Pursuing our loudest desires is not freedom – pursuing our deepest desires is

[Youth meeting at Bhakti Bhavan, Melbourne, Australia]

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
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So when we equate freedom with fulfilling our loudest desires, loudest means those desires which call out with the greatest volume within us. But the loudest desires are not necessarily our deepest desires. The deepest desires are the desires that mean the most for us.
Whose fulfilment will give us the most satisfaction. Whose fulfilment will be our contribution. And quite often in the routine course of our life, we do not realise the difference between the deepest desires and the loudest desires.
So I will start with a few examples and say if we are going to meet someone and we are on a tight deadline. We have to reach an important meeting. Then if we are passing by a road and that road is a hotel which sells our favourite food.
And now if it is a very important and tight deadline, just look at the hotel but you won’t pay much attention. You just go by. But if you are just casually going out for a drive, no specific purpose, no urgency.
Then when we go by, we look at it. Oh, this hotel is there. Let me go and take it.
So we will go and take it over there. So psychologists say that there is a principle in human desire fulfilment which they call as propinquity. Propinquity basically means proximity or ease.
So for example, if I am passing by my favourite hotel and I find that it is very crowded. That means if I have to get my favourite delicacy, then I have to wait for 45 minutes. Then I will think, should I wait for 45 minutes, should I not wait.
Better forget it. Let me move on. Maybe some other time I will take it.
So when the desire just comes from the circumstance and if the circumstance presents some obstacle, forget it. But sometimes we may be somewhere else but we get the desire, I want to go and eat it. And even if it requires a one hour drive to go there and after that 45 minutes we have to wait in the queue.
Still we will wait because that desire is something which is there within us. So our desires may arise from the situation that we are in. And when they arise from that situation, I can get it, I want it.
If it’s too difficult to get it, forget it. So these are circumstantial desires. Circumstantial desires, they arise from the situation and if fulfilling them is easy, if fulfilling them does not require disruption of anything else in our life, we go ahead and fulfil them.
So just a few months ago I was in Silicon Valley in America. I spoke at Google. So there I was, I coded an experiment which was actually done in Google itself.
They found that because it’s mostly sedentary work, software, so they were having a lot of problem with many employees becoming very obese and the medical insurance bills of the employees was shooting up. So at the advice of some experts, they decided that in their cafeteria, whatever marshmallows and other sweet items were there, they were all there in transparent containers. So people would come in, see it and eat it, ask for it.
So the expert told them, just cover them with non-transparent paper. And when they covered it in non-transparent paper, they found that within 6 months, almost 35% of the sweet item sales went down. And actually that reflected in the better health of the employees, the increased health insurance.
So from their perspective, that was the purpose. But the point is that when the circumstance came, okay, this item is there, let me take it. The desire came and it was indulgent.
But when the temptation itself was not there, it was there but it was not visible. So that means sometimes the desire may come from within, sometimes the desire may come from without. Now when the desire comes from without, it is often a circumstantial desire.
And if it’s easy to fulfil, we fulfil it. If not, doesn’t matter. Somebody says, let’s go for a movie.
And you say, okay, let me go. But then you go and see, the movie is all house full and black. I don’t know whether they sell black over here also.
Do they? So in India they sell by black. So if the black cost is too much, forget it. No point at all, spending so much money.
So here, the point I am making is, we have circumstantial desires which arise from external situations. And we consider the cost in terms of money, in terms of time, in terms of how much it is going to disrupt our schedule. And based on that we decide whether we will fulfil it or not.
When the desire is coming from outside, we don’t immediately fulfil the desire. We consider the cost and then decide whether it’s worth it or not. Actually, we need the same discretion when the desire comes from inside.
Because everything that is inside me is not me. Everything that is inside me is not me. What this means is, we all have experience that sometimes we do things, we speak things and then we regret it.
Why did I do that? Some people, they just speak things. I didn’t want to speak that, you know, cover the mouth. But the words have already gone out.
I didn’t want to speak that. So, we all do some things which we regret afterwards. I shouldn’t have done that.
But at that time we felt like doing it. It was not that somebody forced us to do it. Something within us said do it and we did it.
So, if at that time I felt like doing it, now I’m not feeling like doing it. Now I’m asking why did I do that? Then what is happening here? There is some difference between the I who wanted to do it and the I who is asking why did you do it. So, the Bhagavad Gita explains that the I within from a functional perspective is not one I. One of the most intriguing and puzzling verses in the Bhagavad Gita is uddhare dātmanātmānam nātmānam avasādayet ātmaivaya ātmanobandhur ātmaivaripurātmanah It says, if you look at the literal translation, elevate the self with the self.
Don’t degrade the self with the self. Because the self is the friend of the self and the self is the enemy of the self. What is the self? So, what is Krishna saying actually over here? Krishna Prabhupada explains that the self, one ātmā here refers to the mind, other ātmā refers to the soul.
So, the mind is an agent or a force inside us which is largely a product of the impressions that we have cultivated in the past. And that mind keeps proposing things. So, a simple metaphor to understand the mind is like the software in the computer.
If we have visited a particular site repeatedly, then if say somebody has visited NY Times to look at news. And as soon as N is typed, immediately the browser will auto-complete NY Times. So, how does this happen? This happens because that’s the default which has come from the past choices.
So, just as the software auto-completes certain things, similarly our mind is like a software. And our mind has certain default tendencies. And these default tendencies are determined by our past impressions and especially by the past impressions which have become attachments.
So, hunger is a need or food is a need of the body. Hunger is a natural expression from the body of that need. But when I feel hungry, now what food do I desire? That will be.
So, hunger leads to food, a need for food, that indicates. But depending on say if I type N and I have been visiting news.iscon.com. So, in my browser, N will be completed as news.iscon.com. If somebody else has been visiting NY Times, there as soon as N is typed, there will be nytimes.com. If somebody has been in New Zealand, there will be nzherald. As soon as I type N, it will be completed as nzherald.
So, like that, for all of us, when we have the desire for food, if somebody is South Indian, as soon as food, idli sambar. Somebody is a Punjabi, paratha. Somebody is a Maharashtrian, vada pav.
All of us, somebody is maybe a fan of Italian food, maybe pizza. Different people, so the desire for food is the same. But which food is desired, that varies.
So, what determines this variation? This is the past default, which has been set in the mind by our past choices. Now sometimes, what the mind proposes may not be what we want to do. I may decide, I don’t want to eat this food because I got cough and this causes cough.
But if that is the food I have eaten repeatedly, that thought will come immediately in my mind. And when it comes immediately in my mind, unless I deselect it. I type N and Y times comes.
Unless I deselect it, it will be there. So, the point I am making here is that the desires that pop up from within, they are not necessarily our desires. Just like somebody says, come on, let’s go and eat this food over here.
Ok, we’ll consider, should I go, what all do I have to do? Should I do this, should I not do it? We’ll consider that. Similarly, we need to consider when some desire comes from within. Should I fulfil it, should I not fulfil it? That means we have to evaluate even what comes within.
Usually whatever comes within, we think it is my desire. But it is not necessarily our desire. It is simply a desire which is proposed by the mind.
And because the mind is inside us, we tend to identify whatever is inside us as us. And we identify with that desire as our desire. So, when Krishna is saying, elevate the self with the self, don’t degrade the self with the self.
For the self is the friend of the self and the self is the enemy of the self. What is meaning is that when the desires pop up within the mind, then at that time, choose those desires which will elevate. And avoid those desires that will degrade.
Because the mind can be the friend if it proposes elevating desires. And it will be the enemy if it proposes degrading desires. So, in this way, if I understand that everything inside me is not me.
This we can often see with respect to our emotions. Sometimes the same thing that I find irresistible today. I love my job, I love my career.
Tomorrow I find it unbearable. What kind of boss, what kind of colleague, such boring work. I don’t want to do this.
So, the mind goes through huge waves of oscillation. When it goes up, sometimes it’s at the crest. Everything is so wonderful.
It’s like we jump into the highest levels of ecstasy. But the next day it goes into a trough. Just don’t feel like getting out of bed also.
Just want to be here, forget everything else. So, these moods that come within us, they are also a result of the mind. And to the extent we identify with these moods, to the extent they gain control over us.
In the 14th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, in text 21, 22, 23, Krishna says that, He says that, प्रकाश, प्रवृत्ति and मोह. अध्वेश्ट संप्रवृत्तानि ननिवृत्तानि कांख्षति उदासीन वदासीन गुणैर्योन विचाल्यते गुणावर्तन्तित्येव योवतिष्ठतिनेखते So, he says that sometimes we feel, we feel very good. Sometimes we feel bored.
Sometimes we feel passionate, I have to do this, I have to do that. So, when these kind of desires come, he says just be an observer. Don’t identify with them.
अध्वेश्ट संप्रवृत्तानि When they come, don’t think, Oh, sometimes I want to study but I am feeling very bored. I don’t feel like studying. He says, okay, okay, I am feeling bored.
Rather than saying that I am feeling bored, Okay, boredom is an emotion that has come inside me. I observe it. I acknowledge it is there.
But that doesn’t mean I have to accept it. So, for example, sometimes on the door of our house, some unwanted visitor comes. Knock on the door.
