Spiritual Lessons from Car Driving 2 – What we are driving matters, but where we are driving matters more

[Seminar at Fort Lauderdale, USA]

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So, we continue with our discussion on lessons from car driving. And, in the first, I talked about primarily how the mind is the passenger, but it takes over the driver, controls the driver. And, we need to avoid that.
This session, I will talk about, the title I gave was, What we are driving matters, but where we are driving matters more. That means, the theme which I will talk about is self-acceptance. Self-understanding and self-acceptance.
In cars, there are many different cars. And, some cars, I said in some cars are SUVs. Some cars are more luxury vehicles.
And, different cars, some cars are sports vehicles. They have different strengths. Some cars may be more glamorous than others.
And, often, when people look at a person, they look at the car, they try to understand from the car, what is the social status of this person, from what economic bracket they come. So, our cars make a statement about us. And, sometimes, if somebody has a better car than us, we may feel, oh, I don’t have such a good car.
Yeah, our car, which car we have, what we are driving, it matters. But, more important is, where are we going? If somebody is having a very elegant car, but they are driving drunk to a bar to get more drunk, then they are not really using that car very well. So, the body that we get is like a vehicle.
Krishna uses the word machine in 18.61. ईश्वर सर्वभूतानां वृद्धैशे अर्जुनतिष्ठति प्रामयन सर्वभूतानी यंत्रारूधानि मायया ईश्वर सर्वभूतानां The Supreme Lord is situated in the hearts of all living beings who are wandering about on a machine, यंत्र रूधानि मायया, made of material energy. So, the body is like a machine that we have. The body is our car.
the, just like we buy different cars based on, say, what is our budget and what is our liking. So, like that, we have got a particular body based on what is our karmic budget, what is the kind of karma that we have done in the past, and what is the, what are the kind of desires we have had. So, the car we have is something which we can’t change now.
The body, by car we refer here not just to the body, the body-mind complex. It’s a machine for the soul. So, we get a particular kind of body and mind based on our past karma.
In fact, the body that we get is the first instalment of our past karma. There are different kinds of karma, there is प्रारब्ध कर्म, there is अप्प्रारब्ध कर्म. So, some people, they they look very attractive, some people look mediocre, some people are born in wealthy families, some people are born in not so wealthy families, some people have outstanding memories, some people have outstandingly poor memories.
So, like that, this variety is there. And this variety is to some extent what we get with our body. So, when we have a particular car, we need to understand what the strengths of that car are, what the limitations of that car are.
So, especially now if we go to some place and we hire a car for some time, for a few days, then we that may be, car may be different from our regular car, so we look at what feature is where, how things work. There is some similarity, there is some broad similarity, but there are some specific differences also. So, when we have a particular car, we need to learn how best to use it.
But before we can best use it, first thing we need is acceptance. Okay, this is the car I have. So, a lot of mental problems come because of lack of acceptance.
If only I had been taller, if only I had been shorter, if only I had been fairer, if only I had been thinner, if only I was more fluent in my speech, if only I was more outgoing, there are so many if only’s that the mind comes up with. And the nature of the mind is to always look at what we don’t have and to keep us dissatisfied. Even if we went to paradise, the mind will say, yes, but it will find out something which it doesn’t have and it will make us dissatisfied.
So, suppose after this programme we have prasad. Don’t suppose, prasad is there, but suppose there is a special feast and the speciality of the feast is that everybody is going to get different items. So, what is in my plate will be different from your plate, will be different from someone else’s plate.
Now, I have delicacies in my plate, but instead of eating the delicacies in my plate, I look at, oh, what has he got in his plate? What has she got in her plate? And I keep looking at what others have and I make myself dissatisfied. So, I need to look at what I have. Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita in the 17th chapter talks about satisfaction as an austerity of the mind.
In 17.16 he says, he says that manaprasada, satisfaction of the mind is the first austerity is the first austerity of the mind. It’s interesting, when we use the word austerity, it usually refers to something which is difficult to do, which we do with effort. Now, in spiritual circles, this austerity refers to something like fasting or maybe doing some extra devotional activities, that’s austerity.
In today’s economic world, austerity measures refer to when the government imposes more taxes or decreases some facilities and people are expected to tolerate because it’s a difficult phase. Usually, we think of austerity as something which is difficult to do, but which requires effort by which we can do it. That’s the basic idea of austerity.
Now, when we think about satisfaction, we usually think of satisfaction as an emotion. I’m feeling satisfied. I’m feeling dissatisfied.
So, we think of satisfaction as an emotion. Now, how can satisfaction be an austerity? What it means is, that satisfaction is not just an emotion that we feel. Satisfaction can also be a decision we make.
What does it mean? A decision we make that, like the earlier example of the plate, if I look at what is there on other’s plate, I’ll become dissatisfied. If I look at what is on my plate, I’ll become satisfied. Prabhupada writes in that purport, 17.16, he says that the more we contemplate on sense objects, the more the mind becomes dissatisfied.
And instead, if we turn our mind towards the puranic literature, we hear about the wonderful pastimes of Krishna, the mind will become satisfied over there. That means that, Prabhupada is giving a general principle here, that there are certain objects or certain directions of thought, if we go in those directions, if we think of those objects, our mind will get dissatisfied. And if we take the mind in other directions, the mind can become satisfied.
So, austerity, satisfaction is austerity of the mind means, we conscientiously don’t let the mind go in the directions where it will become dissatisfied, and we bring it towards the directions where it will become satisfied. So, this is, again, we are talking about the vehicle that we have, and how we are going to use it. So, satisfaction means that we accept, this is the kind of body I have, this is the kind of mind I have, and this is the resource that I am going to use.
And, it is very easy to compare ourselves with others, especially because we live in a competitive society, and not only we live in a competitive society, it’s also a society where the best of everything is portrayed through the media, through the advertisements, through the movies, through the media. You know, we see the most attractive looking people, the most smart looking people, the most, the people who look the best in everything, and when we compare ourselves with them, we just feel, we feel completely satisfied. I had gone for a college programme, so, there one student had a t-shirt, sometimes people write some provocative things on their t-shirts.
So, he, that t-shirt, he had written, 90% of the world’s women are beautiful, the remaining 10% are in my college. Now, how do they know what is 90% and what is 10%? Basically, the 90% images come from seeing the movies, seeing the media, even movie stars, if you see how they look when they are made up, and they look in real life, it’s different. So, when we compare ourselves with certain things which are depicted in the media, what we find in real life, we’ll always find it unsatisfying.
So, satisfaction as an austerity of the mind means, that we consciously don’t think of the things which will make us dissatisfied, and direct our thoughts towards the things which will make us satisfied. So, with respect to our own bodily vehicle that we have, yes, others may have the bodily vehicle in some way better than us, some may actually have vehicle which is worse than us also, but this is what we have. And this acceptance can come in two ways.
One is through frustration. No matter what I do, I can’t become like anyone else. I am who I am.
I can improve, but I cannot become like anyone else. So, we try and try and we realise this doesn’t work. But, the other way is more through education.
Education means that there is a plan of Krishna for everyone of us. This material world is not functioning arbitrarily. And, while we are living in this world, although at one level we can say that what we have got is a result of our past karma.
Okay, the kind of body I have, that’s a result of my past karma. But, it’s not just past karma arbitrarily thrown together. It is past karma which is orchestrated by the plan of Krishna.
