Shikshashtakam 3 – Humility and tolerance empower us to focus on our purpose

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[Talk at Bhaktivedanta Hospital]

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna so I will be speaking in English last time Madhavan and Guru Adi Kishore they said that if I speak in Hindi also they have to translate everything into English and I have to translate everything from English into Hindi when I am speaking so it just becomes double effort so long ago I had started a series on Shikshashtakam and I had taken three classes on the first two texts so today I will take the third text and whenever I come I will continue the Shikshashtakam series so if anyone wants to listen to Bhashantar in Hindi Paramahamsa Prabhu is translating it you can listen to that later thank you Paramahamsa Prabhu so the third text of the Shikshashtakam is the Shikshashtakam is a set of eight texts composed at different times by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu during his stay at Gambhira in Jagannath Puri and subsequently our Acharyas had combined them together as the Shikshashtakam now Bhaktivinod Thakur has written a commentary on the Shikshashtakam which describes the progression of thought within the Shikshashtakam so he explains that within Bhakti there are three different stages there is Sadhana Bhakti there is Bhava Bhakti and there is Prema Bhakti so the first five texts in the Shikshashtakam talk about Sadhana Bhakti the next two texts talk about Bhava Bhakti and the last text talks about Prema Bhakti now within this flow the first text talks about the glory of the chanting of the holy names the second text talks about the universality of the chanting of the holy names now the third text talks about rising from the state of chanting the holy names to the state of constantly chanting the holy names or the state of constant absorption in Krishna in general the process of Bhakti is simultaneously easy and difficult it is easy in the sense that anyone can practise it we know there are three modes of material nature there is Tamoguna, there is Rajoguna and there is Sattvaguna so often the processes of Jnana of Dhyana or other processes unless a person has Sattvaguna they cannot really practise it you sit for hours and hours and study scripture and that too in an analytical way to try to understand Vedanta that requires a lot of Sattvaguna similar to renounce the world and sit in yogic postures for hours that also requires a lot of Sattvaguna Bhakti on the other hand involves variety of activities and that can be done by anyone even if a person is Rajoguna, Tamoguna they can just come to a temple and they can join a kirtan and they can dance and they can experience some spiritual ecstasy so in that sense Bhakti is universal that it can be practised by anyone whatever be their current situation at the same time starting is one thing and sustaining is another thing so Bhakti can be started by anyone but if they are to sustain Bhakti they need a certain level of Sattvaguna we know that there are three gunas Sattvaguna, Rajoguna, Tamoguna and they are associated with different functions in nature so Tamoguna is associated with destruction when people are very much Tamasic they can go about destroying things they delight in destroying things when people are in Rajoguna at that time they like to create something new so for example people want to read books or they want to read something they’ll read one book then jump to next book, third book, fourth book, fifth book that’s jumping it’s largely Rajasic Sattvaguna requires I take one book, I’ll read it from beginning to end that requires that maintaining any activity requires patience similarly sustenance in Bhakti maintaining the practise of Bhakti requires a certain amount of goodness and this verse talks about two qualities that are central to the mode of goodness and of course these qualities are also pivotal for the practise of Bhakti they are humility and tolerance so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu draws both examples from nature to illustrate these two qualities, one he says is humility like a blade of grass and tolerance like a tree and concomitant or consequent of these two is respecting others expecting no respect for ourselves this will lead to the constant chanting of the holy names so it’s interesting that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says constant chanting is not dependent on somebody’s strong verbal muscles you know like some people just talk on and on and on don’t you get tired of talking? can’t you be silent for some time? don’t your verbal muscles get tired? just keep talking, talking, talking sometimes if you talk for hours you know you also feel like I want to be silent now so it is not that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is saying that to chant the holy names constantly we have to do some special exercise of verbal muscles by which we will be able to constantly chant constant chanting is not a state of the lips it is a state of the heart certainly it can be expressed through the lips but constant chanting is a reflection of the heart’s constant attraction towards Krishna and that constant attraction towards Krishna expresses itself as constant chanting so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is taking us to the state where chanting is not lip deep it is heart deep and to have that heart’s attraction to Krishna he says that humility and tolerance are important so I will talk two points each about humility and about tolerance so humility means to not let our ego come in the way of our purpose humility means to not let our ego come in the way of our purpose Srila Prabhupada puts it in his 13.8 purport that humility means to not be anxious to have the satisfaction of being honoured by others this is basically the same thing but let me explain this to not let the ego come in the way of our purpose we all have certain things which we want to do in our lives and those may be as per our ambitions as per what scripture tells us those may be what we are expected to do as per social norms, as per familial obligations as per professional requirements whatever it is so we have certain purposes in our life and these purposes if we are to pursue often we have to resist distracting forces it is said that an aeroplane when it travels from its starting point to its destination more than 95% of the time the aeroplane is off track the aeroplane is off track because when it is moving the very momentum of the aeroplane puts it off track and there are atmospheric conditions there are clouds, there is motion