Reviving Love 1 – Para dharma contrasted with apara dharmas like patriotism, be-good and service to parents

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So the word Dharma, we are discussing now about reviving love. What is the relationship between love and Dharma? That we will come to gradually. But the important point right now is that Dharma has many meanings.
And one of the common meanings is about say religion. Hindu Dharma, Muslim Dharma, Christian Dharma people say. Yes, that is a contextual meaning of the word Dharma.
Dharma comes from the original root Dhri. Dhri is Sanskrit which is related to Dhriti, Dhara, Yade. Which means to sustain.
So what is Dharma? Dharma is that which sustains. So something which sustains the existence of that object is called as Dharma. It says now this mind, horizontal means sustained by the stand.
This stand is sustained by the earth. So that which is the foundation, that which sustains, that which is essential and dispensable for a particular thing’s existence. That is intrinsic, irreducible, inalienable characteristic.
So this meaning of Dharma we may not be very familiar with in the normal way in which the word Dharma is used. We will discuss the connection between our normal meaning of the word Dharma and this understanding of Dharma. The word Dharma refers in its foundational sense to this point of the characteristic, intrinsic, irreducible, inalienable characteristic.
Intrinsic means that which is within itself. It’s not only separate. Irreducible means that characteristic cannot be further reduced to anything else.
And inalienable means that characteristic cannot be taken away, cannot be dragged out, cannot be alienated. So Dharma is the intrinsic, irreducible and inalienable characteristic of a thing. So for example, let’s first start with insensual things.
Then we’ll move towards sensual things. So insensual means non-loving things. So if you have fire.
Now as soon as I think of fire, what is the thought that comes in mind? The seed, isn’t it? So if you think of cold fire, it would be illogical, isn’t it? So similarly, if I think of sugar, something that comes in my mind is sweetness. So the difference of salt is, as the very noun itself is, saltitious. So these are intrinsic characteristics of certain objects.
And they are their Dharma. So now, for non-loving objects, those characteristics are intrinsically there within the body. Because non-loving objects do not have freedom.
They do not change their nature by their conscious choice because they have no consciousness. So salt is always saltish. Now if something is mixed in it, it gets contaminated.
Then its saltishness gets lost. But salt does not have to do anything to be saltish. Sugar does not have to do anything to be sweet.
Because these things are non-loving. We, on the other hand, are conscious. And we have free will.
And we can make choices and decisions. So what is our Dharma, that is one thing intrinsically. And that will never be lost.
But the Dharma can be expressed in different ways at different times. And not all expressions of Dharma are equally beneficial, equally uplifting for our well-being. So at our foundational level, what is it without which we can’t exist? All of us, when we live, we have a tendency to love and a tendency to serve.
Whoever it is. And we are talking about all of us, we are not just talking about all human beings. Even all living beings.
A tigress may be very ferocious towards an animal of prey, which is to be caught in it. Or a human being who is coming into its territory. But that tigress will be very tender towards her own cub.
So the tigress, her fierceness is actually used in service of her cub. So there is love for the cub and there is service towards the cub. So love and service is something which we see in all species.
And that is the defining characteristic of everyone. So love and service. All of us, ultimately if we see, we have various definitions of happiness.
But in those definitions, somebody may think, I want to become a world-famous engineer. Somebody may say, I want to become the next transformational, India transforming politician. Somebody may say, I want to become a business tycoon.
Somebody may say, I want to become a sports star. All these are specific activities which we may aspire to do. But after doing this, what do we aspire for? No, we want to have relationships.
Fulfilling relationships, which are centred on love and service. So love and service is the defining characteristic of all living beings. Love and service is our dharma.
But love and service in and of itself is important. In the sense that love and service has to be directed towards someone. If it is not directed towards someone, then that love and service just remains in a vacuum.
There is no meaning. Whom am I loving? Who am I serving? So we can direct our love and service towards various objects. In the Bhagwatam, a very important verse, first chapter, second chapter, sixth verse.
You can try to repeat after me. This verse here, it’s not here right now. It will come later.
Ohai tu ki aprati hata Yayatma suprasidati So, Yayatma suprasidati. By this, the Atma, the inner being, will be delighted, will be suprasidati, will become cheerful, joyful, blissful. What is that? That is Parodharma.
There can be many dharmas, but Parodharma is supreme dharma. What is that Parodharma? Yato bhakte adhokshache That language, our heart’s devotion is directed towards the adhokshache, the invisible Lord. Adhokshache refers to that Lord who is not directly perceivable to our senses.
Ohai tu ki aprati hata Which is unmotivated and uninterrupted. We will discuss about this later in detail. But right now, I emphasise that the Bhagavatam is not talking that Hindu dharma is the greatest dharma, Christian dharma is the greatest dharma.
It isn’t talking anything like that. It says that dharma which talks of pure love for the Supreme Lord, that is the Parodharma, that is the highest dharma. So now, various activities that we do in life are ultimately meant to reinstate us in pure love for God.
So, as I said, our intrinsic nature is to love and serve. Now when we love and serve the Supreme Lord, that will lead to eternal happiness. Because we are eternal, and Krishna is eternal.
And if we love Krishna, then that relationship can go on eternally. We’ll be eternally, ecstatically engaged in Krishna’s service. So that is the perfection of our dharma.
But, when this propensity to love and serve is there, it is directed towards other objects. It can be various objects. A person may have a pet.
And then, the person is carrying the pet around. And many times, when the pet is being carried around the pet, sometimes it responds to nature right in the streets. So in America, there is a law against that.
You cannot litter the streets. So what does the master have to do? The master carries the bag. And when the dog wants to do his business, the master holds the bag behind the dog.
And then, the master carries the bag until he finds the dustbin and puts it in the dustbin. So, the master is taking the dog for a walk, but the dog is taking the master for a ride. Isn’t it? The dog, the master, is becoming the servant of the dog.
Isn’t it? So what is happening? In fact, now, especially this is becoming an increasing problem in America, parenting is becoming a very big challenge. And parents feel that often the families are not together. There are single mothers, single fathers.
Families break apart. Taking care of children is a big problem. So what people do is, instead of having children, they have pets.
And there are several cities in America where, population-wise, the number of pets in the city is more than the number of children. Because people feel that pets are much more manageable. Children are very difficult to manage.
But the result of this is that the population is crunching. This is happening both in America and in the U.S. That the population is decreasing, especially of the Americans. And then, there are people from other groups, say Muslims or the pro-religious.
Some Muslims have 7-8 children. And the Muslim population is exploding. And there are Muslim thinkers who are worried about what is going to happen to the demographic trends.
But our point is right now, that everybody has to love and serve. So even a master who has a dog, what is he doing to the dog? Loving and serving the dog. Now, loving and serving the dog, is it the same as loving and serving a child? No.
There is love and service in both cases. But there are different degrees. Similarly, somebody may decide to love and serve some cartoon character.
You know, people are mad after Harry Potter. Or they have different I.I.T. characters, which they are just… It becomes a fight for them. And then, they have pictures of all of them, and they dream about them, and there are advertisements about them.
And there are even, just like we have in Disneyland, so there is Harry Potter land. And people go on a pilgrimage to Harry Potter land. So what is wrong with this? Ultimately, they are doing what? They are loving and serving.
In fact, there are film stars, it happens many times, George Harrison was a very famous musician. So what happened? He stayed in a hotel. And when he stayed in the hotel, in the hotel, in the washroom, there was a towel.
And he used it once. And then after George Harrison went from there, the hotel owner took the towel, cut it into eight parts, and did an auction for it. This is the towel that George Harrison used.
This is the Prasad of George Harrison. And then, each of those eight pieces, they went for, at that time, something like 10,000 pounds. Each piece.
