Six limbs of surrender 2 – Accept the favorable, avoid the unfavorable

[Bhagavatam class at Bhakti Sanga Japa conference, USA]

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So thank you very much for joining today. I hope I’m audible to you.
So we are going to discuss about these limbs of Bhakti, Limbs of Surrender. And yesterday I talked about the medical metaphor for understanding surrender of how the six limbs accepting the favourable and rejecting the unfavourable. That is similar to what a doctor will tell a patient to do.
And that is if it’s not a surgery, most other treatment is often the patient has to do a lot of work. So in the six elements of surrender, the first two are quite active, dynamic. There are choices which we make in order to surrender.
The next four are more of supposed to our actions. The next four are dispositions. We have faith in Krishna that he will protect us because we have faith that he’s already maintaining us.
We see that. And then we understand that our whole being is to offer to be him. And we are worthless without him.
Like a computer case grew, fallen away from the computer. So today I’ll speak on the first two elements. We’ll see how much, how it goes.
And we’ll understand the mood of surrender. I’ll take examples primarily from the Bhagavatam to illustrate each of these elements. And I’ll also talk something from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
So Anukulyasya Sankalpa Pratikulyasya Varjanam These two are brought together. It’s like suppose we are guiding someone to do some someone go there. So you’ll come to this turn at this intersection, turn left and don’t turn right.
So in one sense, both of them are doing the same thing. So except the favourable and reject the unfavourable, there is this kind of dual instruction to convey the same point. Krishna uses also repeatedly in the Bhagavad Gita, where, for example, in 439 and 40 Krishna says, what is the what is the destination of those who have faith? And for 40 he says, what is the destination of those who don’t have faith? Shraddhavallabhate jnanam tat parasayate indriyam jnanam labdhva param shantin achirenadhi gacchati If you have faith, you will acquire knowledge.
If you are letting knowledge of Krishna, if you are also sense control and then dedicated, devoted to attain that knowledge. On the other hand, if you don’t have faith, abhyascha shraddha dhanasya samsayatma vinashyati nayam loko spina paro na sukham samsayatmanah That if we do not have faith, then we will not be happy either in this world or in the next world. So basically, the point is that there is a contrast by which the instructions are given.
This or that. So anukulyasa sankalpa patikulyasya varjanam Now, if we consider that. In the world, we are always making choices.
Some choices are made even unconsciously. Say, for example, if you’re sitting on a chair and you’re uncomfortable, you might shift without even noticing that we are shifting. If we feel a little hot, we might just move toward the fan.
And sometimes some some things happen without thinking about it. And some things, some choices happen by conscious contemplation and decision. So now what happens below our conscious awareness? That means we may be aware, but we don’t consciously think about it.
Or sometimes we are not even aware of it. But we are not investing our consciousness in doing it. So that has broadly two categories.
There are impulses and there are instincts. In general, the word impulse is associated with something which is short sighted and counterproductive. So somebody might have an impulse by which they might binge.
They might binge eat or they might splurge, spend a lot of money. So that’s impulse. So impulse is something which we do without thinking and which is unintelligent.
Whereas instinct is something which we do again without thinking, but we do which is intelligent. So some people are good at certain things. That means if somebody comes to a house and they have good skills at home designing interior decoration, they just say, OK, you move the sofa here, put this picture here.
Just change the colour of these drapes and your home will look much better. And somebody might have lived in that house for many months and they will not think about it. So basically, for us, both impulses and instincts are there.
I mean, here Krishna is talking about surrender. He’s talking about surrendering to the six elements. He’s talking about something which is done by conscious contemplation.
So consciously we choose what is favourable and consciously we avoid that which is unfavourable. So simple example, suppose we come for a class. And the different devotees come to programmes for different purposes.
For some devotees, the class is the primary. They want to learn the philosophy. Some people it might be the kirtan is what they look forward to.
The class is something which they tolerate. For some people, it might just be being in a community together. Social, not socialising in a negative sense, but just being with people who care for them and who they care for.
That’s what is the most important. So now, suppose, say, somebody, suppose you are in a category where the class is very important for you. And suppose there’s some other devotee for whom the socialisation is very important.
Then some devotees might just want to chat and they might not be very interested in focussing on the class. If we want to focus on the class, then Anukulya Sankalpa means we sit in a place where we don’t get distracted. That may be the devotee sitting next to other also not chatting or they don’t get distracted.
Generally, it is seen that in any meeting, if one person picks up their phone, everybody else wants to pick up their phone and see. So it’s a group incident. Of course, we can make notes on our phone also.
