Spiritual Lessons from Car Driving 4 – The destination is also our companion

[Seminar at Fort Lauderdale, USA]

Video:

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
In our discussion on the principles of spiritual life as understood through the example of car driving. In the previous talk, I discussed about how we can focus on our steering wheel, that is our attitude and keep things in control. So in this last talk, I will speak briefly and then we can have question answers.
I will speak on the theme of procuracy towards our destination. In our life, we have many different goals. Immediately, say when we are hungry, our goal is I need food.
When we are tired, I need sleep. That is the immediate goal that we have. In long term, in medium term, we have some goals.
Okay, I want to have a good career. I want to have a good house. I want to have a good family.
I want to have a good position in society. And people think in terms of long term goals further, that I want to, when I retire, I should have enough money, I should have enough security. So, in the material vision, even when we think long term, we don’t think long term enough.
Because, what after that? There is an Italian proverb which says that when the game of chess ends, the king and the pawn both go back in the same box. So, similarly, at that, actually it doesn’t matter how wealthy I was, how powerful I was, how successful I was. When we die, whatever we achieve is going to end with us.
So, we all need some destination in our life. When we are driving a car, sometimes we are driving for sightseeing or for fun, but usually when we drive, it’s with a purpose. And that purpose defines our choices.
So, usually, we set a destination. Nowadays, we have Google Maps. In the past, we would have to ask people when we are going along.
But we have a destination that determines our path. And then, go left, go right, go this way, go that way. And along that path, there will be different stages that we may follow.
That means, different stages means that we may sometimes move closer, sometimes move, sometimes the road will be clearer, go faster. Sometimes the road is, probably go slower. Sometimes the road is smooth, sometimes the road is rough.
But it is all, we are moving towards the destination. So, the destination is, it is extremely important to understand that. All our driving is orientated towards getting to the destination.
Similarly, in life, we all need to have some purpose. Something which we wish to achieve. As I said, we have short-term goals, we have medium-term goals, we have long-term goals.
At the same time, we have eternal needs. And we need to have an eternal goal. Spiritual life, what it provides us is that eternal purpose.
In fact, one of the main reasons why there are so many mental problems in today’s world, in the modern times is because people’s life does not have any ultimate purpose. They definitely, everybody has some purpose for their life. But, because that ultimate purpose is lacking, so, what happens is, that whenever they set some goals, they define themselves, whether they have achieved or not achieved.
If I think of my life as a 100-metre sprint, then, if I win, I am a winner. If I lose, it’s over. Somebody has been competing to be in the Olympics and win the gold.
And somehow this way, they don’t run fast enough. Chance is gone in the next 4 years. And over a period of time, sometimes it may just be gone forever.
As people grow older, they can’t succeed. So, there is no loss that is as disempowering as the loss of purpose. What am I living for? What is the purpose of my life? When people lose that sense of purpose, what do I have to live for? Then, they just become completely disoriented.
Nothing left in their lives. So, there are many things which we live with, but they are different from what we live for. Live with is the resource that we have.
Live for is the purpose for which we live. So, wealth is something which we live with. But many people make wealth is what they live for.
When that happens, when wealth becomes the purpose of their life, then it is never enough. It becomes insatiable. If wealth is the purpose of my life, what is going to happen? No matter how much wealth I have, I’ll keep looking at others who are more wealthy.
I’ll become the wealthiest person in my extended family. I’ll become the wealthiest person in my caste. I’ll become the wealthiest person in my town.
I’ll become the wealthiest person in my country. I’ll become the wealthiest person in the world. And by the time I get there, or even before I get there, I’ll become history.
I’ll become history. It’s all over. So, wealth is something which we live with.
It is not something we live for. Like, going again to the example of a car. You know, for many Indians, if they just get one car in their life, it’s like a dream has come true.
But, recently I was travelling, I saw a car ad, it says, Now, changing your car is as easy as changing your baby’s diapers. I don’t know where they got that idea from, to compare like that. I went to some company where they said, No, get an old car and buy a new car.
