Shikshashtakam 5 – Channel the avalanche of desire

Talk at Bhaktivedanta Hospital

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Continue our discussion on the Shiksha Ashtakam which I have been taking for the last few sessions whenever I have been here.
We discussed last time the third text of the Shiksha Ashtakam, Pranam Dabhi Sumichena. Today I will discuss the fourth text. Dhanam na janam na sundare, Kavitam pa jagadishyatamaya, Amma janmani na janmanishware, Bhavatar bhakti rahe tukeetvaye.
This verse expresses a very lofty sentiment, and I am utterly unqualified to speak on this topic. Still as a service to the tradition, I will try to explain this verse in its context and in the way in which it can be applicable in our life. The Shiksha Ashtakam is a set of verses that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu composed towards the end of his life.
And in a devotionally revetting way, he captures the most important themes of Bhakti. To understand this verse, let us look at what comes before and what comes after. The previous verse talks about humility and concludes in Kirtaniya Sadahari that when a person is humble, when a person is tolerant, when a person is respectful, at that time they can constantly glorify the Lord.
So we discussed last time that Kirtan is not just the utterance of the holy names, it is a life devoted to the glorification of the Lord. And the next text, Ayanandana Jati Mukaram, that text talks about how it’s a fervent call to the Lord to lift one out of material existence. So that means this verse is like a transition between absorption in the Lord and liberation from material existence.
So this verse, at first glance, it appears to focus more on what is to be given up. There are three Na in it. Na dhanam, Na janam, Na sundarim.
And actually there is a fourth also. Va, like if you make a list, you may put Aur as the last object. We have four items.
The first three are separated by commas. And last there is Aur. So Va is like Aur.
So Na dhanam, Na janam, Na sundarim refers to I don’t want wealth. I don’t want followers, Janam. I don’t want Sundarim.
I don’t want the association of sexually enjoyable objects. And, Kavitam va jagadishakami. Kavitam, this can either be an adjective that describes what comes earlier or it can be a noun in its own right.
So Kavitam, if it is treated as an adjective, that means I don’t want Sundari who is glorified by poetry. Exquisitely beautiful sense objects. Or Kavitam can refer, if it is taken as a noun, it can refer to, Kavi is a learned person, a poet more specifically, but generally a learned person.
So I do not want to be known as a learned person. I do not want this fame of being very scholarly, very erudite. Kavitam va jagadishakami.
This is not what I desire a lot. Jagadish. So, Isha means controller.
Jagad is universe. So, oh universal controller. This name is significant here because this form of address conveys that these blessings, Dhamma, Janna, Sundari and Kavitam, these are benedictions that are available in this world.
And Krishna is the controller of this world. That implies that Krishna is capable of giving these blessings. And yet, no, I do not want these.
And then what do I want? Mama janmani janmanishware. For lifetime after lifetime, Bhavataad bhaktir ahaituki tuvaye. Bhavataad.
In Sanskrit, the second person reference has two ways. In English, we just say you for everyone. Whether it’s a child or it’s an elderly respectable person, it’s all you.
But in Hindi, we have tu and aap. So, aap is a more respectful second person address. So, like that in Sanskrit, there is tuam and bhavan.
So, tuam is like tu. Bhavan is like aap. So, bhavataad, as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is using, is a respectful second person address.
Bhaktir ahaituki tuvaye. What I want is ahaituki. Unmotivated.
Ahaituki tuvaye. Bhakti which is unmotivated. So, the point of the verse is not the rejection.
Not the negation. That I don’t want this. I don’t want this.
I don’t want this. The point is the acceptance. What I want is bhavataad bhaktir ahaituki tuvaye.
Now, the process of bhakti is primarily a process of change of desires. That normally, bhakti is thought of as emotion. Now, when we go in front of the Lord, we feel some sweet feeling in the heart.
We feel some strong emotions when we hear the kirtans or when we associate with devotees, go to holy places. Bhakti is, by some people, it’s thought of as emotion. Now, Sri Prabhupada was careful not to let bhakti be thought of only as emotion.
So, that’s why he translated bhakti as not just devotion, but devotional service. So, service connotes the idea of action. When we are doing service, there are some actions we do.
I do this. I don’t do that. Basically, when we are doing service, we try to please others, please the object of our service.
And that pleasing is done through actions. So, if you consider devotional service, devotion has the idea of emotion in it. And service has the idea of action in it.