But the point is that we are very affected by the things around us. So simply when we come for a class, Anukulya Sankalpa means we try to be in the situation where we can have maximum concentration. And Pratikulya Sevarjanam would mean that we try to avoid those situations where we are likely to get more distracted.
Maybe don’t sit near the door because then everybody coming in and going out. We will be distracted by that. So this is simply Anukulya Sankalpa Pratikulya Sevarjanam in the activity of hearing.
So we surrender to Krishna during the limb of hearing. And most of this can be applied even to chanting by making these choices. In many ways, this among the six limbs of surrender, the beginning points are actually more practical for us.
So when we when we sit for studying Shastra or doing our japa, how much our mind will focus. That is often not in our control. We may try some days we feel absorbed in chanting and some days we feel obsessed by something else.
And then we feel as if when will this chanting end? Some days we feel that chanting japa should never end. If it’s so connected, if it’s so empowered, if you get such a taste and some days we feel that japa never ends. It just goes on and on and on.
What is this? So basically things work differently at different times. So we can’t very easily predict how our mind will feel at some time. But we can.
We have, in a sense, much more control over our physical actions than our mental emotions. So Anukulya Sankalpa Pratikulya Sevarjanam is more about those practical actions. So even when we don’t feel surrendered, we can act surrendered.
And that acting surrendered is by choosing what is favourable and avoiding what is unfavourable. So I’ll talk about this in three terms, favourable, unfavourable. Basically, we use the word Adhi Bhautik, Adhi Daivik and Adhi Atmik.
Now, usually we associate the word with klesha that there is. So we could say psychophysical, Adhi Atmik, then social is Adhi Bhautik. Of course, Adhi Bhautik can also include other living beings.
And then but we can all put that in English and social and then you could have anywhere environmental Adhi Daivik. So now from all these three, kleshas can come upon us. But the point is, why these three specifically? Because these three are the broad circles in which a soul is embedded in the world.
We are spiritual beings, but we are embedded in a particular body and mind. Then we are embedded in a particular social situation, social circle. Say, for example, we might have a male body or a female body, maybe a South Indian body or a North Indian body or an American body, whatever.
And each body, mind and machine comes with a particular set of particular nature, particular influences. We could go back to the earlier one, particular instincts and impulses. And similarly, we are in a particular social circle.
So we might be having neighbours, we might be neighbours, neighbours who are completely anti-spiritual. Relatives might be a little bit pro-spiritual. Family members might be neutral or positive or maybe equally more enthusiastic than us also.
So we can have this social circle can also vary in different ways. And then there is the environment. Some places where it becomes freezing cold, waking up in the morning may seem almost impossible.
It may be so unbearably difficult or doing any kind of morning sadhana or anything. It may be very, very difficult in particular places. In other places, it might not be that difficult.
So basically, these three circles affect us in various ways. And we can try to change certain things in each of these circles. We cannot change everything, but the Anukulyasana Ankalpa Pratikulyasa Varjanam would mean that in each of these, we try to choose what is favourable and avoid that which is unfavourable.
Essentially, every action that we do, it actually interacts with one or more or all of these circles. It interacts with all, but it is it is significantly affected. Sometimes, say, for example, we might be very healthy and we might not even notice our body and mind.
Our body’s fate, our mind is clear. And then when we want to do something, when the environment is clear or many of the circles are clear, then it’s like a transparent mirror or a transparent window. When there’s a transparent window, we don’t even notice the window.
We just notice what is being seen outside. So sometimes our social circle is clear. What we want to do.
Everybody is encouraging us. Everybody is warm to us. So then we don’t even notice that much.
It’s not an obstacle. And sometimes the weather may be very sparkling and friendly and lively. Sometimes it may not be.
So basically, when we act in these three circles, we need to act in a way that is favourable for our relationship with Krishna and need to avoid the actions that are unfavourable for our relationship with Krishna. Let’s consider the example here of Bali Maharaj. Bali Maharaj social circle.
Let’s focus on that. In that particular situation, it was social circle that mattered the most. Not the environmental or not the psychophysical.
Any social circles. Essentially, he was surrounded by demons. And he had a Brahmana guru to whom he was very indebted, because this actually in the 8th canto it is described in 10th, 11th chapters, that Bali Maharaj actually was killed by Indira.
But then Shukracharya used his mystical Brahmanical powers to again, to bring him back to life. And when he came back to life, after that he had him do the Vishwajit yajna. And based on that, he defeated Indira and conquered the heavens.
So his life and his possessions, everything he had got by the virtue of Shukracharya. And then at that time, what happened to him? Vamana came as a Brahmana seeking charity. Now, if you consider here, Vamana is a Brahmana and Shukracharya is also Brahmana.
