence of the disease? That it is our desires that are deceased that are that Our that our desires are misdirected So when we have to when we talk the Talk of the hospital metaphor in the focus is treatment Hmm, if somebody is sick in the hospital, you're a terrible person that you got admitted to the hospital No, we don't blame them for their moral conduct the treatment for what to cure desires So it is a primary disease of desires and If you consider this is the metaphor where the idea is that There is a higher plan Hmm If you see in all the other three metaphors, it is largely We have to make the effort you are sleeping you wake up You are looking at the reflection turn toward the reality. You are in the prison reform yourself But if we consider the hospital metaphor Yes, we have to endeavor we have to endeavor to take the medicine. We have to endeavor to avoid taking the forbidden foods but There is a higher plan to help us become better and Through what we do There is a higher plan that is acting or rather through what we do.

We become a better part of that higher plan and so among all these metaphors the metaphor that harmonizes most with a merciful God Hmm is the metaphor of of a hospital And when we use the metaphor of a prison the obvious question comes up. Okay. What did I do to be lined up in a prison? And I say oh you did some past karma in the past life.

I don't remember it So it just seems unfair If we are fired from our company Why are we fired? You know, you don't have a right to know that It will see very arbitrary and brutal So if we focus on the other metaphors that doesn't really give a picture of a loving God So the idea is in a hospital Why you got into the hospital? It's important. But what is most important is now you take the treatment When you take the treatment and you will be cured You will be cured Because it's not just you struggling to figure it out There is a competent our doctor out there and the doctor is ready to guide you Hmm and that doctor is Krishna. So I will build on this theme tomorrow but I Will set the scene for that with one particular image which we will Explore tomorrow.

See if we are suffering if we are in a hospital if we are sick in hospital then At that time there are two things which are a concern for us What is the cause of the disease and what is the cure for the disease? So the cause could be known Or the cause could be unknown now the cure could be known or The cure could be unknown and those based on this we could have four quadrants Where the cause is known, but the cure is unknown where both are unknown the cause is Unknown, but the cure is known and with both the cause and the cure are known So now among these four, which is the best situation to be in? Yes, so if I know okay, this is what caused my disease and this is what will cure the disease if I come to know that, okay, I I Went out for a walk in the morning and it was quite cold. That's why I got cough now That's why I got a running nose. Okay, then in future.

I won't go out so I know the cause then I can act accordingly and I can cure myself is the best situation and We all would like to be in this situation But sometimes it's not possible So the idea is in some ways the cause of suffering Is we could say karma we did something in the past We can generically say that our actions are responsible But then what action was responsible? Why did I do that action? What was going on at that time? So sometimes we can say that's not known to us Many times that's not known to us So we could say broadly speaking the cause is karma and the cure is dharma now dharma culminates in Supreme dharma is bhakti sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja So I'll talk about that dharma culminating bhakti tomorrow But the idea is that there is something I did because of which I am suffering right now So karma I am using simply in the generic sense that something I did because of which I am suffering right now And dharma refers to there is something which I can do right now So dharma is the careful choice of action right now. There is something I can do right now By which I can help in curing the suffering so the which is the worst situation to be in this among these four Yeah, both are unknown We don't know Why we are suffering Like in a hospital there are some patients. They are undiagnosed and they are being untreated And they are suffering and they are going to keep suffering So that's a terrible situation to be in Unfortunately, there are many cases there are there are many diseases that are known but the diseases have no cures So we know this virus caused this particular disease to you or this is the cancer you have got but you have no treatment So kindly die now It's not like that.

They don't say that but the point is it's sometimes unfortunately we could be in the quadrant one with respect to medical cases That sometimes there's just no cure for some things now for us If we fixate too much on the cause of suffering We may or may not know the cause of suffering We can't always know the cause of suffering because we are finite beings but What we can know is the cure for the suffering the cure is Let me choose to do that which will bring me closer to Krishna Which will bring me closer to dharma close to Krishna. Vipra dharma achyutashrayaha So vipras are the brahmanas. They tell us about dharma and dharma culminates in achyuta.

