Self-destruction Strategies 5 – See your work as Maya

Seminar at ISKCON. Seshadripuram, Bangalore

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, today we will be discussing one more of the ways in which we can damage or defeat ourselves. The original plan was to take 11 self-defeating strategies and maybe 2 or 3 in one session. But we have been able to take 1 per session.
And today is going to be our last session. So, we won’t be able to cover all of them. We will discuss 5 of them.
So, see your work as maya. Normally, to be able to see that something is maya, requires that we be out of maya. Isn’t it? That means, sometimes if a person is a little drunk, then they start understanding, actually now I am a little intoxicated, maybe I should not drive now.
If I drive, I may get into an accident or I may get a ticket, I may get into trouble. So, then at that time, they are a little aware of the danger that they are in. But then if that person becomes very drunk, at that time if somebody tells them, you should not drive now, you are drunk.
Who is drunk? I am okay. So, what happens is, when we are very intoxicated, we don’t even realise that we are intoxicated. So, like that, when we start sliding into illusion, initially we are aware.
Now I am going into maya. Now I am sliding into, towards wrong things. But when we go deep into maya, we don’t even realise that we are in maya.
So, there are people who think that their work is the only goal of their life. They don’t think of their having any other purpose to their life apart from their work and their career and their success. So, to be able to see work as something which can cause illusion, to see work as something which is not always desirable or good, that also requires some level of intelligence.
But to see work as only maya, not see work as anything other than illusion, that can be very damaging. When we come to spiritual life, generally we learn about bifurcation. This is material, this is spiritual.
And then we think of our profession, our job, our work, whatever the nature of the work may be. We think this is material. And then we want to stay away from the material, we want to minimise the material or we want to get rid of the material.
So that we can spiritualise our consciousness. So, that is, that sort of differentiation between matter and spirit is important. But, when we live in this world, we cannot separate matter and spirit.
We have to live as a combined unit. Just as I may understand philosophically I am not the body, but still I have to take care of the body’s needs. I cannot just live at the level that I am the soul and neglect the body.
Just similarly, when we live in this world, the material and the spiritual, both have to be properly taken care of. So, let’s look at next slide. Yeah.
So, the Bhagavad Gita’s message is not a message of renunciation per se. It is a message of renunciation in action. Someone can help him please.
What caused it to fall? See, the Bhagavad Gita’s message is a message of renunciation in action. Not renunciation of action. So, Arjuna thinks that if I fight this war, then I will be doing bad karma and therefore I should renounce, go to jungle and just renounce the world.
But Krishna tells him, no, act, but act in a mood of renunciation. So, the Bhagavad Gita’s message is not renunciation of action, but renunciation in action. Renunciation in action means to do action with a renounced mood, with a detached mood.
This has two aspects to it. First is, we recognise that for most people, the way out of this world is through this world. We want to go beyond this world to the spiritual world.
That is our eternal home. But how can we go there? It’s not that we can just some spacecraft is going to descend and just take off and we go over there. There is a process of disentangling ourselves from this world and that process requires functioning in this world.
And this is not just for grahasthas, even for those who are in the renounced order. They also have to live in this world. Their extent of entanglement in the world may be lesser.
But they also have to function in this world. They also have to take care of the body’s needs and it is by working in this world that we, by functioning in this world that we purify ourselves. kāyena manasā buddhya kevalai hṛndre rapi yoginā karma kurvanti saṅgam tyaktvātma śuddhaye.
In 5.11 Bhagavad Gita, Krishna states that ātmā śuddhaye I am the ātmā but I cannot realise I am the ātmā immediately. I have to purify myself. And for purifying myself, what do I have to do? All my resources I have to use for that person.
kāyena the body, manasā the mind, buddhya the intelligence and then he says kevalai hṛndre rapi even the senses. So everything that I have, I have to engage yoginā karma kurvanti. The yogis do work but for what purpose? Not for enjoying this world.
yoginā karma kurvanti saṅgam tyaktvātma śuddhaye for the purpose of purification. So basically the way out of this world is through this world. We have to live in this world and gradually develop detachment from this world.
More than detachment from the world, gradually we develop attachment to Krishna. And that’s how we’ll come out of this world. So that means we have to act in the world.
And then there is a difference between the Bhagavad Gita says that we should be detached from the results. karmaṇye vādhikāraste mahāpadeśu kadāśin 2.47. People often ask, you know, how is this practical? How can I work? You know, if say, if a sports player is playing sports and people play sports to win the match. Isn’t it? And if a student is studying studying to get marks in the exam.
If a housewife is cooking, she wants to cook the food well. So what does it mean that we should not be attached to the results? See, being detached from the results does not mean being apathetic about the work. Being detached from the results means that we recognise there are certain things in our control and certain things are beyond our control.
When we understand that I alone am not the producer of the result. When I understand that yes, my effort matters. Now if you consider a sports example, somebody may be a champion batsman but it’s not that every time they go out to bat, there’s a guarantee that they will perform.
There are factors beyond their control. They may just be out of form, they may play one bad shot, they may just get a very good ball, that the wicket might be the pitch might be bad or whatever may happen. So their effort, their training, their talent matters.
But that is not the only thing that matters. So when we think that I am the doer, then I think I will be the producer of my result. And then we become attached to the result.
So when we become attached to the result, this verse can be understood in many different levels. I am talking from the practical perspective here. See, when we become attached to the result, then we become caught in thinking about that which is not in our control.
The results are not in our control. And when we get too caught in thinking about that which is not in our control, that is the recipe for anxiety. That is the formula for putting ourselves to unnecessary stress and work.
Now getting too worked up about that which is not in our control, that simply causes anxiety. So when Krishna says we detach from the results, that is at a practical level, that is actually a way to free ourselves from anxiety about that which is not in our control. But at the same time, Krishna doesn’t mean that we may be uncaring about the work itself.
Because if you see, when Arjuna fought the Kurukshetra war, at that time he was very purpose-driven, especially if you consider on the 14th day, the previous night, Abhimanyu had been killed, previous day. And Arjuna had taken a vow that I will kill Jaidrath and avenge Abhimanyu’s death before sunset. Now when he set a goal like this, Krishna did not tell Arjuna, Hey, you have forgotten the Bhagavad Gita.
I told you to be detached from the results. No. Detachment from the results does not mean detachment from goals.
The difference between a goal and a result is, goal is what is set before the work. Result is what comes after the work. So goals help us to focus on what we are doing.
Goals help us to optimise our contribution. And goals are not wrong. Attachment to goals or concern about goals, that can actually help us to bring out our best.
But attachment to results that can distract us from our best. Because we are thinking about that which is not in our control. So when Krishna says be detached from the results, that is not, he doesn’t mean be apathetic to the work itself.
Actually, we see Arjuna excelled in archery. In fact, he not only excelled in archery, that’s because of his innate talent, he also practised. Most of us know that story that one night when Arjuna was eating food at the Gurukul, suddenly the light went, the bulb went off because of a gust of wind.
And Arjuna’s hand just went to the plate where there was food and he picked it up and started eating it. And then it struck him, oh, if I can eat food in dark, why can’t I shoot in dark? I’m using my hands for eating and just as my hands are able to find out where the plate is, I use my hands for shooting arrow. Can I make sense of where the target is and hit it? And from that day onwards he started practising at night also.
And one of the key factors which raised Arjuna above all other archers was his capacity to hit invisible targets based on just their sound. So that came not just because of his talent but it came also because of his commitment. So Arjuna was not apathetic about his archery.