And if you consider Vamana is much younger, just like a child. He’s a dwarf. Not only physically, he is small in size, but age wise also Vamana is considered to be like a small, not a very old, old man.
Certainly not a middle aged man. He’s not even a young man. He’s a boy.
And that’s why he is called as Upendra. Upa in Sanskrit means sub or below. So Upadhyaksha, Adhyaksha is the chief, Upadhyaksha is the deputy chief.
So deputy we would say. So Upendra means the younger brother of Indira. But actually we could take it in the, like we are just to say, is the same word can be explained different ways.
That’s one of the ways of analysing. And the Bhagavatam, sometimes Indira is criticising Krishna. And Vishwanath Chaturthi explains how that criticism is actually a praise.
So Pandita Maninaha, he says that. He thinks he is very clever. Pandita Maninaha.
But Chakravarti pass in this actually also means Pandita Maninaha. He is given maan, given by the panditas. Similarly, Upendra, we could in Sanskrit Upendra.
If you take it in English, it would mean Up-Indra. The one who is situated up above Indra. That he is a person who is the supreme being.
Indra is just the highest among the gods. Among the administrative gods, he is the king. But Indra is the, Vamana is much above that.
But at least at this point, Upendra, who is Vamana, he is just an ordinary brahmana. At least extraordinary in the sense that he has great effulgence, great charm. But Bali has not interacted with him before.
Bali sees him for the first time. So Shukracharya is a brahmana who is, who is time tested. Who has done incredible things for him.
And Vamana has come to him. We have never done anything for him. Vamana is going to ask him for something.
So among these two, whom should he choose? Now common sense might say that obviously he should stay with the time tested brahmana. And this time, this brahmana also gives him reasons. Although you have said that you will give him charity, but you shouldn’t right now.
Because you take everything away from him. And you also say that, OK, sometimes when your life is a threat, you needn’t speak the, you needn’t honour your word. And this is a case like that.
So now in this case, his latent devotion gradually will manifest. And that’s why he’s considered an exemplar. Example is like something which illustrates.
Exemplar is when some person illustrates that. It’s called exemplar. So it’s exemplar of surrender because in one sense he gives up so much for so little.
He gives up the counsel of a time tested brahmana for an untested brahmana. He gives up his kingdom just and he’s ready to give up everything just to honour his word. Ultimately, he gives up his own head, which means he actually subordinates himself to offer to offer himself in a mood of devotion.
So we could say that when he does it, he is it’s an extraordinary example of surrender. But what happens before surrender is he’s choosing to anukulyasam kalpa. So he says that if it is Vishnu who has come to take something from me, then giving to Vishnu is actually a great fortune.
So initially his calculations are like a kshatriya who is very charitable. But because he has had Prahlad Maharaj as his grandfather, Prahlad has instilled bhakti impressions within him. So at this time of emergency, the bhakti impressions come out.
And with these bhakti impressions coming out, he works. He actually becomes absorbed in Krishna and he offers himself. So anukulyasam kalpa.
So here, offering himself to or giving his own head for the third step of Vamana is anukulya and he does that. And he feels that although it is his priest, it is the brahmana who is also in one sense his guru, who is telling him don’t give, that is pratyakulyasya. So he refuses that pratyakulyasya varjana.
Now I give this specific example because the Bhagavatam says that when Shukracharya told him don’t give anything to this brahmana, it is said in the Bhagavatam that Bali Maharaj thought about it. And after due contemplation, he came to this decision. So whereas earlier we talked about instincts and impulses.
Now that is something which we do without thinking. This choosing the favourable and rejecting the unfavourable is something which we do with due thought. So what is required for us to be able to accept the favourable and avoid the unfavourable? So pratyakulyasya varjana means to put aside.
The word reject has nowadays an increasingly negative connotation. And especially the rejection is used when the relationship breaks up, whether it is before the relation is formalised or after it is formalised. So the word reject often has a strongly negative connotation.
So I tend to avoid using that word. It’s avoidance that we can use also. So pratyakulyasya varjana.
Varjana means to put aside, to avoid, to leave. When we varjana is that not necessarily that thing is bad, but it is not favourable for me. So we see that when Bali does not do shukracharya’s bidding, he doesn’t condemn shukracharya saying that you are misleading.
He just gives his reasoning and he moves on. So when we are accepting something and when we are avoiding something. There is the understanding that some things are unhealthy.
So we say there is a saying in the Bible of hate the sin, not the sinner. So it’s interesting. The focus here is not the sinner.