Now, actually speaking, if you look at our subtle mind and how it works, there is thinking, there is feeling, and there is willing. So, if we consider how sometimes in hilly areas, where snow falls, so when the snow falls, the snow at the top of the mountain might just be a small ball. But as the snow keeps rolling down, down, down, down, it acquires more and more snow.
And that snowball, to this day, it eventually becomes bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And when the snowball was at the top, a person could just have kicked it and the snowball would have cracked. But by the time the snowball comes to the ground, by that time, it may have become so big that a whole person can be rolled over by the snowball.
Knocked down completely and rolled over. So, what has happened? It is a small, same snowball, but as it has come down, it has not only acquired momentum, but it has also acquired mass. Not only while coming down, it has become faster and faster and faster, but it has also taken more and more snow to it.
And that’s how it acquired greater and greater mass. So, similarly, is how our inner thought processes grow. When something comes originally, it is a thought.
At the level of a thought, it is just like a tiny snowball. Now, we see something, we hear something, and maybe something stirs up from our past memories. At that time, it is like a small snowball.
At that time, we can decide whether I am going to invest thought in this or I am not going to invest thought in it. Whether I am going to think more about this or not. Now, the more we think about it, whether it is a perception coming from the senses externally or whether it is a recollection coming from the past, from our memory, when we start thinking about it, then by our thinking, we make it grow.
So, if we consider our consciousness to be like the slope of that mountain. So, at the top of the mountain is the thought. At the bottom of the mountain is the intention.
So, there is thought, there is emotion, and there is intention. And from the intention, action will automatically come. Once we decide to do something, then we will do it soon.
Maybe immediately it may not work out, but it will work out. So, at the level of thought, it is relatively easy. This thought has come, but I won’t think about it.
But by the time it comes to the level of emotion, we start thinking, if I do this, it will feel so nice. If I touch this, if I eat this, if I do this, if I do that. Once we start getting into the level of feelings, things become stronger.
And when they become stronger, resisting then becomes much tougher. And then by the time it comes to the level of intentions. So, once it comes to the level of intentions, that means the inner war is over and we have lost the inner war.
Of course, I am talking about desires which are self-defeating in this case. There can be other kinds of desires also which are good desires. In that case, it’s a very positive thing to come to the level of intentions.
But right now, because the first half of this was focussing on no, no, no. So, let’s try to analyse that. So, now when by the time the thought process has grown and it has come to the level of intention, by that time, it has become like a giant snowball which is almost impossible to stop.
It’s not entirely impossible. We will come to that a little later. But its momentum has become formidable by that time.
So, at the level of intention, the action is soon going to follow. So, now, the force of gravity, if there is a hill, the force of gravity is always going to be there. And gravity itself can’t be stopped.
If the snow is formed on top, the snow is going to flow down. And it flows down, it is going to form snowballs. So, in that sense, this process of thinking, feeling and willing, that itself can’t be stopped.
Supadramanacharya, in his Bhagavad Gita commentary, he takes these Sthita Pragya verses. There is 2.54 to 2.72. These 19 verses in the Bhagavad Gita are sometimes called the Sthita Pragya verses. Sthita Pragya means they describe the characteristics of one who is fixed in knowledge.
Pragya means intelligence or knowledge or wisdom. Sthita means fixed. So, Arjuna’s question begins with this specific word itself in 2.54 when he says, Sthita Pragya se kaabhasha samadhi sthasya keshavan sthita di kim prabhaseta kimasita vrajeta kim So, Sthita Pragya se kaabhasha.
So, now here when Krishna is asked this question by Arjuna, we have to look at it carefully. Sthita Pragya. This person who is fixed in knowledge.
Kaabhasha. Now, if we look at the words only from the external perspective. Bhasha means what is his language? Which language does he speak in? Pragya se kaabhasha samadhi sthasya keshavan One who is situated in samadhi.
