QA session with Delhi youth

[Renaissance youth session at ISKCON, Punjabi Bagh, Delhi, India]

Video:

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Another question, so how to understand that in Shiva Purana it is said that Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma originated from Lord Shiva, so how does Shiva Purana say something like that? Shiva is the origin of Brahma and Vishnu said, see the different Puranas are meant for people at different levels of consciousness, Matsya Purana says that there are some Puranas for those in goodness, for some Puranas for those in passion and some for those in ignorance. And based on the mode that a particular person is in, they will be naturally attracted to a particular form of worship and the Vedic literature are quite clear that worship has to be wholehearted in order to be effective. So, if some people are in the mode of ignorance, then they will naturally be attracted, say to Lord Shiva, because he lives in crematoriums, he puts ashes on his body, there are characters he takes harm, the kind of things which people in the mode of ignorance do.
He himself is transcendental, but he, by his appearance, by his actions, he attracts people who are in the mode of ignorance. And therefore, people who are attracted to him, they need to hear about him, they need to be inspired to worship him by which they will get elevated. So, when a particular Purana is dedicated to glorifying a particular Devata, at that time, that Purana will only glorify that Devata.
It is not that he is going to say, you all of you please worship Shiva, but know that he is not superior. Then why should we worship him? It will become like that. So, Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that, योयो याम्यां तरिम्भग्तर शद्ध्यायू पूरिच्छति तस्ति तस्य अचलाम् शद्धाम् ताम् विवविद्धाम् यहां In 7.21, he says, whichever form someone desires to worship, I give them the feet by which they can worship that form.
Then he says, सतयाशद्धयायू तस्वस्याराधनिहतेन्दभर्तेजन्तः कामान्मयल्गावितान्धितान् सतयाशद्धयायू तस्ति तस्याराधनिहतेन्दभर्तेजन्तः कामान्मयल्गावितान्मयल्गावितान् With that Shraddha, that is in the Alchemy, they worship a particular Devata and they get their desire fulfilled. But that desire is fulfilled by me, by my Arjuna. He is not a jealous God.
He is a zealous God. Zealous means he is zealously concerned about elevating us. So, for those, for whom, worshipping Lord Shiva is the best.
Krishna says, I give them faith to worship Lord Shiva. And one way he gives them faith is through scriptures that glorify Lord Shiva. And by worshipping Lord Shiva, they get elevated.
So, from the mode of ignorance, they can rise upwards. And that is a significant elevation for them. So, one example I will give to illustrate this point.
See, the Bible has the idea that you should only worship one God and no God other than this one God. I shall not bow down to any God that before me. So, the Biblical God is a jealous God.
Worship no other Gods. But the Bhagavad Gita’s revelation of God is not as a jealous God. It is a zealous God.
He is zealously concerned about our elevation. How many of you have heard this prodigal son story? The prodigal son story in the Old Testament. Where it is said that there was this son of a wealthy person who demanded, give me share of my inheritance.
And then he went away and squandered it all. And then when he came back, he became a pauper. He was suffering.
Somehow managing to survive. Living a very pitiable life. And finally decided to come back home.
And when he came back home, at that time, he thought, my father just has me for, I mean, squandered the wealth for, I mean, with authority. But the father welcomed him back with open arms. Was delighted to see him back.
Similarly, for us, Now this pastime, this incident from the Bible is said to say that how God’s love is so glorious. But the Bhagavad Gita explains that God’s love is so glorious that not just He welcomes us back when we return to Him. But He also works for our well-being when we are away from Him.
As somehow said, there is a king and the king’s son has quarrelled with the king. The prince has gone away. Now, the prince will not come back to the king immediately.
But the king is still concerned about the prince. What the king does is, the king sends a minister to wherever the prince is staying outside the kingdom. And to the prince, this minister persuades the king, the prince.
You are working here, you are hardly getting a pittance over here. You work for me, you will get much more. He agrees.
And he comes and he is staying in the kingdom. Although the prince has not come back home to the palace, but the prince has come back to the home kingdom. He is indirectly in the jurisdiction of the king.
At that time, he simply serves the minister, gets his salary and lives. And at that time, the prince who has gone away, for him to come back to the kingdom, if he understands how powerful the minister is, how wealthy he is, how kind he is, how influential he is, that understanding will inspire the prince to serve the minister. He is no longer a prince, he is a pauper right now.
But if you understand this, the minister is such a big person, he will want to serve. So now, what happens is, by this, the king gets the prince back into the kingdom. And gradually, as the prince’s past resentment goes away, the prince becomes more open minded, more open hearted, then eventually the prince may come back to the king also.
So similarly, what the Bhakti literature describes is that, the Devatas are like the ministers. When the soul has gone away from God, at that time, and the soul is not ready to come back to God and surrender to God, then the Devatas act as surrogates, as substitutes, as representatives. To whom the soul can worship and connect with.
And become gradually elevated. And for that purpose of intermediate elevation, the Devatas are glorified profusely. So therefore, if we see the statements of few Puranas in proper context, then we do see that there is a purpose for certain statements like this.
All the Puranas are ultimately written by Vyasadeva. And that same Vyasadeva, in the maturity of his realisation, he writes Bhagavatam. And in the Bhagavatam, he gives the highest conclusion.
