QA with Haldia Devotees 2

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
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So Krishna kidnapped Rukmini. So people always justify that we can also do something similar. How can we explain the difference? See, first of all, Krishna is Kshatriya.
He’s God, but even within the world he’s playing the role of a Kshatriya. So Kshatriya has various grave responsibilities. Kshatriya is a person who is sub yudhi chaapya palayanam.
He’s never to be afraid while fighting, never to turn the back away from battlefield. So that is there. And then he is responsible to protect everyone else, not even risking one’s life to protect.
And along with that, Kshatriya is also given certain privileges. So one of the privileges is that there are various kinds of vivahas that are described, marriages. So the best marriage is where both the families agree and then there is a dharmic marriage that takes place.
But there is a Gandharva vivaha, there is Rakshasa vivaha, there are different kinds of marriages where the arrangements can be made in various ways. But the important principle is the principle of responsibility. Today in movies, they may show the hero fighting to save the life of a heroine.
But in real life, when there is threat, people will run away. People will not act as Kshatriyas, truly speaking. And even if they claim to act as Kshatriyas, even if they try to act as Kshatriyas, you have to see that, actually speaking, we just cannot take one aspect of scripture and imitate it.
No. The whole idea of male-female attraction, that is a very fundamental principle of human existence. And the scriptures don’t deny that principle.
So the Kshatriyas, Krishna is God, but there are other Kshatriyas who might do something similar also. And they may get entangled by it. So the male-female attraction can lead to a lot of complications.
One has to be ready for the complications. So when we say that Krishna has done something, is that why I can do something? No. I am at a particular position, Krishna is at a particular position.
So when Krishna does something, his activities fall into two categories. One is those activities which are an example for us to follow. And second is those activities which are primarily to relish based on his divine position.
So now people say that I can, I will, somebody says I can kidnap Rukmini. Okay. Krishna kidnapped Rukmini when he was almost 20.
Long before that, when he was 7, he lifted Govardhan Hill. So can you lift Govardhan Hill? So we can’t just imitate any of the activities of Krishna. So there are certain activities of Krishna which are meant to be set as example.
For example, say Krishna, although he was God, he did his prescribed duties. He acted not just as a king, he acted as a company administrator. Every morning he would wake up and he would also pray.
You know, he would dispense justice to his citizens. He would give charity. He would go around in the kingdom and observe.
So these are the responsible activities Krishna did as a human being. And those are the activities which we have to be at and set to follow as an example. There are many activities in which he exhibited superhuman powers.
So we can’t imitate those activities. That’s why, even when we look at God, first we have to understand the position and then we have to understand the action. First position, then action.
If we do it ulta, first action, then position. So for example, you know, there’s a surgeon who, somebody comes to him, the surgeon cuts the stomach of the person, and after cutting the stomach of the person, then the relatives come and shake hand and thank him and give him a handsome cheque. And somebody else says, this is so good, you know, you just get a person, cut the person, people will come and give you a cheque.
And he goes, somebody else goes and cuts the stomach of somebody. What will happen? You know, he’ll be put in jail. So, if a person doesn’t know, first position, then action.
This person is a surgeon. And when he’s cutting, he’s cutting not ordinary cutting. It is cutting for curing.
So, the problem, especially in India, is that people since childhood have heard about the actions of Krishna, but they have never really understood the position of Krishna. And that’s why there are so many questions that come up. Krishna Prabhupada was asked, how many, can you describe something about Ravana? Prabhupada said, first Kurukshetra Leela, then Ravana Leela.
So, Kurukshetra Leela is the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna’s Bhagavad Gita. So, understand philosophy, understand the position, then look at the action. Otherwise, we just need to, we just make a mess out of our own spiritual lives.
What is it? What is the use of material life and material world? For two purposes, for experimentation and for rectification. Experimentation means the soul wants to enjoy separate from Krishna. So, what are the different ways the soul can enjoy? Those different ways are provided in the material world.
That’s experimentation. So, Krishna has given his free will and he never takes away our pain. So, if there is free will, then along with the free will, there has to be an arena, a place where that free will can be executed.
So, in the spiritual world, everybody is loving and serving Krishna. The soul by its free will can love and serve Krishna and be happy. But the soul by the free will decides to not love and serve Krishna.