It is maya adhyaksheda prakriti. Material nature works under Krishna’s supervision. And, Krishna has provided us what we need for our spiritual evolution.
For us to grow from our position, whatever we need, He has provided us. And, with this understanding that what I need, Krishna has provided. Actually, that can relieve us enormously.
Often, people say, you know, I should become like this person. I should become like that person. If God had wanted us to be someone else, He would have made someone else.
Why did He make us? So, you know, God has made you, you. And, He has made me, me. So, Krishna has a plan for everyone.
And, we all want to improve. But, an improvement is not horizontal, necessarily. It’s vertical.
By my improvement, I am not going to become like you. And, you are not going to become like me. By improvement, I can become the best me, I. And, you can become the best you.
So, the vehicle that we have, although in comparison, it may be better than some other’s vehicle, it may be worse than some other’s vehicle. But, our vehicle is a good enough tool for us, for our journey. From where we are, Krishna has provided us the best resource.
So, when we have a material conception of life, and when we have a spiritual conception of life, it’s not just, okay, I am not the body and the soul, understanding that much. It’s actually much deeper. In the material conception of life, you are always thinking in two terms.
Either, things are in control, or things are out of control. If things are in control, yes, I am the boss, I am successful, I am so great. If things are out of control, oh no, what is going to happen? Everything will fall apart.
We are distressed. We say that, about the three modes of material nature, some people make things happen, some people watch things happen, and some people wonder what happened. Laughter Laughter So, people in goodness are thoughtful.
Okay, let me do this, one, two, three, they do this, they delegate, they make things happen. People in passion are running around, they want to do things, but they are not very thoughtful. So, they do one thing, but it leads to one unwanted consequence, and second unwanted consequence, like this.
They do one thing, and it sets off a chain reaction of ten other things. What is happening? I don’t want this to happen. They speak one thing to one person, they are a little thoughtless in speaking that, and that person gets angry, and that person tells the third person, third person tells the fourth person, and then, by the end, I never said that! So, some people watch things happen, what is happening? And those are in ignorance, they wonder what is going on.
They just don’t understand anything. They just are passive, living in like a stupor. So, basically, when, so the more we are in materialistic consciousness, the more people in ignorance, they feel they can’t control anything.
People in passion think that I should be able to control, and when they are not able to control, they get worried about it. People in goodness, they understand, there are some things in control in my life, some things are not in my control. So, using whatever control they have, they try to act constructively.
But when we become spiritual, we don’t just see these two things, things are in control or things are out of control. We see that things that are out of my control are not out of control. They are still in Krishna’s control.
And when we see Krishna’s plan as the primary directing force of our life, then, the self-acceptance becomes much easier. If we think, okay, what can I do, I can’t change myself, this is the way I am. But that is out of frustration.
But when we understand that, yes, what I am, this doesn’t mean that we accept our conditionings and just perpetuate them. But, we have to accept where I am. Say, if I’m driving from place A to place B, and while driving along, somehow I take a wrong turn.
And I go off somewhere else. And I’m going for a programme and I’m getting late. Now, I might get angry.
Why did I take a wrong turn? Okay, you took a wrong turn. Now, take a right turn and go to the programme. There’s no point in beating oneself up.
Why did you take the wrong turn? Okay, you took a wrong turn, sometimes it happens. Now, take a right turn and move on. So, acceptance is the fundamental necessity for correction or improvement.
If I don’t accept only that I’ve gone to a wrong place. When we basically resent something, why am I here? Why am I getting late? Then resentment is there. Then basically, resentment is the opposite of acceptance.
So, when we are resentful of something, we are not ready to accept that it happened. And if I don’t accept, then so much of my mental energy goes in fighting reality. And very little energy is left for actually correcting the situation.
So, I’ve gone on the wrong track. Fine. It’s not so fine that I’ve gone on the wrong track.
But okay, at least I recognise it’s not the end of the world. Now, let me go on the right track. So, acceptance means that when we talk about acceptance, we could say more in our philosophical term, we could say it’s tolerance.
Tolerance, generally, it means that, okay, this is the situation and I’m going to accept it. I’m going to tolerate it. Sometimes we may think of tolerance as passivity.
Okay, as I said earlier, I can accept out of frustration or out of education. Oh, I can’t do anything. Say, a few months ago there was a political clash between India and China over the Doklam strip of land.
So now, suppose India had not come to the aid of Bhutan at that time. Now, Bhutan is a small country. It doesn’t have the power to resist China.
Now, if China intrudes into the territory and Bhutan says, we tolerate. Now, that tolerance is out of frustration, out of helplessness. So, we may sometimes tolerate because we just can’t do anything about it.
And that tolerance is out of helplessness and resentment. We would like to change things. We don’t want the way the things to be there.
But we can’t do anything about it. Now, if you see, in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna, tolerate. But that same Bhagavad Gita also tells Arjuna to fight a war.
Krishna tells Arjuna, rise, fight, defeat your enemies and attain a flourishing kingdom. So, Krishna is telling Arjuna to tolerate. Then why is he not telling Arjuna to tolerate the Kauravas atrocities? They committed atrocities, just tolerate it.
Krishna is not telling Arjuna. He is telling Arjuna, fight. So, tolerance doesn’t mean simply accepting everything and becoming passive.
Tolerance essentially means to keep small things small so that we can focus on the big things. To keep small things small so that we can focus on the big things. Hey, I am driving on the road and suddenly some driver comes and cuts against me.
You honk the bell. I travelled in America almost like, this is the third year I am coming, so I must have travelled a lot of places. It is almost never you hear the horn being blown.
In India, every car rides behind it, horn please. Now, if somebody cuts across, so what happens is, why this happens, my understanding is, that there is a principle nature, what is called the inertia, the principle of inertia. Things tend to stay as they are.
So, if the traffic is orderly, it will tend to stay orderly. People will also be orderly. If the traffic is disorderly, it will also stay disorderly.
People themselves will act in disorderly ways. If a wall is very clean, if we are travelling in a metro and the metro wall is very clean, people will hesitate to put some graffiti on that. But if there is already a lot of graffiti, people will come and put more graffiti also.
No one will notice that. So, because overall the driving here is orderly, people did not need to blow the horn. But, in India, the driving is a little more disorderly, or it is a little orderly.
So, people need to blow the horn, keep blowing the horn. But the point I am making is that, actually, when there is driving that happens, many times, somebody may just cut across. And on rare occasions, people get irritated, they blow the horn.
So, now, if somebody just cuts across me, and I get irritated, you know, fool, what did you do? Why did you do it? And I will teach you a lesson. You know, we start tailgating that person. I will give you a piece of my mind.
And we chase after that person, and somehow that person goes off. And then we find that we have gone way off track. And we have to go for an important meeting in office.
And by the time we reach there, we are so angry. We can’t present ourselves properly at the meeting. So, what has happened? Okay, somebody cutting across me was a small thing.
But if I get worked up about a small thing, then my important meeting in the office is a big thing. I couldn’t take care of that. So, tolerance is not passivity.
Tolerance means that I let small things stay small so that I can focus on the big things. So, for Arjuna, Krishna is telling that, yes, you know, some of your relatives will die, and that’s going to be painful. But the establishment of Dharma is much more important.
Because those who are irreligious, those who are adharmic, are in power, then they will cause far more bloodshed and mayhem. And many more people will suffer because of that. So, tolerate the pain of the death of the loved ones that may happen.