sthita di kim prabhaseta And how does such a person speak? kimasi vrajeta kim How does such a person sit? How does such a person walk? Now, there is often a tendency in scripture when we study scripture if we take everything literally then we often miss out on the deeper import of scripture. So, here if we take everything literally kimasi vrajeta kim How does such a person sit? How does such a person walk? Now, Krishna is Arjuna asking Krishna about a fashion model Now, how does such a person sit? What is the gait of such a person? How does such a person walk? Or is it that self-realised people have some special language in which they communicate with each other? kaabhasha What is the language? Is it that if we see some person speaking constantly in Sanskrit then we should understand oh this person is self-realised and that person speaks in some leksha language like English that means that person is not self-realised Now, what is Krishna being asked here by Arjuna? pragya se kaabhasha So, Baldev Vidyabhushan explains that here the word bhasha we have to understand what it means in this context we cannot just look at the literal meaning of bhasha as language we have to go to the etymology etymology is the origin of the words and since bhasha it comes from bhashyate itibhasha that which describes is called as bhasha so language is a tool which we use to describe things we describe people, describe objects describe emotions so bhasha can be applied to the tool that is used to describe things but Baldev Vidyabhushan says that bhasha can be used to describe also that which is described using the tool so the symptoms bhasha can mean that which describes or it can also mean that which is described so sita pragya se kaabhasha means what are the symptoms that which will be described by bhasha so what are the characteristics of a self-realised person sita pragya se kaabhasha and sita di kim prabhasheta when it is asked how does such a person speak this refers not to the accent of the person not to the tone of the person it refers to the overall way in which a person expresses one’s emotions in this world so how does the person respond to the ups and downs of life in terms of speech kim prabhasheta and kim asita vrajeta kim so how does the person sit and how does the person walk so here Krishna used Arjuna asked this question not literally in terms of sitting and walking but he says sitting represents inactivity of our senses when we sit our senses are no longer active when we walk our senses our senses are referred to generally in terms of legs sometimes we have to always remember that the Bhagavad Gita is a poetry we recite the shlokas of the Bhagavad Gita they are very beautiful when we recite them but in the process of studying the Bhagavad Gita we forget that it is a poetry and poetry means there are always poetic ornaments that are used so for example if we have a factory in the factory the employer may ask so how many hands do we have now it is not like they have only hands working over there they have people working over there but if it is a factory which involves manual work then they will ask how many hands do we have so their hands represent the full person so hands are a non-literal metaphorical way to refer to the full person similarly here how does a person sit and how does a person walk this is used in this context the legs which are either inactive when we are sitting or which are active when we are walking the legs are used to represent the senses so kim asit how does a person sit means how does such a person keep the senses inactive that means keep the senses under control and vrajet kim how does such a person walk that means walking is engagement of the senses so how does such a person engage the senses so these are the questions that Arjuna asks so the point I was making by quoting this verse and this section is that Ramacharya analyses this growth from thinking feeling and willing and he says the process of bhakti is essentially a spiritualization of these inner thought processes different acharyas in different traditions have defined bhakti differently we have the vedanta sutra of jaimini vedanta sutra of badrayana vyasadeva which begins with athaato brahma jijnasa now let us enquire what is brahma what is the spiritual reality brahma similarly chandilya is a great sage he has written a bhakti sutra and that bhakti sutra begins with the question or with the exhortation athaato bhakti jijnasa now let us enquire about bhakti what is bhakti and in the process of after raising this question athaato bhakti jijnasa let us enquire what is bhakti then narad muni actually the narad bhakti sutra is written in the plural first reference but look i am saying this i may say i am giving this class but if say there are two speakers over here we may say we will talk on this topic so the narad bhakti sutra uses this plural self reference and the reason for that is dalsher has explained that narad bhakti sutra has been written or has been put in written form not by narad muni but by his disciples so narad muni just spoke it and his disciples are writing it from his behalf so narad bhakti sutra also starts similarly chandelier bhakti sutra also starts similarly and athaato bhakti jijnasa when it says then after that it describes the various definitions of bhakti this sage says this this sage says this this sage says this like that different definitions of bhakti are given so of course in our tradition rupa Goswami has defined bhakti as anyabhilashita shunyam jnana karma dhenavrtam anupulyena krishnanu shilanam bhaktiratitam so he describes that having no other intention abhilashita anyabhilashita shunyam jnana karma dhenavrtam giving up jnana and karma anupulyena krishnanu shilanam cultivation that is favourable to krishna that is what he calls as bhakti so ramacharya on the other hand talks about bhakti in terms of spiritualization of one’s thinking feeling and willing and he analyses these verses from 2.55 onwards to 2.72 in a hierarchy and he describes how these verses describe a progressively increasing state of absorption in krishna so we talked about this snowball at the top moving down down down and becoming bigger and