Arjuna worked at his archery. So detachment from results is not in any way a licence for irresponsibility or being uncaring about the work. In fact, the same words, the fourth part of it is māte saṅgostva karmai.
Do not be attached to not doing your work. That means do not be attached to just neglecting the work or not doing it. So what Krishna has is a very deep explanation of how we should work in the Bhagavad Gita.
It is not that we just reject the work itself entirely. So the work is the way we reach most of the times by acting in this world is how we become purified. So now there are multiple levels where we can have a spiritual vision of work.
At the first most basic level we can see work as a means to meet our bodily needs. You know, it is our bodily needs, our family’s bodily needs. So this is a preliminary level of seeing work.
Okay, I am a soul and I want to purify myself and I want to go to Krishna. But while I am here, I have to take care of the body. How do I take care of the body? That is by working.
Niyatam guru karmattam karma jaya ya karmana sharir yatra pichate na prasidhyaya karmana In 3.8 Krishna says in the Bhagavata that sharir yatra pichate na prasidhyaya karmana. If you do not do the work, akarmana de, you will not be able to maintain your body also. sharir yatra pichate You cannot maintain your body.
So at the basic level we can see our work as a necessity for maintaining our body. For having our material needs taken care of. Our means, our personal and our family.
That is the preliminary level. And most often as devotees we think of work only at this level. Yeah, I have to have some money so that I can live in this world.
But there is one level. There are many higher levels also at which you can see work. Work, we can also see it as a means to have social position for sharing Krishna’s message.
In the, if we are working and if we are at a responsible position, at a respectable position in society, then people here are there. People are interested in those who are successful. So if somebody is successful in their eyes, they take it more seriously.
So our work can give us a social position. It’s not just for earning a living, but with that position we can actually influence others. So for example if somebody is somebody is a big businessman or a big professor or a big leader in some way and they say that you know, okay so and so person is giving a spiritual talk or not even, then many many people will come or even if they, if somebody in a respectable position invites their friends, invites others to come for a spiritual talk, people take it more seriously.
So what happens is, in this world people are attracted to materially impressive things. So if somebody is in a materially impressive position, people are attracted to that. And that can be used in Krishna’s service.
So Krishna also talks about his yad yad aacharati shreshti statta deve tarojana. That though as great people are, other people want to become like that. So if people have a, if we have a position in society that can attract, that can be used to attract people to Krishna.
Not only that, beyond that all of us have some rajoguna within us. And the mode of passion is there and rajoguna cannot just be given up. You know, there are different kinds of desires that have to be dealt with in different ways.
So sometimes the rajoguna has just to be worked out. Worked out means rajoguna, the feeling, I have to do some work, I have to achieve something, I have to do something. And then if I just say, I just become detached, forget everything, it’s all temporary.
Yeah, we may philosophically think it’s all temporary. But when it is there, it doesn’t seem temporary. You know, when it is actually going through it, we feel this is going to go on for a long long time, how will I deal with it? So sometimes rajoguna has to be worked out.
Worked out means that we have to do something by which we engage the rajoguna and we purify the rajoguna. So what happens is some people, they, if a person has a lot of passion to earn a lot of money, they say just, okay, renounce everything and live simply. They start living simply, but then because that money consciousness is very much there, so even within a spiritual movement, we are always very money conscious.
Who has how much money? And then we become very judgemental. This person has this much money, must be very attached. See, I am so detached.
I have given it all up. So we are not really becoming Krishna conscious because the rajoguna is keeping us money conscious. So it may be money conscious in terms of how much money I am earning or it may be in terms of how much money I have renounced.
So we are still money conscious only. We are not Krishna conscious. So the rajoguna has to be dealt with.
It doesn’t mean that the only way to deal with rajoguna is by working. But we all have different kinds of desires and we have to see how we can best deal with it. So now actually to work out our passion, now there is this notion that this is a whole different subject.
I’ll just make one mention over here. I won’t go into the detail about it. See, sometimes should women just stick to their traditional roles and be housewives or should women work? Now there is no idea that women should only be housewives.
Now this is not a Vedic idea. This is a mediaeval idea. In the Vedic times women would work.
You see, even in Krishna Leela, there was a fruit vendor who was selling fruits. What is that? That’s a work. So even if you describe the gopis, they would go to Mathura and they would sell butter, they would sell honey, they would sell milk.
So they were working. So where it was required, they would go out and assist in earning a living. Where it was required, that’s what it was called for.
So the idea that women should only stick to a particular gender role, this is not a scriptural idea. In the mediaeval times, now I’m not saying that all women have to work or don’t have to work. That’s not my point.
The simple point I’m making is that no social role is specifically mandated by scripture. In the mediaeval times, especially after the industrial revolution, the work and the home became very rapidly partitioned. So what that meant is that when they were working, previously practically everybody lived within a very they lived and worked within a small place.
Even if they were in a city or in a town or in a village, their working place and their staying place were very close. And even when women, if they would work, if they were working to earn something, that would not interfere much with their home responsibilities. But once the work and the home became fragmented because of industrialisation, people often had to travel great distances to work.
And then when this happened, as mechanisation came up, mechanisation means that as machines started to be used more and more, then relatively the amount of work at home also started decreasing. So the whole socio-cultural ethos changed. And today, most often when women have to work, to a large extent, it affects their home responsibilities.
So the point is not that women have to stick to a particular gender role. The point is that everybody should contribute in a way that is best suited for them. So, Prabhupada’s general attitude was, with respect to how women should be engaged, he said, whatever is natural, if the women were brought up in the western world, from the childhood, they were just brought up in such a way that they just live like boys.
They would do all the things that the men would do. And Prabhupada did not insist for those women that you have to go back to the traditional gender roles. He engaged them in book distribution.
A single woman alone would go out and do book distribution. So now, that was never, that is never done in traditional culture. But, and that’s what they had that nature, their nature could not be suppressed.
That’s how they had been brought up from their childhood. So, that’s how Prabhupada engaged. Now, women who were brought up in India, they were, normally their upbringing, their culture, their orientation was for the traditional gender role.
A traditional role of a housewife, of a homemaker. And Prabhupada encouraged that. Prabhupada talked in his books primarily about this role.
But if you see how Prabhupada engaged people, he did not suppress anyone. So, now, in today’s world, what would be the role that women can play? That depends on individuals. We, different people have different natures and everybody has to work out their nature.
We cannot suppress anyone. So, and in today’s, as I said, the socio-cultural, socio-economic structure is so different today. You know, the Taliban when it was ruling in Afghanistan, they made a rule that no woman should work.
And they would actually persecute women who went for working. But the result at that time was, in Afghanistan, there had been so much war going on that many of the men in the family were dead or they were disabled. And the only working people in the family were women.
And when the women were told don’t work, what happened was the families were starving. And then, when this was brought to the attention of Taliban, they said, no, Allah will take care. This is a ridiculous answer.
So, what happens by this, this kind of, this gave a lot of bad press to the whole conservative culture about women. See, for women, it is their choice. Of course, choice means not just individual choice, but choice of the family choice.
What should be done? But if one particular role is insisted, in today’s age, you know, anything is insisted, the tendency is to rebel against it. So, if you force me to do it, no, I will not do it. So, naturally, different people have different orientations, different natures.
And people have to be engaged in a way that they don’t feel suppressed in them. Now, for many women, to go out and work, that may be unnatural for them. Because of the social pressure or glamorisation of a particular gender of the working women, they may be forced to do that and they may do that, but they don’t like it.