Don’t hate the sinner. But then should we hate the sin? Hate is a very strong emotion. The point of hating means we have to be understanding that certain actions, certain consequences and certain actions and best be avoided.
And we keep a healthy distance from them. So varjana is in that sense that something which are unfavourable, we stay away from them. So we could have four possibilities.
Some people who are completely. Completely thoughtless. They may love the sin and love the sinner.
So they will completely be dragged down. That means if what they are doing is they are doing. They are particular.
This is uncle. Uncle is a virgin. They’ll be doing that.
But some people might they might go to the other extreme. And if it was a four quadrants, a sin and sinners, hate the sin and hate the sinner. And somebody would love the sin and love the sinner.
Well, we should care for those those who are wrong or those who are taking us on the wrong direction. But we cannot love that wrong thing. So the Karna was associated with Duryodhana.
And he loved Duryodhana and started loving Duryodhana’s nefarious actions also. So much so that he started doing them more than Duryodhana. It was Karna who suggested that Draupadi be disrobed.
So love the sin and love the sinner will also drag us down. Then third, third quadrant could be the hate the sinner and love the sin. This is hypocritical.
So some people, they publicly condemn anyone who does something wrong. But privately, do they do the same thing themselves? Because they are attached to it. That’s hypocritical.
But what is best is compassionate is. To be compassionate is hate the sin and love the sinner. So basically, the point I’m making over here is this accepting the favourable and avoiding the unfavourable.
It requires a proper understanding of philosophy so that we can differentiate between what is favourable and what is unfavourable. Now, we also say that Sankalpa and Vikalpa are the functions of the mind, accepting and rejecting. So but here also in surrender, it is something that accepts something and rejects something.
So what is the difference? The difference is that when the mind accepts or rejects, the mind does it instinctively. That the mind just whatever it feels like doing, it does it. Whatever it feels like.
I don’t want to do it. It doesn’t do it. So that it’s driven primarily by emotions.
And devotion is too important a thing to be left to our emotion. Devotion is too important a thing to be left to our emotion. It’s like if you consider if, say, if we have a job or if we have responsibilities, sometimes we feel like doing it.
Sometimes we may not feel like doing it. But if you understand it’s important for us and we do it, no matter how we feel. Something similar.
With respect to devotion, it’s too important to be left to our emotion. So the mind accepts and rejects simply based on its feelings. Whereas for this Anukulyasa Sankalpati Kulyasa Varjanam, we need to use our intelligence to know what is favourable and what is unfavourable.
And how do we know this? I talked earlier about, say, three things. We consider that is. OK, how do you put it? That is instincts and intelligence, sorry, instincts and impulses, which are done without conscious intelligence, conscious intelligence.
Instincts are a programme intelligence. We are intelligent, but we don’t consciously think about it. And impulses are programmed and intelligent programme and intelligent.
There are two, these two forces and above them is our conscious intelligence. So basically, surrender requires us to choose what is favourable and avoid unfavourable. That means now the instincts and impulses we have, that’s what we already have.
So some of us may have impulse to say as soon as some Facebook update comes up, I just want to look at it. Now, we want to control it, but it may take some time to control it. You might have some virtuous instincts.
Say, whenever we are travelling by train or car, if we see a temple, we just hold our hands or just move our head a little bit. If we touch our foot to someone in a way, we offer our respects. These are all instincts which are good at some level.
So, Anupulisa Sankalpavartikulya Sivarjanam requires primarily the conscious intelligence to be functioning. So now, this brings us to the point, which I think of surrender as a very devotional activity. But the devotional also is based for the devotional.
The philosophical is foundational. It’s like if you are to drive on a road, it is the driving that will take us to the destination. Just having a map alone won’t take us to the destination.
Our GPS tells us the full way, but it is we have to drive. So while driving, two things are required. First, we need the map and then we need to drive according to the map.
So the map, having the map is what scriptural study does for us. Just having the map is not enough. Scriptural knowledge has to be applied, not just studied.
So Anupulisa Sankalpavartikulya Sivarjanam, it’s going back to the driving example now. If I have a map, which tells me, OK, this route will take you half an hour more. This route will say half an hour.
So we have that information and then we use it to choose the shortest route. So similarly, a map is what enables us to choose. And scripture is like a map for us.
The scriptural knowledge gives our intelligence the overall map, the overall framework within which we can make choices of what is favourable and of accepting the favourable and avoiding the unfavourable. So it is purpose that brings perspective. When we study scripture, what is the purpose? Now, when we we can go into the fifth canto cosmology.