Who is dharmakrita, dharmagupta As the vishwamitra sarnam says, he is the giver of dharma, the protector of dharma, the ultimate purpose of dharma so We want to keep ourselves in one of these two quadrants best is If we can be in the fourth quadrant, we understand the cause and we understand the cure But sometimes we cannot understand the cause Still we can work on the cure in medicine There is this is these are called as idiopathic diseases Idiopathic now idiot that is not related with the word idiot. That's got nothing to do it. But sometimes it is that Doctors don't know what is the cause of a disease? But we know you take this treatment This will have it some are some of the arthritis are there some forms of cancer are there Now what exactly caused the cancer we don't know But you know, we have different treatments and some of those treatments do work and many cancers are now curable or at least manageable So sometimes we don't know what what exactly caused the cancer, but it is there now.

Let's let's deal with it so for us When we come to the point of suffering in life What caused the suffering we can use our intelligence to understand it, but sometimes we can't figure it out And if we can't figure it out Don't get discouraged. Don't get fixated. Don't get obsessed.

Why is this happening to me? Okay, it has happened Now, what can I do about it? What can I do about it is that I can play my part in Serving Krishna in this situation So that is what Yudhishthira Maharaj will be told by Bhishma Pitamah that you are in this situation and you don't know why this happened to you The cause is not known, but the Lord is here and the Lord is telling you become take up the kingship So take that anatha pahi anatha prabho That people are anatha now, they are orphaned and they need you as their protector so Coming to terms with what is happening in our life, you know That sometimes why something's happened. We just can't figure it out But even if we can't figure it out That does not mean that We can't serve Krishna so that idea that the pain That is there in life, I'll conclude with one more statement So in Krishna's, we have to understand Krishna's plan. So in Krishna's plan There are two things which are true pain has a purpose If we are going through pain Pain has a purpose We are going through that pain and that pain is it has it has some reason why it came into us and it is taking us somewhere Pain has a purpose at the same time pain is Not the purpose Krishna's purpose is not to cause pain to us in the hospital.

There will be pain But the purpose of the hospital is not to cause pain to the patient Hmm now something that the in the hospital that are done a surgery that is done a bitter medication that is given That may also cause pain But the pain has a purpose pain is not the purpose And this understanding that Krishna is not causing the pain to me Krishna is through the pain taking me to a better place Krishna is through the pain helping me to become a better person that we will try to understand more in tomorrow's session How exactly to figure it out how or how exactly not figure out the cause of the pain, but what is our dharma? What should I do when I am going through painful situations, which I can't make sense of that We'll try to figure out in tomorrow's session So I'll summarize what we discussed broadly Three points our broad topic was pain and God's plan pain how to make sense of pain in Krishna's plan So I Generally take a framework called chit whenever I give Bhagavatam classes Chi is CIT, C is context, I is insight and T is take away. So we want to expand our consciousness chit also means consciousness So in the context I talk about three things. I talked about first about the Bhishma and Parikshit parallel That Parikshit Maharaj also is facing death and for him Krishna comes as Bhagavatam and for Bhishma Krishna is standing in front of him so both are face-to-face death in Krishna consciousness that is the consistent theme and then we discussed the similarity in the situations of Parikshit Maharaj Bhishma and Yudhishthira All of them what are the similarity that all of them if we say there's a mistake there's a small mistake and severe suffering so It seems so So unfair so unbearably unfair and such good people had to go through such terrible things the key insight we discussed was the difference between cause and purpose so We quoted Vakyabhedavi Mohita that quite often when we go through life the cause is unknown and The cause is also Unknowable Sometimes you just can't know why something is happening in my life and We discussed that Okay, when there is suffering What? To make sense of suffering what are the metaphors we could use? So metaphors for the world We discussed four metaphors and each of them has a different emphasis.