So what does that mean? The same tendency to love, serve, worship has been directed into various elections. So essentially, essentially, this tendency to love and serve cannot be lost. In fact, what the hotel manager did was, when he took a bath over there, he made a particular sort of arrangement by which the bath water was secreted.
And he says, you can have this bath water. It’s the Abhishek of that. So then George Harrison’s lawyers said, this is going too far.
I’ll do a court case against you. We’ll just stop it. So now, what is so great about it? Some person, he has got a body which smells and stinks like our body only.
What is so great? But why do people get so carried away by such things? It’s simply because there is a propensity to love, serve, to adore. And it has to be directed somewhere. Now we can easily understand that if a person is going to love and adore, say a fictional character like Harry Potter, or a movie hero, or a musician, or say some principal national leader, or God, all of these are going to have different results.
The kind of way a person is going to live, what a person is going to do. So, dharma, to love and serve, is intrinsic in everybody. But that dharma is expressed differently by different people, depending on their level of understanding.
Just like now we have this white light over there. The original light coming from it, the bulb is white. But if I put a red film around it, then that light will become reddish.
If I put a blue film around it, it will become bluish. So like that, to love and serve is the original nature of the soul. Now depending on the conception that the soul has acquired, conception of what is special in life, what should I choose, what is my choice to adore, then accordingly, that loving and serving propensity will be directed in various ways.
So, the human society, ideal human society is meant for what? To train human beings to direct their loving and serving propensity towards the Supreme Lord. Towards God. Because as I said, that alone can bring us eternal fulfilment.
Now does this mean that we don’t care for anything else, anyone else? No. The Bhagavatam talks about there is Paradharma and there is Aparadharma. Paradharma is the supreme religion, the transcendental religion.
And Aparadharma is the subordinate religion. So, while we are living in this world, we also have our relations. We are living in a particular family, we live in a particular country, we live in a particular society.
So we have duties towards them. And those duties are also very important. So, we can visualise, we have a vertical relationship with God and we have a horizontal relationship with those around us.
A family member, with our country, with our race, all these. Now the ideal human society, the ideal social unit is when the vertical and the horizontal are symbiotic. Symbiotic means that our vertical relationship with Krishna inspires and strengthens our horizontal relationship.
And our horizontal relationship strengthens our vertical relationship. So that means, let’s say, if the parents are devotees of God, and the parents train their children to also become devotees. The father comes to the temple and the father offers obeisances to the Lord, bows down.
The child is watching, what is my father doing? And just to imitate the child, he also bows down. The child is looking, what is my father doing? He also bows down. So what happens? The child may not even understand.
But because of the natural respect and affection for the father, the child starts doing good things. So this is an example where the aparadharma contributes to the growth of the paradharma. The horizontal relationship with our family members, that contributes to our vertical relationship.
And similarly, even in the horizontal relationship, if a if a if in a family, the leader of the head of the family, the husband is not self-controlled, the husband dissipates all the family money in gambling or drinking, then what care can such a person offer to the family members? So if a person is devoted to God, naturally the person becomes principled. The devotion to God also helps the person to live with greater maturity and responsibility in family life. So the aparadharma is our love and service to God.
That’s the paradharma. And the aparadharma is our various other duties. So aparadharma contributes to the paradharma.
That symbiosis that is there, that is the ideal human situation. So now, our duty towards our country, our duty towards our family, these are important. At the same time, they are not all important.
Why are they all important? Because none of these are eternal. So, the temporary is not to be rejected, but the temporary is to be harmonised with the eternal. Temporary is to be harmonised with the eternal.
So with this background in mind, now let’s discuss this one by one. So if somebody says, my dharma is what? Jiyo aur jine do. Be good.
Be good, don’t harm anyone. So, why do you get into this whole philosophy business? It’s a little peaceful way. So, how do we answer this question? Would you like to say something? Yes, you have a mic.
So the person thinks that whatever he is doing, that is good because he thinks that I am not doing my life and I am not doing any other work. It is like that, how do you say? When you say that you are doing one part of it, but you are not doing any other work, then it will not benefit you. You will continue another work.
He thinks that he is doing his duty, then he can go to heaven, but he is living in heaven till he is living in heaven, then he can go to heaven, but he can’t come back to this world in any form. So, if he thinks that my duty is only for me, then he can understand this. But by this, he can live in this world.
But he does not get good results all the time. So, this thing is a strange thing. Good point.
So, first point is that we give temporary results in terms of going to heaven, and secondly, it is centred on the body. Any other points? What is wrong with the idea that be good and do good? Yes? If that person obeys the law of Bhagavad Gita, then there is no need to do anything. If person obeys the Bhagavad Gita, then there is no need to get into philosophy.
Isn’t Bhagavad Gita itself philosophy? But that is not so big. Okay, that is not so big. Bhagavad Gita is relatively simple to understand.
So, what you are saying is, it’s not that philosophy has to be big. There are simple principles of living which we can harmonise with. Good point.
Any one more point? Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
Any question? Yeah. So, another point here is that we can’t love everyone. Therefore, it is better to love Supreme God.
That is like watering the root. So, if you say, I want to be good, how many people can I be good? There is finite limit to that. These are all good points.
Now, we discussed one point yesterday about how God is the Supreme Procreator. So, when I say be good, don’t harm others. The idea is, I am assuming that there can be goodness without godliness.
I am making an assumption that there can be goodness without godliness. Now, this assumption is based on a misconception that the things around me belong to me. So, the idea is, I have my job, I earn my living, I have my house, and out of that I do some charities sometimes also.
So, I am a good person. Certainly, this kind of living is better than a person who is committing violence against others or is wasting one’s life in bad habits. Certainly better.
But still, does the world actually belong to me? Even the things which I have, my house, for that matter my body, my intelligence, we discussed that even these things belong to God. So, if I take the things which belong to God and then distribute it among myself and my family members and a few other people in charity, actually I am distributing the things which do not belong to me. If a gang of robbers goes to a bank and robs it and it comes back and then they go to their PA and the gang leader says ladies and gentlemen, there is no ladies, gentlemen.
So, gentlemen, all of us have to be very honest. No cheating. Geo or Geo.
You take your share of the money, I’ll take my share. And all of us will distribute equally and live happily ever after. This is what honesty among thieves.
Honesty among thieves is built on a foundation of dishonesty. Isn’t it? What is the foundation of dishonesty? That what they are being honest about, they have acquired the dishonesty. So, similarly, when we take the things of this world and try to use them without considering God, Ishtar, Goga, Bhagwaan, Deva, Das, Indra, Nibhavita, Dev, Dattana, Vidha, Nityo, Yog, Bhoom, Te, Sthe, Naivasa In 3.12, the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says that when we take the sources from God, from nature, which is ultimately provided for by God, and then we enjoy them without performing sacrifice, without re-offering them to God who is representing you, And then, yo bhuntey sthena eva saha, sthena means thief, chiparasa is a thief.
So what is happening? The whole idea of being good is based on a misconception, that the things which I have, they belong to me. But the things which I have, they may be under my care, but they do not actually belong to me. Here somebody says, things belong to me.
Things may belong, but for how long? For how long? Isn’t it? For a few years, for a few decades. And then afterwards, I’ll be gone, and somebody else will claim it. Sometimes people, they go into a trade, and they fight for a seat.
No, I want that post. I want that post. I want that post.
They’re fighting, fighting, fighting. And they’re quarrelling, and fighting, and scowling, and cursing. And by the time they fight and grab a seat, push the other person down, the station comes.
They’re winning. So like that, what happens is, when we think of the things of this world as our own, we are under a misconception. So, this being good is inadequate, because it is based on an incorrect presumption.