irresistible as it acquires more and more momentum so something similar can happen in our relationship with krishna also initially we may have this desire maybe i should go to a temple maybe i should go to a katha maybe i should go to a kirtan that is just a thought and from thought we call some other devotee friends and ask them what do you think i am planning to go to this yatra should we go its a very good yatra wonderful if you come and we hear that and then thought becomes a desire and from the desire it becomes an intention and then when we go for a pilgrimage we associate with devotees we hear katha we see the holy places and we get spiritual experiences and our heart becomes transformed our life becomes transformed this is what i want to do so what happens that cycle the snowball comes down and then it again goes up because we always keep thinking things we always keep desiring things and we keep intending to do things thats how we move onwards closer and closer to krishna and thus we ultimately become absorbed in krishna now if we consider the mountain sometimes mountains also have paths so if a river if a stream or a small body of water a tributary is flowing down as it keeps flowing down flowing down flowing down then it creates a path for itself so the water can go down from anywhere by the force of gravity but if a bed or a path has been created the water flows down that path and in our consciousness we all have certain paths that are charted out already and our consciousness naturally moves down that path so the most prominent among the paths along which our consciousness moves from thinking through feeling to willing the most common among them are these four Dhan Jana Sundari and Kavita these are all pathways down which our consciousness moves very quickly why? because that has been a path created by our past patterns of thinking feeling and willing so that’s why when some thought of wealth comes in the mind as soon as the thought comes immediately the mind accelerates and we often when discussions about money come up it is not that we have to concentrate and think we just get immediately caught in it immediately absorb in it but because that is a groove that is a path that is already there in our consciousness similarly Jana when somebody praises us somebody glorifies us you know immediately our ears become big we hear everything what they are saying so now in our life these four Dhan Jana Sundari Kavita all of these are grooves which are there in our consciousness and at different times we have to battle with different channels of consciousness that move along these grooves so for us at different times in our life sometimes the desire for Dhan may become predominant in our consciousness and most of our thoughts just go around money how will I get money how will I get money how will I get money sometimes it may be we may just be caught in prestige considerations no should I if I do this what will people think of me if I do this so our whole thought process can become dominated by one particular thing and the process of Bhakti is not so much of rejection as it is of connection usually we talk in terms of attachment and detachment attachment means we are consumed by something just just can’t think of anything other than that and we think that the opposite of attachment is detachment and we feel that because I am attached I suffer so much if I can detach things would be nice however Bhakti is neither a process of attachment nor a process of detachment it is a process of commitment Anushilanam Anukulyena Krishnanu Shilanam Bhaktiruttama Shilanam means cultivation cultivation the word cultivate normally we use in a farm or a garden where there are small seeds the ground has to be ploughed seeds have to be sown then they have to be watered and then they grow up so this requires conscious careful action and similarly the process of Bhakti whether we consider Rupa Goswami’s definition of cultivation or whether we consider Ramacharya’s explanation of the spiritualization of our thinking feeling willing both involve a committed level of action that is attachment means something towards which our thoughts go naturally because we like that because we enjoy that detachment means we are not emotionally involved in it we don’t feel any emotions about it for example in India cricket is a very popular sport but say hockey is not a popular sport so if India loses a cricket match immediately our emotions get agitated but if India loses a hockey match it doesn’t matter much so here one is attachment other is detachment so when detachment is there emotions flow naturally almost irresistibly when there is detachment there is no emotional involvement at all and that’s why one doesn’t care for it but commitment means that one doesn’t rely on one’s emotional state one doesn’t rely on one’s emotions but rather one acts based on one’s intentions this is what I want to do in my life this is where I want to go whether I feel like it or I don’t feel like it this is what I am going to do so I start I was speaking about how devotional service there is devotion talks about the emotion and service talks about the action but thinking feeling willing and then action there is cognition there is emotion there is intention and then there is action now among these bhakti is signified devotional service means when you talk about devotion as emotion that refers to the stage second stage emotion service refers to the fourth stage of action so there is cognition which is thought there is emotion second stage so from cognition when we think about something from there our thoughts grow grow grow and then we start feeling emotions in connection with them and after that we start thinking that I’ll do something about this because this feels so good I’m going to do something about it that’s intention and then after that we do it now thoughts are random there are so many sources from which thoughts may come externally and internally that to control them is almost impossible but along with thoughts are emotions they come when we invest in the thoughts and further when we invest our consciousness in the thoughts they go to the level of intentions so if