of winds so the aeroplane tends to go off track and then how does the aeroplane leave the destination it is because of constant reorientation the aeroplane goes off track and the pilot gets it back the aeroplane goes off track, the pilot gets it back if we see a person who drives a car especially if it is on a straight road where one does not have to take any turns we may think the driver is redundant the driver is just moving the wheels a little bit, little bit, little bit especially if it is smooth expressway then especially in in the western countries, I just came from Australia I had gone on a long four and a half hour tour not a tour, one place to another we were travelling so the biggest challenge in Australia while driving is sleepiness in fact along the roads in Australia there are places for power naps they say that a nap will save your life because the roads are so clear and smooth the driver does not have much to do and because the driver does not have much to do so drivers tend to doze off and when they doze off, they just go off the roads so actually it may appear that the driver is doing nothing but in the case of a car by its very momentum the car tends to go off the track even if it is on a straight road and the driver’s role might seem to be very little but the driver has a role of constantly moving the steering wheel little bit this way, little bit that way little bit this way by which keep the car on track so similarly if we want to achieve anything in our life there will be forces internal and external which will take us off course and we need to constantly reorient ourselves back on track so one of the major forces that can take us off course is our ego so for example we are going to do some work and we meet someone and talk with that person and that person turns out to be very unreasonable, very offensive very disrespectful and that will naturally annoy us, that will naturally irritate us so annoyance and irritation are natural responses when people behave unreasonably or disrespectfully but if we snap out of them if we lash out at them and then we explode in that situation we may make the whole situation worse if we had gone say for some negotiation or discussion and if things don’t work out we just stop it and leave but sometimes we because we perceive things in a particular way because our ego takes offence in particular kinds of behaviour the ego determines our behaviour entirely and then we often act in ways which are counterproductive for ourselves so now this does not mean so humility does not mean that we let anyone and everyone trample on us we have the the same Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is recommending Trinadapi, Sunichara, Tarorapi, Sahishrivanam now he was very firm when he wanted to do certain things if he wanted to go to Vrindavan for a pilgrimage the devotee lovingly told him please don’t go, please don’t go he didn’t have to stop for some time but eventually he did go so if he has a particular purpose he achieves that purpose and humility does not mean that we let ourselves be trampled upon by others now whatever anybody feels whatever anybody wants to do it’s like there is a there is some cloth at the entry of a room everyone just rubs their legs so that it’s clean so it’s not like humility doesn’t mean that we let everyone else treat us like a rag cloth humility essentially means that, see Jain Mahaprabhu talks about humility in connection with devotion in connection with absorption in Krishna so for example if I am trying to chant the holy names and if somebody, if I come into the room and I look at someone and that person doesn’t look at me, that person deliberately snubs me now if I have come to that place for say, if I come to a place where I am going to chant the holy names now if I get too, how dare this come be like this I will get so worked up that afterwards maybe one hour, two hours I am sitting I am not chanting, I am actually cultivating revenge fantasies how I will snub that person back in public so here what has happened the lack of humility has let our ego sabotage our purpose so the point of humility is not to let ourselves become a rag for anyone to abuse, the point of humility is to make sure that our purposefulness is not interrupted by others and especially by our ego’s instinctive responses to others so Srila Prabhupada himself, he embodied humility but at the same time when he was sharing Krishna’s message he was fierce, he was forceful he was determined so for example say if we are giving a class and if we find that most of the audience is inattentive checking some messages or just talking with each other or dozing off now if at that time if I am driven by my ego I might just blast off and I might give the audience a dressing down at that time itself but suppose it’s an audience of new people and they don’t really know the etiquette of how to behave in a spiritual programme or whatever reason it is, often if exploding while we are supposed to give a speech which usually most spiritual speeches are about sense control and mind control so when we explode what happens is we alienate people so if say our purpose is to share Krishna’s message when we try to share Krishna’s message not just by how we speak but also how we conduct ourselves so that humility will ensure that our purpose of sharing Krishna’s message is not damaged by the lack of respect over there but at the same time humility does not mean that if we are going to a particular place where people are really not interested it’s not that we have to keep going there again and again and thinking that oh because nobody pays attention to me that will make me humble that is not humility that is masochism, masochism means just hurting oneself so Srila Prabhupada he was preaching in India and he found that Indians had some sentimental appreciation for sadhus but they had no interest in becoming committed so then what did Srila Prabhupada do he did not think that oh just by preaching in India I will become humble no humility alone is not the point our point is we have a purpose the purpose is to share Krishna’s message so Prabhupada found ok if Indians are not interested he went to America and then when Americans came back to India then he found that yes people are not taking it seriously so humility means to not let our ego come in the way of our purpose humility doesn’t mean that we don’t have a purpose itself you know anybody tells me to do anything I will do that, anybody treats me in any way I tolerate that, I endure that no, humility means we have a higher purpose to our life and we don’t let lower things distract us from that