Seeker within achiever without

[Talk to Tech Employers at Hartford, USA]

Video:

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, I am grateful to be here amongst all of you.
Am I audible behind? So, I will speak on the topic of seeker within, achiever without. And I will start on an autobiographical note somewhat. This is how all of us, we all want to achieve a lot in our life.
And about 25 years ago, I was an engineering student and I was studying in one of the top engineering colleges in India. I had dreams of coming abroad, making it big in life. So, at that time, one of the students who was like a model for me, two years senior to me, he was also, I did electronics and communications engineering.
So, he had also done the same. So, he was a university topper throughout all his eight semesters. And when he passed, when he graduated, I use the word passed out in America and people think he has fainted.
So, it’s a usage in India. So, when he graduated, at that time, he got the highest paying job in the history of our college at that time. So, he was considered to be a hugely successful person.
At the same time, I knew him reasonably well. He was a brilliant person. But he was a chain smoker.
And somehow I asked him, we got a little close. I said, why do you smoke so much? He said, it helps me think. I can’t think without it.
And he just took it nonchalantly. But unfortunately, in the first six months, when he was working at that job, he was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. And he soon succumbed.
So, it was at that time, it was one of the incidents that made me think that he was an achiever. And he was much, much more intelligent than what I was. And yet, I couldn’t understand why he couldn’t understand that he was actually hurting himself.
And eventually he was killing himself by smoking so much. So, that made me think that we want achievement outside. But often there is something inside us that sabotages us.
Along with achieving a lot, I also wanted to contribute something to society. So, I had a lot of faith in the power of education. So, when I was in my college, at that time, I joined a social welfare organisation.
And we used to go to slums near our college. And we used to offer free tuitions to the kids over there. So, we used to teach English, history, mathematics.
And most of these kids came from dysfunctional families. The fathers were alcoholics. And there’s domestic abuse in the homes.
So, I was talking with them and I started feeling, okay, I’m trying to help them create a better life for themselves. But with all this drama and trauma in their lives, their homes, how much is my help actually going to help them? So, then our organisation decided to diversify into anti-alcohol campaigning. And we started giving talks on that and getting experts.
So, one of my friends would go to a nearby village. And he, along with several volunteers, succeeded in making, it’s a small village, making the village dry, help everybody to become free from alcohol. And we considered that a great success for us.
Unfortunately, a few days later, I would go to the slums and he would go to the village. And he came back and he looked shattered. I asked him what happened.
He said that the previous weekend, there had been local municipality elections. And the political candidate who wanted to be elected in order to get votes had brought three truckloads of alcohol and given it free to everyone. And not only the fathers, but even the sons had drunk.
So, that time I started thinking that through education, we are trying to open doors to a brighter life for others. But it’s not just that we need to open doors by providing knowledge, but there is something inside which stops us from moving forwards, from walking to the doors that may be open for us also. And these two experiences made me realise that something more was needed.
I could say that those relatively less educated people, they were succumbing to the self-destructive force within them because of their lack of education. But then here there was a student who was not just well-educated, he was a topper in a top college. And yet he also succumbed.
So, that was the time I started exploring the inner world, trying to understand what is there inside us. I studied different spiritual books till I finally came across the Bhagavad Gita. Of course, I had heard about and glanced through the Bhagavad Gita in my childhood, but I had never read it seriously.
So, when I started reading it this time, the third chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, I found a verse that jumped out to me. There, the question is asked, what is it that makes people act self-destructively? What is it that makes us act self-destructively even against our will, as if by force? Oh, I’m talking about these examples of others being victimised by a self-destructive force within them. But I was, myself was not immune.
I was infamous for my short temper. And many times I sabotaged myself by getting angry over small things. So, when I read the verse, it spoke to me, but I couldn’t really figure out what the answer was at that time.
It took me time when I eventually met people who were studying the Gita, teaching the Gita, and who were from a background like me, that I started understanding what the Gita was saying. So, in a sense, while trying to be an achiever without in the external world, I found myself becoming a seeker within, to understand what stops us from being effective achievers. And I’ll share a couple of metaphors to illustrate what the Bhagavad Gita’s teaching is about this.
So, the Bhagavad Gita says that our current existence is three-dimensional. The body, mind, and soul. This, if we compare it to a computer system, is like the hardware, the software, and the user.
The hardware is the body. And this is being taken care of at an incredible level by today’s scientific and technological progress. Today we have comforts which were unimaginable for people even a few centuries ago.
Air conditioning, air transport, mobile communication, internet connectivity, these are commonplace in today’s world. So, at a physical level, we have so many comforts. But at a mental level, something seems to be seriously wrong.
Mental health problems have shot up like never before. And as mental health problems have shot up, more and more people are succumbing to the self-destructive force within them. Perhaps the most extreme example of the self-destructive force is the act of suicide, where whatever be the specific situations that may frustrate or even break the morale of someone, ultimately it is the mind that is killing the body.
The mind that is making the person kill themselves. Last year, I had come to a mental health care centre here in America, and in New Jersey, and I spoke to the mental health care providers over there. And one of the health care providers, he was in suicide intervention, on the suicide hotline.
So, he told me that he had got a call. There was this girl, she had committed suicide. She had taken the pills.
And then she thought, no, I don’t know, she had called. So, fortunately, the ambulance was nearby and she was saved. But what prompted her to do that? She was in a relationship with some boy, and she had called that boy.
And the boy didn’t pick up the phone. And just because of that, she ended up committing suicide. That is not just because of that, but it is from that a whole story started within her.
Maybe he doesn’t love me. Maybe he’s with someone else. Maybe nobody will love me in the future.
All my friends will be in relationships, I’ll be alone. People will feel pity for me. And what is the use of living a pitiable life like that? Let me end my life.
