Seek not just to get better things seek to get better thoughts

[Congregation program at ISKCON, Milton, Canada]

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna Thank you for coming today evening. I am sorry I got late because of the weather and the traffic.
We are almost here but 25 minutes diversion happened. So, I will speak today on the Bhagavad Gita. So, I will speak on the Bhagavad Gita, the theme of how there is more to life than what meets the eye.
I will take the metaphor of a tree to illustrate this. Often when we use this there is more to things than what meets the eye. That means a person may be appearing to be a particular way but the reality is much more.
Like we have iceberg. We see a small part of the iceberg above but there is a huge iceberg below. So, this applies for everything in our life including our own very personality and our self.
So, if we consider a tree, the tree is something which we see all around us most of the times. And yet, when we look at a tree, what do we see? We see what is on the surface. We see the branches, the trunk, the leaves, the flowers, the fruits.
And many times we want to have the tree in our house or in the places where we are living but we don’t have the facility or the ability to provide the tree the roots. If they don’t have that space, then what do we do? We get artificial trees. So, the tree is something which is the attractive part is the visible part but the visible part cannot exist without the invisible part that is the roots.
So, if somebody wants to garden and while gardening they decide that not just grass, we want to have this, this tree, this tree, this tree. And they focus only on making sure that the leaves look good, the flowers look good. That’s what we want.
But how will that happen? That won’t happen unless the tree is watered. So, to get the visible, we have to nourish the invisible. Similarly, for us, when we look at others in the world and when we look at ourselves, at that time we see people how they look, how they talk, how they dress, what they do.
We see their externals. But beyond it all there is the root that is inside them, that is who they really are. And that reality is what shapes their satisfaction.
You know, our appearance determines our reputation. Our substance determines our satisfaction. If I dress very nicely, conduct myself very politely, have a respectable high-flying job, have a good house.
Appearance determines our reputation. Oh, successful person, well-to-do person, wealthy person. But it is our substance, what is inside us that determines our satisfaction.
We may or may not have the externals and still we can survive. But if we do not have the internals, then life becomes agony. Now, of course, the externals and internals are not unrelated.
But the important thing is that just as a tree needs to be nourished internally, similarly, we all need to be nourished internally. Now, we understand that below the appearance of the tree there are roots. Similarly, inside us, what is there? So, there is the body which we see, but beyond the body inside, as the Bhagavata says, there is the mind and there is the soul.
So, now, when we function in the world, we are nourished not just by the food that we eat, that is physical nourishment, but we are nourished internally by the thoughts that we cultivate. The body needs its own food, but our mind, our soul, it is contemplated, it is nourished primarily by the thoughts that we have. Now, sometimes, if our thoughts are very negative, this is going wrong, what if this happens, what if that happens, sometimes we wake up in the morning, but if the negative thoughts are going on inside us, then within just a few hours, we feel so burdened.
We feel exhausted. How many of you had this experience that when all kinds of thoughts are going on in the mind, even without doing much, we feel as if we are burdened. Isn’t it? Most of us have had this experience.
So, for us, if you see, if you are carrying a physical burden, then everybody sees, oh, you are carrying such a heavy luggage. Now, there are porters who carry heavy luggage sometimes. Most of us don’t carry much of a luggage, but physically, but all of us have burdens and this burden basically is ultimately, essentially the burden of thoughts.
So, we are nourished, we can be nourished by our thoughts, and we can be starved by our thoughts. So, in that sense, the internal nourishment is different. Normally, water, if we give it to the roots, the roots will flourish.
But if that same water is filled with poison or is filled with some toxic substances, then that will destroy the roots. So, similarly, our thoughts are what can either nourish us or they can destroy us, they can ravage us. Now, we, whenever we want to eat food, we just don’t, even our children, we can’t just go and pick up food from anywhere.
We want to make sure the food is hygienic, the food is healthy, and nowadays people are becoming more and more conscious of what kind of food I eat. So, the food we take in, we are often very careful about that. But the thoughts we take in, we are not that careful about it.
Whatever thoughts come in, we accept them. We don’t really discern is this thought good for me or not good for me. So, now, if we consider our thoughts, they come broadly from two sources.
One is from the external perception, and the second is the internal recollection. So, by thought, the word thought can have two different meanings. One is, I had a thought.
That refers to an event in our inner world. And second is, I have given this a lot of thought. That means, that is systematic, analytical contemplation, deliberation on a subject.
So, thought can have both these meanings. So, right now when I’m using the word thought, I’m referring to events that happen inside us. So, thoughts as an event inside us, that can happen in two ways.
We see something, we hear something, and that triggers some thought inside us. Or, we just remember something. And most often, whenever we analyse things, conceptually, the analysis is very smooth.
But when we translate concepts into reality, things become messy. Just like, say, if you consider a map of the country, India is here, Pakistan is here. Or, say, America is here, Canada is here.
On the map, the lines appear very smooth. But actually, if you go on the territory, it’s not that there’s always a fence on the border. Is this forest here? Does this river belong to this country or this country? Does this mountain range belong here or there? So, any kind of analytical framework that we use, the system of classification is called taxonomy.
When taxonomy is translated into reality, the neat conceptual categories don’t always appear in reality. But the conceptual categories help us understand. And then there’ll be some grey areas in between.
So, in real life, so I’m talking about this because I said thought can be stimulated either by external perception or internal recollection. Actually, however, thought involves both. Now, when we perceive something externally, at that time, it triggers some recollection internally.
And that’s how we experience something. So, somebody is a stockbroker and they’re sitting on a stock exchange. And then, the stock market is crashing.
The graph is just going down. They see that. They get almost a heart attack.
Now, somebody who has never been in a stock market, they don’t know what a stock market is. This line is going down. What is the big deal? What is the big deal? Why is everybody so worried about the line going down? So, for the person who is a stockbroker or those who know about stocks, the external perception triggers some internal recollection also.
And that’s how the two work together. If there’s no internal recollection, then the external perception will not have much effect. And sometimes, the internal recollection may come without external perception also.
But basically, we could say, for analytical purposes, the trigger for the thought, the thought itself involves both perception and recollection usually. But the trigger can be externally for perception or internally through recollection. So, when we are not discerning about our thoughts, then the thoughts that we take in, they often hurt us rather than helping us.
If you see the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna at one moment was just ready to fight the war. He was ready. His bow was appraised.
In his chariot, he was the foremost warrior of his kingdom, of his army. And then, some perception happened that led to some thoughts within him. And then within, if we consider the Bhagavad Gita, sometimes when we recite the Bhagavad Gita, at that time, if we consider one chapter, we can recite in about, say, 5-6-7 minutes, if we are habituated to reciting it.
So, first chapter has 47 verses. So, at the 21st-22nd verse, Arjuna is ready to fight. By the 46th verse, he just put aside his bow.
In 3 minutes, 3 minutes, he has lost his will to fight. To understand how serious it is, actually it is much more serious, but to give an example for us, suppose, say, there is a World Cup final. Say, India-Pakistan are playing.
And, say, the whole field is set, the spectators are there, thousands in the stadium, millions on television, and the batsmen go out to bat. And the batsman takes strike. And as he takes strike, the bowler is in the run-up, suddenly the batsman says, stop.
The batsman goes in the middle, calls a non-striker, and suddenly the batsman says, I can’t play this match. I can’t play this match. He puts aside his bat.
He says, what are you doing? You can’t give up like that. Isn’t it? Actually, a war is much more serious than a cricket match. But, for us, we can relate it, Arjuna’s change of change of stance, his change of action plan was so drastic.