So, the Bhagavatam says, There is no Shiv Puran corresponding to this. There is no statement like that. So, the idea is that there is a purpose and a progression in the Vedic body of knowledge.
So, if we forget this purpose and progression, then they may seem, in the Vedic body of knowledge, might seem to be contradictory. Why is this saying this? Why is this saying that? But if you see the purpose and progression, then you will see that they are all working together in a symphony. To elevate the soul from where they are, either all the way to perfection or one step towards perfection.
Why is the name of Krishna or Bhakti not mentioned in the Vedas? Actually, as I said, each book has its own purpose. So, the Vedas are themselves a vast body of knowledge, but they have a certain purpose. The purpose is that they are meant to inspire people towards religiosity.
Towards becoming religious. Now, if there is one western scholar, when western people came to India, they studied Indian literature. There is one western scholar, he said, when he read the Rig Veda, he says, this is the most materialistic religious book I have ever read in the world.
This is the most materialistic religious book. What does it mean? It’s all about material things. You have this enemy, you do this incantation, that enemy will go away.
You have this problem, you chant this mantra, this will go away. You want this desire to be fulfilled, do this and this will be fulfilled. So, the Vedas themselves don’t talk so much about transcendence.
The Vedas are talking primarily of how to get people who are materialistic to become religiously materialistic. Not stay atheistically or godlessly materialistic. That is their purpose.
And that purpose is served well by the Vedas. So, for example now, if there is the law book of India. Now, in the law book of India, or if you are the police court of India, Indian Penal Code or whatever.
Now, in the Indian Penal Code, how often do you think the Prime Minister’s name is going to come? If the police has this authority, if the judge has this authority, this level of hierarchy in the judiciary, they have this jurisdiction. This person in the police department, this person has this jurisdiction. The Prime Minister’s name may not come much.
And what to speak of the Prime Minister as a nickname at home. That will hardly come. Why? Because it’s not that the Prime Minister does not exist here, the Prime Minister does not have a nickname.
There are other literature for that. So, if the Prime Minister’s biography is written, then that will contain much more. So, the Vedas are like the books which are meant for materialistic people to help them to become religiously materialistic.
And that’s why for those people, the ideal is Indra. Because Indra does yajnas, and by that he becomes Indra and he enjoys profusely in the heavens. And that’s what these people want to do.
So then, apart from that matter, there is a book for business people. Now, though that book for business people will not be talking about the Prime Minister of India, that will talk about who is the biggest business magnate in India and how that person became a big business magnate. It will contain that person’s glory.
So, for people who are religious materialists, Indra is the primary example of that. And therefore, the Vedas glorify Indra quite a bit. He is such a powerful God, he has this much opulence, he has this strength, he has this luxury, he has so much enjoyment, so many apsaras, this, that.
That’s probably the primary focus of it. And in the Vedas also, Vishnu’s mention is there. And Vishnu’s mention is quite reverential.
But not in a large quantity. So, the purpose of the Vedas is not primarily to foster devotion. Bhakti is different from Punya.
Punya is meant that people will do material good and get material good results. Bhakti is going beyond material bad and material good towards transcendence. So, the literature which talk about Bhakti are different.
And having said this, if we look at the Vedas’ purpose, then we will understand the Vedas serve that purpose very well. And Krishna is like God at home. So, therefore, Krishna is not mentioned very frequently in the Vedas.
Chandogya Upanishad has the verse, Deva Pisupam, which talks about Krishna. There is definitely a mention about Krishna there. And then there are some later Upanishads, some not so well-known Upanishads like Gopala Tapana Upanishad.
It’s all about Krishna only. So, there are mentions. But that is not the primary thrust of the Vedas.
So, if we understand the purpose of the Vedas, then we will understand why the Vedas contain what they do contain. In the Vedas itself it is said that the Puranas and the Itihasas are the Pancham Veda. And if you consider them to be the Pancham Veda, the fifth Veda, then there is an abundant mention of Vishnu and an abundant mention of Krishna.
The Srimad Bhagavatam has 335 chapters. Out of which 90 chapters are in the 10th Canto. And about 35 chapters are in the 11th Canto.
All of them are primarily, if not exclusively, about Krishna. So, there is an abundant mention of Krishna in the appropriate books. So, the books that are meant to encourage people to do Punya, they will talk about Punya.
They will not talk about Bhakti. And the books which are meant to encourage people towards practising Bhakti, they will talk about Bhakti. So, all such questions, to understand the answer, we have to know that the Vedas, by Vedas I don’t refer to the four Vedas, the whole Vedic body of knowledge, they offer user-friendly spirituality.
That means whatever is the level of the user, according to that they customised the path of elevation for them. And that’s why we have to know what level we are at or what level a particular book is at. Then we will be able to understand it.
So, have you heard this example that, see the Bible and the Quran are like a pocket dictionary. And the Vedas are like what? The Channa Bridge Dictionary, Chamber’s Dictionary, a big dictionary. One of my friends is a Hindu nationalist.
So, he read one of my books. And he read the whole thing and said, this is the part I like the best. Our literature is an unabridged dictionary.