So, from one incident of someone just not responding to a phone call, how often does it happen that we don’t respond to other’s phone calls? Others don’t respond to our phone call. But from that, that can become a trigger for someone. And a whole story can start off within, a whole horror movie can start off within.
And a person may end up committing suicide. So, essentially, at the level of the software, the self-destructive impulse that is there within us, that is like the, we could say a virus contaminating the software. So, we are providing more and more for the body.
And at the physical level, we are providing comforts. But the mental level, there is more and more agitation. So, to understand what this mental level is, I’d like to do a small thought experiment.
So, all of you, wherever you’re seated, you can be comfortable and you can close your eyes. After closing your eyes, you can take three deep breaths with me. One, two, three.
Now, with your eyes closed, try to see what you see in front of you. Because your eyes are closed, you can’t see what is physically in front of you. Yet, it is as if there is an inner screen inside you.
And this inner screen is having various images coming and going. You may see an image of this room, or of your home, or an image of your office, or an image of your car, or an image of a loud one, or an image of your phone, or you may see various images coming and going. Or you may just see a dull haze of colours over there.
Whatever you see, you see on an inner screen. Now, while you’re looking at the inner screen, try to take a step back and catch sight of who it is that is looking at the inner screen. Try to find the inner seer who is looking at that inner screen.
Try once again, take a step back and try to catch sight of the inner seer. No matter how many steps we take back, the inner seer steps back with us. What we are looking for is what we are looking with.
That inner seer is you, the spiritual essence, the soul. The inner screen is your mind. You can take one deep breath, and then you can open your eyes.
Thank you. Normal perception happens when the inner seer, the inner screen, and the outer scene are in one line. So, if you’re looking at me, I’m looking at you.
Now, normally the inner screen works like a window, and it helps us to see what is outside. However, this inner screen is very versatile. At any moment, it can suddenly change into a TV, and it can start showing us images from various places.
During my tours in America, I was at a friend’s home, and he had this big window, and you press a remote, and that window turns into a TV screen. So, at one moment, we’re looking out of the window and seeing the greenery, and the next moment, there was a huge gorilla looking out. It’s scary.
And then we realised, it appeared as if that gorilla is just outside the window, about to come in. But that gorilla was not outside the window. The gorilla was actually, with the remote, you press the button, and then instead of it acting as a window, it starts acting as a TV screen.
And when it acts as a TV screen, it can show us anything and everything. So, our mind is also a versatile inner screen. Normally, when we function, it acts as a window by which we can see the outer world.
But at any moment, it can change into a TV, and it can start showing us a horror movie. So, the two broad mental health problems that people face in today’s world are depression and anxiety. Now, in terms of this metaphor of the inner screen, we can say that when the inner screen starts becoming a TV and starts showing us pictures from the future, this may go wrong, that may go wrong, that may go wrong, that may go wrong, then we get overwhelmed by anxiety.
We may even get an anxiety attack. So, the inner screen goes into the future and starts showing all worst case scenarios of what may happen in the future. It is said that worry is like the interest that we pay on loans we haven’t yet taken.
So, we have not, the problem has not yet come. But still, we are worrying about it. Now, of course, it is important for us to plan for the future.
But in planning for the future, it is we are in control, like the remote is in our hands, and then we decide, okay, if this happens, what can I do? If this happens, I can do A, B, C. If this happens, oh, I’ll have to plan about it. Maybe I can do this, this, this. So, when we take the inner screen to the future, and look at the future, that time, we think object calmly, and we feel more prepared for the future.
But when the inner screen goes off itself, without our conscious awareness into the future, then as we keep seeing one negative scenario, another negative scenario, another negative scenario, we just start feeling more and more disheartened, more and more demoralised, more and more panicky. Conversely, when this inner screen goes into the past, and starts showing us all the things that have gone wrong in our life, oh, this person let you down, or this project failed. Now, here, you made this mistake.
Here, that went wrong. And as it keeps going up to the past again and again and again, that causes depression. Depression happens when we keep looking back at all the things that have gone wrong in our life, and we think, oh, this is going to happen again in the future.
The future is going to be more of the same. So, basically, the Bhagavad Gita explains that this inner screen, we need to become expert managers of that inner screen. Udharet ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānaṁ avisādayet ātmaiva ātmanobandhur ātmaiva ripurātmanahā In the sixth chapter, fifth verse, the Gita says that we should elevate ourselves with, we should elevate the self with the self and not degrade the self with the self.
For the self is the friend of the self, and the self is also the enemy of the self. Now, here the word self is used in a dual sense. What appears on the inner screen, we often identify with it.
And when we identify with it, we get carried away by it. That’s why sometimes we may wake up after a good night’s sleep, and we may feel fresh and energetic. But if our mind is replaying this problem, that problem, that problem, then within a few hours, even without doing much work, we start feeling tired.
So, what has happened, our energy is sapped by all the negativity that is being displayed over there. And it is being displayed on the inner screen, but we are identifying with it. And the more we identify with it, the more we get carried away by it.
So, the first step in self-awareness is to understand that the self, is to become aware that the self is differentiated. Everything inside me is not me. Everything inside me is not me.
There are thoughts, images, ideas that come inside me, but they are just thoughts, images, ideas that are there inside. They are not necessarily mine, nor do they reflect who I am. Just like if we are staying in this, we are right now in this office, in this room.
Now, anybody may walk into this room. Now, we will note who is coming in, but we do not identify with that person. They are different from us, we are different from them.
So, the Bhagavad Gita urges us to become observers of our inner world. And by becoming observer of the inner world, understand what, which of the thoughts inside are important and which are not important. In general, we take our thoughts too seriously.
The word thought actually has two different meanings. Sometimes in cartoons, you may say, I got a thought, you say a light or something like that, I got a thought. Now, when I say I got a thought, that means it is a unit or it is a stimulus for the start of some activity inside us.
