Science of Transforming the Modes
Transcript
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
I will recite the verse from the Bhagavad Gita, 14th chapter, 20th verse. The topic we will discuss is called the science of transformation. The 14th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is called as the three modes of material nature.
Prakruti, Trayoguna, Vibhag, Yoga. And here, after Lord Krishna has described the three modes of material nature, Arjuna asks Krishna a question, how does one know who is in which mode? And he basically asks three questions. How can we know in which mode others are? How can I know in which mode I am? And if I understand that I am in a lower mode, how do I raise myself to a higher mode? So that is the question of Arjuna.
That is the three-fold question of Arjuna. So let us recite the verse. Arjuna Vachan Kairlingais Tringuna Netan Atito Bhavati Prabho Kim Achara Katham Shaitan Tringuna Nativartate Arjuna Vachan Kairlingais Tringuna Netan Atito Bhavati Prabho Kim Achara Katham Shaitan Tringuna Nativartate Arjuna Vachan Kairlingais Tringuna Netan Atito Bhavati Prabho Kim Achara Katham Shaitan Tringuna Nativartate So, Kairlingais, Linga means symptom or characteristic.
Kairlingais Tringuna Netan So, Atito, if somebody has transcended the mode, what are the symptoms by which you can know that? And then, the symptoms Arya is describing are especially internal. Kim Achara What sort of behaviour within a person who has transcended the modes? And Katham Shaitan Tringuna Nativartate Ativartate means to go beyond. So, Katham, what is the means to go beyond the three modes? So, the three modes of material nature are a very remarkable and insightful vision of the world that the Bhagavad Gita offers us.
The three modes are goodness, passion and ignorance, sattva, raja and tama. Krishna mentions these throughout the Gita and their references are implicitly there throughout the Vedic literature. In the 14th chapter, 5th verse, Krishna introduces these three modes.
sattvam rajas tamaiti gunama prakriti sambhavah tannibad nanti mahabaho dehe dehinama ubeyam He says, sattva, raja, tama, these are three modes. And what do they do? sattvam rajas tamaiti gunama prakriti sambhavah They are born from material nature. Sambhava means to be born.
And what do they do? tannibad nanti mahabaho Arjuna, you are mahabaho, you are extremely powerful. But even you are bound. tannibad nanti, tannibad nanti bandhan, to be bound.
dehe dehinama ubeyam So, what do they do actually? The dehe, dehe is the body. Dehinam is the soul within the body. So, what do these three modes do? They bind the soul to the body.
They bind the soul to the body. And ubeyam, the word ubeyam is imperishable. It can either refer to the fact that the dehinam, the soul is imperishable or it can also refer to the fact that the bondage is imperishable.
The bondage doesn't go away very easily. So, what are these modes which bind the soul to the body? Basically, just like this tube light is giving white light now. But if I put a red glass around it, the light that will come out of it will be red.
If I put a green glass around it, the light that will come out is greenish. So, like that the soul has originally pure consciousness, which is like the white light. And when the soul gets covered by matter, it's like a red covering on it.
And that same soothing white light becomes a jarring red. So, now the three modes are the three different ways in which the soul gets covered. Now, when we talk about the covering, it is not a very simplistic covering like a person is sleeping and you cover him with a blanket.
Sometimes that idea is given because there is the avaranatmika shakti, which puts the avaran, a covering. This reference to avaran comes several times in the Bhagavad Gita. In the third chapter, verses 36 to 43, we talk about lust and how lust covers the living entity.
So, there in 3.39, Lord Krishna says, This is not a physical covering, it is a covering on the awareness, on the jnan, on the consciousness. So, it covers the awareness of the living entity. And what happens when the awareness of the living entity becomes covered? Then the living entity understands himself differently.
He gets into an identity crisis or an identity mistake. And what happens when there is an identity mistake? Our identity determines our activity. Our identity determines our activity.
If I think I am a son, I am belonging to a particular family, then that identity determines my duty, my activity. Then I have to take care of my parents, I have to become responsible, I have to earn a living for my family. On the other hand, if I identify myself as a Casanova, Casanova is just a boy who is chasing after girls, and when people get attracted by the opposite sex, they forget everything.
They forget that I am a student, they forget that I am a son, they forget that I am an Indian, they think, I am just mad after this girl. And when they think that that is their identity, then their whole activity becomes accordingly. And sometimes, some people, once they get caught in a particular identity, they may behave in a completely irrational way.
Sometimes when people get infatuated by lust, they leave their parents, they leave their family, they leave their education, and somebody would have had a bright career, he just starts living like a waiter, and trying to maintain his wife and family. And in that people, they may glorify it also, this is a sacrifice for the sake of romance. But what has happened is, afterwards all those romantic emotions go away, and there are quarrels in the family, and then the whole dream turns into a nightmare.
