Seek not a problem-free life – seek a purpose-filled life

[Evening program at Montreal, USA]

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank all of you for coming here today.
I seek the blessings of all the senior devotees so that I can speak something worthwhile. So today and tomorrow, I’ll speak on the topic of seek a purpose-filled life. And in that, I’ll take two parts.
Seek a purpose-filled life, not a problem-free life. And seek a purpose-filled life, not a pleasure-filled life. So today, I’ll focus on the problem-free part.
And tomorrow, I’ll focus on the pleasure-filled part. Now, this is… Prabhupada in the 7th Canto, Parpot, of the Srimad Bhagavatam says that we need to be very stout and strong in mind and intelligence to distinguish the goal of life from a life full of problems. So in life, there are many problems we face and we can get too caught up in dealing with small, small problems and the big issues we may forget.
So now, I’ll take one metaphor for this which I’ll develop today as well as tomorrow. Say we are going, we are driving by car. Say, if Montreal to Toronto, we are driving by car.
And while driving, we find there’s a lot of traffic. And while driving, we find there’s a lot of traffic. The traffic will slow us down.
Traffic may stop us sometimes. Traffic may irritate us. But suppose, if a person, while driving, starts thinking that the purpose of driving is to avoid the traffic.
And they start going on whichever road where they see no traffic. Now, they may seem to be going fast, but where are they getting? They’re not getting anywhere at all. So, they may move in one direction and all roads, sooner or later, traffic will be there.
So if the purpose, the purpose of driving is not simply to avoid traffic. The purpose of driving is to get to a destination. Similarly, in our life, if we consider life to be like a journey, the problems that we face are like heavy traffic.
They slow us down. Sometimes the problems we face, they may even stop us. And at that time, we may start thinking, why am I doing this? Let me give it up.
And we may try to choose the easy way out. Okay, this path is too troublesome. Let me go this way.
And those who focus only on avoiding problems in their life, they often are not able to do anything substantial. Just as a person who focusses simply on avoiding traffic cannot get to any worthy destination. So our focus in life is not so much… Nobody likes problems.
Nobody wants problems. If we would avoid problems, we’ll all be happy. Just as nobody wants traffic, but traffic is just a fact of life.
Problems are also a fact of life. Now, one of the things that happens as we keep growing… When children are very small, at that time, the parents often pamper their child. Whatever the child wants, the parents provide that.
And as the child starts growing up, the child’s desires start changing. And many times the child, as they become teenagers, as they become youth, they may have desires which are just beyond the power of the parents to fulfil. And a vital part of growing up in life is learning to take no for an answer.
The parents may pamper their child and give whatever the child wants. But as the child grows up, not everything can be provided on a platter. So, if a child is always habituated to getting their way in their childhood, and then when they grow up and they just they don’t get what they want.
They get very frustrated. They get very depressed. They just can’t take it.
Now, it is not that we are always meant to live with unfulfilled desires. But it is a fact of life that all of our desires will not be fulfilled. And a part of growing up is learning to take no gracefully.
Yes, I wanted this, but it didn’t work out. Okay, it didn’t work out. Let me move on with my life.
When I give talks in colleges, after almost all the talks, the main question people ask is about relationships. You know, I had this relationship and this didn’t work out. I had this and this person didn’t like that, this person didn’t like that.
Now, in relationships, we can’t control the other person. Sometimes our relationships may work out, sometimes they just not work out. And we have to move on with life.
So, if we can’t take no for an answer sometimes, then we just get obsessed in that particular situation. And we get consumed by it, we start resenting it. And then, our life gets choked by that.
So, problems essentially mean that we want something and we are unable to get it. When this happens, when we face problems like this, we often, some people, not everyone, but some people come to God and they seek relief from God. And Krishna also says in the Bhagavad Gita that four kinds of people come to Him.
In 7.16 in the Bhagavad Gita, He says, चतुर्विधा भजन्ते मां जना सुक्रित्नो आर्जुना, आर्तो जिग्ञा सुराथार्थी घ्यानी च भरतर्षभा. So, He says, four kinds of people come to Him. The inquisitive, the seekers of knowledge, those who are looking for wealth and those who are seeking relief from distress.
So, आर्तो. Actually, in modern times, in Kali Yuga especially, there are four kinds of people who come to Krishna. Those four kinds are the distressed, the distressed, the distressed and the distressed.
So, people who are seriously philosophically inquisitive are very few. Philosophical seekers of knowledge, they are very few. And when people are inquisitive, today there are so many hundreds of things to be inquisitive about.
Often people who are really inquisitive about God are not many. There are a few. But majority of the people come because life beats them and they get frustrated.
And yes, Krishna also says, Krishna says such people are good. He says, सुक्रितेना, they are good people. That’s why they are coming to Me.
And it is true that Krishna, being God, can free us from whatever problems we face. And many times we will see that by taking shelter of Krishna, by praying to Him, the problems do go away. And thus, our faith in Krishna can increase.
Krishna exists. Krishna cares for me. And thus, we become more devoted to Him.
At the same time, the very nature of this world is that this world has finite resources. And the desires of people are infinite, practically speaking. So, it is just not possible that everyone’s desires can be fulfilled.
So, if there are, say, 30 students in a class and all the students go to God and pray, please make me first in my class. Now, everybody cannot be first in their class. So, normally, when we start connecting with God, when we start praying to God, there is a difference.
We understand God is like the supreme parent, but there is a different set of expectations when we go to God. Normally, we might tell our parents, I want this bike, I want this car, I want this. And the parents may say that, I would like to give you, but we don’t have the money.
And the child may not be pleased by that answer. Children accept it. What can we do? Our parents are also limited.
They can’t provide this. But, when we go to Krishna, Krishna is unlimited. Krishna is infinite.
If Krishna wants, He can provide me whatever I want. So, what happens is, when we go to Krishna, Krishna’s infinitude translates into almost like infinite expectations from Krishna. We think that, Krishna should provide this.
I am facing this problem and I am praying to Krishna. Krishna should solve this problem. So, now, when we start practising bhakti, what happens is, the purpose of practising bhakti initially may be that, oh, I am facing too many problems.
I just want some relief. So, with that intention we come, we do get some relief. But eventually, if we don’t rise to a higher level, that we want to connect with Krishna for loving Him.
Krishna’s greatest blessing is Krishna Himself. If we become attracted to Him, if we become devoted to Him, if we become absorbed in Him, that is what is going to give the greatest fulfilment. And, if we don’t rise to that level of understanding, Krishna in 71.16, He says that these four kinds of people come to me, and then in 71.19 in the Bhagavad Gita, He states that those people gradually become elevated.
vahunam janmanam ante jnanavanmam prapadyate vasudeva sarvamiti samatmasu durlabham He says after many lifetimes of gradual spiritual evolution, they come to the level of understanding that vasudeva sarvamiti that Krishna is everything. And those who understand this, they are jnanavan, very very wise. They are filled with knowledge.