And then to force them to do that is unnatural. But for some women, it may work out another way. That they may want to do services, they may want to do various things, and if they are suppressed, that can also become a problem.
So, Prabhupada’s approach was pragmatic. Pragmatic means we don’t have to make bhakti more difficult than what it needs to be. Laughter What does that mean? To make bhakti more difficult than what it needs to be? See, Prabhupada talks quite often about simple living.
You live in a farm, and you just have a cow, and you have some land, and you don’t need anything else. Now, actually speaking, if we have been born and brought up in cities, then simple living is not so simple. Laughter So, what happens is, when we talk about our nature, our nature is not just something which we have got from our previous life.
Our previous life is one aspect to it. But our nature is also determined by how we have been born and brought up in this life. So, for somebody who has lived in the city throughout, for them, conceptually it may be true that in a rural setting, there are far less distractions, there is far less fashion, and one can chant Hare Krishna very nicely, one can focus on Krishna.
But for one who has been brought up with the city comforts, to go and live in a village setting, the physical inconvenience and discomfort may consume and agitate the mind so much, that one is just not able to focus on Krishna. So, what has happened over there is, fixing the mind on Krishna is the essential challenge in bhakti. And if we impose that people in city should go and live in villages, and then chant Hare Krishna, in concept, it might be easy.
But in practise, it might be more difficult. So, the point which I am making is, what is natural in one setting may not be natural in another setting. It may be also true that for many many for many men who are working, many families who are living in cities, they may just be fried out with the city life.
And they may actually get relief and they will be happy in a rustic setting, in a village setting. But, this cannot be mandated on anyone. So, if it is told that, you know, you should go, those who have been habituated living in cities, go to a village and there you practise bhakti.
It may not be easier, it may be more difficult. So, by trying to impose something material on people, some material, some material standard if you try to impose on people, then that may make bhakti more difficult than what it needs to do. So, bhakti is difficult in the sense that we have to fight and we have to fix the mind on Krishna.
That itself is the essential difficulty of bhakti. But on top of that if we bring in too many material requirements that may make bhakti more difficult than what it needs to do. And as I earlier said also in a class, that it was not that the Vedic culture was only rural.
There was rural Vrindavan and there was urban Mathura. So, cities and villages both were there in Vedic times. So, similarly, with respect to gender roles.
Yes, for women it is easier, more natural, more fulfilling to have the role of a homemaker to take care of children, to be a mother. But it depends on what kind of upbringing one has had. Because upbringing, the culture in which one is living, that also affects one’s subhav.
So, nobody should feel suppressed in bhakti. And if we insist on a particular social role that can create so much resentment, that people may just go away from bhakti because of that. So, the social role is meant to make the spiritual role easier, not more difficult.
If we are told, if you have to practise bhakti, all of you have to go to villages. If you are not going to villages, then you cannot practise bhakti. And what is going to happen? The social role of going to villages and living in villages, which is meant to make bhakti easier, if it starts making bhakti more difficult, the social role is not all important.
The social role, to the extent it helps in the spiritual role, we accept it. If it doesn’t help, that is adjusting. So, some people, if they have that passion, that passion has to be worked out.
So, there is organic renunciation and there is imposed renunciation. Organic renunciation means it comes by realisation. It comes by realisation.
I do this and I see it and I have thought this is so wonderful. I thought if I achieve this, this will be the goal of my life. I will be so happy.
Then I do it and then I find it’s not so great. What’s so great about it? I achieved it, but there is nothing so much about it. It’s not necessary that we have to get realisation by ourselves doing it, but organic realisation is that which comes from within.
The imposed renunciation is that which is forced by outside. Now, to some extent, force is required, but sadhana bhakti is the process of voluntary force. What do I mean by voluntary force? Voluntary force means I force myself.
I don’t feel like chanting, but I will chant because that is the way to purify myself. I don’t feel like waking up in the morning, but I’ll wake up. It’s voluntary force, but when the force is brought from outside, it may go on for some time, but that cannot go on for a long time.
Now, once Prabhupada was asked, sometimes we have to push people for them to take them to bhakti. So, how much can we push people? So, Prabhupada said, Prabhupada gave the example that, suppose some person is driving a car and the car is not starting and what happens? Some people come along and they push the car from outside. Now, 2, 3, 4, 5 people they push and gradually the car starts moving.
Now, in this way the car moves, but along this time when the people are pushing from outside, the person inside is also moving the gear, moving the wheels, turning on the ignition, trying to move the car. But suppose, people are pushing from outside and the person inside has gone to sleep. Then, people outside, how long can they push? Or worse still, that you know, people outside are pushing and the person inside is pressing the brake.
Then the people outside, how long can they push? They say, if you don’t want to move, forget it. So, it’s like that, if the soul is inside the bodily car, and others can push. You know, we can push others.
But others should also be, whoever you want to push, they should also have some desire to move towards Krishna. You know, if they don’t have the desire to move towards Krishna, we push and push and push, nothing happens. And after some time, we just have to decide, this person is not so interested, we go to other people who are interested.
We cannot push people unlimitedly. So, no, we cannot impose anything on people, either spiritually or even materially. So, voluntarily, it is true that the traditional social roles are much more according to the innate natures.
And they are much more conducive for the practise of bhakti. But apart from our innate nature is our acquired nature. So, swabhava is not determined only by birth.
Swabhava is also determined by how we live in this world. And our, sometimes the acquired nature’s influence may supersede the innate nature’s influence. And when that happens, things have to be, the nature itself, what it is, that has to be understood and adjusted.
And so, the point is, everybody should be encouraged in bhakti. So, sometimes, we may need to work, to work out our rajoguna. Otherwise, that rajoguna will stay, and that will come up in, say, an unhealthy competitive mentality in the devotee community.
I come to bhakti, competition is there, and competition is good. But if there is unhealthy competition, unhealthy competition means what? Rather, Prabhupada said, healthy competition is, you know, I do good and I inspire others to do better. That’s healthy competition.
But unhealthy competition means, rather than I trying to do good, I try to pull down others, so if I do bad, they do worse. So, like, say, Prabhupada would say that book distribution, no, everybody go out and distribute books. So, so, you know, devotees go out and everybody works very hard and one person distributes 100 books, somebody else distributes 110 books.
But unhealthy competition means, just before book distribution is going out, who is my competitor? I just, you know, if they are going by a cycle, I just puncture their tyre. If they are going out, I just steal their chappals. And then they have to waste time.
And less time they have. Actually, we may laugh at this, but devotees didn’t like this actually. Laughter It’s sad, but it has happened.
The mania for being number one book distributor was so great, that often devotees did some unhealthy things. I am not saying this happened widespread, but it did happen sometimes. So, what happens is, all of us have rajoguna and bhakti also gives us channel to use the rajoguna.
But to channel the rajoguna within the realm of bhakti, we need some sattvaguna. So, we can be competitive, but competitive in a healthy way, not in an unhealthy way. So, if that rajoguna is not worked out adequately, then we come in the devotee circle through imposed renunciation and then, here, that rajoguna comes out in unhealthy ways.
And we are always prestige conscious. If I am giving class, how many people come for my class? He gave class also. So many people came for this class.
Who all did not come for my class, you know, I will show them what I can do to them. So, what happens is, things can become very, when that rajoguna is there and that is there within the devotee community, it can come out in very ugly ways. So, the imposed renunciation means that that rajoguna is still there and it comes out in an unhealthy way.
