Rising from material enjoyment to spiritual fulfillment with QA – Bhag 7.9.25

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, in the Srimad Bhagavatam, the 7th canto primarily focusses on the Prahlad Maharaj. Actually his pastime starts right from the first chapter and goes on till the 10th chapter. And so the canto has 15 chapters.
So the majority is actually in his description, his characteristics, his activities. And Prahlad Maharaj is eminently qualified to talk about the nature of material pleasures for us. Why? For two reasons.
Because he saw the person who was enjoying the greatest material pleasures in very close proximity. Who was the person who enjoyed the greatest material pleasures possible? Yeah, Hiranyakashipu. He had the kind of control over material nature and the kind of capacity to enjoy the senses which would have been beyond even the dreams of most materialistic people.
Everything that he wanted, right from… Actually our material pleasures come from… You know we have the Adhyatmik, Adhyatmik and Adhyatmik relations. So essentially, all of you know about these three relations. Actually the soul is situated in three… You can visualise there are three concentric environments.
So there is a psychophysical environment, the environment of the body and the mind. The soul is situated in that. Then after that the soul is situated in the social environment.
We have the people around us. And beyond that the soul is situated in the atmospheric environment. That’s normally the word we use for environment.
We can refer to all three. So all these three give us suffering. So the Adhyatmik relation is the suffering that comes from our body and mind.
Adhyatmik is what comes from the people around us. And Adhyatmik is what comes from nature. So Hiranyakashipu who had such control over all these three, that for all practical purposes, he had removed whatever miseries might have come from any of these.
Let’s start from the outermost. Sometimes the temperature will become too high, there will be cold or heat or wind. So he had controlled those who controlled his atmospheric conditions.
And always he kept the atmosphere very pleasant and soothing for himself. So many people who live in, sometimes in crowded cities which are sultry or sweaty, they like to have some outhouses in the mountain tops where they can have a retreat. But Hiranyakashipu converted the whole world into a retreat centre itself.
He changed the atmosphere of the world itself. So that he could enjoy. So he, basically if you think about it deeply, material enjoyment means trying to counter all these three conditions.
Three conditions, social misery and making them positive. So Hiranyakashipu did that more than anyone else. What about Atibhautik? He had become such a unilateral dictator of not just the world but the universe, that even the most powerful demigods, they would go around to him and sing his praises.
So they were also giving him pleasure. So actually speaking for a person, if others praise him, that gives a person pleasure. But if somebody powerful praises him, that dilutes the ego like nothing else.
For example, if there are two world champions, say tennis or boxing or whatever, and then one world champion completely dominates the other person, this person says, you are the greatest. And that I think dilutes the ego like that. So he had such Atibhautik pleasure.
He had arranged in such a way that he could get so much pleasure. And thirdly, Adi Anand. Now what had he arranged? He had done such austerity that he had practically let his body be eaten away by worms and insects and everything.
But by the blessing of Brahmaji, he got a body which was young, effulgent, powerful, almost impenetrable. And he would enjoy immense healing of that body. So the body did not give him any disease or suffering of that sort.
But on the other hand, the body had capacity to enjoy higher than those of the gods. So he had arranged everything material for his enjoyment. So that’s why he could actually sing.
He could actually get more pleasure than anyone else. And Prahlad Maharaj was in close proximity. Although Prahlad Maharaj was just a five-year-old boy, he could observe how his father was living.
Sometimes if there is some very famous pop star or movie star or cricket star, then people want to know more about their lives. And suppose then a famous pop star is there and his son writes a biography of his father. Then people want to know, what was this person like in his family life? How did he live? And so actually speaking, normally if an official autobiography of a person is written, sometimes that is not considered very authorised.
Because the person writing the autobiography may not tell the whole story honestly. Sometimes it may not be there. But if a person who is living with that person, he tells the biography.
Then that is considered like the inside story. So Prahlad Maharaj lived inside the house, literally speaking, of Hiranyakashipur. And he could observe in close quarters.
So if there was material pleasure to be enjoyed, he could see how much material pleasure was there for his father. And he could actually see whether his father was happy or not. And so not only could he see the greatest amount of enjoyment easily available, and he could see that actually these did not make my father happy.
That these did not actually give him any satisfaction. Surely there was some pleasure, but there was so much dissatisfaction afterwards. The Bhagavatam also describes that.
The Hiranyakashipur always constantly intoxicated, trying to enjoy was never satisfying. So on one side, he saw the greatest materialist getting the greatest enjoyment. That itself was an observation.
That itself was one qualification. Another qualification is that even while having so much enjoyment readily available to them, as his natural inheritance, being a beloved son of such a powerful father, he resisted and rejected all his enjoyment. So he must have had some very deep realisations about why this enjoyment, which the whole world is desiring, is undesirable.
Actually speaking, Prahlad Maharaj did not have to do anything to get all the enjoyment. He just had to stop doing anything extraordinary in terms of displeasing his father. His father would naturally give him all the inheritance to him.
But Prahlad Maharaj actually defied his father by becoming devoted to Lord Vishnu. And because of that, he was tormented, insulted, frightened, and even attempted to be assassinated. And in spite of all that, he never gave up his Krishna connection.
So he must have experienced some extraordinary emotional fulfilment, which made him feel that there must be something higher than life. There must be something that for this thing higher which I am experiencing, I don’t mind if I lose my life. So because of these two extraordinary, sterling qualifications of Prahlad Maharaj, he is eminently qualified to talk about the nature of pleasure.
And in this verse, this verse comes from the centre of his prayers to Lord Krishna. So his prayers are in the 9th chapter and they start from something like the 8th, 9th verse and they go on in the 50th verse, in the 35th verse. So right in the middle somewhere of his description.
So actually speaking, we have a little simplistic idea of prayers, which of course gets reinforced by the Bollywood idea of praying. What is the Bollywood idea of praying? Of course, there are not many prayers in nowadays Bollywood movies. But now Durga Bhuja is going on.
So they had the idea like, what is that song? I am of all the lords, worship the lord who is greater than you. I am of all the devotees, who is greater than me. So, that part is already remembered in here.
So the point is that the idea of praying in material life is essentially that we go to God with a shopping list. This is what I want, this is something that I want. Kindly provide me.
Like we think from that perspective, this particular verse is actually not containing any prayer at all. There is no request. And if you go throughout the list of almost 40 verses of Pranayama, there is no prayer.
And this is a very unusual definition of prayer. So let’s recite this once at least. I am not going to recite it fully because it is stuck in the glass.
So, here we see the literal meaning of this prayer. In this material world, every living being desires some future happiness. It is exactly like a mirage in the desert.
Where is water in the desert? Or in other words, where is happiness in this material world? As for this body, what is its value? It is merely a source of various diseases. The so-called philosophers, scientists and politicians know this very well. But nonetheless, they aspire for temporary happiness.
They cannot become satiated. Happiness is very difficult to obtain. But because they are unable to control their senses, they run after the so-called happiness of the material world and never come to the right conclusion.
So here, if we look at this whole sentence, if we had just read this particular set of sentences without knowing the context, we would not even conceive that this is a prayer. This just seems to be an instruction or analysis or a description. Where is the prayer over here? So actually, the Bhagavatam uses a much more broadened and deepened understanding of prayer.
Prayer is not just asking God for something. Prayer essentially means sharing our heart with God. The essence of prayer is that we share our hearts, feelings, thoughts, aspirations, concerns with Krishna.
So, the understanding of prayer in the Srila Bhagavatam, as is given by Prahlad Maharaj, is that it is a limb of devotional service. So, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ kṣetanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pādaśetanaṁ arjunaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sākhyamānaṁ nivedanaṁ So, in his Mayan Luntur Bhakti, he describes one limb as one of the Luntur Bhakti. And now, just as right now, we are in śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ, we are speaking and hearing.
Now, what is the result that we are expecting from this? Actually, we are not expecting any material result from this. We are expecting a deepened understanding of Krishna and an enhanced relationship with Krishna. In the next verse, after this verse, Srila Prahlad Maharaj describes, kriyena bhagavaty ardhā tannaṁ nivedanam kriyena bhagavaty ardhā Actually, by this, our attraction to Krishna increases.
So, just as hearing and chanting is meant to deepen our relationship with Krishna, similarly, praying is also meant to deepen our relationship with Krishna. It is not necessarily meant to give some particular specific desire fulfilled. So, here, Prahlad Maharaj is expressing his realisations for the pleasure of the Supreme Lord.
Now, what Krishna has revealed to the world and what Narada Muni revealed to Prahlad Maharaj, as Narada Muni was the spiritual master of Prahlad Maharaj, what Narada Muni revealed to Prahlad Maharaj, now Prahlad Maharaj is speaking it again for the pleasure of the Supreme Lord. And implicit in that, if we continue the series of prayers, we will see that Prahlad Maharaj is actually requesting us, My dear Lord, this illusion of the world is so sinister, so insidious, so treacherous, that even I may fall into it. Although I have resisted it till now, I may fall into it, so please protect me from it.
So, when he is expressing his understanding over here, he is wanting his realisation, implicit in that is the desire to continue to live according to that realisation. So, it is like a child may speak what he has understood in front of the teacher. That is not to teach the teacher, but that is to just express one’s understanding to the teacher.
So, like that here, Prahlad Maharaj is expressing his understanding. So, that is from the point of view of the relationship between Prahlad Maharaj and Krishna in the form of Narasimha Deva. For us, for the rest of us, when we hear this prayer, when we hear this prayer, we find that they act as an education for us.