There has to be an arena where that can be done. And that is the material world. So, the first is experimentation.
When we want to enjoy separate from Krishna, the material world offers various objects separate from Krishna with which we can enjoy. And then there is rectification. Rectification means when we understand, enjoying all these things is not going to make me happy.
What will make me happy? Then gradually we start investigating. And over a period of time, by the guidance of the super soul within and by the guidance of the representatives of Krishna from without, we turn towards Krishna. We rectify our ways.
Instead of trying to enjoy the things of this world, we learn to love and serve Krishna and material world. And for that purpose also, the material world serves the purpose. It offers those facilities.
There are temples, there are dhams, there are utis, there are the holy names, there are scriptures. They enable us to rectify ourselves. Yes, those souls who want to enjoy separate from Krishna, the spiritual world, they come to the material world and they experiment with the material world and realize for themselves, this doesn’t make me happy.
It only makes me miserable. Then they reform themselves and then they go back to Krishna. Then they will come back because now they have learned through experience.
Once we have experimented, learned, then we will not make the same mistake. So only those souls who are pure go back to Krishna, to Vaikuntha. And sins come from sins.
So then how does the desire to enjoy separately from Krishna come in the spiritual world? See, sins come from sins in the sense that that particular mentality postures the particular mentality further. That means if a person has drunk, then the desire to drink becomes stronger. But at the same time, the free will is always there.
And ultimately whatever choice we make, it is by our free will. When the soul is there in the spiritual world, soul can be happy in loving and serving Krishna. But the soul has free will.
And with the free will, we desire something else. Instead of desiring to enjoy with Krishna, the soul may desire to enjoy like Krishna. So when that happens, there is no facility for that kind of enjoyment in the spiritual world.
So it’s not always that a sinful desire has to come in the soul. The soul may desire to serve Krishna also, but not with Krishna, but like Krishna. That means the soul may desire to serve Krishna by being a creator.
In the spiritual world, things are eternal, so you can’t create. So then the soul is sent to the material world and the soul becomes a creator over here, becomes Brahma. So it’s not come with a sinful desire.
It’s come with a desire to serve Krishna, but in a way that is not possible in the spiritual world. Once it comes to the material world, the material world is the jurisdiction of maya. Once in the jurisdiction of maya, then the soul gets contaminated by sinful influences.
And then the downward spiral of the soul begins. So from Brahmaji we go on to lower species. So how exactly it happens, we can’t understand because there is no mathematical program for describing free will.
Even in this world, how people behave, we can’t really describe it. People are often unpredictable. Sometimes they behave predictably, sometimes they behave unpredictably.
So we can’t mathematically program behavior. So free will is something which all of us have and when the soul misuses the free will, then the soul comes to the material world. Why is he not responsible for the sinful activities that people do? Because he is the ultimate cause, not the intermediate cause.
See, the Vedanta Sutra gives the example that without rains, no vegetation will grow. But at the same time, that same rain can sometimes cause lush green vegetation, maybe delicious fruits like mangoes to grow. Other places, the same vegetation can cause thorns and weeds to grow.
So now why this difference? The rain is the same. What kind of, what is the quality of the seeds that were sown over there? So the person who sows the seed is responsible. So when he is sarvakarana karana means that ultimately without his sanction, nothing will happen.
See sometimes people say not a blade of grass moves without the will of God. Actually that is not a correct understanding. Not a blade of grass moves without the sanction of God.
It’s not will, it’s sanction. Will means what God wants to do. Sanction means what God allows to do.
So in Bhagavad Gita chapter 23, Lord Krishna says that he is upadrishta anumantacha, hartha bhokta maheshwara, paramatmeticha pyukto dehe svinpurushapara. He is upadrishta anumantacha, he is overseer and permitter. Anumanta, anumati viddhe everyone.
So it’s not that every sinful activity that a person does, it’s that, it’s Krishna wants a person to do sinful activity. No, that soul wants to do it and Krishna allows it. So Krishna sanctions.
So because Krishna is not the person who makes the choice. It is the soul who makes the choice. That’s why the soul is responsible.