So what are the four metaphors? It's like a dream So that is we had the focus the essence to change the state of consciousness and wake up the focus is The state of consciousness needs to be changed then the other metaphor was Reflection that If you are somebody's caught in the reflection, the idea is become more intelligent. Don't be so foolish so it is like Intellectual sharpness that Become more sharp know that this is a reflection then the other was prison That is the focus is moral reform Become a better person change your behavior and if you talk about last was hospital hospital is that we need to higher plan Participate in the higher plan that is there to treat you so among these God's mercifulness that is most easily to pursue in the idea that there is a hospital and now in the hospital metaphor the key take away we discussed was based on this metaphor that That there is a this particular diagram that there is a cause of suffering if somebody is sick in hospital So the cause of suffering and the cure for suffering So best is if we know both Worst is if we know neither Now sometimes we just can't know the cause but even if we don't know the cause we can Try to focus on the cure. So broadly speaking the cause is Karma karma in the sense that something I did and the cure is Dharma in the sense that something I can do so Ultimately if I try to act in the mood of service to Krishna Then I can face suffering and the point we made is that in that pain has a purpose That The when we are going through a pain it is not random.

It is not arbitrary It is not that God is cruel, but pain is not the purpose That means it is not that Krishna gets some joy in causing pain to us It is not that the purpose of the hospital is to subject the patients to pain The whole hospital's purpose pain is there and yes, there are some devices in the hospital We should cause further pain also, but the whole purpose is to help us come out of pain So Let's we'll discuss in tomorrow's session about How to understand what is the higher plan and how to participate in that higher plan so that we can grow in our life Through the pain that we may be subjected to Thank you very much. Hare Krishna Any questions or comments any questions anyone like to ask any questions, okay, there is no one Any question property, thank you so much This is from yesterday yesterday's class so You spoke about might and virtue and you gave example of the Pandavas So I was just asking The Pandavas could actually What do you say they care they could regain their lost glory and The kingdom and all because yeah, of course that they utilize that those difficult times in the best way and So that's why they could actually hop back but It is not so for everyone because they had all the resources. They were very powerful they had Krishna on their side and They were blessed actually even though they were in so many so much of difficulties so for Us it doesn't happen always no, so Because the resources are not Available always to again come back to the same Glorious situation.

So some things are irreversible in our lives So When we go through difficulties the Pandavas also went through difficulties, but they had resources they were blessed and They were able to fix the situation. They lost the kingdom. They got the kingdom back But sometimes we don't have so many resources and sometimes Some opportunities are just lost forever So, how do we deal with it? Yes, it is So there are principles and there are specifics So the specifics will be different for different individuals if we see There is a principle that is consistent In the same Ramayana which describes say how or in the same Mahabharata which describes how Arjuna was so victorious It also describes how Abhimanyu was killed the same Ramayana which describes how Hanuman was so glorious single-handedly going to Lanka and Devastating Lanka also describes how Jatayu was martyred So the point is that at the material level Not Everybody will have success Not everybody will have glory of the same degree even when they have glory.

So The there is a principle Which is universal The principle is universal that is that those who turn toward Krishna Those who serve Krishna will be protected the specifics They are Variable They are not universal. They are variable Now one time one devotee told Prabhupada that Bhakti you know Thakur preached in Bengal, Bhakti sans Thakur preached in India. You preached all over the world Therefore you are greater than all of them and Prabhupada became very grave He said never think like this So it is by their mercy that I have been able to achieve whatever I have achieved So, what does this mean that in Krishna's plan each Acharya had a particular role and Bhakti you know Thakur had a particular role, Bhakti sans Thakur had a particular role and they did what what their role was Now it is possible that for some Acharyas their role was greater Prabhupada never claimed that because his role was greater now we can certainly respect him.