So, now, we don’t have to, as Raiji pointed out, we don’t have to talk about big, big philosophy. The truths of philosophy, at least, the fundamental truths, are very simple. Aishwarya Upanishad says, ईशावास्यदं सर्वः यक्यिंच जगत्यां जगत् तेन त्यक्तेन बुद्धी था मा गृधः कस्यस्विद्धन ईशावास्यदं सर्वः इदं सर्वः Everything in this world is Ishavasya.
It belongs to the Supreme Lord. That’s why this first verse of the Mantra of the Aishwarya Upanishad, the name of the Aishwarya Upanishad, it’s an Isho Upanishad. Upanishad about the Ishva.
Ishavasya. Everything belongs to the Lord. यक्यिंच जगत् त्यां जगत् Whatever is done in this world.
तेन त्यक्तेन बुद्धी था Take whatever is your quota. मा गृधः कस्यस्विद्धन Do not impose on the things that belong to cosmos. This verse is a call for living in harmony with the cosmos and the Lord of the cosmos.
So that’s the first one. Further, when I decide I’ll be good and live good. The question comes up, who decides what is good? Who decides what is good? You know, if a doctor has a friend.
And then the friend asks the doctor, how is your business going? It’s very good. If a doctor’s business is going very good, what does that mean? Many patients are becoming sick. Isn’t it? Many patients are becoming sick.
So, now this is of course a big subject. But the point is, what we call as good is relative. So what is good for one may not be good for another.
It may be quite harmful for another. So therefore, we just cannot decide what is good. There are certain lifestyles we can say, If a person is starving, that’s good.
If a person is sick, give him medicine, that is good. But beyond that, what is good and what is not good, how do we decide? We need some philosophy to help us decide. So, some people may think that, for example, Hitler had the idea that people who are handicapped, people who are blind, people who are deaf, or people who are in any way physically weak, they are actually going to struggle and suffer in their life.
So, we should become passionate with them and kill them. Actually, he did that. And it was all based on something called eugenics.
Eugenics means, select bad human races which are of higher quality and eliminate those who are weaker. So now, his idea of good was what? That the unfit are anyway going to suffer, so kill them. So, these are extreme examples.
But my point is, we cannot decide what is good without knowing a proper philosophy. And ultimately, even if something is good, as you rightly pointed out, how good is that good? It may be good for some time, it is a temporary result. But if I don’t connect myself with God, then just being good will not be enough.
Krishna describes, that what happens, he says, तेतं भुक्त्वासर्गलोकम् विशालं चिने पुणेमर्दिलोकम् विशन्ति एवं तरे धर्मन् प्रपण्ना तावतं कामा कामा लभन्ते In 9th chapter, 21st verse, Lord Krishna says that, those who do some punya, those who do punya, they will get some result, according to them only, they will get some result, temporary. But after that, again they will come back to the miserable existence. So they will not be a lasting good.
So if we want to do good, then the good should be a lasting good. Otherwise that good will not be of much use to us. So we discussed three main problems now with the, the good idea.
First is, that it’s based on a foundation of dishonesty. Thinking that things of this world belong to us. Secondly, it is, how do you decide what is good? Different people may have different conceptions of what is good.
And then thirdly, ultimately, whatever good comes by it, it’s temporary. It cannot lead to lasting good. And as a lasting good, we have to connect with God.
And by connecting with God, we will be able to return back to Him. For eternal life. Yes.
My next question. Is it clear? Any questions about this itself? We have other questions to discuss. Any questions about this right now? Yes.
Let’s move forward now. Bhagat says, serving the motherland is the highest dharma. And after his studies, he wants to join the social service movement that works for developing India.
He gets why whenever India loses a cricket match with Pakistan, Awa always argues with friends about how India is always superior. When you invite him to come to Bhagavad Gita classes, he says, religion and God are distractions to patriotism and national development. How will you inspire him to follow the supreme dharma? Any ideas? Yes.
I will tell him about materialistic and spirituality. And how materialistic leads to anti-Karmic. Then I will tell him how we are actually servants of God.
We are anyway servants of God. But why not become servants of God who is so merciful and eternal well wisher. I will explain to him.
Okay. We are servants. We become the ultimate servants of God.
That is the best. So how does all this discussion, all these points are valid what you are saying. How do they address this concern of patriotism? These are general philosophical points to be had.
Yes. Patriotism comes in the materialistic. I will explain in that way.
Okay. So how does patriotism lead to entanglement? If he is patriotism, he is actually becoming servant of the nation, their people, their economic development, all that. And we know that materialistic leads to entanglement.
This will be temporary. After entanglement. Yes.
Good point. So material conceptions are temporary. In patriotism, now see we are moving forward to a much higher level.
Yesterday we discussed about the mind. And how the mind collapses in bad habits. And how we need to break free from bad habits.
Now we are not talking about that. We are talking about good things. Things which are laudable from the material perspective.
And they are good also. But are they good enough? So patriotism is no doubt much much better than selfishness, self-centred patriotism. No doubt patriotism is good.
But we are not interested in how good is it. So how is patriotism entangled? See, there are two countries. Right now we are not talking about India and Pakistan.
If we talk about say Israel and Palestine. Israel and Palestine, if we talk about. Now there are people on both sides.
And both sides, they think my land is the best land. And we have our rights. And say they are fighting.
Fighting, fighting, fighting. They should be Israelis, it will be Palestinians, Palestinians, it will be Israelis. And say both of them down.
Now they are souls. The soul is not Israeli, the soul is not Palestinian. The soul by particular karma is born in a particular area.
The soul is born say in Israel. And by karma, the soul will be born in a future body, somewhere else. Now do you know what determines our next body? Our desires, our thoughts, when especially? At the time of death.
At the time of death. So Krishna says, So in 1.6 he says, Whatever we remember, That mentality will become manifest. So if an Israeli dies thinking of a Palestinian, Then what will happen? Next life the Israeli will be born as a Palestinian.
The Palestinian dies thinking of Israel, The Palestinian will be born as an Israeli. And what will happen? They will keep fighting their significant sons. Their significant sons.
Or like I gave you the example of a dog. You know, the master loves the dog And takes the dog as a pet for riding. And then the master loves the dog And the dog loves the master.
So in a future life, Their love will continue But they will need to change positions. So what will happen? Their master will think of the dog In which the dog will next live. For a human being to become an animal Is a different relation.
For an animal to think of a human being Entirely as a pet. So the loving nation Is to the point of Neglecting everything else And devoting oneself entirely to the nation. That is material.
So the entanglement continues on In material conceptions. So the Bhagavatam says, Yes? Svabhau ityati Ityati To think that my land is worshipable. So now, What is the nature of this Conception? It is not exactly An enlightened conception.
Because there is no such thing as my land. Ultimately the soul Is wandering through various places Of the universe. And the soul is temporarily born in a particular land.
Because excessively identifying with that Is a material misconception. And that will keep us entangled. Good point.
Would you like to say something? Any other points? About nationalism, patriotism? Yes? I would say that he is in mode of passing. All the concept of Patriotism Are just restrictions Which we have put to mankind. And Which are dividing things.
So we should unite humans And work for our own benefit by purifying our land. And reading Bhagavad Gita Is the best way to purify our land. Good answer.
So ultimately These divisions of written countries Is something which we have imposed. Now if you look at the map of the world If you look at the world itself, there are no boundaries in that. The boundaries of nations Are something which we have created.
And then we create conflicts based on these. So this is a Misconception which we have created. And it often fosters violence And hatred And so much divisiveness basically.
So it is better to avoid it. And to rise to a higher understanding. The scriptures talk about this.
Vasudhaiva kutumbakam Vasudhaiva refers to the earth. So it doesn’t talk about India as a nation. It talks about Vasudhaiva kutumbakam Kutumba means family.
