Preaching with emotional sensitivity

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
background. So, Vyasdev has given the elaborate description of the Vedic literature, in which he describes mostly Karmakanda, where we perform worship of the Lord, or worship of some demigods, for the purpose of material gains. And, Vyasdev is being almost chastised for that fact.
He’s saying that, it is not just that by becoming religious, one can become free from anxiety or happiness. He’s saying, as long as one is matra-sparish-echaya-muham As long as one is having the desire for sense gratification, one is trying to acquire the objects of the senses. Now, many people become sinful in the pursuit of sense gratification.
And that brings the resultant karma. And that is what we see to a very large extent in society today. People are ready to commit gross sinful activities for matra-sparish-echaya to get a solution of the opposite sex, to get some money so that they can enjoy in the future.
But, not only these people who have become sinful because of matra-sparish-echaya, but even those people who are pious, but still are having matra-sparish-echaya. He says, all of them, whether pious or sinful, as long as one has matra-sparish-echaya, what will be the situation? Atma-chittana As long as one has the desire for enjoying the objects that are external to us, we will always be having anxiety. In fact, even if people don’t believe that there is a law of karma and that we will have to suffer for the sins that we do, we can see the immediate karmic reaction of material desires.
Just like we say that the fish out of water immediately starts trembling and suffering. Similarly, to pursue sensual gratification, that will be unnatural for the soul. And the instant result of the desire for sensual gratification is Atma-chittana.
One becomes filled with anxiety. Because if one wants the object to enjoy, if that object is external to us, then there is no guarantee that we will ever get that object. Or even if we have got it, there is no guarantee that we will be able to protect it.
Just like, you know sometimes we are travelling in a train and we are having a laptop with us. Then when we are sleeping also, somebody just, a little pull comes, a little bit. So I have Atma-chittana.
But if somebody is not carrying anything valuable, then you can just sleep peacefully. Now of course, for a devotee also, he may also be possessing external things. But that is not for Mahatma Rajpachechchaya.
That is, Anasatya Svishayanidharam Vrindam. We are trying to use that in Krishna’s service. And the difference between the devotee trying to engage external things in Krishna’s service and a materialistic person trying to utilise external things for his own self-enjoyment is that the materialist has no faith in Krishna.
And so, for him, the external world appears to be like an enemy that is out to plunder everything. And that’s why his anxiety is much greater than that of a devotee. Therefore, a devotee, he wants to get some external things to work out nicely.
As I am trying to hope that the Sankalp camp will work out nicely, the boys whom we have cultivated will come properly. This is also external to us. And this will also cause anxiety.
But actually, this anxiety is for Krishna’s sake. And in this anxiety, a devotee’s remembrance of Krishna increases. A devotee’s prayer to Krishna increases.
So, although this is also anxiety, this is not Mahatma Rajpachechchaya. Because this is not for the satisfaction of our own selves. This takes us closer to Krishna, whereas that takes us away from Krishna.
So, how does one when we are preaching, how does one get ourselves the compassionate conviction that others are suffering? Because in materialism, people don’t appear to be suffering much. Sometimes, there is a tamasic activity, they get drunk and they fall on the ground. Then we think they are suffering.
But actually, if their goal is Mahatma Rajpachechchaya, then we can be convinced that they are Arjuna Chittana. It’s an inevitable, inescapable consequence. We see, what desires do people have? Generally, the desire that conditions of their lust, anger, and that’s what everybody has.
And if you don’t have this consciousness, it’s not that we have those desires, those desires have us. We are under their control completely. So then, naturally, Atu Chittana Sometimes, actually, Bhava Siddhu means sometimes, in the ocean, we go for sky, for surfing.
So when they go for surfing, they try to catch a wave. When they catch a wave, they go up. And when they go up, they look very attractive, they are high up, and they are floating smoothly.
But the same wave that is sweeping them up will also bring them down. So they are still in the ocean. Sometimes, because of the result of past good karma, even the materialistic people may be high up on the riding of the wheels, and they may think, we are happy, we are enjoying.
And others, when they go, they also enjoy. And we will be in a boat, and the boat will be at a lower level. They are higher than us.
But then that’s a wave, and the wave will bring them down, crash them. So, we see this with respect to the Indian cricket, if you see. When India lost it, they couldn’t get into the Super 8 in the World Cup, then those refugees were burned, and they were garlanding them with chappals, and they were scorned and condemned by everyone.