So, what actually happened? Of course, there is specific, the specific perception was there. He thought, how can I fight against my relatives? And he had his own moral reasoning that he did. But the point was that externally nothing happened.
The warrior who could not be defeated by anybody else physically was defeated mentally by his own thoughts. And he put aside his bow, unwilling to fight. So, the Bhagavad Gita begins by demonstrating the devastating power of the inner world.
So, we see this in today’s world, as science and technology has progressed, we have been able to phenomenally improve things in the outer world. We have got, say, luxuries, which were unimaginable even for royalty a few hundred years ago. Air conditioning, or even cars, or telephones, telecommunications, internet.
These are unimaginable for people a few hundred years ago. And they are commonplace now. So, despite having so much comfort, there is an enormous amount of distress.
The distress currently is primarily at the psychological level. So, I was recently reading a book about Christianity and how it has evolved. So, this devotee gave me this book.
So, what this book says is that God responds to human needs. So, basically there are sociologists who had predicted that God is dead. Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher, and he said God is dead.
He said that the idea of God has been scientifically refuted, it is logically flawed, and no one will believe in God. And many sociologists had predicted that by the middle or later part of the 20th century, the concept of God will be rejected. So, the sociologists who raised questions, why hasn’t God died till now? Now, God is immortal, so He will never die.
But the idea was, they felt that people will think God is irrelevant. So, Ishwara Prabhupada explains that there are these four purusharthas. Does anyone know what are the four goals of life according to Vedic culture? Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.
So, we do religious activities, that is Dharma, then by that we get wealth. And then that leads to, we can get material pleasure by that, Kama. And then when we get this, then eventually, is there something more in life? Then we aspire for liberation.
So, Prabhupada says that people are primarily interested in Artha and Kama. And, if they can get it without Dharma, then they’ll feel what is the need for Dharma? So, through the progress of science and technology, people felt that we could become prosperous, we could get Artha, and we can fulfil our desires. So, that’s why they thought, if people are going to get Artha and Kama, then why do they need Dharma? Why is God needed? So, sociologists have predicted that religion will become obsolete.
But all over the world, there is a remarkable resurgence in religion. People may be materialistic, but still they are religious, whether they are India or even America. In the western world, America is considered to be the most religious country.
Because there are a lot of evangelical Christians who proselytise. And, similarly, although religion may not be dominating the way it was in the mediaeval times, but still significantly religion is there. So, why has this happened? Because there is a human need that is not fulfilled by science and technology.
So, God was traditionally conceptualised as a divine provider, the cosmic provider. The famous biblical prayer is, O Father, thou art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Give us our daily bread.
So, God has been now conceptualised in most, if you read the kind of sermons that Christian pastors give, the kind of books they write. So, now there is no need for God as a provider. Because we feel we can get the things that we want.
Of course, sometimes we don’t get electricity also. But most of the times, we feel by our own arrangements, we can get the things we need. So, God has been recast by Christianity not as the cosmic provider, but as the cosmic therapist.
So, there are Christians who say that the prayer, O Father, thou art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Give us our daily peas. So, people say, bread we will get on our own.
But peas, how will we get peas of mind? That’s what we want. So, people come to God primarily for peas nowadays. So, there is a lot of distress at the mental level.
And people, how can I become free from this distress? So, science and technology has found remarkable ways for improving the looks of the tree. We go back to the tree of life. But it has not provided much for nourishing the root of the tree.
And for nourishing that root, people are turning to various things. So, religion, spirituality, tradition, meditation, introspection, all these, by which they are trying to nourish themselves internally. No matter how hard we work to nourish, to improve things externally, still at our core, the things that we have, they matter.
But more than the things that we have, the thoughts that we have matter much more. If somebody is very wealthy, but somehow in becoming wealthy, they have quarrelled with others, they have alienated others, and then they are lonely. The thoughts that they have are of suspicion about others, aversion to others, negativity towards others.
Then, the things that they have can’t bring them much happiness. So, the whole western world’s propaganda, and India is not just western, India is also westernised, the whole material civilisation’s propaganda, materialistic culture’s propaganda is that the better things we get, the happier we’ll become. And yes, if we look at the correlation between wealth and happiness, there is a correlation.
Especially when people are below the poverty line, when people don’t have the basic necessities of life, then as their wealth increases, their happiness increases. But, beyond that, there is no clear correlation. Because, with respect to material things, we do need them.
We need food, we need money to get food, we need home, we need various material things in life. Sometimes people say, there are so many starving people in the world, why don’t you do something for them? Why do you just sit, chant Hare Krishna, discuss philosophy? Do something practical. Actually, whatever practical we do, everything practical originates in the conceptual.
All things are created twice. First they are created in the thoughts, and then they are created externally. We decide to do something, think, and then we act on it.
So, yes, it is a problem that many people are starving. And certainly, we also have midday meal, Food for Life, and other programmes which cater to the starving people. But, consider this, that when people are hungry, they are distressed.
But, is the converse true? Are all the well-fed people happy? Are all the well-fed people happy? No, they have their own distress, isn’t it? So, with respect to material things, the absence of those things causes distress. But the presence of those things doesn’t bring happiness. Is this point clear? That the absence causes distress.
So, if I don’t have health, if I have pain in the stomach, that causes distress. But if I’ve got health, that itself doesn’t guarantee happiness. So, there is a fundamental difference between what we live with and what we live for.
The necessities of life are not the purpose of life. Food is a necessity of life. It’s important.
We need it. We can’t live without it. Similarly, money is a necessity of life.
But the necessity of life is not the purpose of life. So, we need things to live in this world, but whereas the lack of things causes distress, the presence of things doesn’t bring happiness. It brings a little happiness for some time, but after that, it is our thoughts that determine whether we’ll be happy or not.
So, making our thoughts richer, making our thoughts more positive, that is as important, if not more important, than getting things. So, people work, the whole materialistic civilisations propagandise, improve the things that you have. Like, oh, you know, decorate your tree.
Let it look very, very good. In Christmas, people decorate the trees, you know. They want to make it very, very good.
But the Christmas tree, it can’t last for many days beyond Christmas. Why? Because there are no roots over there. It is put in a pot over there, and it will stay for some time, and after that, they have to discard it.
Now, we can beautify the tree, but unless we nourish the tree, no matter how beautiful we make it, it won’t last for long. So, getting things is like beautifying the tree. But getting good things is like beautifying the tree.
But getting good thoughts is like nourishing the tree. So, now what do we mean by good thoughts? Where do we get these good thoughts from? Now, the we can have, people say, always think positive. Whenever there are problems, look at the positive things, which is good.
If there is a glass of water here, and say, if it’s half empty, I can say, why do you think of negative? Look, it is half full also. So, that is positive thinking. So, generally, negative thinking, we can say, is a source of negative thoughts.
That is true. And positive thinking can be a source of positive thoughts. At the same time, say, if I want to drink water and the glass is empty, tell someone, please fill this glass.
Why are you so pessimistic? Just think that the glass is full. Now, if a glass is half empty, to say that it is half full is optimism. But if a glass is empty, to say that it is full is not optimism.
That is stupidism. So, there is positive, if there is some reality, we look at the positive, we can look at the positive, we can look at the negative. So, it’s better to look at the positive than look at the negative.
But, if the reality itself is negative, at that time, denying the negative reality is not positivity. Okay, it’s… Well, I didn’t want water. Thank you.
It’s full. Thank you. Thank you.
So, denying the negative reality is not positivity. If some reality is negative, say, for example, there is no water or there is no light. Imagine all this light.
That is not positivity. That is stupidity. Now, of course, when the negative reality is there, obsessing over the negative reality is also negativity.