purpose this is one aspect of humility with respect to how we deal with others, now another aspect of humility is about how we look at ourselves the purpose of humility is to foster neediness not helplessness now humility is meant to increase our awareness of our need for Krishna humility is not meant to make us simply feel helpless and powerless and hopeless we have a certain amount of capacity to do certain things and we also have limitations to our capacity whatever we may have certain ability to sing we may have certain ability to speak we all have certain different abilities and we also have certain limitations there are some things which we can do there are many things which we can’t do so even the things which we can do we often find that there are others who can do it better than us and even the things which we can do we may not always be able to do them equally well cricket is a popular sport in India and in cricket often it is said that a batsman is out of form no batsman wants to be out of form anytime but then it’s just that even if that person is a champion batsman it’s not that batting is always under their control so the point is humility is an awareness that there are certain things in our control there are certain things beyond our control and even the things which are in our control even to be able to do them we are not alone in doing those things we need higher sanction we need ultimately Krishna’s grace so our awareness of our need for Krishna that is what is the crux of humility sometimes when people are very sometimes humility can become a excuse for self pity that means people say oh I can’t do this you know I am like this, this is what happened with me I am so fallen, I am this, I am that if we are interacting with some other people and we keep telling them I am so fallen, I am so fallen people say I am not interested in what you are why should the world have to stop all that it is doing is to hear that I am so fallen people are interested in what we can contribute to them so sometimes what we can contribute best is most of the time what we can contribute best is we can help them to recognise their need for Krishna and in that connection we can tell also how we need Krishna, how Krishna has played a role in our life so there is self absorption and there is Krishna absorption and humility is what enables us to make this journey from self absorption to Krishna absorption self absorption means I am always thinking about myself now the thinking of myself can be in two ways one can be how good I am and the other can be how bad I am how good I am it is self centredness or we could say it is egotism I can do this I can do that I have done this, I have gone here I have done all these things that is self absorption where we are the centre and we are thinking how great I am now self pity is also actually a form of self absorption itself and this is actually a key difference between humility and inferiority complex inferiority complex is self centred it is self centred in the sense that oh no I can’t do this I can’t do that I can’t do that oh there are so many things wrong in my life what can I do so it is self centred whereas humility is centred on some purpose higher than ourselves ultimately in bhakti humility is centred on Krishna so a devotees focus is that yes I have my limitations, I have my deficiencies I have my drawbacks but still I am a part of Krishna and if I try to do my part in a service to Krishna Krishna will help me so humility is not about feeling helpless constantly yes we can feel helpless about our limitations but we should not the purpose of humility is to shift our focus from our helplessness to Krishna’s supreme helpfulness the focus should always be Krishna the focus is not how I am how good I am or how bad I am so in that sense humility is not meant to make us feel not meant to increase helplessness, it is meant to increase neediness so this is especially central to the process of chanting because as long as we think I can do anything any problem that comes, life comes, sends my way I can deal with it if I am thinking like that then what is the need for chanting the holy books, what is the need to call out to Krishna Yes because we recognise that we need them and because we want to serve and glorify Now we will move on towards tolerance Tolerance means to call off our war with reality Tolerance means to call off our war with reality War with reality means Because all of us are in particular situations in life. Say for example, if I suppose I was supposed to come here for the programme, say I’m coming from a short distance, but suppose I was coming from the Chowpatty temple and I’m driving a car and I suddenly get lost and I end up somewhere else. Now if I simply start cursing myself, now why did I take that wrong turn, why did I take that wrong place, what that, that, that, now okay, if I have gone on the wrong track, just cursing myself is not going to get me at the right place.
So I have to accept the reality that I have gone off track. If I resent the reality that I have gone off track, then I waste my energy, which I could have used to come back on track. So, often in our life, now here I give an example of we going, a person going off track by their own mistakes, but sometimes life may also take us off track.
We want to do a particular thing, say we want to go for an urgent meeting and suddenly along the way our car breaks down. Now if I am just frustrated and shouting and resentful and furious, you know that resentment often resentment of reality hurts more than reality. Yes, my car has broken down, if I just find out what to do, maybe I can call some friend or maybe I can just hire something and just make sure that his car is stored and kept somewhere safe.
If I just think calmly, I can move onwards. But when I get consumed by resentment, then that resentment of reality often hurts more than reality. So, tolerance means to call off our war with reality.
And this is what Chaitanya Krishna also says this, when he talks about the tolerance, Tranadapi Sunichena, sorry, Matras Parashastra Kaunteya Shito Shri Sukha Dukkha Daha, Agam Apayino Nitya Stam Siddhiksha Sudhartha, that he says that just as when the seasons come, sometimes it is too hot, sometimes it is too cold, now we really can’t do much about this. Yes, we may have AC, we may have fans, but if we are going out, at that time, we just have to endure the weather whatever it is. So he says that just as we, the thrust of this verse is that just as we endure external changes, by knowing two things, first is that they are unavoidable, yes, it’s hot, I can’t do anything about it.