And then, that is a wave of karma going down. And then there was 2020 World Cup, the wave of karma went up. People are, even when they came back from Manchete Stadium to the airport, it was a big queue.
Thousands of people were waiting to welcome them. And now, again, the wave of karma is going down. Isn’t it? So, there is Adi Bhutik flash coming in the form of unfair umpires.
Laughter Some of you don’t know, it is nice. Laughter Laughter Anyway, the point is that Laughter The wave of karma will take us up, and the wave of karma will bring us down. So, people think that we are enjoying, or we are suffering.
But actually, the karma is what goes abroad. It is simply a wave of karma taking them up. And the same wave that takes us up will also bring us down.
And that’s why, as devotees who have Shastra Chakshu, even if the middle seat people are happily happy, even if a student is a topper, and he is unhappy, he says, why do I need God? But, actually, he believes in his Krishna. Because it is just a wave of karma that is taking him up. And that wave of karma, nobody has permanently good karma.
Actually, according to Subhashita, it actually says that if a person is enjoying, then he should be sad. And if a person is suffering, he should be happy. Why? Because if he is enjoying, then his good karma is getting exhausted.
And if he is suffering, then his bad karma is getting exhausted. So, he should be happy. So, vision of Shastra Chakshu is completely different from the vision of the ordinary middle seat people.
So, the point is that even if we are seeing people quite happy, they don’t think that they need Krishna Consciousness. We also think that they don’t need Krishna Consciousness. But they actually need it more than anything else.
Why? The only boot that will enable them to study in the big waves that come up and down is the boot of Haricharya Varanam. Now, in the 11th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, the boot is often compared to the human body. Klavam Sukalpam Guru Karanadharam The boot of the human body.
But here, the boot is compared to the glorification of the Lord. Because, we may have a human body, but unless we learn to love the Lord and glorify the Lord, we still have animalistic consciousness. And we don’t have actually the benefit of having the human body.
You know, having the human body and pursuing sense gratification is like having a boat and spending one’s life in making holes in the boat, hoping to drown faster. So, that is what Guru Rinpoche is saying. Using the benefit of the human body.
There are big, big sports stars, rock stars. What are they doing? By their past karma, they have got a treasure. The treasure is they have got fame, wealth and position.
But they are using that wealth of past karma to dive deeper into Tamoguna. To create more and more suffering for themselves. In America, they have what is called Spendthrift Institutes.
Spendthrift Institutes. Spendthrift means one who doesn’t spend very lavishly. One who is cautious.
So, there are many wealthy parents whose children have been brought up stinking rich and they just spend money like anything. And the parents, they have naturally earned all the money to give to their children. But they see that their sons are so extravagant in spending money that they don’t give the inheritance directly in the name of the children.
It’s in the name of the children but through the Spendthrift Institute. That means, the children when they have to spend money, it’s their own money. But they have to approach the institute.
I want to spend this money for this, this, this. And the institute will sanction, depending on the desire of the parents who have already passed away. So, the point here is that people are so extravagant in spending money.
They have their wealth but otherwise many young people they get out, big hair and millions of dollars and within a year or so everything is lost in the hands of the parents. So, in general the soul when it gets a human body, he has got the treasure of the free will. The treasure of the free will.
But, because of the Matras Parashay Chhaya that comes from our own past conditioning and from the world around us. We just squander away the treasure in the sense gratification. And we don’t use it at all for Krishna Consciousness.
So, that’s why it’s very important that even if by past karma people appear to be happy just like students who have got into an IIT or IIMs, they have got some past good karma by which they have come to this life. Because in many origins, they struggle just to get an education. But, it is just the way of karma.
It’s not going to last permanently. And unfortunately, what are they using that karma for? Many of them, if they don’t get guided properly, they will use that karma to go into Rajoguna and Damoguna. Isn’t it? Even the seniors do their ragging.
Ragging is their initiation into sinful life. So, whatever the Matras Parashay Chhaya may come internally or externally but it is like dragging them into Rajoguna and Damoguna. There are two ways that treasure of free will that they have got.