Oh, there is no water, there is no water, there is no light, there is no light, there is no light, there is no light. So, that is also undesirable. But, we have to accept the reality and then look for the positive.
Positivity doesn’t mean denying the negativity. Positivity means accepting the negativity and then looking beyond to the… See what is positive in this. So, now, at the level of… at the material level, there will always be dualities.
So, sometimes the trees are flourishing and green. Sometimes the trees are… all the leaves have fallen down. They just look barren.
So, like that, in this world, we have sometimes happiness, sometimes the stress. Or, as a Bollywood movie was titled, Kabhi Khushi, Kabhi Gum. So, we have this at the material level.
Now, what Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita is that, go beyond this material. In 5.20 in the Bhagavad Gita, he says, don’t get delighted when you get good things. Don’t become dejected when you get bad things.
When you get the pleasant, don’t get delighted. And don’t get dejected when you get the unpleasant. So, now, it’s interesting what Krishna is telling.
He’s not saying that we have to imagine that there is no pleasant or unpleasant. Yes, that some things are pleasant and some things are unpleasant. We acknowledge that.
It’s not that, say, if we are eating some food and somebody has made sweet rice and there is no sugar in it. It doesn’t taste good. How is it? It’s delicious.
Now, you may say, I am being polite, but you are not really being helpful over there. You can tell and somebody can put the sugar and make it better at that time. So, we can’t deny the reality that we experience with our senses.
Some things will be pleasant and some things will be unpleasant. And Krishna is not telling us to deny it, but Krishna is telling us to not get carried away by it. Yes, some things are pleasant, but don’t jump up and down in joy when you get them.
And some things are unpleasant, when you get them, don’t just sink into dejection. Now, how do we avoid that? Make your intelligence fixed. Asam mudho.
Mudha means deluded, a foolish person. Asam mudho means one who is not deluded. So, make your intelligence fixed so that you don’t get deluded.
And what do you do after that? Brahmavit brahmani sthitaha. Brahmavit. Become situated at the spiritual level.
Know the spiritual reality and don’t just know the spiritual reality, but become situated in that. Brahmani sthitaha. So, A, if we want positive energy, if we want positive thoughts, if we keep our consciousness at the material level, so, if we work, if our consciousness stays at the material level, then there is sometimes positive and sometimes negative.
And then we won’t have any enduring source of positive thoughts at that time. But if we take our consciousness deeper to the spiritual level, then at the spiritual level, there can be positivity. Just like the roots, above the tree might be having leaves or it may not be having any leaves.
It may have flowers or it may not have flowers. But underneath, the roots are strong. The roots are strong, then even if the dry, even if the season when there are no leaves are there, the season will end.
And leaves will grow again. Similarly, if we are rooted in spiritual reality, then even if negativities come in our life, we will not be that affected. They will come, we will tolerate them and they will go.
So, therefore, the important thing is that we give so much energy to improve our thoughts. If you want to purchase a new cell phone, we think so much. Okay, this cost this much.
These are the specifications. These are that much specifications. Maybe I should purchase this.
And then we ask so many people. And when we want to get one thing which is better than the previous thing or which at least we hope will be better than the previous thing, then we put so much energy in making sure that it is good. So, similarly, if you put even some amount of energy in improving our thoughts, then that will improve the quality of our life enormously.
So, the process of spirituality is understood by different people at different levels. Many people equate the mental with the spiritual. That means anything that makes them feel good, they say it is spiritual.
So, some people go to a top of a mountain and they look at the scenery, they look at the sky, they look at the river, they look at the valley, they feel peaceful. It was such a spiritual visit. That’s what they say.
Now, maybe it was spiritual, maybe it was not. For them, they equate spiritual with anything that makes them feel good. Anything that gives peaceful thoughts, anything that gives calm thoughts, anything that prevents agitation of the mind or decreases the agitation of the mind, that’s what they call as spiritual.
So, now, here, there’s an important difference to understand. That inside us there are two levels of reality. There is the mind and there is the soul.
And what is connected with the soul is spiritual. Now, where do thoughts come from? Do they come from the soul or the mind? Mind. Okay.
Okay, from the soul. What kind of thoughts? Okay. It’s a good question.
Now, earlier I said thoughts come from external perception or internal recollection. So, what do I mean by this? See, again, the power to think, the capacity to have thoughts comes from the soul. Without the soul being present, no kind of thinking is possible.
But the tool that is used for thinking is the mind. Just like right now I’m speaking, the speaking ability is coming from the soul. But if my throat were spoiled, then I would not be able to speak.
So, we could say at one level the speech comes from the mouth, from the throat. At another level the speech comes from the soul. So, now that means we could say that there is the source of thinking and the source of specific thoughts.
The source of the thinking power is the soul. But the stimulus for specific thoughts can be from various places. So, when we want to improve our thoughts at that time, what can we do? We can work at various levels.
We can work at the physical level, we can work at the mental or subtle level, and we can work at the spiritual level. Most people, when they want to calm down their mind, I don’t want so much agitation of the mind, then they may go to a peaceful place, go to a mountain, go to some hill station and they feel peaceful. Many times, even people who are materialistic, who may not be really religious or spiritual, even when they come to a temple, they feel good.
There’s something about this place which makes me feel peaceful. They sense something about it, they don’t know exactly what it is. So, often to get more peaceful thoughts, more joyful thoughts, we may change our physical location.
And that also helps. In fact, that is required. Because our thoughts are significantly influenced by our externals.
Suppose a person is an alcoholic, and they want to give up alcohol. If their house happens to be right next to a bar, then the chances of them giving up alcohol is very very less. They may, I’m not going to drink.
But everybody has their weak moments. And in the weak moments, if the facility for indulgence is readily available, they’ll succumb. So, in that case, change of externals is necessary.
So, to change our internals, change of externals is almost always necessary. And, it is almost never sufficient. If somebody doesn’t actually change their internals, they don’t give up the desire to drink alcohol.
And even if they are 100 miles away from a bar, still they will travel those 100 miles and drink. So, change of internals is also required, no doubt. But change of externals helps.
So, it makes the transition, the transformation easier. So, that’s why, coming to a temple, coming to spiritual programmes, reading the Bhagavad Gita or having a temple room or a temple place in our own home, this kind of external arrangement also helps. It’s vital.
So, right now, in the tree metaphor, we are talking about nourishing the tree, providing the healthy water. See, one thing is, if we don’t eat food, we’ll become weak. But with respect to thoughts, it’s not like that.
We are always thinking. So, we are always chewing on some thoughts. And if we are not careful enough to have positive thoughts, we’ll have negative thoughts.
So, normally, nobody will knowingly take poison. Nobody will knowingly take food that is going to harm them. But for us, we are always thinking.
And if we are not thinking, we are not choosing our thoughts so that they are healthy, quite often they will gravitate towards becoming unhealthy. So, we need to make sure that at an external level, at least we have some time, some place where we can get good thoughts. So, that helps.
Then, second, there is even materialistic people that the need for some external source of good thoughts, even materialistic people recognise this. I used to write in the Times of India in the speaking tree column. That was one of the first spiritual columns in Indian newspapers.
So, when I started writing over there, I corresponded with the editor and I asked her, how did Times of India get this idea of having a spiritual column? So, that editor showed a very interesting reply. In fact, they have written in the foreword of their book also in the speaking tree. She said that, actually, most of the news in the newspapers is about three things.
It’s death, destruction and deception. This person has cheated this one. This scam over here.
This damage has happened. And this person died. She says, most of the news agitates the mind.
She says, we wanted one part of the newspaper which will pacify the mind. So, having some external sources of positive thoughts is important. But along with that, at the mental level, as the people go to a peaceful place, they feel peaceful.