Now, it may seem very self-congratulatory, we are saying this is an unabridged dictionary. But at the same time we have to understand that an unabridged dictionary is not very easy to use. I think the word run, in English, that is the article I read, has, run has something like 600 meanings.
In different contexts. That is the word which has maximum meanings. So, sometimes if a word has many different meanings, like we have the word fix.
We say, I’ll fix this soon. That means, I will make it work properly soon. So, if there is a problem, I’ll solve it.
I’ll fix this. Or I may say, I’m in a fix right now. Now, I’m in a fix means, I’m having some problem right now.
The same word fix can mean solving problems and it can mean being in a problem. So, if we don’t know which word is used in what context, then sometimes using an unabridged dictionary may confuse us. What is this word? There are 25 meanings for this word.
Which meaning applies over here? So, unless we have an overall sense of language, unless we have an overall sense of the big picture of the book and the message given over there, we will not be able to understand what this word means over here. That’s why the Vedic body of knowledge, because it’s an unabridged dictionary, so we have to understand what is going on in the overall body of knowledge. Only then we will be able to use it properly.
Otherwise, we will get very confused. What is being said over here? What is that? अनेक शास्त्रं भहुवेदि तव्यं अल्पश्च काल भहुवश्च विगना तचार भूतं उपासि तव्यं अनेक शास्त्रं भहुवेदि तव्यं There are many, many scriptures and even each word in the scripture can have many different meanings. On top of that, अल्पश्च काल, our time is very short, our life span is short and even in our life span we have very little time.
There are so many things to do in life. अल्पश्च काल भहुवश्च विगना Even the little time that we have to study scripture, suddenly our phone starts ringing and we start singing on the phone. So, therefore, तचार भूतं उपासि तव्यं Just focus on the essence.
Krishna Prabhupada’s books and the message that Prabhupada has given is like a pocket dictionary. So, Prabhupada has given us what is needed in a customised way by which we can become elevated. And शब्दजाल महारण्यम् नभुक्तये नमुक्तये It is said, words can become like a trap.
शब्दजाल, what kind of trap? महारण्यम् Like a big, big forest. And in that, नभुक्तये नमुक्तये One will not be able to enjoy also. One will not be able to get liberated also.
So, even Upanishad says that if we study the scripture without understanding that Krishna is the goal, the study of scripture can become like अरण्यरुदितम् अरण्यरुदितम् means crying in the forest. If we are at home and we cry, somebody else will come and help us. But if a child is crying in the forest, nobody will come.
So, like that, even the scripture is something in which we can get lost. यदाते मोह कलिलं बुद्धिरित्तरिष्यति तदागंतासि निर्वेदं श्रोटविस्य जुतुस्यितु चुतिविपृति पण्णाते यदास्थासि तिरिष्चला समाधावचला बुद्धिरित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित्रित श्रोताव्यस्ति श्रुतस्तिचव। Once we go beyond an illusion, then what happens? We don’t get confused. Oh, I heard that.
That book says this. That book says this. In future, this book says this.
How can it all be so? We go beyond it all. How do we go beyond it all? By our personal practise and our personal realisation. It’s like, if you have a disease.
If you start looking. The same disease may be diagnosed differently by allopath, by homoeopath, by naturopath, by ayurvedic. So many doctors are there.
Now, if we start waiting for treating the disease, till we go through all the different kinds of treatments, we will die before we finish our study of the treatment also. Therefore, what do we do? We take something. If it works, we take it and move on.
If it doesn’t work, we stay committed to it. If it doesn’t work, we move on to something else. And if it has worked for us, then even if somebody says, this diagnosis is wrong.
No, you are saying diagnosis is wrong. Diagnosis is wrong, but treatment successful. It’s worked for me.
So, for those who practise Krishna Bhakti diligently, they experience transformation in their lives. They experience detachment from trivial worldly things. They experience increased attachment to Krishna.
And that is like the treatment working for them. And that’s how we go beyond such confusion. There is no need to get lost in Shab-jaal-Maharajyam.
There are scriptures which tell a lot of things. If you at least accept that God exists, then pray to God, please guide me what is the path to you. Please guide me what is the best path to you.
And if right now you are in this path, follow this path. Don’t think that you are having faith in one organisation or one teacher. Or necessarily sectarian.
Think that you are putting faith in God. It is by God’s arrangement that you have come to this path. If it is the right path for you, that will be revealed to you.
You will experience transformation in your life. If it is not the right path for you, you will not experience any transformation. And nobody is going to force you to continue.
You can move on and explore somewhere else. But just stay indecisive. This book says this, that book says this, that book says that, that book says that.
That will not lead us to any kind of confirmation or any kind of rejection. And Prabhupada was in America at that time. And he gave a talk and after that I think he asked, Swamiji, your philosophy sounds like that of the Buddha.
So, now Prabhupada could have gone into a technical analysis how Vaishnavism is different from Buddhism. Prabhupada said, do you follow Buddha? He said, no. Prabhupada said, follow Buddha, follow Jesus, follow Krishna, follow someone.
Don’t just talk. Don’t just talk. But of course, we can talk to analyse and understand.
But after analysing and understanding, we have to commit. When we go to a doctor, we do want to understand the doctor’s diagnosis. We do want to understand the doctor’s prescription.