Now, just because they are knocking on the door, does not mean that we have to entertain them. We may say that. I may say, if I am busy, we don’t open the door.
Knock, knock, knock or something, they will go away. So, Krishna says, we observe what emotions have come within. Observe them, but don’t act on them immediately.
Evaluate them. How do we do this? For this, we have to understand that I am beyond these emotions. उदासीन वदासीन गुड़योन विचाल्यते उदासीन उदासीन means detached.
There is a difference between being detached and being unconcerned. Being unconcerned means that one has no emotions involved with him. Being detached means one is not emotionally propelled.
So, in English there are two words, there is disinterested and uninterested. Disinterested means one has no particular vested interest. One is not going to take the side of someone.
Uninterested means one has no interest in anything at all. So, consider a cricket match. In a cricket match, the umpire needs to be disinterested, not uninterested.
The umpire should not favour this team or that team. He is disinterested. But, the match is about to start and then all the players appeal, how is that? And the umpire says, I dozed off.
No, an umpire cannot be uninterested. So, we have to be disinterested. So, उदासीन means disinterested.
So, Krishna is saying that, be a disinterested observer of the emotions. Okay, the emotions have come, acknowledge them and then evaluate them. Don’t act on them immediately.
How do we do this? When we understand that I am different from the emotions. कुणावर्तन्तित्येव योवतिष्टतिने इङ्गते When we understand that actually we are souls. We are spiritual beings who are different from the emotions that are coming upon us.
Those emotions are real. I am feeling those emotions right now. But, I am not those emotions.
I am different from those emotions. I am the observer of those emotions. I am the evaluator of those emotions.
And based on that I will decide whether to act on those emotions or not to act on those emotions. So, this, our being captivated by desires coming from outside or emotions coming from outside. This is very much something we are vulnerable to in today’s world.
Because today’s world is all about creating desires in people. One of the most prominent CEOs, founders of a company, he said that we can’t afford to wait till people desire what we want to give them. We can’t afford to wait.
We have to create the desires in people. So, the whole advertising industry in a large way is a desire creating industry. It’s a desire creating industry.
And many companies, many of these big corporate giants, nothing against them. This is just observation. But, for them, their promotion budget is more than their production budget.
How much they spend on promoting, that is much much more. And it’s so strange that sometimes there are pharmaceutical companies. They also have a huge promotion budget.
People are sick. They need the medicine, isn’t it? Why do you have to promote that? There are many sicknesses which are actually induced in people. Especially a lot of mental health issues.
There are some people who have mental health problems. It is the 1960s that as life started becoming slowly a little faster, that was the first time in 1960s that the whole concept of anti-depressant drug came up. And once it came up, there are some Hollywood stars who took it for the first time.
They called it tranquillizer. Makes me tranquil. They want to be tranquil so that they can make everyone passionate.
They want to make everyone agitated with their action, with their romance. For that, they want to be tranquil. So then, from there onwards it started.
And today, anti-depressant drugs are the single biggest category of drugs sold in the world. Now, yes, some people may have chronic depression. And they may need medication.
But, those are exceptional cases. In most cases, we have our routine ups and downs in life. There are fears, there are anxieties, there are troubles, we have losses, we face defeats.
Now, all these when you try to medicate them away, then it is basically something which is a created disease to fulfil the need to sell the medicine. There was an experiment done in, this was done by psychiatrists themselves, called Cracker. How psychiatry does more harm than good.
So, they did an experiment in UK. They had one person who was perfectly mentally healthy. He went to five different psychiatrists.
And he told symptoms which he did not have. I feel a lot of anxiety, I hear voices, I am not able to sleep at night. And the same set of symptoms he described.
And all five of them, based on those symptoms, they diagnosed him as having serious mental health problems. Now, that’s okay. But the real twist in the tale is, all five of them diagnosed him with five different mental health problems.
So, he had no mental health problem, but they diagnosed him and each of them separate diagnosis. Why is this? Because when it comes to mental health, there is no blood sample that you can take, there is no tangible bacteria or germ or microbe that we can find out. So, yes, again, if some people have serious chemical imbalances in the brain or some structural issues in the brain, then medication is required.
But in general, the nature of today’s world is that desires get triggered a lot. There are two forces which drive the mind wild. One is desire and the other is fear.
One is desire. Okay, I desire something. While the craving becomes very strong, then just go wild.
I want this. I want to get it at all costs, somehow or another. And the converse is fear.
What if this goes wrong? What if that goes wrong? What if that goes wrong? And both these forces, desire and fear, they are based on things that are outside us. I desire something that is outside me. I don’t know how I will get it.
I want to get it. And fear, what if this goes wrong? Both of these actually take that which is important for us and place it outside of us. And thus both of them agitate our mind.
See, every situation in our life, we need to feel that we have some sense of control. If we don’t have a sense of control, say for example, if we are going to catch a flight and then we have to reach in one hour, but the Google Maps is saying it will take 1 hour 15 minutes, then there is anxiety. Will I reach in time or not? So we want to have some control.
In any situation that we are in, we all know implicitly that we don’t have complete control. But we want to have some sense of control. Now the more we become dependent on things outside ourselves, the less control we have on ourselves.
There is always going to be things outside of our control and there will be some small things in our control. But the current materialistic world view, which increases our desires and corresponding with it increases our fears. This leads to the centre of our being being placed outside of us.
And that causes tremendous anxiety. And today’s world people define freedom in terms of being able to do whatever we feel like. Whatever desire comes in my mind, I should be able to fulfil it and that is freedom.
But is that really freedom? When we define freedom, I will talk about three different aspects of freedom. And then I will conclude by talking about how bhakti yoga practise gives us real freedom. There can be two kinds of freedom.
One is freedom for and the other is freedom from. Freedom for means I want to do this, I want to do that. Freedom from means I don’t have anything pushing me.
So if two students are staying in a hostel here and this is their college. And in between there is a bar. Now one of the students has never drunk.
He has no intention of drinking. The other student has drunk a few times. As soon as both the students pass by the bar, for the first student, there is no thought.
Just go to the class, do your studies and move on. But for the second student, as soon as he passes by, maybe I should take a drink. No, I’ve got to go to class.
No, I want to take a drink. Maybe I can take a drink and then go to class. The whole mind goes into that duality.
So here what has happened? You may think freedom in terms of I have freedom to drink. Freedom for drinking, I want it. That’s fine, you can have that freedom.
But there is another kind of freedom, freedom from. Somebody doesn’t have that desire only. They are free from that desire and they are free for doing something better.
So within us, a lot of desires that we consider to be our own desires. They are actually not our desires. They are desires that have just been induced from outside.
They are desires which are thrust on us from outside of us which we struggle to fulfil. And we struggle to fulfil. Even after fulfilling, we don’t get much satisfaction.
The result of pursuing, I may say this is my desire and I want to fulfil it. But you fulfil it if that desire is superficial. That desire is not really based on what we want for ourselves.
Then that desire’s fulfilment doesn’t lead to fulfilment for us. Rather, that desire’s fulfilment leads to aggravation of that desire. I want more.
But that desire never leads to fulfilment. Because there is a difference between fulfilment of the desire and fulfilment of the heart. I may have some desire, I want to eat this food.
I want to watch this movie. I want to go here. Okay, I may fulfil that desire.
But does that lead to fulfilment of the heart? Our heart will be fulfilled when we are fulfilling the desires that are at the core of our heart. That truly matter for us. In today’s world, we are bombarded with superficial desires.
And they prevent us from moving forward in our life constructively. Towards doing that which is truly meaningful for us. So when we practise spiritual life, the purpose of practising spiritual life is at one level to get the ability to process our desires.
To get the ability to decide which desire is worth fulfilling and which desire is worth neglecting. Otherwise, we’ll just get bombarded by hundreds and thousands of desires. आशापाश्यतेर्बद्धा कामक्रोधपरायणः इहन्ते कामभोगार्थम अन्यायन अर्थसंचेय आशापाश्यतेर्बद्धा This desire, that desire, that desire, I want to fulfil it.
But we just get bombed by those desires. When I was in America, I had gone to Arizona. There’s a university over there.
So one student has just become a devotee. He told me that his grandmother gave him an inheritance, like millions of dollars. Just young, teenager, he got a huge inheritance.
And that was a time when he just got into drugs. The huge inheritance he’s in pursuing drugs, just squandered it within one year. Not only did he lose the whole inheritance, but after that, he ended up in a de-addiction centre.
Somehow there he met devotees and now he’s recovered. The point was that we often think of freedom in three terms. First is, I want to fulfil my desire.
Nobody should stop me from fulfilling it. Second is, I need the facility to fulfil the desire. So one facility is money.
So now, if we have the resources to fulfil our desires, but we do not have the intelligence to know which desire to fulfil, which desire is worth fulfilling, then the resources to fulfil those desires can work against us. By those very resources, which are meant to give us happiness, we actually end up causing distress to ourselves. And this is, psychologists have found this most strikingly, with respect to time.
We all feel, I don’t have much time. I have very little time. But people want leisure.
Psychologists have observed that when people get fears, worries, when does that happen? It’s after they’ve done their work, when they’re having some leisure. During our leisure time, our mind works overtime. During our leisure time, when I’m supposed to be relaxed, now I’m going to enjoy life.