It just pops up within us. But the word thought can have another meaning. I have given this a lot of thought.
So, in the first case, it just, thought refers simply to the stimulus for inner activity within us. Whereas, second case, thought refers to serious systematic contemplation. So, many thoughts will come up within us.
And not every thought that comes up within us deserves a lot of thought. If we are in a particular neighbourhood, many people will come and go in that neighbourhood. It is not necessary that we have to go and meet and talk with everyone of them.
But when we do not, when we are not inner seekers, then we may misidentify with a thought, even if it is not very important. Suppose, we have a multiple choice exam. Now, in a multiple choice exam, there is no guarantee or reason why the first option has to be right.
The first option could be right, the second could be right, the third, fourth, whichever one could be right. So, similarly within us, there are many thoughts that come up. But if we are not very discerning, then the first thought that comes up, we identify with that.
So, our minds, they have the capacity to project ideas and images about various things. So, now, going back to the example of this girl who attempted suicide, the stimulus was that this boy did not respond to the phone. But now, for all of us also, it may happen, somebody may not respond to a phone call.
But in her case, that one stimulus started off a horror movie. So, inside the mind, which thought will start off which thought train, which momentum of thoughts will go on, that is something which if we are not careful about, then we will get carried away by that. So, that is why not every thought deserves a lot of thought.
Not every thought needs to be attended to. Some thoughts are just incidental, passing, they come, they stay there for some time and they go. So, another thought experiment to illustrate why every thought does not deserve thought.
If you have your phones, can you please take out your phones? If you do not have, does not matter. And do not look at the phone, just take it out. So, now, you can hold the phone in your hand and say to yourself, I cannot lift up this phone.
You can say to yourself, I cannot lift up this phone. I cannot lift up this phone. Say that to yourself, and lift up the phone.
I cannot lift up the, say that to yourself and lift up the phone. Now, actually, I can’t lift up this phone. What has happened? It is, it becomes heavier, okay, thank you.
No, it may become heavier if we just repeat this thought again and again. But the simple experiment, the first step here is, we can have a thought and that thought may be completely untrue. Just because I say that I can’t lift up this phone doesn’t mean I can’t lift it up.
Now, if the thought keeps getting repeated again and again and again, that may be a different thing. So, thank you. Now, here, I will use another metaphor to illustrate, going back to the software example.
Say, if you are working on a computer, doing some work and suddenly we get a notification. You got a new message from a friend on Facebook or you got an update on Twitter or whatever. If you are doing some very urgent, deadline-bound work, say, okay, that is there, but I won’t attend to it now.
If what you are doing is not very important, then okay, let me look at this, let me look at that. And now, usually say, if somebody has sent a YouTube video link and you start looking at the YouTube video, we are looking at one YouTube video, another, it gives five or six suggested videos. Now, imagine if there was software, say, if you are reading one article, and normally if you are reading one article, there are many links to related articles.
Imagine if there was software which, while we are reading one article, and we just glance at another article to look at the title. And suppose that software could sense where our eyes are, and based on that, that link would open up. So, you are reading one, look at that, that link opens up.
You are reading that, we look again, that link opens up. Just one after another, after another, we just get carried away by that. There is one boy in Thailand, I read that he was surfing on YouTube, and he surfed continuously for 71 hours.
He forgot to eat, forgot to drink, and finally he fainted, and he crashed on his computer. His neighbour was there, he came and took him to the hospital, that’s how he survived. So what happened over here? One video, one video, one video, just got carried away by it.
Similarly, inside our mind, there are various images that are coming. There is one thought that is there, but along with that, there are many links which are there. For example, right now you are hearing this talk, but at the same time, say, if you hear the sound of the door opening, now we will process it immediately.
If you are expecting someone to come, then you may turn around and say, oh, who has come now? But if you are not expecting anyone to come, then, okay, listen, the door is open, somebody must have come in. So normal functioning is, we can be aware of many things, there is something in the foreground and something in the background, many things in the background. And if we are aware and conscious, then the important things stay in the foreground and the unimportant things, they stay in the background, we don’t focus on them.
However, things don’t always work this way. When we are not very discerning, then inside us, while we are focussing on one thing, some other link comes up, we pay a little attention to it, and the mind is such a thing that one thought comes in, we give it a little thought, it opens up, it zooms out and occupies our consciousness. So when we are doing our work, say, working at our desk, and suddenly the boss passes by, and then the boss gives us, we see a strange look in the boss’ eyes, and what’s going on? Am I going to be fired? That’s why he was looking at me like that.
Oh, but if I’m fired, what will happen? How will I pay my mortgage? Where will I stay? If I don’t have my house, I’ll have to find another house. What if I can’t find another house? If I can’t find another house, then I’ll be on the streets. Oh, but if the streets are so cold.
Right now, we may be feeling cold because it’s a lot of AC. But we are thinking, oh, it’ll be so cold outside, if I have no home and no job. So what has happened? One link can open up and can just carry you off in a terrible direction.
So, now, some mental health problems can be because of chemical imbalance or structural damage to the brain. But most mental health problems, they happen because we are unable to process what is going on inside us. And inability to process is not a character flaw.
Inability to process whatever is happening inside us, it is just a, it’s a circumstantial trait that we have. Some people can lift a lot of weight. Some people can’t lift so much weight.
So everybody can build their muscles and they can become stronger. Similarly, some people may be internally very alert, and no, this thought, no need to pay attention to it right now. Let me focus on this.
But some of us, we may just get carried away by our thoughts. So unless we seek within for that which is the most important for us, we will not be able to focus constructively. And whatever we could achieve, we will not be able to achieve if we keep getting carried away by unimportant things.
Now, the Bhagavad Gita offers a solution to the wayward nature of the thoughts within us at, it offers a solution at three levels. First is intellectual, second is social, and third is spiritual. At the intellectual level, it tells us that we have to nourish our intelligence so that we become more aware of what is happening in our inner world.