But it’s not necessary that even at a peaceful place, people will be peaceful. For us, when we go from a city to a village, to some natural setting, we may be peaceful. But people who live there, they are living there with their minds.
And for their mind, this is a normal place. So, they don’t feel so peaceful over there. They have their own routine anxieties.
They have routine problems. And their mind is often filled with negativity. So, actually, at the level of the thoughts, our thoughts are based on certain impressions that we have cultivated over there.
So, everything that we do, especially everything in which we invest our consciousness, that shapes us in a way that it creates impressions within us. And the impressions in our consciousness, or we could say in our mind primarily, the past impressions in the mind become the present propositions. So, somebody, say, there are two people who, one of their house is here and their office is here.
In between, there is a bar. Now, one person has never drunk. He just passed by the bar.
They don’t even notice it. Somebody has drunk. As soon as they pass by the bar, maybe I should drink.
No, I shouldn’t. So, what happens? The past impression becomes the present proposition. If there is no past impression, then there is no present proposition.
Similarly, if in the past, for whatever reason, we have always been worrying, we have always been irritable, we have always been resentful of others, if we have been having negative thoughts, then those negative thoughts will come to us again. At one level, we could say that the modern society has provided a lot of good things to us. But unfortunately, it’s not just that it has provided us good things.
It has also provided us an expanded vision to see all the good things that other people have. So, if a person, if a person grows in their life and if somebody is living in a village and they work hard, they rise in position, they get, after 20-30 years of working, they become elderly or middle-aged, they get a respectable position in society. And they get a certain level of satisfaction by that.
The village is like a small pond. And just by living in that village in a reasonable way, they become like a big fish in a small pond. And in that way, they get some satisfaction at the material level also.
Okay, I’ve got this position, I’ve got this, I’ve got that, I’ve got that. But through the expanded reach that technology has provided, the whole world becomes our pond. And then no matter how much we succeed, we always see people around us who are much, much more successful than us.
And therefore, the increased access provided by technology actually ends up becoming a cause of negative thoughts. Oh, I’ve got this new phone. And then I’m happy with my new phone.
But then an advertisement comes up. Oh, you know, this newer phone has come. Oh, you know, my phone doesn’t have this feature.
Now, even the features that are there in our phone, we don’t use them right now. But oh, my phone doesn’t have that feature. And we feel bad about that.
So, because the whole world has become our pond, now, no matter how big we become, we remain a small fish in a big pond. And that’s why we stay dissatisfied. Now, negative thoughts simply means that oh, you know, I don’t have this, I don’t have that, I don’t have that, I don’t have that.
That causes dissatisfaction. So, on one side, technology, although there are improved things, it has also given us greater vision of improved things. Because of which, whatever things we have, we don’t feel satisfied with that.
So, I was just doing a programme in Denver. I was talking about how our satisfaction, it can be it can be based on our understanding or it can be based on social situations. Sometimes, some students, I was giving the example that when I was in college, one of my friends, he had he had not prepared very well for his exam and he was hoping that he would just get some decent marks.
And the results came, he got good marks. It was actually probably the best result he could have got with that kind of preparation that he had done. And he was quite happy.
But he was happy going around and then suddenly one of his what do you call in English? Frenemies. You know, friend come enemy. We have like that, frenemies.
So, one of his rivals just asked him, how many marks you have got? And he had got more marks than him. And just knowing that all his happiness went away. Now, based on his preparation, the marks he had got was good.
But as soon as he started comparing with someone else, hey, my marks are not good enough. So, in a sense, because we live in a society, the comparison is unavoidable. But if you obsess on the comparison and if you offer the whole world as a reference point for comparison, then we just can’t be satisfied.
I was at a mental health care clinic in New Jersey and I was talking with, I gave a talk to the mental health counsellors over there and they were telling that a lot of mental health problems come because of comparison. So, they said that a lot of young girls, you know, they become depressed, they become suicidal and they did a survey. They found that one of the things that makes young girls depressed is looking at fashion magazines.
You look at other people, they look so attractive and you feel, I don’t look attractive at all and they get depressed by that. So, now, here what has happened? It is simply comparison. And actually, when you look at fashion magazines, it is not that the people actually look like that.
First of all, they do a lot of make-up and then after that, there is a lot of physical make-up and out of that, there is digital make-up. And then after that, those images come up over there. So, what has happened? By having the whole world as a reference point, people just end up feeling dissatisfied.
Sometimes, people put some students, they put some some provocative or funny quotes on their T-shirts. So, I was at a programme and one boy had a quote on his T-shirt. He said, 90% of the world’s girls are beautiful.
The remaining 10% are in my college. Now, how does he know what 90% of the girls in the world are? His idea is shaped on what he has seen in the movies, the models, the advertisements. Now, when we have this this doctored reality or doctored depiction of reality, as compared to that, the actual reality will always seem pale.
And in this way, the technological progress has, on one side, not provided any way to improve our thoughts, but actually maybe intentionally or unintentionally, it has become a source of negative thoughts. Because we compare so much with this person, that person, that person, and that makes us dissatisfied. So, therefore, the world is not, the way the world is going, it’s not going to change.
It is going in a particular way. So, it is for us protecting our mental health, it is our responsibility. If we just, in an unrestricted way, keep taking in inputs from the world, they will cause negativity.
In many countries, they have rules which do not allow companies to make advertisements for small children. You know, that, okay, this toy, this game. Children are very small and they don’t understand the difference between what is real and what is advertised.
So, now, actually, whether adults also understand the difference or not, that is open to question. The point is that, just as it’s recognised in children, they just look and say, oh, this is good, I want it, I want it, I want it. So, like that, our mind, we may grow up physically, but our mind is still like a child.
And if we give the mind unfiltered access to the world, then it will simply take in things from it, take in ideas from it, take in thoughts from it, which will make us feel bad. Which will make us feel, oh, I’m not good enough, I don’t have good enough things, I don’t have this good, I don’t have that good. And thus, the negativity within us will increase, the dissatisfaction within us will increase.
So, in the Bhagavad Gita, in 17th chapter, Krishna says that satisfaction is an austerity of the mind. manah prasada samyatvam maunam atmanigraha bhava samshuddhirityeta tapo manasa mucchate. That manah prasada, satisfaction is a choice that we have to make.
It’s austerity of the mind. Austerity means, if you consider physical level, I feel like eating, but I’ll not eat. That’s an austerity.
So, austerity of the mind means that there are certain things, if you look at them, that will cause us dissatisfaction. Certain things, if you look at them, that will bring us satisfaction. So, we have to consciously choose to look at the things that provide us satisfaction.
So, if we look at all the things we don’t have, we’ll never know satisfaction. If we look at the things that we do have, that will make us satisfied. So, the impression, I was talking this point about, the mind has impressions.
And currently, so many impressions of the things that we don’t have, get imprinted in the mind. That that creates the proposition, buy this, get this, get that, and just feel dissatisfied by that. So, we have to filter, we cannot close our eyes and walk in the world, but it is not just every perception causes an impression.
It is when every contemplation causes an impression. We perceive a hundred things, only when we dwell on them, then that causes an impression. So, if we want to change the way our mind thinks, we have to change, we can’t just change one one thought.
From the past impressions, the negative thoughts are, certain kinds of thoughts are going to come in. But we make a conscious decision. This thought, I will not dwell on.
Oh, you know, your phone is not good enough. Oh, your house is not good enough. Oh, you are not earning enough.
So many thoughts will keep coming. The nature of the mind is that even if it takes us to, even if we go to paradise, the mind will say, yes, but… And the classic example of this is Hiranyakashipu. He had everything that he wanted, but still he was not satisfied.