And it’s so complicated, this dimension, this loka, that loka. If you consider what is the Bhagavatam’s purpose in studying that or describing that, Parishad Maharaj has seven days remaining and Parishad Maharaj doesn’t have the time at that time to do a PhD in cosmology. He is interested in focussing his mind on Krishna.
That’s what he’s renounced the world for. And that’s what Shubhadeva Goswami is speaking for. So the point is, fix the mind on Krishna.
And during that time, that was the Bhagavatam’s worldview. It seems to have been familiar. And so that is described by Shubhadeva Goswami.
And that description is used so that he can remember Krishna within his existing knowledge of cosmology. Now, today, most of us have grown up in the modern education system and we have grown up with a very different conception of the universe. If somebody is specifically interested in cosmology, they can focus on trying to analyse, compare, contrast, reconcile the Bhagavatam’s cosmology and the modern cosmology.
But for most devotees, they’ve not come to Shastra to study cosmology. They’ve come to Shastra to learn how to remember Krishna, how to become better devoted to Krishna, how to bring meaning and value into our life. So then we can focus primarily on the study of the Bhagavatam.
If you look at the purports of Shri Prabhupada in the fifth canto, he’s not going into the technicalities, the descriptions too much. Even in his purports, he’s giving the principles of spiritual life rather than specifics of the universal manifestation or the manifestations of the universe. So I was discussing with Duryodhana Prabhu in Perth about the fifth canto cosmology and how to make it intelligible to rational people today.
So he said that he is in a careful study of that. And basically, if you consider the thought flow of the Bhagavatam, the fifth canto starts with detachment, with how Bharat Maharaj is giving instructions to Maharaja Ashok Dev is giving instructions to his sons. And then after that, we have the whole story of Bharat Maharaj and everything.
So basically, the point is that how important it is to detach from the world and to be attached to the Lord. And the whole universe is described from that perspective, how everybody in every part of the universe is doing dharma and devotion. How they are either they’re attached to the Lord or they’re moving toward becoming attached to the Lord.
And that’s what we should also do. The thrust of the Bhagavatam is not to describe cosmology. The thrust of the Bhagavatam is to show how throughout the cosmos there is devotion.
Therefore, we should also practise devotion. So for us, if there is too much confusion in some philosophical point, this doesn’t make sense. How do I make sense? And if it’s not a central point for us for fixing the mind on Krishna, then we might just put it in the ballpark, in the car park.
That means, OK, maybe in the future I’ll understand this. Let me put this aside and move on toward those things which nourish my relationship with Krishna. So even in studying Shastra, we have to adopt this approach.
Anukulya Sankalpa Hithikulyasya Varjanam. Accept that which is favourable. And avoid that which is unfavourable.
And Prabhupada does this quite pragmatically. That now in scripture, Bhaktivinoda Thakur has written a beautiful essay on the Bhagavatam, which he wrote for the Bhadraloka of his times. I spoke about this earlier also when I spoken on the appearance.
So he basically helps people to navigate the Bhagavatam through whatever part of the Bhagavatam might be troublesome. So he says the cosmological and the chronological aspects of the Bhagavatam, they are basically the setting. But the essential thing is, is the Leela of Krishna, the Smaran of Krishna, the Bhakti for Krishna.
It’s like, say, sometimes we are watching a drama of the Ramayana. Or of Krishna Leela. Now, we might have a certain setting for Krishna Leela in our mind.
This is how Vrindavan is. And somebody might, in a particular drama, depict Vrindavan in a slightly different way. Now, the important thing is that whether Krishna Leela is being accurately depicted.
The setting for Vrindavan is important, no doubt. But we will see that the way ISKCON artist Vishal Prabhupada encouraged to make it is much more realistic. Much of the Krishna depiction, especially if you consider Jaipur and Vrindavan also, it’s Rajasthani art.
And that is slightly different. So the setting is important. But more important, the setting is, is the essence of what the substance of what is being depicted.
Similarly, for either way. The point of studying the world is not to understand the world. The point of studying the world is to understand that we need to go beyond the world.
I write in the Gita every day. So the Gita daily article I wrote called the point of the world is to point beyond the world. The point of the world, the world exists to point us to a reality beyond that reality is Krishna.
So today, if you find the Bhagavatam’s cosmology very difficult to understand, we could consider today’s cosmology. And the important thing is that we move toward Krishna. For many thoughtful people, even for many scientists, even the vastness of the cosmos as discovered by science also points to a cosmogonal intelligence.
These are different models, just like Ayurveda and allopathy can have different models of the body. And both work in their own ways for treating the body. Similarly, Bhagavatam and science can have different models of the universe.