In our inner world, it is many, many thoughts will keep coming and going, and to the extent we are sharp, we are intellectually aware, we are intellectually well informed, to that extent we can catch a thought when it is trying to carry us away. So, for example, when I start feeling angry, I am angry, I am feeling angry, I am feeling angry, when this thought comes, if we just rephrase it, the mind is saying, I am feeling angry, why the mind is saying, because that is something which is coming on our inner screen. So, now, just because it has come on the inner screen does not mean it is true or it has to be acted on, nor does it mean it has to be rejected, it has to be evaluated.
Sometimes when we are meeting someone, say A and B have a conflict, and then we went to B to try to help mediate, but B is completely disagreeable, and B gave a very nasty response and told, go and tell this to A. Now, B, when they go to A, the first thing it says, these are not my words, I am not saying this, I am simply reporting their words. So, similarly, when the mind is saying, I am feeling angry, just this prefacing whatever thoughts or emotions come within us, with the mind is saying, like the inner screen is prompting this. That itself creates a distance by which we can evaluate.
So, just like sometimes we are working on a computer and some pop-up comes up, a new software update is available, do you want to update? Anyone is saying, oh, it is asking that, if I have to update, I will have to reboot it. Well, not now, we will see later. So the notification has come, if we do not identify it, we can evaluate it.
So, basically, do not identify with the thought, identify the thought. The mind is saying, sometimes we become resentful, this person did like this, feeling angry. Sometimes resentment of reality hurts more than reality.
Some person does something bad to us, something goes wrong in our life, and a thing has happened, say we are planning to go for an outing, for a hike, for a picnic, and just the previous night we get flu, and the flu is not a very uncomfortable condition, we just have to be in bed. But while we are in bed, burning with resentment, all my friends are enjoying over there, I am lying on this bed. And in that way, just get overwhelmed.
So, here, the reality is okay, it is a little annoying, but the resentment of reality makes it unbearably frustrating. So we just identify, okay. The mind is saying, why did this happen? Why did this happen? Mind is saying, you know, life stinks, this is so bad.
As soon as we see that this is something which is coming up on my inner screen, this is one option that is there. Now, I can choose whether to have this replay again and again and again, or I can choose to focus on something else. Now, at an intellectual level, all this can be very appealing.
But to apply this, we need regular sharpening of the intelligence, and we regularly keep studying spiritual wisdom, which helps us to understand our inner territory, then we can manage better the thoughts that come within us. That is at the intellectual level. The second is at the social level.
Social level means we are all very influenced by the people around us. So if we are worried about something, and we go to someone else, and that person is also worried about it, then the two of us talk, and then in the case of worry, 1 plus 1 doesn’t become 2, 1 plus 1 becomes 11, and the worry multiplies, the two of us come to panic attack. You know, we have a resentment about something that someone has done, we feel sorry for ourselves and we go to someone else, and that person also is having the same problem, then what happens? Both people come together, then they have a pity party.
Oh, life is so bad, this person is so bad, this is so bad, this is so bad, we just feel sorry for ourselves. Now, it may be true that there are some genuine grievances, but they are not being addressed over there. They are simply making things worse.
So whatever pops up on our inner screen, how much we dwell on it is determined not just by our intelligence, it is also determined by our association. So if we have people who are positive, and not just people who are positive, but people who are spiritually minded and positive, then they can help us to become more aware of what is going on in our life, and how we can set things right. So the association is something which is a very powerful resource that we can have.
Because sometimes when the inner thought comes up, it is almost, it will carry us away. But if I know my weaknesses, that I tend to get angry, I tend to get angry at people, and I am about to explode at someone. But if I have a friend, who can act like a sounding board for me, who can understand me, and who can also understand my mind, actually, when we talk about social circle over here, we can have many formal friends, informal friends, so we can say just social friends.
But if you have someone who is spiritually astute, who can act as a friend, as a mentor, then they help, they understand us, they understand our mind, and they help us to understand our mind. So this is where spiritual association comes into very big play. When we are going through certain emotional situations, that time somebody sees it from the other perspective and helps us, this is what the mind is doing.
Now, it is not that what the mind is doing always is wrong or always has to be rejected. But it needs to be evaluated and decided. So the association can help us to become more self-aware, especially if the association is with people who are self-aware.
And not just self-aware, they are also like-minded. The Bhagavad Gita talks about this principle of association as one of the most defining principles for one’s inner growth. And this association can happen, say, we are having talks like this, this is also a form of spiritual association where we become self-aware.
So one is through our self-study, the other is through spiritual association. And the third is that at a spiritual level. At a spiritual level, we, I talked earlier about what appears on the inner screen, we have to evaluate that.
I also mentioned that there is an inner seer which we can’t spot, but we are that. So the inner seer is the spiritual essence of who we are. And to the extent we situate ourselves on the level of the inner seer, to that extent we can become calm, to that extent we can become focused.
So here what happens? Actually, the spiritual level of reality is not just monochrome. The Bhagavad Gita explains again that there is a finite consciousness and there is an infinite consciousness. The soul and the super soul.
There is the Atma and the Paramatma. And there is a bond of affection between both of them. Now to the extent we become situated in that spiritual connection, say a child is just watching a horror movie and is getting horrified, this went wrong, that went wrong, that went wrong.
What to do now? And the child is seeing this, the child may get horrified by that. But if the child just, the child’s mother is there next, the child just touches the hand of the mother. Safe.
Similarly for us, there is an infinite consciousness. And if we connect with that infinite consciousness, then we can get a sense of security and calmness even within whatever uncertainty is there. And there are various processes of yoga.
Nowadays the word yoga is primarily used for physical exercises. And yes, they are a part of yoga. The essence of yoga, the word yoga comes from the word yuj.