And samatma, they are great souls, sudurlabham, they are very rare. This understanding is something which takes time to come to. And if we can get this understanding, become absorbed in Krishna, understanding that Krishna is Krishna’s greatest blessing.
And we don’t make our relationship with Krishna conditional to the fulfilment of our desires. To the removal of our problems. I was recently in Atlanta and there one devotee asked a question.
If God is like our parent, then when a child needs something, the child will go to God. So what’s wrong if we need something, we go to God for that. There’s nothing wrong in going to God if we need something.
What is wrong is going to God only when we need something. If you have a child who is now staying in some hostel or doing some studies and the only time when they call is Mummy, I need some money. Papa, I need some money.
The only time they call when they need some money. And if the parents don’t give money, they stop calling. So there, the relationship has become very self-centred.
So it’s natural at one level when we are connected with Krishna, if we have some concerns, we’ll share those concerns with him. But if we make our relationship with Krishna conditional to the removal of our problems. Krishna, this person is acting like this.
Krishna, this situation is like this. This is the problem. And if we make our relationship with Krishna conditional to the solving of problems, three things will happen.
First is that if we feel that the problem can be solved in some other way, then we feel, what do I need Krishna for? So if we feel, I have a lot of studies to do, I have a lot of work to do and I don’t have enough time to do it. Then, I spend so much time chanting the holy names, I spend so much time going to the temple, I spend so much time hearing about Krishna. What does it do practically? Practically, it’s not doing anything.
It’s not filling my bank account. It’s not removing my debt. What is it doing practically? It’s not doing anything.
So if the problem of my empty bank account, the problem of my debt, that becomes the defining issue of my life. And removing that becomes the central purpose of my life. And if I feel, oh, I just work harder, I’ll solve this problem.
Then I’ll feel, what do I need Krishna for? Srila Prabhupada writes in the Bhagavatam, first canto purport, that he says that there are four purusharthas. There are dharma, artha, kama and moksha. Dharma is religiosity by which people get artha.
So people do religious activities so that their worldly necessities, worldly needs, they will get worldly resources, artha, financial resources they get. And then kama, they’ll be able to fulfil their desires. And gradually after doing this, people will seek moksha.
They’ll seek liberation. So now Prabhupada writes, especially in the western countries, he says that actually if people can get artha without dharma, if people can get monetary needs taken care of without resorting to God, then they feel God is unnecessary. God is redundant.
So if our defining goal is just to have a solution of problems, then firstly if we feel the problems can be solved in some other way, we feel God is unnecessary. And that is one major reason why people often turn away from God. They feel, I don’t need God.
I can take care of things myself. But the nature of this world is sooner or later we keep facing problems. And sooner or later, we always face problems, but sooner or later we start facing problems which are beyond our capacity to solve.
We have certain intelligence, we have certain contacts, we have certain financial resources, whatever it is we have, we use them all to solve our problems and then still we can’t solve them. So that time we may again turn towards God. So when people face problems, at that time it can be like, Oh God, please help me.
Oh Krishna, please help me. We turn towards Krishna at that time. So essentially what has happened, we are problem conscious instead of Krishna conscious.
So if the problem is not there, then there is no need for Krishna. If the problem is there, Oh the problem is bigger than me. So I can’t solve it.
So I need Krishna. But here, what happens if we are problem conscious and we go to Krishna, Krishna solves the problem, then what happens? Thank you Krishna, bye bye. Relationship becomes a utility.
I get it, it’s over. But otherwise if we can solve the problem through Krishna, in a sense use Krishna for that purpose. Bhakti Wisdom, I’ll talk about it more later.
Bhakti Wisdom tells us that we should use the world to attain God. But at the level of material religiosity, we use God to attain the world. We use God as a tool by which we can get things in this world.
Now Krishna is telling, Krishna is playing his flute. He is playing his flute and he is inviting us all. Come to me.
That’s a big difference between Krishna and other Devatas. Other Devatas are, they bless us. Their hands are raised, blessing, blessing, blessing.
Krishna seems to be lost in his own world. He is not blessing. He is simply playing his flute.
That day when Krishna is playing his flute, just as he played the flute to invite the Gopis to him, he is inviting us to him. So, Krishna is telling, you come to my abode and join in my pastimes. I am performing pastimes, I am performing Leela, join with me and enjoy pastimes there.
But at the level of material religiosity, we think Krishna, I want to perform pastimes here and you join me and assist me here. I can’t do this, you get it done for me. I want to achieve this, I can’t do it, you do it for me.
So, in this way, we use Krishna to solve our problems. Now, Krishna says, even people who come to him like this are also, he says, they are good. Sukrutina.
He is happy that somehow or the other they are coming to him. But we underutilise that connection with Krishna. I will talk about underutilisation a little later, mostly tomorrow’s class.
But at this stage, I will talk about a third thing. So, first is, if I can solve problems without Krishna, there is no need for Krishna. Second is, if we can’t solve problems with Krishna, without Krishna, we come to Krishna, use him to solve the problems and say bye-bye.
Third is that if we approach Krishna for solving our problems and the problems don’t get solved, then we start thinking, what is the use of this Krishna Bhakti? What is the use of this? At the start of the Bhagavad Gita, there is Duryodhana who is assessing the forces on both sides and he talks about the principal commanders on the side of the Kauravas and on the side of the Pandavas. But he forgets to mention Krishna. Why? Because for him, Krishna is a non-combatant and therefore he thinks he is a non-entity.
He is not going to raise weapons. So, what is he going to do? But if you see the later Kurukshetra war, without doing anything, Krishna did everything. That was Krishna’s excellency.
At the right moments, he offered the right guidance to Arjuna and to the Pandavas general and he was critical in winning the war. So, without doing anything personally, Krishna did everything essential through his devotees. But at the material level, Duryodhana was thinking, what is Krishna doing? How does Krishna matter? So, he felt Krishna doesn’t matter and he didn’t even count Krishna.
He didn’t even include Krishna in the list of important players in that war. So, he was thinking, you know, I have got a better army, I have got more experience warriors, I have got more forces, I am going to win. I don’t need God at all.
When we pray to Krishna and our problem doesn’t get solved, what is the need for God? So now, what does God do for me? Why should I worship God at all? And this is where we make a fundamental misunderstanding. When we are forming a relationship with Krishna for solving our problems, we are setting, normally I will say people form a relationship. If your business relationship is there, then they are terms of the contract.
I am investing this much money, you are investing this much money. I will get this much returns, you will get this much returns. And people have terms of the relationship.