So, we need to change the impressions in our mind. So, when people think, I’ll go to a peaceful place and I’ll become peaceful, that is good. Or people may say, okay, you project, you sit in your home and you project, oh, I am in nature, I am seeing the sky, I am feeling the wind, I am hearing the sound of the river flowing by, I am feeling peaceful, I am feeling peaceful.
Yes. This may make us feel peaceful, but it’s only for a short while. Because the cause of the agitation is not just the stimuli around us.
The cause of the agitation is the impressions within us. And those, changing those impressions requires purification. Just like at a physical level, if I have a disease, I can take a painkiller and it can help me feel better.
But I also need to take a curative medicine by which I’ll be cured. Similarly, just trying to go to a peaceful place or imagining a peaceful place, that may give us some peaceful thoughts. But the cause of the agitating thoughts, the cause of the mental distress is not just what is around us.
It is what is inside us, the impressions inside us. So, they will make us agitated again. Therefore, what we need to do is, purify those impressions.
And that purification is done by Bhakti. Bhakti involves connecting our consciousness with the supreme reality. It is the all-powerful and all-pure reality, that is Krishna.
And the more we get our consciousness to dwell on Krishna, the more we become satisfied. The more we connect with Krishna, that connection itself brings satisfaction. And the more we have an attraction to Krishna, the more the connection becomes natural and continual.
So, that’s why the process of Bhakti Yoga, we chant the holy names, we worship the deities. Yes, we can do it. Krishna, please provide me this thing or please give me relief from this.
That is good. Krishna can act as a cosmic provider. Krishna can also act as a cosmic therapist.
But, that is Krishna providing for us at the physical level or at the mental level. But Krishna is ultimately neither a provider of material things nor a provider of peace. Krishna is ultimately a deliverer from this world.
And He delivers by He delivers us by delivering to us attraction to Him. When He gives us attraction to Him in His heart, in our heart, then our mind becomes absorbed in Him. And when we are absorbed in Him, then wherever we are, we can be satisfied.
Actually, Prabhupada was like that. When he came to America, he had nothing. In fact, many people when they come to America, whether it’s for a career or whatever, it’s a risk for them.
You know, what are they going to do, where are they going to live? But at least some career prospect is there. Okay, I’m going to do this job or America or Western world, wherever we want to go. So, when Prabhupada came, actually, materially he did not have much possessions.
But at least in India, he had the recognition that he was a sadhu who was respected by people. Vrindavan, he was considered respected as sanyasi. Even in Delhi, he could meet the Prime Minister of India, he could meet the President of India, he could give them his books.
So, the pious culture meant that he was respected. But when he came to America, he literally had nothing. Not only did he not have any material possessions, but he did not even have any position in the culture that he came to.
But, he was having Krishna with him. And if you look at Prabhupada’s life, there were so many reversals. He tried to start a business and it just didn’t work out.
He tried to actually start many different businesses at different places, but it didn’t work out. Then he tried to do many things spiritual. He tried to run a magazine, it didn’t work out.
He tried to work with his godbrothers, that didn’t work out. He tried to write his own bhagavata commentary, somehow that book just disappeared. So many things went wrong.
But Prabhupada, even when people met him, the first thing that they said, you know, he seems so serene, so deeply peaceful and joyful. Because when Prabhupada came to America, what did he have to attract people to him? He did not have any material possessions. Even his speech was highly accented.
It didn’t get attracted. His content was great, but they were not attracted. But it was Prabhupada had Krishna.
And because of having Krishna, he had inner wealth. He radiated peace, he radiated joy. I agree with Prabhu, when he met Srila Prabhupada for the first time, it was amazing.
Prabhupada, because he was in America at that time, he just did not know, normally when we have to do some programmes, we do some publicity. Nowadays we do publicity online, we call people. Now Prabhupada had no money, no contacts.
So Prabhupada used the oldest method possible to man for publicity. What was that? Just go around for long walks. And he was quite an unusual sight on the streets of New York.
At that time, in America, Indians themselves were unusual. And an Indian wearing something which looks like a blanket around their legs, that was quite a sight to see. So Prabhupada was just walking on the streets in the Lower East Side and then he looked around and he saw one bearded man looking at him.
That was actually Howard Wheeler. He became High Guru Prabhupada later. So this Howard, he had actually gone to India in search of God.
But somehow, not in search of a Guru. But he found that those Gurus who seem to be spiritual, they didn’t know English. And those who knew English didn’t seem to be spiritual at all.
They just seemed to be more like priests, wanting money, wanting donations. So he just came back disappointed. So he was walking along the streets and he was planning to go and take some drugs.
They were going to take LSD. So as he was going there, he suddenly saw this Swami. He, what is this? So he looked at it.
He thought, maybe have I already taken a drug? Am I seeing some illusion? Then a truck came by. The truck came by. He thought, maybe Swamiji will be there still.
The truck went by and he thought, oh, the Swami is still there. Another truck came, looking carefully. And now he saw that Swami has stopped and he was also looking at him.
And then he waited. Then he crossed over the road. And he asked, are you from India? He said, yes.
And what about you? He said, I am not from India, but I have been to India. And as they started talking, sometimes when we are on the road, a big vehicle goes by. So, at that time, even if we know it’s family, the big vehicle causes some some disturbance.
We are just a little taken aback. But he said, Swamiji was just, his hands were on his beads and he seemed not only not of the Lower East Side, he seemed not of the world. He was just there, but he was there, but he was rooted in another reality.
And he was just immediately attracted to Prabhupada. And that’s how, actually, the Krishna Consciousness Movement started. On the footpath of the Lower East Side, through that meeting.
Till that time, all the people whom Prabhupada had met, none of them were very serious. But Howard and he had a whole group of people who were spiritual, who were spiritually inclined. They started off.
So, the point I am making here is, what attracted him to Prabhupada was Prabhupada’s serenity. So, it was not his, his serenity did not come from his possessions. It actually came from his spirituality, from his devotion.
So, for us, if you want to improve our thoughts, connecting our thoughts with Krishna is the most enduring way of getting positive thoughts. That beyond whatever happens in this world, Prabhupada’s faith was that Krishna is with me and Krishna will guide me. I am following my spiritual master’s instructions.
Krishna will guide me. So, the Bhagavad Gita’s message is that surudham sarva-bhutanam that Krishna is the well-wisher of all living beings. He is always there with us and no matter what bad things happen in our life, if we think that Krishna’s purpose, my purpose of being devoted to Krishna is so that bad things will not happen in my life or even bad thoughts will not come in my mind, that may or may not happen.
The nature of this world is bad things may happen to us. The nature of the mind is bad thoughts may come within us. But even among those bad things and bad thoughts, Krishna is still there with us.
And if we turn towards Krishna and if we connect with Krishna, then even amidst that negativity, we’ll find positivity. The positivity of Krishna will be there with us. And we can’t always avoid pain in life.
Painful things will happen. They will cause painful thoughts within us. But even if we have to live with pain, we don’t have to live in pain if we are living with Krishna.
Live with pain means there’s a problem and I have to live with this problem. I can’t get rid of this. You know, I have this relationship issue.
I have this professional issue. I have got this health issue. I have got this financial issue.
That may not go away immediately. We may have to live with pain. But live in pain means that that painful thing just consumes our consciousness.
That is all just keeps coming again and again and again in our mind. And it just dominates us. And it overwhelms us.
It paralyses us. But if we are connected with Krishna, if we are living with Krishna. See, Krishna is always living with us.
But we are not living with Him. That means our consciousness is not connected with Him. But by the process of bhakti, when we learn to live with Krishna, then the pain will be there but the pain will not dominate our consciousness.