But the point I am making here is, that our identity determines our activity. So, the modes create a change of identity within us. Basically, what Maya does is, she makes us think, that instead of I being the soul, I am the body.
But within this generic, within this general misidentification created by Maya, the three modes create distinctly different senses of identity. So, when we are infected by the mode of ignorance, so these modes are less subtle and sometimes difficult to understand. What are the modes? One simple way to understand it is, the modes represent different degrees of psychological sickness.
They represent different degrees of psychological sickness. That means, when a person is in the mode of ignorance, his sickness is lethal. If the person is in the mode of passion, his sickness is acute.
Person in the mode of goodness, his sickness is mild. So, they are increasing degrees of sickness. And, what do we mean by this sickness? As I said, the essence of the sickness is, it creates an identity crisis.
And accordingly, it creates an activity mistake. Okay, I do wrong activities. So, basically, when a person is in the mode of ignorance, that means, the modes, you can compare them to something like germs.
You know, there are germs which are there throughout the atmosphere. It's like, I had tuberculosis a few years ago. And then I took a one-year treatment.
And the doctor told me that, you are not cured of tuberculosis. I said, what do you mean? What was the use of one-year treatment? He said that, actually, everybody has tuberculosis germs in their body. Tuberculosis is all-pervasive.
And, not like God, but it's all-pervasive on this, our earthly planet. The bacteria are there everywhere. And, as soon as somebody's immunity goes down, the bacteria attack.
And a person gets infected. So, the tuberculosis bacteria are there in everyone's body. But, either by contact with somebody who has too much tuberculosis bacteria, that means, he's infected, then he coughs or something like that, then we get a heavy dose of tuberculosis bacteria.
Or otherwise, our own immunity goes down. And then, the tuberculosis bacteria which are there, they overpower our body's immunity system. And then, what we get is an active infection.
Otherwise, there is a latent infection that is there in everyone. So, like that, the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance are latently present everywhere in the world. And, of course, by our own past karma, what we have done in our previous lives and earlier in this life, we are infected in a particular way by the modes.
So, one easy way to understand the effect of the modes is by looking at a person's definition of happiness. What does this person consider to be happiness? We read in the scriptures about Murugani. And he would torture animals.
And he would feel happy by that. In English, such people are called sadists. It's not that they are sad, they become happy by making others sad.
They are called sadists. So, these people, actually, we may wonder, what kind of delight do you get? You know, sometimes there are people who, if there are ants going around, they get so angry, in my house, ants are there. So, they go and boil hot water.
And then, they pour it on the ants. And the ants suffer in that. And they feel, I am the controller.
Now, you dare to come in my house? Suffer in that. So, actually, we may think this is very perverse. But there are people like that.
They get delight in causing suffering to others. That means, what is it basically? Three modes of material nature, essentially, can be associated with the three phases of material existence. That is creation, maintenance and destruction.
So, the mode of ignorance is associated with destruction. The mode of passion is associated with creation. The mode of goodness is associated with maintenance.
So, when people get happiness in destruction, that means they are infected by the mode of ignorance. So, we destroy life. That's what Murugani was doing.
And in seeing the process of destruction, he was getting happiness. Now, we may think that, you know, I am not like that. I don't like to see others in pain.
And certainly, I don't want to cause pain to others. That's certainly true for all of us. But still, if you see, nowadays there are movies.
And the movie is, they show big destruction. They show some building, boom, it explodes. And people say, action, it's fun.
So, that means, what is this? It's a tamasic pleasure. To see destruction, to see violence, and to feel delight in that. And if you see, many of these video games and cartoon shows, they appear very innocent.
But if you see, what they are doing is, they are showing destruction. You know, how you chase, you become a policeman and you chase a thief or whatever. And you catch and shoot and destroy him.
So, this is a, this may appear as not harming anyone, but it is cultivating the tamoguna within us. And it makes people delight in tamasic pleasures. Now, if they delight in tamasic pleasures on the video games, eventually they will start delighting in tamasic pleasures in real life also.
So, this is a kind of infection, which makes people delight in destruction. Destruction of things, destruction of lives, destruction of, sometimes, civilizations. Hitler was a very intelligent, talented, energetic person, totally infected by tamoguna.
So, he delighted in destroying the Jews. They killed 5 million Jews, he killed. And he delighted in that.
So, that is the infection of the mode of ignorance. Now, similarly, there is an infection of the mode of passion. In the mode of passion, people get delight in creation.
In creation. You know, Prabhupada went to America and he said, what is this western civilization? You first create cars and then you destroy the car and you create another car. You see, the whole use and throw industry is what? You take an object, you create it, use it, and then destroy it and take another object.
So, in modern society, people don't have the concept of maintenance. You take it, use it, throw it. Take it, use it, throw it.