Second is they are ephemeral, ephemeral means that is they are temporary, it’s hot, it’s not going to be lifelong hot, it’s a hot season, there’s going to be a cold season afterwards, there’s going to be a comfortable season afterwards. So just as we tolerate unchangeable external things, similarly Krishna says tolerate unchangeable internal things also. What are unchangeable internal things? He says sometimes you may feel good, sometimes you may feel bad, sometimes we wake up in the morning and we feel enthusiastic, I want to do a lot of things, I want to do this, I want to do that, I want to do that.
Sometimes we wake up and we feel as if getting out of the bed is like lifting up a huge mountain. Just don’t feel like doing anything. So now when these feelings come, at that time we need to tolerate them.
Tolerate means what? Not that, just because I don’t feel like coming out of bed, I don’t come out of the bed with you. That’s not what it means. Tolerance means that we don’t resent why I am feeling like this, okay, I am feeling like this, that’s how it is, let me go on.
So, now to call off our war with reality does not necessarily mean accepting things as they are entirely, forever. If we see, some people think this is the next point about tolerance. Tolerance is not passivity, it is maturity.
Passivity means oh you just tolerate anything and everything that people do or whatever happens, you just passively accept it, that is not tolerance. Tolerance is maturity. What is this maturity? Maturity to recognise what is unchangeable and what is changeable.
So now if the Bhagavad Gita’s call for tolerance had been a call entirely for passivity, then how would we make sense of the fact that Krishna is asking Arjuna to fight the war? Krishna is not telling Arjuna, oh the Pandavas, the Kauravas have done so much atrocity, you just tolerate that. TAM SITIKSHA SOBHARATHA. Draupadi was disrobed, TAM SITIKSHA SOBHARATHA.
Your kingdom was taken away, TAM SITIKSHA SOBHARATHA. That is not where TAM SITIKSHA SOBHARATHA is applied. So, tolerance is not passivity.
It is maturity. Maturity means to maturely choose our actions. So, immaturity can be in again two ways.
Immaturity can be in terms of inaction. Immaturity can be in terms of impulsive action. Suppose, for example, something goes wrong in my life.
Some people just become inactive. Always things go wrong. Nothing is going to work on me.
And people just become, they sink into depression. They develop even suicidal thoughts sometimes. All that happens because things have gone wrong and inaction.
I can’t do anything. So, immaturity may be reflected in inaction. And immaturity can also be reflected in impulsive action.
Impulsive action means that just my feelings, my passing, temporary feelings, they just determine what I do. You know, something goes wrong. I feel sometimes there is an important cricket match going on.
In India, I lose the cricket match. People just break the television set. Now, the TV is not the problem.
Isn’t it? So, that’s immaturity. It’s impulsive action. These impulsive actions can go to terrible extents.
There are instances, especially in Sri Lanka, it happened a few years ago. In Sri Lanka, we lost the World Cup finals. At that time, there were seven fans who committed suicide.
Okay, cricket fan match losing is okay. You may feel bad about it. But to commit suicide for that? This is what? That means, you know, just can’t accept the reality.
So, tolerance means to call off our war with reality. We can’t accept the reality. Then what? The impulsive action can go to any extremes.
So, now, tolerance, I talk about two things here. One is accepting reality, not calling off our war with reality. Now, this does not mean that we are passive.
As I said, the Pandavas did fight a war. And war is very assertive action. So, normally, when we face an unpleasant situation in our life, at that time, we have different options.
Broadly, our options fall in three categories. One is just live with the situation. Second is change the situation.
Third is walk away from the situation. There are three broad options. Suppose, we are living in an apartment where there is a very noisy neighbour.
Now, what do I do with that noisy neighbour? There are three options. We just live with it. This is how they are.
Or we try to change it. We talk with them. We talk with the building apartment managers, secretary or the chairman or whatever.
We try to do something. If they are playing loud music, blaring at late at night, then that’s disturbing us. Through that, things can be changed.
Or if we find that person is very incorrigible or too influential over there, we might just decide, okay, I will take a house somewhere. This is an extreme step. But the point is, these are three broad options we have.
To live with it, to change it, to walk away from it. Now, walking away from a situation is not running away from the situation. When we run away from a situation, our primary focus is, hey, I just don’t want this.
We are scared of the situation and our focus is what we are going away from, not what we are going towards. So, essentially, we all in our life have to choose our battles. Choose our battles.
That means, there are hundreds of things that are wrong around us. If we try to set everything right, everything will go wrong with us only first. We will become so burdened, this, this, this, this, this, we will not be able to do anything.
So, we have to choose. This is something which I feel is very important and I feel that I can change it, so I will work on changing this. This is something which is important but I can’t change it, so I will just live with it.
This is something which I can’t change, I can’t talk about it, I will walk away from it. So, we all have to choose our battles. And in different situations, we may respond differently.
We may live with something, we may change something, we may just walk away from something. This will all vary. But the maturity to think about the situation and to choose our battle, that is tolerance.
