Questions And Answers 25 June 2024

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So you were talking about artists, authors who their desire to write is stronger than their desire for praise and things and how we should learn our talents and then engage them for Krishna. But at least what I’ve seen is it’s very easy as you discover your talents to get absorbed in sharpening the talent itself more so than serving with it. So how as you discover your talents and learn more about what you’re capable of doing, you don’t get carried away by actually just indulging in those new capabilities of themselves versus only using what you need to serve.
Okay, it’s a good question. Our talents are gifts from the Lord. And it is definitely important to acknowledge the gift that we have.
But let’s say we go to some friend’s place and they have a small child and we give them a gift. The child is so happy, the kids are jumping in joy. Seeing that they are happy with our gift will be a… But the child takes the gift and just forgets us.
Let me just say thank you. Well, that’s not very easy. The child is understandable.
But it’s about valuing the gifts that we have as good. Valuing the giver of the gifts is important. So for us, the gifts in themselves are valuable.
And if anyone, even an atheist for that matter, when atheists open their gifts, they use those gifts. You know, an atheist is a good artist, atheist is a nature lover, whatever it is. When you use gifts, they use those gifts.
That’s good. Now, of course, the atheists are using that to propagate atheism. There’s a question over there.
But in general, a talent for one, a gift for one is actually a gift for everyone. The one person who is a good decorator, that person makes a dark, sullen place into a bright, uplifting place as a gift. So just valuing the gifts should not be devalued.
However, when we are spiritual seekers, it’s important to remember that there are so many people in this world who are gifts. But ultimately, it’s the gifts who bring us lasting satisfaction. As I said, I’m an author.
Among the top 10 authors in the last century, seven of them ended up taking their own lives. And it is not, what is the reason? It’s complex. But overall, what happened is that they wrote famous books and award-winning books.
But then after that, the talent started weakening. And they tried to write another book and it’s just not good enough. And then what happened is, you know, it’s like we all need some everyday makeup.
We need to have something to look forward in our life. But if some person is living constantly with the realisation, with a painful realisation, that my best is behind me, that my best work is behind me, there’s something ahead. It’s very depressing.
So if we think that we are the source of our talents, then why are those talents not coming to me? Why am I not able to do something as good as better? So talents alone, gifts alone, they can be sources of happiness. But they can also become a source of unhappiness when they start not working for us the way we want them to. Arjuna was a great archer.
And then eventually, his archery ability failed him. When he was shooting arrows, and utterly humiliating for him, his arrows didn’t even reach the target. There wasn’t even a person with arrows who would never miss the target.
And at that time, what did he do? You know, his gift is gone. And Krishna was also gone. But then he says, Krishna is within me.
So, becoming infatuated with our gifts can also eventually take us down to a path of unhappiness. So, value the gifts. Also, value the given gifts.
Thank you. Thank you so much for that wonderful talk. So, as you told that some desires are attainable, it leads to dissatisfaction, uncertainty leads to anxiety, and unfulfilling leads to disappointment.
But sometimes it also happens that the desires are fulfilled, it gives pleasure for some time, and then later on we feel guilty about it. So, for example, if a student is cheating an exam, now he got the answer, he got the answer, he felt happy that he got A, and then he realises that, okay, even if it was A-, it still would have made sense, but inside he’s feeling guilty about it. So, how should we categorise that? Okay, that’s a good point.
See, rather than any kind of analytical tools that are used for categorisation, we need to know that they are like maps. Now, a map is useful for navigating the territory, but a map is not the territory. The territory will become more and more complex.
You know, like the India-Canada border, just in a smooth line, but if you go there, you know, which part is exactly where, this river, okay, this hill, except it’s America from Canada, well, which part of the hill is in America, which part is in Canada? It’s not so easy to navigate. So, there will always be nuances between categories. So, what I said, as unfulfilling, well, yes, I got the desire, but then the price I paid for getting this desire fulfilled, it’s not worth it.
That also may lead to dissatisfaction. So, it’s unfulfilling in that sense of guilt. Now, guilt could be because I did something wrong, but guilt could also be because of the, what you call it, buyer’s remorse.
Some people buy things that they want online, free from Amazon, and then why did I buy it? So, I bought it, but maybe I spent too much with the unfulfilling. So, that’s also broadly the category of unfulfilling. Unfulfilling because it’s not good enough, or maybe it’s good, but the price I paid was too much for it.