In English there is the word yoke, that same root. Now when we yoke something, let me say a bull is yoked, so there is a connection between the two. The word yoga essentially means connection.
Yoga is the process of connection between the soul and the super soul, between the finite consciousness and the infinite consciousness. And there are different yogas, the Bhagavad Gita talks about various yogas and it especially recommends what is called as Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti Yoga is the yoga where our power of emotion is used to spiritualise our consciousness.
Normally our power of emotion often works to distort our perception, to make us emotional and carry us away. But that same power can be channelled to raise us to spiritual consciousness. So in Bhakti Yoga there are various processes.
One of the processes is what we call as musical meditation or kirtan. So this is not just a cultural or pious activity, it is an activity which is meant to spiritualise our consciousness. So I’ll conclude with one story about how in my travels across the world I have seen the benefit of the spiritual knowledge.
The first time when I came to America, I had gone to a university and there was this boy, I spoke on a vegetarian society on the need to regulate our mental diet. What impressions we are taking, we have to be careful. So after that one boy, American boy came and talked with me and he told me that just before the class he had been contemplating suicide.
He had been in a relationship with a girl and she had broken up with him. So he was gloomily walking across the campus and then he saw a poster of the programme I was doing and something within him said, just go for this programme. And he told me, now after attending this talk I understand that it is not I who wanted to commit suicide, it is my mind which is prompting me, commit suicide, commit suicide, commit suicide.
I told him, this is a vital insight which you have got, if you treasure this, it can save you from so many troublesome situations in your life. I encouraged him to study the Bhagavad Gita, I blog on the Bhagavad Gita every day, a small 300 word article at gitadaily.com, I encouraged him to read that and I connected him with the local Gita club which had organised my programme and then every year whenever I come to America from India, when I go to that college, I meet him. So last year when I had gone, he met me once again and he told me that he had faced a similar situation.
He was in a relationship and that girl just broke up with him. She had sent him a message and she said that, I am blocking you, don’t try to contact me. So he said, for a few minutes I just went numb completely and I went straight to my room, closed the door, pulled down the windows, pulled the curtains, the drapes, switched off the lights and he liked music.
So he picked up a violin and he started singing the Hare Krishna mantra. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram Ram, Hare Hare. He had learned this music, singing in the Bhaktiya Club that was there.
He said, I was singing continuously for six hours and that was the time I felt myself being bathed in some sublime light. I felt some spiritual presence embracing me and comforting me. So that which could have been the most depressing period of my life, I found that this was the most, this became one of the most enriching experiences of my life.
So what happened essentially for him was that the mind brought that, come on, commit suicide. But there was another pop-up that was there. Because of his spiritual practises, a healthier window option had also opened up within him.
The self-destructive instinct didn’t disappear. It did appear, but by spiritual practises, there was a healthier option available for him and he chose a healthier option. The Bhagavad Gita concludes with the imagery of victory.
Yatra Yogeshwara Krishna, Yatra Partha Dhanurdhara, Tatra Shreer Vijayobhutir, Dhruvani Tirumatir Mama. It is said that wherever there is Krishna, there is the infinite consciousness, wherever there is Arjuna, who is the finite consciousness. Wherever the two are together, there, there is victory.
So the two are together means the two are united in spiritual consciousness, who are harmonised with spiritual intention. So for us, to become a seeker within means that we understand who we are and what is truly important for us. When we do that, then the power of our intention and the capability of our talents all will be channelled constructively so that we can become achievers without, so that we can attain victory as the Bhagavad Gita describes.
And the ultimate victory is not just specifically this achievement or that achievement or that achievement. These achievements, we achieve, they are good, if we don’t achieve, life goes on. The ultimate achievement is actually to live a spiritually meaningful life, a life of positive contribution, a life where we do justice to the gifts and the talents that we have, a life where we make the contributions that we are meant to make, a life where we fulfil the destiny that is there for all of us to fulfil.
So I’ll summarise. I spoke today of being a seeker within and an achiever without. Started by talking about my own life while I was trying to be an achiever.
I saw this electronics number one student who was destroyed by something within him which made him a chain smoker. I saw these poor kids and their fathers who couldn’t benefit from the education being provided for them because of the self-destructive impulse to take alcohol. So the Bhagavad Gita says that our existence is three-dimensional, body, mind and soul.
The body is like the hardware, the mind like the software, the soul like the user. So for us, in today’s technologically advanced world, there’s a lot of improvement at the hardware level. Physically, there are a lot of comforts, but at the mental level, there is corruption of the software.
So what is this corruption? This corruption of the inner software causes the mind to go off in unwanted directions. We did the thought experiment how the mind is the inner screen and we are the inner seers. When the inner screen is normally meant to act as a window, then we can be in the present and function effectively.
But the inner screen can suddenly turn off into a TV. If it goes off into the future and starts showing all terrible possibilities that may happen in the future, we get anxiety. If it goes off into the past and starts showing all the wrong things that have happened in the past, that causes us depression.
So thought can be an option or a notification that comes up on the inner screen and thought can also refer to something which we evaluate. So every thought does not deserve our deep thought. So any thought, if it’s paid attention to, it can start off an image and start off a movie and carry us away.
So to ensure that we manage our thoughts better so that the thought energy does not mislead us, we need to work at three levels. We need to sharpen our intelligence by which we can understand what is happening in our inner world. Instead of identifying with the thoughts coming within us, we identify the thoughts.
If I am feeling angry, instead of that, identify. The mind is saying, I am feeling angry. And then we can evaluate and then along with the intellectual, the social level.
