Safe, Danger and Relapse Zones in the War against temptation
Lecture Outline:
Transcript
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
Hare Krishna. As some of you may have seen the title, I speak on the three zones in the war against temptation. So this is a topic of personal application and I would not like to speak this in any way as a sort of instruction because I myself am a struggling sadhaka.
So I would like to speak this more as a objective analysis of human psychology. So what, the way I have prepared this topic is that I have I am trying to make a presentation of Bhagavad Gita in terms of contemporary psychology. So I have studied some books, nowadays a big problem in today's world is addictions.
The addictions can be of various kinds, some can be lethal like say drug addiction or alcohol addiction and some can be relatively mild. Some people, there is a form of addiction called as screen addiction. Screen addiction means people just can't live without some digital device.
Either a mobile or a iPhone or iPad, they just keep doing something. Now, I'll talk about when something becomes an addiction. It's not that It's not that just because somebody is working throughout the day on a particular device that itself does not make it an addiction.
So there are three C's of addiction which psychologists talk about. We'll talk about that and then psychologists talk about, they use these terms, of course, when I use the word psychology, psychology is not one body of knowledge. Because different psychologists have different theories.
And often they have just like within say philosophy we have war between Advaitavadis and Dvaitavadis. So like that there are different schools of psychology also, among whom they have inter-design wars. So we'll just look at some concepts which are relevant to our understanding.
So these three zones of, so of course I was talking about these various kinds of addiction. So there is deadly addictions are like say drugs and then just technology addiction is one thing. But in between there is addiction which is becoming increasingly widespread.
It is what this book is about. It is about addiction to pornography. Among various forms of addiction that is one of the most debilitating because for all other, most other forms of addiction we have to go out of our way.
But this is something which just comes on its way to us. So in that sense it's different. But anyway all these are various forms of addiction.
So what I'll talk about some psychological terms and concepts and then we'll see how they relate with Bhagavad Gita and how Bhagavad Gita offers us further insights. So basically the broad terms is, these three terms are used, safe zone, danger zone and relapse zone. There are two words, lapse and relapse.
You know lapse means a mistake. We say lapse of concentration. Now somebody is doing something and suddenly some batsman is batting nicely and then suddenly there is a lapse of concentration and the batsman gets out.
So lapse means something is doing well but we do wrong. Relapse means that a person had a habit of doing something wrong then the person sets oneself to become right but then again goes back to the wrong thing. So it's relapse.
So with respect to when we face temptations, now of course generally when we use the word temptation for most brahmacharis it is largely lust. But it's not only lust, it can be greed, it can be anger, it can be pride but whichever temptation it is, so we often go through these three zones. So safe zone is the time when we are not troubled by temptation.
Although we say at one level there is a lifelong battle against temptation. It is true but it's not that 24 hours we are tormented by material desires. The material desires also come in phases sometimes.
Sometimes they are very intense. Sometimes they are not so intense. And sometimes they are almost not there.
So now when we are talking about zones, these are obviously not geographical zones. We are talking about consciousness. You know, in a war there might be safe zones.
So for example India-Pakistan war is going on. Then the borderline areas are normally vulnerable zones. But the inland might not be vulnerable.
So the concept of zones we use, so it is not that these are areas in our consciousness. Rather our consciousness moves among these areas. Sometimes our consciousness may be in safe zone.
Sometimes it may be in the danger zone. Sometimes it may go to relapse zone. So now danger means at that time there are temptations which have started coming in.
And the temptations are alluring us and we are in a state of indecision. Should I say yes or should I say no? Now Krishna if you see, now the broad words that we can use for this is Shama. Shama Krishna describes in several places, in the Bhagavatam as well as in the Gita.
In the Bhagavad Gita it essentially comes in the qualities of a Brahmana. Prabhupada translates it as peacefulness. So Shama simply means that the mind is peaceful, the mind is not agitated.
Of course this word Shama is also used in when in the sixth canto, the different ways of controlling the senses. So Shama and Dama how is that related? Shama means that we just control the mind, focus it on Krishna so that there is no scope for agitation itself. So that is always the best thing to do.