So, sometimes our work may be necessary to work out our passion. And, now this is all I am talking from our perspective, our bhakti perspective. Now, I will talk a little bit from the perspective of the work itself.
See, our work can be a means to raise workplace consciousness by setting example of sattvic way of working. So, sattvic way of working means that actually, the workplace is rajasic. In general, in the workplace, there is the mode of passion.
But even within the overall passionate work, there are different people who can work in different ways. There are people who can work in goodness, there are people who can work in passion, there are people who can work in ignorance. So, people in your office also, some people are totally disorganised.
When they have to do something, to find one thing, they scatter ten things after that. They always keep forgetting. So, basically that can be tamas.
Or some people, who may be in a very passionate workplace, but they are fairly well organised. They are relatively in the mode of goodness. So, overall, if we want to raise the consciousness of society, our goal is to make people devotees.
But it is not that everybody is going to become a devotee. And the world can become a much better place, even if a significant number of people increase the sattva guna in them. The more the rajo guna and the more tamo guna, the world will become more and more of a hellish place.
The more the sattva guna, everywhere in this world, there are conflicts. But when there is sattva guna, the conflicts are resolved in an amicable way. When there is tamo guna, the conflicts become aggravated and they become very ugly.
So, if we can work in a regulated way, if we can work in a sattvic way, then we can set an example. And this is actually very important. From the long-term perspective, if we look at Christian history, Christianity came in the first century AD and for the first 4-5 centuries, Christianity was a persecuted religion.
The Roman Empire considered Christians to be rebels and they were persecuted. But during that time, the Romans themselves, the Roman Empire itself was filled with immorality. All kinds of licentiousness was going on.
And what happened when there is, even for the material administration of society, some amount of morality is required. You know, if everybody is corrupt, then even materialist society cannot go on. So, around the 5th century, the Roman Emperor, he started looking, you know, everybody is immoral, everybody is degraded.
Are there some people who are moral? Are there some people who are responsible? Are there some people who are principled? And then, he found that the Christians were very responsible, were very moral. And then, he investigated, he studied a little bit, he interacted with the Christian priests and he felt that the way I can have some order in my community is if more people become Christians. And at that time, he accepted Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire.
And at that time, the church at that time accepted as the Roman Empire became, it was the pagan Roman Empire, it became the Holy Roman Empire. I mean, they were considered outcasts earlier, but then they became holy. And then after that, all the resources of the Roman Empire were used to spread Christianity.
And of course, at that time, there was some dilution of the philosophy that happened. One thing was that at that time was the primary time when the idea of reincarnation was exiled from Christianity. Because the Roman King, he wanted that people should be moral.
People should be afraid that if they are immoral, they will have bad consequences. So, he told them, give them one life or give them hell. Give them one life or give them hell.
In this way, people will be fearful of going to hell and become moral. So, that sort of thing is bad. But the point I am making is that their morality, the relatively moral functioning of Christians, that was one of the important factors that attracted the larger government.
And that’s how the government itself adopted Christianity. So, even from the material perspective, an example of sattva guna is conducive. See, people in general may be Rajasic.
But even in workplace, you will see that people like sattvic people. Somebody is very calm, gentle, composed. People like that.
Krishna has the six opulences. Beauty, wealth, fame, strength, knowledge and renunciation. Normally, we can say somebody is beautiful, they attract people.
Somebody is learned, they attract people. Somebody is wealthy, they attract people. But we may think if somebody is renounced, how should they attract people? Is renunciation really an opulence? Maybe in a pious culture, people may be attracted to renunciation.
But what about in general? See, people may not be attracted to renunciation, but they are attracted to the result of renunciation. The result of renunciation is peace. Tyagaj shantiranantaram.
In 12.20, Bhagavad Gita Krishna says that renunciation results in peace. So, what happens is, generally people like peaceful people. Somebody who is peaceful, smiling, composed.
They like that. In that sense, they appreciate the value of renunciation also. So, if we can set up an example of sattvic way of functioning, then that can raise people’s consciousness.
And that can actually decrease the kallaha, decrease the quarrel, decrease the conflict in society. So, this is, of course, apart from attracting people to Krishna. If we are practising bhakti nice, if we are doing our work nicely, and then people ask, what makes you tick? Actually, it is my bhakti that makes me tick.
Then people will be attracted to bhakti also. And, of course, if we have certain talents, certain abilities, then we use those talents and we excel in those abilities. So, means to attract people through our competence and excellence.
That means, if we are good at a particular field, and then we attract people because we are good at that field, and then we tell, okay, I am good, not just because of my talents. It’s also because I practise bhakti that helps me to stay focused, that helps me to be productive. Then that is also a way to attract Krishna.
And actually, more importantly, that if we do well at our work, we may or may not attract people towards Krishna. But if we do badly at our work, we will surely alienate people from Krishna. Those Hare Krishnas, they are responsible.
They are escapists. They just don’t do any work. So, this can actually lead to a lot of bad press.
And there can be a lot of alienation from the devotee community. And then what happens, if we want to preach to people, if there has to be an atmosphere at least of receptivity. If a preacher has to preach, there has to be some atmosphere of receptivity.
If there is overall atmosphere of suspicion and hostility, preaching itself becomes very difficult. So, if many devotees are just being, you know, cutting corners and avoiding work and creating bad vibes, then what happens? People start thinking these Hare Krishnas are like this. And then, even if we try to present Krishna consciousness, people already have so many preconceptions that they just can’t take to Krishna.
They have to work through so many misconceptions that are there. Next slide. Now, all this is not to glamorise work.
Now, it’s very true that work can be maya. And when I’m saying about work in a positive sense, that does not mean that all of us should just go work and think that is the way I will serve Krishna. And I’m so dedicated to my work that I don’t have time to come to temple, that I don’t have time to chant my rhymes.
Oh, because I’m working to set an example for others. It’s not like that. So, there are two broad ways in which work can become maya.
One is that when we work, usually we associate with materialistic people. And materialistic people, they have materialistic definitions of success. That means, in today’s workplace, people’s self-worth is largely determined by their net worth.
People’s self-worth is largely determined by their net worth. How much is your salary? That much. You are a big person.
That’s how it is taught. Now, when we associate too much with these people, what will happen is we will also get their definition of success. And then the greed will come into us.
And what is the result? How do we actually understand greed? There is… There is what we live with and what we live for. What we live with is the means. What we live for is the purpose, the values, what we want to achieve in our life.
So money is what we live with. What we live for is some higher purpose. At the level of paradharma, it can be taking care of our family.
At the level of paradharma, it can be, you know, we want to contribute to Krishna’s service in various ways. So, but what when there is greed, what happens is what we live with supersedes, it replaces what we live for. That means we get so consumed with acquiring money that we neglect our values, we trample on our values.
And this can be material values or spiritual values. We may become dishonest materially. We may become… We may become negligent spiritually.
And that way, work can, through the association that we get in the world, that can trigger our greed. And that’s why we have to be very careful. Even when we are working, if we look in a society, there are always people in goodness, passion and ignorance.
Even in a workplace. So, if we have devotees in the workplace, that is the best. We have some devotees.
If we don’t have that, then we can try to find out within that social circle, if there are some people who are relatively in the mode of goodness. And then we can’t just stay isolated and alone in the workplace. But if we associate with those people who are in the mode of goodness, then at least we are protected too much from passion.
Now, increasingly the world is moving towards post-modernism. Post-modernism is the area, is the age, basically means, you do whatever you want. So, this has many disadvantages.