So, when an exalted devotee expresses his heart’s realisations, they become a source of education and illumination for us. Because they understand that this is actually the proper understanding that they are. So, let’s look at the sections of the sources now.
Kutra Aashish. Kutra is me. What desire can one have? Aashish is desire.
Shruti Sukha. Shruti Sukha. Here the word Shruti doesn’t refer to Vedic scriptures.
It refers to basically hearing. Hearing that is centred in what you do pleasure. So, actually our society is characterised by so much talk.
Talk, talk, talk, which advertises and glamorises material pleasure. Now, from the 1920s onwards, roughly, which is before and especially after the First World War, the shape of advertising changed completely. Before that, also there was advertising.
But the advertising was primarily about how good a product is. The duty value of the product was used to advertise it. So, this product will help you make your, will help you do more on cars, humans is this much, this is this much.
So, you practically tangible descriptions to save the product. But then, psychologists, especially that by Sigmund Freud, they found that people are governed not by their rational intelligence, but by their irrational passions. So, Freud had the idea that the rational intelligence of a person is just like a tiny boat.
And below that, the irrational passions are like a stormy ocean. So, although people may claim to be irrational, but when it comes to their life choices, their actual lifestyle, they are not governed so much by their rational intelligence as by their irrational passions. And based on this, there is psychological understanding.
The advertising companies decided that you get far greater success by capitalising on the irrational passions of people rather than on their rational intelligence. So, since that time, all the advertisements started focussing on how this product will make you feel. So, the most outrageous example of this came in 1929, just before the Great Depression in USA.
At that time, the tobacco industry, which would manufacture cigarettes, had sort of reached a saturation point. Because all the people who could smoke were already smoking. So, they thought, how do we expand our markets? And then, one of the tobacco marketing agents got a green wave.
He said, actually, we are not 50% of the market till now. Women don’t smoke. So, till then, cigarette had been primarily marketed as a product for the macro man to attract the women.
So, there was so much masculinity associated with the product that women would not smoke. So, at this time, actually till 1940s, after the Second World War, the harmful effects of tobacco started coming out. Till that time, there were some effects, but they were largely suppressed.
Just like the effects of climate change are being suppressed by the relevant industries today. But, at that time, still, because of the masculinity associated with cigarettes, women were not smoking. So, then these companies, in America, on the Independence Day, they have marches in many cities.
In New York, they have the most famous march. So, men and women march on it. So, they decided to have a public relations exhibition, and they had many of the most famous women in America, while they were marching on the streets, at the most strategically visible point of the march.
They had all of them pull out these sleek, narrow, especially designed for women cigarettes, and light them while all the cameras were watching, and start smoking. And these cigarettes were marketed to women as torches of freedom. Torches of freedom.
Now, actually, since that was the time when the women’s liberation movement was gathering steam, and the idea of freedom caught the female imagination so far away, that a huge number of people started smoking. And nobody asked the question, how a cigarette is related with freedom? The appeal was in the irrational passions. Yes, we are being suppressed, we want to be liberated.
We want to become free. And to become free, cigarette is a cultural symbol of fear. How something becomes a cultural symbol of something, nobody cares.
It just becomes. And then, within the next 20-25 years, actually, as far as the infant mortality and the pregnancy benefits are concerned, it’s enormous. Because, for a woman to smoke, and a student to smoke during the pregnancy, can be extremely harmful, not only for her, but also for the infant in the womb.
But then after that, at least for 20-25 years, the female smoking rate was huge. And after that, it came down. The point we are making over here is that, Shruti Sukra, that there is so much propaganda about materialism.
And most of this propaganda doesn’t make sense. But, it doesn’t have to make sense to catch people. It just has to feel good.
And, all of us, so basically what Freud had the idea was, from the Vedic point of view, he said, there is a small raft of rationality, afloat in a big ocean of irrationality. That is like, there is a little bit of Sapogona in people, who want goodness. And below that, there is a huge amount of passion and goodness.
So, the idea of freedom can be used to exploit people in many, many ways. But what most people don’t understand is, actually there are two kinds of freedom. There is freedom for, and there is freedom from.
Two kinds of freedom. Freedom for and freedom from. Now, that means, most people don’t even know freedom for.
Freedom for purchasing the house that we like. Freedom for buying the car that we want. Freedom for having the spouse that we want to have.
Freedom for this. Freedom for that. So, that’s the only idea of freedom that people have.
But the Vedic scriptures talk about a different kind of freedom. It is freedom from. It’s freedom from anger.
Freedom from ego. Freedom from lust. Freedom from greed.
Freedom from irritability. Freedom from arrogance. So, this is a different kind of freedom that is not talked about in modern society at all.
And, if we look comparatively, it is the freedom from that will bring happiness. Not freedom for. Why? That, for a lot of matters we’ll talk about.
Because, this happiness, when we talk about freedom for, I want to enjoy this. I want to enjoy that. Then, it makes us more and more dependent on external things.
I want the freedom for owning the best car in the market. Then, I become dependent on the money to purchase the car. I become dependent on the money to continue to purchase the car.
And then, I become dependent on every new car that is marketed as the best car in the market. Because, fashions keep changing. So, again, there is no objectivity to the notions over here.
Why is this car considered the best? Because, it is advertised the most. There is no objective criteria by which products are decided to be good or best. So, because of that, people who base their conceptions of happiness and freedom for, they are always feeling insecure and impoverished.
Insecure. Because, no matter what I have, there is always more that I want. Maybe somebody else will get something better than me.
And impoverished. Impoverished means, I never feel that I have enough. Because, there is always more that is being marketed.
There is always more that is being aggressively touted. That’s why, Pranayama is called Duraai. Duraai means that we shall never be satisfied.
That we can actually never be at ease. So, freedom for, is the prominent ethos of modern society. But, this freedom for, is a recipe for misery.
Because, it will always keep us in a stage of always, I need something more, something more, something more. So, actually, when we lead ourselves to the definition of happiness as freedom for things, then, actually speaking, we face three problems. What we look for is often not attainable.
Why? Because, how many people can actually enjoy the kind of wealth that is portrayed in the media? Not everybody can. It’s not attainable for most people. Even if it is attainable, after some time, it doesn’t remain palatable.
First, it is not attainable. As I said, if somebody wants to own the biggest house in the country, how many people can enjoy and own that kind of house? It’s not attainable. But, even after somebody gets something like that, the nature of material pleasure is Guru Krishnadeva Gopal.
It’s a mirage. After I get it, it’s no longer palatable. All of us have this experience of some extent.
We get a new dress and we feel so nice. Everybody asks, oh, you got a new dress. You look so good in it.
But then what happens? That new dress doesn’t stay new for very long. And after that, new dress becomes old and then there is… It’s no longer palatable. And the same thing applies to everything.
Same principle. First, it’s not attainable. Even if it’s attainable, after some time, it is no longer palatable.
And even if I say it is palatable, it is not retainable. It is not retainable. Why? Because it’s going to be taken away from us.
Either financial upheaval is going to take everything away or ultimately death will take everything away. So, it’s not retainable. And that’s why we cannot lead to happiness.
So, the whole modern society is headed to values that promise happiness but deliver misery. They promise happiness but deliver misery. So, this Indrakatha Vishnu Rupa is like a mirage.
It’s a mirage. When we look at it from a distance, there is pleasure. But when we go over there and actually derive the experience of happiness, there is no happiness in it.
So, if it is not attainable, if it is attainable, if it is not palatable, if somehow I say it is attainable and it is palatable to me or so-so-if-you-want-it, it is attainable. It will go. And not only that, कुवेदं कलेवरं अशेष्यं जान्योः Last night I was saying that, somebody may say, I have got a young and healthy body.
So, with this I will enjoy. कुवेदं कलेवरं means the body. I will enjoy with this body.
But अशेष्यं जान्योः Actually, this body is a breathing place of unlimited diseases. So, now some people think this is a very pessimistic way of looking at life. Yeah, it’s true that the body is going to become diseased.
But why harm on it? This is going to become diseased. But why we can enjoy the same joy? Yes, it’s not necessarily a pessimistic way of looking at things. If we understand that there is a higher happiness level.
The nature of the body is such that it can offer us some pleasure when it is in the peak of youth and the best of health. If we compare all the pleasures that we have, there are gross physical pleasures. There is sex, there is eating.
Then there are some other pleasures. Intellectual pleasures. Yeah, I study mathematics.
Or I study my people solve crossword puzzles or people play chess. They are all intellectual pleasures. So, if we put them straight up, the physical pleasures are the most dependent on the body.
So, if a person is a sportsman and then that person if he becomes injured, that person just can’t do anything. On the other hand, if a person is more of an intellectual, then that person can try to do things even when the body doesn’t work. But still, in all pleasures, apart from the emotional pleasures, are ultimately dependent on the body.
And when the body becomes weak, when the body becomes sick, as it inevitably will, it leads to disaster. It leads to disaster. So, many people have this idea that as science is progressing, we are removing more and more diseases.
And situations become better and better. Whether it’s smallpox, smallpox, all the diseases are removed. Yes, we have removed them to some extent.
But to be speaking, in the past, we did not have diseases like cancer, heart attacks, brain strokes. So, these have come in such great numbers. So, there’s a famous doctor, Rene Du Bois, who became a social critic of medical science.
And he wrote a book called, Hell in the 21st Century, the Future of an Illusion. That’s a very good book, Hell in the 21st Century, the Future of an Illusion. So, he explains, in that book, that all that is touted as successes of medical science are actually just the results of socio-cultural changes.