So, now some people just keep thinking, Oh, I want to get a better car, a newer car, a more attractive looking car. It’s fine. Nothing wrong if we need a better car and we get a better car.
But, getting the car is not the purpose. What am I doing with the car? Where am I going with the car is important. Similarly, for us, we all need some ultimate purpose in our lives.
And, we all have some short term purposes. But, sometimes the short term purposes work out, sometimes they don’t work out. So, I may want to become an athlete.
And, somehow I get injured. I cannot be an athlete. So, some purposes may just be impossible to achieve.
Circumstances may be like that. Somebody wants to become a basketball player. And, they are just thin and puny.
Basketball players, they are big and hefty. You may not be able to fit into that. So, it’s nice to hear when you say, impossible is a word in a fool’s dictionary.
But, in real life, there are things which are impossible. With devotional determination, you can do extraordinary things for the service of Krishna. That’s definitely true.
Prabhupada would quote that to make devotees work hard for Krishna’s service. But, even for Prabhupada himself, 40 years when he was preaching in India, he did not get success. So, that time Indians were just not receptive.
India was too enamoured by the West, too crippled by poverty, too captivated by politics. And, this is what will lead to improvement. They are not interested.
So, there are things which are, sometimes we set certain goals for ourselves, and they just don’t work. So, we may have to walk away from that situation. If we have made any particular thing in this world as the purpose of our life, then, we set ourselves up for persecution.
Why? Because, sometimes, some purpose just can’t be achieved, and then, what am I supposed to do? Or, sometimes, we may achieve a purpose and find that there is nothing negative about it. I was looking for my dream, I fulfilled it, and then, what next? That’s what happened to me about 20-25 years ago. India, as most of you know, is a very education conscious country.
So, my dream since my childhood was, I wanted to be a doctor. And, I was always a good student, I was always among the top 3, top 5. I was sometimes joined first, but I was never THE first. So, since my school days, being first in the standard, that was my dream.
And, finally, when I gave my GRE, because I liked English since my childhood, one of my hobbies was to just pick up a dictionary and memorise words. So, I was good at that, English. And, for most Indians, in GRE, mathematics and general aptitude is not a problem.
English is usually a problem. So, I gave GRE. At that time, I got 2350 out of 2400.
So, I was not just first in my college, I was first in the history of my college. And, I was first in the whole state of Maharashtra. I was jubilant.
Now, I fulfilled my dreams. I cried, as they say. And, I was happy for some time, but after just a few days, I realised that there is no joy in just looking at the mark sheet.
It’s only when people come and congratulate, that’s when you feel happy. Somehow, it happened that three of my friends forgot to congratulate me. It was, once it happened, second time it happened.
Each time, I was quite agitated. And, the third time it happened, a third friend, basically, forgot to congratulate me. And, it was as if I had a perspective of myself from above.
And, what I thought, I had thought that becoming a topper will make me happy. But, actually, it has made me more dependent for my happiness than others. Earlier, I could just nicely interact with people.
Now, when I interact, I am so expectant and dependent. When will they congratulate me? When they don’t congratulate me, I am dissatisfied. Where is the happiness? So, at that time, it struck me that there must be some other means of happiness.
So, that was somehow Krishna’s arrangement. So, just a couple of days after that, one of my old friends, who had been a very materialistic person, he came and gave me a Bhagavad Gita. I told him, he said, you should read the Bhagavad Gita.
I said, I have read it already. And, I have read it. But, I started talking with him.
I saw he was a very transformed person. And, I said, maybe there is something in the Bhagavad Gita, which I have missed and he has found. And, I asked him, In Marathi, what happened to you? He said, this will happen to you also.
So, basically, at that time, when I read the Bhagavad Gita, 6th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, 22nd verse, Krishna says that, Krishna says, instead of describing the state of Samadhi, of total spiritual absorption, in the supreme spiritual reality, in Krishna himself. And, he says, There is no other gain. One doesn’t think, that there is anything more to be achieved.