Fill the mind with positive activities then we stay in the safe zone. Now this safe zone doesn't necessarily always have to be devotional or spiritual. Now even materialistic people have their temptations say a student is very attached to cricket and wants to watch a cricket match but then if the student knows tomorrow is my exam and then what happens? They have just the sense of urgency and gravity that I have to study.
That can also help a person to become absorbed and forget. So now when we talk about Varanashram, in Varanashram the system of Varanashram itself is not automatically spiritual. And that's why we say that The purpose of Varanashram is to satisfy Krishna.
What is the meaning of this? Varanashram itself does not automatically satisfy Krishna. The purpose of Varanashram is to satisfy Krishna. So the idea of Varanashram is that even materially if we are doing activities which we like to do, we can get absorbed in them.
And that can also keep us in a safe zone. So we can go into a safe zone because of higher taste and devotion. We can go in a safe zone because of some material taste, which is not sinful.
Like as I said a painter likes to paint, a scientist likes to think, an author likes to write, a musician likes to play music. That can also get one ahead. Otherwise, even just a sense of urgency.
Prabhupada said that it's not that I don't have any lust, it's that I don't have any time for lust. That sense of urgency can also help. So the first zone is where we are completely peaceful because of some positive engagement.
Now, dhamma is the case saying that there are agitations. The word dhamma literally means sense control. So that is, there are desires in the mind and we are feeling agitated but we fight and resist the desires.
So that involves some sort of inner struggle, inner conflict and when the desires are there, those desires can grow into actions and that's why there is a danger zone. Now, what takes a person from shama, dhamma and then relapse zone is papa. We go into, we act in sinful ways.
So what takes us down is the triggers. Trigger is something which provokes us, which agitates us. Now all of us can have different set of triggers.
Now, some triggers may be common but some triggers are also individual. Triggers are of two types. They are internal and external.
Internal and external literally means that in some cases we are exposed to something provocative. So here is an example of a billboard. You are going for some program and obscene billboard is there, that agitates the mind.
And that is a trigger which takes us from shama towards dhamma, it can take us towards papa also. Right into the relapse zone. But sometimes the triggers can even be internal.
If we are just say, bored because of what we are doing is not interesting or just because we don't have anything to do or because of whatever reason we are bored or if we are trying to do some service and we are not able to do that service, we get frustrated because of that and then we feel I need some release. And in that because we feel we need some release, that desire for release may prompt us to seek release in material enjoyment. And that's how we may have a relapse.
So sometimes when we find ourselves overcome by material desires and not just overcome mentally but sometimes even we do wrong things physically. We may engage in self-abuse or whatever we may do. When such things happen, it is not that a devotee has to become devastated by this.
These things happen. So it's a war and sometimes we may lose. So at one level, we understand that it is ultimately Krishna's mercy which will purify us.
And we want Krishna's mercy. But Krishna's mercy also comes in one way, it's through intelligence. Now Krishna says, you know, if you see it's very significant that in the heart of the Bhagavad Gita, Chatushloki Bhagavad Gita when Krishna is telling about the one person who has become Buddha, person who has understood I am the source of everything aham sarvasya prabhu mattah sarvam pravartate and then next verse he says that these people, what are they doing? They are raman tu shanti cha raman tu cha.
10.9 says that. They are delighting in me. They are rejoicing in me.
And then Krishna says I give my mercy to them. Now we would think if somebody is in ecstasy, somebody is delighting in Krishna, now what would that mercy be? We would normally think of that mercy as you know maybe some special revelation of Krishna in Vrindavan, some intimate pastimes of Krishna. But then Krishna says the same, teshaam, teshaam means those whom he has talked about in 10.9, what does he say? teshaam satata yuktanam bhajatam priti purvakam dadami buddhi yogam tam yenam namo payantite So to them, I give the intelligence by which they can come back to me.
So, and then as if that were not clear enough, teshaam eva anukampartham aham agyanajantamaha naasyayam yatma bhavastho jnanadipena bhasvataha So Krishna uses the word anukampa very clearly, mercy. So Krishna's mercy is not just in form of taste. Now Krishna's mercy can come in many ways.