He said, for example, science has eradicated plague. But the fact is that plague infects people when there is a socio-cultural environment where there are rats. So, in industrialised places, actually, there are no farms, there are not so many rats, and actually, diseases don’t come.
So, he says, different cultures spawn certain diseases. And when those cultures change, the diseases also change. So, he says that actually speaking, there is no hope for us to remove diseases from the world.
Because every new culture will bring its own diseases. अशेंश जान देवो हर। Disease as a principle cannot be removed. In fact, not only can it not be removed, the more we try to inform the middle level, the worse it becomes.
And I know that diseases like cancer are extremely painful when a person gets it. And what causes cancer is still largely a medical mystery. What people understand is, cancer is essentially a disease of maladaptation.
And the body is normally going to somehow adverse the effect. Now, what causes certain cells, they grow far more than others and they dominate the others. Now, what causes these cells to grow more than others, it’s a medical mystery.
But, when these cells start growing, they try to irradiate the cells or use chemicals to kill the cells. But, actually speaking, to identify what causes these diseases, it’s just not known. And, medical science, as it is doing more and more research, is actually going on a sort of wild ride.
One of the biggest problems nowadays in modern day society is obesity. People have a lot of overweight. There are so many different cures promised for obesity.
So, the latest theory going around, because what happens, many people, they are unable to control themselves and they are unable to decrease their weight. So, science often finds that people send them. So, the current theory going around, getting into popularity, that obesity is an infectious disease.
They say that, many medical journals have published this theory, that there are certain germs, if they are present in your body, they will make you obese. Now, the idea is that, those people who have those germs, no matter how little they eat, still they will stay obese. And, those people who don’t have those germs, how much they eat, they will not become obese.
And, then what happens by this is, that people who are obese, other people will say, I’ll get the infection of obesity from you, I don’t want it. Now, this is a classic and tragic example of advocating moral responsibility. Now, rather than taking responsibility for my own decisions, I start claiming that germs do good.
Why am I fat? Because there is a germ in my body. What can I do? This is so unfortunate. Now, it may be true that certain genetic factors may make certain people more prone towards diseases, prone towards obesity, and certain people less prone towards obesity.
That is fine. To put the whole blame for obesity on germs, it is basically trying to make the patients feel good while their body is feeling bad. Isn’t it? Oh, your body is overweight and it is sickly.
It doesn’t matter. It’s not your problem. It’s the germs’ fault.
So, this is, what is happening is, if there is not a proper understanding of the purpose and values of life, then scientific research becomes a tool for manipulation of people. It will be not a good science per se, but when science is divorced from the spiritual purpose of life. So, when in America, for example, this is due to the example of scientific research, how it can be manipulated.
So, when in America, slavery was to be abolished, Abraham Lincoln wanted to abolish slavery. So, at that time, one medical, one scientific researcher, he came up, he said, all black people, why are these people black? Normal biological people are black. Black men are black in colour.
He said, all black people have a particular disease which makes them incapable of acting responsibly if they are guilty. And, you know, series of papers on it were published as a book and it gave a high founding grade for that particular disease. And he said, that is why we should ensure that black people stay slaves.
Because they are genetically and incologically infected with the disease. So, of course, the whole idea was for a coffin and a corpse. But the point is, this is how medical research can become misappropriated.
And how Hitler, he was a Nazi and he killed millions of Jews. Now, what was his idea? His idea was actually entirely scientific. It was based on a branch called eugenics.
Eugenics means, we use genetic engineering to create the best species, make a superhuman race. So, in Hitler’s journey, he actually came to power in 1933. In 4-5 years, the first thing he did was that all people who are having genetic diseases, they were forcibly sterilised.
He said, they should not be allowed to reproduce because they produce genetically damaged people. The second thing he did is, all people who are having any physical handicap should be killed. The next step he said, they should all be killed.
Why? Because they are a vulnerable society. They are a vulnerable society. The third step he did was, actually the Jews are a genetically inferior race.
And, by the principle of evolution, evolution has survival for the fittest. So, the weaker species gets eliminated by evolution. But now, humanity has advanced so much that humanity should be able to help and accelerate the process of evolution.
So, the weaker species, the weaker races, the Jews, we should help evolution along by eliminating. And he eliminated 5 billion people. In just a day, Auschwitz announced concentration camps in the gas chambers.
So, all this was based on science. Now, it is not that science is bad. But this is how science can be misappropriated.
Misappropriated. And this vision, which was something which practically all of Germany bought into. So, what happened was, after this whole Second World War happened, so many people were killed.
Then, there was an American journalist who went to Germany to ask, to enquire how did millions of Germans agree to this mass slaughter of Jews. Actually, the Jews in Germany were neighbours. And there might have been some differences.
But you could see that they were fellow human beings. So, how did all of Germany actually at the very least consented and would actually participate in the slaughter of the Jews. So, what caused it to happen? So, he described very interestingly that it was a slow and gradual numbering of the conscience.
Numbering of the conscience. So, what happened? So, in the 90s, Hitler started coming to power. So, he basically interviewed 10 families who lived in Germany during the period of the Holocaust.
And he interviewed them. So, one of those persons, he said, yes, first, it was a minor policy, we accepted it. He said, one day in 1943, he said, I had a four and a half year old child.
And he said, he just, one day, I just called him and told him, he said, those blasphemer Jews, they need to be beaten to death. And I heard that. So, the whole edifice came crumbling down.
He said, how a four and a half year old child can have such hatred? What do we know about the world? What do we know about the Jews? How can he have such hatred for them? So, that time, he was seriously wrong. So, what happened? He just progresses in numbering of conscience, this indoctrination, this brainwashed people and people became so indoctrinated, a small child had the indoctrination. So, this author says, actually, this is how materialism gradually spreads.
Of course, this was specifically about Nazism. But materialism also spread gradually in number of consciousness. So, now, in 1980, there was infamous Roe v. Hayes in which America decided to legalise abortion.
And after that, many countries all over the world legalised abortion. And, actually speaking, there are very good documentaries which show that the embryo in the womb is a living person. In fact, the lady, the Roe, who wanted that abortion to be made, when she actually saw that there are real babies over, she got converted.
And she became anti-abortion campaign. Because for her, that law was passed. When she realised that reality, she became anti-abortion campaign.
But, what I’m talking about numbering of consciousness is just… This year, in March-April, in the Journal of Medical Ethics, Journal of Medical Ethics, is among the most prestigious medical journals. So, there, two eminent researchers, they are doctors, they proposed that if a mother, after delivery, doesn’t want to take care of the child, she should be allowed to kill the child. After the child is born, the mother says, I don’t want to take care of the child.
She should be allowed to kill the child. And, this article made such a furore. Hundreds of people said, are you savages? How can you kill a child like that? Maybe.
So, those two researchers and the editor of the journal, he said that as scientists, we cannot get carried away by emotions. We cannot get carried away by emotions. We are saying that all the logical reasons that you have given for legalising abortion are equally applicable for the infant when it’s born.
So, if you don’t oppose abortion, if you legalise abortion, from the medical point of view, there is no difference whether the child is inside the womb or outside the womb. Why are you people getting so carried away by emotions? You are simply carrying on what you have only legalised. Now, to say that we don’t get carried away by emotions, that’s exactly what the scientists who were supervising the research programme said.
We don’t get carried away by emotions. Yes, emotions can make us belong to the times. But, there are emotions which harmonise with our natural conscience.
And, anywhere in the world, people miscalculate the idea of killing the child. It’s like a mother killing a baby. So, if our rationality is numbing and dumbing us to the basic aspect of human conscience, of a mother protecting the child, then there is something seriously wrong.
Our moral radar has gone completely haywire. So, from the logical point of view, we turn this around. Yes, there is no difference between the child when it’s outside the womb and when it’s inside the womb.
So, just as we recoil so strongly against killing the child when it’s outside the womb, we should recoil equally strongly when the child is inside the womb. So, rather than legalising post-delivery abortion, post-delivery dispose or whatever you want to call it, rather we should de-legalise, illegalise pre-delivery killing of the child. Illegalise abortion.
So, what we are talking about over here is that when we try to intervene in the course of nature to try to make things better. So, why was abortion legalised? These people, many of these feminists, some of them, they have a valid sentiment that women were exploited in the past. But some of them are foolishly aggressive.
Their idea was pregnancy is biological slavery and abortion is biological freedom. Such an insane idea of freedom. Insane idea of freedom.
So, they said, why should our body, we want to enjoy our senses, but why should our body create this whole troublesome idea of carrying the child and delivering the child and rearing the child. That is biological slavery, not free as slavery. And abortion is the way of life.
So, this is a very as I said, very irrational, insane idea of freedom. So, science has its utility. But when we try to tamper too much with nature, we can have monstrosities of this sort coming up.
So, Ashish, Vijayam, Vigo, Her. The whole idea is, all the examples I am mentioning, you see, I talk about eugenics, I talk about abortion and the idea is, people think that by our capacity of science and technology, we will remove the miserable nature of the body and we will make it a source of pleasure. What was the idea? That people who are healthy and who are intelligent, they can enjoy life.
People who are either sickly or unintelligent, they can either enjoy themselves, nor can they help others to enjoy. So, let’s elucidate their own assumptions. And similarly, what was the idea behind abortion? We only enjoy life.
So, the body inevitably subjects us to some misery. But when we try to avoid that, we often end up in these monstrous kind of times. So, the body is Ashish, Vijayam, Vigo, Her.
It is inescapably a source of misery. And a more reclamable other term is Dukhaushadham tadapidukham Adadyaham. Dukhaushadham.