But that kind of discussion can go on endlessly. Only when we commit to the treatment, then we will know whether it works or not. So, our life is too short and our time is too precious to get caught in this shabda jaan, to get caught in this chabulari, in this trap of words.
Just have faith in Krishna, have faith in God, whatever your understanding of God is. Take up the process that by God’s name you have experience, opportunity now to take up. And in due course it will reveal what is the best thing for you.
So, if God provides knowledge of different religions, knowledge to different religions, why there are contradictions between them? Thanks to certain circumstances. I have written two books which deal with this issue. There was this movie OMG and then there was a movie BK.
Which were satires on religion. So, I wrote a book called OMG, re-answering the questions. And another book called GK for BK.
So, GK is three levels. General knowledge, God knowledge and Gita knowledge. Based on that.
So, these books are available on my website free for download. GK for BK that is available. So, you can download from the spiritual scientist.
And any of these kind of questions are answered. These questions are specifically answered of course. So, see there are rules and there are purposes.
So, the purpose remains the same. But sometimes the rule can be different. It can even be the opposite.
I have now spent about 4-5 months in America every year. And every time when I come to India, when I am going for a programme, some devotees take me to drive for the programme. Most often I end up going on the wrong side of the car.
In India we drive on which side? Left side. In America they drive on which side? Right side. So, according to the driver, seat is in different direction.
So, when I go to the car in America, when I come to India, I keep going to that side of the car only. And then I go to India, I go back from India to America, then I keep going to the other side of the car. So, I take some jet lag to get over it.
The point I am making is that the rules for traffic for driving in India and America are not just different, they are opposite. Somebody from India goes to America, they may say, all of you are driving wrong, wrong, wrong. And they will say, you are wrong.
You are going from this side, you have to pay a fine. So, who is right and who is wrong? Right and wrong cannot be seen only in terms of the action. It has to be seen in terms of the purpose.
So, the purpose of the traffic rules in India and in America is the same. That is regulation, regulation of the traffic so that people can move smoothly and safely. But the specific rule can be not just different but opposite.
Similarly, there are different religions. Now, why did this happen? Why are the rules different? Well, you can go into colonial history. America fought a war against Britain.
And America wanted to exert its identity separate from Britain. That is why they did many things which are opposite to what Britain did. India was a colonial country.
And India did not fight a war against Britain. This gradually got liberated. So, we did not reject so much of what Britain did.
So, our traffic rules are similar to Britain’s. But America’s are opposite. We can go into specific historical details, why they are different.
But the important thing is, the rules are different, the purpose is still the same. So, similarly, when we consider religions, every religion has an exoteric side and an esoteric side. Exoteric is external, esoteric is internal.
So, the exoteric side can be different. So, for example, Hindus may offer respect to God by folding their hands. Christians may offer respect by doing mass, moving their hands in a particular way.
Muslims may raise their hands. The way they are offering respect, the action is different. But the purpose or the intention is the same.
So, like that, whatever specific differences are there, if you find the differences too glaring, then we can enquire about it specifically and we can get the answers. I am a desperate scientist. I have got a series of talks on world religions.
Krishna Consciousness in Christianity, Krishna Consciousness in Judaism, Krishna Consciousness in Buddhism, Krishna Consciousness in Islam, Krishna Consciousness in Hinduism also is there to understand what are the similarities and what are the differences. And there are other devotees who have also written books on some topics like this. So, if you want to go into specific details, if that is of our interest, then we can do that.
But broadly speaking, the differences simply indicate that according to cultural context, certain methods or practises for elevating one’s consciousness are different. But the purpose remains the same. So, how much proportionality as a student should I keep in my life between my spirituality and my professional studies? And how to manage both effectively? Balance is always a challenge.
And one reason it is a challenge is because there is no static formula for balance. Suppose if you are riding a bicycle or riding a bike, normally the balance state of the bike is the vertical state. But if you have to turn right, then if you stay vertically, you cannot turn right.
You have to tilt the bike towards the right. And when you tilt the bike towards the right, you will turn towards the right. But after that again you have to make it horizontal.
If you keep turning it towards the right, you will go around the whole circle and come back to the same place. Then if you come again, you have to turn left, again tilt it towards the left. Then again move forward.
Make it vertical and move forward. So, similarly in life, we want to ultimately go towards Krishna. But sometimes our spiritual side will require more time, may have more opportunity.
Say for example, now you have a retreat like this. So, you are focussing almost entirely on spirituality. So, this is like you are bending on one side.
Sometimes you have exams coming up, you have project deadlines in your work. Then that is the time you have to bend the other side. Sometimes you may have some urgent situation in your family.
Somebody is sick. Or some urgent situation from the family. At that time you have to pay more attention to that.
So, our purpose always remains the same. But practically sometimes we may have to do some things more, some things less. So, we don’t have to necessarily separate or segregate our spirituality and our professional or family life.
But you see that all of them are meant to the same purpose. In your spiritual practises, you are directly serving Krishna. But in your job, you are indirectly serving Krishna.
In your family, you are also serving Krishna. Indirectly you are serving Krishna. So, Krishna says, sva-karmanatam abhyarcha sindhu-nandatimana Buy your work, worship me.