And this tolerance enables us to focus on whatever is important for us. If you don’t have tolerance, suppose you say we are going for an important meeting and then along the way, we are driving a car and somebody just cuts us. I mean, you start seething in anger, blasting at them, shouting at them, how dare, you know, this driver is so lousy.
You know, the Indian traffic system is so lousy, India is so lousy. You know, I will just make a big thing out of it and by the time I reach for the meeting, I am so boiling that I can’t speak anything coherently over there. So, what has happened is that small thing has made a big, big problem for me.
So, tolerance is what enables us to keep small things small. To keep small things small. And we will see that the mind is expert in making small things big.
And this is a big way in which the mind distracts us from chanting. It distracts us in life. You know, we are sitting and chanting and suddenly we see someone coming into the room.
You know, that person, six years ago he has promised to do that for me, but he forgot to do that. Well, we had forgotten that for six years also. But now we start remembering everything.
Hey, this person is irresponsible and yet they are so respected. Maybe I should push that person, pull the person down a peg. Maybe I will tell this and tell that and then we find that, you know, maybe one hour has gone.
Or 15 minutes have gone or whatever, so much time has gone. So, keep small things small. Tolerance is what enables us to do this.
This does not mean that all things are small. There are many things which are big. And they do require big attention.
They require big action. But the capacity to differentiate between small things and big things, that is what tolerance empowers us to have. And thus when we do it, then we can focus on glorifying Krishna.
So, tolerance, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu we see, he wanted to glorify Krishna. He was Krishna himself, but he had come to teach the process of bhakti. But we see that he chose his battles.
When Haridas Thakur was in Jagannath Puri, at that time the existing Brahminical orthodoxy, it held that a person who was outcast could not enter Jagannath’s temple. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu chose not to fight that battle. He declared that Haridas Thakur will be namacharya.
And he ensured that even in other ceremonies such as where food was being served, he was given precedence. But in this particular sense, he said, this is not important. So, he neglected that.
So, there are different times when different battles are to be fought. Bhaktivinod Thakur was working in the British government. And in his writings, he chose never to criticise the British government.
He was quite sympathetic. He focused on the fact that earlier when the Muslims were ruling, at that time we were not even able to do our temple worship and our kirtans well. Now, at least we are able to do that.
So, he focused on the good. That was there in the British government. So, there will be different situations where different things need to be focused on and certain things need to be neglected.
And that capacity is what enables us to do something substantial. Bhaktivinod Thakur used his position in the British government to actually bring respectability for Gaudiya Vishnu. Because at that time, a person who was Indian educated, working under the influence of the British government, that person was respected in society.
So, Bhaktivinod Thakur at that point had started agitating against the British government. Then he would have been not only in professional trouble, but also he would not have had the position to bring respectability to Gaudiya Vishnu. So, yes, the British government might have been doing many things which were bad, but he chose not to focus on that.
He chose his battles. And then he was able to glorify Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Krishna through writing so many books, through attracting so many people and by creating a lasting legacy of bhakti. So, like that, for kirtaniya sadadhari, for glorifying Krishna, we all need to choose our battles.
And tolerance enables us to choose those battles. So, I will summarise. I started by talking about how in the Shiksha Ashtakam, this verse is a part of the five verses that talk about sadhana bhakti.
And this verse talks about moving from beginning chanting to steady chanting. That requires sattva guna. And sattva guna involves tolerance and humility.
And we discussed about how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, for glorifying Krishna constantly, for chanting Krishna constantly, he does not talk about verbal exercises because he is not talking about lip chanting. He is talking about a heart devoted to glorifying Krishna. And that requires being able to stay focused on a higher purpose.
So, that is what humility and tolerance help us to do. So, we discussed two points about humility. Humility means to not let our ego come in the way of our purpose.
In the way people behave, we have to respond appropriately. And it’s not that we let people disrespect us constantly. It’s not that we let people trample on us.
We see what is our purpose and we see how best we can behave in a way that serves our purpose. So, I discussed about if we are speaking and people are disrespectful, what do we do at that time, as an example. And humility also means, humility is meant to increase our neediness, not our helplessness.
It is not that in the name of humility I feel, oh, I cannot do this, I cannot do that, I cannot do that. I just end up feeling sorry for myself. So, just as we understand if somebody is very positively self-absorbed, thinking I am so great, I am so great, I am so great, then that we understand is clearly not humility.
But the opposite of that, negative self-absorption, oh, I am so fallen, I am so this, I am so that, that is also not humility. That is also actually just the same ego reflected in the opposite way. Humility is meant to shift our focus.
Humility is meant to propel us in the journey from self-absorption to Krishna absorption. And along that journey, we need to recognise our need for Krishna. Even the things that we are good at, we need Krishna’s mercy to do those things.
We discuss how a batsman is, maybe champion batsman, but they are not always in form. So, even the things we are good at, we cannot do them without higher grace. And the things which we are not good at, certainly we need Krishna’s mercy for being able to do those things.