Nowadays even in marriage also people have terms of the relationship. If eventually you break the marriage, then who is going to get what? So, basically when people form a relationship, there are terms which are set. So, when we approach Krishna, the terms with which we are forming the relationship is Krishna, let’s form a partnership.
And the terms of the partnership is my intelligence and your strength. This is a problem and this is a solution. I have planned it all out.
This problem needs to be solved this way and this is the result we should get. But I can’t do it, so you do it. So, when we form a relationship with Krishna, with this attitude, with my intelligence and your power, then we are half trusting Krishna.
We are not fully trusting Krishna. Why half trusting? Because we are trusting Krishna’s strength but not Krishna’s intelligence. Krishna, we accept that he is omnipotent but we don’t accept that he is omniscient.
We accept that Krishna has the strength to solve this problem. Krishna needs my intelligence. Actually everyone likes to serve God.
What do you mean? Nobody likes to serve God. That’s why people are suffering in this world. No, everybody likes to serve God.
But only in one specific role. Everybody likes to serve God as an advisor. As an advisor.
Even atheists, they will write books about propagating atheism and if God had existed, he would have made the world like this. He would have made this like this. So, for the atheists, their non-existent God pops into existence just to accept their advice and after receiving their advice, gratefully pops back into non-existence.
So, everybody likes to serve God as an advisor. Now, if we understand that Krishna is not only stronger than me but he is also wiser than me, then that means that whatever problem I am facing, he knows better than me how to deal with this problem. How to solve this problem.
And if he is letting the problem stay for some time, that means some higher purpose is being served. Now, if our purpose is only to have a problem-free life, then we define the success or failure of life only in terms of whether I have a problem or I don’t have a problem. However, many times in life, it is problems that stimulate us, that almost compel us to grow.
And it’s mainly a matter of attitude. Suppose we come to an airport and then we have to carry our luggage and we can’t find any trolley over there, we can’t find any porter over there. We just lug our own bags.
We may groan, we may rant, we may curse a little bit. I have to carry so much weight. And then we will tell 10-15 people, you know, I have to carry so much weight.
We may, after that, go to a gym and there we will lift weights. Essentially, we are doing the same thing. Earlier, we were carrying weights and now also we are carrying weights.
But the difference is of attitude. Earlier, when we are carrying on the airport, we think of that simply as an exertion. But in the gym, when we are lifting weights, we think of it as an exercise.
So, when we see the pulling of the weights or carrying of the weights as an exertion, we just want to get it over with. And in fact, we will pay other people to get it, to escape it. But when we go to a gym, we actually pay other people to give us weights so that we can lift it.
So, actually, essentially, we understand that if my muscles are to improve, if my health is to become better, the muscles need to be challenged. Usually, the way the muscles improve is that when we lift weights, we have to lift enough weight so that the muscles break. Not the bones break, but the muscles break and are reformed.
When the muscles are reformed, they become tougher, they become stronger. The same way, if we are facing some problems and that problem is not going away, then we can see that problem as an exertion. Why is this happening? And we can just get frustrated by it.
Or we can see that problem as an exercise. There is something happening here internally. Although the problem is not going away, but through this problem, some positive result will come.
What is that positive result that will come? That I may or may not understand immediately. So, that’s why the purpose is important. For the greatest advantage of a spiritual life as compared to a material life is that spiritual life gives us an ultimate purpose for our life.
The ultimate purpose is that we understand I am at my core, an eternal being. I am a soul and I am meant to love Krishna. And in loving him, I will find the supreme fulfilment.
All my heart’s desires for love and joy will be fulfilled when I learn to love Krishna. And we are all on a journey of spiritual evolution where our love is evolving In a small child, their love is just for their toys. When a baby is born, newborn baby doesn’t even understand that there is a mother who loves him.
A newborn baby, when the mother puts the baby on her lap and puts her mouth to her breast, baby just suckles it, doesn’t even understand what is there. There is a nice thing, probably some nice thing is coming. That’s all it understands.
But as the baby grows, what happens? Oh, this is not just a nice thing, this is a person or the person loves him. And the conception evolves. So initially the baby might just love the mother for the milk that she is giving.
And start loving the mother as a person. Baby might just love toys. But when he grows up, becomes more responsible.
So in the normal course of life, our love expands. Now, the ultimate expansion of our love is the expansion from the temporary to the eternal. We are loving many temporary objects in this world.
Ultimately, we are meant to love the eternal. And sometimes the frustration in our loving the temporary, in our achieving the temporary things that we seek in life, that is what forces us, impels us to redirect our love towards the eternal. So just as when a person is trying to lift weight, sometimes the weight may be so heavy that they are not able to lift it all so much.
Just a little bit they are able to lift. But through it all internally the muscles are growing. And if they see it as an exercise, they keep doing it.
So like that sometimes when we are facing a problem and the problem is not going away. If we are seeing Krishna as a tool for solving our problems, then we feel, what is Krishna? He is not doing anything. But if we see that actually this is an opportunity for me to go closer to Krishna.
That this is an opportunity for me to evolve spiritually. The opportunity for me to take shelter of Krishna. Now when we face problems, those problems burden us mentally.
They may trouble us practically also but much bigger than the practical trouble that we may face because of a problem is the mental burden. Say somebody is not acting the way we want them to act. Maybe our child, maybe our spouse, maybe our friend, maybe our relative.
They are behaving in unreasonable ways. So now when we interact with them, actually in a day we might interact with them for a few minutes at the most for some time more, maybe an hour or two. But what happens? That few interactions they burden us.
Why did he do like that? Why did she do like that? And that troubling behaviour, the specific behaviour may occur in a few minutes. But that burdens us mentally constantly. And thus we become, our spirits go down.
We feel crushed by that. When we start practising bhakti and we understand that this problem is not going away. Why is it not going away? Actually I need to take shelter of Krishna more.
When we take shelter of Krishna more, if we absorb ourselves in remembering Krishna and chanting His holy names and hearing His message and connecting more deeply with Him, we will find that we will get relief even amidst the problem. Although the problem will stay, but we will get relief amidst the problem also. How is that? That is Krishna’s shelter and potency.
Krishna says, if you become conscious of Me, you will pass over all obstacles by My grace. He says that you will pass over all obstacles. So quite often, when we face problems, we think in terms of immediate causes.
This person, instead of acting like this, they should be acting like this. My problem will be solved. Why are they acting like that? But things are often much more complicated.
In this life, the circumstances that we face, they are not just a result of what we are doing in this life, what others are doing in this life. We are caught in a complex net of karma and sometimes the situation that we face, they also result from past life karma. Circumstances have causations at multiple levels.
There is an immediate cause, there is an intermediate cause and there is an ultimate cause. So for example, if somebody gets malaria, now the immediate cause will be, say, a mosquito with some bacteria in between. That is the immediate cause.