Yes, please. Yes, sir. Yeah.
So, you said that we direct our guilt to Krishna. Then Krishna is satisfied. So, how do we know that Krishna is satisfied, and how does Krishna being satisfied lead to our satisfaction? How do we know Krishna is satisfied? That’s a great mystery.
It’s a variety of factors. It is not that Krishna wants to hide behind a veil of mystery and useless and keep us unsteady and confused. That’s not Krishna’s nature.
The fact is that we buy our desires and cloud our vision. So, that’s why it’s very difficult for us to perceive Krishna’s satisfaction right now. In general, Krishna’s satisfaction is perceived through internal and external associations.
So, external is the association. We have again an association of people who are also devoted to Krishna. Their lives are orientated towards Krishna, and their value system is broadly aligned in such a way that they can guide us, they can tell us that, okay, what we are doing is something which should be in Krishna.
Another thing is the contribution itself that we are making. Contribution means if we are getting result in a particular service, then that will be in Krishna, and Krishna wants us to do it more. So, Shri Prabhupada tried various things.
He tried serving in India, he tried outreach in India, so many places. He came to America, he tried in America various things, in Butler, then he came to New York, then he came to New York, went to the Lower East Side of India. Some things worked, some things didn’t work.
So, basically contribution is the efficacy, the effect, effectiveness. So, the pleasure of the devotees, the pleasure of Krishna, the magnitude of the results that we are getting, then from internal perspective, our own containment. If we are pleasing Krishna, the metaphor that is given is that when you water the root of a tree, all the leaves get watered.
So, when we are actually pleasing Krishna, we experience a sublime contentment that does not depend on the world’s recognition. The world’s recognition sounds wonderful, but even if it doesn’t come, like, say, if you are studying scripture and maybe teaching writing is alcoholic, if the music is alcoholic, then if we sing, if we give a class, if we sing, and people appreciate it, that’s what it is. But even if there’s no one to appreciate it, every good musician, they spend hours and hours of practise, or a good scriptural teacher, the what they speak is probably one percent of what they’ve studied, and maybe 90 percent of what they’ve studied, they will never get the opportunity to speak it.
But they have their intellectual selves. So, that contentment is there. This is what I want to be.
In general, that contentment, this is what I meant to do, this is what I want to do. So, it’s almost as if we don’t need the world’s recognition to do it. But, as somebody might say, materials might also get some level of contentment in materials.
So, internally is attraction to Krishna. Attraction, not just to the activity, but our attraction to Krishna should increase. We may do various activities, but our attraction to the Lord should be increased.
So, broadly, these four parameters are there. We are satisfied in what we are doing. Our service is producing results.
We feel contented, even if nobody is around producing us for what we are doing, and we feel attracted towards the Lord. So, contentment is more in the gift itself, and attraction is to the giver of the gift, like I was saying earlier. So, these four things are happening, and definitely we can say that Krishna is pleased with us.
So, I’m still in devotion. Okay? Thank you. Any last questions before we stop? Okay, there are no questions.
Let’s see. Thanks all two of us for a wonderful class. May I have the mic? I can put the mic with you.
So, could you mention in the beginning two verses, the happiness in the mode of passion and happiness in the mode of goodness. So, there is a poison in the beginning and the nectar in the end, and vice versa. So, the happiness which people in general perceive, me including people in general, the happiness which you get from the sense perception in general.
So, when we come to the bhakti, and we learn how the real happiness is. How is it? The real happiness is totally phase shift. It’s true.
It’s a totally phase shift. Earlier, we think of happiness as, we all meant the sense perception, the sense happiness, before the bhakti. And after bhakti, we understand that it’s a source of misery, not a way of happiness.
So, it’s like a whole phase shift of happiness in our life. So, and then you explained over there, very nicely, the example of burden. So, earlier, how we can make, how we can do the phase shift.
We have this burden, but we have to expand our consciousness, expand our purpose, like ocean, so that the river of those distractions, they don’t just make, don’t just distract us. But the ocean is below that. One more thing comes along with those sense happinesses, or those sort of passion, happinesses, the saras, the ambitions, comes to the mind.
So, though we start learning bhakti, practising bhakti, but the saras of the prior bhakti, they keep drying. So, it takes time to do those impressions, to sway it off. So, the process of expanding our consciousness, that is a one side process going on.