The mind is thinking, why did he say like that? Why did she look at me like that? What does that mean? What if this goes wrong? What if that happens? What if that happens? The mind starts imagining all sorts of things. So, we all feel that I don’t have enough time. But quite often, when we have spare time, that spare time is the time when actually our life becomes hellish.
Because the mind starts creating trouble for us. So, we need not just the facility to fulfil our desire, we need not just the resources to fulfil our desire, but we need the intelligence to understand which desires are truly worth fulfilling. And at our core, we are spiritual beings.
And as spiritual beings, as souls who are parts of Krishna, what will fulfil us is our connection with Krishna. The connection with Krishna does not mean that we have to become disconnected with everything else. Rather, it means we have to connect everything we have with Krishna.
It is only when we do this, that when whatever is attractive to us, whatever is important for us, we connect with Krishna, then that is when it gives us enduring meaning. It gives us enduring fulfilment. Because everything in the world is temporal, ultimately.
But we as souls are eternal. And a soul is a part of the whole of Krishna. And Krishna is eternal.
And the relationship between the soul and Krishna is what is eternal. So, the same mind which can trigger us with so much agitation, with this desire, this emotion, it can trigger us with tremendous agitation, unless we have the stability of a relationship with Krishna. We have many relationships in this world with others.
And we have a vertical relationship with Krishna. And whatever relationship we want to pursue, whatever emotions, whatever desires we have, when we have the stability of the vertical relationship, this is a steady, unchanging relationship. This helps us to see everything else in perspective.
The more things change in life, the more we need to hold on to the things that don’t change. The more things change, the more we need to hold on to the things that don’t change. And the one reality that doesn’t change is that we are souls who are parts of Krishna.
A few, couple of months ago, I gave a talk in Ohio State University. It was about the topic of fear. So there are, what are the top fears of people? So 18th century, 19th century, 20th century.
We found that there are two fears which have been added in the 21st century. One is the fear of terrorists and the other is the fear of rejection. You want to form relationships, and in the relationship, if I form a relationship and the other person rejects me, what will happen to me? It’s the fear of rejection.
So, in many cases, when relationships are formed without understanding what is truly important for me, then when the circumstantial emotions come up, then the relationships are formed at that time. Those relationships, they are formed based primarily on emotion. And that emotion is again the desire that speaks loudest.
So, the same two people, initially they say, I can’t live without you. And they are ready to fight with the whole world. I can’t live without you.
And after a few months, I can’t live with you. It’s become completely opposite. Why? Because it’s based on the emotion of the mind.
There can be initial attraction, but the important thing is, there has to be intention. And the intention has to go beyond whatever emotion is coming from outside. So, in 2015, first when I went to America, I spoke at Ohio State University.
And after that, one student came. I spoke on the topic of regulating our mental diet. It’s a vegetarian society.
And one American boy came and he told me, just before the class, he was contemplating suicide. So, he had been in a relationship with a girl, and that girl had broken up with him. And he said, I was shattered.
But I just saw, I was passing by, and as I was passing by, I was thinking about, I saw the poster of this programme. I thought, let me come and see this programme. Let me come and see.
He says, now I understood that actually it was not that I who wanted to commit suicide, it was my mind which was telling me, come, do this, do this. So, I told him, you understood the essence of the class. And I took him to Bhagavad Gita, told him to read it, connected him with the devotees there.
So, every year when I go, I meet him. This year when I had gone, he told me, the exact same thing happened to him again. He said, he had another relationship, and again, the same thing happened.
The girl sent him the text, that I am breaking up with you. And she went with some other boy. So, he said, as soon as he heard that, he just went straight to his room, closed the door, bolted it, closed all the windows.
And then, he is a good singer. So, he picked up his guitar and started chanting Hare Krishna. And he said, I was singing continuously for six hours, alone.
Nobody there. I alone was singing, I alone was repeating. He said, it was the deepest experience of my life.
I could actually feel the presence of Krishna. I could feel the joy, the love of Krishna at that time. He says, that which could have been the most painful experience for me otherwise, it became the most joyful experience.
So, here, what happened was, that there is a default impulse when the mind gets disturbed. We all have certain default reactions. And many of those default reactions are circumstantial.
Some people, when they get frustrated, they just say, there is no problem, no solution, doesn’t lie at the bottom of a bottle of wine. Drink and forget your problems. Some other people say, just, you know, just watch TV, forget everything.
Some people say, yes, they just go and maybe they go to a gym and start punching. And they imagine, who has made me angry, I am punching that person. So, some people just take a blanket and go to sleep.
And forget everything else. So, we all have different ways in which we try to cope with the situations that we face, the unpalatable situations. But, these circumstantial problems, if they can become the inspiration for us to go to our core, to go and take shelter of Krishna, then, those agree experiences can become the source, the sources of strength for us.
Life will break all of us, sometime or the other. But, if those blows of life, which break us, if they make us take shelter of Krishna, and we become devoted to Krishna, then, Krishna can not only heal the wounds, but actually, the broken parts are the parts we will become the strongest. Because we will have experienced how, through this situation, which would earlier have just traumatised me.
Now, I have gone through it, and I have survived. I have done reasonably well. That means there is something higher in life.
There is some other source of strength, which is boosting me. And, when we understand this, then that is what enables us to experience the power of spiritual knowledge, of spiritual practise, of our spiritual connection with Krishna. So, once we are rooted in our spiritual connection with Krishna, then either the circumstantial desires or the circumstantial fears, circumstances when they come externally, or internally from our mind, we won’t get carried away by them.
We will evaluate them objectively. We will decide, ok, does this make sense? Should I do this? Should I not do it? We will evaluate them with our intelligence. And thus, those desires, which are the most important for us, we will be able to perceive them.
Sometimes we will feel that, oh, just practising bhakti takes so much time. I don’t have time. Yes, none of us has time.
But then, although none of us has time, our mind takes the time of all of us. If I go to some, if I go to a class and I greet someone, as I enter the class, and a person just doesn’t look at me, they snub me. I get so angry.
How dare you snub me? And next one hour I’m sitting in the class, but revenge fantasies are going on in my head. Next time in public, in front of everyone, I’ll snub you. So what has happened, in my, as far as my schedule is concerned, that one hour I was in the class.
But in reality, I was not in the class. I was somewhere else. In our schedule, we have time for various activities.
But, we don’t schedule any time for the mind. Because the mind can take time from anywhere. In our schedule, do we have any worry time? Every evening, 6.15 to 6.45, that’s my worry time.
No, there’s no time like that. But, the mind keeps us worrying. So, if we simply think of our time in terms of activities, we will feel like, I’ve got so much to do, and if I have to practise bhakti, that’s one more thing to do.
How can I do it? But, actually bhakti is not just one more thing to do. Bhakti is the thing, which will enable us to do better all the things that we are doing. Because in whatever we are doing, our mind distracts us.
And, say I’m sitting in a class for one hour, but my mind has gone wild because of anger, then I didn’t hear anything that one hour. Then after that I’ll have to study that once again. So, that time will go.
So, if our mind is focused, a lot of our time will be saved. And, the process of bhakti yoga, what it does is, two things. First is, it awakens our intelligence, by which we start understanding what is important and what is not so important.
What is not so important? Just put it aside. Whether it is desire, whether it is fear, whether it is anger, whatever it is. We are able to discern, and we are able to put down that which is less important.
And secondly, our attraction itself changes. One is that the mind says something, come on, do this. But no, I’m not going to do this.
It’s not important for me. Second is, the mind stops proposing things. So, the mind itself changes.
By the practise of bhakti, the mind becomes purified. When the mind becomes purified, then it stops proposing unnecessary things. And then, tyaga shanti nandam, we get a deep level of peace, because the agitating desires, they are no longer there.
I was at a programme for Alcoholics Anonymous, and after that I was talking with one of the alcoholics. He said that, actually, at one point, so this was Alcoholics Anonymous combined with Hare Krishnas. So, Alcoholics Anonymous is basically, they call themselves non-denominational.
So, whichever religious faith you want to practise, you can practise that. But their common principle is, there is some higher power, which we need to take shelter of, to break free from the power of alcohol, which has consumed us. And this person who became a devotee, and he said that, it was, after I started chanting Hare Krishna, he said, I just chanted for about a week, and it was almost like a physical experience, although not physical, he said, suddenly, the craving for alcohol just disappeared.
It’s no longer there. It was, it is like, sometimes some people, if you are staying in a house, and there is a noisy neighbour, as soon as you wake up, the neighbour is shouting. In the middle of the night, the neighbour is shouting.
And we come home, and the first thing we hear is the shouting of the neighbour. Now, one day you wake up and find, the neighbour is not there. He says, this desire, has been there for me constantly, so constantly, come on, do this, do this, do this.
One day, it just disappeared. So, we all have many disruptive desires within us. That doesn’t mean all our desires have to be given up, but we all have disruptive desires.
So at one level, the process of bhakti uses the intelligence, by which to say no to disruptive desires. At another level, the process of bhakti purifies us, the disruptive desires disappear. And then, our mental life becomes so focused.
Whatever we do, because there are no disruptive desires, which are going to distract us so much, we can focus and do much, much more, in whatever time we have, in whatever resources we have. So, the process of bhakti, in that sense, will not take away our time. Although externally, it may appear that it is taking away our time, but internally, it will be helping us to save the time that is taken away by the mind.