But if both of them are promoting God consciousness for other seekers, then we can adopt whichever one helps us the most. So in the study of scripture, we need to have this. If you want to stay focused, Anukulyasa Sankalpa Pratyakulyasa Varshans.
Otherwise, you can get so caught in small, small trivialities. And Prabhupada was asked one time by the disciples in Hawaii that how do we explain to scholars the phenomenal numbers in the Bhagavatam? For example, Maharaja Ugrasen, he said to have an astronomical number of bodyguards. So if you tell this to scholars, they start laughing.
They say, how could so many people live in the island of Dwaraka? Where were their quarters? Where were their restrooms? It’s not possible. Now, Prabhupada could have said that Krishna can maintain the whole universe on the tip of a needle. But Prabhupada chooses not to fight that battle.
Prabhupada said, among all the sections of the Bhagavatam, was that the only thing you found to speak to the scholars? Very profound question. Was it the only thing you found to speak to the scholars? That means we have to consider what is Anukul for them to develop appreciation for the Bhagavatam. What is Anukul? What is favourable for them to come closer to Krishna by their study of the Bhagavatam? And Prabhupada focused on that.
We have the principles of spiritual life, which are universal. Bhakti is the way of approaching the divine through love. That is so appealing.
So I focus on things which are not that important. In the study of scripture, Anukul is the sankalpa, pathikul is the savarjanam. Same we can apply in our association.
Some devotees tend to be very, very critical. Everything about the Krishna conscious movement is, oh, this is bad, that is bad, that is bad. Well, yes, the Krishna conscious movement is in the material world.
And in the material world, everything is contaminated. So we see the Krishna conscious movement also like a multi-level manifestation. Multi-level manifestation means depending on our consciousness, whether it is in tamoguna, rajoguna, sattvoguna or shuddhasattva, we will see the Krishna conscious movement differently.
So if we are primarily in tamoguna, tamoguna is characterised by, say, fighting and passivity. Sometimes we just hyperactively fight and other times we just become apathetic. So if we are tamasic, then we will see that devotees keep having quarrels, devotees keep fighting.
There are so many groups. It’s so pathetic. Why do devotees quarrel? You’re all saying you want to serve Krishna.
Why do you keep quarrelling? Yes, there are differences everywhere and there are differences in the material world also. And because Krishna conscious movement is there in the material world, it will exploit those people who have the mode of ignorance in their minds. And this is what they will see.
And they will see this is just a group of people who keep quarrelling. They can’t get along with themselves. Somebody in Rajoguna will see the Krishna conscious movement as something which is a way to power and prestige and wealth.
I’ll say that. So if that person is active and they think, oh, here I can get, I can, I can do this. I can do that.
I can become famous. I can become popular. Or somebody may say this is what all the leaders are looking for.
This is what they all want. Everybody wants prestige. Everybody wants power.
Everybody wants followers. Somebody in Satoguna, they will see that, actually, this is a place where if I come, I can live a better life. I can have like minded, uplifting people.
I can hear some wisdom. I can purify my heart. And whatever be the lunches over here.
The quality of my life can be better in the association of devotees in the moment, rather than outside. Provided, of course, I associate properly. But that’s what a devotee will focus on.
Devotee in sattva and is serious about spirituality. Devotee will see. Oh, there are so many exalted devotees over here.
Their association is so precious that we associate with them. So now when we are, we are practising Krishna consciousness in a particular moment, then we will have to, we have to very carefully apply this. That if we start looking at everything that is wrong, there are many things that are wrong.
Krishna is Kalpataru and Krishna’s movement is also Kalpataru. So Kalpataru means whatever we want, we will get it. So if you want prestige, we will get prestige in Krishna’s movement.
We just wait around, become a little senior and then as soon as we come, people start offering obeisances to us. That’s quite gratifying to the ego. That’s what we’re looking for.
If we want followers, we just we just know how to pretend to be advanced. Even if you’re not advanced, you can attract followers. If you want controversy.
We can get as much controversy as we might find in the gossip columns of Monday newspapers. That much we can find on sites by people who are disgruntled devotees. And we can live in controversy.
This happened. This happened there. So we can get controversy.
We can get prestige. We can get following and we can get Krishna also. So Krishna Krishna in the Krishna consciousness movement, it is a matter of changing our consciousness.
So if we want Krishna, we will get Krishna. But if you want to be conscious of other things, that’s what we will focus on. That’s what we get.
So in the moment, also, we have to apply the Sankalpapati Kulli Sivaji that we associate with those who uplift our consciousness. We focus on those things that are favourable for our relationship with Krishna. And that way we all can move forward in our devotional journey.