Because the higher purpose of Dharma is to be fulfilled. So, keep small things small so that you can focus on the big things. That is tolerance.
And the same principle we apply for ourselves that, okay, there are certain things about me I can’t change. For, okay, I’ve got certain looks. I’ve got certain memory.
I’m born in a family with a particular level of wealth. There are certain kinds of talents I have. I can’t change that.
So, this is the body that I have. But our happiness is determined not so much by what we have as by what we do with what we have. Somebody may have a lot of money but they use that money to squander, to get into all sorts of sensuality and perversity and they ruin themselves.
I met one devotee recently in one city. He told me a story. It’s quite a sad story.
At the end it’s a happy story. So he was around 15 or 16 and he was starting to explore drugs. And that’s what happens in American colleges.
And then at that time his parents, they saw that it was happening and the parents, they were not very well to do also. They didn’t have much money and they didn’t give him much money. And because of not having money he couldn’t get into drugs much.
But at that time his grandmother passed away. And she gave her full inheritance to him. Not to her daughter, who is a mother.
She gave it to him because they had some kind of animosity among them. And he was just a young boy and he is 16-17 years old and he got like 500,000 dollars. A big amount.
I don’t know the exact amount. And he just got it and he used it to get into drugs. And he spent that whole amount in one and a half years.
Not only he spent it, after that one and a half years he had to be admitted. First in a hospital and then in a drug de-addiction centre. And then finally, while he was in drug de-addiction centre, he met some devotees.
And then he took shelter of Krishna. Now he has become a serious devotee. And he has become free from drugs.
At that time, the money coming in his hands was actually destructive for him. So many times when parents pass on their inheritance to their children, they often make a clause. Till they come to this age, they can only take this much.
You cannot withdraw more than this much. Why? Because money can be a positive thing if it is used properly. But it can be very destructive if it is used negatively.
So often, much of our dissatisfaction comes because we feel, I don’t have this. I don’t have this. Yes, what we have matters.
There is no denying that money can bring up a certain level of comfort, certain level of respect, certain level of prestige. It can become a certain level of convenience, even security. But what we do with what we have matters much much more.
So what applies to money also applies to our own body. So, okay, some of us may have better resources, some of us may have lesser resources in terms of bodily talents, bodily looks, bodily features, whatever they are. But more important is what we do with what we have.
So even if we have little, if we use it constructively, we can get satisfaction to that. We can make contributions through that. Somebody may have a lot, but they may misuse it.
So the process of Bhakti Yoga is more about using what we have. The whole material world is focussing on craving to get more, craving for what we don’t have. Whereas spiritual life is about better using what we have.
If we come into spiritual life with a material conception, then even in spiritual life we keep craving for what we don’t have, instead of using what we have. Because in some ways, in spiritual life also we may find that, okay, this devotee can sing so nicely. I can’t sing so well.
Oh, this devotee is such a crowd puller, so charismatic. I wish I had some charisma. Even for Krishna’s service, certain talents can be used.
So if we come with that material mindset of craving for what we don’t have, then that can keep us dissatisfied even in spiritual life. Because instead of connecting with Krishna, with what we have, we are staying disconnected from Krishna, thinking of if I had that, I would connect with Krishna better. So whatever resources we have, they are enough for our growth.
For whatever contribution we are meant to make, whatever plan Krishna has for us, to execute that plan, what we have is enough. This doesn’t mean that we don’t try to improve. Whether it is financially, socially, behaviourally, with respect to our skills, we can try to improve.
But that craving needn’t become dominant in our life. So when we see okay, I have a oh this person has a smart car, this is such a good looking car, my car is so ordinary. Okay, fine.
But the important thing is, with my car also I can go to my destination. So for our spiritual growth, what resources we have don’t matter so much. What matters is what we are doing with the resources we have.
So, yes, in the practical sense in this world, some devotees who are more talented than others, they may be able to do more service. Somebody who sings nicely, they may get more opportunity to sing. Somebody able to speak nicely, they may have more opportunity to speak.
Somebody who has leadership skills, they may become, they may become, they may lead and coordinate programmes. This is in terms of practical contribution. But in terms of spiritual connection, it is actually how much we are remembering Krishna.
How much we are having an attitude of service towards Krishna. How much we are using what we have in Krishna’s service. That is what is going to determine our spiritual advancement.
You know the well-known story of Hanuman and the squirrel. Hanuman was doing phenomenal things for Lord Ram. He was getting big, big boulders and using them to build the bridge.
And the squirrel was getting small particles of dust. And for all practical purposes, the squirrel was doing nothing. The only thing the squirrel was doing was coming in the way of the monkeys.
And when she saw monkeys, told her, just move out of the way. So, Ram said, no. You are doing the best according to your capacity.
She is doing the best according to her capacity. And I am satisfied with her. So, similarly, actually when we are practising bhakti, Krishna sees our consciousness.
He sees our heart. Sometimes, bhakti is so subtle actually. Say, I may be giving class and you may be hearing the class.
And yes, somebody who is giving class is considered to be more senior, more advanced, more learned. But, if I am giving class and if I am thinking, see, I am so clever. I am speaking such brilliant points.
Then actually, I am speaking about Krishna, but I am not remembering Krishna. And you may be hearing about Krishna, but if you are taking that wisdom, then you are remembering Krishna and you may make more advancement by hearing the class than what I may make by speaking the class. Somebody may be leading kirtan and somebody may be following the kirtan.
And the person who is leading kirtan is thinking, oh, see, how sweetly I sing. I am making all these people dance. So, if that person who is leading the kirtan is thinking, you know, I am such a sweet singer, then somebody else is just folding their hands in prayer, just repeating the mantra.
The person who is repeating the mantra may make more spiritual advancement than somebody who is leading the kirtan. So, there is practical contribution that we want to make in the world. And that’s why if we have talents, we use them.
But as far as our spiritual connection with Krishna is concerned, it doesn’t depend on what talent we have or we don’t have. It depends on what consciousness we have. What is our intention? How much is our service attitude? And in the long run, this applies even in material life.
In material life, people who are talented, they may shine for some time. But, ultimately, in the long run, just talented people alone don’t succeed. People need to have, along with talent, they need to have temperament.
How steady they are, how balanced they are, how well they get along with others. And if we are practising bhakti, we start developing these. And these can help us to enhance our contribution practically also.
Many times, people who are very talented, they sometimes become very proud of their talents also. And they are very difficult to work with. So, I was giving a seminar in Intel a few months ago.
There, I was talking about this theme. So, one of the employees in Intel, he told it. Actually, they said that they did a survey of the employees who were fired.
Survey means which of the employees were fired. And they said that more than the employees who get fired first would not be the people who would be the least talented. Yes, that is one thing.
But the people who would be least able to get along with others, they are the people who would be removed from the team first. So, that means what? Talent is important, but temperament, that is equally important. So, for us, yes, I may have a fast car, I may have a slow car, I may have a very smart, very good looking car, I may not have a good looking car.
But not just where I am going, but how well I am driving. Some people, they just swerve off this lane and that lane. They just make a mess of their driving even if they have a good car.
Some people just drive steadily and smoothly. They will get much faster. They will actually be better drivers in the long run.