we think of purification primarily in terms of I should have no thoughts other than thoughts of Krishna that will be like a impossibly lofty level of aspiration we live in this world and while we’re living in this world we naturally have to think of hundreds of things even Vishnu Pitama who the Bhagavatam describes as the as a exalted pure devotee who is one of the twelve Mahajanas those who are considered in the Bhagavatam as the top most devotees what does he say it is when he is about to die he is about to leave his body he is in the arrow bed he has instructed Yudhishthira elaborately about various subjects and then he says at that point now I withdraw my consciousness Prabhupada translates that as thinking feeling and willing he says now I will withdraw my thinking feeling willing from various subjects and fix it on the Supreme Lord now this may raise the question is it that his thinking feeling willing were not invested in Krishna earlier if they were not invested in Krishna then how is he a Mahabhag how is he a Mahajan and if they are already invested in Krishna then what does it mean when he says I am withdrawing my thinking feeling willing and fixing it on Krishna so here the context if we see what was discussed before this verse and what was discussed after this verse this is 1832 what is discussed before 1932 actually so what is discussed before is that Yudhishthira Maharaj and Bhishma Pitamaha are discussing about Raj Dharma about how to administer a kingdom and when a kingdom is to be administered it is a serious business now Bhishma Pitamaha doesn’t just tell that chant Hare Krishna and everything will be done he actually gives practical instructions how what a king’s duties are what a minister’s duties are what a warrior’s duties are he analyses things and there is serious question answers so when we are discussing about various subjects in this world in intent we are doing it all for the purpose of serving Krishna but in practical action we do have to think about the subjects that we are doing if we don’t think about those subjects we will not be able to do those subjects well a devotee artist once asked Prabhupada Prabhupada when I am painting about Krishna at that time often I am thinking more about the painting than about Krishna because once if we actually go into painting and if we go deep into that there are so many subtleties with respect to the artistry so what do we do so he said I am painting about Krishna but I am not thinking about Krishna so what was Prabhupada’s reply Prabhupada’s reply was that when Arjuna was fighting the Kurukshetra war it is not that he was worrying constantly am I thinking of Krishna am I thinking of Krishna he was focussing on fighting the war now the war was being fought for the purpose of Krishna so in our normal conduct of affairs it is not that devotees are meant to live like with a split personality disorder now at one level I am talking with my family members I am talking with my colleagues at another level half of my head is thinking about Krishna no when we are focussing on something we absorb ourselves in that thing so Arjuna when he was fighting the war if you look at the descriptions of the war given in the Mahabharata Arjuna is completely focused and war is a matter of life or death no we are fighting with one warrior but arrows can come from different places not all the warriors at that time are following the Kshatriya codes so the point is Bhakti while we are living in this world when we say we should always think of Krishna what it means primarily is that our intent is always to serve Krishna through whatever we do whether it is our family responsibilities whether it is our professional responsibilities we are always intending to serve Krishna and now this intention to always serve Krishna cannot survive for very long without a direct connection with Krishna that means if we don’t take time out to chant the holy names if we don’t take time to study scripture if we don’t take time out to associate with devotees then this intention for serving Krishna itself will not stay so we need time for exclusive focus on Krishna but in the routine course of our life we cannot have that exclusive focus on Krishna constantly so Bhishma Pitamah he is always in his intention he was always a fixed devotee of Krishna but in his actions he was doing many other things and in this particular situation when he saw that death is right now coming close to me then he says now I withdraw all my consciousness which is but whatever cravings might have been there in it because of which that was going in different directions let me withdraw it now let me withdraw it and let me focus on Krishna let me focus it wholeheartedly on Krishna so this verse of Shikshashtakam is also expressing a similar intention Dhanam Janam Nasundare Kavitamba Jagadishe Kame these are the various tracks along which our consciousness normally moves Dhanam Janam Nasundare Kave now I will not let my consciousness move along those tracks instead of that what will I do Dhanam Janam Nasundare Kave Dhanam Nasundare Kave Dhanam Nasundare Kave Dhanam Nasundare Kave Dhanam Nasundare Kave Dhanam Nasundare you only for God’s sake and this level of selflessness is further stressed with the declaration Janmani Janmani so actually in the broad Vedic tradition there were two paths or rather three paths there is a path of Karma and there is a path of Jnana the path of Karma focusses on enjoying this world this world is so wonderful if I can just make the arrangements then I will be able to enjoy it the path of Jnana focusses on rejection because this world is a dangerous place we should all reject it but Bhakti goes beyond this dialectic of acceptance for enjoyment and rejection because of lack of enjoyment so the first four things that are talked about Dhana Jnana Kavita Sundari Kavita all these things refer to the fruits of the path of Karma on the path of Karma one does Dharma to get these things I get Dharma so that I will have wealth I get Dharma so that I will have popularity I get Dharma so that I will have very happy family life and these sort of things now these in itself are not bad but they can be distractions