One is in the form of a taste. Sometimes a very nice kirtan, very beautiful darshan, in a very fulfilling kind of association we have with some of the devotees, senior devotees. That may give us some very higher taste.
That's one way Krishna's mercy can come. But another way Krishna's mercy can come is also by intelligence. Now it's interesting in 10.8, Krishna uses the word buddha and 10.2 Krishna uses the word buddhi yoga.
Now what is the relationship and what is the difference between buddha and buddhi yoga? So Krishna says buddha is the person who has understood that I am supreme. aham sarvasya prabhavo matah sarvar pravartate iti matva bhajante mam budha bhava samanvitaha So one who understands my supremacy and devotes oneself to me such a person is a buddha. Now buddhi yoga as we know, it is the buddhi that enables us to do yoga.
In Sanskrit, sandhya vigraha can be done in different ways. So it is buddhi that helps us to do yoga. That means the intelligence by which we can connect with Krishna.
Or it can also refer to the yoga that gives us buddhi. The yoga that gives us buddhi. That means it is bhakti yoga by which Krishna gives us intelligence.
So Krishna says that it is I who am giving the intelligence and this we can correlate with matah smtir jnanam 15.15. So what this means is that Krishna can give us intelligence and by that intelligence also we are able to deal with our anarthas. So at one level we can chant Hare Krishna and pray to the deities. Yes this is very good.
But along with that Krishna has given us intelligence and if that using that intelligence can find us can help us find ways to deal with our anarthas then why not. Chanting is extremely important but ultimately what is most important is that we remember Krishna and that we win the battle against our anarthas. Sometimes when we are just sometimes when we are too disturbed we may utter the holy name but we may not be able to take shelter of Krishna.
Just the sound just goes on mechanically. It is not able to take shelter of Krishna. So in some cases although the holy name is the supreme weapon, the supremacy of the holy name may not be evident to us.
So in a war we have to find out which is the weapon that works for us. So especially for people who are a little bit more intellectual, a little bit more introspective, this kind of analysis can help in understanding what is going wrong and how I can set it correct. And if you see 2.54 to 2.72 Krishna is actually talking about this itself.
He is talking about the intellectual basis for sense control. He is analyzing. So now when we talk about this safe zone, danger zone and relapse zone.
So each of us have our triggers which take us down. Now if we are to win this war there are two things. One is to know our triggers and to respect our limits.
To know our triggers. That means you know what provokes me if I know there is something that provokes me then I have to observe that and then I have to decide okay this is my limit. If I go beyond this and this direction then it will get me into trouble.
So then I should not go in that direction. So it's ultimately our spiritual advancement is our responsibility. Our safety is our responsibility.
Yes Krishna's mercy is there. But it's our responsibility. So we know our triggers.
This situation, this situation, this situation is what? These are situations in which I tend to get troubled. Now in some cases we can entirely avoid those situations. In some cases we may not be able to avoid.
But at least if we are not able to avoid we know the situations when I get provoked then I can check myself. So I can at least go prepared when I am prepared then I can minimize the exposure and I can minimize the damage thereof. So know your limits know your triggers and then respect your limits.
Now what does a limit mean? So the Bhagavatam for example says that when a man and a woman come together it's like the contact of fire and butter. So what does it mean? It simply means that you know as per fire and butter both have their utility. In fact you see fire and butter are brought together for the purpose of yajna.
Isn't it? So it's not necessarily that they are wrong. You know butter and other form ghee that's vital for yajna. But the point is in a different context they are they should not be brought together.
So know your trigger. You know butter knows that if I go too close to fire then I'll melt. And then respect the limit.
That does not mean that fire is bad. That does not mean butter is bad. It simply means that the two cannot come together.
So like that whatever are our individual limits we have to find the limits and we respect those limits. So now I'll come back to this from once again after we go to Bhagavad Gita 2.54-72 we'll look at some verses. But going back to our earlier discussion I said that we'll talk about addictions.
Psychologists try to identify when can something be called an addiction? Now is it that only when the effects are destructive that it becomes addiction? Or is it that when something is not resistible that's an addiction? So for example some people may say that I cannot live without tea. There are many materialistic people who say that I cannot live without tea. Just because they cannot live without tea.