And medical science will treat the immediate cause. And it is important to treat the level of the immediate cause. But then in a house, there might be five people living and it is unlikely that the mosquito eroded on me only and bit me.
It might have bit other people also, but not everybody gets malaria. So the immediate cause may be necessary as an explanation, but it is not a sufficient explanation. The other explanation is that there is an intermediate cause.
But actually, I have done some karma and that karmic reaction is coming through that mosquito. Just like Prabhupada would say that don’t be angry with the instrument of your own karma. If some person is troubling us, at that time, it is not just that that person is troubling us.
It is that some karma, something which we have done in the past, that is coming back to us now. Now of course, as I said, when the mosquito has bit me, I should take the medicine. I need to take the medicine.
I need to act at the immediate level also. But sometimes, those who are in medical science, they say that this is a disease and this is a medicine. Normally, it should cure.
But sometimes, the simple disease, the straightforward medicine doesn’t cure it. There are some other factors involved which they are not able to figure out also. So a simple disease just goes on for a long time.
So like that, we work at the immediate level. If there is some misunderstanding between us, between us and that person, we try to clarify it, we try to resolve it. But if it is not getting resolved, we don’t have to get too worked up about it.
Sometimes, we go through phases of bad karma. And when we go through a phase of bad karma, we just don’t tolerate it. And nothing in this world is permanent.
So even our problems are not permanent. The way the mind troubles us is by eternalising the present. Eternalising the present.
Say, if I had to carry a 2 kg bag or a 5 kg bag, not very difficult to carry. But when I start carrying a 5 kg bag, if I start thinking, for the rest of my life, I have to carry this 5 kg bag, then what will happen? I will not feel like lifting it up. I can easily lift it up for some time.
But as soon as I start thinking I have to lift it up for the rest of my life, I lose the energy to carry it for 5 minutes also. So like that, when we are facing a problem, the mind makes us think this problem is going to be there forever. How can I deal with this? And that itself disheartens us.
I can’t do this. The problems of today are never too much for today. But the problems of today, when they are extrapolated for many future days, for all of lifetime, then they become too much even for today.
So if we just take one day at a time, today I am to serve Krishna. Let me see how I can do my things. I’ll do this, I’ll do this, I’ll do this.
We can move onwards. So when we start practising Bhakti, we understand that everything is temporary. Problems are also temporary.
Sometimes we may go through some phases of bad karma when we have to face some complications. We try to deal with them, but we don’t endlessly obsess over it. We do something, if there is some misunderstanding, we do something to clarify it.
If there is some disease, we try to take some medicine. But we don’t obsess over it mentally. Why is this not getting resolved? Why is she not understanding? Why is he not understanding? Why is this not getting resolved? We don’t obsess over it constantly.
Actually, it is difficult not to obsess over problems because problems seem to come with a mental glue. Sometimes if there is a glue, it just sticks on to the object. So like that, when problems come, this is fixed to the brain.
And it’s very difficult to think about anything else. Just keep thinking about that thing again and again and again and again. And this is where our Krishna conscious practise is tested.
If while chanting, while praying, while doing worship, while hearing scripture, if I just do it ritualistically, then we are not really connecting with Krishna. And when the problem comes, the problem is just hooked on to it, hooked on to our mind and occupy our mind. But if we have habituated ourselves to connecting with Krishna, if during our devotional practises, we have learned to fix the mind on Krishna, then that has become a habit.
And then even when I am facing a problem, because of the habit of fixing the mind on Krishna, because of the habit of absorbing myself in Krishna, I will be able to pull my mind away from the problem and absorb it in Krishna. If we are not practising this regularly, then this will be difficult to do. The problem will keep obsessing, keep obsessing, keep consuming our mental energy.
So, at that time, if we turn towards Krishna, if we are resentful of what is happening, resent, why is this happening, why is this happening, why is this happening? Resentment, living life resentfully is like driving a car with the brakes fully pressed. You know, I am driving the car, but if the brake is pressed, the car will not move at all. So, like that, when we are resentful of situations, what happens? We are, that resentment is like the brake.
And our consciousness, our mind stays fixed on that problem. Why is this happening? Why, why, why? And we just can’t move at all forward in life. So, at that time, it is our Krishna consciousness that can save us if we turn to Krishna properly.
So, at that time, the question, why? Why is he doing like this? Why is she doing like this? Why is this happening? Sometimes in life, the why question has no answers, at least not immediately. And asking the why question is simply the roadway to frustration. A far more productive way of using our mental energy is to change the question from why to how.
Krishna, how can I serve you in this situation? How can I come closer to you in this situation? This situation is troubling me very much. But still, I know my ultimate purpose is to serve you, is to love you, to come closer to you. But how can I do it in this situation, Krishna? When Shri Prabhupada was asked, what is the best prayer that we can offer to Krishna? Shri Prabhupada at one time said, you can pray to Krishna, Krishna, please give me the strength to serve you.
Normally, we think of strength as needed something to dominate. Please give me the strength so that I become strong enough so that others will serve me. That is the idea people have.
But it requires strength to serve. Why strength to serve? Because our mind gets caught in things. The mind doesn’t want to go in from those things.
Krishna, we need strength, but we need strength in a constructive way. Sometimes, we can’t solve the problems which we are facing. If we resent those problems, it will waste our mental energy.
So, if we change the question from why to how. Okay, this is the problem. This is not going away.
Krishna, how can I serve you in this situation? That change of question itself opens doors. Because the why question, we are hitting our head against a wall. We are getting no answer.
How? Okay, this problem is there. This is limiting me. This is troubling me.
But how can I serve in this situation? And how question, I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.
The how question acts like a flashlight. It shows a way. I can do this.
I can do this. I can do this. And we take one step forward, one step forward, one step forward.
And gradually, as I said, no problem lasts forever. If you just keep taking small steps forward, small step forward, eventually, that karma gets exhausted and the problem ends. So, the problem has ended.
But what has happened? We have developed a deeper connection with Krishna. We have discovered that Krishna can make us tougher than what we thought we were. Earlier, I thought if this kind of problem comes in my life, I would just crumble.
But now, this kind of problem came and by taking shelter of Krishna, by striving to have an attitude of service to Krishna, I was able to face this problem. So, that conviction in the reality of Krishna’s shelter, in the potency of absorption of Krishna, that is a far, far greater gift than simply a problem-free life. So, when we shift the question from why to how, then we can connect with Krishna.
Because when we are asking the question why, what are we doing? Ultimately, we are blaming God. God, why are you not solving this problem? So, the why question blocks our connection with God. And, if our connection with Krishna is blocked, how can we take shelter of Him? The how question removes that blockage.