That means Krishna is telling that don’t take your work as mundane. Use your work to worship me. Some people translate this as work is worship.
Now, that is not what Krishna is saying. Krishna is not saying, sva-karma hi pooja hai. He is saying, sva-karmanatam abhyarcha.
Buy your work, worship me. If work itself were worship, then the donkey would be the greatest worshipper. Isn’t it? Donkey works harder than anyone else.
Or you can say, beggar is begging. Is beggar begging for his worship? Robber is robbing. Is robber robbing your worship? No.
Work has to be done in a worshipful way to approach the Supreme Lord. So, as far as our purpose is concerned, our purpose of having relatives and family life, our purpose of having a career, and our purpose of doing sadhana and spirituality, all of them is to go towards Krishna. However, we do need some time for direct or exclusive focus on spiritual activities.
Because if we are only doing our work, we are only with our family, then the material consciousness takes over. And then the spiritual purpose does not remain that strong. So, for the spiritual purpose to be maintained, for us to remember our connection with Krishna, we do need exclusive time for spiritual activities.
So now, how much that exclusive time we need, that can vary according to time, place and circumstance. But in principle, once we have given some basic minimum exclusive time for our spiritual life, then we don’t have to constantly be thinking, oh, this is material, this is spiritual. Just do everything enthusiastically in a mood of service to Krishna.
Study also enthusiastically, do your family responsibilities enthusiastically, and do your spiritual life also enthusiastically. Because ultimately, spiritual and material is not just a matter of exteriors. It’s a matter of internals.
Somebody may be in their career, may be studying very diligently, and somebody else may be coming to a temple. Somebody may be coming to a temple for a programme and they are just falling asleep. They are thinking, when will this programme get over? When will I get prasad? When can I go and sleep? And somebody may be in their studies, doing their studies, and they diligently do their studies, they get good marks, and then people ask, how do you do so well in your studies? And you say, my mind gets focused because I practise bhakti, I chant Hare Krishna, I study Bhagavad Gita, that makes me focused.
And that inspires many people to come towards Krishna. So, Krishna permeates all aspects of our being. And if we just cultivate an attitude of service towards Krishna, Krishna in every situation, I want to serve you.
Please guide me how I can serve you. If we have that attitude, then Krishna will guide us towards balance. When what is to be done more, when what is to be done less.
Krishna will give us the intelligence, by which we can come to Him. So, is there any scriptural evidence regarding why we came to the material world? Or is it assumption regarding misuse of free will? See, the question of origin is always a life’s question. And Krishna Prabhupada himself has made many different statements.
In his talks, in his informal conversations, he often says that the soul fell from the spiritual world. But, in his writings, it is often talked about how from the spiritual world, no one falls. In the fourth canto, there is a purport where Prabhupada says, therefore, the absolute conclusion, the ultimate conclusion is that no one ever falls from the spiritual world.
So, there are different statements about how exactly the, or rather there are different statements even by Krishna Prabhupada about how we are here in this world. So, in general, within ISKCON, most devotees take one position of Krishna Prabhupada. That is, the soul fell from the spiritual world.
But that is not the only statement that Prabhupada has made. And Prabhupada has pressed too much on this. Prabhupada said, ultimately, how we are here is inconceivable.
And what matters is how we get out of here. So, don’t figure it out. Get out.
That’s what is the focus. So, traditionally, the idea that the soul fell from the spiritual world has not been talked about. Bhaktivinoda Thakur is the first person in our tradition who talks about the idea of the soul’s origin.
Otherwise, Baldevudaya Vahushayam Vishwacharya Thakur will say that the soul’s existence, soul’s connection with matter is anadi. That prakriti and purusham chaigo viddhi anadi bhav vikaram shivunam chaigo viddhi prakriti sambhavan 13.20 in the Bhagavad Gita. They say prakriti and purusham are anadi, they are beginningless.
And they say that the contact of purusham and prakriti is also beginningless. Now, beginningless can mean what? Is it a long, long time ago? Or eternal? We don’t know. Beginningless can mean anything.
From time immemorial, this is going on. So, Bhaktivinoda Thakur talked about the soul, soul falling from Brahmajyot, not from Krishna’s abode. Now, Prabhupada talked about the soul falling from Krishna’s abode.
But Prabhupada did not make that as an emphatic point. Prabhupada gave different statements about it. And his overall stress was on get out of this life.
So, in general, if Prabhupada himself has made different statements, we can focus on whichever statement makes sense to us. And just use that. No need to make a big issue out of it.
And sometimes, there are some aspects about scripture which just don’t make sense to us. Humility in the intellectual domain means to accept that I don’t know and that I can’t know. Humility means what? I don’t know and really I can’t know.
Because we are in the time domain, there are things outside the time domain. So, what happens outside the time domain is very very difficult to understand for us. So, some questions are like, you know, if you walk on a banana peel, what happens? You slip and fall.
So, some questions are like intellectual banana peels. As soon as you get on that question, zoom! You just fall flat. So, we understand we need to have that humility that some things may not be in our capacity to understand.