So everyday say four o'clock they feel I must have tea. Now is that a tea addiction? Or if somebody says that you know I need to have some sweet. Something I have to eat.
It may be jaggery, it may be sugar, it may be some sweet. Whatever it is. I need to have some sweet.
Now does that itself make it addiction? No. Actually addiction means in general there are three characteristics. There is firstly there is a craving that is irresistible.
A craving that is irresistible. That is the first C. Second is there are consequences that are dangerous. One knows about the consequences but still one is control that is impossible.
So the first there is a craving that is irresistible. I just I can't live without it. And if I do it I know that there is danger.
I know the consequences are dangerous but still I can't give it up. So craving, consequences and lack of control. When these three things are there then things are going in the direction of an addiction.
So now the word addiction itself has a negative tinge to it. But there can be some mild form of things. Some people may be just addicted to TV.
In fact most people in the world today are addicted to TV. Now is that dangerous? Well at one level you can say they are wasting time. You can say that they are getting so much radiation in their eyes or whatever.
But that may not be a very dangerous form of addiction. But it will have to be seen individually. What is a form of addiction? What is not a form of addiction? In the Bhagavatam when Krishna talks about, when the Bhagavatam talks about redirecting.
There is an interesting usage that is there. So here the significant word is Prasanga. Prasanga is attachment.
And it is Prasanga. What is the nature of this Prasanga? Ajaram. Jara means old age.
Ajaram means that which never becomes old. So the attachments never become old. You know the body, the senses that are engaging in the sense gratification grow old.
But the desires for the enjoyment don't grow old. That is the nature of attachment. Kaalena nahi ya sivapalavaha.
Gajendra also says the same thing in his prayers. That by the power of time this does not get destroyed. So now when we talk about our attachments which often drag us down.
So the attachment that each of us have is different. Now if you look at the past time of Ajaram from this point of view let's look at these three stages. And so when Ajamil went out his father told him to go and get some paraphernalia for the worship.
Now he went out at that time it was not that he was consciously planning to engage in any form of sense gratification or fall down. So more or less at that time he was in a safe zone. But then he went out and then he saw the Shudra and Shudrani they were embracing and doing all sorts of things.
So that was a trigger for him. And by perceiving that by observing that he entered into a danger zone. Now when he entered into the danger zone what happened at that particular time was that as soon as one realized one is in danger zone come out.
But he did not come out. He just stayed on continued the exposure and then although he did not do anything immediately but those impressions were burnt in his mind and then once they were burnt in his mind they burnt his intelligence. And then he called that Shudrani and then he fell down.
So eventually from the danger he went to a relapse zone. So what happens is that from the safe zone to the danger zone to the relapse zone there are triggers which take us down. Now it is not that a Maya has an endlessly new array of weapons.
Maya is not going to create some new sense objects in terms of some unheard category. No, the sense objects are fixed although they may have different appearances because of which they may seem differently alluring. But we know what overall the triggers are.
And then knowing what our triggers are we can plan how to combat them. Now when we talk about the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita Krishna talks about combating the senses in two significant verses where he talks about the danger of the senses danger of lack of alertness leading to sense gratification. Now these two verses although they seem similar there is a difference.
The first verse comes in 2.60 where Krishna says, most of you know this verse you can repeat after me. So Krishna is telling over here that actually each of these lines has one significant point in this. First he is saying yata tohi api kaunteya the person is endeavouring and not only the person is endeavouring purushasya vipashchitah the person is also discriminating discriminating and endeavouring.