Krishna, how can I serve you? If I can’t do anything else, at least I can remember you, Krishna. At least I can pray to you. At least I can absorb my consciousness in you.
And just that absorption of the consciousness, it gives us relief. Because as long as the problem is preying on our mind, it’s burning us, we just feel drained. If we can just get the mind off the problem and fix it in Krishna, that itself gives us relief, that gives us strength.
And then we can come rejuvenated and think again, okay, how can I deal with this? What can I do in this situation? How can I move onwards? So, I’ll conclude with one example of how Krishna provides relief. If our focus is on a problem-free life, we will be frustrated. But, if we seek shelter of Krishna, the problems will hit, but problems won’t hurt.
I’ll explain how. Suppose there’s a child who goes to school and in school, there’s a strict teacher. And the teacher, if the child doesn’t do homework, the teacher gives punishment.
The punishment is that you’re not yet done your homework, come here. The mother also knows that the teacher is very strict. So, what is the teacher’s punishment? Show your hand.
With the stick, the teacher 1, 2, 3. Now, today the child has not done the homework. And then, the mother knows the child has not done the homework and the child is going to be punished. On one side, the mother doesn’t want the child to be punished.
On the other side, the mother also wants the child to be disciplined. So, what the mother does is, when the child is going to school that day, the mother puts a nice, thick, big glow on the child’s hands. And with that glow, the child goes to school.
And the teacher says, have you done the homework? Come here. Show your hand. A lot of noise comes.
But the glow is shielding. And the child, the hit is there, but the hurt is not there. So, actually, material nature, it is laws of cause and effect, the law of karma, that is like the teacher.
Krishna is like the mother. And we are like the deranged child. So, when we are facing problems, Krishna doesn’t want us to go through problems.
We have ourselves done something, we need to learn some lessons, we need to grow in our understanding of what is truly lovable. We need to evolve spiritually. Sometimes we have to go through certain things for that purpose.
So, Krishna allows us to go through it, but Krishna gives us the glow. That glow is his remembrance, his absorption in him, his Krishna consciousness. So, when we put on that glow, then we go.
Life externally, we will be troubled. Externally we will be troubled, but internally we will be sheltered. The problem is there and we have to do the needful to deal with the problem.
But this internally when we are sheltered, we don’t get so burdened, we don’t get so distressed by the problem. So, when we are absorbed in Krishna, that absorption is what shelters us. One devotee told me his story.
He was my friend. He said he was in college and he was introduced to Krishna consciousness when he was in college. So, he had a very close friend and he tried to share Krishna consciousness with him for almost one, one and a half years.
And his friend was not at all interested. And then after that, both of them passed out from college and his friend got a job easily in the campus. And although this devotee had better academic performance, had better overall profile, still that devotee did not get a job.
And for six months, this devotee went through almost like 25 interviews and he didn’t get any job at all. And then finally in the 26th interview he got a job. And then when he got a job, he just came and told his friend, he told his friend, you know, fine, I got a job.
He says, congratulations. He says, I want to give you one more good news. He says, what is that? He says, you know, I have started practising bhakti.
He says, what happened? He says, now this devotee also, because we also, when we try to share Krishna consciousness, after sometime if we find that a person is not interested, then we don’t push them too much. So, he stopped inviting him, stopped trying to share with him. He suddenly said, I want to practise.
He says, what happened? He said, you know, throughout these 25 interviews where you did not get a job, you know, I would have been so depressed, but you were so cheerful throughout it all. Just by seeing your cheerfulness amidst not getting job for so long, I thought there must be something in this Krishna consciousness. That’s why I want to experience it.
I want to practise this. Now, we don’t know how Krishna is going to work through what. It is, he said that for one and a half years I was trying to share, it didn’t work.
I stopped sharing, but what I went through in my life, he did not do anything special, but just by taking shelter of Krishna, there was an effect. The person became interacted. So, we don’t know what purpose Krishna will serve.
Sometimes the problems may stay, but if we are too obsessed with the problem, why this problem is not going, why this problem is not going, then we will think Krishna is not helping. But if we take shelter of Krishna, we will realise that Krishna’s shelter can strengthen us even in the presence of problems. So, Krishna’s shelter is not removal of problems necessarily.
Krishna’s shelter is raising us above problems. Actually, Prabhupada, if he had wanted a problem-free life, he could just have chanted Hare Krishna in Vrindavan. When he came to America and he travelled all over the world and tried to share Krishna consciousness, he took so many problems.
So, his purpose was not a problem-free life. His purpose was a purpose-filled life. His purpose was he wanted to fulfil the instruction of his spiritual master.
He wanted to share Krishna’s message of love and by focussing on that purpose, although he faced many problems, he always persevered through those problems and he was able to achieve something so glorious, something which is sheltering thousands and millions of people all over the world. So, as devotees, we also face some problems in our life when we are trying to practise bhakti. But if you remember Srila Prabhupada and what kind of problems he faced in trying to give us the opportunity to practise bhakti, then we will feel, whatever problems I am facing, Prabhupada went through so many different problems just to give me an opportunity to get Krishna’s shelter.
So, let me, whatever problems are there, let me put them aside. Let me take shelter of Krishna. Let me not obsess over the problems.
So, suppose a child is sick. Why am I so sick? Child is very sick. And the child is given some medicine and the medicine is also very bitter.
I don’t want to take this medicine. Child may say, but then the child finds out that that medicine is actually very expensive and her mother had to sell her own precious jewellery just to get that medicine. And when the child meditates, my mother gave up so much just to get this medicine for her.
And the child thinks, okay, whatever it is. The bitter taste of this medicine is nothing compared to the sweetness of the mother’s love that is coming there in the availability of that medicine itself. Similarly, sometimes when you are practising bhakti, it may seem difficult.
But, if you remember, Srila Prabhupada struggles and sacrifices in giving us the opportunity to practise bhakti. Then, okay, whatever problems I am facing, they are nothing so big. Let me just focus on Krishna.
Don’t tell God how big your problems are. Tell your problems how big God is. So, if we focus on the greatness of Krishna, our problems, they will become tolerable.
But, if we focus on the bigness of our problems, then we will think, what is the use of Krishna? So, the choice is up to us. Problems will be there in our life. Krishna will also be there in our life.
What do we become conscious of? If our purpose is to try to live problem-free, then we will get frustrated. But, if our purpose is to be conscious of Krishna, to connect with Krishna, to go deeper in our relationship with Krishna, then the problems, they will serve positively as impetuses for going deeper in our connection with Krishna. And, thus, we will march forward towards Krishna.
The problems, rather than being obstacles on the way, the problems will become accelerators on the way. They will push us forward towards Krishna. Because, we realise, with these problems, I need Krishna’s shelter.