Who is my family? The whole earth is my family. Sarve lena sukhina vanantu Sarve santu niramen Sarve badhra kashyantu Na kashchit dukha bhavave So he says let everyone be happy. Let there be auspiciousness in the life of everyone.
Na kashchit dukha bhavave Let there not be any misery For anyone at all. So this is A vision of universal well-being. So therefore When we understand that The idea of nationalism Now the word nationalism and patriotism They In terms of meanings They are the same But in terms of connotations Words have denotations and connotations Denotation is what is their meaning And connotation is what they imply So the word patriotism is used in a positive sense Nationalism is often not used in a positive sense Nationalism is often not used in a positive sense But either way The point is this nationalism and patriotism They are based On a divisive conception So Every person will think My country is great.
My America is great. An American will think. Why? Because I was born in America.
I am great. So my greatness Extended to my country’s greatness So like that it becomes This is a misconception So at one level The misidentification of the body Extends further With misidentification of the country And that also perpetuates illusion And also perpetuates So many unnecessary facts Now having accepted this point There is another dimension to this What is the dimension? See India There are many many countries in the world India is called as Kumbh Mata Dharmabhoomi Aryabhatta Why? Because of all the countries in the world Spiritual wisdom Is most proficiently available in India So If a person has love For India That love does not have to be rejected That can be spiritualised You say okay I want to work for the development of India What does it mean? What do you want to do? Do you want to make India a copycat of America? What does development mean? Every nation Has its Its unique As in marketing terms they say Unique selling point So what is India’s unique selling point? Actually It is India’s spiritual wisdom So Millions of people Thousands of people actually Millions if you look at the decades Have come to India as spiritual seekers Even in places like Puri Or Vrindavan or Hyderabad You will still often see foreigners are there Now from the material point of view These places Are not very comfortable If comfort was what they wanted The people from America, people from Europe They would have stayed in their own countries But they come here because they want something higher Spiritual wisdom So If India is to be developed The development of India If we have love for India we can direct it Towards developing spiritual wisdom India Can become a spiritual Super power leading the world Now if you see During the Cold War The world was bipolar There was the USA and the USSR And after disintegration You know the USSR Now the USA had some hegemony for some time But now other countries are emerging As super powers So Russia of course has some power But China is emerging as a super power And India is emerging So India is a growing power But if India wants to make a special contribution Distinctive from other countries It is a spiritual contribution So if somebody Loves the country What is India? Is India the Himalayan mountains? Is India the geographical map of India? Is India the flag? Well these things are India But at its heart India is Its spiritual heritage So our love for our country We can direct it We can utilise it To develop its spiritual heritage To understand it And share it with others So Material development is not going to be directed Material development has to be done But if you want India to make A distinct mark on the world For India to offer something Distinct to the world Then that can be spiritual offering So Shaitanya Mahaprabhu Has said Manushyam Janma Jaan Manushyam Janma Jaan Bhaarata Bhoopite Hoila Manushyam Janma Jaan So you know there are many living beings There are cheetahs, there are leopards There are so many other living beings in India But they do not have the capacity for understanding spirituality So If you have got a uniform members in India It is very special Because culture is spiritual This place is sacred And then here if one practises spirituality Then Janma Sarthak Kari Make your life successful Make it meaningful And Janma Rokkar So you do not Reject patriotism Actually if you understand spirituality Then we can have A patriotism beyond patriotism Patriotism beyond patriotism Means That the normal concept of patriotism is My country is greater than your country But the ready scriptures If you understand Then we will get a conception of life and world Which is universal So all living beings are souls All living beings are children of Krishna All living beings are parts In the same universal family of God This vision Is Not divisive It is uniform So if we love India for its spiritual heritage Then that love will be A patriotism beyond patriotism A patriotism that transcends patriotism That does not have The limitations of the sectarianism That is there in the world today But that is patriotism So that way we can spiritualise But importantly If one just divorces India from its spiritual culture So as somebody says It is a spiritual business, it is a distraction from national development Now then what is that national development? In India It does not have to develop to become a copycat of the rest That sort of development Is not actually a national development It is Western countries have so many problems Suicide Addiction Diabetes Stress And as India has become westernised These are coming to India Bangalore is considered the software capital of the world A lot of good things But along with that unfortunately it has become the suicide capital of the world So sad fact Why? There is so much stress that is there So much tension So we don’t want that kind of So we are not against development No We are not against modernisation India can develop materiality also And all of you are engineers So naturally as a part of your profession You contribute to that We can have modernisation Without westernisation We can have what? Modernisation without westernisation But for that to happen Yes we can have modernisation So for example Now If we had efficient management If things were manageable Then people can have darshan nicely Don’t have to give money to somebody Things could be managed much more better That sort of management improvement is desired If you see Have any of you been to Mayapur till now? No Some of you have been there So Mayapur was When Sri Prabhupada came there It was a wasteland When Prabhupada came They purchased a plot of land And Prabhupada said This will be our international headquarters And they would have looked around They couldn’t see even a quarter of our head anywhere They couldn’t see anywhere There was just overgrown sugarcane fields all around And there was marshes And there was wastelands all of it It was an international headquarters They had no idea How responsible Prabhupada said don’t see the metro vision Metro vision is a remote place But it is the place where Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared It is a very sacred place The world must realise its sanctity And then people can come And today if you see Mayapur has developed into a flourishing community And When the spiritual potential Of Mayapur was there Even material development has happened Now there are good Relatively much better roads than earlier Electricity is there So many things are coming up So we are not saying that people have to live primitively Vrindavan has also developed like that But we don’t need commercialisation We don’t need westernisation We can have development And in fact if the spiritual potential of India is marketed Then India’s development can happen materially also But it can happen in a way That will be a unique model for the world That there is harmony between the material and spiritual Now today most people’s conception of development Is unidimensional It is material development But I have no interest in spiritual development So we don’t have to reject our patriotic urges But we can spiritualise it By developing Ourselves The unique spiritual heritage of India And then sharing it with others Any questions about this? No Allow me Yes Question When an ordinary person says My India is great My Pakistan is great Doesn’t have any problems But when Lord Rama says When he ejected Lanka The wealth of Lanka Then The question comes Why Why cannot love Love our nation When We also know that The degradation of Dharma Basically comes after At that time If our ancestors Would have much Concern about the nation Respecting Their own Interest The condition of our Dharma Would be far better than religion Yes What should we do Suppose an attack Happens in India Should we continue Or should we take part Good question There are several answers to the question First is There was Basically When Rama’s army has conquered Lanka At that time Lakshman suggests At least Lanka is so prosperous Let’s live here only And at that time Lord Rama says that Actually Our motherland is like our mother How can we live it No matter how much prosperity we get elsewhere We must go back So This is one point Let me first talk about this verse See See Whether this verse Is originally there in the Ramayana That is a debated issue Although it is Sanskrit verse Not everything that comes in Sanskrit Is originally from the scripture If you look at overall character of Lakshman Lakshman is never Attracted to material things If he was attracted to material things He would not leave everything just for the sake of serving his brother And If you see practically Lakshman never In fact even when Sita is attracted to the Deer At that time Lakshman is not attracted Lakshman is suspicious So whether Lakshman would get attracted As such a thing The prosperity of Lanka It is dubious So basically this verse is out of character with Lakshman So whether this verse is there or not It is a debated issue So there are sometimes In the scriptures Essentially the scripture hasn’t changed But sometimes some people do some interpolation So there are some Scholars who say that this verse is not there In the Ramayana And as such it seems out of character with Lakshman