But in spite of that indriyani pramathini the senses are mad and what do the senses do? haranti prasabhammanah So we know that in the third chapter later in the 42nd verse Krishna will talk about this hierarchy that above the body is the senses, above the senses is the mind above the mind is the intelligence and above the intelligence is the soul and Prabhupada says in the parapura, above the soul is the super soul. So now in this verse Krishna is talking about the fall from the senses to the mind. He says that the senses are so strong and impetuous Prabhupada translates pramathini not just as one word but as two words indriyani pramathini so strong and impetuous the senses drag the mind down and then he says that although the person is vipashchitah vipashchitah that is discriminating, that is the characteristic of the intelligence so that means the intelligence is trying to hold the person up but the senses drag the mind down and afterward the person goes down now after this in 2.67 Krishna talks about it once again and then let's look at what is the difference between this and that verse repeat this verse also indriyanam hi charitam indriyanam hi charitam yanmano anuvidhiyate yanmano anuvidhiyate tadasyaharati pragyam tadasyaharati pragyam vayurnavamimambhasi vayurnavamimambhasi so now this verse is talking about not the senses and the mind it is talking about the mind and the intelligence indriyanam hi charitam the senses are wandering constantly but when the senses are wandering then on one of the senses or one of the objects on which the senses are focusing yanmano anuvidhiyate when the mind focuses on one of the objects then what happens tadasyaharati pragyam so here pragyam is a cognate it's similar, it's synonym for buddhi for intelligence so what happens is when the mind focuses on one of the objects on which the senses are dwelling then that drags away the intelligence tadasyaharati pragyam and then Krishna gives the example vayurnavamimambhasi vayurnavamimambhasi now this example is interesting what it illustrates is vayurnavamimambhasi so normally the boat is floating on the river and often the boat is meant to be assisted assisted by the wind expert boats person they navigate in such a way that they can catch the right breeze so they catch the right breeze and the breeze helps them to move forward but here Krishna is saying vayurnavamimambhasi just as a strong wind can blow away a boat similarly it's blown away now what exactly is blown away so what is the wind and what is the boat exactly in this example so what he says is tadasyaharati pragyam so what is blown away is the intelligence and what happens is that when the senses and the mind come together that means the senses are always we can't live in this world with closed senses we can't close our eyes while walking along the streets and of course even if we close our eyes there are so many images that can come in the mind also so we can't just avoid that but the problem will be anuvidhiyate when you focus on them so when you focus on them then what that creates is it creates a gust of lust a gust is a very strong wind so when we focus on the sense objects that creates a strong wind and that wind drags away that wind when it is generated that drags away, that sweeps away the intelligence so although both the verses are similar in one sense, they are basically talking about how internally a person falls away but the difference between the two verses is on the focus when Krishna is talking first in 2.60 he is answering the first question in Arjuna's four questions so now the first question kaabhasha is answered in 2.55 and then now the bhasha explains that you know bhasha, language is used to describe whenever we observe something we use language as a tool to describe things so he says what we describe are the characteristics the symptoms of things so kaabhasha means what are the characteristics of a sense controlled person so that Krishna answers in the first verse then the next two verses he answers how does a person speak and then thereafter from 58 to 61 Krishna answers how does such a person sit and then from 62 onwards till 71 Krishna is answering how does such a person walk now sitting and walking is not referring to some fashion models style of sitting and walking it is referring to how a person controls the senses and how a person engages the senses so when Krishna is talking the first example is giving he is talking about a person who is trying to restrain the senses and the second example is he is talking when Krishna is when somebody is trying to engage the senses what do I mean by this difference what I am trying to say is that if you look in 2.60 the focus of the example is the person is basically trying to keep the senses calm that's why the previous two verses before that it was said that this is a tortoise withdraw the senses so withdraw the senses inwards so here Krishna is saying when we are trying to withdraw the senses even when we are trying to withdraw the senses still the senses are so wild that they will drag a person away so that means even when one is trying to be not engaging with the world but when he is trying to withdraw and go inwards still the senses will drag one away whereas in the next section Krishna is talking about we have to act in the world but while acting in the world how do we act act according to scripture but while we are acting according to scripture we are going around doing our services so at that time we have to look around when we are walking in the world, acting in the world but then anubhidhiyate is when we focus on something when we focus on something that is the beginning of the fall, what we hold mentally holds us mentally what we hold mentally if we just keep holding on something mentally