That means, one is satisfied and achieves this. And, yes means, One is situated like this, even if dukkha comes in a person’s life. Guru Ramapriya, when a great distress comes, one is not disturbed.
So, I started thinking, that can I think of any achievement in my life, which, after achieving I feel free, there is nothing more to achieve. After achieving which, I feel nothing will disturb me. There is nothing like that.
No matter how wealthy we become, no matter how popular we become, no matter how influential we become, there is always something more to achieve. And, all of it can be taken away from us. The paradox of happiness in this world is that, the very thing that makes us happy, can cause us the greatest unhappiness.
If wealth becomes the source of my happiness, and if somehow the wealth goes away, it’s just the end of life for me. If I have some talent, and the talent is the source of my happiness, and the talent goes away, then, what am I living for? In that time only I read, India had a very famous cricketer, Srinivasa Gavaskar, and he had scored the maximum number of runs in Test cricket. And then, Alan Balder from Australia, he broke his record.
And when, at that time, Gavaskar was interviewed, he said, how do you feel about it? He gave a very candid example. It struck me at that time. He said that, I was like a bird flying high in the sky, and suddenly somebody has come and clipped my wings.
And I can do nothing except see myself falling down. I was quite interested in sports at that time. So, I happened to read Andre Agassi’s biography.
And then he became the world number one. He is a tennis star. So, he said, it just struck me, what does world number one mean? It means, a computer loves me more than any other player.
A computer had decided that, based on certain figures, I am the best. What does it mean? It says, you are there for number one for some time, after that it is over. So, I am not saying that, we shouldn’t seek material achievements.
The point is, that if material achievements are alone the source of happiness, and we define them as a source of happiness, they will not make us happy. But Krishna says that, when we connect with him in our hearts, that connection with him, that absorption in him, when we attain that, we feel there is nothing more to be attained. And, having gained that, even if great distresses come, we will be sharing them with Krishna.
This is the achievement I want to strive for. I am still a very long way away from that. But at least, I feel this is a worthy goal I want to pursue.
So, when devotees ask me how we are introduced to Krishna Consciousness, if I don’t have much time to answer, I answer in three words. I was frustrated by success. Most people are frustrated by failure.
But, this frustration because of not achieving something, is distressing. But actually, frustration, after achieving something that we have dreamt of, and finding that it is unfulfilling, is even more disorienting. Because I fulfilled my dream, now what do I do next? So, it can be very disorienting.
So, we need an enduring purpose for our life. So, when we are driving the vehicle of our body, and we are moving through life’s pathways, the Bhagavad Gita tells us, our ultimate destination is absorption in Krishna. If we can become absorbed in Him, then therein we will find lasting satisfaction.
Krishna is a reservoir of happiness. So, if there is an electric socket somewhere, and I put my hand over it, I will get electrified. So, similarly, Krishna is like a reservoir of happiness.
When we connect with Him, we become electrified with happiness. It is not necessary that we are just dancing and singing, but there is a deeper happiness. We understand that our life has a sense of meaning, has an ultimate purpose, there is a deeper fulfilment that comes.
So, that is our life’s most valuable destination. And pursuing this destination can be done in harmony with our worldly pursuits also. We have short-term goals, we have medium-term goals, we have long-term goals, and we have eternal goals.
So, spiritual life means that we harmonise our various goals with our ultimate goal. I feel hungry, I have to eat food. It is not that because I have become spiritual, I have to stop eating food.
But then, I will offer the food to Krishna and take responsibility. The short-term goal that is there of food, we harmonise it with Krishna. So, medium-term goals, yes, we want to have a career, we want to have money, we want to have family.
Yes, but we do it in such a way that it helps us in our spiritual growth. We have a home, we make the home into a temple. We try to inspire our family members in our relationship with Krishna.
So, we have horizontal relationships with others and we have a vertical relationship with Krishna. The ideal situation is where our horizontal and our vertical relationships are in harmony. It means that in our horizontal relationships, if we are ourselves strongly sheltered in Krishna, then we are not so dependent for validation on others.