So, both in the ultimate spiritual sense and even the long term material sense, it is not just talent that counts. Talent counts, but what counts much more in the long run is the temperament. And by the practise of bhakti, our temperament improves.
Even when we learn to become more steady, more mature, more calm, more considerate and thus, whatever talents we have, we can use them to the best capacity. So, the spiritual understanding that Krishna is in Kanto. By his plan, I have this vehicle.
So, let me use it to the best of my capacity. If we accept this, then we will find that there is so much we can do even with what we have. And in general, when we use what we have, Krishna gives us more.
So, this is the paradox in bhakti. We often don’t serve Krishna because we feel I don’t have this, I don’t have that and we keep chasing that. But instead, if you just use what we have in Krishna’s service, Krishna will give us more.
So, whether it is with respect to wealth, with respect to talents, with respect to favourable circumstances, whatever it is, just use what we have in Krishna’s service. The body is basically a vehicle that we have and this vehicle is enough for us to grow spiritually. And for contributing materially, yes, different people are different.
But we can make our own contribution based on what we have, based on the gifts that we have. And sometimes when we are not able to perceive, okay, I don’t have any talents, I don’t have any special gifts, what can I do? Actually, the intention to serve Krishna is the most special thing. All the other special things we think, they are secondary.
There are so many people who may have those other special things, may be great singers, great speakers. But if they have no intention to serve Krishna, how much is that going to help them? They are not going to get much satisfaction in this life, nor are they going to get anything auspicious after this life. So, once we have this acceptance that this is the vehicle I have, let me make the best of what we can do.
Then we can find actually that we are able to do much more with what we have. I conclude with one point and then we can have some question answers that bhakti is about, as I said, self-understanding and self-offering. We offer ourselves to Krishna, but for that we understand ourselves.
We need to understand ourselves better. So, the more we practise bhakti, the more we come to the mode of goodness. In the mode of passion, in the mode of ignorance, we can’t even see anything clearly.
Our vision is very much filtered by the world’s conceptions. Okay, this is what is beautiful, this is what is attractive, this is what is this. And if I don’t have it, I am good for nothing.
Our vision is very much filtered by the world’s conceptions. But when we come to the mode of goodness, we start seeing things clearly. In 14.11 Krishna says, He says, The body has various doors, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth, like that.
The body has various doors. When light comes in all the doors of the senses, what light? The light of knowledge. Then that characterises the mode of goodness.
Now, what does it mean, light comes in the door of the senses? It’s not that a person in the mode of goodness, some light comes out of their eyes, or light comes out of their ears. Not like that. See, when light is there, if there is a door, and if light is there at the door, then we understand, okay, who is coming in? This person is a friend, let me welcome.
This person looks a little suspicious. Let me first close the door and find out who it is. So basically, what to allow inside, what to not allow inside.
We can better see. If there is a child who is slipping out, the door is there, the mother says, hey, you should not go out, come inside, stay here only. So, what to allow inside, what to not allow inside, what to allow outside, what to not allow outside.
When the light is there, we can see all this. So like that, when we are in the mode of goodness, we learn to see what are the kind of thoughts that are coming inside, what are the kind of desires that are coming inside, going outside. And with that light, we learn to see ourselves better.
Okay, I am good at this. I am not good, but others can take care of this. So we start understanding ourselves better.
And actually, materially also, we discover ourselves more when we come to the mode of goodness. Because in the mode of goodness, we can understand ourselves better. Otherwise, in the lower modes, we are simply evaluating ourselves from the world’s eyes.
No, you are not like this, you are not like this, you are not like this. So, that’s a very fragmented way of looking at ourselves. So, we all may discover that we have certain interests, certain talents, which we didn’t even know we had.
When we come to the mode of goodness, we start seeing things more objectively. Then, we can look at what gifts Krishna has given us and use them in his service. So, suppose we have got an inheritance and we find that it’s okay, one house I have got, that’s good.
But then, suppose I come to know that in the house, in the backyard, some treasure is buried. Then, I start exploring, where is the treasure? When I find the treasure, actually I realise, so, the inheritance is much more than what I thought it was. So, like that, for us, the body that we have got is like the house.
But in the body, associated with the body, there are talents, there are gifts. That’s like the buried treasure. And the most important buried treasure is ultimately Krishna bhakti, Krishna prema, love for Krishna.
With this body, when we use it properly in Krishna’s service, we dig away all the contamination that are there. Then we can find that treasure that gives us enduring satisfaction. So, a devotional vision of the body and the bodily resources that we have is that what we are is Krishna’s gift to us.
What we become is our gift to Krishna. What we are is Krishna’s gift to us. Suppose, say, you have a child and child’s birthday is there.
And on the birthday, you give some nice gift to the child. And the first thing the child says is, No, but you know, my friend’s mother, she gave that gift to him. I’ll give this to you.
Accept this. This is a gift. You’ll feel so annoyed.
That’s a gift. So, like that, if we are constantly, No, why do I not like that? Why do I not have this? We are actually not accepting the gift that Krishna is giving us. So, what we are is Krishna’s gift to us.
And what we do with that, what we become, not just what we do, but what we become. That means we use the gift that we have, not just for doing things in life, but also for evolving ourselves, for raising our consciousness. What we become is our gift to Krishna.
We become better human beings. We become better devotees. We become purified.
And that is our gift to Krishna. So, with this vision, there can not just be self-acceptance or self-understanding or self-discovery. By this, we can have self-realisation.
We realise ourselves as souls who are beloved parts of Krishna, who are always loved by Krishna, and who can find enduring satisfaction in learning to love Krishna. That is what we can learn from seeing our body as a vehicle that Krishna has given us. So, I’ll summarise.
I spoke about what we are driving matters, but where we are driving matters even more. The body is compared by Krishna to a vehicle in 18.61. And we all have different vehicles. And some vehicles may be better than others.
And often, we become dissatisfied by comparing ourselves with others. Krishna says, satisfaction is an austerity of the mind. That means we consciously avoid looking at the things that make us dissatisfied and look at the things that make us satisfied.
Instead of looking at what all is in others’ plate, I look at what is in my plate. Instead of feeling dissatisfied by reading about, by looking at all the sense objects the world is parading before us, we look towards the spiritual literature, towards Lord’s pastimes, find satisfaction therein. And when we cultivate satisfaction, not just the emotion we feel, but the decision we make, I won’t look at the things that I don’t have.
Focus on what I have. Then, for doing that, we can also take this further contemplation that our happiness depends not on what we have, but on what we do with what we have. Somebody may get a lot of money and they may use it, squander it and get addicted to something.
Ruin their life by that. Somebody else has a moderate amount of wealth, but they use it constructively and they grow. So, the vehicle that we have, we can accept it out of frustration that I can’t change it or out of education.
So, education means, I understand that this is not just a result of my past karma, it is by Krishna’s plan. And Krishna’s plan is for my ultimate goal. So, in the material and spiritual consciousness, the difference is not just simply understanding I am not the body and the soul, but it is that understanding Krishna is in control.
So, material consciousness means things are in control or things are out of control. But spiritual consciousness means things that are out of my control are still in Krishna’s control. So, the body that I have, the resources that I have, they are what I need for my growth, for my contribution.
So, if instead of using what we have, we keep craving for what we don’t have, we stay dissatisfied. Even in spiritual life. So, in spiritual life, certain people have certain talents which can be used in Krishna’s service.