Why does Krishna sanction our wrong choices? Because that is the best way we learn. Just like Krishna gives us the philosophical education by which you can make the right choices. But when we don’t use those choices, then we have to learn through experience.
Just like if you have a school, where the teacher gives the proper knowledge. And after that there are exams. And in the exam, there is a multiple choice paper.
The teacher gives five alternatives, out of which four are wrong. If the student fails, student just randomly chooses some option. Randomly some choices.
And student will get just 20% marks by random choices. Student fails. And can the student say to the teacher, you only put the wrong choices there.
That’s why I ticked them. Yes, I put the wrong choices. But I told you, I educated you which are the right choices.
You didn’t pay attention to the education. So, in this material world, Krishna can give you the proper choices. But Krishna gives spiritual knowledge.
And he is a super soul in our heart. And he acts in the wake of the voice of conscience. So, he allows us to learn, preferably just by hearing.
But if not by hearing, then by experience. We see the consequences of our choices, experience the futility of those wrong choices and then learn. How is socialism extended sense gratification? Because George Orwell, George Orwell was a famous British commentator, who was quite critical about socialism, communism in the basically the second world.
So, he said, all in such systems of governance, all people are equal, but some are more equal than others. That means what happens, that the idea of socialism is that wealth belongs to society. And therefore, wealth should be distributed equally to everyone.
But eventually, even such a society, there has to be a body of administrators. There are those who govern and those who are governed. And what happens is those who govern, they take power.
They appropriate wealth for themselves. So, there become there are some all people are equal, but some are more equal than others. Those who are governed, those who govern, they take up more and more powerfulness.
So, ultimately, what happens is, it creates elitist mentality, by which people want to grab more and more for themselves. So, it is extended sense gratification, because ultimately, people want to belong to a group, where we will be able to enjoy this. So, practically, what happens is everybody wants to belong to the government.
And they want to enjoy this. And if you look at a deeper level, ultimately, wealth doesn’t belong to society. Because it is not only humans who have a society, animals have society, plants have society.
So, the resources of the world are meant for all living beings. It is not just meant for human beings. They are all living beings, children of God.
So, when we take them only for human beings, then that is also, it is called in philosophy as speciesism, right? It is communism. So, speciesism means human species, it has monopoly on all of the creation. It is wrong.
So, ultimately, what is extended sense gratification? It means I and mine. So, the mine, as long as it is not connected with Krishna, who is connected with all of creation? I and mine. So, I am Krishna’s servant and I belong and Krishna is mine.
When I become spiritualized, आमी तो तोमार, तुमी तो अमांग्र, कि का जा पर धाने? But when I am yours, you are mine, what else do I need in my life? That is actually the pure devotion. But apart from that, when we have any definition of I and mine that is separate from then that definition is material in the sense that it is not based on spiritual reality. And that always creates some kind of limitation.
Some people are included, some people are left out. So, how that will happen with specific schools of thought, that will vary. But this is universal principle that as long as you are not connected with Krishna at the spiritual level, you will create by whatever I and mine we create, whatever name we give it to it, we will create fragmentation.
And that is why that fragmentation will be extended self-realization. I want to enjoy for my people and let others enjoy. Yes, when this Bhagavad Gita says that Krishna knows the future, does that mean that our activities are fixed? God’s knowledge of the future is like our knowledge of the past.
It is knowledge without intervention. What is our knowledge of the past? I know yesterday morning I did that, yesterday morning I did that. So, I know that, but can I change it now? There is no intervention that I can do.
So, God’s knowledge of the future is like that. Now, the difference is, however, that we cannot intervene, God can intervene, but he chooses not to intervene. So, that means that when we choose actions, we often don’t know all the factors that are involved that will bring about the consequences.
So, we are blind to the consequences many times. Choose actions based on impulses or on inadequate thinking. Krishna is not like that.
So, when there are choices, there are consequences, Krishna knows this. But Krishna doesn’t force us. You have to make this choice, you don’t have to make that choice.
So, when we talk about Krishna’s omniscience in terms of the future, it is knowledge without intervention. So, he knows the future, but he doesn’t interfere with our future. He allows us to act according to our freedom.
Does this mean that in such a condition, we will act in a certain way? Not necessarily. Krishna doesn’t take away our freedom. That is very important.