That is actually delighting in new creation. So, and of course, the activity of creation is represented to the greatest degree by the sexual urge. Where the living entity, according to his body, becomes a creator and delights in that.
So, now that is the overpowering, predominating pleasure of the material world, which haunts the minds of practically everyone. And you see, everybody, to some extent or the other, delights in this pleasure. And so this creation can be creation of objects, it can be the attempt to create life, it can be the attempt to create ideas, create projects, it's a subtler, and they will come towards the mode of goodness slightly, I'll explain that.
But the whole activity of creation, there is a great delight in creation. You know, somebody is a builder and he creates a big building. I have built this building.
So, obviously, it's not a destructive pleasure. But still, the idea is that one delights in creating things. But in the process of creation, there is also involved destruction.
Why? Because the resources of this world are limited. When I want to create something, I have to destroy something else. If I want to make a ditch, then I have to take out the earth and put it somewhere else.
So, in other words, they create so many industries and so many consumer products. But then, because of that, they create so much waste. And that waste, what do they do? They export it to the third world.
You know, India pays to purchase horse stool from America. Can you imagine? This is the insanity of the Indian government. They think it will be good fertilizer for us.
Are there no horses in India? It's ridiculous. But they export their dirt to India, to the third world. And they create destruction over there.
So, the idea is, passion and ignorance are related. Wherever there is creation, for that creation, some destruction has to take place. If you have a big industrial complex, you have to destroy forests.
Or if you want to broaden the road, then you have to destroy the houses and other things which are on the side of the road. So, along with creation, destruction inevitably comes. That's why passion and ignorance are very much related.
And, as long as a person delights in either creation or destruction, both these activities are external to that person. And because they are external to that person, they create competition. The resources external to the world are limited.
If India wants to create weapons, Pakistan wants to create weapons, America wants to create weapons, China wants to create weapons, now the number of resources required for creating the weapons are few. So, then there is a drain on the resources. There is competition.
So, that's how it leads to competition. And the competition ultimately leads to conflict and even wars. Now, in goodness, the pleasure is primarily in maintenance.
Maintaining what? It could be maintaining the state that one's parents have created. My father made a big industry and I continue it on. Actually, many times, sons have a big estate, but they don't accept that estate because they feel, I want to do something.
I just maintain the estate of my father. What is the big deal? If they are more in the mode of ignorance, I want to do something, what do I do? I'll squander the whole estate and destroy it. Nowadays, in America, and it's happening in India also, wealthy parents, when they give their inheritance to their children, they make a law that my son cannot withdraw more than this much money from the account per month.
Because, you know, their sons just squander the whole money. So, yes, my inheritance is for you, but it will be in a regulated way. And then, after that, when the father dies, the son does a court case and he proves that my father was insane when he wrote this will.
They actually do that. And they take the whole estate and they go insane and destroy the whole estate. So, if you see, the modern world is predominantly in the mode of passion.
And it degenerates to ignorance. So, as you see, people's activities, people's lives are spent in three main activities. All of us are students.
I'm a student, I'm learning this philosophy myself. But if you see people who work, their activity, their main activity of life, in terms of time, maybe 8, 10, 12 hours goes in work. And after work, what do they do? They come home and they sit in front of the idiot box.
And then they become idiots. Second activity, they watch. They think that is the relaxation, that is the escape way.
It may be cricket, it may be movies, it may be whatever. Now, if you see, there are all those television serials, but within them, there are advertisements. And what is advertisement basically? Advertisement basically tells you, whatever you have is wrong.
Your spectacles are wrong, your hairstyle is wrong, your complexion is wrong, your shoes are wrong, your car is wrong, your bike is wrong, your dress is wrong. And what do you have to do? Make it right. And how do you make it right? Purchase.
So, actually, surveys in America and westernized countries show that people, apart from their work, spend their remaining time in two main activities. Watching and shopping. So, people's lives in the mode of passion is described by these three activities.
Work, watch, shop. WWS. It is the current worldwide stupidity.
That's what people are doing. People spend so much time and money in purchasing things. And when you purchase things, many times, actually, when we go to supermarkets, people think it is very convenient.
Everything is available in one place. But that means, you know, all illusion is there in one place. If there is an earlier commercial shop and people go with a list, they say, okay, this is what I want.
But when they go with a list to a supermarket, actually, in addition to the list, there are hundreds of things that are shown there. And people just get the desire. Purchase this, purchase this, purchase this.
And in supermarkets, things are not arranged in a very innocent way. Actually, in a supermarket, there will be a hundred products, but when the products are sold to the supermarket, they are sold not only to be placed in the supermarket, but there is special money given to keep a product prominently. So, there will be hundreds of varieties of toothpaste available.
But which toothpaste will be kept most prominently, that company will pay, specially to the supermarket. And then, because that is most prominent, people will purchase that. And people purchase that, then they make more profit.