But those talents don’t make them spiritually advanced. Their consciousness and using those talents make them spiritually advanced. And sometimes an untalented person may make more spiritual advancement through the same devotional activity that is done by a talented person.
A devotee leading kirtan may not make as much spiritual advancement as a devotee simply hearing the kirtans. So, if we keep the focus of moving towards Krishna, then we understand that there is no reason to resent what I have. Because this vehicle is good enough for me to go towards Krishna.
And even with respect to in this world, talent is important, but in the long run, temperament is also important. So, people get fired if they don’t have the right temperament to work, even if they have the talent. So, how to get along with people, how to be sensitive, how to be considerate? These qualities we develop as we practise bhakti and come to the mode of goodness.
And by that, even whatever talents we have, we can use them better. And not just whatever talents we have, we use them better. By the practise of bhakti, as we come to goodness, we can also discover the gifts that we did not know we had.
When the doors and senses are illuminated by knowledge, then we can see ourselves better. We can discover the hidden treasure that is there in our backyard, which we did not know came with our inheritance. So, we just see the body and we see some features I have, some features I don’t have.
But there are resources that Krishna has given us. Ultimate resources that by using the body, we can attain Krishna Prem, which is the treasure that will bring enduring fulfilment. So, tolerance or acceptance doesn’t mean just being passive.
It means keeping small things small so that we can focus on big things. So, rather than resenting the reality that, okay, this is the kind of body I have, this is the kind of vehicle I have. We, okay, that’s a small thing.
More important is, where am I going? How am I driving? So, my destination and my temperament, they will determine my happiness much more. So, what we are is God’s gift to us. What we become is our gift to Krishna.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. So, are there any questions or comments? Yes, sir.
Hare Krishna Prabhuji, I have one question. In shloka number 7.26, Lord says, O Arjuna, as a supreme personality, I know everything that has happened in the past, and what will happen, that you know. So, everything is predestined.
That is what it means or sometimes I am confused that what is our contribution, what is our free will? That point is still not understood by me. Yes. So, when Krishna says that I know the future in 7.26, does it mean that everything is predestined? You can sit.
Well, does it mean my answer is also predestined? Laughter Laughter Actually, Baldevidya Bhushan in the Govinda Bhashya commentary on the Vedanta Sutra, he analyses this and he says that if everything were predestined, then scripture itself would become meaningless. Because scripture tells us, do this and don’t do this. If I were just like a controlled robo or a controlled puppet with no free will, with everything predestined, what is the point of scripture telling do this or don’t do this? So, everything is not predestined.
When Krishna says that he knows the future, we have to understand what that knowledge means. See, Krishna’s knowledge of the future is like our knowledge of the past. Our knowledge of the past is knowledge without intervention.
I know, in the morning I did this, in the afternoon I did this, yesterday I did this. But we don’t intervene and change that. So, Krishna’s knowledge of the future is like that.
That means he knows that choices have consequences. This choice will lead to this consequence. This choice will lead to this consequence.
But Krishna does not orchestrate which choice who takes. At the end of the Bhagavad Gita, he tells Arjuna, deliberate and do as you desire. So, there is certainly something called as destiny.
And, going back to the driving metaphor, we could say that what we meet along the drive, that is destiny. But how we drive is our free will. So, sometimes we may be driving and we meet stormy conditions.
Sometimes there may be slippery conditions. So, now those conditions that we meet are destiny. But how I respond? Now, if I drive recklessly through a slippery road, my car may veer off and I may meet a terrible accident.
If I drive carefully, I will not meet with that accident. So, like that, there are many things which happen in our life over which we have practically no control. We just one day go to office and suddenly we are given the pink slip.
What? I didn’t know this. Whatever has happened? But what do I do? Some people just get, go into chronic depression because of that. Some people may even become suicidal if they are too poor.
They identify themselves with the job. They say, okay, I lost my job. Let me find out something else.
Life moves on. So, what happens to us is destiny. How we respond to it is free will.
So, what is destined is what is going to happen to us. But how we respond? How we respond is not destined. We have choices.
And the more we use our choices effectively, the more we create a brighter future for ourselves. Does it answer your question? Does Krishna know which choice I will take in which situation? I don’t know. We have to understand that God is not a God is not a God is not an object with attributes.
God is omnipotent. God is omniscient. God is omnipresent.
These are not like stuck attributes. Like some people are so tall. Others may feel, oh, you are so tall.
But they are stuck with their height. That you know, if they come into our room, they have to bow down. Otherwise, they bump their head.
So, Krishna is not stuck with his omniscience. That means when Mother Yashoda is chasing Krishna. Ramudarashtra comes on.
So, it’s not that Krishna is going to catch me. And he is actually worried. If she catches me, what will happen to me? She will beat me.
Oh, no, I don’t want to wait. He keeps running frantically. So, Krishna’s purpose is the reciprocation of love.
And all his attributes are used for that purpose. So, when required, he may exhibit his omniscience. Krishna is tied as Damodar to the grinding motor.
Now, actually, untying a knot, how difficult is that? Isn’t it? It’s not all that difficult to untie a knot. If Krishna could actually he could drag the grinding motor down. Look, even if that knot was on the backside, he could just move it around and he could reach and untie it.
So, Krishna when he wants to serve his devotees, he wants to reciprocate with Mother Yashoda’s love to demonstrate how great that love is. At that time, he doesn’t even know how to untie a knot. But while he is tied that way, what happens is while he was bound, he liberated those who were bound.
So, Krishna is such a small child that he doesn’t know how to untie the knot that his mother has tied around him. But that same Krishna, he looks at these two trees and he knows, actually they were devatas in their previous life. And they were cursed by my devotee Narada.
And he has promised that I’ll deliver them. So, let me deliver them. So, here we see that Krishna’s knowledge is used for reciprocating love.
So, for reciprocating love with Mother Yashoda, it is as if he doesn’t know how to untie a knot. But for reciprocating love with Narada Muni, he knows how to bring down a tree and which tree to bring down also. So, change it.
So, if we understand this purpose that Krishna loves us. Krishna doesn’t just love his pure devotees. Krishna loves all of us.
And Krishna wants all of us to grow. All of us he wants to come closer to him. To find lasting happiness and love for him.
And everything is orchestrated for that purpose. So, orchestrated means we are given options. Krishna doesn’t force us to choose any particular option.
We choose it. So, if we go into the zone of knowledge, then we miss the purpose. The purpose, if you see consider past time, what is the point of the past time if you, Krishna, no, no, I’ll run this much, then Yashoda will catch me, then she’ll tie me, then I’ll break this tree, and then Nandamahala will come and free me.
And story over. It’s not like that. Actually, the essential thing in the past time is not just knowing the end of the story.
Knowing how events are going to turn out. The essential point is the reciprocation of love. That’s what Krishna delights in.
So, similarly for us, we see our life as an opportunity to make choices that express our bhakti for Krishna. And if we make those choices, we grow towards Krishna. So, getting into the zone of what Krishna exactly knows and what he doesn’t know, that is something which we, with our finite intelligence, really can’t understand the infinite.
So, the point is two things we can say very clearly from scripture. Krishna is omniscient. Second is Krishna has given us free will.
Now, the technicalities of how our free will reconciles with Krishna’s omniscience, that is very difficult to figure out. The driving point is that Krishna is not stuck with his omniscience. Krishna’s defining characteristic is his loving nature.