So, humility is meant to increase our neediness for Krishna, not our helplessness, not make us feel sorry for ourselves. And then tolerance, we discuss two aspects. Tolerance means to call off our war with reality.
As long as we are resenting whatever is happening in our life, we can’t do anything positive about it. If I have gone on a wrong road and I have ended up at a wrong place, then just resenting, cursing myself, it doesn’t help me get to the right place. Or if somebody has snubbed me or somebody has cut across me while I am driving, just ranting at them doesn’t help.
Now, calling off our war with reality doesn’t mean that we accept things as they are passive. It simply means we recognise that this is how things are. And resenting them is not going to help me.
Resentment of reality often hurts more than reality. So, once I accept that this is how things are, then I have various options about how to deal with it. We may live with it, we may change it or we may walk away from it.
All of these are viable options depending on timeless circumstances. And we need maturity to choose the right options. Humility is not passivity, it is maturity.
And in maturity, we discussed how the Pandavas… Krishna tells Arjuna to tolerate the heat and cold, tolerate whatever pleasure and pain he might experience while fighting with his relatives. But Krishna is not telling Arjuna to tolerate the atrocities of the Kauravas. So, we have to choose our battles.
If we try to change everything, we end up actually burdening ourselves and intolerance. So, we choose, this is what I can change, this is what I want to change. Work on and work on those things.
And our life of glorification of Krishna, Kirtaniya Sadahari, we can do that consciously, we can do that substantially, when we choose our battles. Certain situations we just neglect, certain situations we focus on them. We discussed how Bhaktivinoda Thakur chose not to criticise the British government.
Because he could use the position of the British government to share Krishna’s. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu chose not to criticise the Jagannath temple administration. Even though they were not organised as Thakur anymore.
Because Jagannath temple was his base and from there he was able to bring so many people towards Gaudiya Vaishnavism. So, we all have to choose our battles so that we can become successful in fulfilling our purpose in our self-administration. Thank you very much.
Are there any questions? Yes, you can ask. Yes, then we can continue. And we see devotees in Bhagavatam, Krishna Maharshi’s assembly, unlike the outside people, but then still daily, the outside people daily, there is no humility.
So, exactly how is it being understood? So, do non-devotees have no good qualities and do devotees automatically have all good qualities as the words from the Bhagavatam seems to say. Actually, I gave a full Bhagavatam class on this topic in Radha-Ras, we are temple ones. So, we have to look at the context of this verse.
The context of this verse is the temporariness of everything material and the eternality of the spiritual. This is a whole sequence of verses going on and various paths. So, the Bhagavatam in this context is saying that path of Jnana is ultimately not of much use, the path of Yoga is not of much use, the path of Karma is not of much use, that is the path of Bhakti alone which will lead to eternal, eternal being.
So, in that context, the Bhagavatam is saying that what is the value of good qualities and the path of Jnana is given in scripture itself. The path of Yoga, other paths are also given in scripture and they do have value, they do lead to elevation, but from the ultimate point of view, they cannot satisfy the heart’s longing for love, Vyatma Suprasivati, that cannot happen, but contextually they do make a difference. So, the thrust of the Bhagavatam verse is that ultimately people may have good qualities, but if they don’t have devotion to Krishna, they are not going to attain lasting happiness, they are not going to get lasting liberation from material existence and they are not going to achieve life’s perfection.
So, it is from the ultimate perspective that this discussion is talking about. We see in the Bhagavad Gita itself, when Krishna talks about a Brahmana, he talks about the qualities of a Brahmana in 18.42 and he says, शमोदमस्तपश्योजम् शान्तिरार्जम्युच्य घ्यानिन्विज्ञानमास्तिक्यं ब्रह्मकर्मसुभावजम् He has given a list of qualities, this is the qualities of a Brahmana and he does not mention Bhakti as a quality of a Brahmana. He talks about several lists, he talks about the qualities of दैवी प्रकृति in the 16th chapter and he does not mention Bhakti as one of the qualities over there.
अभयम्सत्तपश्योजम् शान्तिरार्जम् घ्यानिन्विज्ञानमास्तिक्यं ब्रह्मकर्मसुभावजम् He doesn’t talk about Bhakti. So, now he is talking about and there are examples of Brahmanas who have other good qualities but who do not have Bhakti. In the Bhagavatam, they are reproached.
But it is possible that there can be people who may be intellectual, there can be people who may be disciplined, there can be people who as you say are humble, who may not be devotees. So, we cannot use this verse to claim that nobody who is not a devotee has any good qualities. Where qualities are present, we have to give them due credit.
They are present and we appreciate the presence of those qualities. The Bhagavatam also talks about people who have good qualities. For example, the Bhagavatam says Vena, he was charitable but he was not a devotee.
And that’s why he is not really glorified in the scriptures, the way Yudhishthira is. Yudhishthira was charitable but he was also a devotee. But the point is the Bhagavatam recognises that Vena was charitable.