But at the same time, how do we, what are those kinds of things? So, as an accommodate, that’s the whole part of it. Accommodate is sometimes we have our past, and we can’t be sure we are past. So, each of us has our particular level of conditions, and we have to learn to be kind to ourselves.
It’s a healthy relationship with ourselves. It has to have both these aspects. You know, if a healthy relationship with ourselves, we talk about a healthy relationship with others.
But what is the characteristic of a healthy relationship in general? If a relationship is good, my relationship with someone else is good, say for example. And the result of that relationship is that that person becomes better, and I become better. Hence, we enjoy each other’s company, that’s one thing.
But a healthy relationship is where both of us become better. So, if you can say a healthy relationship with ourselves, that means say, I am here, this is with others. If myself means say, I am looking at myself from above.
So, as if we all have a capacity for self-observation. So, when I am looking at myself from above, there is a time when I can say, okay, you know, that time I got angry and I spoke harshly, I should not have done that. I meant a particular thing, I imagined that I should not have.
So, ideally speaking, what happens is, healthy relationship means, there is a noble self, like the mind, the impulsive part of us, there is a higher self, which is the intelligence, the reflective part of us. So, ideally speaking, healthy relationship means, this noble self moves upwards, and the higher self also moves upwards. So, both of us start moving upwards.
And we have to be evaluating that there are times when we need to be hard on ourselves. You know, if you have done that, that was a bad thing to do. We need to get some consequences for this.
You spoke like that, you have to go and apologise, you do this, this, this, so I am making amends for that. And sometimes, we need to be kind to ourselves. Okay, I am in this situation right now, and it is going to take some time.
It is not going to happen immediately. So, I have to, so when we are hard to ourselves and when we are kind to ourselves, that we need to balance. If we are only hard on ourselves, eventually, what will happen is, we will just be driven by guilt, guilt or inadequacy.
Eventually, this leads to depression. A person is constantly hard on themselves. It is like, imagine you are with someone, and that person constantly is criticising us.
It is very difficult to deal with that personality. On the other hand, if you are constantly kind to ourselves, you know, you soften ourselves, then all that will happen is stagnation. We will never grow.
See, much of modern spirituality, new age spirituality falls in this category. It is all about, I saw one t-shirt, essence is, you are perfect as you are. Their whole idea is self-acceptance.
Self-acceptance is important. You can say, you are valuable as you are, you are worthy as you are, you are perfect. Who can say they are perfect? If they are perfect, that means they have attained a plateau and there is nothing more to do in life.
So, this can lead to stagnation and this stagnation is also very good. Now, on living hard on ourselves, this is much of traditional religion, especially Boston has a big church. So, there is a whole infamous Catholic guilt, they call it, that the psychology of creating guilt in people, ever leaving them, keeping them under control of the authority.
So, that has put a lot of people away from religion. So, Krishna Consciousness is meant to be a balance between these two. Now, Prabhupada, go and talk with Prabhupada.
Prabhupada was not sending people on a guilt trip to make them do things. I mean, there was Prabhupada, I have done so much for you, why are you not doing this? Prabhupada was inspiring people with his own example and with his readings, with his own dedication. So, people wanted to become, do more and more because he inspired you.
So, this balance is something which you have to see from the result. That means, see, I did something wrong and is it something which I could have avoided? The condition is very strong, it may just be impossible for me to resist right now. It’s okay.
Say, somebody has a very short temper, that means I want to give the short temper, but I’m not going to give it up immediately. So, maybe somebody has a short temper, they should not be in charge of devotee care. Somebody has a condition where they should be a lot of food.
Then, they just can’t stop, maybe they should not be in charge of Mahaprasad. So, each of us needs to find out, how can I elevate myself? And then, kind of, I said, okay, this conditioning may take some time. So, we don’t have to burden ourselves with guilt, but we have to acknowledge that maybe then, because I have this conditioning, I should not be doing this particular service.
What makes it problematic is, I have the conditioning, I’m not able to give up the conditioning, and still, I want the prestige and the privilege of someone who has given that conditioning. That is a problem. So, if we take some, we set some boundaries for ourselves, because of this condition, I cannot do this and that’s fair enough.
Thank you. Last question. Thank you, with thoughtful questions, and very, honest, very candid questions.
Thank you. My question is for the, you mentioned how to, the process of gaining happiness, the RAG formula. So, the D part, we have to develop the desire.