And therefore, don’t get too caught in that. Just move forward in your spiritual life and you will see that by the practise of bhakti, a positive difference happens in your life and that is what is most important. Is it rational to say that mercy is causeless Does mercy depend on any factors? Mercy being causeless does not mean that it does not have any cause.
It simply means it does not depend on any cause. What is the difference between the two? Raghupath gave an example once he had gone for a morning walk and there was a person near a pond. He was throwing some breadcrumbs at some ducks in the pond.
And he was throwing the breadcrumbs to all the ducks but there was one duck which was quacking very loudly. Quack, quack, quack, quack! And because the duck was quacking very loudly this person was feeding that duck more. So, Raghupath said this is like the causeless monsoon.
He said we all are calling out to Krishna. If we call out more, more urgently, more desperately Krishna will give us more milk. Now, here see, the person who was feeding the ducks he has no obligation to feed the ducks.
He may not even go to the pond. It is out of his kindness that he is feeding the ducks. And even if a duck is quacking more he has again not obliged to feed the duck more.
But it is reciprocal. There is no obligation. It is not obligatory.
But it is reciprocal. You quack more, you give more. So, similarly Krishna’s mercy is causeless in the sense that nothing we can do obliges Krishna to give us mercy.
So, it is not like a business arrangement. I have paid you this much money now you have to give me this service. It is not like that.
Krishna will give his mercy based on his freedom. But that does not mean it is arbitrary. If we endeavour more Krishna will give us his mercy more.
So, we endeavour more, Krishna gives us mercy more but it is not mathematical. It is reciprocal but it is not necessarily proportional. It is not that because I have done more service therefore I can demand more mercy from Krishna.
It is causeless in the sense that no matter whatever we do Krishna is not obliged to give us his mercy. Krishna gives his mercy as per his freedom. He does reciprocate with us.
ये धामां पर पत्तेंते तां स्प्रेंगो बजाओं में As all people surrender unto me, I reward them accordingly. So, causeless means what we do does not oblige Krishna to give us mercy. So, in that sense it is causeless.
But that does not mean that there is nothing we can do to attract Krishna’s mercy. We can serve diligently and especially if we assist senior devotees we please those who are dear to Krishna then Krishna becomes very pleased with us and we can attract his mercy more and more. Among the various Abrahamic religions why is Islam the most violent among Abrahamic religions? What is there in the Quran that makes it more violent? I have talked about it in three different ways.
First of all, it is not just religion that makes people violent. It is people who are violent find some reason to be violent and religion becomes a reason for them also. If we consider the wars which have been fought even in recent history the biggest wars were World War I and World War II.
There was no religion involved over there at all. So, it was just ideology such as Nazism or Fascism which caused wars. We consider the communist era in China and Soviet Russia.
Actually, these two countries without any war killed three times more people, their own citizens than the number of people killed in World War I and World War II combined together. They just wanted to establish communism and eliminate all opposition to communism. So, anyone who was suspected to be an opponent was just eliminated.
Millions and millions of people were killed. So, actually speaking it is people who have a mentality to be violent, they will be violent and they will find some reason to be violent. So, there are three modes of material nature goodness, passion and ignorance.
Generally, passion combined with ignorance is the cause of violence. And there can be people within a particular race, within a particular country within a particular ideology, within a particular caste within a particular religion who may have more passion and ignorance and they will be violent. So, that’s the first point I would like to make.
Second point is, historically speaking in most religions there has been a division of power a separation of power between the spiritual and the political. So, for example, in our tradition, in the Sanatan Dharma we have the spiritual power vested with the Brahmins the spiritual intellectual power and the political martial power is vested with the Kshatriyas. If you see Buddhism also Buddha was a spiritual teacher Buddhism propagated primarily because of Ashoka He became a Buddhist and then he propagated teaching of violence using all his state resources.
Christianity also, Jesus was like the spiritual teacher and later on Christianity spread because of Paul Paul was spiritual as well as political. Later on, when the Roman Empire adopted Christianity that’s when it really became the state religion and it spread very fast. So, in general, in most religions there is a separation of spiritual power and political power.
In Islam, however, there is a combination of both. Mohammed happened to be both the spiritual teacher and the political leader and politics in this world is a dirty business. Even people with the purest of intentions when they get into politics they have to do such dirty things.
So, he did the spiritual teachings and there are many many people who by practising the teachings of Islam live a more pious and a more godly life. Today, in this world, one out of every four persons is a Muslim. If all Muslims were violent, this world would be a hellish place.
It’s not that all Muslims are violent. Now, at an individual level Muslims, they look at Mohammed’s teachings and they look at Mohammed’s example of spiritual teaching and they follow his teachings, they give charity, they do namaz they do various things and in many ways they live a religious life, they live a godly life. Their consciousness gets elevated by it.
At the same time, at a political level the leaders of Islam, at least many of the leaders of Islam they focus more on Mohammed’s political example than Mohammed’s spiritual example. And because they focus on his political example then they try to imitate what he did politically. That’s why, at a political level Islam, or political at a group level you could say at a community level where the leaders of the community are there at a group level, at an individual level Islam may be a path to godliness for many many people.