Many times, some people are very clingy, they are very emotionally willing. So then, if somebody speaks one negative word, we just get shattered. Because they are sheltered only in that horizontal relationship.
If we are actually sheltered in our vertical relationship, then the ups and downs that inevitably come in horizontal relationships, we are going to deal with them more naturally. So, our Krishna Bhakti will help us to become better husbands, better wives, better parents, better children, better citizens, because in all these roles, we are really tested when there are turbulences. Just like if a smooth road is there, anybody can drive.
But when a sudden turn comes up, when the road is slippery, when some rash driver comes in the way, when such turbulence comes up, that’s when the skill of the driver is tested. In the normal course of life, our relationship may go on. But when these turbulences come, how do we function in that? If we are sheltered in Krishna, then we have a lot of security by which we can manage those turbulences more calmly, more gracefully.
And thus, our vertical relationship can make our horizontal relationships better. And similarly, our horizontal relationship can also strengthen our vertical relationship. If our family members are also practising Bhakti, then sometimes we feel uninspired, but they encourage us.
Sometimes they are uninspired, they encourage us. Usually they encourage each other. Especially when we become parents, we get more sense of responsibility.
We want to give good culture, good impressions to our children. And that makes us also become more devotional, more cultured. So our horizontal and vertical relationships in this way can work symbiotically.
So, if we can harmonise our horizontal relationship with our vertical relationship, if we can harmonise our medium term goals with our long term goals, our ultimate goals. Even our long term goals. In the future, we may want to retire, we may want to have some financial security.
That’s fine. But what do we do after retirement? At that time, it’s not just that we relax and watch TV and play golf. No, at that time, we have to use the time that we have, the experience that we have to serve Krishna.
So we need to have absorption in Krishna as the ultimate destination. When we have that, then if during our driving, we suddenly hit some turbulence, we hit some road block, we know what to do. If, say, my goal was to go from here to here, but there is a flood that has come on the road.
I just can’t go there. Then if I knew, from there, that was not my ultimate goal, from there I have to go somewhere else. Even if I can’t go there, okay, I can take some other path and I can keep moving onwards.
So if we have Krishna as the ultimate goal, if we have absorption in Krishna as our ultimate goal, even if some intermediate goals don’t work out, we don’t get so disturbed. If we don’t have Krishna as the ultimate goal, then if an intermediate goal doesn’t work out, then that’s like the end of life for us. What am I living for? What is the value of my life? So that’s why the eternal enduring purpose that we get by having Krishna as our ultimate goal, that is a very great stabiliser in our life.
Stabiliser means that life will always create instabilities. Sometimes happiness, sometimes distress, sometimes dishonour, sometimes health, sometimes sickness. These instabilities when they come, Krishna as our ultimate goal, He will be the stabilising factor.
नप्रहरिषेद् प्रियं प्राप्य नोध्विजेद् प्राप्य चाप्रियं स्थिरविद्धिर असमूरो ब्रह्मविद् ब्रह्मनिस्तितः In 5.20, the word of Krishna says that those who are Brahmavid, those who are spiritually knowledgeable, Brahmanistita, those who are spiritually situated, what happens to them? नप्रहरिषेद् प्रियं प्राप्य And when they get something desirable, they don’t jump up and down. नोध्विजेद् प्राप्य चाप्रियं If they get something undesirable, they don’t just get devastated. स्थिरविद्धिर Their intelligence is fixed.
असमूरो Therefore, they don’t get deluded. They are fixed in that long-term goal of moving towards Krishna. And this way, the life’s ups and downs, we can navigate them more gracefully.
Say, if I am going somewhere, if I am going to meet an old relative, who has given me a big inheritance. Say, they have given me 5 million dollars. And we are going there.
And along the way, we are looking at the car and we see. Oh, a 5 dollar note has fallen over there. Or, we had a 5 dollar note in the pocket, a gust of wind comes.
We kept the windows open. And the 5 dollar note just flies out of our pocket. Now, we may decide.
Hey, this 5 dollar note. I will stop my car. And then I start running after the 5 dollar note.