And in this way, actually, they trap people. So, basically, the idea is, in the mode of fashion, people just get trapped more and more. And then they shop, and nowadays, at least in the earlier times, if people would shop, they had a shortage of money.
But now, we have credit cards. And credit cards, there are loads. And people just get indentured, enslaved, because they purchase a lot, and then they have to work a lot.
So, you shop, and then you work more, and then they work more, they feel more exhausted, and they come back and watch TV more. And they watch TV more, and they shop more. And so, it just is a… आशा पाश सतेर बद्धा काम क्रोध परायण ईहन्ते काम भोगातन अञ्या एनार्ख संजेन The 16th chapter, Lord Krishna, while describing the divine and demoniac nature, describes what happens to these people.
आशा पाश सतेर बद्धा काम क्रोध परायण आशा पाश, by desires, by the noose of desires, सतेर, hundreds, बद्धा, they become bound. काम क्रोध परायण The scriptures say one should be वासुदेव परायण, one should be dedicated to वासुदेव, but people become काम क्रोध परायण काम is lust, that is the mode of passion, and क्रोध is anger, that is the mode of ignorance. So people become bound to the mode of passion, काम क्रोध परायण and then, ईहन्ते काम भोगातन that for this काम भोग, what do they have to do? अञ्या एनार्ख संजेन What is अञ्या एनार्ख? Injustice, immorality.
So, Krishna described this cycle, this is 16.12, and in 13, 14, 15 he describes how people become immoral and violent. इदमद्यमयालद्धमिमं प्राप्सेवनोतम् इदमस्तीदम्पीमे बविष्यति पुनाखनम् असवमयाहतः शत्रु हनिष्ये चापराणदि आध्यो विजन्वानस्मि कुमान्योस्ति संधुरिश्यो मया याक्षेतास्यामिमो दिश्यित्य ज्ञानविमो विद्धा So, this much wealth I have attained, now I will attain this much more wealth. But this person, he is my competitor.
Because of him, I am not able to attain wealth. So, finish him off. असवमयाहतः शत्रु, this enemy I have killed now.
And, हनिष्ये चापराणदि, that one also I will kill now. And then, आध्यो विजन्वानस्मि I am all powerful, I am the top, I am the numero uno, the number one. आध्यो विजन्वानस्मि कुमान्योस्ति संधुरिश्यो मया Who is there like me? ईश्वरोहः अहम्भोगी The whole idea is, I am God, I am the enjoyer.
And then, what will I do? Just to make a good show of याक्षेतास्यामिमो दिश्यित्य I will also do some charity. People should not think that, I am just a materialistic, I will do charity also. But they should write my name prominently.
इत्ते अज्ञान विमोगितः In this way, by अज्ञान, people are bewildered. Actually, in the 16th chapter, when we talk about demoniac nature, we should not think that demons are some strange beings with horns coming out of the head and teeth coming out of their mouths. No, the demoniac mentality can be there, right? And the people around us… Jaydev Bharadwaj wrote an article, who is a demon? So, he says, you know, that your local politician could be a demon.
The local supermarket owner could be a demon. Your postman could be a demon. You could be a demon.
The idea is that demoniac qualities can infect all of us. And we all have to be careful. So, this is in the mode of passion.
And most of the world today is in the mode of passion. And I love it. अन्याये नार्थसंच्यन् Because when one has greed, one just cannot maintain that greed by honesty.
That's why, actually, many surveys show that within 10 years of the introduction of television in a third world country, you know, first third world country, all of you know, India and all these underdeveloped countries, they are called third world countries. So, within 10 years of introduction of television in a third world country, the violence within the country increased by 10%. Violent crime.
By 10 times, not 10%, 10 times. Why? Because अन्याये नार्थसंच्यन् Once one has greed, fueled by the mode of passion, one has to go to immorality and why? And injustice. So, in the mode of goodness, a person is relatively more intellectual.
He actually, he also may be creating, he creates ideas, but then he has to develop the ideas. Scientists may create some theories. The creation itself may be in the mode of passion.
But beyond that, you develop the theory, you prove the theory, defend the theory, and then propagate the theory. So, all this, this subtle concept, it's more of ideas and concepts and Prabhupada says, poets, philosophers and scientists, they are in the mode of goodness. They should be in the mode of goodness.
But if the poets are just writing songs about romance and lust, they are not really in the mode of goodness. Similarly, if scientists are just discovering weapons of mass destruction, they are not in the mode of goodness. But these people can be in the mode of goodness because they are more in the realm of ideas and they are sustained by thoughts and ideas.
So, if you see, at least if a person is in the mode of goodness, he is not so much dependent on the external. Of course, he will still want to propagate his ideas. And he will want appreciation for the ideas.