When we try to get a cure for the misery, Dukhaushadham tadapidukham, it leads to even greater misery. Adadyaham. Therefore, my dear lord, please give me the intelligence.
My dear lord, please guide me on how I can engage in your service. That is the only source of happiness. So, nirvignite ratujamoyi tapidukham.
But actually, the wise people cannot give up the seductive charm of people who enjoy life. The seductive charm of people who enjoy. Why? Because it appears so irresistible.
For example, there is the T20 World Cup. Before that India won the 50 overs World Cup. So the idea of game is that one team wins and one team loses.
Of course, not one team wins and one team loses. It is actually maybe 15 or 50 or 500 teams lose and one team wins. It is like that.
But whatever it is, the important point is normally in a game there is a winner and there is a loser. But in the game of self gratification, there are only losers. There are only losers.
Why? Because when there is a winner, what happens is if you look at self gratification, our enjoyment has to come at the expense of others’ misery. Like from a very graphic point of view, when one country becomes the champion, that country’s championship hopes can succeed only on the corpses of the hopes of the championship of all other countries. Isn’t it? And all the fans of all the other countries will become miserable.
No. So, the West Indies won the T20 World Cup. They were jubilant.
But Sri Lanka lost in front of their own fans. They were devastated. And then the two young Sri Lankan fans they actually committed suicide.
They committed suicide because they were really just hung themselves from trees. It’s so ridiculous. Actually, young people they committed suicide.
Why? Because their country lost the green country. Well, it’s one thing to smash the green but it’s another thing to kill oneself. So, what happens is when one person, especially in WT sports, enjoys with you, that enjoyment is inevitably at the expense of other people’s enjoyment.
Not only at the expense of other people’s enjoyment, it’s actually at the cost of other people’s misery. At the cost of other people’s misery. So, this is not just with respect to sports.
Practically, most other things. If one company becomes a software, this company becomes the leading company. And after the competition it is not constructive, it is destructive.
If I undercut the shares of that company, manipulate it in such a way that company never functions. So, material life offers our happiness, our enjoyment at the expense of other people’s misery. And this is not just in competitive sports.
For example, apart from that, when people drive about in their vehicles, when people drive proudly in their cars, so at that time, nothing against cars, but it’s just the nature of enjoyment that we all do. So, what happens is those people may have air conditioning and they cover the windows, but the pollution that comes from that, everybody has to suffer from that. Polluted air.
Similarly, now we have this whole sector of climate change and global warming and environmental pollution. So, most of it is caused by the first world. By Europe and America.
By Europe and America. And what is the result of that? Actually, the whole world has become polluted. So, they are enjoying some luxuries over there and that has caused pollution.
And that has resulted, I’ll talk more about this aspect in the class on technology later, but the whole world has to suffer the cost of pollution because of that. So, in material life, one person’s enjoyment is limited only at the cost of other people’s suffering. So, you might say, okay, then there are winners and there are losers.
That’s the way life is. But no. Even the winners become losers.
So, there are definitely losers who have to suffer. But in gratification, in material enjoyment, even the winners, what happens to them? When people get some enjoyment, the nature of enjoyment is that it aggravates the desire for enjoyment. It aggravates the desire for enjoyment.
When we get something, there is some pleasure, but because that pleasure is at last, so our desire for pleasure increases more. And that’s why it leads to further craving, further dissatisfaction. That’s why material desires, they are impossible to give up and impossible to fulfil.
They are impossible to give up and impossible to fulfil. They are irresistible and they are insatiable. Irresistible means impossible to give up.
And insatiable means impossible to fulfil. And because of this, actually there are no winners. There are no winners.
Even those who win, their desire increases more and more. And because their desire increases more and more, so they also suffer. So actually speaking, why even intelligent people are not able to give it up? Because they are irresistible.
They are irresistible. Even if I understand the journey to suffering still, I just cannot give it up because the desire is so overpoweringly strong. जन्ना यद अपीट विद्वान जन्ना यद अपीत विद्वान बदुल रई शम्यं दुला भाई बदुल रई शम्यं दुला भाई So, काम अनलम् अनलम् is fire.
काम is material desires. It can refer to lust specificity or it can refer to material desires in general. It is like a fire.
It burns within the heart. Now, paradoxically, normally speaking, you know, if we are sitting in this room and suddenly the sun’s beam starts coming up, the sun’s glass starts coming up from here. So, normally when we feel hot, we will move away from the distance.
Isn’t it? Okay, maybe we will shift half a degree, then sun is coming, the sun can move backwards. Whenever the heat comes up, we move away from the distance. But, in the case of material enjoyment, the illusion of maya is such that, when the sensual heat hits us, actually we move towards the object other than away from the object.
So, when the heat increases, when the heat hits, we just move towards it. Why? Why do we move towards it? You know, if I am feeling hot, will I move towards the sun more and more? I will move away from it. Why? Because मदू लवाई मदू लवाई is what? Honey.
लवाई is a very very small quantity. But, a very fractional quantity. But, there is a little bit of intoxicating effect, a little bit of pleasure that is there.
And, because of that, people get intoxicated. People get intoxicated. So, I think I discussed this in the Uttar Shyam also, about how… How many of you were there for the Uttar Shyam? Okay.
Do any of you remember I discussed about Vyagra? Over there? Okay. So, basically, how people move towards the deep object. So, you know, one of the biggest nightmares of people who live for bodily enjoyment is the loss of the capacity for bodily enjoyment.
Loss of the capacity. So, say people become sexually involved. That is the greatest nightmare that people have.
So, currently now there are surveys which suggest that meat causes impotency. And, till now, many people were not ready to give up meat-eating, no matter how much the health consequences have moved. But, now, it is literally and figuratively hitting below the belt.
So, people have become alarmed now. So, the vegans have made advertisements. A man and a woman are lying on bed, and the man is just holding his head, and the woman is looking frustrated.
And he says, meat has made me impotent. So, of course, now the meat-eating industry has launched aggressive propaganda. This is a lie.
This is not true. But the point which I am making is that impotency is the biggest nightmare. And there are all varieties of drugs and treatment that people are trying to develop to try to deal with this.
So, Shri Prabhupada writes in one of his purports, if they both can do, how? One of the older ways to deal with this was to actually catch monkeys, take the monkey glands, and then implant those monkey glands in newborns, so that people would try to continue to enjoy. So, Prabhupada writes that one monkey loses his enjoyment, so that another monkey can continue to enjoy. So, but subsequently, what happened? There was a drug called Viagra that was discovered.
And they said, this is the get-young pill. Just take it and again become mother. For them, young doesn’t mean physically, they have a very narrow definition of the capacity to enjoy sex.
And then it became immensely popular. And then they found actually, how things work out in science is, it is, especially medical science, when a particular drug is developed and tested, actually, we really cannot find out holistically what all are the effects of that drug on them. So, then they found that this drug was contraindicative for heart patients.
That means, people, the people would, they would take this drug, they would feel young, and they would go to have sex, and just as they would have sex, they would have heart attacks and die. Laughter And then by more and more cases like this started happening, that the US government decided that we will ban this drug. But when they decided to ban this drug, you know, there was such a huge outcry.
People said, we don’t have any heart problems, why should we be concerned? Then the government decided, ok, we will ban this drug for everyone who is a heart patient. And then they decided that, whether this drug is to be sold, the person who wants to purchase the drug, he has to get a certificate of physician. I don’t have any heart problems.
Actually, when people want that drug, that indicates that they have a heart problem. Laughter The Bhagavatam says that The Bhagavatam says that lust is a hridh roga, it is a heart disease. So, anyway, so what happened was that the government said, let us have this policy.
If the physician gives a certificate, if this person doesn’t have a heart problem, he can take this drug. Then the vendors, the chemist can sell the drug, the pharmacist can sell it. People were so desperate to enjoy that they would have a normal physician who would not give them that certificate.
So they would go to some other physician who has no idea about it, pay him. Just like when people want to get sickly, they go to some physician and pay him and get a certificate that I was sick. So like that they would get a health certificate.
I have no heart problems, use the certificate, go to the druggist, get a drug, go and try to have a sex, get a heart attack and die. Laughter. That’s what happened.
So, what people did is not Viagra, they did Vairagya. Laughter So, Madhu Lavaini, there is a little bit of happiness that is so intoxicating. It is so intoxicating that people cannot give it up.
So, Dhyan Maharaj in one sense through this prayer is appreciating the power of Maya. This entire philosophy of Krishna, you are so powerful and how powerful is your Maya? Although multiple pleasure is only for enjoyment, although the body leads to misery, although wise people understand it, still they can’t give it up. How powerful is your Guruji? And subsequent verses of Dhyan Maharaj will explain that actually the way to get rid of misery is by the power of your Guruji’s service.
Actually, we all need happiness. So, either we get rid of happiness or we get spiritual happiness. When one becomes absorbed in glorifying Krishna, when one connects oneself with Krishna, then one can become free from their desires for mental enjoyment.
So, actually all of us need to blunt the desire for enjoyment with engagement. This is the concluding point. We can have the question and answers.
We need to blunt the desire for enjoyment with engagement. The desire for enjoyment is like a sharp dagger. As soon as the desire for enjoyment comes, it starts tormenting us.
It starts tormenting us. And these desires come from various sources. They may come from our present stimulus.
They may come from maybe if we are in college, if we are in Australia, if we are in a culture which uses so many stimuli. They may come from our other surroundings or they may come from our past memories. Whatever we have indulged in in the past.