So beyond that Even if we assume I don’t think this verse is there The principle is important to understand The principle is That The Paradharma And a Parada Remember Paradharma is our devotion to Supreme Lord And our Paradharma There are three things Paradharma is a Paradharma And that is our Paradharma So our Paradharma is bad So for example Say if If a person If a man is there As a family And is taking care of the family responsibility That person has drinks and smokes And gambles And when it’s the end The family members are starving And nobody is caring for them That is irresponsible That is not a Paradharma In contrast with that If a person is doing the family responsibility Taking care of the parents When the children fall sick He takes care And makes sure That the family is enjoyed That is also good At one level That is also Dharma But now that is not complete We will discuss about that More later But the complete is There is also a vertical connection With Krishna So the Paradharma is That the leader of the family Devotes himself to Krishna And also helps the family members to devote themselves to Krishna So just as The Paradharma And the Paradharma Both should be balanced together Vidyaam cha vidyaam cha Yastad vedam hi yamsah Vidyaam kirtir tva Vidyaam yamritam ishvite Daishyokeshwara says That Vidya and Avidya Both are to be known Vidya means spiritual knowledge Avidya refers to material knowledge Avidya refers to knowledge About the material world So he says Vidyaam kirtir tva By knowing how to know This material world All of us Have to have some profession All of us Unless there are few people Who are renounced the world So that knowledge Is for living in this world But Vidyaam Vidya is for Attaining Amrita For attaining eternal existence There is a balance between the two Now if you read carefully What is being talked about here is This person who is so devoted to patriotism A person who is spirituality not monism That is undesirable But If we look at The balance What Lord Rama demonstrates Through his life also He demonstrates How one should be Doing one’s duties Lakshmi is doing the duty of a brother Bharat is doing the duty of a brother Rama is doing the duty of a son Similarly Sita is doing the duty of a wife So now all this dutifulness In the case of the Ramayana Is not just material Because the centre is Lord Rama Who is the Supreme Lord Who is the Supreme Lord And therefore this is not material It becomes devotional But in the case of the country Or the nation Yes It is a duty to protect the nation And there were many invaders in India Of India They came and plundered India’s wealth Not just India’s wealth But they destroyed India’s culture also So that happened largely because It’s a complex history You see You see Buddhism Was spread a lot in India No From the 5th century B.C. When Buddhism started After all it spread A large part of India was under rulers who were Buddhists Now Buddhism, Ashoka is often glorified For non-violence Which is good Unnecessary violence is undesirable But then for a king Violence is essential sometimes Some aggressor is there It’s to defend So there are incidents That the king Because of excessive attachment To world-rejecting philosophies Buddhism and Jainism Are to some extent World-rejecting Of course not all practitioners Of Buddhism and Jainism today are world-rejecting But those philosophies to some extent are like that So some Buddhists would say Ultimately this world is temperate Why bother about fighting Invaders came and they allowed the invaders To plunder their lands That sort of ethos Of negligence of worldly duties Is not what is recommended in the Vedic scriptures The thing has to do with duty In the 4th canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam He described that at one time The citizens of Maharaja Pruthu’s kingdom They were suffering terribly Because there was a big famine Now when the famine was there A particular star of intelligence Came to the king The king did not say Anyway this world is a dukkhala Now we are realising the dukkhala The duty of a king is to provide And he made The need of the citizens Appropriate So the king has a duty If a person is taking A position of responsibility In this world Then the person also has to do the duty So the duty is For everyone There is a duty balance of aparadharma And paradharma So aparadharma for a king Is protecting the citizens Aparadharma For a Kshatriya in general Is to fight whenever required For defence, for protection For maintenance of law and order So now If the Vedic culture had been properly Understood and practised Then India would have stood against The assault of the invaders And it was a combination of The weakness of the Brahmanas And the Kshatriyas The Brahmanas became too materialistic Instead of teaching scripture They said we are Brahmanas, we are superior All of you are lower You should offer respect to us So rather than giving scripture knowledge They just started delighting Materially in the prestige Which their Brahmanas Position gave them And the Kshatriyas Having no spiritual knowledge What happened? They started becoming irresponsible They enjoyed the Kshatriya Luxuries and powers But then they did not do their duties properly And they did not protect the citizens Protect the people So today what should we do? Certainly it’s not that We have to reject our duty If we are living in a particular nation Especially in the nation of Dharma Bhoomi It’s important for us to protect it So for example If Pakistan attacks India We have some devotees Who are in the army So now when they meet Some of the small leaders The war may be for whatever political reasons Might be there But you can see it as Dharma Bhoomi You are fighting Why? Because you know That if Fanatics Come and conquer the country Those fanatics are intolerant And they will not allow Vedic culture to stay Therefore When we are doing our duties We have to do our duties responsibly And we have to do them competently And we can have a spiritual vision So certainly We should not think that In the name of our Dharma Anybody can be licenced For irresponsibility If somebody is taking a responsible position That person has to do their duty But the duty is not just material So if I have a national duty A Kshatriya is going to Protect the citizens Materially and spiritually Materially by providing food Clothing, shelter, security And spiritually By making arrangements for spirituality So the Kshatriya Has to make arrangements By which the Brahmins can properly share spiritual knowledge And that way The citizens material and spiritual wealth Will be taken care of So What is undesirable is Giving up Aparadharma For the sake of Sorry Giving up Aparadharma For the sake of Paradharma Because king says I will just chant And I will not defend the country On the other hand Giving up Paradharma For the sake of Paradharma I will focus only on development And not get into God’s business What is the development that they are going to do? The development itself May ultimately lead to Undesirable things There are Countries In the world which are Materially well developed For example in India Now Women’s protection is a major issue There are abuses against women that happen It’s merely a matter of concern As per United Nations statistics New Zealand Is the world’s country Where there are maximum female empowerment There are Many women in positions of power And things like that So that is to say At one level something has happened For protection But the overall society is focussing on that Now The marriage is practically nil And the children who grow up Over there are Very unruly The ragas around the teenagers And adolescents is very high So just a flat model Of development Where only material development is emphasised And then what happens? It becomes skewed Things become distorted And ultimately there is no spiritual good that will result But even material good will not result You clear what I am saying? Any other questions? Ok let’s move to the third part now So Rajesh argues that he worships The photo of his mother and father He says that is good enough In fact he says mother and father are our first god Why bother about Anyone else What do you feel About his understanding? How have you inspired him to follow The supreme dharma? Yes Any points on this? Who has not spoken till now? Yeah We have to think that Our parents and mother and father Are the only people Who exist Yes Father and mother are different From past life And if we have the next birth Our parents will be different Yes One point is Our parents have come this life Yes If we want to worship Our father and mother He is our supreme father We worship him Yes, so if you are a worshipping father, it’s a very good point. The supreme father is Krishna, you should worship him also.
Any other points? Yes, please. As mentioned, Krishna is the same giving father to all living entities. So how will you serve our present parents? That will only be limited up to Krishna.
Okay, because Krishna is our eternal supreme father. Service to your parents is limited to this birth itself. That’s one important point.
Behind? Yes. Yes, Krishna remains eternally with us. Our parents, even despite their best intentions, they cannot be there with us forever.
That’s true. Good. Last point? Can you speak louder? Yeah, you can speak louder.
We don’t know that in worshipping spirits, he is inherently worshipping Krishna. Because Krishna will be pleased. As we discussed yesterday, Krishna will give you faith.
So, I will inspire you by telling the glories of Krishna. And after that, I am sure that you will be really inspired and you will worship Krishna more than his parents. Yes.
You can encourage worship of his parents and then elevate it higher towards the worship of Krishna. That’s a good point. So, this is a very delicate and carefully understood point.
In the scriptures, there is aparadharma and paradharma. And aparadharma is important. At the same time, it is not all-knowing.
People often say that if you all obey your parents, even God when he came, he obeyed his parents. Krishna told him to go to the forest, he went to the forest. That is true.
So, people call him Matru Devo Ho, Pitru Devo Ho. This is true. The ones like that.