And the idea that our actions are determined by our conditions is a materialistic conception. Why did that person become a criminal? Oh, because he was poor, he did not have any money, he did not have this, he did not have that. That’s why he became a criminal.
Yes, we could say that those circumstances are factors, but ultimately, it’s a decision that the person has taken. Our circumstances can impel, but they cannot come out. Impel means push, compel means force.
We can push, but we don’t force. Ultimately, it’s our choice. Actually, without the understanding that we are not just puppets of our circumstances, if we do not have the understanding, there will be no people left.
There is no concept of responsibility left. Can we consider everybody responsible? So, there are many psychologists also have done this. I’m just going to conclude with this one.
That actually, there is a very famous psychologist who wrote a book called Man’s Search for Meaning. So, he was a Jew, and he was trapped in Auschwitz, in the Holocaust, and he was put in the jail and gas chambers and he was tortured, and he might have died also. So, there, he was a psychologist, so he was observing them.
And so, he said that even within the concentration camps, everybody was suffering. So, what they would do is, the Jews would all be in these concentration camps, and they would give them some very low nourishing, less nourishing, cheap food. So, they would have largely soup with some vegetables in it.
And he found that even within the situation, different prisoners acted differently. So, some prisoners were asked to serve the food. So, some of those who would serve the food, what they would do is, they would just serve the liquid to everyone else, so that when they would take the food, they would get the solids.
Some others, they would mix it thoroughly and let everybody get paid. And some others would actually give the solids to others and keep the liquids for themselves. So, he said, even in such an inhuman condition, where death could come at any time, and barbaric torture was there, there also people were acting differently.
They were not determining that. They were not as aggressive as us. That was their character.
That was their choice. So, essentially, whatever situation we are in, we always have three freedoms. What I think about, how I look at my circumstance, and how I respond to my circumstance.
These three freedoms never go against. And these three freedoms are actually maximized by Krishna Consciousness Practice. What is the first? What I think about.
I may be in a concentration camp, but it’s not that I have to think about, oh, I’m so sorry. And why did I get into this? Why I have to suffer? I can think about something else. So, Krishna Consciousness uses Krishna in his pastimes, in his own names.
So, it gives us a whole universe of bhakti to think about. So, what I think about is not controlled by the circumstances. Secondly, how I look at my circumstances.
It is not controlled by the circumstances. Some people can see their circumstances as a tragedy. Some people can see it as an opportunity.
Actually, events don’t create emotions. The meaning that we assign to those events creates emotions. Somebody is in the army, and he is shot by the enemy soldier.
Then, that person feels pain, but along with that, he is brought back from the army, and he is taken back, and he goes back to the home, and he is given a badge of honor. He fought in the army, and he risked his life. But in the same person, when they are fighting, when they are training in a drill practice, suddenly a bullet goes into his chest.
He is wounded and goes back. Then, the same thing has happened, but this is also a tragedy. It’s a useless wound it is.
So, actually speaking, this example what I’m saying is, events don’t create emotions. Circumstances don’t create emotions. The meaning that we assign to them, that’s what creates emotions.
So, bhakti enables us to change the meanings. Many times, when people become sick, you know, I have been, we have a devotee hospital, Lufthansa Hospital. So, I have talked with the doctors.
One of the biggest problems with sick people is, they just feel that they have been unjustly wrong. They feel, why all my friends are injured? Why am I sick? And that sickles them to adapt. But bhakti, what it does? I must have done some pious karma because of which I have got it, but, you know, it doesn’t matter.
Now, I have Krishna and I have got Krishna. So, that feeling of being wrong, bad, is not there. That whole resentment just goes away when we accept Krishna’s identity.
I may have done some bad karma, but Krishna will work something good out of this. So, therefore, let me just be as Krishna conscious as possible. Third is, how we act.
You know, somebody shouts at me, I can shout back. Or I can stay calm and I can respond with maturity. So, these three freedoms are there.
And what happens is, Krishna consciousness gives us a satisfying object for thought, very satisfying object, gives us a philosophical understanding, a perspective, how bad things are happening in our life, and it gives us the inner strength to act properly. And that’s how Krishna consciousness actually, in many ways, liberates us from our circumstances. So, thank you very much.