Either way, these desires for enjoyment, when they come, they are like daggers. And the daggers pierce us. And, actually speaking, when people engage in self gratification, it is not so much because there is so much pleasure in self gratification.
Rather, it is because there is so much torment in not engaging in self gratification. Because when the mind is agitated, the mind is so agitated at that time that a person who engages in self gratification, not because there is pleasure, but because not doing it will cause so much agitation. So the primary motive is not so much pleasure, but we understand this actually that these daggers like desires are piercing us, piercing us.
And when we actually engage in the enjoyment, it is true. But what happens, the more we enjoy, actually the daggers are becoming sharper. Every time we enjoy that memory, we are creating one new memory.
One more new memory means one more Tamsara means the daggers become more and it becomes sharper. So what do we do? We have to remind the daggers of the daggers and the desires of enjoyment with engagement. What do we mean by engagement? Actually engagement means we keep our mind filled with thoughts about Krishna, with ways of serving Krishna.
So I was just one devotee had come from I answer questions on the website, so one devotee asked me an interesting question. He said when we go for camps, when we go for camps at that time we feel all our desires are gone away. But as soon as we come back from the camp to our hostel, to our city, to our place, all the desires come back.
All the troubling with the ants start coming up. So we feel as if we have this game of snakes and ladders. We go up and suddenly we drop back down.
So we feel as if we just come back to square one. So what happens when we go to holy places, when we go to camps, we get such nice spiritual experiences but then at the end it seems we are just back to square one. So isn’t that actually what we experience in intensive spiritual programmes is it just something temporary? Or actually why does it happen that we think that we are taking some spiritual advancements and spiritual happenings but then it’s all going away.
We come back to square one which I’ll explain further in detail in a bit. So actually speaking there is a difference between pacification and beautification. Pacification and beautification.
Pacification means peaceful. Beautification means to drive out. So essentially when we come to our camps like this, so what happens is all the stimulus around us is devotional.
So often we find that there is a diagram like desires are all over dominating us. So that’s why we become a bit peaceful. And also because we have a lot of spiritual engagements that keep us busy, so we don’t feel at all.
But we should what happens, the mistake happens is that we think that pacification is the same as beautification. That okay my desires have become peaceful, my desires have become beautiful. No, the desires are still there but just because there is no expression for them, so they are not agitated in any way.
But as soon as the culture allows us to express them, again they start agitating us. But what is the purpose served by Indian spiritual programmes like these then? Actually these give us a glimpse of a life with relatively much lesser mental agitation. That this is a possibility.
This is a reality. When we come to a camp, we shouldn’t think that we have become spiritually advanced and when we go back we have become spiritually retarded. It’s not like that.
But we get advanced glimpses of what life ahead holds. So actually it is possible to live a life free from mental agitation. We cannot entirely free.
It’s just we can be largely free from mental agitation. And such a life brings so much focus and productivity even immediately. Not to speak of spiritual.
So as devotees, we desire to travel a lot but if we are engaged, then the engagement acts like a shield. Like the dagger-like desires will come, but engagement ultimately every desire has to get some space in our mind to grow. But if our mind is filled with Krishna, service to Krishna, activities which are productive for us, then there is no space for those desires.
And then we can keep moving forward in spiritual life. So we can blunt the desire for learning with engagement. So if we feel troubled by mental desires, it is not that the process of Krishnamochan is not working, nor is it that we are so fallen that we cannot become purified.
It’s simply that we are not keeping ourselves adequately engaged. So if we just keep ourselves adequately engaged, then actually this desire is supposed to become peaceful, peaceful, peaceful, peaceful, and then we will become purified. Then we will go above our consciousness.
And Lord Maharaj will describe in later verses that when this happens, then we will say that actually it is Mahamruta, Abhirayan Mahamruta Vajraja. It is the supreme nectar of life. The supreme nectar.
And that is the goal that is there for us in the spiritual path. So it is not that we are providing ourselves with happiness. Actually we are saving ourselves from agitation and preparing ourselves for future happiness.
Preparing ourselves for future far greater happiness. Happiness that will continue on for all eternity. So the summary that we discussed started by talking about how Prahlad Maharaj is most qualified for telling us about the nature of the material world.
Because he saw from close proximity the inside story he had about the greatest materialist escapist, Hiranyakashipu’s attempts to injure. And he has the conviction by which he resisted all the enjoyment even at the threat of his own life. And then we discussed about how prayer is not just a simplistic request to God or demands to God.
Prayer is a sharing of our hearts with Krishna. And we discussed about how Prahlad Maharaj is sharing the realisation that he has got, which is ultimately love of Krishna to Narayani for the pleasure of material life. And then when we were discussing about material pleasure we discussed about how there is the current culture characterising what well it agitates the irrational passions within us.
And sabotages rationality. So I talked about marketing cigarettes as torches for freedom. And the whole idea that there is freedom for and there is freedom from.
So the Bhagavatam and the Vedic culture offers us freedom from. And that will bring real happiness. So when we love the desire for enjoyment and engagement, we will be free from greed.
And then there is so much suffering. And I knew that this stuff can happen to us. So after I discussed about it, the next line Kaleo Vashishtha Nijam Deva.
So when we try to enjoy the body level actually the body inescapably causes suffering. When we try to play around with it to get greater pleasure, we end up with far greater trouble. So I discussed variety of diseases on the topic of eugenics and abortion.
And then about Viagra to indicate how actually we cannot escape the body condition at the body level. But wise people also cannot give it up because desires are impossible to resist, impossible to fulfil. They are insatiable and irresistible.
So before that I discussed about when we try to base our pleasure and mental enjoyment amongst two different aspects. First I talked about the objects themselves and then I talked about desires. When I talked about the objects, the objects are mostly not attainable.
Sometimes they are not palatable after attaining. And even if they are attainable and palatable, they are not relatable. They are not retainable.
That is with respect to the objects. And later on I talked with respect to the desires. The desires are irresistible and insatiable.
And actually wise people cannot give it up. But when we get a higher happiness, we can give it up. And that higher happiness comes by connection with Krishna, engagement with Krishna.
So the dagger-like desires torment us because of our presence, still life and our past circumstances, past mentality. So when we absorb our connection with Krishna, both these daggers stop tormenting us. We get a shield through our engagement.
And gradually that shield force will pacify us and then we can beautify ourselves and we can face the real freedom, freedom from all distractions that stop us from relishing the happiness of Krishna consciousness. So thank you very much. Are there any questions? Yes, please.
Do we have a mic? You can ask one. There is this festival in our Vedic language. The last one is how to enter the temple.
So in Vedic society, Shudras are not allowed to enter the temple. Why is that? Well, it is not that in a blanket way, in all temples, Shudras are not allowed. There really isn’t.
In certain temples, they are not allowed. Actually speaking, we shouldn’t think that whatever exists in Vedic society today is an accurate reflection of what existed in Vedic culture originally. That’s the first point.
So many of the social temples today are actually not based on scripture. They are just based on religion that is not an accurate reflection of scripture. See, from the scripture, tradition grows.
Based on Bhagavad Gita or Vedic literature, tradition grows. But often, like, tradition outgrows the scripture and it sometimes contradicts the spirit of the scripture and sometimes even the letter of the scripture. So, firstly, we should not judge the Vedic scriptures and the Vedic culture by the current ideas of tradition that are there in society.
So, certainly, spiritual opportunities were not a dip in life for the Shudras. So, first of all, the Shudra is not by birth. It is by quality.
It is by quality. It is not by birth. But even by birth, even if someone is Shudra, by birth, and by qualities also, he is a Shudra, still, spiritual opportunities are not a dip in life.
Spiritual opportunities are of different types. The process of Shravana was open for everyone. Normally, Shravana Upanishad would happen in either the temple premises or some other public places, where everybody could sit and hear and everybody could participate.
And ideally, everybody could advance in spiritual life. If you read the Mahabharata, you know, when you see all the Ramayana, when Maharashtra was having its court, assembly, or when Yudhishthira Maharaj had his court assembly, there were sections that represented all four masks. So even the Shudras were represented over there.
So that means materially also they had a voice, and spiritually also they had capacity, they had facility for people’s spiritual advancement. Now in specific cases, in the temples, if the Shudras are choosing to live an untrue lifestyle, then at such a time, some orthodox circles thought that their presence in the temple would militate against the pure atmosphere of the temple. And that’s why in some cases they would not be allowed.
But that was not Yudhishthira Maharaj’s opinion. But in general, it had happened in some temples, but still, going to the temple and taking darshan of the deities is one way of purification. That is not the exclusive jantri of the holy name, something which everyone can do.
The hearing of Krishna Tatha is something which everyone can do. So hearing in jantri is something which everybody was allowed to do. As far as deep worship is concerned, there have been, in the tradition, some restrictions for that.
And that may also have varied upon temple circumstances. But we shouldn’t consider that one form of religious activity is the totality of the religious spectrum. So even if in some cases one form of religious activity is not allowed, spiritual opportunities remain in other forms only.
And of course, Shri Aditya Mata, in general, the bhakti tradition, from Jagannath Maharaj onwards, and even before, in other popular religions also, in general, in the bhakti traditions, they have normally transcended the caste boundaries. Many of the bhakti saints, they were actually from the lower castes. Haridas talked about this because he was born in the Chaitanya.
He was born in Ramacharya. And there are many examples of saints like that. So in the bhakti path, actually speaking, birth is not even considered.
It is a matter of the heart. A person has a devotion, that person is considered exalted. That’s why we won’t, in America the bhakti tradition has been prominent.