from the spiritual path and usually they become distractions so on one side he is rejecting all the fruits of the path of Karma and now most often when people reject the path of Karma they go to the path of Jnana in the path of Jnana what is the idea this world is such a dangerous place this world is such a place of misery I simply want to get out of it this is of course a very much better desire than desiring to enjoy things of this world but still this is also a self-centred desire whether I enjoy or I suffer the focus is still on I and that’s why that Jnana that sort of attraction for obsession with Mukti obsession with liberation is considered to be Pratikul to Bhakti it is considered to be unfavourable to Bhakti and in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s declaration Janmani Janmanishvare and I am ready to go through this world for many more lifetimes if Bhavata Bhaktirahit what I want for you is your unmotivated devotional service that means he is also rejecting the path of Jnana rejecting the path of Karma rejecting the path of Jnana and he is saying I want to simply practise your Bhakti at our level this kind of practise of Ahaituki Bhakti may seem so exalted as to be practically impossible so the important thing at our level of practise is to keep practising sometimes we put Bhakti at such a high pedestal that we don’t get connected with the process of Bhakti at all so we cannot become pure devotees without becoming devotees we cannot become pure devotees without becoming devotees you know I cannot become first ranking student without becoming a student so feeling is an inevitable part of learning and growing and achieving and sometimes what happens is we think that I should only practise pure devotion service but then in the that I will not have any material desires I will not pray to Krishna for anything material I will pray to Krishna only for spiritual things that way I will keep my Bhakti pure but in that process thinking that I will not pray to Krishna for anything material but at our level of life material things do matter to us now our health matters our family situation matters our financial situation matters and if we say I will not pray to Krishna about these things then what happens is a major part of our heart stays unconnected with Krishna because these things do occupy a major part of our heart so in aspiring for pure devotion we don’t even access devotion because that concept of pure devotion is largely at our stage a very idealised conception that has very little to do with our practical life so there is pure devotion and there is potential pure devotion potential pure devotion means that a devotee may not have pure desires right now but the devotee has an intention for pure desires and how those intentions are translated into action that may vary according to time and place circumstances so the important point in bhakti is to connect our heart with Krishna so at this stage if we say I cannot reject dhanam I cannot reject janam I cannot reject sundari I cannot reject kavita these are desires that are there in my heart and we cannot just artificially wish them away so the important point is these no’s are for the purpose of the yes bhavataad bhakti rahay takheetai so now the yes is not dependent on the no the yes yes to Krishna is not dependent on the no to maya the yes to Krishna can be said even when we are not able to say no to maya what that means is that all of us if we can I’ll conclude with this point that if we consider our desires our certain thought process thinking feeling willing now we all go through phases so sometimes say lust suddenly peaks up sometimes greed suddenly peaks up now this peak if we consider electrical spike the spiking of desires it happens intermittently the desires may be troubling us may be hovering in the background constantly but intermittently they become very high and when they become high it may seem as if it’s impossible to resist them now the problem that happens is that when the desires become very strong and we end up doing something which we should not be doing so after that has come the desire has come and desire has gone and we have done something undesirable after that we keep thinking about those things why did I do that why did I do that why did I do that why did I do that and then again the time passes and again another spike comes up so again another spike comes up we succumb and again after that when the desire is not so agitated still we are thinking why did I do that why did I do that why did I do that so here what is happening either way when the desire is strong or when we are beating ourselves up for having indulged in the desire in both cases quite often we are not conscious of Krishna we are conscious of the mind the mind in our inner world it often plays a very dangerous double role now first the mind makes us do a criminal makes us like a criminal makes us do wrong and then the same mind which makes us do wrong it becomes a judge and punishes us why did you do this you are such a fool you are such a stupid person you are this you are that you are that you are fallen you are like degraded this that and either way while we are indulging or while we are beating ourselves up for indulging in both cases we are simply conscious of the mind we are not conscious of Krishna and that way we get caught in self centredness I am able to do this I am not able to do this now certainly the feeling that I am not able to serve Krishna properly that is a feeling that is favourable to bhakti but when I am not able to serve Krishna properly the focus should be on Krishna the focus should not be on I so when when the point I was making here is the yes to Krishna doesn’t depend on the no to maya yes we do have to follow certain basic principles but the point is that there are sometimes when we may just not be able to say no to maya the desire will be a spike up and they may overwhelm us at that time but what do we do in between there is one spike of desire maybe after a few days after a few weeks after sometime another spike of desire comes what do we do in between if at that time we still have the facility to say yes to Krishna at that time