By the mind’s stray desire, by the mind’s circumstantial emotions, by the mind’s situational worries. All those will go down. And thus, we will become more effective in whatever we do.
Actually, the process of bhakti is not just about connecting with Krishna. It is about connecting with Krishna and contributing in this world in the mood of connecting with Krishna. So, we have certain talents, we have certain abilities, we want to use them to the best of our capacity.
But, it is the mind which will keep sabotaging what we are doing. But when we are connected with Krishna, gradually, the disruptive desires in the mind disappear. And then, we can, materially and spiritually, that which is truly important for us, we will be able to do that.
So, the real freedom is the freedom to pursue our deepest desires, not our loudest desires. So, to recognise these loudest desires are not my desires, and to silence the loudest desires, so that, those desires that are truly important for us, they surface. And then we act on them.
That will bring real fulfilment in our life. Bhakti is the path to real freedom because it opens the path for us by which we can do the things that will provide us real fulfilment. Ultimately, the purpose of freedom is that we want satisfaction, we want fulfilment.
So, if we are free to pursue the desires whose fulfilment doesn’t bring us fulfilment, then that is not really freedom. It’s only when we become free to fulfil our deepest desires, those desires which bring us fulfilment, that is real freedom. And that freedom is provided by the practise of bhakti.
So, wherever we have the facility to practise bhakti, that is a precious gift. I travelled all over the world, and this sort of community where devotees can stay together, where devotees can stay close to a temple, where devotees can practise bhakti enthusiastically, this sort of facility is extremely rare. Without this kind of facility, practising bhakti is like swimming alone against a heavy current.
Now also, the materialistic society, current is there. But even in the ocean, there are different kinds of currents. There may be, say for example here, there is a current which is coming from the Indian Ocean, from India towards Australia.
It’s coming this way. The current is going from Australia towards New Zealand. One current may be going from, say, Australia towards Japan.
So, if those who are going by boat, mechanically, not a machine, not a machine, physically road mode, then it’s very important for them to catch the right current. If somebody wants to go towards Japan, and the current is coming towards Australia, it will be extremely difficult to go. Too much energy will be required.
And even with all that energy, they may not move much. So, if there is a current, which is moving in that direction, then if here the current is moving towards Australia, if here the current is moving towards Japan, it’s coming over here, then moving there will become much easier. Similarly, general current of the materialistic world is towards material things, towards away from Krishna, towards making our loudest desire louder still.
But, if there is an association of devotees, that is where the current of bhakti is there. And if we just place ourselves in that current, we will find moving much, much easier. So, practising bhakti, anywhere requires determination.
But, practising bhakti in the association of devotees requires lesser, is with lesser opposition. And thus, with the same determination, we can cover greater distance. We can make greater advancement.
So, that facility where it is there, it’s a great opportunity. And all of you are blessed to have this opportunity. And I am happy to have the opportunity with all of you, and to share some of the principles of bhakti, which I talk about all over the world.
But, even while talking, I know that many people don’t have the facility to practise it. So, it all depends on their individual initiative. But, where the facility to practise is there, it’s a great blessing.
So, it is said that Krishna’s greatest blessing is to give us the opportunity for spiritual association. And our greatest intelligence is to use that opportunity. To the extent we use that opportunity, to the extent we will become spiritually enriched and fulfilled.
So, I’ll summarise what I spoke. I spoke about how pursuing our loudest desires is not freedom. Pursuing our deepest desires is.
I started by talking about how many desires are circumstantial. I go by a hotel and say, let me eat this. And circumstantial desires we fulfil depending on how much we evaluate the cost.
The time, the money, the other things I get distracted from. But, just as we evaluate our circumstantial desires, we need to evaluate the desires that come from within us also. Everything inside me is not me.
The mind is like a software programme which is there. It’s my computer, so it will give some default results of search based on past searches. It’s not necessary that every time that default result is coming, that’s the site I want to visit.
So, every desire that comes within us is not our desire. To distance ourselves from this, the desire that comes within us, we need to become the observers of our consciousness. So, we need to be disinterested, not uninterested.
We acknowledge the emotions that come, but then we evaluate. And this happens when we situate ourselves in spiritual self-understanding that I am a soul, I am a part of Krishna. In today’s world, in the advertising industry, there is huge propaganda to create desires within us and to get those desires to scream louder and louder.
So that, we become agitated. So, the mind becomes agitated because of desire and fear. And quite often, today they attempt to deal with mental problems which come from desire and fear through medication.
That is simply a tool for exploiting. So, unless there are structural or chemical imbalances, then the mental health problems need to be dealt by purifying our mind. So, purifying our mind means understanding which desires are superficial and which desires are central.
So, the process of Bhakti Yoga, it basically helps us to understand ourselves, understand our desires, which are peripheral, which are central. So, firstly, Bhakti gives us the intelligence by which we can reject the lower desires. And gradually, it transforms us so that the lower desires stop coming.
And when this happens, our default instincts itself change. Just as we have default desires that we try to fulfil for pleasure, we have default ways in which we seek relief when we have problems. Somebody may drink, somebody may watch TV, somebody may go to sleep, somebody may binge and eat.
Different people do different things. So, I talk about a student who was suicidal at one point and a breakup came up and next time, he became absorbed in Krishna. The default changed.
The process of Bhakti changes. First, it raises our intelligence and then changes our taste. And that way, it empowers us from within.
It doesn’t take our time. It saves the time that is taken by our mind. And by practising Bhakti Yoga diligently, we understand what our deepest desires are.
And materially and spiritually, we can channel our energies for doing that which will bring us fulfilment. And not just pursue desires whose fulfilment does not bring us fulfilment. That’s why the freedom to pursue the desires that bring fulfilment, that is real freedom.
And that is provided by the practise of Bhakti. And where the association is available to practise Bhakti, that is where the current is easier going towards Krishna. And that is a gift from Krishna and taking it, taking that gift, that blessing is our intelligence.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Are there any questions or comments? You have given me some questions.
Are they with you? If anyone wants to ask orally also, that’s also fine. Okay. I’m attracted… I’m attracted to spend time on watching every detail about my favourite actress.
Can you please suggest how I can overcome this subtle addiction? Is it a subtle addiction? There’s a natural attraction of the human heart and the human eyes to beauty. That attraction itself is not unnatural and that attraction itself is not undesirable. But there is a way in which it is fulfilled in a healthy way.
I was at a university and sometimes people have provocative captions on their t-shirts. So this student had a caption, 90% of the world’s women are beautiful. The remaining 10% are in my college.
What it meant was that actually we see in the media all doctored images, made up images and people look extremely attractive over there. And as compared to that, when we look in real life, nobody is that attractive. Now this is simply a way in which dissatisfaction is created within us.
So the… Krishna Prabhupada writes in the 17th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, text 16, purport that satisfaction is not just an emotion. Satisfaction is also a decision. I’m paraphrasing what he says.
Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that satisfaction is an austerity of the mind. What that means is the more we contemplate on sense objects, the more our mind gets agitated. It doesn’t lead to satisfaction, it leads to dissatisfaction.
But the more we contemplate on those objects, whichever it may be, it may not be form, it can be anything else, whatever it is that we contemplate on, our agitation increases more and more. And when the agitation increases more and more, no matter what we have, we will not be satisfied. Satisfaction will come not just by acquiring what we desire.
Satisfaction will come only when we appreciate what we have. Even if I acquire something that I desire, the world is always going to show me other attractive things. And then I’ll keep desiring that, keep desiring that, keep desiring that.
They say the problem with the rat race is that even if you win the rat race, still you remain a rat. That means, see, in any situation I am in, there are certain things which I have and certain things which I don’t have. If I’m going to look at what I don’t have, I’ll be dissatisfied.
If I look at what I have, I’ll be satisfied. Now, I may think, you know, I don’t have this. When I get that, I’ll become satisfied.
Yes, hypothetically it seems right. I don’t have it because I’m dissatisfied. Once I get it, I’ll be satisfied.
But the problem is not just what we have. When we keep looking at the things which we don’t have, that itself becomes a habit. And no matter how much I have, my mind will look at what I don’t have and I’ll become dissatisfied.
So we need to consciously cultivate the habit of looking at what we have and therein cultivate satisfaction. Say, suppose we have prasad after this programme. Don’t suppose, I think prasad is there.
But suppose there is a special kind of prasadam arrangement that everybody is going to get different items. So, what is in your plate is different from my plate, is different from what is in her plate. Now, I have got delicacies in my plate.
But if I start looking, oh, he has got that. Oh, he has got that. Oh, she has got that.
Now, as I keep looking at what is there in everyone else’s plate, even if there is a feast in my plate, I’ll be dissatisfied. Why? Because I am not looking at what I have. So, satisfaction can come only when we learn to focus on what we have and appreciate that.
That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to acquire more. But if we think that acquisition will give us satisfaction, that is an illusion. The satisfaction will come only by the change of disposition.
Just by acquisition, oh, I get the best car. By the time I get the best car, what happens is some other car has come which is looking better. And that will be a perpetual dissatisfaction.