But in the same Mahabharata, in the Ramayana, you will see that when Bharata came back and then Kaikeyi told him, now the kingdom is yours. My arrangement. Take it.
Enjoy it. Did he say Matru Devo Ho? I will do what you say. What did he do? He actually, I don’t know.
He is very unhappy. He is outraged in fact. And he went directly against the will of his mother and went.
He begged Lord Ram to come back. So, was Bharata being disobedient to his mother? Was it wrong for him? No. The point is, at that particular point, Kaikeyi was invocating something which is wrong.
So, rightness and wrongness is decided by independent families. And we have to evaluate even the parents’ instructions based on that. So, when his mother told him something that was wrong, Bharata did not say Matru Devo Ho.
So, the Matru Devo, Bhava, Pitru Devo, Bhava, it is a statement which is indicative. Is it a literal statement? If it was a literal statement, like earlier I said, if the mother wants the child to become a doctor, the father wants the child to become an engineer, now what will the poor child do? Which God will he worship? The mother God or the father God? Isn’t it? If you say Matru Devo Ho, Pitru Devo Ho, literally if you take it, what will it mean? The mother is God, the father is God. So then, how many Gods are there? Are there two Gods? Nowadays, now if you go to America, many people are married two times, three times, so a child has three mothers and four fathers.
So, which mother and which father should he worship? What does it actually mean? So, it’s not a literal statement. It’s a representative statement. What is it representative of? That actually, the mother and the father are meant to be representatives of God.
And if they connect us with God, then they are like God for us. They are like God for us, and they guide us towards God. So we see that, when there are duty towards the parents, helps us to go closer towards God, then because the parents are guiding us towards God, then the parents are also worshipping God.
But we see the other extreme also. When Hiranyakashipu was a demon, and he was telling Prahlad, stop worshipping Vishnu. Did Prahlad say, Chitra Deva Bhavan, at that time? No, he didn’t say that.
So the important point to recognise is, not that we should not respect our parents, or we should respect them, but we cannot absolutise that which is not absolute. We cannot absolutise that which is not absolute. So our duty towards our parents, is not absolute duty.
There are higher principles. Like in Kaikeyi’s case, if Kaikeyi was doing something wrong, so wrongness has to be decided separately, and then your parents have to contradict you on this. Or Hiranyakashipu was advocating something which is wrong.
So Prahlad, he could not follow that. We should not have followed that, which is what we did correctly. So, after considering this, now many of you mentioned that our parents are only for this lifetime.
Now that is not necessarily something which is a deficiency on their part. They are doing the best for us. They desire the best for us, and they are offering, according to their knowledge and understanding, whatever is good for us, whatever is best for us.
At the same time, if we see, this parental love for their offsprings, that is there in all species. You know, if a kitten is there, a small cat is there, a baby cat is there, and if the mother comes, the mother cat is there, and she sees a puppy, there is a cat with a scowl, and showing its claws, and trying to protect its infant. Now there are birds, which go to extreme lengths to protect their young ones.
For example, there is a beaver bird. What does this beaver bird do? When the she-bird is about to lay eggs, so at that time, both the beaver bird search for a good tree to hollow. And then, the she-bird goes there, and they lay eggs.
And both of them work together, and they cover it with some twigs, and some grass, and some shrubs. And that way, they protect it from snakes or other predators coming. They protect the eggs.
And eventually, when the time comes for the eggs to be hatched, the she-bird goes inside, and she sits on the eggs. And as she sits on the eggs, the he-bird goes and tries to grab more and more food, and he gets food not only for himself, but also for the she-bird. And as the eggs start hatching, and the birdlets come out, then the he-bird, I have a documentary which shows, the he-bird is just panting, searching frantically, getting some worms, getting some leaves, getting some fruits, and he’s dropping it in the hollow, for not just the she-bird, but also for the birdlets, for the babies.
And then, as the babies grow more and more, the birdlets grow more and more, what happens? Their appetite increases, their needs increase. And then, the he-bird looks inside, and he tells his wife, we have to take a job also. Come on.
And both of them work. What do they do? They open the covering on the hollow, and then, both of them work to cover it, and both, the mother and the father work, both of them work to get grains for the birdlets. And as they get the grains, grains or whatever food is there, they drop it.
Now, inside the hollow, which is like a nest for those birdlets, inside the hollow, what happens? Certain eggs have hatched from within. And those birdlets are bigger. So naturally, when the food comes, food is dropped from the top of the hollow, these bigger birds catch it.
But what do these bigger birdlets do? They don’t grab it and swallow it. They give it to the smaller birdlets. So they feed the smaller birdlets first, and then they eat it themselves.
So now, at one time, this was a good thing. The mother and the father taking care of the children, the older children taking care of the smaller children. All this is very good.
But, is this spiritual? Is any of this spiritual? No, it is not. See, Vishal Prabhupada writes, that the love of the mother for the child is natural and necessary. But it is not spiritual.
It is natural and necessary. Natural means, it is produced by nature. In every species, the parents feel affection for their offspring.
It is natural and it is necessary. Necessary means, without that, the babies will not be able to grow. Without that, in the formative years, the offspring will not be able to live.
It is natural and necessary. But it is not spiritual. It is not spiritual because it is having nothing to do with the soul.
It has nothing to do with the soul’s relationship with God. So, this sort of love is desirable, but it is not spiritual. In the human form, one is not meant to just take care of one’s body.
One is also meant to take care of one’s soul. And not just one soul, also the soul of one’s developers. So if the parents are only taking care of the bodies of the children, then their vision is incomplete.
The care to their offspring is incomplete. Similarly, if the sons, they see their parents only as bodies and take care only of the parents’ bodies, then even the duty that they are doing is incomplete. Because sons, we have to serve our parents.
What does serving our parents mean? It means not only caring for their body, but also caring for their soul. So it is described that Putra, Putra, it is putra. The word putra means that there is a hellish planet called Putra.
So that person who delivers the parents from that hellish planet is called as putra. So the really worthwhile son is one who becomes spiritually advanced and by this spiritual advancement, the son delivers his parents. So it is like when Prahlad Maharaj prays, to the Narasimha Dei, Narasimha Dei asks him, what blessings do you want? Prahlad Maharaj says, I don’t want anything.
He says, please Prahlad ask, what do you want? At that time, Narasimha Dei, when he asks like this, Prahlad finally says, Prahlad, my father, Hiranyakashipu, who is a demon, and I pray to you that please deliver him. So at that time, Narasimha Dei says, Trisakta Pitha, love. Trisakta Pitha means, what to speak of your father? If in a family, a pure devotee is born, 21 generations of the family gets liberated.
So, the son, if the son becomes spiritually advanced, son is actually doing a glorious duty for the parents. Son is maybe helping them also to become spiritually advanced. So we are not neglecting the duty.
But just as the parents should do their complete duty to their children, children should also do their complete duty towards their parents. Which parents should take care of, not just the body, but also the soul of the children. The children should take care of the body and the soul of their parents.
So, this is the proper understanding. Now, Dhruva Maharaj, his mother, her name is Suniti. Most of you know the story of Dhruva, isn’t it? How he was insulted by his step-mother and his father.
And he went to the forest. He was very mortified, devastated when he was humiliated like that. Crying, he went to his mother.
And his mother told him, this grief which you have, Hare Krishna. So, his mother, Dhruva, what happened was, Dhruva’s father had two wives, Suruchi and Suniti. So, Suruchi, she was the favourite queen of the king.
And Suniti was neglected. When she was neglected, her son was also neglected. So, Suruchi’s son sat on the lap of the father.
So, Uttama sat on his lap. Dhruva also wanted to sit. But, his step-mother said, you cannot sit.
You cannot sit because you are not born from my womb. You are born from the womb of a no woman. If you want to sit on your father’s lap, let her die and be reborn from my womb.