And it keeps flying away, keeps flying away. And I just go far and off the road. I left my car.
And I have to get to my destination at a particular time. I have to meet my relative. But then I don’t reach there.
So, if I know that there is a big treasure awaiting me. Then, this 5 dollar, even if I lose, it’s not a big deal. It’s not that I will throw away the 5 dollar.
But if it just goes away, I might be so worried about it. So, the lives, gains and losses, they are like this. Finding a 5 dollar or losing a 5 dollar.
But, developing love for Krishna, you get that 5 million dollars. So, if we understand and focus on that ultimate goal of developing absorption in Krishna, then these 5 dollar losses or gains, they don’t disturb us so much. We won’t get distracted or disoriented because of this.
We still value the 5 dollars. But we see it in perspective of the 5 million dollars. Why are material things like 5 dollars? They give some pleasure.
But the pleasure is very finite. It is temporary. Whereas, if we develop love for Krishna, it is not even 5 million dollars.
It’s much, much more. It’s eternal love that we have. And, the wonderful thing about Krishna Bhakti is that, whereas, with respect to that inheritance, it’s only when we get there, at the destination, we get the inheritance.
But, with respect to Krishna Bhakti, it’s not that we get Krishna Bhakti only at the end. It’s as we keep moving onwards, the treasure of Krishna Bhakti keeps incrementing. It keeps incrementing.
So, every day that we practise, we chant the holy name, every day that we hear Krishna Katha, every day that we do Krishna Puja, every single day we are moving forward, moving forward, taking steps. It’s like a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and continues on a single step. So, on a daily basis, the practise of Bhakti is sometimes monotonous.
What is happening? Nothing seems to be happening. But, every day, in this practise of Bhakti, we are moving closer and closer to Krishna. And, we are being internally enriched.
Suppose, we had to go to meet some very big VIP. We had to go from here to LA. And, we got into a flight and we went to LA.
And, then we landed there, took a cab, went to that person’s house, knocked on the door. And, they opened the door. We saw that the person who opened the door was the same person who was sitting next to us in our flight.
But, we had never met that person. We did not know what they looked like. So, we didn’t recognise them.
Similarly, Krishna is not just our destination. He is also our companion. Krishna doesn’t just exist in the spiritual world, far away, it is above performing pastimes and I am struggling here alone in the material world.
Now, I wonder, when will I go to Krishna? Now, Krishna is there with us in our own hearts. I am in everyone’s heart. Very close.
The person who loves us, they may give us a tight hug. But, even the person who loves us the most, even if they give us the tightest hug, they can’t come as close to us as Krishna is always to us. So, He is our eternal companion.
But, presently, we just don’t perceive His presence. Because, our consciousness is not immune to Him. Because, we have no experience of Krishna right now.
So, that’s why we don’t perceive His presence. Although, He is there with us. But, as we keep practising bhakti more and more, we start becoming more and more immune to His presence.
So, how do we know, when we are driving a car, that I am going closer and closer to the destination? There are landmarks. If I am going from here to, say, Ahmayani, 30 miles away, 25 miles away, 20 miles away, you can see the landmarks. You can say, OK, I am going closer and closer.
So, if we are trying to go towards Krishna, how do we know that actually we are going closer to Krishna? Essentially, in going closer to Krishna, the important thing is that our remembrance of Krishna starts increasing. Normally, when we love someone, we naturally think about that person. But, the wonderful thing about Krishna is that the converse also works.
Just by thinking about Krishna, our love for Krishna increases. So, as we start advancing more and more, we think about Krishna more and more. We look forward to thinking about Krishna more and more.
We want to hear about Him more and more. And as we start doing that, we start perceiving His presence. So, all of us have certain worldly desires, which can distract us from the path of Krishna bhakti.
So, we want to go in a particular direction, but, sometimes a storm comes and just takes us off in some other direction. So, like that, sometimes desires become so forcefully, they just push us away. But, we don’t have to become disheartened.