So, people can have qualities. The point of this verse is that those qualities are of no ultimate use. And in contrast, as far as devotees are concerned, you may see sometimes devotees may be proud.
They may be lacking in humility. So, we have to understand that Bhakti is a curative process. It is a curative process that can free us from all anarthas.
But that does not mean that a Bhakta right now is free from all anarthas. The point is because they are practising Bhakti, they will eventually develop all good qualities. But it is not that right now they have all good qualities.
The example that Bhakta Samaj Siddhu gives is like a raw mango and a ripe mango. The raw mango has the potentiality to become ripe. And in due course of time, it will become ripe.
But I cannot wish away the reality and call the raw mango and the ripe mango. The two are different. So, it is very much possible and it is actually real that many times devotees have less than desirable qualities.
And we cannot deny that. At the same time, we should not obsess over them and neglect the fact that they are devotees. Vishwanath Chakradhakar says that if you find that some devotees have qualities, they are chanting Hare Krishna, but they are not having proper behaviour, then we should respect them from a distance.
If somebody’s negative qualities agitate us too much, we can just keep a distance from them. But it is not that devotion is a whitewash immediately. Ultimately, devotion will wash off all anarthas.
But right now, as bhaktas, we have to recognise that this is a curative process which will take time. And in the intermediate, we have to function in a way in which we are productive and whatever we are part of is productive. Now, if somebody is an irritable person, if we put them in a leadership position, it is going to be a big problem for everyone, for them and for others.
We cannot say that because they are devotees. So, people right now may have certain qualities, may not have certain qualities. And we need to engage everyone according to the way they have qualities.
And presently, we need to deal with people based on what kind of qualities we can gel with. So, there is another principle is Sajatiya Ashaastrikya Sangam. Guru Prabhupada Swami says that we should associate with like-minded devotees.
That means, if certain devotees have certain qualities that just disturb us too much, then we need not associate with them. We can associate with those who are like-minded, those who we can relate with, those whose behaviour matches with us. And in that association, we will blossom.
So, does it answer your question? Thank you. Yes, sir. Last question.
Yes. So, how do we draw the line on a practical level that as you said, between self-pity and humility and between passivity and maturity, that we are in a situation, how do we individually know, even if we look retrospectively, that whatever decision was done at this point in time or whatever we have done, maybe at whatever point, whichever situation, this was done out of maturity and not passivity. It was done with humility and not self-pity or arrogance.
Yeah, correct. On a practical level, I mean, theoretically we… I understand. So, how do we practically draw the line between the self-pity and humility or passivity and maturity? If we have done certain actions, how do we evaluate and how can we ourselves choose? Yes, just as it’s a matter of appetite.
How much should I eat? I learn by experience. Okay, I think this much food will be enough for me. Sometimes I may find that if it’s not enough, I may take a little more.
Sometimes later I may take a little less. And then after that, I hate that, that was too little. Or that was too much.
We learn by experience, but it’s not just by experience alone. Experience plus introspection. Okay, I’m just feeling so lethargic after I ate that.
Probably that item I should have eaten less. So, just as eating is something, it doesn’t come with formulas. Nobody can tell us, if you eat only two chapatis, you should only eat this much rice.
No, nothing like that. We all have to learn ourselves. So, like that, what level of assertiveness we should have in what situation, that will depend on a lot of things.
Just as I diet, what works for me may be very different from what works for you. So, similarly, different people are comfortable with different levels of assertiveness. So, for example, a person is of Kshatriya mentality.
They want to change things. A person of a Brahmana mentality, they may want to just tolerate things and walk away from things. I have other things, I have better things to do in life.
I don’t want to fight, get involved in all this. So, we can’t make a rigid formula that this is what it is. Our own thoughts, patterns and our own priorities also change with time.
So, what may have seemed reasonable earlier, may not be reasonable now. So, in this case, we do three things from a practical perspective. First is that we sometimes are forced to make certain decisions, which need to be urgently done.
Should I do this or should I do that? There is some petition. Should I join the petition or should I not join the petition? Whatever it is. So, we might just make some decision based on our gut feeling.
But afterwards we observe. Afterwards we observe. And usually when we look back at the past, the usual tendency is to let the mind be in control.
I mean, I am just doing some work and suddenly, only if I had done that, it would have been so good. So, then that is simply lamenting. Lamenting about the past is very different from learning from the past.
And the primary difference is who is in control. When the mind is in control, the mind is like, think about this, think about that, think about that. Oh, I did that mistake.
Oh, I did that. If only I had done that over there. So, when the mind is in control and is dragging our thoughts here, there and everywhere, at the end of it, we simply feel bad.
We simply feel depressed. But learning means, first of all, we situate ourselves in goodness. We chant, we pray, we read some scripture, we may take some deep breaths, whatever.
Situate ourselves in the mood of goodness. And then consciously take our thoughts behind. Okay, this is what happened.