Oscar Wilde, who is a British playwright, he said, that fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to change it every six months. So, what is considered fashionable today, after six months, it’s old-fashioned. And for a person who prides themselves on being fashionable, there is no insult more painful than being called old-fashioned.
It’s intolerable. So, in a culture where attractive objects are paraded before us from various sides, unless we learn to focus on what we have, we will never know satisfaction. So, irrespective of specifically which desires we pursue or which desires we resist, the important principle is that we need to recognise that if at all we are ever to get satisfaction, we need to change our disposition and focus on what we have.
So, how to be materially successful while following Krishna Consciousness? By following Krishna Consciousness as it is and not by following Krishna Consciousness as our mind says it is. What that means, many times in India, I used to go to colleges and do programmes and give some mentoring to students. Many students, just before the exams, they fall in love with Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Throughout the semester, sometimes they’ll come for programmes, sometimes they’ll not come for programmes. But when the preparatory leave is going on, they’ll tell, you know, studies, they’re all mundane. They’re all temporary.
I’m a soul. I just want to love Krishna. So, why should I study these books? I’ll just study Ramayana and Mahabharata.
So, what has happened here is, the mind is looking for the path of least resistance. And then, our Krishna Bhakti seems to be the path of lesser resistance than our academic studies. So, the mind chooses that.
But then, the same students will read some philosophical books afterwards. So, Krishna Consciousness is a path where we want to offer our entire being to Krishna. And that means, even our material talents, even our material abilities.
It is said that what we have is Krishna’s gift to us. What we become is our gift to Krishna. So, the talents that we have, the abilities that we have, the interests that we have, they are given to us by Krishna.
And we are meant to use them in His service. So, if we think of Krishna Consciousness only in terms that, Oh, I come to the temple, I associate with devotees, I chant, I dance, all that is good. But Krishna Consciousness is not only that.
These activities are meant to infuse Krishna Consciousness within us. And that consciousness is meant to be carried to all the aspects of our life. So, when a devotee does studies, when a devotee does one’s job, a devotee wants to do it in the best possible way.
But not for one’s own ego. I want to be the number one. No.
A devotee wants to do it for the service of Krishna. For example, I was in a university in India. So, one student asked me, How can I make my friends into devotees? I told him, by studying nicely.
If you study well, there is no guarantee that your friends will become devotees. But if you study poorly, there is a guarantee that your friends will never become devotees. Why? Because we have to understand that our spiritual life and our material life are not separated entirely.
Both are meant for the service of Krishna. So, first is, in terms of attitude, that even in the material world, I want to do my best. And I do the best for the sake of Krishna.
For pleasing Krishna, for serving Krishna, for attracting others to Krishna, for creating a sustainable material future for myself, where I can serve Krishna more. Behind financial security, behind social security, whatever it is. So, we re-envision our whole life as a service to Krishna.
Now, as I said earlier, sometimes it may appear that Krishna Consciousness takes so much time that I don’t have time to pursue my material life and material career. That is not exactly true. Because as I said, Krishna Consciousness saves the time which is otherwise taken away by our mind.
That’s one point. Second point is that with respect to the practise of Krishna Consciousness, we need to learn the art of dynamic balance. Dynamic balance means that there are times in our life when we will need to focus more attention on our material life.
When we have project deadline, we have an exam, we have an urgent family meeting, we should focus that time on that wholeheartedly. And when there is some opportunity for spiritual association, there is some festival, that time we spend more time on Krishna. So, if we use our intelligence properly, we will be able to know where to focus when.
Shri Prabhupada writes in the 10th chapter Bhagavad Gita Parapur, that intelligence means to see things in their proper perspective. So, our nature of the mind is that it sees things out of perspective. The mind says this is important means this only is important and everything else, no, send it into the trash bin.
And after sometime, hey no, why did I send it into the trash bin? It is very important. Then what I consider very important, send that into the trash bin. And take this up.
So, we, if we have overall perspective of things, then we will be able to adjust. When I should focus more on my material life, when I should focus more on my spiritual life. That inclusion balance we can get.
And we adjust. If I am travelling somewhere, then if there is traffic, I will go slowly. If traffic clears, I will go fast.
Sometimes, when we want to do something, traffic may become more, so we go slowly at that time. In our life, I am talking about traffic in terms of activities. Later on we go faster.
So, that balance, it is very important to get that. And often, as I said, started by saying this answer that if we understand and practise Krishna Consciousness as it is, not as our mind imagines it to be, then we can actually be focused and successful both materially and spiritually. So, for that we need some guidance often from some seniors.
If we get that, then that balance will come. Yes. You gave example of the guy who was suicidal.
The intensity increases on Krishna Consciousness when there is misery or any problem, right? And after that, it goes down. And I know that it is a temporary happiness, whatever you call. You don’t want to wait for another misery to be another intensity.
So, how do you keep that intensity going? Okay. So, the intensity in bhakti sometimes comes because of some distress we face. But when the distress goes away, the intensity also goes away.
Yeah, so what to do? Well, there is circumstantial bhakti, there is intentional bhakti and there is transcendental bhakti. So, circumstantial bhakti means because the circumstances are there, that’s why I am practising bhakti. Circumstances can be like, oh, there is so much trouble.
Krishna, I have no shelter except you. Or there are lot of devotees who are doing, oh, it’s so nice, let me also do it. Circumstantial.
It’s largely dependent only on circumstances. It’s good, at least in the circumstances we are coming to Krishna. So many people can go in so many other directions.
But at a particular time, from the circumstantial, we have to move towards the intentional. Intentional means I am going to do this because this is important for me. Because by my intelligence I have understood why this is important for me.
That comes through philosophical understanding. Jiva Goswami is one of our prominent acharyas. He says that actually for the very advanced devotees, they stay on the spiritual platform because of their priti.
They have so much attraction towards Krishna. So they are at the level of transcendental bhakti. What happens in circumstances, it doesn’t matter to them.
They are absorbed in Krishna. But he says for us, for those who are sadhakas, what keeps them on the spiritual platform is not priti. It is buddhi.
It’s intelligence. So with our intelligence, we have to cultivate the conscious intention to practise bhakti. And that intention can be strengthened by association.
That intention can be strengthened by intellectual conviction, by studying scriptures, hearing classes. That intention can be strengthened by taking up some practical engagement which gives us a sense of contribution. Yes, I am doing something here.
So we have to find out how that intention can be strengthened through positive impetus, not just the negative impetus. And to the extent we solidify that intention, then that intention will keep us intense even if the circumstances are not necessarily impelling us to practise bhakti. Thank you.
Any other questions? Oh, there are too many questions here. So the question is, if we have to evaluate our emotions, then is it that somebody who can evaluate our emotions, then for them to control the senses is also easy? Or are they different? It depends on how closely the emotions and the desires are connected with each other. Or rather emotions and the senses which are kindling those emotions are connected with each other.
Usually our emotions come, are associated with our senses. I desire to eat something, I see something, I want to eat it, I want to watch this. So then that’s how it creates some emotions.
In general, controlling the mind is much more difficult than controlling the senses. Sometimes I may be agitated, but I may decide I’m not going to do it. But to not get agitated itself, that requires much more advancement.
That’s why I said the first thing that happens when we practise bhakti is the intelligence becomes awakened. The intelligence becomes awakened means I understand, this desire will be there, this desire will be loud, but it’s not an important desire. So I will not fulfil it.
But when the mind gets controlled, that means at that point the desire stops screaming itself. That’s a much deeper stage. So if somebody can evaluate the emotions and process the emotions, then naturally that means that the senses which are at a lower level, they will be able to process the senses and control them also naturally, much more easily.
There are two different questions here. How do I maintain my relationships with people who are materialistic? You see, the word materialistic can be a very value-judgemental word. And if we become judgemental towards anyone, we can’t maintain a relationship with them.
If we are looking down on people, if we are labelling them. So what we have to see is, not just materialistic, within materialistic also there is a mode of goodness, there is a mode of passion, there is a mode of ignorance. There are some people who are pro-devotional, there are some people who are just non-devotional, there are some people who are anti-devotional.
Some people say, okay, you do what you want to do, but don’t force it on me. Some people say, okay, you do what you are doing, please tell me about it. Some people may be, you are doing it, stop it right now! So this is non-devotional, pro-devotional and anti-devotional.
So now, these three different categories of people, we’ll have to find out how to deal with them. If it’s pro-devotional, it’s not so difficult because we are practising bhakti and we can share the bhakti according to how much there is in it. Non-devotional, we have to understand that everybody is at different stage of spiritual evolution.
So there is no need for us to impose bhakti on them. It’s not that if they are not interested in bhakti, that doesn’t necessarily make them bad. It just means that they are not ready right now.
So if people don’t know about Krishna, that is our problem. If people don’t choose Krishna, then that is between them and Krishna. So Krishna will guide them.
So we can share it with them initially. If they show no interest, we just stop it. Then we can relate with them at whatever other level, if they are our relatives, they are our friends, they are our colleagues.
Whatever relationship is appropriate, just maintain that and don’t try to impose Krishna bhakti on them. If somebody is anti-devotional, then we’ll have to see how to deal with them. If they are aggressively, constantly anti-devotional, then we may have to create a distance.
This is what I am going to live. This is how I am living. These are my principles.