But still, he is not manipulating and creating and destroying the grossness of the world. So, that's why goodness is relatively better. In 14.6, Lord Krishna describes among these three modes, it is relatively pure.
It is illuminating and it is anamaya. Maya means sin. So, anamaya means it frees one from sin, relatively speaking.
And it gives one a sense of goodness. And that sense of happiness and jnana-sangee-vachana-dha the sense of knowledge. Oh, all these people, they are ignorant.
I am having knowledge. So, that becomes the cause of bondage. So, this person may not necessarily have spiritual knowledge.
But just he feels that I am more intelligent than other people. And that becomes his cause of bondage. So, the number of people in the mode of goodness are relatively very few.
Now, it's not that these modes are black and white. It's not that somebody is entirely in yugendurans and somebody is entirely in passion, somebody is entirely in goodness. No.
All of us are infected by these different modes at different times. So, although these different modes may infect us at different times, still all of us have a predominant mode. So, most of us, we were earlier in the modes of passion and yugendurans.
And now we are trying to come towards goodness. So, especially when we come and stay in the voice, the voice lifestyle is in the mode of goodness. We wake up in the morning, we take regular prasadam at regulated times, we do attend the full morning program.
And to the extent we are in the mode of passion and yugendurans, to that extent the lifestyle in goodness will be more and more difficult for us. But, as we come to goodness, it will become not only easy, it will become natural and joyful for us. Waking up in the morning, chanting, hearing philosophy, and discussing, this will become natural, this will become joyful for us.
So, if there is, if we are in the mode of ignorance, there will be incompatibility. We will feel, what is this? You should do something, baba. You just sit and do two hours, nothing but move your lips.
Do something productive. Because if a person is in the mode of passion and yugendurans, his idea of productivity is what? To do something, to shake something, move something, call somebody, type something, to do something. What is this? You know, just moving your lips.
So, then people will feel, it's an absolute waste of time. Two hours. You know, you could have made so many phone calls, you could have written so many emails, you could have got so many business contracts, so many things you could have done.
But, the more we come to the mode of goodness, we understand that actually, these things, they may have to be done as a part of life, but if they become our source of happiness, then we can never be happy. This is a very important point. Prabhupada writes in this 14th chapter only, while talking about the mode of passions.
He says, just like, you know, certain disease produces certain conditions. For example, if I have loose motion, then loose motion itself will create the condition that whatever I eat, it will be passed on. Or if I have itching disease, then it's not a matter of whether I sit on the floor or on a chair or on a terrace.
The externals don't matter. As long as I have that disease, it will create itching within me. Similarly, mode of passion creates within us, see, creation also means, not only that I create new things, but creation also means that I possess new things.
In that sense, now I have become the possessor of this. So, mode of passion creates within us the desire to acquire new things. And many people think, once I acquire this thing, once I shop, I will become happy.
But the problem is shopping, like if I have an itching desire and I scratch, scratching provides some relief, but it does not cure the disease. And that's why the desire to scratch will keep coming. Similarly, if I have a desire to purchase something and if I get, I don't have that, oh, that person has got a mobile with a video feed.
I don't, I have a simple mobile. I have to get that mobile. I think, if only I get that mobile, it will be so nice.
Then I can click photos and I can do this and I can do that. So, suddenly one gets that desire. One acquires that mobile, but acquiring that mobile has not cured one of the mode of passion.
So, because the mode of passion is still there, so again one will get some other desire. Oh, maybe I have to acquire that bike now. That person has got such a nice bike.
My bike is so primitive. Then you get a bike and then you want a car. You get a car and then you want a house.
You have a house and you want a bungalow. And it just goes on and on and on. So, Prabhupada writes, you know, if one wants to be happy, one cannot become happy by acquiring money.
Money is required for living in this world, but if one is in the mode of passion, no matter how much money one has, one will always get a desire for something more, something more. The only way to… In the mode of passion, there is no happiness at all. Krishna describes, rajasastu phalam dukkham.
The only fruit of the mode of passion is dukkham. Rajasastu phalam dukkham. So, the only way one can become happy is raising oneself from the mode of passion to the mode of goodness.
And ultimately, beyond the mode of goodness. In the mode of goodness also, one's pleasure comes from certain ideas. Okay, I think like this.
You know, Einstein, he was offered the… When Israel was created, he was a Jew, and he was a very prominent Jew. So, he was offered the post of the prime minister of Israel. And then, he said, politics is just for one lifetime, science is for eternity.
So, I would prefer to be a scientist than a politician. And he refused. That means what? Relatively speaking, he refused the offer in the mode of passion.
Prime minister is a big thing for a person in the mode of passion. But a person in the mode of goodness, he thinks it's important. You know, politics and diplomacy.
I want to create something. So, he was like, you know, he wanted to unite this Planck's theory, quantum theory, and his own relativity. And that was his passion.