Then you can sit on your father’s lap. So, she spoke hard words like this. And the father also did not speak anything.
He would stop because he was attached to his other wife, Suniti. Dhruva was devastated. And he cried and he ran back to his mother.
When he reached his mother, his mother embraced him. She had to go. So, her daughter’s eyes were sobbing and her soul was screaming.
She was in mortal agony at that time. And his mother consoled him. She said, we have a dog and we want relief from this.
Go and rest in peace. And she said, that the love that I can offer you, millions of mothers like me can offer you the love that Lord Vishnu can offer you. That’s what she said.
So, actually, at one level, it may seem very radical for a mother to tell her five-year-old child, you don’t stay at home. Go and find Vishnu and worship Vishnu. What she saw was that this child is so heartbroken, so devastated, that just on soft, soothing words do not heal his wound.
And I cannot do anything to rectify this situation. My husband, the king doesn’t listen to me. The king doesn’t favour me.
So I cannot do anything. So what is not in my power to help, it is in whose power to help? It is in Krishna’s power to help. So therefore, I will hand my son over to Krishna.
And therefore, I told him, go to Krishna. That is also a testimony to her devotion. She had faith in Krishna.
If I send my son in search of Krishna, he will be fine. Krishna will take care of the son and the son’s agony that is there, that will be relieved. So in this way, what happens is, the mother, what should the mother do? The mother has to do her duty.
Father has to do his duty. But along with that, ultimately, how much good can we give to our children? If we want to do lasting good, we have to connect them with our supreme God, with the supreme God. So therefore, we definitely take care of our parents.
We definitely serve our parents. But we do not again divorce the aparadharma and the paradharma. If we focus only on the aparadharma and neglect the paradharma, then what would have happened? Parallel would have worshipped Lord Krishna.
Bharat would have taken up the name of Ram. You know, today, when Bharat went and asked Ram, please give me a padukas. Today, there are brothers.
One brother would take the chakpal and beat the other. Isn’t it? Why? Because there is no ethos of selflessness that is there. So therefore, we have to balance both.
And aparadharma and aparadharma both are important. And both should be harmonised. So if somebody thinks that only taking care of my parents is enough, serving my parents is enough, then that is actually not the human level of existence.
The animals are also taking care of the bodies of their parents and their offsprings. That is not human level of existence. The human level of existence means we have to incorporate the spiritual side of our life and integrate the spiritual and material harmonies.
Any questions about this? There are many questions that are coming up in written form. If the questions are related with this, I prefer that you can ask them directly. Because I will repeat these questions and I will answer them also.
But right now I am focussing on this topic. Yes. Now let us look at the fourth question.
A karma yogi uses his dash. What does a karma yogi use? Body. Gyan yogi uses his? Mind.
To speculate about God. Nashtang yogi uses his? Intelligence. Intelligence to meditate on God.
And a bhakti yogi engages? Soul. Soul in Krishna’s service. Very good.
The soul, actually where the soul is, everything else is following. Naturally everything else is following. Who three are eternal? God, soul and? Dharma.
Dharma. Which dharma? Dharma is love for Krishna. All these three are eternal.
Very good. Okay. Now last question.
Here in this section. So Sarva dharma bhakti jamaa ekam sharma says. So does it mean that one has to be a transparent patient job and all the engagements but to be only a Hare Krishna devotee 24 hours a day without doing anything else? Yes? Is this what the Bhagavata is telling us? Who would like to answer? Who has not answered till now? Yes.
Everybody has spoken. You can speak. No, it does not mean because we in this material world it is our duty to serve our parents, nature and engage in our duties.
Being in this material world it is our duty. Same time primarily we should love Krishna and serve him. Yes.
So because we are in the material world we have a material body. So we have relationships with the material body and relationships with those who are familiar with the material body. So we have those duties also.
So we have to do those duties also and also have time for the soul. So we have a balance. Anything else? God never says that I know the path that you are physically.
Rather he says that I know the path that physically. as God. Like Krishna told Krishna to Arjuna that you fight.
You fight by fighting your duty. Like Arjuna said to God Krishna give me something more. So we should do the duty that Krishna told God.
And Arjuna showed Krishna like that. Yes, so we chant Lord Krishna in our heart and also we do our duty, so we are not neglected. See the whole problem is, some people say work is worship.
What is this? Work is worship. Now if work were worship, then the donkey would be the greatest worshipper. Isn’t it? Donkey works so hard.
Now if you look at the Bhagavad Gita, in 18.46, there are significant words. Svakarmana tam abhyajya. This is often translated as work is worship.
But what does the word say? Svakarmana. Svakarmana means by your work. Tam abhyajya.
Worship me. The Bhagavad Gita is not saying work is worship. Bhagavad Gita is saying by your work, worship him.
There is a difference between the two. Work is worship means we make work itself the object of worship. Whereas by your work, worship him means that we understand that it is a supreme orderly object of worship.
But worshipping him does not just mean that one leaves one’s work and one just does spiritual activities all the time. No. We have to have time for worshipping the Supreme Lord exclusively.
We will focus where we do rituals, we chant the holy names, we study spirituality. But along with that, we also have our work. So by your work, worship him.
That means, see there is, what this verse is saying is, don’t divert the material from the spiritual. Don’t think that this is spiritual and this is material. No, even spiritualise the material objects.
How do you spiritualise the material? Yes, if I am a student, I will study. But the intention is that by my studies, I will glorify Krishna. If I get good marks, I will tell others it is because of Krishna.
When I get a good position after my job, I will use the position and the prestige and everything that comes with the position to further share Krishna’s message. So Maharaja Yudhisthira became the king of the, emperor of the world. And what did he do? He did Rajasuri Yajna, in which he proclaimed Krishna is the greatest person in the whole universe.
He offered the Agra Puja to Krishna. So we do our work, but use that work for glorifying Krishna. So by your work, worship him.
So, some people have the idea that they compartmentalise their life. This is my time for God and this is my time for everything else. Such people, when they are in front of the Lord, they will be very devoted, chanting mantras and closing their eyes.
And afterwards, they will be greedy, they will be corrupt, they will be angry. There will be no difference from ordinary materialists. So Krishna said, don’t compartmentalise like this.
Take your devotion even into your work life and spiritualise that. Do that as an offering to me. So what Krishna has said here is, when he says, sarva-dharma-tattva-jima ekam sarva-dharma-tattva-jima What does it mean? He is telling me of all dharmas and surrender to me.
But then, how does one surrender to him? maam ekam saranam vraja Saranam is also a process. So to surrender to Krishna doesn’t just mean that most often we see movies, surrender. What is it? Hands up.
Surrender. That is the idea of surrender which most people have. But this surrender that Bhagavata is talking about is based on love.
Normally, when somebody is defeated, it is a surrender. When somebody is defeated, that person surrenders. So when the fight ends and one understands that I cannot win, then he surrenders.
But actually, in the Bhagavad Gita, what happens? Krishna says to Arjuna, surrender. maam ekam saranam vraja Arjuna says, karishye saranam vraja. I will do what you say.
That means he has surrendered to me. But at the end of it, what happens? In 18.78, this is 18.76 in the Bhagavad Gita. So 18.66, maam ekam saranam vraja.
In 18.73, Krishna tells Arjuna. So Arjuna tells Krishna, karishye saranam vraja. I will do what you say.
And in the last verse of the Bhagavad Gita, 18.78, what is happening? yatra yogeshvara krishno yatra partha dhanurdhara So Arjuna has become dhanurdhara. He has lifted up his bow. He is ready to fight.
So normally what happens? When people surrender, the fight ends. But in the case of Arjuna, after surrendering, he is getting ready to fight. What does it mean? That means surrender doesn’t mean giving up one’s duty.