eventually that will hold us mentally it will not go away, it will catch hold of us so anubhidhiyate that anubhidhiyate is the problem so what is happening over here when we do anubhidhiyate that is basically we are letting ourselves be triggered, we are letting ourselves get caught by the trigger and from there we start going down down down and eventually we relapse so yanmano anubhidhiyate so with respect to the first set when Krishna is talking about 2.60 the focus is not so much on external sense object Krishna is not talking about external sense object in 2.60 he is just saying that the senses are so wild, the senses will drag a person whereas in 2.67 Krishna is talking about external sense object on which the mind focuses, so we can broadly correlate with 2.60 is talking about an internal trigger that means the person is trying to control the senses but some memory comes along and the senses in the mind are dragged away, but 2.67 is talking about an external trigger which a person observes something contemplates on it and then is dragged away either way now the important point is what over here the important point is that not that we bother so much about what is the external trigger or what is the internal trigger the important point is that we recognize this danger and focus ourselves on Krishna now in the Mahabharata the Pandavas when they go to the forest they are basically 13 years in the forest out of which 13th year is in Ajnaatvas and before that so after they they are from the 2nd year to the 7th year for 5 years Arjuna goes to heavens and then after that for 4 years from the 8th year to around 12th year they stay in Badrikashin and then they come down these are more or less rough dates but broadly they are correlated with what is described in the Mahabharata so when the Pandavas when Arjuna gets the mantras through Yudhishthira from Narada Muni then he goes to the heavens and Narada Muni also tells the Pandavas he has gone to heavens to do austerities and get weapons but you also try to increase your piety so they all start going upward towards the Himalayas and eventually they reach Kubera's ashram Kubera's gardens and they are living in the gardens and at that time sages come and inform them that now Arjuna will soon come back and then they see a new sun has risen in the sky and then they see that that is Maithili's chariot and on that Arjuna is seated Arjuna comes down and the Pandavas are delighted to be reunited with him then Arjuna tells of all his adventures so they are in heaven and after the adventures are over then they start staying in Kubera's ashram, Kubera's gardens and then one day Bhima and Arjuna both come to Yudhishthira and they tell him that I think we should leave this place now it's only the twelfth year the twelfth year has not ended but still they are somewhere in the twelfth year and he says we have been very comfortable over here, this has almost been like heaven and we have not felt any of the pains of forest living over here but too much comfort will make us complacent, in the future a big war is inevitable for us and in order to prepare for that war we have to be alert so let us return back to the earth, go to Kamyavan and there we will plan our future course of action so Yudhishthira considers their words and then he agrees and they depart from there, so now of course the Pandavas at one level are exalted devotees who are always absorbed in Dharma and Krishna, but at another level they are demonstrating that actually when a person goes into too much comfort then the person can forget what is one's purpose, so although they are in comfortable situation, they leave the comfortable situation so that, that being in a slight state of discomfort can help them to remember their purpose so in this world we are all in the mode of passion to a large extent, we are trying to move from passion to goodness and then ultimately to transcendence, but most of us still especially even if we are practicing sadhana strictly still biologically itself now when we are in youth, the passion is there and even if we decide artificially that I want to live a peaceful life we will not be able to live very peacefully because the passion is itself there and unless we give a constructive channel for the passion, the passion will find a destructive channel so the passion will have to be expressed the passion itself can't be suppressed but the important thing is that expression of passion does not necessarily have to lead to degradation the passion, the word passion, Krishna uses in two contexts Krishna uses passion that's bhagavatam when Krishna uses the word passion he uses it for defining quality of passion is pravrutti so when Krishna says prakasham cha pravruttim cha moham eva cha pandava na dveshti sampravrtani nivruttani kankshati in 14.22 when he is giving one one word description of each of the modes so prakasha is illumination so illumination is the characteristic of goodness and pravrutti is action, action according to one's inclination that is the characteristic of passion and then moham eva cha pandava, moha is illusion that is the characteristic of ignorance so now prakasha, illumination is good for bhakti, if we are illuminated then we can make wise choices, we can act properly, now pravrutti in and of itself doesn't have to be bad, now whether that pravrutti, whatever is the pravrutti what is the inclination, if acting according to inclination or inclination takes us along the path of dharma or takes us away from the path of dharma, that is important so the passion that is there if you channelize it constructively then that can create absorption for us and although that absorption may not be entirely transcendental just like I gave at the start of the safe zone when you talk about it it's