If we have spiritual mentors or spiritual friends who can understand us, understand our mind and help us to understand our mind, then we won’t get carried away by our impulsive thoughts. And lastly, the spiritual level, when we connect with the infinite consciousness, when we situate ourselves on the spiritual level through yoga, through bhakti yoga, through musical meditation, through various means, then that gives us an inner serenity and inner clarity by which we can distance ourselves from the outer image, the images on the inner screen and protect ourselves. So when we learn to discern the thoughts within us so that we seek what is most important for us and thus when we become a seeker within, then our energies and our talents can be constructively channelled so that we can become achievers without.
Thank you very much. So are there any questions or comments? Some of you can share, since you came and spent some of your time over here. Some of you can share some of the points which you felt you could carry home with you, something tangible to carry.
I got your question. So there are different paths, there is the path of bhakti, the bhakti marga, there is also the karma marga. So why stress the bhakti marga? If God is present everywhere, why do we need to go to the temple? God is present everywhere.
At the same time, His presence is not always perceivable to us everywhere. Just like water is present everywhere as a water vapour. But when we feel thirsty, we can’t just hang out our tongue and get some water.
We need to go to a faucet where the water is made accessible to us. Similarly, it is not that we can perceive the spiritual everywhere. So there are places where the spiritual consciousness is more accessible to us.
Now as far as the Bhagavad Gita’s teaching itself is concerned, the Bhagavad Gita offers multiple paths. The path of karma is what it recommends first. The second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, after Arjuna has asked his questions, Krishna starts by talking about the karma marga.
Then he describes that this karma marga will gradually metamorphose into the bhakti marga. Now in a sense, the karma and bhakti are similar because bhakti is not just about going to a temple. Bhakti is not just about chanting the names.
Bhakti is about infusing our whole life with a mood of devotion and contribution. Svakarmanatam abhyarcha siddhim vindati mānavā. The Bhagavad Gita says, Svakarmanatam abhyarcha.
That means, by your work, worship Him. This is sometimes translated as work is worship. Work is worship is a noble ethical principle which can infuse people with a sense of dignity for the work that they are doing, with a sense of respect for others, whatever work they may be doing.
And every work should be done in a responsible and respectable way and should be respected. At the same time, work is worship is not a philosophical principle. If we make work as worship as a philosophical principle, tomorrow a thief may say, I am robbing a bank.
A beggar may say, I am begging. Is that worship? We can say that, traditionally, donkeys work very hard. So if work were worship, the donkey would be the greatest worshipper, isn’t it? So the Bhagavad Gita’s wording is specific.
Not work is worship, but Svakarmanatam abhyarcha. By your work, worship Him. So Arjuna was an archer, and he was an administrator, and he was a warrior.
So even that work can be spiritualised. But to spiritualise that, there has to be a prior spiritualization of the consciousness. The spiritualization of the consciousness is what infuses spirituality into our work.
Just as, if we build a house, what we see, what the world sees is a superstructure. But what sustains the house is the foundation. Similarly, the work that we do in the world is what the world sees.
But what makes that work spiritual is the inner work that we have done. The spiritualization of the consciousness that we ourselves have done, that is the foundation. So the time that we spend in, invest in studying wisdom texts in the Bhagavad Gita, the point of going to a temple or a spiritual place is not just to see the deity over there.
That temples, traditionally, were also centres of spiritual learning. So where we learn about life’s higher principles, and we get the intellectual conviction as well as the spiritual inspiration to make sure that our foundation is strong. The Bhagavad Gita doesn’t ask us to neglect our work and just become devoted to God.
Rather, it says that devotion is inclusive, where we have qualitative time, we have qualitative time for focussing on our inner work, on internally spiritualising our consciousness. But then we bring that out and let it permeate our entire life with a mood of service and contribution. Any other questions or comments? Please, yeah.
So, I don’t know how many of us haven’t read the Bhagavad Gita. So like when we, I think we have done so many certifications, all of us. We want the must certifications, must.
And if you want to, and every, you know, Gita, if you don’t know how to read Sanskrit, what you can do is, you know, you can buy a Gita from Gorakhpur Gita Press. They will have Gita explained in all your own language, right? You know, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, any language would be a fine language. So, we read that and it will be very nicely explained there.
So that, you know, what Swamiji was saying, so I think one of the must take out from this Bhagavad Gita certification, all of you should read Gita. That is first. Second thing I want to tell you, I was listening to him, so, and I heard your question, that’s how I thought I would go ahead and say.
So he was talking about Bhakti Yoga and he was talking about Yoga, which is like connecting the mind with the, our mind. He talked about the hardware, software and the user, so mind with the Paramatma. So, you know, Yoga is all about, go to Ashtanga Yoga, it’s the first principle in Ashtanga Yoga, it talks about it.
Yoga, Chitta, Vritti, Nirobha. So it says, Yoga is all about, so you can connect your mind to the Paramatma, if you are able to hold your mind at one place. So what is happening, our mind is wandering around.
The body you can take care of all, going to gym and all, all these things will happen. But mind, who can control? And Yoga starts with, the 198 stanzas of Patanjali Yoga starts with that principle first. Yoga is Chitta, Vritti, Nirobha.
Chitta is Chitta, Vritti, Nirobha. You know, you have to stop it, wandering around. So when you go to a temple, when you do a bhajan, when you do a kirtan, all these things will help us, just like the yoga asana, it will also help us to keep a tab on our mind.
You know, in the morning, I’ll tell you, I practise one simple thing in the morning which I learnt from my dad. When I go to take bath, he used to do it, when I was a child, he used to loudly chant mantras in the house. If you go to my house in the morning when I take bath, you’ll be surprised, why is somebody shouting at the door? Why is he so loudly chanting? Those 15 minutes are mine.
I go to the bathroom and I’ll say Mahamukti Jaya Mantra or Ganesha Mantra, whatever you know. So when you do that, you’ll find that your mind will not be going anywhere, it will be within yourself. If you achieve that 5 minutes, 10 minutes of that within a day, you’ll get a lot of peace of your mind.