And I am not going to change them just because you want me to change them. But sometimes when a little distance is created, that person understands that you are not going to change. Then we just stop it.
And then we can work at a functional level with them. But if somebody is anti-devotional and then we bend to them, then what is happening? Then in order to maintain that relationship, we are giving up our relationship with Krishna. The ideal situation is when the temporary and the eternal relationships, the material and the spiritual relationships go together.
When they don’t go together, then we, first, there is still synergy in the relationships. There is no synergy, then there is cooperation. There is no cooperation, at least there should be coexistence.
So, cooperation means both are working together. You live, I live, Jio or Jinello. Like that.
So, we have to find out what modality works for those relationships. And if we are objective and non-judgemental, we can process them and we can move forwards. How can I have an entertaining life while following spiritual life? There are different, again, when we talk about entertainment, there are different kinds of entertainments.
There are entertainments in goodness, there are entertainments in passion, there are entertainments in ignorance. Most of what people call as entertainment in today’s world is actually not so much entertainment as it is escape from boredom. Now, what a society values can be understood in one way by seeing what a society pays for the most.
So, in today’s world, who are the most, who are the category of people who are paid the most? Sorry? Yeah. Sports persons, comedians, actors, yeah. Basically entertainers.
A doctor who can heal a broken leg is paid one-tenth of someone who can kick with a leg. Entertainment has always been a part of human life. But the compulsiveness, the obsessiveness with which people seek entertainment in today’s world, that is unprecedented.
Sports is fine. Actually, playing sports is better than watching sports. At least there is some exercise.
But okay, you want to entertain and watch sports. But that kind of obsessiveness, there are sports fans who go on the riot if their favourite team starts losing. There are sports fans who commit suicide if their favourite team loses.
So, why this obsession? That obsession is because real life is so boring. Real life as we live it is so boring for most people. They want entertainment as a way to escape from the emptiness of life.
This emptiness has become so pervasive, so deep that people are ready to pay phenomenal amounts of money just to get an escape from it. Just to get an escape, they are paying huge amounts of money. So, yes, we may feel, no, there is so much entertainment out there and I am missing out on that entertainment.
Okay, that’s one way of looking at it. Another way is, why is there such mania about entertainment? That is because people are not going to entertainment to get entertainment, to get entertained. They are actually going there to forget the emptiness and the pointlessness of their lives.
And forgetting that is simply a painkiller. It’s like I have a disease and when I have the disease, I don’t know what the medicine is. I just take painkiller.
And okay, the painkiller works for some time but the disease is worsening and I need a stronger dose of painkiller. Then again I continue and I need a stronger dose of painkiller. In India, there are two prominent painkillers.
One is Bollywood and the second is cricket. And if you see, from 1950s, 1960s, even 1970s to 2000, 2010, the dosage of the painkiller is increasing. The violence in the movies is much, much more now.
In cricket, if you see, earlier we had 5-day cricket. Then we had test matches, then we had 1-day cricket. Then we have T20.
And then I think about 10 years ago, these two painkillers, Bollywood and cricket, they got married. And they produced a child named IPL. So, basically, actually the amount of money that is spent on IPL every year is more than the money that is needed to feed all the starving people in India throughout the year.
This is the magnitude. I have got nothing against cricket or Bollywood per se. That is not the point which I am making.
Entertainment is fine where it goes. But when entertainment is used as a painkiller to cover up the disease that is there, the emptiness and the pointlessness of life, that becomes very destructive. So, rather than feeling that I am missing out on the entertainment, why is this compulsive need for entertainment there? Because the heart is empty.
And the heart can be truly fulfilled not just by some entertainment. The cure for the disease of the empty heart is actually a heart that is filled with the presence of Krishna. So, the practise of bhakti is what will actually bring fulfilment.
Now, while practising bhakti, depending on, when you go to a doctor, the main thing the doctor gives is the medicine, the curative medicine. And then depending on the particular amount of disease, the kind of disease the patient has, the patient may be also given some painkiller. The painkiller should never be the main course, main treatment.
The curative medicine is the main treatment along with the painkiller can be taken. As is appropriately needed for the doctor. And the doctor may not even prescribe.
When you feel the pain, you take the medicine. So, it’s up to them. So, we all may have different levels of need for entertainment.
But if entertainment becomes our main source of dealing with life, then we are not dealing with life actually. We are going deeper into the illusion of life. So, in bhakti there are different kinds of entertainments available.
We can learn music, we can learn dancing, we can learn various activities. And then along with bhakti, there is pro-devotional, non-devotional, anti-devotional. So, you want to avoid the anti-devotional forms of entertainment.
Pro-devotional forms of entertainment, if you want something, if you have some interest in something, which is some general knowledge, something which is not going against the principles of bhakti, that is also fine. So, entertainment is something which is like a painkiller and that has to be taken in moderation. But the real thing which entertainment promises to fulfil, it doesn’t fulfil.
That is the emptiness of the heart. And that can be fulfilled only by the practise of Krishna Bhakti. Okay, I think I answered this question.
I heard that watching movies spoils the mind, but I can’t give it up. What should I do? Actually, as I said, if you understand what is the need that is being fulfilled, or that is being promised to be fulfilled, and see if that need can be fulfilled in some other way. We have a particular desire, but more important than that is, what is the need? Is it loneliness? Is it companionship? Is it just relief from boredom? Is it just going out for somewhere? So, we all have certain valid needs, but depending on the way the mind is conditioned, that valid need, we try to fulfil it often in ways that are not so beneficial.
So, if you look at what that valid need is, and see that if it’s loneliness, then is there some other way I can bond myself? If it’s boredom, then how can I address that boredom in a more healthy way? You can find that out and that’s how we can deal with it practically. Okay, this is interesting. Please let me know till what time we should conclude.
All of them? No, I’m okay. I don’t know for all of them. Okay.
How can I stop myself from comparing with people who are not following any spiritual life, but they are much more happy in their life? Yeah, this can become quite difficult because we say we are practising spiritual life to be happy. But if somebody else seems to be happier, there are two different things over here. One is that the purpose of spiritual life and the process of spiritual life.
In spiritual life, at the end, when you become purified, and connected with Krishna, we will be supremely, eternally happy. But right now, we are all in a diseased condition. All of this material world is like a hospital and everybody has disease.
Now, while we are diseased, there are some people who are very acutely diseased, some people who are not so acutely diseased. Everybody is diseased, but sometimes some diseases, they have a high phase, sometimes they don’t have such a high phase. So, sometimes it may be that people who are not practising Krishna bhakti, they may be going through a phase in their life, where based on the past good karma that they have done, they are related in a comfortable situation.
And that’s why they appear to be happy. So, it’s not that we have to say that they are not happy. They can be happy, but it is temporary.
The result of the past karma which they have, and whatever actions they are doing right now, that is providing some happiness, but that’s not going to last forever. On the other hand, we may be right now going through a phase, where some bad karma is going through, so we may be having some problems right now. But the more important thing is, if a person is in a hospital, and that person is sick, and there are two people, one is in greater pain because the sickness is in an acute phase, the other is in not much pain, because the sickness is not in an acute phase.
But, suppose the first person, the disease has been diagnosed, and the treatment has been prescribed. For the second person, the disease has not been diagnosed, and no treatment has been prescribed. Then, at present, the second person may be happier.
But, in the long run, it is the first person who is going to be happier. So, for us as devotees, our disease has been diagnosed, and the treatment has been prescribed. So, while the disease is there, some pain may still be there.
But if we are taking the treatment, we will be treated, and we will be cured. So therefore, we have to have patience. Vishwa Topal would say, chant Hare Krishna, and be happy.
Is this one instruction, or is this two instructions? Is it, by chanting Hare Krishna, I will become happy? Or should we chant Hare Krishna and be happy? They are both. There is a verse in the Bhagavatam, 1 to 22, which says that, अतवाई कवयो नित्यम् भक्तिम् परमयामुदः वासुदेवे भगवति कुर्वन्ति आत्मप्रसादे It says that, that’s why the great sages, अतवाई कवयो नित्यम्, the wise sages, they constantly practise joyfully the process of bhakti. कवयो नित्यम् भक्तिम् परमयामुदः They practise bhakti with great joy.
वासुदेवे भगवति, under Lord Vasudeva, कुर्वन्ति, this process of bhakti they practise, what happens by that? आत्मप्रसादे That which will bring joy to the heart. So, if we look at the translation, if I focus on the point is, they joyfully practise the process that brings joy. Now, so, is joy something that comes at the end of the process? Or is joy something which we bring to the process? It is both.
It is, that when we become healed of our mental attachments, when we become spiritually attached to Krishna, at that time joy will be constant. But right now, like earlier I said if a patient is sick, and has been sick for a long time, just the fact that now I have got a treatment that works, that itself is a source of joy. My disease has not gone till now.
But, just getting the treatment that itself is such a big relief. If some of you have had some disease which is sick for a long time but nobody is able to diagnose. At one time I was in 2002, 2003, I was sick for one and a half years, going from this doctor to that doctor, that doctor.
Nobody is able to diagnose what the problem is. Finally, I went to a doctor and this doctor, he wrote in the diagrams, P-U-O. I said, what exactly is something to diagnose? At last I found out.
I asked, what is the diagnosis? He said, no diagnosis. I said, P-U-O. P-U-O is Pyroxia of unknown origin.