In just activities of pleasure for few minutes. Therefore, a devotee with Shastra Chakshu, he understands that everybody who is coming, everybody who actually leads Krishna Consciousness, everybody who is coming actually to take the shelter of Krishna, they are very special souls. Among all people who are deluded by maya, these are the people who have got little intelligence somehow that they are agreeing to Krishna Consciousness or at least take an interest in Krishna Consciousness.
We say that there are three things. There is Shraddha and there is Vishta. And in between there are three things.
What are the three things? Sadhu, Sadhu Chandra, and Kriya. Now, the main precipitation or the main catalyzation, the main propeller that takes a devotee to Shraddha or Vishta is actually Sadhu Sangha. It is the association of devotees.
That is what gives the water from the sea. So, for the materialistic people or the conscious souls who are trying to come to Krishna’s lotus feet, the association of devotees is extremely important. And in the association also, the great illusion of maya is that she covers our intelligence and then she covers the covering.
So that, we don’t understand that we are covered. And that’s what materialistic people, they are in maya but they don’t understand that they are suffering or that they are going to suffer in the future. So, I have heard about this touch me not flower.
Touch me not. As soon as you touch it, it becomes defensive. So like that, most conditioned souls are like touch me not.
We try to give them Krishna Consciousness and they are not interested. So, whatever be the reason, their avarnatmika shakti is working. It’s not allowing them to come out.
The prakshakatmika shakti is a sense of objection. It drags them further into sin. But the avarnatmika, even if they are getting, they say no, they are not interested.
Therefore, as devotees, we have to help people to come to Krishna at every level. So, for example, as preachers, we will try to come and do the philosophy. However, because of the culture around us, as people are like touch me not flowers, they are suspicious.
They are doubtful. Therefore, it is very important that when the boys come to the boys or come to a camp, we make them feel emotionally comfortable and secure so that that defensiveness goes away. If a person is open-minded to Krishna conscious philosophy, anybody and everybody will be convinced.
But the problem is many people are defensive. They are suspicious. They are doubtful.
They are like touch me not flowers. And if the philosophy doesn’t go inside, then they will not be transformed. That is why a part of the preaching package is our behaviour with the devotees, potential devotees.
How much we are attentive, how much we are loving and caring, how much we are helping them confident so that their defensiveness goes away. And of course, this is not emotional manipulation because we want to do them good ultimately. So we want to actually connect them with Krishna so that they will become happy.
And one of the main reasons why many people have an aversion for religious activities is that often they see that the priests in the temple are self-righteous. Rather than being loving and caring to the people who come, they are self-righteous and proud and act as if they are fallen people. So that is one of the main reasons why even when many people go to temples, India practically all Hindus go to temples.
But how many Hindus actually look forward to sadhus? Hardly anyone. Because they have not got experience of proper sadhus. And not only that, sadhus they can experience also generally quite having religious pride that we are pure, everyone is pure.
A devotee’s attitude is not like that. Recently I had the fortune of reading the autobiography of His Holiness Raghunath Maharaj. So there he says, what was the first meeting, his first interaction with Vrindavan.
We know that he came to Mathura, the train just went off. And he saw so many sadhus over there. He was wondering what is this.
He said, and we are in Mathura, the birthplace of Krishna. Then he heard about Vrindavan. He said, let me go to Vrindavan.
So he was walking along Vrindavan and a bus came. And the bus itself stopped. It said, come in.
The driver only saw the sadhu, so he took him in. And then he got off the bus and he asked the driver, where is the river? Because he heard of Vrindavan. He only slept on the banks of the river.
So he was going along and he said, there, right in the middle of the street, there was a Vrajivasi who was standing with folded hands. He was surprised. He was looking, who is folding hands for Narayana there? No one there.
And he said, this is the village of Krishna. And you are a guest to the village of Krishna. Therefore, I am your servant.
He travelled all over the world and never experienced anything like this. And that person said, I will arrange for your food and stay. He said, no, no, I stay under a tree in the village.
He said, no, no, please, if you recruit my servant, how will I go and show my face to Krishna? So he said, he had gone to the Himalayas and he had seen the sadhus who had tremendous mysticities, who had amazing mystic powers. But here he said, for the first time I saw people whose love for God or whose spirituality transformed into service attitude. So he said, even those who were not devotees.