Yes, I am aware this problem is there and let me see how I can deal with it. I pray to Krishna. Even if the problem is not solved, Krishna will give us the strength to deal with the problem.
So, that way, If you become conscious of me, Krishna says, we will pass over all obstacles by my grace. Just like when a tree’s roots are nourished, even if the tree’s surface, above the ground, is going through a very dry phase, there are no flowers, there are no fruits, there are not even leaves, the tree looks totally bare. But if the roots are nourished, the tree will flourish again.
Sometimes in our life, things may go wrong. And it may appear like our life is falling apart. We may appear like a barren tree.
But if we are rich internally, if we are nourished internally by our connection with Krishna, that barren phase will go. And again, the richness of life will become manifest externally also. But more importantly, the richness of life will always be there with us internally.
And this is what the Bhagavad Gita’s message did to Arjuna. It transformed his perception by which he understood that Krishna is with me and if I just serve Krishna, everything will work out right. That’s why at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna told Krishna, karishye vachanam tava.
I will do your will. I will do your will. So, similarly, by understanding the Bhagavad Gita’s message, if you can get this conviction, Krishna, whatever happens, please give me the strength to serve you.
Please give me the ability to do your will. Then we will have, through that connection with Krishna, an enduring source of positivity which will help us overcome all the negativity that life may send our way. I’ll summarise what I spoke today.
I spoke on the topic of use of the tree of life, considering life, understanding our life by comparing with the tree. The tree is having good looks externally but doesn’t have good roots. It can’t be nourished for long.
So, modern society with its progress in science and technology has made the tree look very good. It has improved the externals. But internally, there is so much psychological distress.
There is so much inner dissatisfaction. So, our happiness is determined not just by the things that we have but primarily by the thoughts that we have. We are very careful about the food that we take in.
But we are often quite careless about the thoughts we take in. The thoughts may come in from external perception or from internal recollection. Usually, both combine together to create thoughts within us, to trigger thoughts within us.
And, just as lack of food can drain us, negative thoughts can completely drain us. So, we need to… The whole world tells us improve things and you’ll become happy. Yes, we can.
Things are necessary. Lack of material things causes unhappiness. But the presence of material things doesn’t necessarily bring happiness.
It just removes the unhappiness. And then, after that, whether we’ll have happiness or not depends on whether we have good thoughts or not. So, how do we improve our thoughts? For that purpose, we discussed how to work at the physical level, at the mental level, at the spiritual level.
Externally, going to a peaceful place is good. But if the mind is agitated, that is not going to help much. So, change of externals is almost always necessary for change of internals and is almost never sufficient.
And, if we go to not just a place that gives us positive thoughts, but a place that gives us spiritual thoughts, thoughts connected to the supreme spiritual reality, Krishna, that is real positivity. Otherwise, denying the negative reality is not positivity. Saying that an empty glass is full is not optimism, it is stupidism.
Obsessing over the negative reality is pessimism. But accepting the negative reality and then seeing how I can deal with it, that is realism. So, the Bhagavad Gita tells us that we need to nourish our roots.
So, what happens at the surface? Don’t get elated when good comes, don’t get dejected when bad comes. Become spiritually situated. At the level of the mind, we may get pacification by going to a peaceful place or by going to a, by just projecting our thoughts to a peaceful place.
So, that is good. But what causes agitation is the impressions within the mind. So, just thinking of a peaceful place is like a painkiller for the mind.
It helps. But the cure is that we don’t, we need the mind to not just be peaceful, but it needs to be pure. So, the attachments to the external that are there in the world, that is what makes us dissatisfied.
So, technology has improved things, but it has not improved thoughts. The opposite, the increased access to the world provided by technology makes us compare with the whole world. Instead of being satisfied by becoming a big fish in a small pond, no matter how big we become, still we remain, the whole world as a pond, we remain a small fish.
That’s why we stay constantly dissatisfied. So, this increased reference point for comparison is one major cause of dissatisfaction and distress in today’s world at the mental level. So, satisfaction is not just a feeling we have, it is a decision we need to make by consciously choosing to look at the good things in our life.
And the best thing that is there in our life is Krishna. To the extent we connect with him by the practise of bhakti, to that extent we will live in the shade of his love for us. So, God is earlier thought as a provider.
He will provide us material needs. But when material needs come without God and God didn’t go away because people felt that we need peace. So, God was seen as a provider or as a therapist.
But God is ultimately a deliverer. Deliverer means he delivers us from material consciousness by delivering himself to us. By giving us attraction to him.
When we become attracted to him by the practise of bhakti, by the cultivation of devotion, then wherever we may be, whatever situation we may be in, we will be satisfied. We will be internally rich and we can share that richness with others. Prabhupada had that internal riches.
He did not have physical possessions. He did not even have a reputation. I started by talking about how our things determine our reputation.
Our appearance determines our reputation. Our substance determines our satisfaction. Prabhupada had that substance of connection with Krishna.
And that’s how he enriched the world. Similarly, for us, in our life, sometimes negativities may happen. We may have to live with pain.
But we don’t have to live in pain if we are living with Krishna. Our consciousness is connected with Krishna. We’ll acknowledge the pain, but we’ll see that beyond that pain is the bigger loving reality of Krishna’s plan for our life.
And we will try to do our part in that plan by praying to Krishna. Please, let me do your will. Please guide me how I can serve you.
Give me the strength to serve you. And that attitude of service will be the enduring source of positive thoughts which will keep us internally satisfied. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna. Do we have time for questions? Any questions or comments? I talked about the intelligence. Now, in respect to the tree, the tree metaphor, how do you talk about the intelligence? The subtle body is differentiated primarily in terms of functionality, not structure.
Just like in a computer software, if you have the software like the mind, the hardware like the body, the soul is like the user. So, in the software we can have a virus and we can have an antivirus programme. Both of them are software only.
The difference is not in the code. Both of them are codes. But it is the way they function that is different.
So, mind, intelligence, ego, they are all structurally similar but functionally they are very different. So, if we say that the mind is like a undiscerning source of thoughts. That means, say, if our computer is connected to the internet and we are just browsing.
It connects or if we have a TV, it takes in this channel, this channel, this channel, this channel. Now, which channel we want to watch, which channel we don’t want to watch. The computer is just a neutral receiver.
Whatever comes, streams in, it will take it in. But then if we have some other programme, you know, if we want only family friendly channels, we don’t want any other channels. Then that is another programme over there.
It’s filtered. I don’t want this. So, basically, the mind will take in impressions without any discrimination.
The intelligence is what discriminates. Do I want to take this in or do I don’t want to take this in? So, if the intelligence is not working, then indiscriminately impressions will come in and that will cause problems. So, the whole talk which we had was about, was essentially meant to nourish our intelligence so that we learn to discern.
So, it’s like there’s a software already there but it’s not so active. There’s one software which is just going to take in the information that is already there. So, like some people just put in a pen drive and first you have to filter whether the pen drive has any virus or not.
Otherwise, we can’t take it in. So, sometimes if there’s no filter, then it may just take in and it may be a problem. So, for most of us, we have a filter.
All of us have an intelligence. But, it’s like sometimes an anti-virus programme is there but somebody has turned it off. So, for most of us, we have intelligence as a faculty but that intelligence is not usually functional.
So, we need to make it functional by repeatedly, by hearing scripture. And what happens is that there are some if suppose there are some anti-virus, some viruses, they actually in order to corrupt a computer they first, they have some trigger within which they disable the anti-virus. That’s why the anti-virus software also have to keep getting patches regularly.