And, thus, we can move towards a life of purpose and fulfilment, which will bring us far greater meaning, by which we will do far greater contribution than simply by trying to live problem-free. So, I will summarise. Seek not a problem-free life.
Seek a purpose-filled life. So, if a person is driving in a car, if they simply travel by the traffic and start choosing roads where there is no traffic, they might have an easy journey, but they will not get to any worthwhile destination. So, traffic in our life journey is like problems.
And, if we simply try to avoid problems, then we will not grow in our life. We will not achieve anything constructive in our life. And, if we have a purpose to achieve, then we will persevere even through the problems.
So, the purpose that spiritual wisdom gives us is, ultimately, we have to love Krishna and attain Krishna. And, whatever we do in this life, we do it in a mood of loving service to Krishna. And, quite often it is problems that make us come to Krishna.
And, that is good. Somehow or the other we come into Krishna. But, eventually, if we, if our relationship with Krishna is based simply on solving problems, then it is a very self-centred relationship.
And, that underutilises the potential of that relationship. Solving, removing our problems is one blessing of Krishna. But, Krishna’s greatest blessing is Krishna Himself.
Absorption in Him. Love for Him. If we are problem-centred in our approaching to Krishna, then three things happen.
One is, that if we feel that the problems can be solved without Krishna, then we just neglect Krishna. As is happening in today’s world where people feel we can get Artha and Kama without Dharma. God seems redundant.
If we can’t solve the problem without Krishna, we come to Krishna, we solve the problem through Him and then we say bye-bye to Him. Like a child who calls the parents, children who call the parents only to ask for money. So, instead of choosing the world as a means to approach God, we use God as a means to approach the world.
Instead of joining Krishna’s pastimes, we want Krishna to join us when we perform pastimes. And then lastly, if going to Krishna doesn’t solve our problems, then we start losing our faith in Krishna. So, the very nature of this world is because the resources here are limited and people’s desires are practically unlimited, everybody’s desires can’t be fulfilled.
So, when we are facing a problem and the situation is not being resolved, rather than, instead of making our relationship with Krishna conditional to the solving of the problem, we can focus on recognising that there will be some higher purpose that is being served through this problem. Just like, you know, carrying luggage and lifting weights in the gym, both, both is activity similar. But in one case, the activity, attitude is this is exertion, the other is exercise.
So, like that, if we see problems simply as an exertion, we’ll get frustrated by it. But if you can see problems as an exercise, an opportunity for spiritual growth, spiritual evolution, that means raising our consciousness from this world towards Krishna. Then the problems will serve as positive impetuses.
Now, when problems come, they come as if with a mental glue. Hold on to our mind and they paralyse us. The mind tends to eternalise the present.
And the problem of today is never too much for today. But the problem of today extrapolated on the rest of our life becomes unbearable even today. And this kind of extrapolation, we can avoid it if we have practised Krishna Bhakti regularly and we have trained our mind to focus on Krishna.
When the problem is hooking on to the mind, we can pull the mind off and fix it on Krishna. And one practical way in which we can do it, take our mind away from the problem and fix it on Krishna is by changing the question. Why is this happening? The why question is like hitting our head against the wall.
The resentment, living resentfully is like driving with the foot on the brakes. Just don’t move anywhere. And the how question opens doors.
How can I serve you Krishna? Even amidst the problems we say I can do one step, one step, one step, one step. We can keep moving one step forward. And eventually the problem which has come because of the past karma, it goes eventually.
So when the problems come, they have multiple causes. There is an intermediate cause, there is an intermediate cause, there is an ultimate cause. The immediate cause may be say this person is speaking like this.
I got this disease because of this mosquito. We can work at the immediate level to deal with it. But at the immediate level the problem doesn’t get solved.
We understand there is something more happening over there. At intermediate level some karma is coming over. Krishna is the ultimate cause.
And Krishna can shelter us from the problems that come at the intermediate level also. So sometimes he may shelter us by offering us the realisation that the problems which would have earlier causes to come, we can still stay strong by taking shelter of him. So we realise our own resilience, our own toughness by the connection with Krishna.
And that realisation of the potency of our Krishna connection is a far greater asset than simply a problem free life. So when problems come, like a child who is going to be beaten by the teacher, so material nature is going to give you some trouble. Krishna offers us the glow, that is his remembrance.
And the more we remember him, the world’s problems will hit us but they won’t hurt us. And when we are facing problems, we can meditate on Krishna Prabhupada’s sacrifice. If he had wanted a problem free life, he just had lived in Vrindavan peacefully chanting.
He wanted a purposeful life. And his purpose was to give all of us an opportunity to take shelter of Krishna. Just like a child who may find a medicine very bitter, but remembers how much the mother has sacrificed to get that medicine.
Then the sweetness of the remembrance of the mother’s love counters the bitter taste. Child takes that medicine. Similarly, when we are facing problems, if we remember how much Prabhupada struggled to give us the opportunity to practise bhakti, then we will not be so dominated by the thoughts of the problem.
We will take shelter of Krishna. Instead of telling Krishna how big our problems are, we will tell our problems how big Krishna is. And thus, we will not only go through problems, but we will grow through them and go to Krishna.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Are there any questions or comments? Like a class like you just gave, it is certainly given by a devotee was lots of realisations.
And Srila Prabhupada describes in one purport of the Bhagavad Gita that there is something like someone is having really the taste of Krishna consciousness and somebody else may just be licking the jar. So here is everything. It is there.
But the realisations may be lacking for one reason or another. So the question is, how can such a person who is like, he wants but he doesn’t have it yet, or to a certain extent he is not having it, relate to what the other devotee may see he could have. So what is to be done for such a person’s benefit? So he asked me about the question.
I will service to you. I’ll try to answer in whatever way I can. So the question is that, you know, if somebody is practising Krishna consciousness, but they are not getting the realisation.
So they’re like, as Prabhupada would say, licking the jar from outside, licking the jar from outside. So how can they go deeper and start getting realisations? Actually, there are many different aspects that are involved in getting realisations. One aspect of it is that the capacity to explain what one is realising or what one is trying to realise.
But otherwise, if somebody is just faithfully practising for many years, that itself indicates that one has some realisation. Otherwise, one would not be practising. So there is a capacity to express one’s realisation.
There is a capacity to internalise or assimilate realisations. So some people may have certain capacities which just come by past karma. Like some people sing very nicely.
That’s a gift from past karma. So like that, some people can speak nicely. But the test of our bhakti is our longevity.
If we are practising for a long time, that itself indicates that we do have realisations, without which we would not be able to continue. Along with that, we all need like-minded devotee association. That means that we all come from different backgrounds.
We all have different minds. And when we hear the Krishna Conscious presentations also, some ways of presenting click with us. Some ways of presenting don’t click so much with us.