Surrender means taking up one’s duty in divine consciousness. So when Krishna is telling us give up all dharma, that means he is telling us give up those dharma which do not help us to do maam ekam saranam vraja. Which do not help us to surrender to him.
But after we surrender, we have to do something. What do we do? We do those dharmas which enable us to surrender. So that way we achieve a balance between our worldly duties and our spiritual duties.
By having time for our spiritual duties and then harmonising our worldly duties with those spiritual duties. Is it clear? Any questions about this? So let’s move forward now. So we discussed this verse.
dharma pravajita kaitavotra sabai kumsam parva dharma Let’s look at the next verse. dharma You can recite after me. dharma sva-anushtita kumsam dharma sva-anushtita kumsam vishvaksena kathasimya vishvaksena kathasimya nodhpadye dhiyate nodhpadye dhiyate sramaye vahikevalam sramaye vahikevalam So Krishna is telling dharma sva-anushtita sva-anushtita means according to our duty whatever dharma is there.
So the word dharma at the highest level means our duty to love and serve Krishna. But along with that we have other dharmas also. We have dharma to do our studies.
We have dharma to take care of our parents. Whatever it is. Dharma sva-anushtita This dharma is a kumsam for the human beings.
If by this dharma vishvaksena kathasimya vishvaksena kathasimya for Krishna, Supreme Lord. His kathasimya nodhpadye dhiyate dhiyate If attraction for him doesn’t awaken then sramaye vahikevalam it is a waste of time. Simply leave him.
Very direct words. Basically that if we devote ourselves to Krishna but if we devote ourselves to our work alone and don’t become attracted to Krishna then it is just a waste of time. Why? Because we will be spending a long cycle of work like this.
The purpose of all our activities is to increase our attraction to Krishna. And even our worldly duties are meant to contribute to the enhancement of devotion. So now Who would like to… Do you have a mic? Can somebody read this question to seven and then we can discuss the answer.
Who has a mic here? Or is it wrong? So Sunny and Grani work for a software company. Although both of them work between 9 am to 9 pm Still Sunny, because of his extracurricular activities is always cheerful, friendly and smart enough to tell about his case to many colleagues in his office and connect them to a weekly Bhagavata programme. Sunny does his job well in the company and has earned a good reputation.
Grani, who is also a devotee is always morose gets overworked in the company spends late night completing his programme writing and even fails to complete his Kota Vaitra on chanting Hare Krishna Mantra some days due to his tired students. Grani considers spiritual life burdensome. Applies the Bhagavatam words Dharma Samyukta Tum Samasthitva to the life of Sunny and Grani and give your comments based on the words.
So what is the difference between Sunny and Grani? If both are devotees why is one cheerful? Why is another morose? Why is one person fine in spiritual life burdensome? One is his consciousness. His consciousness is not high. What does it mean practically? It’s a very abstract thing.
Consciousness is… Okay, person higher consciousness is in the connected position. Another consciousness is not in the connected position. That’s true.
Any other points? Free will. Yes, they have their free will and one is using the free will properly and one is not using the free will. Yes, that’s true.
Something more directly connected Parajanma and Aparajanma. You have the right fact. So the key thing is one’s attitude.
If people want an easy way out Now, if we think that I just live easily and if we think that spiritual life is the easy way out sometimes when exams come up just before the exams and the fear is there and all the books are studied some students suddenly they all go for Ramayana and Mahabharata but throughout the course they say they have not read Ramayana and Mahabharata and they start with this before the exams. All this knowledge and this all this engineering I have studied it’s all in there. Better I study Paramahamsa.
I study Ramayana, Mahabharata. Why do they rush into Ramayana and Mahabharata just before the exams are over? What is happening? The mind wants an easy way. The mind always looks for the path of least resistance.
The path of least resistance. And this path of least resistance means that the mind thinks whatever is there I can avoid more and I can just live easily if we do that. So often one way of path of least resistance is that somebody comes to college but doesn’t study and just watches plays video games and fools around just boozing and partying and not doing anything.
That is one path of least resistance Another path of least resistance is that externally put on a mask of spiritual life externally put on a mask of spiritual life and internally have the same desire to just find an easy way out. So what happens? The person doesn’t want to be responsible and spirituality becomes the excuse for irresponsibility. Spirituality becomes the excuse for justifying one’s irresponsibility.
So this is not spirituality. Krishna says in the 18th chapter I think 6th verse he says that 6th, 7th verse he talks about renunciation in various modes. So he says काल प्रेश भयात्य जे He sometimes thinks work is very troublesome a certain person gives up the work that is not appropriate.
He says नहीं वच्चा वच्चा लामलभ है One will not get any benefit from it. So we have to recognise that spirituality is not meant to just offer us an escape way. Spirituality also requires commitment.
So when I approach my material life and material duties not as a how can I find an escape way out of it. No. It’s a challenge.
Let me do it. And with the same attitude when I approach a spiritual life then what happens? The mind will do rather than seeking an easy way out the mind starts becoming disciplined. And when the mind becomes disciplined then we are able to do much more.
See when the mind is when a person doesn’t have the habit of concentrating then reading one page which could be done in 3 minutes sometimes in 30 minutes. What happens? The mind doesn’t want to do work. And eventually we have to study the work.
So it takes time and we eventually don’t get away from the work. We have to do the work. But rather if one has the attitude let me put in the effort but let me do it for Krishna.
So then gradually the mind starts getting disciplined. And when the mind gets disciplined then the mind realises actually it’s hard work is not all that bad. I get things done.
I get satisfied. I get a higher sense of self-worth. So then what happens? A person can do material duties well.
A person can do spiritual duties well also. So it’s not that the spiritual life has to be a burden. If we do spiritual life properly if we chant attentively if I do sadhana properly then not only will that help us to develop our love for Krishna that is the main effect.
But along with that additionally we’ll become sharper. We’ll become clearer. We’ll become more and more confident.
And even our material activities we’ll be able to do more confidently. So devotees approach both their material and spiritual duties with an enthusiastic attitude. Yes, there is a challenge over there.
Krishna says in 9.14 Devotee is determined enthusiastically devoted does activities with determination. And that’s why when we do sometimes we’ll find oh my studies are so burdensome. Sometimes my favourite chanting is so burdensome.
But actually what is burdensome is the mind is the burden. So what happens is if we can develop the right attitude by connecting with Krishna then we’ll find that both are manageable. And in fact the more we connect with Krishna the more our material life will also become manageable.
It’s like a simple example if my computer has got a virus and whatever I type it gets deleted. And I am typing typing is getting deleted. It’s not that I am coming to find it.
There is a virus in your programme. You have to remove the virus. Don’t bother me.
I don’t have any time. This is your time. Type, type, type, type, type, type.
Well, no matter how much I type if the virus is there all the typing is of no use. So if I take a little time out instal an antivirus programme clean the programme and after that when I type it’s of use. It’s useful, isn’t it? So like that what happens if our mind is impure say if there is the virus of lust in the mind then I go into the school or go into the college to study.
But then all thoughts of girls all thoughts of film actresses all lusty thoughts are there in the mind. So everything that is coming in from the teacher it’s getting deleted by the virus of lust. So it’s all getting deleted.
What happens I’m there in the class but it’s as if I’m not there at all. So if I just take some time to purify myself let me chant Hare Krishna let me connect with Krishna let me understand the philosophy then I’ll understand. So all is actually in a condition.
No need to get captivated by it. Then the lust virus gets removed then I can study properly. So by doing our spiritual duties we will be able to do our material duties also competently.
Yes. Move forward now. Now let’s move forward here.
We are coming to the part of to love and serve Krishna is our eternal dharma. So now we have 10 minutes. You can read this part quickly.
And then you can look at the answers for the next four questions.