Otherwise, the viruses work against them. So, like that, even if we hear classes, we have the intelligence but after some time, what happens is, this gets dead end. So, we have to keep hearing again and again.
So, we don’t have to update our intelligence but the intelligence, we just have to sharpen it. It just gets blunted. So, to the extent we sharpen it, to that extent, it will help us to function properly.
Okay. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Yes.
So, for practising you are practising devotional like a sadhaka. You are practising, practising but sometimes as you are practising, sometimes you feel that we are trying to stay away from negative thoughts but sometimes negative thoughts become stronger and stronger like I guess Maya tries her best more and more with us. Sometimes it becomes like an itch.
You have an itch. Can you explain what negative thoughts become stronger? Let’s say sometimes you see a devotee. You might see a devotee who is advancing more and yet he is you are doing the same thing but he is advancing more and you start getting negative thoughts.
Or sometimes let’s say you might be mentored by someone and you are doing it one way and the person is doing it another way and then there is a conflict. Okay. So, the question is that it’s like as you are practising more and more you feel that sometimes you have an itch.
You try to stop that itch from scratching it but that itch becomes more and more so you try to stop that thought. How do you at that moment because the senses are so strong as Gita says they carry the mind like the wind carries the boat. How do you stop at that moment? Yeah, it’s true.
So, suppose negative thoughts come during our spiritual practise we feel that another devotee is advancing more or another devotee is doing a service in a different way and we would like to do in a different way. So, just the practise of devotional service in the material world because of the interactions here can bring some negativities. So, if that is happening then what do we do? First thing is that it is very difficult to stop a thought.
The thought is there, it is going to be there. What we can do is we can choose whether to pay attention to that thought. In the mental world it is almost impossible to not think of something.
When I do workshops on this topic of managing our thoughts sometimes we do a thought experiment. All of you for the next 30 seconds please don’t think of a pink monkey. In your whole life you may never have thought of a pink monkey.
But as soon as you don’t think of a pink monkey Oh! Pink monkey. So, it’s like at the physical level say if I touch this laptop and there is a current over there, I will not touch it. So, physically we can choose not to touch something.
But mentally we cannot choose not to think of something. Because to think of something decide to not think of something is already to think of that thing. Because in a sense if you consider thought as an energy Okay, I am not going to think about this.
I already thought about that in saying I will not think about this. So, basically if some thought has come up, we can’t stop the thought. But what we can do is, we can choose whether to pay attention to it or not.
And thoughts we could say, I like children. Sometimes children make some strange faces. I just want to make a show.
And I want to catch attention. The more attention we pay, the more faces they will make. But if we just don’t pay attention, nobody is paying attention, they will become quiet.
They may cry a little bit, but afterwards they will become quiet. So, like that, with respect to thoughts, say some envy is coming towards someone, anger is coming towards someone. We cannot wish it away.
Okay, yes. Okay. My mind, instead of saying, I am feeling angry, just that we don’t even say that I am feeling angry.
We become angry. But if we just say that my mind is saying you are feeling angry. Instead of letting that I am feeling angry, the mind is saying you are feeling angry.
The mind is saying I am feeling angry, whichever way you want to use it. If we just preface the thought with the mind is saying, that itself creates a distance. It’s like say, sometimes you want to give some, somebody has given say, we are friends with a person B. We are A and B and C has spoken something very negative about B. And we have to tell that.
Somehow it’s our duty to tell that. First is, what I am saying are not my words. So, we try to create a distance.
Similarly, instead of, okay, I am feeling, I am feeling depressed. The mind is saying I am feeling depressed. If we just preface that, that now the mind is saying doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be rejected.
But it doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be accepted. It’s like if I tell you something, you may do it, you may not do it. You will evaluate your intelligence.
Similarly, when a thought comes in the mind, especially a thought which is not the healthiest thought, at that time, it takes some time. But if you train ourselves, the mind is saying this. Krishna says in the 14th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, when, how to deal with the more diseases, become observer of your consciousness.
Observe the thoughts coming and going. So, if you just learn to preface, the mind is saying this person is so proud. This person is so proud.
Instead of saying that, the mind is saying this person is so proud. Oh, the mind is saying. Do I accept it? So, this way, it may not happen immediately, but even afterwards, if we do something, if we become angry with someone, we do something wrong, but afterwards, instead of simply beating ourselves up, why did you do that? Okay, you know, the mind at that time said this to me and I accepted it.
Next time, I will be more careful. So, we can’t wish away the thought, we can’t drive away the thought. It’s just like say, if a person, if say, this C is speaking negative about someone to me.
Now, I can’t gag C. C is going to speak that. But I can choose how much to dwell on that. Similarly, the mind is going to speak that and at that time, okay, this mind is saying this, acknowledge it, but there’s no need to act on it.
We turn our thoughts towards something more positive, something more important for us and do that. And then gradually, or later, when we are in the mode of goodness, normally in the rush of life, we are usually in passion, sometimes in ignorance. So, at that time, we can’t even discern whether this thought is good or not.
Now, sometimes when I say I am angry with someone, now there may be actual reason for being angry also. And sometimes, we don’t want to shout at others, but sometimes some situations call for assertive action. But if at that time I do it, I will do it impulsively and it may have unwanted effects.
So, at that time, acknowledge it is there. Then later on, try to come to the mode of goodness. When I am in the mode of goodness, at that time, reflect and then decide how to act.
Decide how to deal with that situation. So, the mind’s feelings can’t be rejected or eliminated. Mind’s thoughts can’t be rejected or eliminated.
But we can choose whether we need attention or not. And sometimes, when we are calmer, this is just like a rumour. This person said this.
Oh, this person said this. I don’t want to pay attention. Maybe it’s an actual thing.
Let me find out. So, with our intelligence, we will evaluate. So, to the extent, we can learn to become an observer of our mind.
To that extent, we will not get carried away by it. That’s why I write on the Gita every day on gitadindra.com. So, one of the articles I wrote is that don’t identify with the mind. Identify the mind.
So, what the mind is saying, I am saying it. But that is the mind saying. And then evaluate it after that.
Sometimes, some grievances are genuine and they need to be addressed. So, we can’t just repress the feeling of the mind also. But just because we can’t repress doesn’t mean we have to immediately express.
Better that we learn to process ourselves and then decide the actual course of action. The right course of action. Thank you.
Yes, Mataji, you had a question? Okay. We’ll come back to you. Okay.
Yeah, please. So, Professor, you said that you have created a mental universe and there are a lot of girls, a lot of mental children. So, that’s why I am asking you that how to raise a child who doesn’t have a single bit of spiritual inspiration? How to raise a child? Complete the things.
Okay. The child is already an atheist? Already an atheist. Okay.
Even if, like, provided the child has been provided with a lot of, you know, stories, figures, all these things, that do not help. Okay. So, if a child is becoming an atheist, then how to help that child in a spiritual way? Yes.
There is an American thinker, Mark Twain. He said that when I was 15, my father was a fool. Now I am 25 and I am amazed at how much the old guy has learned in the last 10 years.
So, sometimes there is a phase that people go through. So, in the teenage, there is rebellion. It’s just a normal phase of growing through.
So, what happens when people are children? The children at that time, their identity is I am the son of so and so, I am the daughter of so and so. When they become adults, they have their own identity. You know, I have this degree, I have this job, I have my family.
Now, in the teenage years, they are too old to be satisfied with being identified simply as the child of someone. But they are not old enough to have their own identity. So, it’s quite a turbulent phase psychologically for them.
So, at that stage, they may just go through some phases and sometimes the atheism might just be an assertion of one’s own independence. My parents are spiritual, I want my own identity, I am my own person. So, I don’t want to do that.