So if we can find even one or two devotees who are like-minded, like-minded means basically they understand, they think like us. Now they understand how our mind works. And then they can explain things in a way which will click to us.
So that like-minded devotee association, because Swami says in the Bhakti Samhita, sa jati ashe bhagvat bhakti sadhu. Not just devotee association but like-minded devotee association. In that, the realisations come much deeper.
Because we are seeing Krishna from one perspective and somebody else is seeing Krishna from another perspective. They are seeing the same Krishna. But if their perspective is very different from ours, then their perspective is informative.
It is nice, we come to know about Krishna. But it doesn’t really help us to know Krishna as we are knowing Him. So if I am seeing Krishna from here and somebody is seeing Krishna from there, they are both seeing the same Krishna, but their vision of Krishna doesn’t enhance my vision immediately.
It’s more of an intellectual comprehension. It’s not a practical assistance. But see if I am looking from here and somebody is looking from here, then I can extend my vision, I can see how they are seeing.
So say if somebody is from a scientific background, and then I am from a scientific background, then if they present Krishna consciousness, they will present say logically, scientifically, that will connect with me. Somebody is more from an artistic or literary background, then the background doesn’t determine one’s advancement in spiritual life. But the background does determine how one perceives Krishna, how one connects with Krishna.
So often that we need Krishna consciousness to be understood and explained and shared in the language in which we think. Language is not just the language like English. Language is also the conceptual framework in which we think.
So I feel that like-minded devotee association helps a lot in deepening realisations, in stimulating realisations, in assimilating realisations. And a third thing I would say is that actually this is a little intricate. I wish I had a diagram to explain this.
Basically what do we mean by realisation? If say this is a soul, we get knowledge from shabda, we hear from scripture, from guru sadhu shastra. That is the knowledge that we get. And then we also live in this world and for that we use praktaksha.
Praktaksha is our senses. So we use our senses to perceive the world. And then realisation essentially means that we use our anuman, we use our intelligence, our mind’s faculty, reasoning faculty to harmonise our praktaksha with the shabda.
So realisation means that which is a reality, I understand it to be a reality. That which is a reality, when I understand it to be a reality, that is a realisation. So this world is a place of misery.
That is a reality. But if I look at the movies, if I look at the advertisements, if I look at people on the streets, I look at people going to party, I think they are enjoying life. So here what is happening? My praktaksha is dissonating, it is not resonating, it is dissonating with the shabda.
But then I don’t just look at those people when they seem to be enjoying, I look at the consequences. They are partying now but then they get hangovers after that. You see that they do this and each of their actions has consequences.
So when I direct my praktaksha in such a way that it harmonises with shabda and the reasoning that I need to do for that. So that is the anuman. Now anuman, we sometimes take a dismissal, it is guesswork.
But anuman can also simply be the reasoning faculty. So anuman that is directed according to shabda. When we do our reasoning according to scripture, that is called as vichar, that is contemplation.
That is scripturally guided reasoning and that is very valuable. So realisations come when we use our reasoning faculty to harmonise our praktaksha, our sensory perception with shabda, with scriptural revelation. So reasoning that harmonises sensory perception and scriptural revelation, that brings realisation or that comprises realisation.
So for example, say materialistic people and spiritual people, both of them may say youth is temporary. So the spiritualist will say youth is temporary. Therefore, practise Krishna consciousness, focus on the eternal.
Once I saw an advertisement in Kolkata. The advertisement was, enjoy before you become a dirty old man. So the fact was the same, youth is temporary.
But what has happened, the idea is enjoy immediately. So here the same fact is taken, but that fact is subsumed in a materialistic world. So when we all get experiences in our life, and if we can learn to train our reasoning faculty, by which we can see those experiences in the light of scripture, then that is what comprises realisation.
So realisation of course at one level come by the mercy of Krishna, but at the same time we can also strive to get realisations by evaluating our experiences, our perceptions in the light of scriptural knowledge. So by training ourselves to, this is what I went through, this is what I saw, this is what I heard, this is what I perceived with my senses. So this is my protection.
This is what I am experiencing as a reality right now. But how do I see it in the light of scripture? So when we harmonise our sensory perception with scriptural realisation, with scriptural revelation, then that is what brings realisation. So this kind of reasoning also if we train ourselves to do, then also realisations can come much faster.
So, that’s the small thing I can say. Thank you. Any other questions? I have to comment that, like what happens, like you said, explain everything, people hear something, they should work like this.
It’s still, people, normal people and even devotees, they don’t even know that they have a mind. They don’t even know how to use their intelligence and mind to do something. So they are lost.
So that, and second thing, second comment is, although Krishna is saying that we are spirit souls, most of the people who get kind of down with this thought, why he doesn’t do that, why she doesn’t do that, they think in terms of their false ego, material body, not spirit soul. So if people think that we have an intelligence, the mind, and whenever some problem occurs, something that we don’t like, we have to let the intelligence of the mind have a dialogue to, what you say, to realise properly. Correct, yeah.
That’s true, yeah. So most of us, when we are practising bhakti, we don’t realise that we have a mind and intelligence. That’s why we get consumed by the situation.
So what can we do about it? Yes, actually, it is, at least at an intellectual level, it is not so difficult to understand I am not the body. But to understand I am not the mind, it is much more difficult. And the reason for that is, at a practical level, say, this phone, it is outside me.
I can realise it is outside me. But my mind is inside me. We live with our minds.
We live in our minds, yeah. So we live inside. So what happens, whatever is inside me, I tend to think that is me.
So we identify with it much more. But if we go deeper into philosophical understanding, when I think because it is inside me, so it is me. But my reference point for me is the body.
From the body’s perspective, the mind is inside me. From the soul’s perspective, the mind is also outside the soul. So the mind is also external to the soul.
So usually, there are two, three things which we can do ourselves to start understanding that I am different from my mind. One of the things is that we try to do something which the mind doesn’t like to do. And one thing is chanting.
So at the time of chanting, sometimes we just, we are chanting and we just think, why do I have to do it? Sometimes chanting is such that on few days we get taste. And we feel chanting should never end. Just want to chant more and more and more.
Other days we feel chanting never ends. It is going on and on. Why is it not ending? So actually, when we just take the determination, I am going to chant Hare Krishna attentively.
And at that time, we’ll see, I want to focus here. And it’s going there. My thoughts are going here.
My thoughts are going there. My thoughts are going there. That time, we start realising, oh, there is something inside me which takes my thoughts away.
It’s like, say, if I am riding on a horse, and if I simply go wherever the horse is going, I won’t even realise that the horse has its own will. It’s only when I try to go in some direction and the horse starts going in the other direction, I have to pull. Then I start realising, hey, this horse has a mind of its own.
The horse is going elsewhere. So like that, just making a resolution to do something constructive, which is against the mind. That forces us to realise that there is something inside me which is not me.