He is our founder Acharya We should respect him, but still it is not that we should consider that he is that other Acharyas are smaller So the idea is within Krishna's plan So that if I am here in this world and Krishna is above me so when I When I connect with Krishna When I try to connect with Krishna then Krishna also blesses me When we take shelter of Krishna, Krishna blesses us, but when Krishna blesses us that blessing Exactly how it will work out For one person that blessing means that their Kshetra may be this much that means you know, so some one devotee preaches and they Preach and then if I attend people by their preaching become devotees for some other devotee They connect with Krishna and Krishna blesses them and through Krishna's blessing You know the whole world becomes Devoted Hmm their Kshetra may be much bigger So when the Kshetra is bigger Sorry and The Kshetra becomes bigger for this devotee that does not necessarily mean that devotee is a better devotee than another devotee What it means is that Krishna has a particular plan so generally Krishna also Krishna works Through our karma Hmm. What does Krishna work through our karma mean that see? Bhima was physically very powerful and Krishna engaged him in mace fighting Arjuna was not that physically powerful He was also physically powerful no doubt, but not as powerful as Bhishma as Bhima. So then he was engaged in archery fighting So now is it possible that Krishna could have made Arjuna as greater mace fighter as Bhima was? Krishna could have done that but generally Krishna works through our karma So it is that Somebody is a four and a half feet tall It is and they are very timid When they become devotees is not that they're going to go six feet tall Isn't it this will remain four and a half feet, but their confidence will increase There Prabhupada relative not a very tall person Prabhupada was a small person, but he had a big vision and a big impact So there are certain things which may not change So that's why when we try to evaluate our life We cannot be evaluating it solely in terms of the worldly situations that we are facing Now, of course the worldly situations matter we want to serve Krishna in this world So we would like to you know in our home We would like to have the best temple We would like to have a large home so that we can have a large temple and we can have many guests We can invite if we are a part of a community community by leading a community would like to have a grand temple For our community.

We would like to do great things for Krishna and that having that desire is wonderful At the same time we are servants We are sevak. That's why at our desire Cannot or should not become We should have a desire to want to do the best for Krishna to be the best for Krishna to offer the greatest to Krishna So our desire should increase but at the same time the desire should not become a demand Hmm and certainly it should not become an ultimatum Ultimatum is Krishna. If you don't do this, I'll stop chanting.

I stopped active practicing bhakti. No, so Krishna the Kshetra that we have That will be determined by Krishna. Now, we could have said that if Say Ishwara Prabhupada had in 1920s only gone to America Or from 1920s or 1930s when he got initiated from that time he had got success in Adhaam preaching Maybe his preaching could have been much more You know Prabhupada achieved so much in 10 years 10 11 years 12 years.

How much more could have achieved before that? Well, maybe that is true or maybe it is that Krishna had a plan Through all that Prabhupada was going through the last 12 years became much more impactful because of that so ultimately At the material level how things are going to work that is not in our control so we Accept okay, if I have small resources Then I will do the best with the small resources I have if some opportunities some doors have been closed some opportunities are lost forever. I'll accept that those opportunities are lost But I will never lose the opportunity I have to turn to Krishna right now So that's why it's a big subject how the material and the spiritual relate And tomorrow I'll talk a little bit more about that that just because we are spiritually devoted does not necessarily mean Every devotee will be materially influential so spiritual devotion and You could say material influence the relationship between that we'll talk more tomorrow But does it answer your question broadly? One more question I just wanted to add to the same Context actually the same Arjuna when he was there later after this Mahabharata in the same first kind of Bhagavatam He was easily defeated by another ordinary, you know people who are in the Forest so Arjuna at that time he he can he he was Feeling the same feeling that actually that it was all because of Krishna now Krishna does not want to have those Empowerment so he accepted that one and also We have a misconception of this Misunderstanding of this verse ananya chinti and tomam that Krishna protects his devotees so sometime we get into confusion Why Krishna did not protect me? So this I mean just wanted to add to that one context So If you consider Krishna protects his devotees ananya chinti and tomam Those verses now, what does that mean? so see When Krishna protects yes that principle is true Hmm, but how and when that is variable The principle that Krishna protects is universal. So even if you consider Prabhupada's life There are so many things that Prabhupada started which didn't work out Prabhupada at one time started a political party in America.