What we can call in English as his omnibenevolence. Now, he is the well-wisher of all living beings. So, in his omnibenevolence, sometimes he may exhibit his omniscience, sometimes he may not exhibit his omniscience.
Whatever is required for our growth, he will exhibit that. Any other questions? … … … … … … What do you mean by practical application exactly? … … … … … … … … … … … we may understand that Krishna’s plan is acting in our life and we may accept that theoretically, but emotionally when things go wrong, at that time we feel a pinch. So, how do we overcome that? It’s not that bhakti means that we have to deny or suppress our normal human emotions.
Bhakti means that we don’t let our actions be determined by our emotions alone. When Abhimanyu is killed, Arjuna is devastated and Arjuna cries and Arjuna even turns to Krishna and says, Krishna, you must have known what was happening. Why didn’t you tell me? Arjuna was crying.
He castigated his brother and says, your weapons, what are they? Are they simply ornaments? You couldn’t protect my brother, my son. He is very angry with everyone. And the whole chapter in the Mahabharata describes Arjuna’s lamentation.
Krishna did not tell Arjuna, Arjuna, you have forgotten, you have become attached, now you forgot the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna doesn’t speak like that. Krishna is very understanding, very empathic.
He is very kind. So, the important thing is Arjuna may have that emotion at that time but he doesn’t let that emotion interrupt his devotion. So, we are not meant to become unfeeling.
There are material situations which come in our life and naturally they will create some emotions. When Draupadi is dishonoured, at that time she is anguished. She is saved at that time but later on when Krishna comes and meets them in the forest after their exile, Draupadi is so upset.
She tells Krishna, Krishna, why didn’t you come? And Krishna doesn’t say, I had a perfect plan, don’t doubt my plans. Krishna actually is disheartened. He says, I didn’t know.
Krishna says, actually I was busy. Krishna tells that there was a demon, Shalva, who had attacked and devastated Dwaraka. So, I had to be there with him to protect Dwaraka.
But as soon as I came to know what had happened, I immediately came here. So, there are normal human emotions which come in different situations and we don’t have to see those emotions as defects and emotion. Just normal human reactions.
When some things would go wrong, Prabhupada is giving an interview in India and a reporter asked him, Swamiji, your disciples are so young. So, after you depart, who will take care of your movement? Prabhupada. Why are you discouraging me? He said, no, no, Swamiji, I am not discouraging you.
I am asking a question. But your question is discouraging. Now, somebody may say, Prabhupada is a pure devotee.
How can he be discouraged? When we talk about discouragement as an emotion and discouragement as a resulting action. See, Prabhupada faced so many discouragements while he was in India. And nobody helped him.
When he went to America, he had to go all alone. He faced heart attacks. After he came to America also, his typewriter was stolen.
He was attacked. Through all those discouragements, Prabhupada persevered. That was his devotion.
That was his determination. But that does not mean that when things went wrong, he would not feel emotions. Yeah, if somebody is going to build a whole movement and somebody is saying, oh, your movement is going to collapse after you, that can be disheartening.
But Prabhupada did not let that discouragement interrupt his devotion. So, it’s not that we have to suppress our normal human emotions. When things go wrong, see, it’s not that we have to imagine that even the bad things are good.
There are some people who put a Gita Sar in many shops I have seen. And one of the sentences in the Gita Sar is Jo hua, wo achcha hua. Jo ho raha hai, wo achcha ho raha hai.
Jo hone wala hai, wo bhi achcha hi hoga. Whatever has happened is good. Whatever is happening is good.
Whatever will happen is also good. Now, I have recited the Bhagavad Gita thousands of times. I have read it hundreds of times.
I have never seen any verse which comes anywhere close to this. It’s not said at all in the Gita. The Gita is not about what is happening.
The Gita is about what we are doing. Arjuna is asking, what is my dharma? The Gita’s focus is on this. That, what should I do? What is my course of action? So, it’s not that when Draupadi is dishonoured, you know, the sages come and tell her, Jo hua, wo achcha hua.
Whatever happened is good. No! Not like that. Bad things happen in life.
So, it’s not that bhakti means we have to imagine the bad to be good. It means that we have the faith that the bad can also be for good. The bad is not good.
But the bad can be for good. Krishna will bring good out of the bad. That is our faith.
But faith doesn’t mean that we somehow try to imagine the bad to be good. When bad things happen, they do happen. In Allah Shiva, about a month ago, I gave a Sunday feast class.
The topic was that we can’t be grateful for all situations. But we can be grateful in all situations. For all situations means, this is happening.
I get a terrible disease. I lose my job. I face some relationship trauma.
I can’t be grateful for that. The bad things. But even in those situations, I can be grateful.
I can be grateful that I have the shelter of Krishna. I can be grateful that I have the many ways by which I can shield myself from this blow that has come. So we don’t have to deny normal emotions.
And it’s not that just because we get some negative emotions and bad things happen, that does not mean our bhakti is simply theoretical. What it means is that we are just human beings. But we also, we have emotions but we also have intelligence.
And with our intelligence, we need to learn to connect with Krishna even in that situation. And we don’t let that situation or that emotion interrupt our devotion. It’s not that because this has happened, what is the use of practising Krishna bhakti? I give it up.
No, we move onwards. And when the Ganga faces some block, it can’t imagine there is no block. The block is there.
But it doesn’t stop flowing. It finds some way to keep moving onwards. So when bad things happen, we don’t, we accept, okay, we may feel bad also about it.
We may rant a little bit about it. But we don’t hold that as between us and our relationship, between us and Krishna. We move on towards Krishna in whatever best way we can.
Does that answer your question? Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you.
But how can you explain yourself saying that, I mean, when the mind questions you back, that how can, I mean, being in the shelter of Krishna, how can this happen? How can you explain yourself that you should continue your path going ahead and go, I mean, not going somewhere else? So if the mind questions, despite your practising Krishna bhakti, the thing has happened to you. So what is the point of practising Krishna bhakti? Better let’s do something else. So how do we respond? Yeah.
There is circumstantial devotion and there is transcendental devotion. So that means that there are different levels at which bhakti can be practised. So ultimately at the material level whether we are devotees or whether we are non-devotees, there is no security.
Even devotees are going to grow old. Even devotees are going to get deceased. Devotees are going to die.
These are just the distresses of material existence that come to everyone. Even there are these three kleshas, Adhyatmik, Adhibhautik, Adhidaivik. So the soul is placed in three circles.
The circle of the body, the circle of society and the circle of nature. And through all these circles distresses can come. The distresses that come from the body circle are Adhyatmik.
From the social circle are Adhibhautik. From the environmental circle are Adhidaivik. These are also going to come.
This is just the nature of material nature. So if we expect that Krishna change the nature of material nature and protect us, that is not going to work. Material nature is going to be as it is.
This does not mean that we are defenceless or bhaktis, pointless. Krishna does protect us. How does he protect us? That we need education to understand it.
It means that when basically the two people say, who are in hospital, both of them are sick and both of them are in pain. At one level both of them are similar. But suppose one of them has been diagnosed and the treatment has been prescribed.
For the other there is no diagnosis and there is just guess work of what to give. Although both of them are in pain right now, their futures are very different. For the person who has been diagnosed and is being treated, they are going to recover.
For the other person, they are just going to worsen. So the difference between devotees and non-devotees is like the diagnosed and treated person and the undiagnosed and untreated person. Often those who are not practising Krishna Bhakti, they come up with their own ideas.