In India also now, basically in the Vedic culture, there is karma, there is jnana, there is bhakti. So the karma is ritual activity. So in ritual activity, there is a lot of chemical considerations.
And often in those sort of rituals, there is a very strong casteist sense. But in the bhakti traditions, they have always been like egalitarian. And Krishna himself says in Bhagavad Gita, he says, mam parmaya parashitya yad vishyoparpa yamaya sriyo vaishyartha asyutra He describes in 9.32 of the Bhagavad Gita, that those who take shelter of me, even if they be lowborn, like Vaishya, Vishnu, Taras, still even they can become elevated.
So Krishna is nominally acknowledging the notion that okay, Vaishya, Vishnu, Taras are considered lowborn. But actually that doesn’t matter. They can also be elevated.
So that was just within karma that these caste hegemonies were very strong. But in bhakti, they don’t apply. Any other questions? Where is the mic? Okay.
You said that devotional service does not depend on the health or the age of normal body. But technically, I don’t find it ethical. I said devotional service depends on the health of our body.
Actually, my emphasis was more on the fact that multiple enjoyment depends on the health of the body. Now, what about devotional service? See, there is devotional service in the compound word. There is adjective and there is a noun.
There is devotion and there is service. So, in devotional service, so for example, if you look at the compound word, if I say there is a red rose, so red is the adjective, rose is the noun. Now, both are important.
Among them, the rose is the primary attribute, the defining attribute. And red is the embellishing attribute. Since the Prabhupada considered bhakti counted as devotional service.
The service indicates activity and devotion indicates feeling. So, in the sadhaka stage, the Prabhupada primarily wrote his books to help sadhakas, seekers, to gradually get elevated. So, in our seeker stage, we may or may not have feelings of devotion.
But we can surely perform service. Isn’t it? We try to end the devotional service, but we cannot control the feelings of our heart. Now, I cannot always feel devotion when I chant Hare Krishna.
But I can chant Hare Krishna. Anyway. So, Srila Prabhupada in the way he has translated bhakti as devotional service, in one sense, the defining attribute is service.
And the embellishing attribute is devotion. So now, service, where it connotes physical activity, does require physical activity. But as we keep entering devotional service, actually maybe in the initial part of our bhakti, in devotional service, it will be like 90% service and 10% devotion.
Or maybe 95% service and 5% devotion. But as we keep practising devotional service, our relationship with Krishna deepens. And then it becomes 50% devotion, 50% service.
That means, we do every every service filled with devotion. I am not saying that our service goes down. I am talking about the composition.
So, as this devotion, percentage of devotion, in our devotional service increases, the dependence on external circumstances will decrease. That means, when I have a natural attraction for Krishna, even if I am not able to do lot of physical service, even if I am not able to dance in few turns, even if I am not able to sing loudly or whatever, still internally I can have a good relationship. I wrote an article recently, there is no exception to the rule that to every rule there is an exception.
There is no exception to the rule. Which rule? To every rule there is an exception. So, what ultimately will play out, I will explain that.
So, I heard about a devotee who had an accident because of he lost his power of speech. And when he lost his power of speech, he just couldn’t chant Hare Krishna. And he said, I felt so disappointed.
He said, I can’t chant Hare Krishna. I can’t preach Hare Krishna. Then the devotee showed him and said, yes, there is a rule and there is a principle.
The rule is like a rule and the principle is like a compass. So, chanting Hare Krishna is the rule. Remembering Krishna is the principle.
All rules are subordinate to this particular universal principle. So, this devotee told him that even if you can’t chant, chanting is the rule. The principle is to remember Krishna.
So, you can try to chant in the morning, you can try to remember Krishna. And he said, actually, since I understood this, I have a much more richer and deeper relationship with Krishna within me. So, yes, it depends on the health you chant.
But if I don’t have that kind of personality, I don’t mean I can’t remember Krishna. So, in the physical activity of chanting, they stop. But the internal activity of the mantras can continue and reproduce.
That’s why as devotees, as seekers, we don’t need physical help. We should take care of our physical health. Initially, for us to engage our mind, we also have to engage our body.
Our actions largely depend on these representations when it comes to devotional. But over a period of time, as our attraction to Krishna will increase, then even if we are not physically able to do activities of connection with Krishna, even if we are not able to render service, still the devotion will be there. Okay? Any other questions? Where is the mic? Correct.
Can I tell more about the rational and irrational factors? Okay. So, in the 14th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna talks about three modes of materialism. And he describes how the mode of goodness enables us to make sound decisions.
He says that with all hence the illuminated knowledge, with wisdom, that broadly connects with the rational factor. Rational factor means our capacity to evaluate things and then make decisions. Is this believable? Is this logical? Is this beneficial? I think about all this and then I make decisions.
So, that is the rational factor. Whereas in the modes of passion and ignorance, Lord Krishna talks about these three modes. So, at such a time, when a person is dominated by the mode of passion, lobhagya, urudhya, lot of activity, action, action, action, cannot sit peacefully.
And even with the activity that a person does this, a person cannot keep doing the same activity. Start new projects. If this is not working, let me try something new.
Try something new. Like a rolling stone gathers no moss. So, people keep changing new things.
Because passion means I want excitement of creation. But I don’t want to sustain everything. So, people are dominated by their feelings.
Feelings of what you do will be good. Something special. But they can’t sustain what I do.
So, if a person has rationality, then it’s okay, I have written, but I have to complete. I have to complete. So, if a person is not able to complete, then it is impassioned.
And then, more influence. See, in goodness, there is prakash, there is energy. In passion, there is activity.
But in ignorance, there is neither illumination nor activity. There is lot of mythology. Mythology means sporadic bursts of maniac activity.
Maniac activity. So, actually, that is the word ignorance. So, basically, it is explained that the soul by itself is pure.
The soul has pure intelligence. But depending on how the soul becomes covered, according to the soul’s behaviour, it gets shaped. So, when we are covered too much by the passion ignorance, then often our behaviour becomes extremely impassioned.
And the bigger the roles of passion ignorance are dominating society to its forefront. You know, the very few people who are just curious about what it does when you are in some city in Delhi or somewhere, you know, a boy, he just joined a family, got his cousin, and he actually, this cousin was three and a half years old child. This boy had taken stolen money from his father to purchase a new cell phone or something like that.
And now he wanted to get the money back. So, what he did, he took his three and a half year old cousin and kidnapped him. And told his own uncle.
And when he did not get that money, killed his own cousin. Three and a half years of what? For what? For just a cell phone? So impassioned. So, the more the passion ignorance dominate, the very people we hate just doesn’t make sense.
Not only to others, but after some time it doesn’t make sense to them. Why did I do such a thing? That’s why we have to protect ourselves from these influences of passion ignorance. Because they make us extremely impassioned.
So, when you practise Krishna Consciousness, there is ignorance, there is passion, there is goodness. Beyond that, there is transcendence. So, when we connect with transcendence, we become less and less affected by passion ignorance.
So, that irrational faculty is actually being kindled. Kindled means aggravated by moral culture. And it gives terrible consequences.
So, we have to protect ourselves by Krishna Consciousness. Any other questions? Yes. We have been sharing our thoughts.
If I have some bad feeling about qualifying in some other devotional, I share it with Krishna. Will you be happy with it? Okay. So, if I have a qualifying tendency, I share that with Krishna.
Will he be happy by that? When we share it with Krishna, we pray to him that please free me from this. That Krishna will be happy. Krishna is not a critic.
He is a coach. So, what is the difference between a critic and a coach? A coach also knows the faults of his squad. For example, a sports coach.
My student, he is a sports star, he cannot move fast, he cannot do this. But the coach’s focus is not on what is lacking, but on what is potential. And the coach also says, okay, this is what is wrong, this is what is potential, this is what is wrong.
Whereas a critic, a critic means no matter how much good is there, the critic will find out the fault. Critics are only delighted in finding faults. So, Krishna is not like that.
Krishna knows that we all have faults. But he isn’t delighted in finding faults with us. Actually, he delights in helping us come out of the faults.
In the Vishnu Sadasana, there is a very beautiful description. These two names are apparently contradictory. This is Vimishan means one who blinks twice, or Vimishan means one who never blinks twice.
So, Bhagavad Gita which is a great acharya, and he describes I think he has given a commentary on that. One of these two apparently contradictory names are mentioned there. Krishna blinks twice, Krishna never blinks twice.
So, he says that actually, when a sincere devotee is trying to serve Krishna, and at that time the devotee commits some mistake, Krishna blinks twice. I have one of those mistakes. On the other hand, if the devotee is trying to render service to Krishna, then Krishna unblinkingly takes note of even the smallest service that is rendered.
And, the example beautiful is that he says when Pooja came to kill Krishna, Krishna closed his eyes. He saw that she had some remorse and attitude which was proper in that. But she also had extreme valour in her demeanour.
So, Krishna closed his eyes and overlooked her valour and attitude and granted her liberation. On the other hand, there is a story of how once Krishna was in Darjeevana, and Draupadi offered him some fruits. At that time, while Krishna was peeling the fruits, a knife slithered and blood came from his fingers.
When Draupadi saw that, she was afraid. Actually, Krishna’s voice transcended. This is an example.
To embellish the things. So, Draupadi literally ripped apart her six arms and started languishing Krishna’s name. When Krishna saw that, Krishna smiled at Draupadi and drank the fruits.
The small service. When did he drink it? In the Ashtarharanatharatsabhaya. So, in the smallest service, Krishna makes up his voice and when there are mistakes, Krishna overcomes.