You do, I will do my thing, you do your thing, and you don’t interfere with my thing, and I won’t interfere with your thing. But one advantage of the post-modern thoughts in the workplace is, that even if we live our way, people don’t matter, people don’t object much to it. I eat food like this.
This is the food I eat. In the modern times, people are quite judgemental. If you are a vegetarian, you are so primitive.
To be modern means to eat the un-veg. But post-modern means, you do what you want, I’ll do what you want, you don’t tread on my feet, I won’t tread on your feet. So, that’s how it is, and to some extent, this is advantages in the workplace.
If we want to live our way, as long as we do our work well, people don’t interfere much with us. So, that is, we can actually work in a workplace without necessarily being contaminated by bad association. The second level is that workaholism.
Like we have alcoholism, where you know, alcoholism means people just compulsively drink. So, workaholism means people compulsively work. They work not because they need money, they work not because they have to earn, they work because their work becomes their defining identity.
If I don’t have my work, what am I? They just have no life apart from their work. See, Bhagavatam talks about how people are so attached, that householders are so attached that they don’t have time for spiritual life. They just spend all their time in kutumbabharane nava, either in maintaining the family or in enjoying materialistic way of living.
But, if you see in Kaliyuga, workaholism not only makes people turn away from God, workaholism makes people turn away even from their family. Now, people become workaholics, they have no time for their family members, no time for their children, no time for anything, just work, work, work, work. So, what has happened? This is not only damaging spiritually, it is damaging materially also.
But the problem is, the social society values are so skewed that actually, workaholism is a glamorised addiction. It’s a glamorous addiction. Oh, you know, he works 14 hours, he works 16 hours.
Oh, he is so hardworking, so dedicated, so committed. Yeah, sometimes there may be project deadlines and we may have to work hard. But to make work itself as one source of identity, that not only is damaging spiritually, that can be damaging materially also.
So, there are dangers in work and we have to be careful. It is not that work cannot be maya. In many ways, work can be maya and we have to be on guard.
Go ahead, we will conclude now. So, now Krishna talks about something further. Svakarmanatam abhyarcha siddhim innati maanava.
In 18.46 he says that by your work, worship him. Svakarmanatam abhyarcha. So, how do we worship Krishna through our work? So, if we see that our talents are Krishna’s gifts to us and that we use our talents.
So, we use our talents directly in Krishna’s service or abilities, gifts, interests, whatever we have. We use them in our work. So, then we see it not so much as how much I am earning, what position I am getting in society, what all comforts and gadgets I am getting.
Krishna has given me some gifts and I have to use them. So, if we see work as a means not to add to our prestige but to bring glory to Krishna by doing justice to Krishna given gifts for us. Then that is also a means in which we can spiritualise our consciousness in our work.
And work can also be a means to experience Krishna. How is that? See, Prabhupada writes in 7th chapter that the jurisdiction of Krishna consciousness extends everywhere. So, jurisdiction of Krishna consciousness.
Krishna consciousness is not just limited to the temple. Temple is very important because when we come to the temple that’s where our consciousness becomes spiritualised. That’s where we first become conscious of Krishna.
But once we become conscious of Krishna, we can go out and while we are working if we have studied scripture, internalised Krishna conscious principles then when we go out and work, there we will see that actually there itself we will get realisations of spiritual truths. We will get realisations of Krishna acting in our life. We will get realisations of how the truths of scripture get played out in people’s lives.
How the anarthas lead to misery. How last anger greed leads to misery. How sattvic living is better.
How bhakti elevates our life. So, we can actually experience Krishna through our work also. So, of course, this requires first that we should be able to experience Krishna elsewhere.
If I think I will experience Krishna only in my work, I am not going to experience Krishna. I should be able to experience Krishna directly through devotional activities first. And then I will be able to experience Krishna in my work also.
So, as I mentioned this earlier, what we are is God’s gift to us. What we become is our gift to God. So, we have given you some talents, we have given you some abilities and we use them in Krishna’s service.
And that way, we become, we improve, we become better. We move onwards in our life. And thus, we actually do justice to Krishna, to the God-given abilities that we have.
And it is our heart ultimately that Krishna wants, but our heart is often situated in various other things. So, it is said that if we can’t give our heart to Krishna, we can give what is in our heart to Krishna. If we cannot give our heart, if I say, you know, I should just think of Krishna 24 hours a day.
Well, that’s not practical for most of us. If I cannot give my heart to Krishna, then I can give what is in my heart to Krishna. What does that mean? See, for most of us, money is very much in our heart.
So, what happens is, if I give my money to Krishna, by giving that money to Krishna, I give Krishna a place in my heart. Prabhupada would say, you know, he would say, never give our books free to anyone. It is not just to make money.
Prabhupada said, people, he speaks in his own way, he says, hey, I give $10 for this book. Let me read this and see what these rascals are saying. So, if people give money, then they feel, I have given some money, so let me read at least for some time.
So, like that, what happens is, whatever is in our heart, if we give it to Krishna, then by that we give Krishna a place in our heart. And thus, we come closer and closer to Krishna. So, in this way, work can, to summarise, work can definitely be maya, and we have to have some philosophical awareness to know that it is maya.
Otherwise, if we are so much in maya, we don’t realise we are in maya also. Just like a person who is too drunk doesn’t realise that they are drunk. So, we discussed about what Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita about work, that he says that, not renunciation of action, but renunciation in action.
The way out of this world is through this world. And then we discussed about how Krishna talks about detachment from results, but not about apathy of work. So, we discussed about the difference between results and goals.
Results may increase our anxiety because we worry about that which is not in our control. Goals increase our focus because we absorb ourselves in that which is in our control. And then we discussed about various levels at which we can see work.
We can see work as a means for earning our living. Can you just go back with me? We can see work as a means to earn our living. We can see work as a… Go back.
No, go ahead. We have positions in society by which we can influence others. No, go ahead.
We can work as a means to work out our passion. In that case we discussed about organic renunciation and imposed renunciation. Bhakti should not be made more difficult than what it needs to be.
Go ahead. Work as a means to raise workless consciousness by setting an example of sattvic learning. And work as a means to attract people through our performance, through our excellence.
So, in this way, we can actually see work at various levels in spiritual consciousness. Go ahead. Let me discuss further about how work can be maya.
It can infuse us with greed. And as we lose the spiritual understanding of spiritual purpose of life, or it can make us workaholic where we don’t think of ourselves as souls. We think of us as I’m an engineer, I’m a doctor, I’m this.
Our work becomes our defining identity. So we have to guard against this. And the way to guard it is in our workplace, as much as possible, we try to have sattvic association.
If we can have devotee association, if we can preach and make people into devotees, that’s even better. But if we have sattvic association, we can avoid these dangers or minimise these dangers. Go ahead.
And lastly, we discussed that we can see work as worship. If we see that, firstly, whatever abilities I have, whatever talents I have, they are Krishna’s gifts, and I’m using them to make a contribution in this world. When I’m making that contribution, I’m attracting people towards Krishna.
And if I work, I earn some, I earn by that. And that money has a strong place in my heart. So when I give charity, by giving charity also, I’m worshipping Krishna.
So worship of Krishna at the highest level is to give Krishna a place in our heart. But if I cannot give Krishna, if I cannot make Krishna give Krishna my heart, then I give to Krishna that which is in my heart. And when we work, we earn and we give charity, that’s also a way in which we are worshipping Krishna through our work.
So thank you very much. Are there any questions or comments? Yes, go on. Like, Prabhupada also said about like Vanaprastha, like 50 years.