So he said, this is something unique about Vrindavan that I saw. Many people who had tremendous spiritual realisation and knowledge and austerity and mystic power. But how that transformed into humane compassion and humane service attitude.
And then, when he heard about Shilpa Prabhupada and when he especially read Shilpa Prabhupada’s Janam Dutta prayer, Shilpa Prabhupada had no mystic powers in one sense. But he saw that what was Prabhupada’s love for Krishna, he was praying to Krishna. My dear Lord, imagine the situation of Prabhupada and compare him with an ordinary person.
A person who is alone on a ship to America. And on the ship he has got a heart attack. On the ship he has got seasickness.
On the ship there is no doctor. On the ship the only food he can eat is if he cooks himself. What will a person pray for? So he prayed, my dear Lord, please protect me.
Please, I don’t want to die. Lord of Prabhupada prayed, my dear Lord, please give me the words by which I can convey your message to them. Please.
And all the people are covered by Arjuna and Tamoguna. And if they understand your message, they will become happy. So please, make me an instrument.
Make me dance. Make me dance. So here he saw how Krishna would impart that same selfless, that same love for Krishna translated into selfless compassion for all the people.
And Srila Prabhupada, of course, we delight, we rejoice in all aspects of Srila Prabhupada’s personality. We see Srila Prabhupada was a very powerful Acharya, preaching and demolishing illusion. Srila Prabhupada on the other hand was also a very, on the one-to-one basis was a very loving person.
And we see that when Prabhupada went to Vishwa Yoga Institute, and the Yoga Institute teacher was not allowing him to preach, because Prabhupada was condemning this Yoga. He was saying this is not for Sarkal Yoga. So he didn’t allow him to preach, but still they were living together.
Prabhupada was cooking food for him. Prabhupada was taking care of him. And Vishwa said, No, I was so unregulated.
I would have died when I was sick. It was Prabhupada who protected my life. And I am still now here, that I have to see for Prabhupada.
So on a one-to-one basis, Prabhupada was very loving. And when people would come, in the early days to 26th Avenue, Prabhupada, although he had no money, he would give them some prasad, he would talk with them very warmly. And he would ask them about not only their philosophical enquiries, but he would ask about their general life.
And Malti Mataji, Prabhupada’s real disciple, she said that when we met Prabhupada, we felt that we have met our greatest well-wisher. We have met our greatest well-wisher. And that’s why, actually, for them, the Krishna conscious philosophy is so alien.
Everything about the philosophy. First of all, duty-worship, most Christianity and Judaism are against that. further, wearing strange clothes, becoming early-day, everything was so alien.
But by meeting Shri Prabhupada, they just got that conviction that he is our well-wisher. Because he was so warm and loving to them. And, of course, he didn’t compromise with the philosophy.
So, similarly, when we are preaching Krishna consciousness, we want to preach at every level. We want to connect the conditions to Krishna at every level. So, at the physical level, we use a delicious prasad.
And that also attracts them to Krishna. At the spiritual level, we have the highest philosophy. At the intellectual level, we have the highest philosophy.
At the spiritual level, we have the holy name. We have the kirtans. And at the emotional level, we should have the emotional sensitivity and love and care.
Of course, love and care, you ultimately want to give them a spiritual. But if we can help people remove their defensiveness, the suspicion that is there, and if we can give the people the conviction or the faith that we are among our well-wishers, that the devotees around me are my well-wishers, then preaching becomes much easier. If they feel that we love and care for them, then a big root of the philosophy can just enter into their brain and into their heart.
So, Shri Adham Maharaj is himself very spiritually expert in administering the pure philosophy along with very expert love and care. One of our devotees from IIT Kharagpur, he was trying to preach to his sister. And his sister was not ready to become.
She was not interested in chanting Vandana. And then somehow she was preaching for months and years. Just thinking, I hope one person will become the devotee and be so nice.
But she was not really very interested. She was hearing the philosophy, but she was not interested that way. She got some, she got some university call in America.
She went to America. And then we told her, okay, in America, he just found out the university where she was. So, she said, please go and attend the lecture.
So, when she went, then Maharaj, actually in America, there is a lot of Maya, but they have a lot of association also. In the sense that there are not so many devotees. So, when Maharaj came, Maharaj saw all the devotees, he greeted all of them and he smiled at them.
And then, next time she went to another place. She liked Maharaj very much. So, she came again.