So here, accepting the favourable and rejecting the unfavourable is something which is very proactive and has to be responsibly done. And this is a resourceful, responsible choice is the active part of surrender. And tomorrow we move on toward more the consciousness underlying surrender and talk about the dispositions.
But I summarised today. So I spoke about. How the how to understand surrender in terms of its first two elements.
I look good. This is Sankalpapati Kulli Sivaji. Except the favourable.
Avoid the unfavourable. I started by talking about how in every situation we do apply. We choose something and we avoid some things and we do it sometimes based on our instincts, which are like programme intelligence or impulses, which are like programmed, unintelligent impressions within us.
But we want to act with conscious intelligence. That’s what is recommended as a part of surrender over here. And to develop the conscious intelligence, we need to study scripture care.
Scripture is like a map, whatever map is for a driver. So just studying scripture doesn’t take us to the destination. Looking at the map doesn’t take a driver to the station, but studying scripture or having a map is essential for driving to the destination or making the choices that will take us closer to Krishna.
And I talked about how we have to act within the world. First, your example, simply when we come to a class whom we sit next to or what position is it can determine whether we are able to hear nicely or not. And that itself is applying on a collision of the collision.
So the soul exists in three broad circles. The physical, the social and environmental. And in each of these circles, we need to choose what is favourable for our relationship with Krishna.
Avoid that which is unfavourable for the story of Bali Maharaj, which was analysed primarily to show how he gave up the time test to Shukracharya and honoured his word to the untested Vamana because he chose what was favourable for his relationship with the ultimate reality, Vishnu. And because he gave up so much for so little. That’s that’s how that’s one reason why he’s an emblem of self-surrender to the Lord.
Then I talked about. Applying this principle of accepting the favourable, rejecting unfavourable to the way we look at the philosophy and we look at the at the devotee, at the Krishna conscious moment, at scripture, the focus of scripture, the purpose is to help Parikshit Maharaj and us to fix the mind on Krishna. So some things within scripture are not so easily understandable or they disturb us.
Then we need to keep them in the ballpark and move onwards in our relationship with Krishna. So what is central in scripture is not the cosmology or the chronology. Central is the spirituality, the remembrance of Krishna.
And that’s what we need to focus on also. And whatever is favourable for the development of our relationship with Krishna, for some people with intellectual or scientific explanations, they might want to do an intricate study and that might be favourable of cosmology. But for most, it may not be.
So then they talk about in our association, when we have to select four kinds of people, four kinds of attitudes to hate the sin and hate the sinner. That is being judgemental. To love the sin and to love the sinner is being sentimental.
To hate the sinner and love the sin is being hypocritical. And to hate the sin and love the sinner is being spiritual, is being devotional. So to understand what to avoid and what to not avoid, we need our intelligence to be sharp.
And that sharp intelligence, we can also, in the association of devotees, look at what is favourable for us within the moment. The moment can be seen as a place of quarrels and conflicts when we are in a mode of ignorance and we’re looking for that. The moment it can be seen as a place for pursuing prestige and wealth and following.
If we are in the mode of passion. As a place for living a more a more meaningful and purposeful life, adding more value to our life, if we are in the mode of goodness and as moving to as a place for associating those who are close to Krishna and moving ourselves close to Krishna, if we are in transcendence, in association, if we choose our association carefully and focus on that which is favourable, then we can purposefully move toward Krishna. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna. Are there any questions? Yes, Mataji. So was that a comment or was that a question? Yeah, thank you.
Should we stop here then? Yes, Mataji. Yes. So sometimes we keep making mistakes in terms of choosing or doing something which is unfavourable and not doing that which is favourable.
So how do we if we keep doing it repeatedly, how do we overcome that? So basically, we begin with what we can do right now itself. Then you might be able to list three things which are doable. Which which are good for which are favourable for a relationship with Krishna and which are doable.
Maybe I can whatever I read five minutes more Bhagavatam every day. If I’m reading zero minutes, I can read five minutes. If I’m reading 10 minutes, I can read 15 minutes.
Something we can just list things which are doable for us and start with them. And we can list something which are unfavourable and which we can do. Say I spend one hour on social media.
Maybe I’ll spend 45 minutes. Whatever. Something simple.
So we need to begin somewhere. And sometimes some conditions are deep rooted. So if we define our devotion by our ability to overcome those conditionings, then we will feel so discouraged that we will feel as if we are not advancing at all.
So the same thing, somebody else might be able to give up very easily, but we might struggle to give up because each of us has different conditions. So say this is indulgence, this is abstinence. And then it might be a straight path to walk for somebody from indulgence to abstinence.