So how we can also understand that when we are ready to give full time to Krishna? Okay. So Prabhupada also talked about Vanaprastha ashram. So when can we know when we are ready to take to Vanaprastha? So actually among the four ashrams, Brahmachari Grahastha, Vanaprastha Sanyasa, Vanaprastha is the least present.
It is almost like, what do you want to say, Vanaprastha is an endangered ashram. It’s an endangered ashram. So now we have to see that actually Prabhupada was very practical in terms of how he implemented the ashrams.
Many times according to some traditional understanding of Brahmachari ashram, Brahmachari should be in a place where there are no women at all. But Prabhupada did not expect that. Prabhupada did not implement that in any way.
There is definitely a separation of the genders. So the point which I am making similarly, if you look at Sanyasis, Sanyasis also often use many of the modern facilities and gadgets so that they can share Krishna’s message. So we may not be able to adopt the traditional roles, traditional ways of implementing the social roles always.
So for example, in today’s life, today’s world, if somebody says I am retired, people say, why didn’t you retire? To be retired is considered to be quite de-glamorous kind of thing. So even if you had a very big position and you retire, then people think something must be really wrong with you. Why did you give such a big position? So people just don’t appreciate renunciation so much.
So once Devamrith Maharaj was giving a class and some reporter had come for an interview in Mumbai. So he said, you know, so many young people are here. It was a youth meeting.
So many young people are here. He said, I said that so many young people get frustrated that they take to spiritual life. Their idea, the idea was that why would somebody take to spiritual life? It’s only because they are frustrated.
So Devamrith Maharaj told that, you know, I told that reporter, no, they are intelligent enough to avoid frustration. So the thing is that actually we have to see how best we can serve Krishna. Sometimes if we take vanaprastha in the literal sense of completely retiring from job and living in the temple, it may be that we may not be able to do as much service as we might be able to do if we have some nominal position.
Now somebody says, OK, what do you do? I’m a consultant. You don’t do anything but you say I’m a consultant. And then they have some position in society and then they can reach out, they can preach, they can have influence in society.
So it is not necessary that everybody as soon as they get to 50, they have to just give up their jobs. Certainly, one should try to decrease one’s material entanglements. But exactly whether one should relocate from the home to the temple or completely give up a job, completely give up social position.
So that I think that has to be seen according to time and circumstance. So how can we best serve? Some people can serve by having a position in society and trying to decrease the obligations associated with that position. And it is possible often when one goes to a senior position, that one can delegate much more work.
So one has more responsible work but one is not necessarily more time consuming work. So that is something which can be done also. Where certainly as we come to life’s second half, we should try to decrease our material engagements as much as possible.
Practically how to do it, that will vary. So we don’t have to stick to a particular form alone. That’s the first point.
Second point is that earlier in ISKCON’s history, even the Granthas were living in temples and temples were supporting them. But that did not work out very well. So ideally speaking now, you know, if Granthas want to be Vanvas, they should be financially independent and their family responsibility should be well taken care of.
There is enough savings so that they can live reasonably well throughout the rest of their life. And it’s possible. It’s not very difficult to come to that level of savings.
So financial stability should be there. And sometimes we seek renunciation more because of frustration with the material than because of attraction to the spiritual. We seek renunciation more because of frustration with the material.
So much stress, so much competition, so much envy, so much trouble. I just want to get out of this. So now frustration can be a good starting point for practising bhakti.
But it cannot be a sustaining force. So we have to see that whether I have sufficient attraction for Krishna. And attraction for Krishna for us practically means engagement in Krishna’s service.
So if we have, before we take to the retired order or take to vanaprastha, if before we said cut ourselves off from the material life, we should have a burning desire to connect ourselves with Krishna more. And that should be evident in the way we grab every opportunity for connecting with Krishna, even when we are working. So when the focus is not just frustration with the material, it is attraction to the spiritual.
Then when we get more opportunity, we’ll grab it. Otherwise, quite often the retired order can become a cover up for lethargy. So there is sattva guna, there is rajo guna, there is tamo guna.
So when we are working, most of the time to some extent we are in rajo guna. And actually rajo guna is better than tamo guna in many ways. So what happens is if we don’t have responsibilities, if we don’t have obligations, then and if we don’t have sufficient spiritual inspiration, then instead of coming to, vanaprastha means we come to sattva and go towards transcendence.
Instead of going towards that, we may go down towards tamo guna. So we have to be very careful that lethargy is not going to come in. That’s why we have to have not just a feeling that I’m attracted to Krishna, but also some tangible way in which we will act on that attraction.
OK, if I retire, what am I going to do? And I should really be eager to do it. And in general, you know, we can’t sustain our motivation for long if there is not something tangible to do. That is the study shastra.
OK, study shastra is good. But we feel I should do something with shastra. I have to teach shastra.
And most devotees, actually their shastric study becomes really serious when they are forced to teach. Because when you have to teach, then you need to understand concepts, you need to answer questions. What happens otherwise? If you are not teaching, then when we come for classes, we feel sab pata hai mujhe, sab suna hai maine, I have heard this.
This also I have heard. This also I have heard. But then if I am told to speak, I just don’t know what to speak.
So what has happened? When I’m hearing, I feel I know. But when I start speaking, I come to know that I don’t know. So that’s why when we start speaking, then we are forced to learn.
So like that, we need to have some solid responsibility spiritually, so that when we give up the material responsibility, we don’t sink into lethargy and apathy. So broadly speaking, there are three things I said. Don’t stick to a particular form of the retired order, whatever is practical.
And secondly, we should be financially independent. Third is we should have a strong attraction to Krishna which translates into some tangible responsibility for Krishna which we take up. And then the shift to the retired order will actually be very conducive for our spiritual life.
And the vanaprastha ashram can be a tremendous boon for society. If we have the brahmacharis, we have the sanyasis. Sanyasis, we don’t have many.
Sanyasis are very busy. And brahmacharis can also do preaching. But those who become brahmacharis, they actually just come from youth.
Maybe they have gone to college, worked for some time, they become brahmacharis. So they may preach, but they may not have the worldly experience to actually give practical guidance to people. They can if they mature and they get realised.
But what happens is people’s age also determines how seriously you take somebody’s advice. If somebody is 25, 30, then people don’t take them so seriously. But if somebody is a little elderly and there is a culture where age is respected, and then some elderly person is there, they are also spiritual, then they become like a father or grandfather for people.
And then they can actually benefit people a lot. So vanaprastha can be a very powerful way in which we can do enormous service for Krishna’s mission. Does that answer your question? Any other questions? Yes.
So how do we motivate ourselves in our material life if we are detached from results? That’s why I said detachment from results is not indifference to goals. We need to set goals. But basically, what is the difference between attachment to results and detachment from results? The primary difference is that it is obsession with the work after we have done it.
Say if I have given my exam. If I am a student, I have given my exam. And after giving my exam, I think what will be the result? Well, now I have done the exam.
The result will come in its own course. I don’t have to be consumed by that. So the difference between detachment and irresponsibility.
Sometimes detachment is thought of as irresponsibility. Mistaken to be. The difference between detachment and apathy or responsibility, what the main difference is, detachment is after the work.
Irresponsibility is before the work. That means if a student is irresponsible, students say I won’t study only. Krishna will take care of everything.
Well, Krishna takes care through the intelligence he has given you. You have to use your intelligence to study. So if we are actually being negligent about the work, that is not detachment.
That is irresponsibility. That is apathy and that is not good. So we have to know that actually even our work purifies us.