And when he died, he was just completely absorbed in that. So, he was feverish about that, practically speaking. So, the idea is, mode of goodness also creates its preoccupations.
But mode of goodness need not be spiritual. It is conducive for spirituality, but it's not necessarily spiritual. Spiritual necessity means we understand our own identity as a soul, and we have a connection with God at a spiritual level.
So, when we get happiness and devotion to God and remembrance of God. So, now most of modern society worsens the sickness. If people are not infected by the mode of sometimes people live in the villages, now of course, in the villages also television is gone.
Television is like the agency of passion and ignorance. There also it comes. But then people come to the cities and they become so passionate and they become so affected by ignorance after that.
So, modern society doesn't cure our disease, it worsens our disease. And, you know, many people practice some religion, but even their religion is actually not being practiced to cure the mode of passion and ignorance, it is being practiced to perpetuate the mode of passion and ignorance. See, now there are religions in the world where people practice very strict rules and regulations.
What is their idea? They make people ready to lay down their life in the name of a holy war. But what is their idea? Their idea is if I lay down my life in the holy war, then I will go to paradise. And in the paradise, I will be awarded with 73 virgins.
Holy my for all of eternity. So, see, you know, they are saying that, oh, you should not be materialistic and they follow some rules, don't do this, don't do that, some level they follow. But basically, they are saying materialism of this world is not good, but materialism of that world is good.
So, what is the essential difference? And you know, you go to paradise also, but where is God? God is not there only. The only purpose of God's existence is to maintain the virgins for me so that I can enjoy. So, God becomes like a prostitute housekeeper.
It's a pathetic idea of God. So, now, actually, this is not what is taught in the scriptures. Like, in the West, which is the most popular Vedic book in the world, the book among the Vedic literature, which is the most popular in the West? Kama Sutra.
Kama Sutra. Indian literature means Kama Sutra. So, Kama Sutra is actually, Kama Sutra is a very subordinate literature.
First of all, whether it is to be called Vedic or not, that is also a question. Vatsyayan Rishi is not one of the primary Vedic Rishis. And he himself stated Brahmachari.
He never indulged in what he wrote over there. He also makes it very clear that this is not the goal of life. Dharma means Kama.
Kama is one of the goals of life. actually, if one indulges in Kama in a religious way, then one can go to Moksha. But people forget the Moksha, they only take the Kama Sutra.
And, so the idea is, scripture may teach a lot of things, but depending, if I am in a mode of passion, I will only go to that section of scripture, which is a mode of passion. So, the idea is that so many religions today, they don't cure the mode of passion, they perpetuate the mode of passion. And even if such people appear to be religious, for them, they may also preach and they preach because their religion becomes not so much a spiritual quest for God, but rather it becomes an intellectual and political quest for power.
That means, if I am practicing my religion, it must be the best religion. And somehow or the other, I must prove that it is the best. If my religion is the best, then it should have power.
Then I will become powerful. So, basically, whenever there are wars in the name of religion, they are not because of the religion being a spiritual quest. When the religion, which is actually meant to connect people with God, it is used to justify one's passions and goals, then there are wars in the name of religion.
So, today, whatever religions are there, they don't transform people at all. What they do is, they just perpetuate people's mode of passion and goals. And now, in Krishna consciousness, what happens is that we understand things philosophically first of all.
And we understand things philosophically. First thing that we may ask is, we are practicing Krishna consciousness, but whether we are actually becoming devotees, we have to check and one simple way to evaluate that is, what is my definition of happiness? If I am still thinking chasing after girls is the definition of happiness, if I am still thinking that acquiring cars and bungalows and becoming famous is what will make me happy, then I am not really becoming Krishna conscious. There is nothing wrong in becoming famous or popular or wealthy, but if I think this is what will make me happy, then that means I am not really becoming Krishna conscious.
Prabhupada says, you know, you don't need anyone to tell you whether you are advancing or not. Prabhupada says, if lust is still pinching you, if greed is still pinching you, then that means, Krishna consciousness, you are not allowed Krishna consciousness to work in your heart. Now, these desires will not go away overnight, but if you are practicing devotional service, we start understanding that there are better ways of becoming happy.
Actually, by chanting, by hearing Krishnapada, by absorbing myself in Krishna, by sharing Krishna's message with others, there is a higher form of happiness that comes. By serving Krishna, when we serve Krishna, when we remember Krishna, actually, we may be doing simple activities, maybe just washing plates, but actually because we are doing it for Krishna, we find that that will give us a joy that other activities don't give us. So, this joy may not be always there, but it becomes more and more as we keep practicing Krishna consciousness.
And this happiness, for example, now, if we dance in temples, we experience some happiness. To some extent, that happiness might just be because I'm dancing so much, but actually, if it were just the physical act of dancing, then that will not work for long. Just like there was one devotee who was a basketball player and he came to Krishna consciousness.