Pyroxia is fever. Fear, whose cause we don’t know. So, that I also know.
So, if you don’t know the disease, it’s just so miserable. So, after one and a half years, they diagnosed that I had TB. It took one and a half more years to cure the TB.
By that time, incomes were advanced. But still, because the treatment was there, there’s a relief. I know.
This has been diagnosed, it’s been treated, and I can see I have TB. So, we needn’t fragment the present from the process. If we fragment the present from the process, then we will feel that, oh, so many other people are happier than what I am.
But if we see the process, and we understand that, we can be grateful that, I can be grateful and joyful that I have the process of recovery, I have the process of treatment, and by this, I will become joyful in new course. Sometimes I find that devotee life is boring, and I mingle with less serious devotees. How do I stop it? Yes.
Boredom is something which is a more serious problem than starvation. No, I am not joking. It’s serious because, as I said, to relieve boredom, people are ready to spend more money than what they are ready to spend to relieve starvation.
So, of course, boredom comes from various reasons. One is that, what we are doing is not interesting, or we are not interested in what we are doing. So now, at our level, sometimes our mind wavers, and we don’t find Krishna Bhakti very interesting.
And other times, it may be just that, whatever is going on is not very relevant for us, or we feel it’s not very relevant for us. So, for us to have sustainable taste in Bhakti, if we consider, say, this is the circle of Krishna Bhakti, and this is the circle of things that interest me, we have to find what is the intersection. There will be some things which are not intersecting, some things which interest me, which I may have to give up for the practise of Krishna Bhakti.
But, there are some things which fall in an intersection. So, for some of us, it may be music. For some of us, it may be cooking.
Some of us, it may be going out and dancing in kirtans, distributing books. For some of us, it may be just understanding the philosophy. Or, we may have some specific talents.
Somebody likes to do some photoshop design, and you do that for Krishna. Somebody likes to do video processing, and they make videos for Krishna. I was in America, there was one devotee’s child, he was brilliant in robotics.
He just filed a half, and he had won a state-level award for making a robot. But, he had no interest in Krishna Bhakti. I mean, not filed a half, but he ate it a half.
So, ate it a half. He had no interest in Krishna Bhakti. So, the parents were asking him, he is so awake whole night, to do a robot, to make something with a robot, to read books about it, to watch videos and make something.
But, he had no interest in going to the temple. So, what can we do? So, then I told him that he can make a robot of Krishna and Arjuna having the discussion of Bhagavad Gita. So, he heard about it, first he said no, then he thought about it, he said, you know, everybody is making different projects, but nobody is doing anything like this.
Then, in order to make the robot, he started reading the Bhagavad Gita. He became interested in it. And now, he is actually working on that project quite seriously.
Studying the Bhagavad Gita and getting the robot to speak Sanskrit verses, and to speak the translations. So, what we have to do is, we have to just be a little more creative to find out what our circle of interest is and where it intersects with the circle of Krishna Bhakti. So, we shouldn’t think that Krishna Bhakti is just some stereotype activity.
There is a lot that we can do in Krishna Bhakti. And if we have this inclusive understanding, then we can find out how we can stay, address the issue of boredom while still staying within the precincts of Krishna Bhakti. Yeah.
How to overcome lusty desires even after following the regulative principles? Yeah, it’s quite difficult. I’d say there are broadly three steps. When I say this, it’s not that I am sitting on a high pedestal and saying that I won the war.
Nobody, as long as in the material world, they can say they won the war. Everybody is fighting. But these are three broad principles.
One is restriction, sorry, one is redirection, restriction and reconstruction. I’ll explain what I mean by this. If the water, if say I have a floor which is inclined in a particular way, then as soon as water falls on that, water is going to flow in that direction.
So, if I just decide, I don’t want the water to flow in this direction, then my decision is of no use. The water is going to flow in that direction. It’s because the floor is inclined in that way.
Similarly, for us, our mental floor is inclined in particular ways. So, when the mental floor is inclined in that way, say in youth, naturally, the particular kind of desires are strong. So, when the mental floor is inclined in that way, the thoughts and the desires will automatically flow in that direction.
So, if I don’t want the water to flow in that direction, what do I do? I have to push the water back in the other direction. That is redirection. Redirection.
Water is going this way, push it back. Push it back in that direction. So, when the thoughts go in some unwanted direction, we have to pull the thoughts back.
That is just the first step. And we cannot keep doing this all the time. But this is the first step.
Second is that restriction. If the water is going in this direction, then just create some small wall over there so that the water doesn’t flow in that direction. So, if we find that there are particular things that trigger our desires, then try to minimise the exposure.
So, we can’t close our eyes and function in the world. But it’s important that we stay aware of our triggers and either stay away from them or minimise the contact with them. So, it’s important that we never go into the blaming mode.
In the Bhagavad Gita, when Krishna talks about lust, he analyses where it is situated. And he says, इन्द्रियाणि मनोऽपुद्धिर अस्याधिष्टानमुच्छते एतैर्विमोह यतेशं ज्यानमावुद्धिदेना He says, lust is situated in the senses, the mind and the intelligence. So, he doesn’t say lust is situated in the sense objects.
So, we can’t blame anyone else for getting agitated. But, when we don’t want to blame anyone else, if certain stimuli agitate us, then without blaming those stimuli, we can create a safe distance, in whatever way is practical for us. So, that is the restriction.
So, the third step is reconstruction. Reconstruction is, if I don’t water the flow this way, I have to reconstruct the flow, so the water flows in another direction. That reconstruction is what happens by the gradual purification that comes with the practise of bhakti.
By that, as we keep practising bhakti, our mind will become more and more inclined towards Krishna. And then, when we need pleasure, we are innately pleasure-seeking creatures. So, when we need pleasure, right now our mind has associated pleasure with a particular thing.
And that’s why the water flows in that direction. Our thoughts go in that direction when we want pleasure. But, as we keep practising bhakti and get purified, then gradually the mind will get inclined towards Krishna and whenever we need pleasure, we’ll think about Krishna.
We’ll do some devotional activity. We’ll look at a picture of Krishna. We’ll chant names of Krishna.
And we will connect with Krishna and get that pleasure thereby. So, for us, in our particular situation, the redirection, the restriction, and the reconstruction, the three broad steps that are required, and specifically how we do it, that we’ll have to use our God-given intelligence to decide it. But, more important than controlling lusty desires or overcoming lusty desires, more important than that is cultivating spiritual desires.
Because, we are by nature conscious, and to be conscious means to be desirous. So now, if I say, touch this mic, I feel an electric current in this mic. And I decide, I’ll not touch this mic.
So, with respect to physical objects, I can decide, I’ll not touch it. But, with respect to the mind, we cannot not think of something. If I tell you, psychologists call this, there are various experiments for it, they call it, say, the pink monkey experiment.
If I tell you, for the next 30 seconds, please don’t think of a pink monkey. In your life, you may never have thought of a pink monkey till now. But, you’ll think of a pink monkey at that time.
So, what happens, because the mental world is subtle, in not thinking of something, also we are thinking of that thing. I will not think of a pink monkey. But, I thought of a pink monkey.
So, we cannot not think of something. It’s more that we have to think of something positive. So, if our focus is too much on overcoming the negative, what happens, we are still caught in the negative itself.
So, it’s more important that we cultivate positive desires. Cultivate desires to directly connect with Krishna, and cultivate desires to do other constructive activities in our service to Krishna. So, when we activate these positive desires, activate the positive activities, then our consciousness gets more filled by that.
So, lower desires cannot be driven out. But, they can be crowded out. They try to drive out, catch the person and push out.
I will not think of this. I will not think of this. What will happen? I will not think of this.
I will not think of this. Mind comes quietly and erases the knot. I will not think of this.
I will not think of this. I will think of this. So, we will think of it and we will do it.
So, rather than focussing on giving up the negative, we focus more on thinking of the positive. And as our mind becomes filled with Krishna, then gradually, filled with Krishna or filled with constructive activities in service to Krishna, then gradually the negative is crowded out of the mind. And no matter how the desires are present, the most important thing is that we don’t consider the presence of the desires as something necessary to indulge in the desire.
Temptations may come, but we don’t have to welcome. They will come, but I can say, just because it is there doesn’t mean I have to indulge in it. It will come, it will stay for some time, it will go.
I will conclude with the last one example. Suppose somebody has a pet dog. And they have themselves petted it, fondled it, loved it.
And now they come to know that that dog has got rabies. And now they don’t want to touch that dog also. That dog may bite me, may kill me.
So, now the dog comes along. And I say that, oh, I love this dog so much. Go away.
And the dog thinks, hey, my master is playing with me. Dog comes again. Go away.
Dog comes again. Go away. Come again.
And the dog looks with such a longing at us. Oh, this dog is so sweet. Let’s go and fondle it.
As soon as we fondle it, the dog says, oh, my master loves me. My master is playing a game with me. So what happens? Again, ten times I may say no to it, but the dog will still keep coming.
So, what happens with us is, before we came to bhakti, it’s quite possible that we ourselves petted the lower desires. We fondled them, we nourished them. And now, when we understand that these desires are not so good, I want to give them up.