Because, the desires will come, they will stay for some time, and then they will go away. If we keep perceiving the path of Krishna bhakti, gradually the desires will go down. Generally, spiritual advancement can be understood in two terms.
One is that detachment from worldly things, and second is attachment to Krishna. Bhakti is a process, that gives us para-eesha anubhav. Anubhav is experience.
Eesha is Supreme Lord. Para is one who is transcendental. That Supreme Lord, who can only be experienced with the senses.
We experience Him through bhakti. Now, we may come in front of the details, if there is no bhakti, we are just decorated dolls. But, if there is bhakti, this is my Lord who is present there.
We experience that. Bhakti para-eesha anubhav. We get experience of Krishna.
And that experience of Krishna, what is the result? We don’t crave for worldly experiences that much. Both of these will happen gradually as we keep practising bhakti. So, if we just keep moving onwards towards Krishna, just chanting Hare Krishna or doing all devotional activities, then, what will happen is, both these results will start coming.
But, sometimes, the detachment may not come. I want to give this up, but still, it’s attacking me again and again. I’m not able to give this up.
So, we don’t have to become too centred on that. The important thing is to stay connected in Krishna. The important thing is to not lose heart in our practise of Krishna.
Sometimes, we may fall down, but we don’t have to fall away. Fall down means, we are trying to follow some standards, and we are not able to follow those standards. We fall down.
But, fall away means, we give up the practise itself. We don’t ever have to give it up. I’m going on a particular road, sometimes, if a big storm comes, if a big flood comes, I get shut off.
But, after I get shut off, what do I do? After the storm has stopped, I come back on track. I move on. If, because of that storm, I become so fearful, I’m not driving anymore, then we’ll never get there.
Sometimes, in our mind, suddenly, desires may come up, and those desires can sweep us away. So, the mind is actually very cunning. It plays a very dangerous double role.
Suppose, we have gone to a shop, and somebody comes along. Come on, let’s steal this from here. No, I don’t want to steal it.
No, no, no, there’s no problem. I’ve got a full plan. We’ll steal it, and we’ll share the spoils.
Both of us will enjoy. And, somehow, that person persuades us. And then, we steal it from the shop, and then, that person runs away, and we get caught.
And, after we are caught, and we are arrested by the police, and we go to the court, and we find that sitting as the judge is the same person. The person who allured us into stealing is now sentencing us to steal. So, the mind is like that.
The mind first tells us, Come on, do it. No problem. You can do it.
Enjoy. And then, after we do something, and then, we start facing the consequences, the same mind becomes a judge. You fool, why did you do it? So many times I told you, don’t do this.
You are stupid, dumb ass. The mind, first, it fools us into doing wrong, and then it beats us for doing wrong. So, what happens sometimes, we plan that I will not do this, and somehow, we do it.
And then, after that, we are beating ourselves. Why did I do that? In both cases, what are we doing? We are being mind conscious. When the mind said do it, I did it.
When the mind beat me up for doing it, I was so foolish, I was so foolish. What we need to do is, that okay, if somehow, some desire came, it overpowered me, I did something wrong, after that, let me now be Krishna conscious. There is no need to beat ourselves up.
We beat ourselves up. Okay, mistake happened. I will have to bear the consequences.
Okay, let me focus on Krishna. So, if we do that, I may decide to go on a straight track. But if a storm comes and sweeps me off, I don’t have to stay objectless.
As soon as the storm stops, let me come back on the course, and let me keep driving onwards. If we just keep moving onwards like this, then, what will happen is, the storms will come, but if we keep driving, we will keep moving at least in between the storms. And as we keep moving, as we keep practising Krishna Bhakti, so, our desires, if we see, it’s not that the lower desire, that troubling us constantly.
The desire comes, it’s like a spike. It shoots up. And it stays for some time, after that it goes off.
And then after some time, that spike comes. Maybe a few days, few weeks, whatever the particular desire is. Now, what we do in between is important.
If in between we are practising Krishna Bhakti diligently, then we are getting purified. We are becoming spiritually strong. And the next time the spike comes, we will be in a better position to meditate.