So, how would you, how would you develop that? You would have been happy and renowned, but he came to the US to expand his movement. So, my question is, how do we develop those desires? How do we develop those desires? In general, it is by associating with those who have similar healthy desires. It is not the same healthy desire, but similar healthy desires.
See, broadly, there is the desire to serve Krishna, and there are the desires to serve Krishna. What do I mean by the difference? The desire to serve Krishna, that is, you could say, a broad service attitude. This we can get by coming in the association of dedicated devotees.
And then, there are the desires to serve Krishna. By desires to serve Krishna means, there may be many different desires. So, some of the devotees with whom I had, I had to introduce Bhakti, now, they bring temple worship.
Now, when I see that, you know, I don’t get the desire, I want to be at the temple worship. That’s not my nature. I’m more of a teacher, but seeing their dedication inspires me to study scripture more, to teach scripture more, to write more.
So, the specific desires, the desires to serve Krishna, they can be many, because they are specific. So, by associating with others, our desires will be developed. So, it would be, that person may have a little gift, and they may be inspired, they may be inspired to develop that gift, but you will be inspired to develop that gift.
So, we need both associations. That means, we need association of devotees who are dedicated to Krishna, who are dedicated to using their gifts in Krishna’s service. And then, we need association of those specific devotees whose gifts are more or less the same as our gifts.
So, if I get inspiration from somebody who has built a temple, but I get also inspiration, I get more inspiration by some authors who have written books, the depth of thought they have, the depth of understanding of something that they have. So, sometimes, till we get to know our specific gifts, we may associate generally with devotees we get inspiration. But once we start knowing our gifts, then we also need to specifically associate with what is called as like-minded devotees.
So, like-minded devotees, that’s right, that means they have the same specific desire to serve Krishna that we have. So, those devotees, for example, I give the outreach, and those people who give the outreach come together, and they say, oh, it’s great, and they all get inspired. So, that way, but association is the key to developing desires.
So, thank you very much. So, I had this question for a long time. So, when I was explaining this to my friend who is supposed to be like non-believer of God.
So, he asked me that, do you believe in God? I said yes. Then he asked that, why do you have to believe in something which already exists? So, it kind of like confused me because he asked like, do you believe that you have here? I said yes. Then he said that, but why do you have to believe it if you have something like that? So, like, I don’t know like how to answer that.
Why to believe in something that already exists? Okay. So, sometimes there are many semantic traps, words. So, there are two things over here.
That there is a similarity and a dissimilarity between, say, if you consider hair and God. See, the idea of God is, is it real? Yes, it is real, but it is a categorically different reality. So, people ask, can scientific advancement lead to, for us to, can we find God by scientific advancement? Well, God is not like some undiscovered satellite around Jupiter, that we just get some telescope of sufficient magnitude, then we find God is by definition spiritual.
Yes, by further study of the universe, we may be able to find pointers which point towards God. But the point is that God is a non-material reality. And therefore, comparing Him to a physical, visible, material reality, and saying that why do you need? Yes, it is real, but it is a different category of reality.
And that level of reality, that category of reality is not presently perceivable for us. And that’s why it is a matter of Shraddha or faith or belief or whatever you want to use, that is an important part of any spiritual tradition. Now, of course, it’s not the Shraddha, it’s not blind faith, because there is also Jitki is enquired, there is curiosity, there is scope, not just scope, but also responsibility for asking questions.
Thank you. Any other questions? So let me just quickly go back to some of the points which are mentioned about the spiritual world, the specifics. I don’t think I can address all of them.
So first is that the idea of it being beyond time. So it’s when we say it’s beyond time, what it means is the spiritual world is beyond the control of time. It is not that time doesn’t exist.
Time does exist, but time’s controlling power is not there. Time, if you see, how does Krishna define time in the Bhagavad Gita? Time, I am the destroyer of the worlds. So why do you say that? Because time deteriorates things, time destroys things.
So in the spiritual world, time exists in the sense that there are cycles. There is morning, there is afternoon, there is evening, and Krishna does different Leelas at different times. But Krishna is not controlled by time.
Krishna’s Leelas are not controlled by time. Krishna doesn’t say, okay, he’s come to meet the Gopis, okay, now time over, I have to go now. When Krishna wants to perform Raas Leela, he can expand time.