So, if it’s just a reaction, then the more we force, the drive for that atheism is a rebellion. And the more we try to give them spiritual impressions, the more that will fuel the rebellion. So, sometimes it might just be, okay, hands off.
We have to see that sometimes, see, we all have various relationships and we are relational beings. But we have to make sure that we don’t identify ourselves with any relationship too much. Now, all our relationships define us.
But our defining identity has to be our relationship with Krishna. I am a servant of Krishna. As a servant of Krishna, I am the mother of so-and-so.
As a servant of Krishna, I am the wife of so-and-so. As a servant of Krishna, I am the sister of so-and-so. So, if my defining identity becomes I am the mother of so-and-so and the child starts going on the wrong track, then I start feeling my whole life has become a failure.
And then, we are not just reacting to what they are doing, but we are reacting to our own sense of failure, our own insecurity. And then that prevents us from dealing with them the way they need at that time. So, we have to see that our security has to come from our relationship with Krishna.
And Krishna also says, So, we do our duty as parents, but if the child doesn’t become a devotee or doesn’t become spiritually minded, that is between that child and Krishna. We have to do our part and we not be detached in the sense of being hard-hearted, but detached in the sense that we don’t become insecure because of that. It’s not that it’s not necessary that we have done something wrong.
Of course, there’s always room for improvement for everyone. But we shouldn’t if we start thinking, my child going wrong is a personal failure for me, then we become, our own insecurities become too involved in that issue and then we can’t deal properly. So, having said that, we have to find out okay, if they’re saying they’re atheists, then what is that, what are the atheists about? I mean, what is, recently I was at a college programme, after that one boy told me, I’m an atheist.
I said, okay, what is the, what is the conception of the God that you don’t believe? He said, I don’t believe in any God. Fine, but what is the conception of the God that you don’t believe? What is the God that you, I said, I don’t believe in a God who sends people to hell forever if they don’t surrender to him. I said, then I’m also an atheist.
I also don’t, I also don’t believe in that God. So, often atheism is a reaction to certain conception or certain experiences. So, if you try to understand their experiences, okay, you know, okay, why are they atheistic? Rather than judging them, just try to understand them.
And then sometimes they may need the right social group. In the teenage years, children are very vulnerable to peer pressure. So, if they’re hanging out with an atheistic crowd, that’s what may affect them also quite a bit.
But if they become friends with some other children or other kids who are devotees or at least a little spiritually minded, that can also be a positive influence on them. And generally one human being can influence another human being only in three ways. We can provide knowledge, we can give facilities, and we can set example.
That means, if you do this, this will happen, if you do this, this will happen. If you want to go this way, this is the facility for that. And I’m also going this way.
So, knowledge, facilities and example, this is the three things only which we can, by which we can influence someone else. Now, if they are, if we are doing this, we can think, how can I do this more? And if they accept it, good. If they don’t accept it, then we pray to Krishna and we make sure that our love for them is not conditional to their spirituality.
You know, we always love them as parents. Now, of course, love doesn’t necessitate approval. We can, see that, there are certain things we disapprove about.
But there didn’t be a constant constant atmosphere of disapproval over the whole relationship. We still love them. We still care for them.
And we have made our preferences or our principles clear to them. And then in their due course, they will take it up. I have seen many devotee kids go through phases of aggressive rebellion.
But after that, Krishna has a plan for them. There was one devotee couple in Pune. They were wonderful devotees.
Both of them were counsellors. Their daughter became a, at a very young age, she became a devotee. She also took initiation.
But their son went through a huge rebellion. And one time he told me that he went to a, at that time, many years ago, decade or so ago, Michael Jackson had come to India for the first time. So he had gone for that concert.
Paying a lot of money, braving the crowds. He finally got there. And while he was in that concert, as the concert started, he suddenly struck him and said, this is just noise.
This is just noise. He said, something just fell within him. He said, the simple Kirtana temple is sweeter than this.
He said, what am I doing here? And then that just transformed him. He came back to the temple and he has become a serious devotee. Now actually he has become a preacher who does more programmes than his parrots.
So Krishna has a plan. Sometimes we, we think that we are solely responsible for our children. We want to be responsible but ultimately they are connected with Krishna.
So sometimes you can directly help them by our guidance, by our example. Sometimes they may grow to a phase where we can’t help them directly. Then we pray to Krishna.
We try to maintain our devotion and we maintain the relationship as well as we can. Then gradually Krishna within their hearts will guide them. Thank you.
Do we have time? Okay. Maybe after that you can have prasadam and also you can talk with me if you want. So what does it mean to mentally nourish good thoughts? Basically it means that we, when I talk about austerity of the mind, satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
That is basically at the mental level. That means certain thoughts will pop up within us. Okay, I have got a good house.
For my need it is a good house. But the mind will say, oh, he has got a bigger house than you. And that will make me dissatisfied.
I have got a phone that is good enough for me. Oh, he has got a better phone than me. So at that time we consciously choose to direct our thoughts towards the good that is with us.
So austerity of the mind means focussing on directing the thoughts towards the good. That is nourishing at the mental level. Nourishing at the spiritual level means we direct the thoughts not just towards the good but towards God.
Yes, please. So on the same topic, when we talk about mind, I understood mind is a tool and soul is different than mind. Then who is responsible for generating thoughts? Mind or soul? Who is responsible for generating thoughts? There are two different things over here.
It is there is the stimulus and there is the source. Let’s take a simple example for this. Say if I come into a room.
I feel full. But then I see a gulab jamun over there. I want to eat it.
So now, the gulab jamun, it is the stimulus. But the source, the stimulus, the trigger from outside is the gulab jamun. But the source, you could say in the sense of it’s I who am the source.
Let me take another example to illustrate this. I gave the example of two people walking along by a bar. The stimulus is there for both of them.
The bar is there for both of them. But somebody who is an alcoholic, they get triggered. The non-alcoholic doesn’t get triggered.
So thoughts in that sense, the thinking capacity, the source of the thinking capacity is the soul. But the stimulus for specific thoughts can come either from the outer world or it can come from the impressions within the mind. So, in that sense, you could say for all practical purposes, thinking at our level happens through the mind.
Thinking, the thinking capacity comes from the soul. Without the soul, nothing will happen. It’s just like I am working on my computer but the computer pops up something.
Say, I go on YouTube and watch a video. At that time, 10 other videos come as suggested videos. And I click another one.
I click another one. So now, we could say that if I was not watching the video, nothing would be happening on the computer. So, in that sense, I am the initiator of the activity on the computer.
But the specific activity that happens on the computer, in terms of, okay, I watch this video, so which videos come up again, next. That is determined by the computer software. So, now I can choose to act according to software, I can choose not to act according to software.
That is up to me. So, we could say that the thoughts, they primarily come from the mind. The thinking capacity comes from the soul.
And if we are not very careful, then we let the thinking capacity go along with whatever thoughts are coming in the mind. Like if I am just bored and I just want some break, whichever video pops up, I keep watching it. But if I am purposeful, you know, okay, I want to do this, now I want to do this work after that.
So then, our thinking capacity can be directed more constructively. So, even when I am going to direct my thinking capacity more constructively, at that time also I am going to use the software and the hardware. So, at that time also I am going to use the mind.
But, there is a difference between the mind using me and I using the mind. So, we purify mind, not soul. Yes, we purify the mind.
The soul is always pure. The soul is sacchitananda always. But the soul is contaminated by the coverings of the mind, basically.
So, thank you very much. Prabhupada Ki Jai! Gaur Bhakta Brinda Ki Jai! Gaur Premananda Ki Jai! Ki Jai!