And he introduced to Krishna consciousness, then he came along and he said that he'll be jumping you. He thought very nice, I used to play basketball and jump, now I can jump up and down with kipples also. So, he started jumping up and down.
And in the end, he said good physical physique and people who are sports people, whenever they meet somebody and they see how is his physique, that is there, that is the more that influences them, they see everybody. So, when he heard Prabhupada, Guru is coming, so he thought the Guru must be very big. When Prabhupada came, he thought Prabhupada was very small, he was very disappointed.
And then the kirtan started. This was I think in Europe somewhere, either Amsterdam or Paris. So, the kirtan started and then Prabhupada started jumping up and down.
Prabhupada was in ecstasy. And then he was jumping up and down and suddenly how long can he jump up and down? 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, he was getting tired. But he was looking at Prabhupada, 75 year old man, and he was just jumping up and down, up and down, up and down.
And Prabhupada was already tired only. And he thought, I am a young man, I am a basketball player, I am tired. And he is really a guru.
So, Prabhupada had different ways of, or Krishna had different ways of attracting people through his pure devotion. So, actually, how can devotees dance? Sometimes we go for yatra and it's hot and it's exhausting, but then devotees dance along for sometimes long time. Why? Because it's not just the physical pleasure of dancing.
People go into discotheques, how long can they dance? Maybe for a few dances, a few songs and they get exhausted. But devotees experience a higher happiness. And as we practice Krishna consciousness, not just in the physical activity of dancing, we feel that happiness is not actually material happiness if you see.
It is very, very sensuous, very gross. But a devotee's happiness is much more refined. You know, actually he feels when he's doing the worshipping, the dancing, I'm connected with Krishna, I'm serving Krishna.
Krishna is my lord, he's taking care of me. And that gives a very deep sense of enrichment, protection, empowerment. And when a devotee starts experiencing this happiness, then he starts seeing sensuous happiness as so superficial.
It's like some children have toys and we also may have played with toys earlier. But then as we grow, what is this playing with toys? It's so childish. So like that, a devotee, just as a person, just as an ordinary person, as he grows, he outgrows the pleasure of toys.
Like that, as a devotee advances in Krishna consciousness, he outgrows the pleasure of the sense objects. He outgrows it. It's so childish, it's so superficial.
So again, when he outgrows the pleasure of the sense objects, he grows in his inner pleasure by connection with Krishna. And when a devotee wants to preach, that preaching is not just, he wants to show people how clever I am, those motives may be there, but they are not the predominating motive for a devotee. As you become pure, those motives become completely, they just go away.
You see, Srila Prabhupada, if you hear sometimes his lectures, Srila Prabhupada in all his lectures, he seems to be saying the same thing. Like he came to South Africa and they asked, the reporter asked, so what is your message for South Africa? Prabhupada said, my message is the message of God and is the same everywhere. It's not that South Africa needs a special message.
The message of God is the same for India and America and South Africa and everywhere. So, some of the servants of Srila Prabhupada who were travelling with Prabhupada, they would sometimes get tired because Prabhupada would speak the same thing again and again. They would say, why does Prabhupada speak something new? But Satsvarupa writes one place, it struck me like a thunderbolt.
He said, bad, Prabhupada was not trying to impress people by showing them how clever he was. Prabhupada was like a doctor and it's not that the doctor has to give a new prescription to every patient. He doesn't come with malaria, he has to give the same prescription.
It's not that you have to invite a new prescription for every new patient to impress the patient. The same prescription he gives, he explains it, and the patient gets cured. So Prabhupada was not preaching Krishna Upanishad just to intellectually impress people.
Prabhupada actually wanted to cure people. And that's why Prabhupada could just repeat the same message again and again and again, and he felt happy. Because happiness was not by showing people how clever I am, it was actually people were taking the message, taking the medicine, getting cured.
So actually any devotee shares Krishna Consciousness. So today evening they announced there is preaching meeting and many of you may start book distribution and other things. So why are we doing it? Actually we are doing it because we have experienced some benefit and we want to share that benefit with others.
And the wonderful thing about Krishna Consciousness is that the more we help others, the more we help ourselves. Why? Because when we share Krishna Consciousness with others, it pleases Krishna enormously. See, Krishna decides to play certain roles in certain situations.
So when Krishna creates this material world, in the material world, he chooses to play neutral role. As a Paramatma, he plays the role of being neutral. So sometimes in the super soul, he may guide a person, do this, don't do this.
But in general, Krishna as the super soul does not preach in the material world. If he comes as Avatar, he comes as Bhagwan, he preaches. But the material world wants that soul should become devotees.