So sometimes, devotees get disheartened when chanting, oh, my mind is wandering everywhere. At least, protesting that the mind is wandering is a step forward over wandering with the mind. And even we get that realisation that my mind is wandering everywhere, that also is spiritual advancement.
Because in the past, we were simply wandering with the mind. So another thing which we can do is just look back at our day and think of things which we later realise, I should not have done that. Most of the times, we may get angry.
Suppose we get angry and we just blast out. We just blast out things. And then suppose somebody else records what he spoke.
And then they play it back to us. How could I have spoken this? I never intended to speak this. Somebody said the tongue has no bones, but the tongue can break bones.
People get angry and they can beat us, or they don’t beat us. The tongue which has no bones, it can break hearts. Other people may feel hurt.
So then what happens is, if we look back and say, I never intended to speak this. What made me speak this? So looking back at our day and recognising the times when we did something which we didn’t intend to do, or which we intended not to do, that also helps us realise that there is something inside which is not me. So that periodic introspection, especially of actions which you did not intend to do.
Sometimes what happens is, we simply beat ourselves up. I was just a fool, I did that. But no, once you are beating yourself up, just introspect.
That means there is something inside me which is not me. So it’s like say, A, and third step is for dealing with the mind. We need to treat the mind like a child.
Although the mind can be far more dangerous than a child, but still, the mind is what we have to live with. Even if you say the mind is like an enemy, but still, I’m from India, so I give an example. For India, Pakistan is like a constant trouble.
But India has to live with Pakistan. So like that we have to live with the mind. We can’t do anything about it.
Actually speaking, if we have to understand that I have to live with the mind, then say, what do we do? We treat the mind like a child. A child’s feelings can’t be denied. A child is feeling like that.
But that doesn’t mean that the mother indulges in all the child’s feelings. A child says, Mommy, I want a chocolate. And the child’s teeth are getting spoiled.
And the mother will pacify the child without giving the chocolate. So what happens? If we just understand this mind is there inside me, it’s like a child. And I have to deal with it properly.
So the problem happens if the mother becomes sentimental and starts with whatever the child asks for. So like that, you know, we need to treat the mind like a child. But instead the mind treats us like a child.
The mind says, Do this. And we say, Okay, do this. I’ll do it.
But if we treat the mind like a child, then we’ll be able to evaluate. It’s feeling like this. I acknowledge I’m feeling like this.
But that doesn’t mean I have to act on that feeling. Say, if somebody unknown has come at the door, and somebody knocks at the door, the child may just go and run and open the door. But the mother says, Hey, don’t open the door first.
Let’s check who is there. So like that, any desire comes popping into consciousness, the mind says, Yes, let’s do it. But the mother says, No, let’s evaluate.
Should we do it or should we not do it? So like that, if we understand this mind to be like a child and make our intelligence like the mother, then we can, we can unresentfully deal with the mind. It is our mind. And over a period of time, as children grow up and mature like that, if we keep practising bhakti, the mind will also mature.
But we do need to do, start becoming internally vigilant to understand how the mind works. Otherwise, we get carried away by our emotions and we can’t move towards Krishna because the mind tends to choose the path of least resistance and it goes wherever it finds the easy way out instead of going steadily towards Krishna. And second point you made was about the problems which we face.
We don’t, we act at the bodily conception. We act at the level of ahankar, about ego, because of which we face the problems. Yes, that is true.
At the same time, it’s also important that we have certain roles in this world and we can’t deny those roles. Krishna tells Arjuna in 2.13th Bhagavad Gita that you are not the body or the soul. But right in the next verse, he tells Arjuna, He refers to Arjuna as Kaunteya, son of Kunti, and Bharata, descendant of the Bharata dynasty.
Now both these names are related with the body. Just now Krishna told Arjuna, you are not the body. And then he is referring to Arjuna by the body names.
Why is that? Prabhupada writes in the Barpur that belonging to a great family or a great dynasty brings responsibility with it. And so, we have a fundamental identity as souls. Along with that, in this world, we have functional identities.
I may be a mother, I may be a husband, I may be an engineer, I may be an IT professional, whatever it is. And we do have to function at the level of functional identity. So, if the functional identity can inspire us to bring out our best, then that is favourable to our bhakti.
So, if I am a mother, and as a mother I have to mature by helping my child to grow, then if that maternal response, identifying myself as a mother can help me to become more responsible, then that is favourable for our bhakti. So, our bodily identification is an obstacle if it blinds us to our functional identification. But if our bodily identification inspires us to follow the path of dharma by which we can rise towards the spiritual level of reality, then it can be favourable also.
So, especially if somebody is facing a problem and at that time we tell them, this is because of your bodily identification, it can come off as very insensitive. So, at that time, if somebody is concerned about their family situation, why are you identifying with your bodily identification? We can come off as very heartless at that time. So, at that time, philosophically it is true.
When Krishna tells Arjuna, you are not the body, you are the soul. Krishna tells Arjuna that people in knowledge are not attached to their family, they are not attached to their children, but then when Abhimanyu passes away, Krishna doesn’t tell Arjuna, I have forgotten the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna is actually very sensitive when Arjuna passes away.
So, the philosophy, we have to present it in a way, sometimes people’s emotions can bring them towards Krishna, sometimes people’s emotions can take them away from Krishna. So, we have to be careful that we don’t insensitively speak or think in such a way that their emotions push them away from Krishna. So, by being appropriately sensitive, we can make sure that even amidst their emotions.
So, I will give a simple example for this. Say somebody has passed away in somebody’s family. At that time, preaching means to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comforted.
So, afflict the comforted means somebody saying, I am very happy in my life. Prabhupada would say, what are you happy? He is going to old age, there is disease, there is death. So, if somebody is very troubled, somebody’s loved one has passed away, then we need to comfort the afflicted.
Actually, Krishna is our eternal shelter and Krishna is with your loved one also, wherever they are. Krishna is your Krishna’s guide. Take shelter of Krishna, pray to Krishna, so that you can help them.
Now, that is compassion. But instead, instead of comforting the afflicted, if we afflict the comforted, this loved one has passed away, everyone else will pass away like this. All relationships are temporary.
We will come off as terribly insensitive and we won’t help people. So, it is true that at one level our relationships are, there is body identification that is there and at the same time, how to elevate people from the bodily consciousness to spiritual consciousness, that requires maturity and sensitivity. Any other questions or comments? Or should we stop here? Very practical wisdom.
Thank you. Thank you very much. So, tomorrow I will speak on this same theme.
Seek not a pleasure-filled life, but a purpose-filled life. We have problems and pleasures, which can both act as distractions. Today I talked about problems as distractions.
Tomorrow I will talk about pleasures as distractions. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.