But, at one level, we want to give them up, and at another level, we want to fondle them also. So, because both these dynamics are there, so, because of that, go away. So, we say, externally say, go away.
Internally, don’t go away. So, because of that, they may not go away so easily. So, if we focus too much on sending away those desires, because that affection is still there, sending them away becomes very difficult.
At the same time, if we keep fondling them, they will never go away. So, the best thing is to just turn the thought away from them. So, we can’t expect that the desires will never come.
The desires will come, but they don’t have to overcome us. So, the more we think about them, the stronger they will grow and the more they will overcome us. But, if we just fill our life with positive activities, focus on cultivating positive desires, then gradually, these desires will come under control.
So, we don’t define our spiritual advancement in terms of how much we are controlling those desires. We define our spiritual advancement primarily in terms of how we are connecting with Krishna and how we are activating our spiritual desires in relationship with Krishna. The more we do that, the more other desires will be gradually overcome.
So, if somebody, if a devotee is facing material problems for a long time and despite having practised bhakti, the problem is not going away and that devotee starts losing faith in Krishna, saying that Krishna is not solving my problem. So, how do we encourage that devotee? Because at that time philosophy will not satisfy that. Yes, it’s true.
Especially when problems go on for a long time, it becomes very difficult to continue. So, at some time in our life, we will have to choose between our conception of Krishna and the scriptural revelation of Krishna. We all have a particular conception of Krishna, that means, what is God meant to do? So, I think God should be my problem solver.
God should be my desire fulfilled. That is one understanding. Even if that understanding comes to Krishna, that is good.
But sometime or other, in the course of our life, this conception will be challenged and we need to rise to a higher conception. It is not that Krishna will not solve our problems, but it is rather that, if that is all we expect from Krishna, then that means what? It’s like, basically, we are determining God’s job description. And now, when God is not doing His job, we want to fire God.
I am not saying that our problems are trivial. Sometimes the problems can be very serious. But the point is, the terms of our relationship with Krishna, we don’t determine Krishna’s job description.
Krishna determines ours. We are the servants of Krishna. This does not at all mean that Krishna doesn’t care for us.
It simply means that Krishna cares for us from a long-term perspective. So what? When we look at the present and prepare for the future, Krishna looks at the future and prepares for the present. So, Krishna looks at the future and prepares for the present.
Because of that, the way we see things, the way Krishna sees things, are different. So, when a problem has been going on for a long time and not getting solved, then it is best that we learn to change our expectation from Krishna. Rather than expecting a release from the problem, we can seek relief amidst the problem.
Relief amidst the problem means that although the problem is there externally, if I absorb myself in Krishna, I experience relief. Often the problem is there, the more we think about the problem, we get agitated. But if at that time we think about Krishna, that brings us calmness.
That brings us strength. So, in the Madhya Vaishnava tradition, an example is given of how this relief amidst problems comes. There is a child who has not done homework.
And in school there is a strict teacher. The strict teacher is going to punish the child. With a stick on the child.
Now the mother knows the child has not done the homework. The mother doesn’t want the child to be punished. At the same time, the mother also wants the child not to be lazy.
To do the homework well. So, what does the mother do? When the child is going to school, the mother puts a nice thick glove on the child’s hand. And the child goes to school.
Have you done your homework? No. Come here. Show your hand.
Show your hand. The stick hits. The stick hits.
A loud noise comes. But the glove shields from the pain. So, although the gloves hit, but the gloves don’t hurt.
Because the glove is in between. So, the mother is like Krishna. The child, we are all like that.
Arranged child. And material nature, Maya Devi, which gives us the results of our karma, is like the teacher. And remembrance of Krishna is like the glove.
When we are absorbing Krishna, when we remember Krishna, life’s blows will hit us, but they won’t hurt us. A devotee may have a disease, and a non-devotee may have a disease. Both may be in pain, but the non-devotee in pain will… Ouch! That will not provide relief.
A devotee will yell, Krishna! And that absorption in Krishna will provide some relief. So, the glow of Krishna Bhakti, the glow of the remembrance of Krishna, is there with us. But suppose, while going to the school, the child says, what is the use of this glove? I don’t need the glove.
Child takes the glove and throws it away. And then goes to school. A child gets it.
So, what is happening for us is, Krishna has provided us the glove. It is the remembrance of Krishna. So, if we take shelter of the remembrance of Krishna, we will get relief amidst the problem also.
And that relief amidst the problem can sometimes give us… can lead to far greater advancement. That can lead to far greater toughness in life than simply release from the problem. So, if we make our relationship with Krishna conditional to the release from particular problems, then the relationship will be unsteady.
But if we focus on getting relief amidst the problem, we will always get that. And that will make us stronger. And in due course, the problem will also go.
But we will not just be free from the problem, we will actually have gained deeper realisation of Krishna. So, we as devotees, we need to seek not a problem-free life, but a purposeful life. If we expect a problem-free life, we will never get that in this world.
But a purposeful life means, my purpose is to go closer to Krishna. My purpose is to serve Krishna in whatever situation I am in. Krishna Prabhupada once asked, what is the best prayer we can offer to Krishna? He said, pray to Krishna, please give me the strength to serve you.
So, when the problem is there, rather than asking Krishna, Krishna, why don’t you remove this problem? Ask Krishna, please give me the strength to serve you. And if we do that, we find that Krishna does have the strength. So, when we are down to nothing, Krishna is up to something.
When we are down to nothing, Krishna is up to something. What Krishna is up to, it may take some time to realise that. But we can know that, have that conviction, and persevere and seek relief amidst the problem.
Okay, this is a similar question. This is the last question. Are there any other questions? Okay, fine.
So, I am new to Krishna Bhakti, chanting since two years. Can I expect Krishna to give me a job so that I can follow Krishna Bhakti peacefully? What makes Krishna Bhakti exciting is that we can never know what to expect from Krishna. What we can expect that Krishna will always do that which is good for us.
But what is good for us, the way we think of and the way Krishna thinks of it is different. So, what we can focus on, naturally, in Bhakti there are two aspects. There is dependence on Krishna and there is a diligence for Krishna.
So, when I started giving classes about 20-25 years ago for the first time, one senior devotee gave some list of guidelines how to give a class. And the last guideline was depend on Krishna. But in bracket, but only after you have prepared.
So, even when I am speaking about Krishna, I cannot just simply be dependent on Krishna. I have to prepare. So, Bhakti has these two aspects.
There is dependence on Krishna and there is diligence for Krishna. Whatever we do, we do it diligently in a mood of service to Krishna. Surrender has two different examples.
One is that Draupadi, she raises her hands in helplessness. Krishna, I am dependent on you, protect me. The Bhagavad Gita ends with Krishna telling Arjuna, surrender to me.
Arjuna says, yes, I will surrender. But at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna doesn’t raise his hand and surrender. Arjuna raises his bow in readiness to fight.
So, for him, that readiness to fight is surrender. So, Draupadi and Arjuna are in two different situations. So, broadly speaking, in our life, there are some things which are in our control, some things which are not in our control.
So, for the things which are not in our control, our surrender is through diligence for Krishna. If I have to give a class, then the diligence for Krishna is that I prepare properly for the class. If I want to get a job, the diligence for Krishna is that I prepare for the interviews, I do my studies, I do whatever is required on my side so that I can pass the interviews and get the job.
And simultaneously, there are things which are not in our control. For those things, there is dependence on Krishna. In material consciousness, when we don’t have Krishna in picture, then what happens? We think either things are in my control or things are out of my control.
When things are in my control, I feel confident. When things are out of my control, I feel nervous, I feel worried. But in bhakti, we understand that things that are not in my control are not out of control.
They are in Krishna’s control. So, we can have dependence on Krishna for the things that are not in our control. So, therefore, what we can do is, with respect to our job, we do our best with our studies, with our preparation so that we can get a good job.
But if that doesn’t work out immediately, know that Krishna has a plan. And it is with that plan we can be peaceful. Not peaceful in the sense of being passive.
Not peaceful in the sense of being lazy. Not peaceful in the sense of being apathetic. But peaceful in the sense that we are purposeful in doing what we can do and in leaving to Krishna that which is not in our control.
And in due course, we find that Krishna will arrange things in a way that is the best for us. So, if we base our relationship with Krishna on a particular expectation, Krishna, will you do this for me? Then we are restricting our conception of Krishna or what Krishna can do for us. But rather, we open.
Krishna, I want to serve you. And I feel that if I get a job soon, then I will be able to practise Krishna Bhakti nicely. So, this is my prayer.
So, there is no harm in offering our prayer to Krishna and in requesting him. But we don’t make our relationship with Krishna dependent on that. Never the fulfilment of that prayer.
So, Prabhupada writes, the mood of devotion is that we desire, but we don’t demand. We desire, that’s fine. But we don’t demand.
So, the mood of devotion is, this is what I feel is the best for me. So, I pray to you for this. But, if this doesn’t work out, then Krishna, whatever is your plan, please guide me.
Please give me the strength to serve you. So, if we have that mood of submissive devotion, which is a combination of diligence and dependence, then whatever situation life sends our way, we will grow through it and move towards Krishna through it. Thank you very much.
Shri Prabhupada Ki Jai! Gaur Bhakta Vrinda Ki Jai! Sai Gaur Prema Anand Devi