He called it in God we trust So that is and he told said that one advantage of being a politician is that you can freely criticize everyone So Prabhupada encouraged devotees today. In fact one devotee told him that you can become the next president of America hmm, so now Prabhupada initially was very enthusiastic But then when he came to know about how much funding is required to Promote a candidate for elections. It's not just that you Go and give talks.

There's so much funding required Prabhupada decided that you would rather use the Lakshmi we have for more direct Krishna conscious So this devotee who had been very encouraged by Prabhupada He met Prabhupada and he said Prabhupada are you no longer enthusiastic about the political party? Prabhupada said I am very enthusiastic. Just don't ask me for any money So The point is that sometimes the resources were limited even for Prabhupada so it is that Krishna will protect but exactly how where So how and when Krishna will protect that is his plan and that's why we cannot Expect or insist that in this particular way. I will be protected So we could say that Krishna protects our spiritual side and not our material side it's not that simple It's not that Krishna is unconcerned about our material side But even our material side how and when Krishna will protect that is something which is up to him.

So recognizing that That Krishna's plan is rather We can say that Krishna's protection Often involves An Elevation of our conception of protection As I think protection means this should happen, but from Krishna's perspective protection means this is what will happen So sometimes it's like we are very attached to our conception of what protection means so if I am giving a class and Say sometimes people ask difficult questions and Krishna protects means that at that time Krishna gives me the intelligence I would say answer questions. So yogakshemam vahamyaham That what you carry I preserve what you lack I provide So even if I don't know particular answers, then I just get the intelligence and I give the answers at that time But it may happen sometimes that I just somebody asked the question I'm stumped I just don't know the answer Now it can be a little embarrassing It can be it can be humiliating also for a speaker at that time depending on how you take it But it's certainly not a pleasant thing if you don't know the answer So now if I if the thing comes to my mind at a particular time Then does that mean Krishna is not protecting me? Maybe that's one way of looking at it but other ways that it could be that maybe Krishna is seeing that I am becoming proud of my knowledge and Krishna is reminding me or other Krishna is protecting me from that pride by not giving me that answer So that is what Keshav Kashmiri is told by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu That he goes and begs Saraswati. You had told me that whenever I speak you will manifest on my tongue So when I was in front of this Nimai, why did you not manifest? So Saraswati appears and tells him that Nimai, he's actually the Lord of my Lord My Lord is Brahma and he's the Lord of Brahma And he says actually I blessed you Although I did not appear as words before you but I blessed you so that You will be able to understand the purpose of all knowledge The purpose of knowledge is vedasya sarvair aham eva vedyam.

So in that sense Krishna's protection also involves Revising our readiness to revise our conception of protection Okay Thank you very much Thank you so much for bringing up this hospital metaphor. It's very much related to all of us So just I heard one question I thought of asking but these questions can be answered in the next session Recently I had these issues and then When we are talking about the cause and the purpose so we are talking about the cause and the purpose When we are undergoing the pain, we never thought of the cause and we never thought of the purpose also We are wholly engrossed in the pain. So, how do we focus our thing to either to the purpose or to the cause? So that can be answered later Again some exercise for me to think about Okay Thank you so much for this Hare Krishna So as Prabhuji has explained this particular Srimad Bhagavatam enlightenment will continue tomorrow's one more session and then this Mahabharata session will continue by today evening.

That will be the last session. So requesting the devotees Please kindly don't miss and attend this classes. Thank you so much And today the bhoga to the Lordship it was offered by myself Kirtanesh Krishnadas and Jagdishwara Adhika Devdasi and Sri Radhakrishan Haribol for the blessings.

Hare Krishna. So we're requesting the devotees. Please stay in this hall honoring them up Tomorrow Friday Friday Friday evening.