This is what I did. This is what I think when I did this. This is what I thought.
But maybe I didn’t think about this factor. Or I thought, but I did not think this factor to be so important. So, try to reconstruct our thought process.
And then we understand where our thought process was inadequate. So, that calm deliberation of our past actions. Okay, even if we have made some mistakes, it’s okay.
But we need to calmly deliberate, not just lament over the mistake. Then we can learn from it. Because we have to not just look at our actions and say, this was wrong and this was right.
We have to look at the thought process that went behind that action. And not just say, I was so stupid at that time. No, what was my thought process when I did something? See, even when we act in a stupid way, and we do all act in a stupid way at times.
But at that time, it doesn’t seem stupid. So, at that time, the mind provided some kind of reasoning by which the unreasonable appeared reasonable. So, we have to deconstruct that reasoning of the mind.
And then make sure that we don’t fall prey for that same wrong reasoning again. So, that calmness in looking back at what we did in the past is important. And this can be done not just for our past mistakes.
It can also be done for our past good things. Sometimes we just take some impulse, some decision based on gut feeling. And that turns out to be a very good decision.
So, we can learn from that also. Okay, in this situation, I thought like this was a good way of thinking. So, that’s firstly, first thing is learning from the past.
Second thing is dealing with the present situation. It’s very good to write our, if a situation of significant importance to us, it is good to write down our thoughts. Now, writing down our thoughts in a journal helps us to have a snapshot of our mind.
So, for example, if in a particular situation, the nature of the mind is to keep us dissatisfied. Whatever situation we are in, if I have this job, or I have this position in this job, this is the problem, this is the problem, this is the problem. I shift to some other role, there will also be problems.
The nature of the mind is to keep us dissatisfied. But there are different kinds of dissatisfactions. There is some dissatisfaction which is just because of the irritability of the mind.
There is some other dissatisfaction which is because of genuine incompatibility. Now, I am just not fit for this job. So, when it is genuine incompatibility, then that feeling is persistent.
Whereas, it is just irritability, it just comes and it goes. So, if we have to make a major life decision about what we should do, then we keep a snapshot of our mind by writing our feelings at periodic intervals. Say, we decide, okay, this is the issue which I am going to decide about.
Then, once a week, I will spend 15 minutes and write down my feelings about this. And then, if any other time the thoughts come, I am not going to spend my thinking about it. Spend time thinking about it.
Because that is simply a waste of mental energy. Should I do this? Should I do that? If I get some new thought, I might just note it down briefly somewhere and then put it in my journal later. And then, if we do this for a significant amount of time, 2-3 months, 6 months, and then we observe.
You know, consistently, this is what I am feeling. This means that if the same feeling goes on consistently for a long time, that indicates some fundamental incompatibility. So, there we may need to change.
Make some change ourselves. Walk away from the situation or change the situation, whatever. Other thing, if it is just coming occasionally and going, wherever we are, there are always going to be problems.
So, we may just decide that, okay, sometimes I get this irritation, sometimes I get that irritation. And this is something which I will have to live with. So, the second aspect I will say is that keep a journal and keep it for a significant amount of time.
Do not just let the mind wallow in that thinking constantly. But allot some time for that thought, for that subject, and give focus time in that time. Third is to get a third-person perspective.
That if we consult a counsellor, we consult some senior devotee, and what happens usually for us, say I am here and there is some situation out there. Most of the time, we evaluate everything through our mind. This is a lousy thing.
This person is just, this person is like this, like that. So, we always evaluate everything through our mind. Now, if we have even one person in our life whom we can trust more than our mind, that is a matter of great fortune.
That means, when that person speaks something, it is not that we evaluate them through the mind, we evaluate our mind through them. That means, my mind is saying, you know, this person is so bad. But then this person is saying, you know, you are also not behaving properly.
And, no, no, no, you are taking side, you are on that person’s side. So, no, if we have trust in that person, then we will start evaluating. This is what this person is saying, and this is what the mind is saying.
Then, having that kind of, having, if we have one person whom we can trust that much, it is a matter of great, great fortune. And it is not easy to have one person like that. And sometimes, you have to consult multiple people.
But the point is, we can’t take major decisions based on our perspective alone. Ultimately, we have to take our decisions. But if we rely only on our perspective, and we talk only with those people who reinforce our perspective, then it becomes a big problem.
You know, Kaikeyi’s problem was twofold. When she got Ram exiled, her first problem was she heard mantra. And second bigger problem was she did not hear anyone else.
So, if we are going to take a particular decision, we can hear from those who reinforce that decision. But if we know somebody is also having the opposite perspective, at least we can give them a hearing. And by getting these outside perspectives, we can evaluate our feelings better, and then we can arrive at a mature decision.
Does it answer your question? Thank you very much. Shukla Prabhupada ki, Shiksha Ashtakam ki, Shukla Gauranga Mahaprabhu ki, Jai Gauru Premananda.