That’s why, when there are faults in us, we don’t have to hide those faults. First of all, we can’t hide those faults. Because Krishna knows them.
But secondly, it is like, we don’t have to foray those faults to Krishna, but we can help him with those faults. Krishna, where are these faults? Please help me to overcome them. So, I have a fault-finding dialect.
But please help me to see the good in this devotee also. So, if we share that heart with Krishna, that is, I have this fault, please help me to overcome that. Please help me to see the good in others.
And Krishna will help us. So, that is how we can connect with even our deficiencies. We can do prayers for Krishna to remove his deficiencies.
Does that answer the question? Thank you very much. Thank you. … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … So, we can be proper to give some examples from our research and give it to more people.
Yeah, so the question is, it’s a very precise question, that when, say our mind is addicted, then even we cannot enjoy loss pleasures. So, if I get some delicious food, but somebody has insulted me, I can’t enjoy that. So, subtle state is the foundation for loss pleasure.
Similarly, others are exampled that our spiritual state is the foundation for our experience of subtle pleasures and also loss pleasures. See, sometimes not spiritual, that is fine, because we like to enjoy subtle pleasures or very gross pleasures. So, actualistically, in the modern society, the word spiritual is very popular.
So, a boy and a girl will say, our relationship is spiritual. Now, what is the idea of spiritual? Actually, most people equate the spiritual with the mental. Most people equate the spiritual with the mental.
Say, something feels good. Something feels good. Oh, it’s very spiritual.
It’s very sublime because it feels good. So, you know, when people talk about external and internal, most of the times, from their point of view, the reference to external and internal is, what is outside the external and what is inside the internal. But actually, this is a very body-centric idea.
Because from the body point of view, what is outside the external and what is inside the internal? And people say, look over there, and you will find this. I look quickly and I see my mind is more agitated. So, I come over there.
The author is more displeased. So, actually, our process, the way philosophy tells us that, when we define external and internal, it is not based on the body at that point. It’s based on spiritual point of view.
So, from the point of view of the soul, both the body and the mind are external. So, that means that transcendental is beyond what people call external and beyond what people call internal. Because what people call internal is primarily mental.
But spirituality is beyond even the mind. There is external material, that’s physical. And there is internal material, that is mental.
And then there is spiritual. So, most people don’t know what these two distinct are. So, they conflate.
They mix the two together. So, that’s why they think that, okay, this is a prison and become peaceful. But if you look over there, actually there is not much difference.
There is so much agitation on one side. So, first we have to understand the difference between these two. So, this definition is from the body’s point of view.
This is external, this is internal. From the soul’s point of view, both mind and the body are external. So, in the process of yoga, Krishna has described this in the sixth chapter also.
Yes means… Krishna describes… Do this. This is what… And the contact with Nithyananda, it ends. This is the perfection of yoga.
So, what does happen? Krishna says that… And the mind becomes silent. Silent doesn’t mean it becomes inactive. It becomes mutely active.
So, when that happens, that is the greatest happiness. Once one enjoys this happiness, there is no greater happiness to be had. And once one gets this, there is nothing more that can… There is actually nothing that can disturb this.
So… Now, how do we experience this stage? So, actually speaking… We… First, we have to understand that I am not the body. That is, with a little philosophical analysis, possible. But to understand that I am not the body… Requires some amount of philosophical practise.
Only when I come to the mode of goodness, at least to some level… Then I can understand that I am not the body. How do I understand that? Because in the mode of goodness, I have a sense of discrimination. I understand that this is right and this is wrong.
When I understand this is right and this is wrong… I know that I don’t want to do this. I shouldn’t be doing this. But still, I feel so strongly that I am doing this.
So, then I understand that actually there are these two forces within me. See, if I am in passion… Then, I don’t think that there are two forces. I identify with the mind only.
And I think, I want to do this. I want to enjoy. Who is going to stop me? Okay, I am going to stop.
I will enjoy. So, what happens in passion? I identify with the mind so strongly… That I get carried away with it. But when I am in goodness, then I can understand… That there is a conflict going on within me.
This is what I want to do. I don’t want to sleep in Japan. But still, I am going to sleep.
So, when I am in ignorance… Actually, I go to sleep. Somebody comes and wakes me up and says… I want to Somali. So, what happens is that I identify with the mind so much… That I start justifying whatever the mind is doing.
So, in goodness… What happens is… We can understand principles… And we can understand passions. This is the principle way of living. This is the passion that we are living.
So, generally… We can understand that I am different from the mind… Only when we try to… In a sustained way… Go at the end of the line. When I decide, this is what I am going to do… Then, I find that I am not able to do it. There is such a… Parabellum force opposing me… Actually… This problem is not outside.
This is inside of me. That means, there is something inside me… Which is different from me. That is the mind.
So, normally… We need some level of goodness… To understand that we are different from the mind. But, when we go deeper into goodness… Deeper into it… Become more stronger state of goodness… Then, we will be able to observe… That… Our mind… Even on its provocations, stays peaceful. For example… Say… Most people… If something goes wrong externally… They just get so disturbed.
They get so agitated. Then, in America… Including to India… There is a whole concept called road rage. Road rage means, people are driving on the roads… And then, suddenly there is a traffic jam.
And when there is a traffic jam… The people behind… The person is waiting… And the traffic is not going… And people behind… This person gets so irritated… America is legally allowed to keep guns. So, you just take a gun… And shoot the person. It’s called road rage.
You just get angry. Now, why I am giving the example of road rage here? The point I am making is… That… Most people… So strongly identify with the mind… That they just get carried away by the mind. But… Say, as you know… I was caught in a traffic jam… And we might also have got agitated.
And on the same situation… We find… Somehow, the mind is not disturbed. So… At that time, we can understand that… The mind has become calm. The mind has become calm.
So, that means… Initially, when the mind agitates… We observe. Then we understand, I am the culprit of the mind. Then, another time… When an excruciating situation… Which would have normally agitated our mind… Doesn’t agitate our mind.
Anyway, it actually doesn’t make a difference. This would have earlier agitated me… It is not agitating me now. That means, actually the mind has become more stable.
So… The deeper we become situated in Guru Gyan… Sattva Sanjayate Gyan… In what Krishna says. Sattva Mona brings out knowledge. Sattva Mona can also bring out… At best, Atma Gyan.
It cannot bring out Bhagavad Gita. It cannot bring out knowledge of Krishna. But it can bring out knowledge of the soul.
So… The more we practise Krishna Kali Shikha… Situated ourselves in Guru Gyan… Then we will see that… There are external stimuli… Which create external trouble… And which create inter-relative issues. But… When we are situated in Guru Gyan… When we are situated in Krishna Consciousness… Then the mind which would normally have agitated… Doesn’t agitate. And that gives the experience… That there is something… Subtler than the mind itself.
There is something beyond the mind… Which… Is actually the foundation… For all our experiences. See, the mind is… Now externally… I am looking at the wall. I am looking at the wall of Srimad Baba.
There is… Whatever comes in from the eyes… It actually goes on a screen. Inside. That internal screen is the Guru.
But there is a person… Who is observing the screen also. That is the soul. So there is an external object.
There is an internal screen. And there is an internal seer. So the external object… Is gross.
The internal screen is subtle. And the inner seer… Is spiritual. He is spiritual.
So normally… When there is external turbulence… The inner screen also becomes subtle. But sometimes… When we are spiritually strongly connected… Even if the inner screen is turbulent… Still peace can be seen. Or sometimes… Even if the external turbulence is there… There is no inner screen.
We are able to see peace. So these are situations… When we get experience… That there is something beyond the mind. Something beyond the mind.
Two basic generalising principles. One is… That the mind doesn’t get agitated… Where normally it would get agitated. Second is… That the mind does get disturbed… But we don’t get disturbed.
All these feelings are there… But I can distance myself. There is this lust… There is this anger… There is this greed… But I don’t identify myself. So that way we can experience.
And at that level… When Krishna said… When the mind… When we can experientially… Disconnect ourselves from the mind… Within our experience… When we can experientially understand… That I am separate from the mind… At that time… We can connect with Krishna independently. Right now… We connect with Krishna through our mind. When Krishna says… So we need to use our mind to think of Krishna.
We need to use our mind. But the mind is material. When we go back to the spiritual world… We don’t have a spiritual mind.
Spiritual body has a spiritual mind. Just like right now… I may need to use… If I want to remember Krishna… I have to chant Hare Krishna loudly when I focus. Maybe later on I want to chant in my mind… Hare Krishna… But in Yoga… There are three stages.
There is Savitartha Samadhi… There is Savichar Samadhi… And there is Prasamparya Samadhi. So Savitartha Samadhi… I need an external physical object for concentration. On consequences.
Savichar Samadhi… I need a conceptualisation for concentration. That is… For concentrating… I keep a picture of Krishna. Or… I visualise a picture of Krishna.
But when one comes to Savitartha Samadhi… At that stage… One neither needs an external object… Nor an internal concept. Because there is a direct, experiential… Continuous connection with Krishna. So… That will come gradually.
But sometimes… I will give you an example. You might also get glimpses of that visualisation. For us.
So answer your question? Thank you very much. Ok. Last question.
You can repeat. I don’t speak. I’ll repeat.
So in this stage… Is it the Brahma Mukha platform? Or is it beyond? Or how is it connected? The Brahma Mukha platform is the foundation for all spiritual experiences. So even the Jnanis can go to the Brahma Mukha platform. Munis can go to the Brahma Mukha platform.
Bhakthas can also go to the Brahma Mukha platform. So in general… We may not be situated at the Brahma Mukha platform. But we get experiences of that platform.