It is a path to godliness for many people. But at a social level, Islam becomes less a path to god and more a tool to political power. And that is why, because Mohammed fought wars and many of Islam’s leaders do use Mohammed’s example to fight wars, justify the fighting of wars.
That’s how Islam is associated much more with violence than with other religions. And of course, if we consider, this is the second point this is specifically to Islam because his political example is more quoted by Islam’s political leaders so it is more associated with violence. The last point is that we as individuals need to be aware of both the political and the transcendental.
The transcendental means I have Muslim friends, I am a part of interfaith conferences and one of my Muslim friends told me that I can communicate better with moderates of other traditions than extremists of my own tradition. So moderates means those people who are balanced those who are more or less in the same mode of goodness. So moderates, whether they can be moderate Muslim they can be moderate Hindu, they can be moderate Christian and they will have some commonality.
And they can be like-minded, they can connect we can appreciate something in their tradition they appreciate something in our tradition and we can move on. So moderates are basically people in goodness extremists are people in mode of passion and ignorance. So irrespective of what religion a person professes the people in goodness and people in ignorance think in very different ways and they just can’t connect.
So what can we do as outsiders as the outsiders to Islam we have to be aware that there is a threat of extremism and violence which is quite real and we have to be prepared for that. When I go to the Middle East Muslims are quite strong in demanding rights to practise their religion in other countries where they are minorities. But in their country they don’t allow any other religion to practise there publicly.
When we go there, I can’t go in this dress I also have to wear civil clothes and go into the country. Of course some Muslim countries are more liberal than others we can’t paint all of Islam by the same brush. So there is a threat, no doubt that if extremists in Islam gain power then they will make our practise of bhakti almost impossible.
So we have to be aware of that threat at the same time we have to see that this is not what all of Islam is. There is extremism in Islam and there is Islam which is much bigger. So the more the rest of the world equates Islam with extremist Islam then what happens? The extremists get more and more power because those who are moderates they will be disempowered anyway you are moderate but who cares for you? The world is still going to label us as extremists only.
Just give up your moderation and become extremists. So if we equate Islam with extremism then we disempower the moderates and thus we end up actually making Islam more and more extremist. At the same time if we close our eyes and say actually there is nothing wrong with Islam not wrong with Islam, there is no extremism in Islam that is a tiny fringe in Islam it’s not a tiny fringe, it is a significant number of people because people are influenced by the leaders.
So then we will keep our eyes blind and we will keep ourselves blind and we will eventually set ourselves up for trouble. So a balanced attitude would be that rather than looking at Islam as a religious group we can look at it philosophically as people in goodness, passion and ignorance. And people in passion and ignorance they will use whatever reason to justify their violence and in this case they use Islam as a rationalisation for their violence.
So we don’t have to have a negative attitude towards Islam at the same time we have to be aware and cautious about the extremism in Islam. And in general if the mode of goodness rises in the world then we can have more sanity and more order. And the mode of passion and ignorance rises whether it is because of Islam or whether it is because of any other reason then we violence.
So we need to first of all ourselves be in goodness. If we have a fragmented vision saying all Muslims are extremists and we are ourselves not in goodness we are in passion and ignorance then we are simply increasing the influence of the lower modes. So we have to be aware of the full picture which includes awareness of extremism but it also recognises that there are people in goodness even in Islam.
And if we have greater influence then we try to empower those who are in goodness by encouraging them, by appreciating them. ISKCON has had many years of Christian Vaishnav dialogue. Almost 25 years we have been having that.
And at one time ISKCON America was accused of brainwashing people. And at that time there were many Christian organisers who supported us. And they said that no these are not brainwashers.
They are part of an ancient traditional religion. And why did they support? It’s not that they loved us. It’s not that they thought that they had their own reasons.
They said that today these Hare Krishnas are labelled as brainwashers. Tomorrow Krishnas can also be labelled as brainwashers. So they wanted to protect the religious freedom.
But the point is their support made a big difference for us. So there are fanatical Christians who will try to convert at all costs. They are in the mode of passion and ignorance.
And there are broad minded Christians who will appreciate other religions. So now ISKCON is also working in having a Vaishnav-Muslim dialogue. So we have had it in America Central.
And I think in December the first Vaishnav-Muslim dialogue is going to happen in Delhi here. It’s in the Noida temple. Amitabh Babu’s temple does our ISKCON convention dialogue.
So we are trying to organise that. So if we have influence we connect with and empower the moderates. And thus foster the mode of goodness.
At the same time being aware that there are the modes of passion and ignorance which can also create trouble. So that way if we have a holistic picture then we can respond maturely. Does the philosophy taught by ISKCON that we should not endeavour in our career, will it hamper our success in our respective careers? Over endeavour.
That we should not over endeavour. Will it hamper our success? It depends on how we understand it. Over endeavour in any field is bad.
Working is required. But just as there can be alcoholism which is an addiction. Similarly there is an addiction which is called the prestigious addiction.
There is a book by that title. What is this prestigious addiction? It is workaholism. Workaholism means people just work, work, work, work.
12, 14, 15 hours they work. Some people say last 25 years I have not taken a single leave. Well, ok, at one level you could say it is dedication to your work.
But such people who are workaholics, sometimes they neglect their health, they neglect their family, their children are in a mess, neglected by their parents. They work is a part of our responsible living. But it is a part, it cannot become the whole.