When the intention of our life is to serve Krishna, then the work we are doing is also in a mood of service to Krishna. Then when we have that intention that I come to the temple and do some service and I go to the office and there also I am serving Krishna. So when we have that mood of serving Krishna, then we want to do our service as well as we can.
Just as we would serve Krishna well if we are cooking for Krishna, if we are doing something for Krishna, we try to do it as well as we can. Similarly, we try to do our work as well as we can. We don’t become workaholics.
We don’t work all the time, all throughout our life. But if we see that work as a service to Krishna, this is also my offering to Krishna. And most importantly, often our work enables us to make other offerings to Krishna.
Whether it is to make our home to a temple, whether it is able to come to a temple, whether to go for yatras, for all that. So we see our work. If we can’t see our work directly as a service, we can at least see our work as a tool to ourselves.
So without the work, I will not be able to serve Krishna properly. And that’s how we can get our motivation. So our work is also a part of our bhakti.
So we want to do, we should try to do our best in the world because we are also offering that to Krishna. That’s why we offer the best that we can to Krishna. Motivation in terms of the progression within the work, that will remain the same.
Whether it is Arjuna shooting at a target or whether some other archer who is not a devotee shooting at a target. Now for both of them, the progression will be, OK, if you are hitting at the bullseye, you hit at the outer circle, then you move towards the inner circle and you hit at the bullseye. So the progression towards improvement and excellence is going to be the same.
And both of them are aiming for the same excellence. So bhakti does not so much changing the how of your life as the why of your life. So how we do things, it to some extent changes.
We may do it in tamasik, rajasik, we may do it in more sattvic ways. But basically we do the same work. It’s not so much changing the how of our life as the why of our life.
Why am I doing this? That is the primary change that bhakti brings about. So how can we work with devotion and detachment? How can we avoid losing interest in our work? Yes, see, at one level to become uninterested in anything other than Krishna, that is a sign of spiritual advancement. So if I become interested in Krishna, then I don’t become interested.
I lose my interest in other things. But this is one way of looking at things. Other way of looking at things is also that actually Krishna is not just someone who exists in the spiritual world.
Krishna is not just someone who exists in the temple. Krishna pervades all of existence. And that’s why this verse 18.46, often the second part is quoted, sva-karmanatam abhyarcha siddhu-bhinnati maanam.
By your work, worship him and you will attain perfection. But the first half of the verse is significant. The first half of the verse is yatha pravrttir bhutana ye na sarvam idam tatam.
By whom, from whom the whole world has come and by whom the whole world is pervaded, that lord you worship through your work and thus you will attain perfection. That means when we say that worship Krishna through your work, what that means is we understand that Krishna is not unconnected from the work. Krishna, the whole world has come from Krishna.
The world is pervaded by Krishna. So for example, if I am studying science, then if I can study science and I understand say the principles of how atoms work, how molecules work, how electromagnetic works, I can see all this is the super intelligent design of God. So by that there are many scientists, especially before the theory of evolution propagated, that for them the study of science brought them closer to God.
And even now there are many scientists who actually, many people scientifically minded, by their study of science they can go closer towards God. So that way we can all be creative and find out how we can see the Krishna connection in our work. So that will require some internalisation of the philosophy.
So that is, so if we see Krishna as disconnected from the world, then we have one level of realisation of Krishna. We don’t have a higher level of realisation. Krishna is not only disconnected from the world, Krishna is also pervading the world.
And that’s why we can see Krishna in our workplace also. That means through the work that we do, through the subjects that we study, through the skill that we learn. So suppose I am working and then I am not able to solve the problem.
Then suddenly I get an idea and I am able to solve the problem. And I see that, oh, actually this idea came, this idea, where did it come from? It’s a super skill acting. So somebody is brilliant at work also.
We see not just the brilliance of this person is so good. We see Krishna says that I am the talent of the talented. I am the strength of the strong.
So this person’s ability is Krishna. So actually we can see Krishna in whatever we do. So that requires a little bit internalisation of the philosophy.
So we understand that Krishna pervades the world. And then we can see our work in this world also as a means of gaining deeper realisation of Krishna. Does it answer your question? Yes, ma’am.
Yeah, definitely. Personally excellence is atma guna. That can be a motivation for work also.
Yes, because if Krishna has given me some abilities, then I should do justice to those abilities. And if I do that in a mood of service, mood of detachment, then that’s a very powerful motivation. If we see our work as a gift from Krishna, our ability as a gift from Krishna.
So we all know there is talent and there is achievement. And the bridge between talent and achievement is based on commitment. So talent automatically does not lead to achievement.
Talent plus commitment leads to achievement. So God has given us talents, but our talents won’t automatically translate into achievements. For that, there has to be commitment.
So if we see that achievement is a way in which we can, if we achieve something in this world and by that we can offer some things to Krishna, then the commitment to translate talent into achievement, that commitment is a way we see by which we can serve Krishna. That can also be a definitely a very important way in which we inspire ourselves. Yes.
So related to this topic, the fundamentals of work and the karma. In this Karmanyedu Karasthi verse, Prabhupada writes in Apsara translation, One who is attached to the result of his work is also the cause of the action. And thus he is the enjoyer or sufferer of the result of such action.
So I just wanted to understand, one who is attached, someone who is attached or someone who is not attached, both are doing the work. Both are actually generating the work and therefore they are the cause of the work. Prabhupada specifically writes this.
So Prabhupada says in 2.47 parpon that one who is attached, that person is the cause of the work and therefore that person has to incur the karma and enjoy the good or bad result. So whether the person is attached or not, they are actually causing the work. So what does this mean actually? See, when we see the cause of the work, that is primarily in terms of the sole cause of the work.
In the 18th chapter, Krishna says, I think 16th or 17th, 16th verse, tatraivam sati kartaram atmanam kevalam tuya pashyatya krutavrttitvan me sa pashyati durmatihi He says tatraivam sati kartaram. Kartaram, one who thinks that I am the karta. But what kind of karta? Atmanam kevalam tuya.
One who thinks I am the only doer. So, as a person, what is that person’s idea? That person is a reducer. Pashyatya krutavrttitvan.
That person’s buddhi is not very loyal. Me sa pashyati durmatihi. He is not able to see at all actually.
So, when we say that, when we think we are the cause of the result, that means we think we are the sole cause of the result. See, we are definitely the cause. If you see, the same Bhagavad Gita which contains prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasah ahankarani mudatma kartaham iti manyate which says that one who thinks I am the doer is an illusion.
That same Bhagavad Gita, what does it conclude with? yathe chasi tatha kuru The concluding verse which Krishna speaks is, in 18.63, one of the concluding verses, as you desire so you should do. Krishna is asking Arjuna to be a doer. Isn’t it? And what does Arjuna also say at the end in response to Krishna? He says, karishe vacanam tava.
I will do your will. That means he will be a doer. So, it is actually, to think that I am not a doer, it’s just not possible because we are doers.
But the illusion is to think that I am the only doer. So, when I think I am the only doer, and I think that I produce the result, then I am taking credit for the result, and I take credit for the result, then I get the karma for the result also. So, when we are attached or we are detached, we are the doer in both cases.
In that sense, we are the cause of the result. But when we are attached, we think we are the only cause of the result. And that’s what causes bondage.
When we are detached, we understand that I am one cause and the higher cause is the destiny, the will of destiny. In 18.15 Krishna talks about five factors of action. And he says, daivam chaivatra panchamam.
Daiva is the fifth factor of action. To understand that, our ultimate cause of result is Krishna. And thus, we don’t think of ourselves as a doer of the result, as the cause of the result primarily.