Brahma Mukha is the spiritual platform. Brahma Mukha means existence. Brahma is spiritual.
Mukha is not ghost. So… Brahma Mukha means… Spiritual existence. So Brahma Mukha platform is… At the platform of spiritual existence.
So yes… We can get many spiritual experiences once we come to the spiritual platform. But as sadhakas right now… Sometimes you get a glimpse of that Brahma Mukha platform. You get glimpses.
And at that time we do realise that there is something beyond the right words. So these glimpses… Are… We keep going ahead on our journey. But there is much more that awaits us in the future.
So… When we get these sort of experiences… We neither assume that I have reached the Brahma Mukha platform nor do we think that all this is just a… You just understand that these are authentic glimpses that I have got. But to get the complete experience I have to proceed it. Then I will come to it.
Thank you very much. Shri Hrithikopad Dev Prahlad Maharaj Dev Shri Adrakshi Madhavakanti Taiga Urpremannde So is there any example of somebody who is spiritually… So you cannot enjoy material life? At a certain level. Ok.
So the point is that in general a devotee can experience and relish material life also in the temple. That means… See, for example, I am not talking about gross sensual enjoyment, but for example there is poetry, there is literature, there is music, to relish this, one needs some level of peace of mind. So when the peace of mind is there, one can actually enjoy it.
So the aesthetic mental pleasures that are there, Vedic culture was not only transcendental. Vedic culture also produced music like dhalas, it also produced, say, sculptures and murals, you’ve seen the wall paintings. So it had a lot of artistic aspects to it also.
So how did this come about? When people are at a deeper level peaceful, so when a person is not very satisfied internally, then even when a person engages in fine arts, the motive is not to relish the art, it is more to get appreciation from others. Ego level. Ego level, yeah.
So the art in itself is subtle, but the motivation is not exactly that, it’s written by a little egoistic, a little crass. So Radha Mata Dada once gave me an example, in a church in America, not in America, in one of the European churches, there are artistic designs below the chairs. Now, who would want to make artistry below the chairs? So actually it will only be a person who knows that God is going to see him.
Otherwise, you can have artistry above the chairs, but below. Now people are going to look below to find God. So in general, actually, even the material aesthetic pleasures that are there, they can be relished better if the mind is more peaceful, if one is not craving for worldly recognition.
So in that way, we can understand that, just like if I want to sing, now if I am thinking while singing, how many people are appreciating my singing, then I cannot really relish the singing, but if I am not concerned about that. There is that example like, Hansen is going to be a great singer, Hansen was a great singer, Birbal, Akbar’s court singer. So one day Akbar and they were going by and in a temple, he heard some devotee singing and Akbar was very touched by that song.
And he said to that Hansen, you are from New Regular, you are such a great singer, but I am finding this song much more touching. It is a devotional song. He said that actually, that person who is singing for the Lord’s pleasure, I sing for your pleasure.
So because of that, material sweetness might be there, but the devotional sweetness is not there. So in that sense, we can appreciate this song. In this case, I was telling that there is a great danger for you to confuse with the mental experience which you are getting and the devotional experience.
Just like we are chanting, sometimes we feel nice, maybe on a mental platform, we need to practise right now. Similarly, for you sometimes, like more examples are there, like suppose a spiritual master, we go to receive prayer. So that time even if physically we are tired, mentally we are tired, but we feel that some kind of bliss.
So there are some examples where we get some impressions, dreams, that okay, maybe some spiritual pleasure. But there is again a danger. So how to understand from this? Like you told example of a car.
How do we differentiate between mental and spiritual pleasures while practising devotional service? I would say the broad principle is, there is no need to go into paralysis by analysis. For example, if I hear a joke in a class and I laugh, why am I laughing for Krishna’s pleasure or my own pleasure? That would go into absurdity. We don’t have to do that so much.
Overall thing we need to see is, are we staying committed to the process of devotional service? Shri Prabhupada gave us a very realistic and tangible definition of advancement. It’s commitment. Commitment to the process of devotional service.
So I have experienced ecstasy when I came as spiritual master. And I feel nice when I am chanting. These are good experiences.
But what happens after that? Do I continue serving as spiritual master? Do I continue chanting in a vigorous way? So if I am committed to the process of devotional service, then I don’t have to be too analytical about whether the experience is mental or spiritual. Important thing is just to be committed to the process. And while being committed to the process, even if mental experiences come, it doesn’t matter.
You don’t want to, you can’t reject those experiences. There is a way out for it. But we understand that it is not these experiences that are going to lead to advancement.
Or it is not even the experiences that are necessarily symptoms of advancement. They may be, they may not be. The real parameter of advancement I have asked you is, is our commitment.
So if the experiences of happiness, irrespective of whether they are mental or spiritual, if they inspire us to commit ourselves to the process of devotional service more, then they are unopposed to that. And we accept that. On the other hand, if you become so excited by our devotional experience, you feel, you know, last time when I chanted, I got a nice experience.
Now I am not getting that experience. I am not chanting. What do you think? Then that thing becomes particular.
So, experience is not the essential parameter for us. But again, experiences are not necessarily something which have to be deliberated or rejected. They are contextual.
They will come, they will go. But the necessary characteristic of advancement is commitment. If I have commitment, I will keep doing it.
But for you, intellectually, it is difficult for us to understand right now what is necessary. It is not even necessary. Necessary is not there.
How will we know at an intellectual level? See, for example, now, I read a book, which is very intellectually appealing, representing philosophy of Krishnamurti. So, I might be attracted to language or I might be attracted to content. So, how do I differentiate between the two? So, Mr. Kroji, car example which you gave me.
Suppose we are getting stuck in traffic. We are telling Kroji, as we go to the mode of goodness, we are less energetic. But again, how to differentiate between goodness and goodness pattern? Because both are different.
We may be getting some peace out of goodness, but how it is actually spiritual? Of course, those things are not necessary for devotional practise that I understood. So, the essential difference between goodness and pure goodness is whether the focus is on remembrance of Krishna or it is not on remembrance of Krishna. So, that means, in the Bhakti Samhita, the example is given of Akhanda Chitra.
That is, they are fanning Krishna. And when they are fanning Krishna, while seeing Krishna, they feel so ecstatic. The tears come from their eyes.
And actually, they start cursing their ecstasy. They are saying, these tears are blocking me from seeing Krishna. And because I can’t see Krishna properly, I can’t see where Krishna might be feeling hot.
And where I should fan him. So, they feel that their ecstasy is obstructing them in their service. They say, to hell with their ecstasy.
I don’t want their ecstasy. That I can serve Krishna. So, their focus is not even on their feelings of ecstasy.
They are focused on their self-destruction. That is a good example for us. That means, when I am feeling peaceful in a traffic jam.
Okay, I am feeling peaceful. But am I thinking of Krishna? Or I am just feeling peaceful? So, if I am just feeling peaceful without thinking of Krishna, then actually speaking, I am not so Krishna conscious. I am mostly Satguru conscious.
So, similarly, if I am attracted to the language of a book. And even if I am a Krishna conscious philosopher, what is my thrust? Am I so much carried away by the language, that I don’t actually remember Krishna? Is intoxicated by the language. And if we are too intoxicated by the language, then we will find that we will get titillated by attractive language, even when it is disconnected with Krishna.
So, many mayavadis through word jugglery, which has actually no substance to it. But, hey, this is clever. We will feel that.
So, now, it is okay from an aesthetic point of view to recognise that this is clever. But to start appreciating that Krishna’s relation, that indicates that, in that case, our goodness attraction is sort of overcoming our devotional discrimination. So, these are two ways.
What is my focus on in my reading? Or in my relation, that particular subtle question. Is it Krishna? Or is it just the aesthetics of that particular intro? Secondly, do I start delighting in aesthetic pleasure, that is connected with Krishna? By these two, we can understand, whether I am connected with Krishna or not. The focus and the result.
The focus is what am I thinking about at that time? What am I concentrating on? Krishna or just that particular linguistic or musical or aesthetic response. And the result is, does it inspire me to commit myself to Krishna more? Or does it inspire me to just explore that aesthetic experience more? Does it inspire me to read linguistically like you have in books now? These two are the major focus. Focus and result.
These two. Basically, through these kinds of examples, we can reach to an outstanding conclusion. And we can make them understand, which will be how.
And that example of literature and art history. The last thing I wanted to ask you. You told that whatever small pleasure is there, that makes people appear and still appear.
I was asking that, that is so much little. Intellectually, it is like, mind is very difficult to understand, how that small thing can still people, so much amount of suffering, but still how that small pleasure is binding people. Intellectually, that makes no sense.
That doesn’t make sense to me. That’s because people don’t know the difference. We just absolutely cannot live without pleasure.
So if we don’t know an alternative, this is what we will do. That’s why it is. Once we know an alternative, then we start looking for other things.
But people don’t know. It’s like, see, what doesn’t make sense in one mode, makes perfect sense in another mode. It’s like, even when a person is in goodness, a drunkard’s pleasure will not make any sense to him.
But for a drunkard who is in passion like you, that makes a lot of sense. I am forgetting so much misery through drinking. And I am enjoying so much.
But then afterwards there is a consequence, hey, that’s just a prize, it’s okay. But this is the real thing. So that is that relativity.
Depending on the mode. So because we have to some extent come to goodness, we start feeling that the cost of the pleasure is much more than the reward. Whereas when we are in that particular mode, we feel the cost is nothing, reward is much more.
That’s how the modes determine our perception.