This will solve my problem, that will solve my problem. And it may solve temporarily. But through it all they often get more and more entangled in material existence.
So when we are sick, pain is inevitable. Whether we are taking medicine or we are not taking medicine, pain is there. But the medicine’s role is that the disease will be cured.
Without the medicine, the disease is going to get aggravated. This is from the long-term perspective, the benefit of Krishna Bhakti. That is going to raise our consciousness above material existence and take us out of this distressful material world.
While we are in this world also, Krishna helps us in many ways. One of the most important ways is that he gives us shelter amidst the problems. There is release from problems and there is relief amidst problems.
So we often expect release from the problems. Say for example, it’s very hot outside. And somebody invites us, you know, you are feeling very hot, please come in my house, we have air conditioning here, you can relax.
But instead of coming inside the house, I keep the door open and insist, why is the air conditioning not coming outside? Why doesn’t it make the atmosphere cool? That’s not going to happen. Just come inside. You can experience relief.
So like that, in this world, there are distresses. In the 3rd canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, it is said that there are many distresses that come in material existence. But those who have taken shelter of Krishna, those who have absorbed their consciousness in Krishna, they don’t experience those distresses because their consciousness is sheltered in Krishna.
That means the problems come in our life. And if we say, why is this problem coming, why is this problem not going away? That is like expecting, why is the air conditioning not coming outside? But we just come inside. Coming inside means just absorb oneself in the remembrance of Krishna.
Pray to Krishna, chant His holy names, hear about His pastimes. That itself will give us shelter. That itself will give us relief.
Now when problems come, our response to the problems often is a bigger problem. Yes, the problem is there, but if I keep constantly thinking about this. Suppose I lose my job.
Okay, I lost my job. I lost my job. What? I lost my job.
I become so overwhelmed. I become so burdened. I become so depressed.
I can’t do anything. Now, yes, if I lost my job, I have to find a new job and I have to work to find that job. But if I let that burden my mind 24 hours a day, it’s of no use.
If I decide, okay, just as I was working for 8 hours, I’ll make a plan. 8 hours, I’ll keep searching for a job. And other times I’ll let my life go on.
I’ll take shelter of Krishna. So, basically, if we absorb ourselves in Krishna, the torment of the problem no longer is there. The problem has not gone away.
It’s outside, out there. And I may have to go in the heat again. But at least now I get relief.
That’s what I meant by relief amidst problems. And actually that is no small thing. When problems come, they just catch us mentally.
And that problem is not as big a problem as our mind’s holding on to it. So, that we are freed from. Because we absorb ourselves in Krishna.
And then when we are calm, we are cool, we are comfortable, we can come out again and we can deal with the problem. And because we are calm and clear, we can better deal with the heat. So, if we absorb ourselves in Krishna and then we face the problem, okay, we will be able to better deal with the problem.
Whether it is tolerating it, whether it is correcting it, whether it is finding some new way to try to deal with it. Intelligence will become much clearer. And in due course of time, we will discover that through that problem, Krishna brought something even better.
That may be very difficult to see at that time. So, we don’t see Krishna Bhakti as insurance against problems. We see that as transcendence to problems.
Problems will come, but Krishna Bhakti will help us raise our consciousness about the problems. So that they won’t torment us so much. And as we keep practising Krishna Bhakti, we will become calmer and we will be able to deal with the problems also.
So, problems in life, the good thing about problems in life is that, like everything else in this world, even problems are temporary. So, when the problems come, sometimes all that we need to do is just tolerate. ताम से दिख्षियों We tolerate.
They’ll come, they’ll stay for some time, they’ll go. So, rather than expecting that the problem should not come, we can focus on praying to Krishna, Krishna, what should I do in such a situation? Prabhupada was asked, what is the best prayer we can offer to Krishna? Prabhupada said, pray to Krishna, please give me the strength to serve you. So, Krishna, how can I serve you now? If we can just make this one change when the problems come, change the question that we are asking from why to how.
Why is this happening? Why is Krishna letting this happen? Why is Krishna not protecting me? As long as that why question in a practical sense has no answer. So, it’s just that why question is simply a recipe for frustration. Sometimes people behave unreasonably, sometimes so many things go wrong in life, we just can’t know why it happens.
So, just change the question to how. Krishna, this has happened, how can I serve you now? How can I move forward now? How can I, how can I take steps forward now? If we just change that question from why to how, we’ll find that a path will emerge. So, I can take one step, I can take one step, and I can keep taking steps, keep taking steps forward.
The problems of today are never too much for today. What the mind does is it adds on top of the problems of today, the problems of yesterday and the problems of tomorrow. And when the problems of yesterday and tomorrow are added on, it becomes unbearable.
So, what we need to do is the mind worries, this has gone wrong, that has gone wrong, what about this goes wrong, this goes wrong, what if that goes wrong? And the mind just makes us miserable. So, what happens is when we habituate our mind to practising Krishna Bhakti, then the mind, we don’t let the mind go into the past or the future and just focus the mind on Krishna. And then when the mind becomes calm by the shelter of Krishna, we can see the problem of today without becoming horrified by the problems of yesterday and the problems of tomorrow.
And yes, this is the problem, let me do this. One, two, three. Just keep doing this, we will be able to deal with that problem.
Krishna assures us, He says, if you become conscious of me, you will pass over all obstacles by my grace. Krishna is not saying obstacles will not come. The same Krishna who spoke to Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna, after that Arjuna fought the Kurukshetra war.
And in that he faced obstacles. Talked about how his own son was killed. But, despite all those obstacles, Arjuna remained devoted to Krishna.
And Krishna took him to ultimate victory. So, the problems will come, but Krishna will raise us above the problems. So, when the problems come, rather than becoming problem conscious, why is this problem coming? We can try to become Krishna conscious.
That means, we don’t see Krishna in the light of the problem. What does that mean? That means, the problem becomes a defining reality for us. If this problem is there, then, where is Krishna? What is Krishna doing? Does Krishna even exist? So, the problem has become the defining reality in our life.
But, if you keep Krishna as a defining reality, then, okay, Krishna is there, this problem is there. Let me see. Krishna, please guide me.
What can I do now? If you want me to tolerate, give me the strength to tolerate. If you want me to change something, please give me the intelligence to change that. So, we try to stay Krishna conscious, not problem conscious.
He said, don’t tell God how big your problems are. Tell your problems how big God is. Has anyone not asked questions till now? Yeah, what was it? We will come back to you, one minute.
Okay, you can ask then we will come back. We are not the body, we are the soul. But then, how to act on that platform? Okay.
So, if we know we are not the body or the soul, how do we act on that platform? See, we can’t act on the platform, I am not the body. Because the body needs food, the body needs rest. What we can act on is the platform, I am more than the body.
I am more than the body means that the body’s desires alone are not my desires. The body’s pleasures are not my pleasures. So, sometimes for the sake of bhakti, we may need to do something which are inconvenient for the body.
We are ready to do that austerity. And gradually, as we start acting at this platform, I am more than my body. Then we start realising, yes, it’s really true.
I fasted on Ekadashi, but I was absorbed in Krishna. And instead of feeling misery, I was feeling so much joy. The body was suffering, but there must be something within me that was feeling that joy.