not that the safe zone necessarily has to always be transcendental zone yes sometimes we can be transcendental in the sense that we feel very absorbed in Krishna but other times even when we are not absorbed in Krishna we can still be constructively engaged and even that engagement can act as a protection so to some extent having some level of passion that means having some things to do do this, do this, do this that can help in creating a sense of urgency, in creating a sense of engagement and in creating basically a place for ourselves in the safe zone now when we act according to a pravrutti, there are two dangers the first danger is that it is very easy to feel oneself as the karta, because when I act according to my nature, usually I am good at what I am doing and when I am good at what I am doing, it's very difficult to think that I am not doing this I am only doing it, yeah I am not doing it, but I am doing it it becomes like that it is it is a conscious denial and a subconscious acceptance consciously I am not doing it, it is all Krishna's mercy subconsciously no I am so talented I am doing it, so what do we do in such a situation now we cannot stop acting, because stopping acting will simply mean that we will be dragged down by passion into wrong engagements so if you look at the broad principle of bhakti I discussed this in our last class also we talked about devotional service, devotional service is a compound word, there is a noun and there is an adjective service is the noun and devotional is the adjective so now normally when there are two words like devotional service the primary, generally the noun is the primary thing and the adjective is the describer for the noun, so we can keep piling up describers we can have service, then we can have devotional service, then we can have pure devotional service now we know that we cannot get to do pure devotional service without doing devotional service we cannot get to pure devotional service without doing devotional service it is only by sadhana bhakti that eventually we will come to bhava and prema bhakti, sometimes we say by sadhana bhakti we will come to raga anuga bhakti, actually raga anuga bhakti is also a part of vaidhi bhakti only raga anuga bhakti is also a part of sadhana bhakti only but the highest is the bhava and prema so anyway, the point is just as we cannot come to pure devotional service without devotional service, similarly we cannot come to devotional service without service so that means that it is more important to keep ourselves engaged, now engaged doesn't necessarily mean we have to be running around engaged means that basically we are some way connected with Krishna, and if you look at the levels which Krishna talks about also, in the 12th chapter he talks about 12.8 to 12.12 he talks about different levels, so first he says just be absorbed in me, now that is the best way to be in the safe zone but when that is not possible then he says, try to fix the mind on me that is a conscious endeavor we try to keep our mind fixed on Krishna when that doesn't work out, then what does he say in 12.10 he says work for me and then later on he says if you can't work for me, then at least sacrifice the fruits of your work for some good cause and Krishna is saying by all these eventually one will attain perfection so in one sense all these engagements are in the safe zone now within the safe zone also there can be different levels just as, even within the remembrance of Krishna there can be different levels now when one is remembering Krishna as the Virat Rupa and when one is remembering Krishna as Shyamsundar Krishna there is difference in the levels but for a sadhaka, that difference in level doesn't matter for a sadhaka somehow or the other fix the mind on Krishna similarly, at our level whatever way we can keep ourselves engaged in Krishna, that is good that will keep us in the safe zone and from the safe zone we can move upward and upward closer to Krishna and the closer to Krishna we go, the safer and safer we become so one last point before maybe I can have some comments or questions when we talk about these three zones safe, danger and relapse these are at one level as I said, we locate our consciousness in one of these zones but at another level these are also there may also be samskaras in our consciousness which place us in safe, danger or relapse zones what does that mean? that means, if somebody has been brought up in a pious upbringing maybe from childhood one is hearing Ram katha, Krishna katha, going to temples, sometimes even when we are travelling in locals somebody touches the food to somebody else, that person is local but still that person will move his hand and then touch the hand to the head that person may not even be aware I have done this, but the person does that, now why does that happen? that is because of samskara, that sort of instinctive behaviour comes up so, that way all of us may have, when I said all of us can have our own individual triggers similarly all of us can have our individual safe zones also so, there may be certain things which because of our past upbringing because of our childhood impressions we may find that these are the things in which we can get absorbed and stay engaged so, it is not just that we find out what are our triggers and we try to stay away from the triggers but we can also find out what are our safe zones and this can also be individual some devotees may find that there is some very nice kirtan I get absorbed and lost in that some other devotees they find that if I just start reciting verses and memorizing verses, there is nothing like that some other devotees may find that when I start reciting Vaishnav songs, that is what absorbs me some other devotees may find I just start sitting