He can expand. So time doesn’t exist in the sense that time, which is the, somebody cannot accept the existence of God. That’s okay, that’s people, God has given that freedom for us to believe what we want to believe.
But nobody can deny the power of time. And in one sense, time is God in this world. We do not believe in God, but time which controls everyone, which overpowers everyone, that is God in this world.
But that almighty role of God, of time in this world, that is not there. So time doesn’t control. So in that sense, time is not there.
Prabhu, is it like the duration is not there, time is there, is it like that? So duration for any thing is not available, but whereas the khalas are available, like morning, afternoon? No, the control, the duration is there. Okay, duration is not defined. No, the point is that what is time is, you know, we often ask this question, what is the time? Isn’t it? Yes.
It’s a common question. We rarely ask the question, what is time? Time is a very complex philosophical concept. What is the time is, okay, when we measure the time, what is the time right now? Okay, it is time for prasad now, when is the class going to get over? What is the time? We can measure it, but we can put it in certain reference parcels.
Okay. It is time to sleep. But what is time intrinsically? That even within science or philosophy of science or philosophy in general is a very complex concept.
So I said thought of time as one of the dimensions and we talk about space-time. But the problem is in all the three dimensions, we can move forward or backward. In time, we cannot move backward.
So it’s not like other dimensions. So what is time is complex. So the point is in the spiritual world, yes, there is morning, there is afternoon, there is evening.
But it is not that it is something which is beyond the control of Krishna. Krishna can extend the morning if he wants to, so that he can have a long time with his friends. So in that sense, you can say that rather than using the word duration, the flow of time is not controlled.
So it is not controlling, it is controlled by Krishna. Okay. Is it like the sunrise and the moonrise? Yeah.
The duration between them, that if Krishna wants, he can vary it. Okay. He can make it longer, he can make it shorter.
Okay. Basically, the controlling feature is not there. Now what is the nature of the body in the spiritual world? Well, the principle of the spiritual world is the reciprocation of love.
So whatever is required for the reciprocation of love, that is given. And the whole concept of bhakti is embodied spirituality. That means that God is a person and person is embodied in a form as a person.
And similarly, we are also persons, we are also embodied. So we have the body, bodily form that is best suited for our service to the law. And whatever features are required for that, those features are there.
So but again, because we are under control of time, so there is no deterioration or destruction. And none of the things which afflict the body are there over time. Now, can there be happiness beyond duality? Well, there is a different kind of duality over this.
There is love, which is constant foundation. But there is union and separation. And this is not a material duality.
The point is that even when the gopis or the devotees in Vrindavan are separated from Krishna, when Krishna goes away from them, Krishna goes deeper into their hearts. At one level, they feel His presence. So they are not separated from Him in that sense.
But externally speaking, they are separated. So while there is duality in this world and there is duality in the spiritual world, in both this love and loving remembrance that comes from it, that itself is like nectar. It is a constant shower of nectar.
But union is like sweet nectar, separation is like bitter nectar. There is some agony, but within that agony also there is intensified remembrance. That’s why it’s great joy.
Now the duality in our world is that. So in the material duality, basically again there can be pleasure and pain. But the problem is because it is disconnected from who we really are.
It is disconnected from the reality of our identity. So this itself is considered to be like poison. The pleasure here is like sweet poison.
The pain here is like bitter poison. But the point is both are poison. So that’s in the duality of this world and duality of that world are categorically different.
Now when the idea of a desire tree is there that any tree can give anything. See the principle over there is that the desires are not thwarted. That we have desires and often the nature of this world thwarts our desires.
They are left fulfilled. In the spiritual world, the desires are not thwarted. So having said that, the devotees there are not interested so much in the things as in the service to the Lord because their focus is on love.
So when the gopis cook for Krishna, they don’t do anything. Oh Krishna, I have a desire tree. Just give me this thing, I’ll offer this to you.
They actually cook. Why? Because it is in expressing that love that they get their joy. So the point is the limitations that afflict us in this world are not there in the spiritual world.
But that does not mean that the normal expressions of love are lost. Essentially, the spiritual world is the domain of love. And whatever is required for the reciprocation of love, that is present in that world.
So every single arrangement. So if someone wants to have something and offer something to Krishna and they don’t have the resources, then they can ask the desire tree and the desire tree will give it to them. But they would much rather prefer to endeavour and prepare.
And in that they express their love for Krishna. So thank you very much.