And that something is actually more defining. So, slowly we start getting that realisation that the spiritual part of me is actually more important, that is more defining. So, when we say that we should remember that we are not the body and not act on the body in the platform, that simply means that we don’t act for bodily pleasures.
Bodily pleasures are not the driving purposes of our actions. But it doesn’t mean that we neglect the body or we reject the body. The whole system of Varanashram was based on bodily type.
Brahmanas are expected to act as Brahmanas. Kshatriyas are expected to act as Kshatriyas. So, it’s not that a Brahmana is told, you are not the body, so now you function as a Vaishya.
Or a Vaishya is told that you function as a Brahmana. No. Even after we understand that we are not the body, but still, this is the body that I have.
And I have to use that body. So, acting on the body in the platform when it is said, you should not do that, that simply means, we don’t act simply to fulfil the body’s base desires. But we do have to acknowledge what kind of body I have and I use that in Krishna’s service.
So, there is, broadly speaking, there are bodily needs and there are spiritual needs. And both can go in parallel. There are times when these two can become contradictory.
The bodily needs and the spiritual needs. For example, on fasting days, the body needs food but the spiritual principle is fast. So, at that time, according to our capacity, we try to subordinate the bodily need to the spiritual need.
So, that’s how we act on the spiritual platform. But it’s not that we deny or reject the body. Is it that constantly we are meant to remember, oh, I am not the body and the soul.
I am not the body and the soul. It’s good, it’s okay if you do that. But that’s not the point.
The more important thing is we are meant to serve Krishna. Just thinking, I am not the body and the soul, that can actually make us very very hard-hearted. If somebody is in pain, you tell them, you are not the body or the soul.
Let them wait till you are in pain. I’ll tell you that. No, we should see that at that time, if somebody else is in pain, we should see that as an opportunity for service.
Yes, let me try to serve this person. Let me try to serve this devotee. So, actually, more than constantly remembering I am not the body and the soul, it’s more important to remember Krishna and to remember serving Krishna.
So, if we can have that service attitude, that is a much more personal and relishable way of staying on the spiritual platform than simply the negative way, I am not the body, I am not the body. You are not the body, but what are you? That’s the important question, isn’t it? So, we focus on what we are, that we are servants of Krishna and this body is what we have for serving Krishna. So, we acknowledge the body.
But if the body starts taking us away from the service of Krishna, that is the time when, no, I am not going to do this because I am not the body. Does that answer your question? Thank you. One last question, then we will continue tomorrow if there are any further questions.
Yes. Anyone else had a question? Yes, please. Guruji, I want to understand the concept of Maya.
Sometimes I feel that all this is what we are seeing is Maya. So, Maya means which is there and which is not there or it’s an illusion. So, if all is illusion then I am not able to understand or correlate to whatever we are doing.
It’s all illusion in the illusionary world. That’s a good question. I sometimes feel that, for example, we go to Harry Potter’s world.
So, it is also an illusion. So, this is similar to that or what exactly is Maya? Good question. So, what exactly is Maya? Is this all illusion? So, suppose somebody watches a movie about Harry Potter.
That is also illusion. So, is this also like that? Not exactly. Actually, there is illusion and there is hallucination.
Illusion means false perception. Hallucination means imaginary perception. If there is a rope and I mistake it to be a snake, that is illusion.
But if there is nothing and I see a snake, that is hallucination. So, the world is not hallucination. So, with respect to Harry Potter, that is simply somebody’s imagination.
There is no such world at all. Somebody has created it. Okay, the artist, the author who created it, the people who made the movie, they were intelligent in making it.
But it is an imaginary world. There is no factual reality to it. The world that we experience in, it is real.
It is real means that it is an energy of the supreme reality. Matter and spirit are both energies of Krishna. So, matter is also real.
The illusion is not that whether it exists or not. The illusion is for what purpose it exists. The illusion is not about existence.
The illusion is about the purpose of existence. So, when we think that this world is a source of pleasure for me, independent of Krishna, that is the illusion. In the Chatushloki Bhagavatam, there are four verses in the third, in the Bhagavatam which I considered its essence.
The second verse states, it explains what is maya. रुतेयर्थम् यत्पतियेत नप्रतियेच आत्मनि दिध्यादात्मनो माया यथाभासो यथातमहा It says that anything that appears meaningful but it is not connected with Krishna, that is maya. So, maya is to see things disconnected from Krishna.
So, maya in that sense is not that this world is unreal, but the purpose that we ascribe to this world is false. So, when I think that this world is meant for my enjoyment, that is maya. When Ravana sees Sita for the first time, he is trying to allure her and he praises her.
So, one praise that he offers is very interesting. He says, I love Sita, you are so beautiful that I think after creating you, the creator must have retired. So, when I first read this, we all, as I said, knowledge moves from the familiar to the unfamiliar.
When I read this, I remembered a Bollywood movie song I had seen long ago. तारी फकरू क्या उसकी जिसने तुम्हे बनाया So, what happens over there is, basically people, Ravana knew that somebody had created Sita. But he is instead of thinking that Sita is created by someone else, he thinks Sita is for my enjoyment.
So, to see something disconnected from the source, that is maya. So, the world is real. Once Prabhupada gave a lecture saying that this world is maya.
So, then one devotee, very young devotee, he said, if everything is maya, this wall is also maya. So, if I just think that this wall is maya, the wall is maya, and he walked into the wall. Bang! He went to Prabhupada.
He said, everything is maya, but I have got this bump now. So, Prabhupada explained that it is maya in the sense that it is temporary. And we are thinking that it is eternal.
We think that, again, when we think this is a source of pleasure, how do we think, oh, this is so attractive. We think this is going to stay attractive forever. And that we basically think that this is going to be a source of pleasure for us.
So, thinking that it is a source of pleasure is maya. Especially thinking that it is a source of pleasure independent of Krishna. Our beauty, our strength, our knowledge, all these can be sources of pleasure.
But they will be sources of enduring pleasure when we use them in Krishna’s service, when we see them as connected with Krishna. Another sense in which this world is real and not false is that we really need this world for our purification. We need our body, we need our mouth to chant Hare Krishna.
We need our ears to hear Krishna’s message. So, this world is real in the sense that it is the root to the supreme reality. So, rather than thinking of real and unreal, we can think in terms of levels of reality.
The spiritual world is the highest reality because it is eternal reality. The material world is also reality, but it is temporary reality. And the temporary is the way to the eternal.
We need to use this body for practising bhakti by which we can attain Krishna. So, in one place in the scripture it is said, what is this body? He says, the Bhagavatam says, this body is a breeding place for unlimited diseases. It is a source of misery.
In another place, the same scripture says, the body is what we need for practising dharma. So, it is through the body, in the Bhagavatam it is said that the body is like the tree and liberation is the fruit of the tree. If the tree is prematurely cut, the fruit will not grow.
Fruit will not come. So, the body is real. And we really need to use the body properly by which we will become purified.
The body is also reality, the world is also reality. They are temporary. But by using the temporary properly, we can attain the eternal.
So, the temporary, if we think itself as eternal or we think of the temporary as an independent source of pleasure, then that is illusion. But if we see the temporary as coming from the supreme reality and as a tool, as a route towards the eternal, then the temporary can also be used in Krishna’s service. And then we don’t have to dismiss this world as maya.
We see this world also as an energy of Krishna meant for His service. Does that answer your question? So, we’ll continue tomorrow. Thank you very much.