And all this happened without this devotee contacting his sister. It happened in 3-4 days. And then she met Maharaj, Maharaj smiled at her, talked with her a few minutes.
And then after one week, she went to another place where Maharaj had come. And then another Mataji, who is Maharaj’s disciple, she met this Mataji before. And then she was trying to introduce Maharaj, her to Maharaj.
And then she took her to Maharaj and said, Maharaj, I wanted to introduce you to my friend. So, Maharaj looked at her and said, I wanted to introduce you to my friend. So, I have met her before, Maharaj.
And she was so overwhelmed by that. And then he asked her, he used to call his sister by phone. And he asked her, how are you meeting? And then finally, she was like, I have talked with her about chanting so much.
Should I ask her about chanting? He said, are you chanting? I started 16 drops. So, this is true. You don’t have to preach it.
But just a little love and care, it can transform so much. That’s why, we have the highest philosophy and we can learn this culture, this sensitivity. And that is also part of personal culture.
That is not something which we are just adapting to and impress or attract others. It is actually a part of Vaishnava’s makeup. It is sensitive to others.
And we not only want to hurt them, but we want to make people feel comfortable and happy on every level. Physically, emotionally as well as spiritually. So, when we do this, then people will actually be open to take this Haricharya Anuradha.
Then they will be open to hear and what happens when a person gets involved in chanting in the holy place and pass on the Lord. Then, rather than seeking happiness externally, suddenly it happens internally. In remembering the Lord, in glorifying the Lord.
And then, it is free from anxiety. So, Krishna Consciousness is not just a promise of happiness in the next life. It is a promise of happiness even in this life.
become happy even in this life by practising devotional service. And trying now to share the same culture of happiness with others. Sometimes the devotees say, I have so many problems.
I am not really happy. We have problems, but actually if we compare a person to a devotee, then the kind of problems he has. See, a materialistic person is like a person who is blindfolded and is being beaten.
You don’t know from where the next blow will come. And you don’t know where to counterattack. You just get beaten, beaten, beaten.
So, that beating is because of our past. But at least a devotee, he is also being beaten. But the blindfolded people, they understand they understand why I am suffering and what I should do to counter the suffering.
We know that if there is suffering in my life, I have to chant Hare Krishna. I have to become Krishna Conscious. But materialistic people, they don’t know anything.
They don’t know where the blow will come and how it will be. And they don’t even know what to do. So, relatively speaking, nobody can live free from his dream in this world.
But we can at least minimise the reality of how to counter the dream. And that we can share with others. So, I’ll summarise.
I’ll start first with how if a person is seeking happiness externally, then the result is anxiety, constant anxiety. So, materialistic people may not appear to be suffering. They may appear to be enjoying more than he wanted also.
But that is just the result of the wave of past karma taking them up. But the same wave will bring them down. So, what are they doing in the Vedas? They are using that to get into what is called the more and more sinful activities.
And then they will increase their apura chittana, suffer more and more. Therefore, a devotee being not misled by materialistic people, everybody needs Krishna Consciousness. And so, we try to bring them to Krishna in every possible way.
But unfortunately, people are like touch me not. They become suspicious and doubtful as soon as you give them Krishna Consciousness. So, we have to make them comfortable and secure so that the mind doesn’t remain defensive but becomes open.
And then the Krishna Consciousness philosophy can demolish all the misconceptions and free them from all doubts and help them come close to Krishna. And we see this in the life of, as we said, the Brajwasis, like Vishwa Brahmapada, like Paramahamsa Maharaj. How, when we show love and care, that helps people to take Krishna Consciousness much more easily than we otherwise.
And then I tend to take an incomplete to be right by Haricharya and Paramahamsa. During that, we may also have anxiety. But it’s anxiety for us because we also have faith in Krishna and we are working for Krishna.
So, anxiety increases our Krishna Consciousness. Whereas, that anxiety in the middle just causes them suffering. And as devotees, we may also have difficulties, we may have problems.
But it’s like a person at least who is blindfolded so we know why we are suffering and how to counter it. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Yes, when we say Jai, we are saying Jai for everyone other than ourselves. Actually, I have, me and secondary gurus are taking a lot of responsibility for this clan. Amazing.
I love it. Very wonderful. Thank you.