But in the material world, he does not interfere with the soul's freedom. As a super soul, he doesn't interfere with the freedom. And that's why, because he's so desperate, so eager, that the souls find the right way to happen.
So if any soul takes up the desire of Krishna, he becomes a messenger of Krishna and starts giving Krishna's message to others. Krishna becomes profoundly grateful to him. Not just pleased with him, but grateful to him.
In the nectar of devotion, 64 qualities of Krishna are described. And one of them is described as gratitude. If somebody does something for Krishna, Krishna never forgets it.
So there, the example of gratitude is very amazing. Krishna tells Draupadi that when you were being disrobed by Dushasan, you called my name. And the souls in this world have forgotten me, just the fact that you remembered me has made me grateful to you.
Can you imagine? Somebody is so grateful, he just remembers him and becomes grateful to us for remembering him. Then, Krishna says in the Adi Purana, that for one who holds my name in his heart, I hold his name forever in my heart. That is Krishna.
He's such a super grateful God. And we just call out to him remembering him becomes grateful. But if we take up his mission and we become his messenger and share his message, how much more will he be pleased, how much more will he be grateful.
So, when Krishna becomes pleased with us, then, actually, he connects us with a higher pleasure. Actually, this is, I'll conclude with this point, that, you know, we may understand something. Even a drunkard understands that this drinking is not good for me.
But he's not able to give it up very easily. So, similarly, you know, Krishna holds the happiness switch in his hands. Krishna holds the happiness switch.
Just like sometimes, we all have the experience that we try to sleep and we don't get sleep only. Of course, we have other experiences more common. We don't want to sleep and we want to sleep.
But the idea is, you know, this transition between Jagruti and Swapna, waking state and sleeping state, that is not in our hands. Most of the time, it happens so naturally that we think it is in our hands. But it's like a switch.
It's like, you know, Krishna has to switch our consciousness from Jagruti to Swapna and from Swapna back to Jagruti. If he doesn't do that, then we are powerless. We lie down and not able to sleep only.
There is insomnia. Terrible disease you get. So like that, Krishna, when we please him, he switches.
He turns on the switch. And then, when that switch is changed, then our definition of happiness changes. Intellectually, right now, you may understand, chanting should make me happy, but somehow it doesn't make me happy.
Why? Because when we please Krishna, Krishna changes that switch. And then, instead of getting happiness in lower things, we start getting happiness in higher things. And that's why, bhakti is intellectual process in the sense that intellectually we have to convince ourselves, but ultimately it's a devotional process.
After we are convinced this is right and that is wrong, we have to act and please Krishna. Please the devotees. When we do that, Krishna changes that switch.
And when he changes that switch, then immediately we start delighting in higher things. Just like first time when we came, we thought this chanting, what is this? How will that make me happy? But now, imagine if somebody, for a devotee who is serious and wants to get initiated, even if somebody gives it, I'll give you one lakh rupees, you just stop chanting sixteen rounds. Forget, keep your one lakh.
I'll now give you my sixteen rounds. What has happened? We may not be in exquisite chanting of sixteen rounds, but unless we are experiencing something, we will not be ready to even sacrifice two hours. What to speak of sacrificing lakh rupees for chanting? So actually devotees start experiencing in their enrichment.
And we experience it more the more we please Krishna. And preaching is one of the best ways in which we can please Krishna, fastest ways. Prabhupada says by preaching we attract the attention of Krishna, attract the attention of Krishna.
So the Maharaj, when he took sannyas, Prabhupada sent him to Ahmedabad to preach. And when he came back, Prabhupada was supposed to go there, but Prabhupada had to go to Africa. So he sent him to Ahmedabad for preaching.
And when he came back, he gave the whole report to Prabhupada. And Prabhupada was so happy, because, you know, like a person sannyasi, he can represent the spiritual master very nicely. People respect sannyasi.
Prabhupada was so happy that he was preaching nicely to him. Prabhupada came and embraced him. Prabhupada would very rarely embrace devotees.
Prabhupada embraced him and put his mouth near his ear and told him, Krishna is in your heart, go and preach. So Krishna is watching. When we go and preach, some people may accept, some people may reject, some people may scorn.
And Krishna is watching all the sacrifices. And Krishna will reward us for that. And that reward, when it comes, it will fill us with so much happiness that we will come to a stage which is called style bhava.
Style bhava means we are constantly happy. Sometimes we eat sweet rice and it's so nice. If only for the rest of my life I could keep eating sweet rice, we would feel like that.
But actually if we get taste in the holy name, taste in Krishna consciousness, then we happy. So we will feel so happy. So we will feel so happy.
So we will so happy. So will so happy. So we will feel so So we feel So we will feel so happy.
So we feel so happy. So feel so happy. So we will feel so happy.
So will feel so happy. So we feel so we we And then the key. Jai! Jai! Jai! Jai! Jai!