That is, I’m indulging and I give it up. But for somebody else, the conditionings might be so much that in between indulgence and abstinence, there is a big mountain to be climbed. And it is so exhausting to climb that mountain.
So I’m going to talk in Atmanikshepakarpani. I want to talk about self-acceptance. We talked about how we need to choose what is favourable.
What do you also need to choose? What is a favourable conception of ourselves, a favourable relationship with ourselves? We can be an unfavourable, unfavourable attitude, which we often talk about is the thing that we are greater, we are better than what we are. The thing that we are pure when we are not pure, the thing that we are advanced when we are not advanced. But another could be that to just think of oneself so negatively.
I’m worthless. I can’t do this. I can’t do that.
I can’t do that. Humility is not a self-flagellation. Self-flagellate is to beat.
Self-flagellation is constantly beating oneself down for being worthless. That is not humility. Humility essentially means we stop thinking about ourselves and we start thinking about Krishna more and more.
So self-obsession can be because I think I’m so great or self-obsession can be also I think I’m so fallen. But either way, if you’re self-conscious, then you can’t be conscious of Krishna. So that optimal understanding of ourselves so that we are neither negatively self-obsessed, not positively self-obsessed.
That’s what we need. So we have to accept, OK, this particular conditioning may take a long time for me to overcome. But let me work on what I can do.
And as we keep doing those things, which we can, accepting the favourable wherever we can and avoiding the unfavourable wherever we can. Begin with that. Gradually our spiritual strength will grow.
We will become purer by that. And gradual things we are not able to do, we also start doing that. So begin with where we are and take even a small but tangible steps from there.
Does that answer your question? Thank you. Yes. OK, it’s a long question.
I think it’s already twelve. I’ll answer this very briefly today, but maybe tomorrow you can ask this question again and I can answer it more. So how do we separate the sin from the sinner? Basically, we all have to know what is our capacity.
That means if a person is drowning, they can’t save somebody else. And if somebody is too heavy and we swim to try to save them, then we will also drown by that. That means in some cases, if somebody’s nature is such that it triggers too much negative emotion within us.
Then even the effort to try to see them positively will only increase the negativity within us. So sometimes some amount of distance may be what is required if some natures are such that they don’t match at all. Then we first may need a certain amount of distance so that our consciousness doesn’t get that agitated.
And in some that means in some cases, some people have done such terrible things. They act in ways which are so unpleasant for us that just simple actions makes us forget every philosophy and everything. So then we may need to create a distance because we can’t make our mind and its emotions our slaves.
They will be what they are. And if their emotions are going wild, we keep a little distance from them. To that person, this is not the ultimate solution, but that might be initially what is required.
But over a period of time, we understand that just as we have a mind which troubles us. And which makes us do things which we do not want to do. Others also have a mind.
And what we call as people’s nature is what comes from their mind. This is we struggle to separate our mind from us and we are misled by our mind. So others also get misled by their minds.
So if we see their mind, their nature as coming from their mind, not their soul, then rather than thinking that we are fighting, that they are attacking us or they are troubling us, we see that we are all fighting the same battle. Is that their mind troubles in a different way. Our mind troubles in a different way.
But we are all battling against the mind. So just ascribing their nature to their mind. Helps us create a some some amount of camaraderie, comradeship.
Now, of course, we may say I am struggling to control my mind, but this person is not even struggling to control their mind. They’re simply acting according to nature. Yes, practically, if some people act in ways that are too hurting for us, better keep a distance.
But if you can see this way that it’s their mind that is making them do such a thing, then rather than thinking, why are you doing this? When we say, why do you act like this? That means we are equating them with their mind. But instead, we become more empathic. And when this kind of situation comes, what kind of thoughts come in your mind? What do you feel at that time? And then if you understand that, oh, this is how their mind is thinking, this is how their mind is making them perceive the situation.
And then we can help them to say that, actually, the reality is not like this. So basically, the essential answer would be that just need to separate. We hate the sin and not the sinner means see the sin as coming from the impelling by the mind.
And see the soul as separate from it. Because of the ignorance and illusion in the mind, people act in ways that are hurtful. So how we practically deal with it, that will depend on the nature of our relationship with them, how close we are, the hierarchy in the relationship, whether we are we are guiding them or they are in authority position for us.
And the the. How important is that relationship? Do we need to work with them always? Based on that, we’ll have to come up with different specific strategies of how to at least we separate them from their mind. And then we equip them to separate themselves from their mind.
And then gradually we can come to a more effective working or intimate relationship with them. That’s your question. Thank you very much.
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