we still have the facility to observe ourselves in Krishna and if we use that so we may not be able to say no to maya and this desire spike up but during the rest of the time we can say yes to Krishna and saying yes to Krishna during that time does not depend on our capacity to say no to maya at other times because the more we focus on saying yes to Krishna when we can the more we become connected with Krishna and the more we become connected with Krishna the more we become purified and the more we become purified the more our capacity to say no to maya also increases and that’s how it is not that our yes to Krishna depends on our no to maya rather our no to maya depends on our yes to Krishna when we consistently say yes to Krishna irrespective of what happens in certain phases then by that yes to Krishna by the resulting purification our capacities to say no to maya becomes stronger so bhavatad bhakti ahaituki tvayi so this whole verse moves towards that conclusion my dear lord let my devotion flow towards you and that is what we can aspire for if we focus on what we have to give up what we have to give up say no to we may become so overwhelmed thinking that this is so impractical that I just can’t do it but we focus on connecting with Krishna in whatever way we can now we can always come in the association of devotees we can always chant the holy name of the more our bhakti will become peaceful and joyful because saying no is usually not pleasant in whatever situation it is but saying yes to Krishna is pleasant makes our mind peaceful it makes us joyful because we connect with Krishna and then whenever the temptations come we will be in a better position to say no to maya so I’ll summarise I started by talking about how this text the fourth text of Iksha Ashtakam is between the previous text which talks about constant glorification of Krishna and the next text which talks about liberation from material existence by complete surrender to Krishna so this it talks about how one moves from absorption in Krishna towards liberation from material existence and this involves primarily the absorption of our consciousness in Krishna so Ramacharya says that bhakti means spiritualization of our thinking feeling and willingness and the central metaphor of this class was the snowball a snowball at the top is easily breakable snowball at the bottom it will break us easily and the snowball at the top of the hill is like thinking as it rolls down it becomes feeling desiring as it comes right to the bottom it becomes willing intention there are certain tracks along which the snowballs in our consciousness keep moving repeatedly they are dhanajana sundari kavita and these are the tracks on which Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is saying I don’t want my consciousness to move the focus is consciousness cannot be kept stagnant consciousness has to move so there is a desirable track along which the consciousness can move and that desirable track is the track of bhakti so I discussed as a slight tangent how that verse doesn’t talk about literal how one sits and how one walks but metaphorically it talks about how one restrains one’s senses and how one engages one’s senses and the whole sequence of those verses as analysed by Ramacharya the focus is on increasingly absorbing ourselves our thinking feeling and willing in Krishna so normally speaking in our day to day life we cannot be constantly absorbed in Krishna we can try to have constantly the intention of serving Krishna in whatever we do but there are need to sustain that intention we need also times when we can specifically withdraw consciousness from everything else and focus on Krishna and that’s what B.P. does at the end of his life when he knows that now I am about to depart and lastly we discussed about how the process of bhakti there are two things in this saying no to both the paths of karma and jnana and no to worldly benefits and no to other worldly liberation focus is simply on devotion to Krishna but in the bhakti in the practise of bhakti there is saying no to maya and saying yes to Krishna so we shouldn’t make our yes to Krishna dependent on our no to maya even when we are not able to say no to maya because desires sometimes spike up rather than just getting obsessed over those desires and worrying and beating ourselves up why did I do that why did I fall like that why did I do that wrong we can focus on whenever we have the capacity connect with Krishna and it is not the no to maya which makes yes to Krishna possible it is the yes to Krishna which makes the no to maya possible and by focussing on the yes to Krishna we make our bhakti peaceful and joyful thank you very much is there any one comment or question yes please speak loudly I’ll repeat otherwise ok yeah so when we chant sometimes we are uttering the holy names but the desires are just going up and up and so we are not even saying yes to Krishna at that time yes chanting is definitely a challenging process and at one level just the act of chanting involves saying yes to Krishna irrespective of whether we are putting our heart into it at a verbal level at least we are saying yes to Krishna now we have to find ourselves how we can increase that yes to Krishna in our chanting so if we find that keeping a picture of our initiation ceremony or keeping a picture of our favourite deities or even just writing down the Hare Krishna Mahamantra or having a written Hare Krishna Mahamantra in front of us whether having some dhool next to us Hare Krishna dhool or Hare Krishna japa or Krishna prabhupada next to us what is the way in which we can try to increase our focus on Krishna and that helps a lot because just the sound it is difficult to absorb but if we add some bhakti is a process of sensory spirituality it is not just conceptualised spirituality the senses in the process of spirituality that’s why we don’t just chant in the mind we chant aloud we hear so tongue and ears are involved we also use the beat bags fingers also involved so like that we can try to involve more and more of our senses in the process of chanting in the process of trying to connect them with Krishna and along with that if the