Some people work not to earn a living but to escape from living. That means what? You go home, you have a spouse, you don’t know how to deal with that spouse. You go home and quarrel only.
So, just stay in the office and throw money to your spouse. You have children, you don’t know how to raise those children. They are just growing rebellious.
Just stay in the office, do your work and just use pocket money to the kids. So, when people use work as a… that becomes their whole life itself. Then that is disproportionate.
So, all of us were tiny unicellular organisms at one time. Just one cell. Now we have grown up into 5 feet, 6 feet, whatever.
We have become millions of cells in our body. How did this happen? Through growth. So, growth is natural and desirable.
Similarly, growth in career, growth in our family, growth in our social contacts, growth in our intellectual understanding, growth in our spirituality. All these are just natural features of our life and they are meant to happen. Now, cancer is also a growth.
But cancer is a growth which is not proportional. When a healthy bodily growth is, all the parts of the body grow proportionately. But in cancer, one set of cells start growing so much that it becomes disproportionate and destructive.
So, growing in our career should be a part of a proportionate growth in life. But when somebody becomes workaholic, then their work becomes like the cancer in their life. And it destroys not only their spirituality, it destroys even their material life, their family life, their health.
It destroys everything. So, we need to have a sense of balance. Now, what is an over endeavour, what is not an over endeavour? That will vary from person to person, situation to situation.
What we need to understand is that we have various aspects to our life. And all aspects need to be taken care of. It’s like somebody may be very phenomenally successful in their professional life.
But if they are not giving time to their spouse, their children and their family life is a wreck. Then success in one area of life cannot compensate for failure in another area of life. Success in professional life doesn’t compensate for failure in family life.
Each is a separate area and each requires its own nourishment. So, same way, spiritual life is one area and we need to give due time for that. And as far as our career is concerned, it’s really not true that our spiritual life will necessarily take away our time from our career.
We may say I am working on my career. But how many of us can really study for 12 hours, 14 hours throughout the year? We study before the exams for some time. But in colleges, so much time goes in socialising, in chit chatting, in wasting.
So, our spirituality, if we devote time to spirituality, it will not take away our work time. It will take away our waste time. All the time we waste on trivial things, we will save that and we will use that for constructive purposes.
And on top of that, it will save our worry time also. Do all of you have a daily scheduled time for worrying? 7 to 8 o’clock every evening is my time for worrying. It’s not like that.
We don’t allot any time for worrying. But worry is like a constant nagging thing which drains our energy. And not just worry.
Worry is just one misdirected thought. Our thoughts may get misdirected by anger. They may get misdirected by lust.
They may get misdirected by greed. And we go into class and we greet someone. And that person just neglects us.
And this is so angry. How dare you neglected me like this? And then during the whole class one hour, we are having revenge fantasy. Next time when is the biggest gathering? The biggest gathering in front of 100 people, I will snub you.
And I will get back at you. You keep scheming that. So now in our schedule, we attended one hour class.
But we did not attend that class at all. Because that thought of resentment or revenge, it consumed our energy. That consumed our time completely.
So actually our time is not taken only by our activities. Our time is also taken by our thoughts. And practising spirituality gets our thoughts in better order.
And thus that time which is wasted on waste thoughts, that also gets saved. I have seen many devotees across the world who, many youths who become devotees, they actually do academically better after becoming devotees. Because they are getting their thoughts in order.
They are not wasting so much time as they were wasting earlier. Of course some people come to spirituality because they want to run away from their studies. If that is the purpose, then that is not very healthy.
Some students, just before the exam, they suddenly develop love for Ramayana and Mahabharata. No, these books, they are all mundane. I want to study Shastra.
But Shastra also, I did not want to study philosophical books. I want to study Ramayana and Mahasuri books. So what is happening? The mind always has a tendency to choose the path of least resistance.
Choose the path of least resistance. And when we have to study, study requires an application, some determination. And studying Mahabharata and Ramayana is the path of least resistance.
Let’s do that. And then because of that, they may become neglectful or irresponsible. But that is unhealthy.
That is not being spiritual at all. Spiritual means, not that we choose the path of least resistance as the mind tells us. Rather it becomes spiritual means to learn to resist the mind and to redirect the mind.
So if we have this understanding, then we will learn to resist and redirect the mind when we are doing our devotional activities. And we learn to resist and redirect the mind even when we are doing our studies. So we will be able to use whatever time we have more effectively.
And thus our professional ambitions can also be furthered. Now to what extent we pursue our ambitions, that will vary according to time, place and circumstance. So you can consult your specific spiritual guides or mentors about how to pursue a particular career.
Certain careers may be such that they may make it very difficult to practise spiritual life itself. Then if you really want to go into that career, you have to learn to take due caution. But it is not that intrinsically the two are incompatible.
Actually our spiritual life can improve our material life also in a holistic sense. So we will stop here. Thank you for your patience in this long question and answer session.
And thank you for your thoughtful questions. I am grateful to be here with all of you and all the best to you for your future growth in all aspects of your life. Thank you very much.
Shri Prabhupada ki, Gaur Bhakta Vrindaki, Gaur Premanandi