So all these things, everything, whatever we do, all the spiritual thought, everything is towards one direction. This is our customer experience, which is the mind to be controlled by us. I think that is the whole crux of the thing.
Thank you. To control that, go to a temple, sit with your parents, go to your friend, talk to your boss, whoever it is, I think it will be controlled. Just wanted to share that experience of mine.
Thank you. Yoga, Chitta, Pruthi, Nirodha, basically that’s a standard definition of yoga in the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali Yoga Sutra. In terms of this metaphor, I would say that the mind, as I said, it’s meant to be like a window, but it becomes like a TV which shows this, this, this.
So Chitta refers to the inner screen. Pruthi means its tendency. Some of our minds have a tendency to go in the direction of anger, some in the direction of worry, some in the direction of depression, some in the direction of resentment.
So, whatever is the Pruthi of the Chitta, Nirodha, means it will become subsided, it will become disempowered, it will become de-energised. So that, the more the mind’s unwanted actions become de-energised, the mind becomes de-energised in its unwanted tendencies, the more our energy becomes available for us for doing what we want to do, what we need to do, what is important for us. So in that sense, the time that we spend on spiritual activities is not actually time lost, that is time saved.
Usually we think of our schedule in terms of time, activities. In the morning I’ll do this, early afternoon I’m going to do this, then at noon I’m going to do this. Like that we think of our day.
But our time is taken not just by the things that we do. It is taken also by the thoughts that we have. Now suppose we go for a meeting and we greet someone and that person snubs us.
That thing may happen within 10 seconds, but for the next half hour, my mind may be filled with revenge fantasy. Next time, next time in front of the biggest public forum I’m going to snub this person. And then what that does is, we are there for the meeting but we are not there for the meeting.
So in terms of our schedule, we spend time in the meeting. But the thought took away all that time. So our time is taken not just by the activities that we do but also the thoughts that we have.
And this is the invisible time consumer. So when we spend time in developing our spiritual connection, then this time that is wasted in unwanted thoughts, it is taken away by the vritti of our chitta, by the tendency of our mind to go off in unwanted directions. That becomes jagad.
So actually we end up saving time. It’s not that our time will go away. All of us, do we have a worry time? Say every evening 7 o’clock.
7 to 7.15 is my worry time. You know, we don’t have a worry time. But worry keeps going on all the time.
As a background noise, it keeps happing our energy. But that worry can be substantially decreased if we become more spiritual. So actually it doesn’t take away our work time, rather it takes away our waste time.
And thus it helps us to be more available for doing what we need to do. Chitta vritti nirodha, the tendencies of the mind get curved, get changed, then our thoughts become our friends that enable us to focus on what is important, rather than become our enemies that distract us from where we want to focus. Thank you.
Any other? Any one or two of you would like to share? Something that you would like to carry with you? One quick question. Just take this example. Why the default setting is like the thought? Okay.
If the default setting is there, why it works like a non, not a happy thought comes? A person tends to stay longer with that, but a happy thought is very short. You feel very happy about something, it goes away. A sorrow or other dream is a continuous thought.
That’s a good question. Now why are there so many default settings within us which are negative? Yes, the Bhagavad Gita says there are three main forces which drive our mind mad. It calls them Raga, Bhaya and Krodha.
Raga is attachment. Attachment. I want this, I want that, I want that, I want that.
So, the more we want things, then the more becomes our Bhaya. What if I don’t get it? What if this gets lost? What if this goes wrong? And eventually when things do go wrong, there is Krodha. Why did this happen? Why did that happen? And the Krodha, the anger, when it is directed outwards, becomes expressed as anger, as shouting, yelling or physical violence.
But more often that anger gets directed inwards. Anger directed inwards causes self-loathing. It causes depression.
And ultimately it can cause suicide also. So basically, if we look at the world we live in today, the Raga, the attachment has been increased enormously. Why? Because we live in an interconnected world where the culture around us constantly shows us the many things we don’t have.
If we consider a few hundred years ago, actually now advertisements are so ubiquitous that we probably may not even realise that about 200-300 years ago, before the industrialisation and mass production of goods, there were no advertisements at all, practically speaking. So people, if they worked hard, they achieved a certain level of success, you could say they would become a big fish in a small pond. You can get a respectable position in your town, in your village, in your city.
And then they say, okay, I have achieved this and I am happy. But in today’s interconnected world, the whole world is like our pond. And no matter how much big we become, still there are so many things which we don’t have.
And the whole advertising industry actually keeps showing us the things which we don’t have. I get a brand new phone, and as I am proud of my phone, a new model comes up with better features. So I was at this mental health care centre, so one of the counsellors was telling, what is the easiest way, what is the fastest way for a young girl to become depressed? If you want to make a young girl depressed, just show her a fashion magazine.
So you look at all these images, there is not only physical makeup, there is also digital makeup. And then they say, oh, this person looks so good, this person looks so good, this person looks so good, I don’t look good at all. So what happens, for us in today’s world, there are a lot of things which come as inputs to us.
And they increase our raag. I want this, I want that, I want that, I want that. Now wanting itself is not a problem.
To want more, to want to grow more, that is just a natural feature of life. It’s like all of us were just one tiny cell in our mother’s womb at one time. Now we have become a fully grown body, person.
So to grow is natural. But sometimes, if somebody gets cancer, cancer cells are also growing. There are also cells like other cells in our body, they are also growing basically.
But their growth is disproportionate and destructive. So similarly for us, in today’s world, we all have a natural ambition to grow. But many of our desires are simply fed into us by the culture around us.
I may be living a comfortable life, but still, I want a bigger car, I want a bigger house, I want this, I want that. So the more our wants increase, the raag increases along with that bhaya and krodha increases. And these three propel our mind in negative directions.