and discussing philosophy with some other devotees that is what absorbs me so, what is the safe zone for us may also vary according to our nature and then sometimes what happens is we focus more on our negatives than our positives that means this is my danger zone, this is my danger zone this is my trigger, this is my trigger but then contemplation on the trigger can itself become a trigger that means thinking that this is a danger for me can also become a danger itself so we don't have to think too much about the dangers our focus is to be thinking about Krishna and thinking about things which keep us close to Krishna and overall in the battle against temptation you know, Krishna is ever helpful and that's why we should be ever hopeful Krishna is ever helpful Krishna never leaves our heart and goes away Krishna never rejects us Krishna is ever helpful so we should always be, we should be ever hopeful as we say, Asha Baddha that's one of the characteristics of a devotee which Nectar of Devotion also talks about knowing that Krishna is there with us we do our analysis, sometimes our analysis may help sometimes our analysis may not help but knowing that Krishna is there and no matter how many times we fall, Krishna is there to help us rise and to continue on that can help us to go on and eventually go through the danger zone to the safe zone and ultimately become absorbed in Krishna and as Prabhupada said is there a level of Krishna consciousness that we can come to from which there will be no fall Satsvarupa Maharaj asked him Prabhupada said yes there is but you will have to work to get there so we can all get there I myself am very far away from that I can do this sort of intellectual analysis is my more safe zone than remembrance of Krishna so don't let this sort of intellectual analysis put you into an illusion that I am beyond all these temptations but just this sort of intellectual analysis one way I can try to keep myself safe but this is some ways we can see how all of us can fight our battles and ultimately win our battles so I will summarize I started by talking about how the Bhagavad Gita offers us many valuable psychological insights which when we just read the verses those insights may not strike us but then if we try to analyze them using the terminology which psychologists have given then we start seeing the same things in new light in fresh light that's why I talked to the Bhagavad Gita concepts in terms of this terminology of safe zone danger zone and relaxed zone so the area when we are free from temptation that is the safe zone and what takes us from there towards temptation is our triggers they can be external or internal and then we discussed about the external and internal triggers based on 2.60 and 2.67 and then even when there is a relapse still we can always rise and come back and that rising and coming back ultimately depends on our taking shelter of Krishna then we discussed about how there can be various kinds of safe zones for us and the basic point is that we all have passion so we shouldn't think that just staying in goodness is the source of safety yes it can be but we can't wish away the passion so just as the Pandavas accepted austerity so that they could do activity similarly whatever passion we have we try to find a constructive channel for it and then by that constructive channelization of our passion there will be purification and ultimately we will go into the safe zone so thank you very much are there any questions two dangers in doing only one the first danger in doing what we like to do is that we get the feeling of the karta and the second danger is that we feel like doing only that thing and then often whatever are other prescribed devotional activities for example even our sadhana I forget I don't want to do this so then there has to be we have to have balanced program of spiritual nourishment sometimes some things which are important for us but because we don't feel like doing them so we neglect them completely certainly there is certain amount of freedom some things which we like to do we can always do them more but just completely neglecting other activities may not be suitable then we are if we are doing that then we are we may be more driven just by our material nature and not so much we may not ascend to our spiritual nature we are acting for Krishna but we are acting almost entirely according to our material nature only that is also not desirable so much it's good at least we are not going into non devotional activities but then our ultimate goal is to transcend our material nature also so for that the prescribed devotional program we do according to our inclinations but along with that there are some things which we have to do not according to our inclination which are important for our devotional growth then we do them also is that clear? Yes.
Any other questions? Yes. In this safe zone the second bullet focusing on something constructive so I am just not able to understand this due to urgency actually many times as you said it might not be something totally transcendental thing something going to our psychophysical nature so a painter likes to paint or something so many times it might not be due to urgency that we want to do in these activities just to engage ourselves for our actually and I explained it I said there are two different points it's not necessarily focus on something constructive or focus due to urgency and I said something constructive is if we like something something is according to nature we just do it because we want to and another is if there is a deadline even if we don't like it we will get absorbed in it because of the urgency so the two can be distinct points they are not exactly same Any other questions, comments? Thank you very much.