We are cause, but not the sole cause. And that’s how we stay detached. So, what causes bondage is action in illusion.
When I act with a false conception of life, then I become bound. And if I don’t act with a false conception of life, I don’t become bound. It’s clear? Yeah, it’s the same thing.
One is attached to the result of the work means that person thinks that I want the result and I will get the result and I will get it by my own sweat and toil. And no one can stop me from getting it. I remember, you know, at the end, I’m an author, so at the end of a book, we write acknowledgements.
So, I read one book, it means acknowledgements. So, author writes, the first acknowledgement goes to me. I worked so hard to write this book.
This is an extraordinary level of egomania. So, what happens is people can just be, hey, they just don’t see others. See, I only did it.
They don’t see others and they don’t see Krishna at all. So, when we are attached to the cause, attached to the result, that means basically we think that I am the cause of the result. That’s how it is over there, in that context.
Any other questions? Yes, please. Okay. So, what does ma karma phala hetur bhur mean? That means don’t think of yourself as the cause of the fruit, the cause of the result.
What does it mean? Well, it’s 2.47, it’s a fairly complicated verse and I just gave one mood of analysis of it. There are various different ways in which it can be analysed. So, now, ma karma phala hetur bhur.
Let the fruit not be the goal of your work. What it means is, Krishna is, in the context of the Bhagavad Gita, this is a slightly technical explanation, I’ll give. Krishna is asking Arjuna to rise from karmakand to karma yoga, towards nishkama karma yoga.
And in nishkama karma yoga, one does work not for getting the result of the work, one does work for growing in knowledge. Just like, to give a simple example, in something which you can relate in our life, there are students, we all have students, and students study to gain marks. That can be one motive for studies.
But sometimes there are some students who are really interested in the subject. Somebody goes into physics because they are very much into physics. Most students, they may just study the textbooks or they may study some last minute revision notes.
Just get the knowledge that is required for passing the exams. But there are the students who are very interested in the subject. They don’t study the textbook, they study some reference book, they study some foreign author’s book and they learn a lot.
So what happens is, when somebody is studying for marks, they don’t really grow much in knowledge. But when somebody’s motive is not marks planning, they are studying, but they are studying to grow in knowledge. So the activity is the same, studies.
But in one case they are studying for marks, in another case they are studying because they are interested in the subject, they want to grow in the knowledge of the subject. So something similar, when some people may work, they work simply for the fruits. But in Nishkama Karma Yoga, one works because one understands that by doing my duty, that Jnana and Vairagya will grow.
So when one works, not for the results, but for the growth of knowledge, then that is working in Nishkama Karma Yoga and that leads to Jnana. And for a bhakta, actually we work because we want to offer our consciousness to Krishna. So actually we want to offer our fruits to Krishna also.
But for Krishna, the fruits are not as important as our intention. We know a standard example of Hanuman moving big boulders and a squirrel moving small dust particles, not even pebbles. So what did Lord Ram Singh take intention? So for us, see, detachment from results comes because of attachment to something bigger than results.
Detachment from results comes from attachment to something bigger than results and that bigger is Krishna. So when we are attached to Krishna, we want to please Krishna by our work. And the world judges us by the results.
Krishna judges us by our efforts. If we have put in our efforts, Krishna is pleased with us. And actually that was the secret of Shri Prabhupada’s cheerfulness even when his preaching was not at all successful.
Now Prabhupada, he tried so much to preach in India and he went to America and even in America he was like an unknown old man and then some people who later became devotees came to meet him or even people who did not become devotees but journalists came to meet him. His Swami was so happy. Now if you think from the material perspective, everything that Prabhupada did had been unsuccessful.
His business had been unsuccessful. His making a magazine had been unsuccessful. His running an organisation had been unsuccessful.
If a person has got failure after failure after failure, they tend to become bitter, isn’t it? But Prabhupada was happy. Why? Because Prabhupada, certainly he wanted the results, he wanted temples, he wanted devotees but he was not working primarily for the results. He was working for Krishna.
So he was working for Krishna and he was thinking, I am doing my effort, Krishna is pleased by that. Now if by Krishna’s arrangement the results come, I will offer the results also. So what it means is, we don’t think of ourselves as the cause of the result.
That means we work primarily for Krishna. I work to please Krishna. So Prabhupada would say, Bhakti Sahaja Thakur would say, if you go for a programme and nobody comes, preach to the walls.
What does it mean, preach to the walls? That does not mean he didn’t care at all how many people came. He would be pleased if a large number of people would come for the programme. Why? Because if more people come for a programme, then more people are benefited by hearing Krishna’s message.
So it is not that we have to be indifferent or uncaring for the results. But we care for something more than the results. We care for Krishna and because we want to offer the results to Krishna, we also care for the results.
But our primary care is for Krishna. And we know Krishna is pleased by efforts only. So at the level of Bhakti, if we are doing our endeavour well, nobody comes to know that we did the endeavour.
Still Krishna knows. Krishna’s eyes never blink. The devotee does the smallest service, Krishna knows.
The devotee has done the service. Krishna notes it and rewards it at appropriate time. That’s why actually when we work for results, we set ourselves up for a lot of insecurity because the results are not in our hands.
But when we work for Krishna, Krishna actually judges us by that which is in our hands. Our efforts are in our hands. In that sense, Bhakti actually brings a lot of security in our life.
Whereas materialistic conception of success brings a lot of insecurity in our life. Does that answer your question? Thank you. Okay, last question.
Oh, okay. Yeah. I would like to answer.
When we work, then the work we do, the concept is to work, that is what we do. So that is the opposite of what we do. But in general sense, if we work in the temples, the consciousness will not be a prerequisite, right? In that case also we will be working with the passion and all.
So how is it pleasing to Krishna when we work according to our nature? Okay. So if we work in temple and we are working in a passionate mode, so is that pleasing to Krishna still? Yes. You know, service to Krishna is not something which is like a digital logic, one or zero.
It is analogue. There are degrees in which we serve Krishna. And most of us say when we preach, we also have some motive that people should appreciate me, people should think I am very clever.
Now we can’t wish away that motive. By purification that motive will go away. But if I decide that only when that motive goes away, at that time I will start speaking about Krishna.
But I will never be able to speak about Krishna throughout my life. So what I do is, whatever motives I have, I still start serving Krishna and gradually I try to purify my motives. Similarly, with any service that we do, actually we cannot have pure consciousness right now.
See, pure consciousness is not the precondition for service. Pure consciousness is the result of service. So I have to serve so that I develop pure consciousness.
And even if I have Rajasik, even if I have lower levels of consciousness, it doesn’t matter. I just work right now and by working I become purified. And of course, if we are becoming too offensive, too obnoxious, then we have to be a little careful.
You know, if say I have to do a service and for doing that service I just, I just knock on other, I just trample other people, I just knock other people aside, other devotees are becoming sensitive, that’s not good. But we don’t have, first we do service and gradually think about purifying our consciousness. And as far as Krishna accepting service, Krishna accepts but there are levels of acceptance.
The more it is done with affectionate mood, the more Krishna accepts joyfully. Krishna always accepts and we do get purified by any kind of service that we do. But the more selfless, the more pure the consciousness is, the more pleasing it is to Krishna.
But otherwise also, any way we are connected to Krishna, it is pleasing to him. Does that answer your question? So. Thank you very much.
The Prabhupada Ki, Gaura Bhakta Binda Ki, Dai Gaur Premanande.