So wanting to grow is fine. But today the desire to grow is fuelled by the culture around us and that’s why it becomes disproportionate. And that’s why no matter how much we have, our mind keeps looking at the things which we don’t have.
Even if we go to paradise where everything is wonderful, there the mind will say, yes, but I’ll go on. We often think that I’m not satisfied because I don’t have this, I don’t have that. It may be true we don’t have certain things and we can work to get those things.
But the problem is, if we are habituated to looking at what we don’t have, then the specific thing we don’t have doesn’t matter. Even if I get that, my mind will show me something else that I don’t have. And something else that I don’t have will keep me dissatisfied.
I was at a university recently and I asked the students, we were talking about how satisfaction is something which is so circumstantial. Many times we may not study very well for an exam and we get good marks. And we say, oh, I’m happy with these grades.
But then you come to know that somebody else has got more marks than you. As soon as you come to know that, why have they got more marks than me? So actually much of our dissatisfaction is fuelled by the situation around us. So the mind can have positive thoughts also.
But as long as the raga, bhaya and krodha is dominating, then I want this, I want that, I want that. Why am I not getting this? Why am I not getting that? What if I lose this? What if I lose that? So these three are the default tendencies in the mind. And unfortunately, while the technology has provided more and more comfort at the physical level, that same technology has also provided a lot of inputs which increase the raga, bhaya and krodha within us.
So get by this, get this, get this. And that way we end up feeling dissatisfied. So if we can make it a habit to not dwell too much on the things that we don’t have, then we’ll find that the negative tendencies in the mind will go down.
The Bhagavad Gita says that satisfaction is an austerity of the mind. It’s an interesting concept. Austerity means tapasya, something which we may not feel like doing, but we do it because it is good for us.
We may fast because we want to decrease our weight, or we want to be good for some spiritual purpose. So now, what satisfaction and austerity of the mind means, satisfaction is not just an emotion that we feel. Satisfaction is also a decision that we make.
That means, if this is what I have, and is this enough for me? We may say, I always want more. Yes, but is this enough for me? Yes, it is enough for me. The great mistake in today’s civilisation is that we mistake what we live with and what we live for.
The necessities of life are not the purpose of life. Money is important in life. Things are important in life.
But they are what we live with. Our life, but what do we live for? If I have a car, the fuel is absolutely needed for the car. So the fuel is a necessity for the car.
But getting fuel, purchasing fuel and filling the car with fuel is not the purpose of the car. The car is meant for some higher purpose. So all of us need to become seekers within and understand what is the purpose that we are living for.
What is it that we are meant to contribute in our lives? Ultimately, what is it that we want to stand for in our life? So we are all spiritual beings and we are on a multi-life journey of spiritual evolution. So we are meant to evolve spiritually and connect with the infinite. And whatever gifts we have been given, we are meant to share those with others.
So when our life has that higher purpose of making a contribution and furthering our evolution, then these negative tendencies will go down. But as long as what we are living with becomes what we are living for, that means money and facilities and the luxuries that money can buy, we may need them while living. But when they become the purpose of our life, then we sentence ourselves to perpetual agitation of the mind.
But when we discover our deeper purpose and live according to that, then we will find that the positive energies within us will become much stronger. Master, it started with this concept, what you just asked is the feeling of gratitude. In three days, you were actually taught not to say the word no, not, or nothing.
And it was so difficult to live those three days without even thinking. And you were actually taught to practise. Like, someone whom I don’t like, he calls me.
My first reaction would be, oh shit, he has called me. So that negative notion that itself draws so much energy out of you. And maybe this is something you can… I have personally practised.
The more you are feeling of gratitude and oh, he called me. Why? He needs my help. The same context.
That may help to get rid of that 90% horror versus… Yeah, that’s true. Yeah, that’s a very good point. Now, gratitude is a very powerful source of positive energy within us.
And… we cannot always be grateful for all situations. Sometimes bad things happen in life. Sometimes some unwanted person calls us.
And it may not be so easy to feel positive at that time, feel grateful. But even if we can’t be grateful for all situations, we can be grateful in all situations. That means, say, if I fall sick.
Now, the sickness disrupts my plans. It’s very difficult to be grateful for the sickness. But still I can be grateful.
If I keep dwelling on that sickness, this went wrong, this went wrong, this went wrong, then it will make me miserable. But if I think, okay, what am I grateful for in this situation? Okay, I had a healthy life till now. I have my family.
I have financial security. I have people who are going to help me. Then that will create some positive energy.
And further, you can look at not just all the good things that are in our life. Actually, this is something which we can do on a regular basis. Our mind will tend to count our problems.
But our intelligence can be trained to count our blessings. And then if we have these blessings which we are grateful for written down, then when a specific problem comes, at that time, we can focus. Okay, this bad thing has happened.
This problem has come. But what are the good things that are there with me to deal with this? So, when bad things happen, okay, I have got this disease. But at least the disease is curable.
At least there is a treatment. And if I take this treatment, I will get healed. So, I am grateful for that.
So, we can’t be grateful in all situations. We can’t be grateful in all situations. And sometimes, in the long run, it may turn out that that bad thing that happened, that negative thing that happened, something good comes out of that.
Some disagreeable person calls us. But sometimes, through that, we learn to grow ourselves. We learn to tolerate.
We learn to deal with difficult people. And that helps us to grow. So, some people, they help us to grow by leading us forward.
And sometimes, some people help us to grow by kicking us from behind. But both help us to grow. So, different people work in different ways.
So, gratitude, it’s very difficult when a bad thing happens to be grateful for that bad thing. But we can still, by looking at the positive in our life, and looking specifically at the positive that helps us to deal with that negative, we can bring gratitude. And there are a few things which are as powerful a source of positive energy as is gratitude.
Thank you for that thought. Thank you very much for your attention and participation.