mind is wandering too much certain desires are going up at that time they may just go but afterwards if we see the desires they will go away they will entirely by purification but the desires can be curved by intelligence so curved by intelligence means that although I feel like doing something but if my intelligence is sharp I know I will not do it so if we can observe the pattern of our desires what kind of desires come while chanting and then we just use our intelligence use our scriptural knowledge to write down certain reasons why we should not indulge in those desires or why we should not worry about those desires at least at that time later on other times it is different and keep that written thing down somewhere nearby and the mind wanders too much we complete around this read out read out some shloka from the Bhagavatam read out some words from Bhagavad Gita read out its translation read out some rewritten in such a way that appeals to our mind and then at that time we basically use our intelligence the intelligence is inside us but when the desires become so strong all the memories that is there memory is the basis of intelligence Krishna says Smriti Brahmashar Buddhi Nash when memory is lost intelligence is lost so what we need to activate our intelligence is our memory and here memory doesn’t necessarily mean simply remembering Krishna if we also remember the points of why we should remember Krishna the points about why we should not indulge in other things then that also empowers our intelligence and that way if the mind if we observe the patterns it’s a war and in a war if we find this is how the way the enemy is attacking repeatedly this is how the enemy is attacking then we need to prepare customised defences prepare proper weapons by which we can resist the enemy so there are there are the chanting of the holy name is general weapon but if we have find specific kinds of attacks coming upon us we can also make customised specific weapons to deal with those attacks and that way we can counter those mind’s desires which they go away at that time and lastly this is sometimes the desire which is going too much in too many different directions, just changing one’s physical stimulus, because our consciousness is largely external. So if I’m sitting and chanting and I find my mind getting very agitated, just stand up or walk and chant.
So changing our physical posture, basically changes our thought pattern, at least for that moment. So we can break by having a physical change in our situation. Sometimes we just sit at one place and chant, and then the mind is wandering everywhere.
Just do some physical activity, walk, just move around. Then the physical alteration, at that time, it can get our consciousness out of the mind and its wandering and bring it back into the external reality, which we are. And from that external reality, we can redirect it towards the spiritual reality.
This is just some thoughts, each of us will have to find out the best way that works for us. And what will work for different devotees may be different in different situations, because our mind always comes up with different strategies to distract us. But by observing our mind and observing how we can deal with it, what works for us, what doesn’t work for us, and accordingly, we can have our own arsenal of weapons with which we deal with the mind.
Does it answer your question? Sorry. Okay. Do we have time? Yes.
One last question. Probably I have two statements, and then my question will be there. The first statement is part of the Mahabharata, which says that you should know only how much you give carefully.
That’s one. Second, that even if you know that you wake up in the night, you have to be quiet, you have to be quiet, you have to be quiet He says lust resides in our senses, the mind and the intelligence. He is referring to our sense.
So what happens is, if we think that something external is the source of my desire, then we become averse to that, which can be unfavourable for our relationships, for our bhakti. More importantly, it’s not even philosophically correct. See the external sense objects are not the source of desire.
They are the trigger of desire. Now trigger, like a gun, when the trigger is pressed, the bullet comes out and the bullet oozes. But the trigger is able to cause, pressing the trigger is able to cause an injury only because the bullet is there inside.
So lust is not present in the sense objects. Greed is not present in big cars or big houses or expensive gadgets or anything like that. These are present in our heart.
So in developing distaste for these things, we have to be cautious that we don’t become averse to those things. We don’t become scornful or hateful of those things. And many times in this world, the worldly resources can also be used in Krishna’s service.
And if we are too averse to them, each of us has our own set of anarthas which we need to battle with. And sometimes for me, it may be that if I get a lot of fame and prestige and following, that obsesses my mind very much. But for someone else, that may not be such a big thing.
They may just be sociable people and they just like to have people around and they don’t get too caught in this. So what happens is if I have a battle with prestige or fame or something like that, then if I see others having followers, then I start thinking this person is very much interested in prestige, very much interested in following. But that may not be the case.
So from our point of view, our focus needs to be on serving Krishna and in developing a taste for serving Krishna. And if certain things come in the way, we can surely keep a distance from them if possible. We can try to minimise the triggers for our desires.
But we shouldn’t become averse to those things. And we shouldn’t become judgemental about others if they’re having those things. That way, bhakti is a process of community.
Bhakti is not just a process of individual purity. I become very pure and I look down at others. It is a process of community, being in a community and we engage in community.
And that’s why sometimes distaste can become an obstruction. Thank you very much. Krishna Prabhupada Ki Jai!