Even if we get swept away again, as soon as we can, we come back on track and move on. And gradually we become expert. Next time the storm hits, we know what to do, so that we don’t get swept away.
So, purification is a gradual process. And we don’t have to, we don’t have to make our Bhakti practise conditional to our purification. That means, even if I do something impure, still I keep practising Krishna Bhakti.
Don’t let the storms push us off the track. As soon as it pushes us off the track, come back on the track and move on. And the last point which I conclude with is that when we are driving a car, the car needs fuel.
A car will be perfectly functional, but if it doesn’t have fuel, it will not move. Similarly, for us, when we are practising Krishna Bhakti, we need fuel to move on towards destination Krishna. So, how do we get that fuel? Actually, we can compare it to another thing.
And Prabhupada was asked once, how do we chant nicely? How do we become good chanters of the holy fire? So, Prabhupada counter-questioned. How do you become a good drunkard? There is no such thing as a good drunkard. But how do you become a drunkard? Prabhupada says, two things.
He says, drink and associate with drunkards. So, similarly, how do we start practising, how do we become good devotees? Just practise Bhakti and associate with devotees. So, practising Bhakti and associating with devotees, these two are important ways by which you can move towards Krishna.
This is not the prasadam prayer, right? There is some more time for that. What does this prayer say? That, actually, there are these three things. Maha Prasad, Maha Prasade Govinde, Nama Grambhani and Vaishnavi.
By honouring the prasad of Krishna, by chanting the names of Krishna, and by associating with the devotees of Krishna, by all this, the vishwas, the faith that is less, that will become stronger. So, we may not have faith right away, but by doing this, the faith will awaken. Now, among these three things, taking prasad, chanting the holy names, and associating with devotees, which is the most important? Associating is most important.
If we associate with devotees, they will give us prasad and they will ask, are you chanting? So, actually, association of devotees is extremely important. Our desires are not just linear, they are triangular. What do I mean? Linear and triangular? Normally, you think of desire as linear, that means, I see some object and I want to enjoy it.
So, I am going along the road, I see some object with some nice food, I get the desire to eat it. So, we see the object and we get the desire. This is what we mean by linear desires.
But, not all desires are linear. Many desires are actually triangular. Say, suppose, we go to some programme, and there is some strange item, some item which we have never heard about.
And we look at it also, it looks a little strange. Should I eat it or should I not eat it? And then we see someone, some friend, he takes it and he says, let me also try it. Let me also eat it.
So, what has happened? Here, seeing the object did not give the desire. But, seeing someone enjoy that food, that created the desire. This is the meaning of triangular desires.
So, it’s not just the object seeing it that gives us the desire, but seeing someone else enjoy that object gives us the desire. In fact, this is the primary principle of advertisements involving celebrities. Some well-known cricketers, some well-known movie stars, the companies pay phenomenal amounts to get these VIPs to endorse their products.
Why? Because, anybody can say, my product is great. But, if some VIP whom people trust, that person says, I use this phone, I use this shampoo, then, no, I won’t get this. So, what has happened? Seeing that person enjoying that product, using that product, our desire comes.
So, our desires are not just linear, they are triangular. Krishna also talks about this, Sangat Sanjayate Kama. This can mean different things.
Prabhupada in one lecture said, Sangat can mean association. Sangat Sanjayate Kama means, in association, desire is born. So, it is by association that our spiritual desires are activated and are cultivated.
And this is true even in material life, but it is all the more true in spiritual life. Why is it all the more true in spiritual life? Because, in material life, often, the objects themselves look attractive. The sense objects often look attractive, and that’s why seeing them creates a desire in us.
But, often, in spiritual life, the objects that are there, the manifestations of Krishna, which we can call as spiritual sense objects, they may not seem attractive so immediately. Somebody gives us the Bhagavad Gita. Many people take Bhagavad Gita as it is, and they keep it in their homes as it is.
Unfortunately. It’s only when they meet some devotees, and the devotee tells them about the meaning of the Gita. We meet some devotee who loves the Gita, who relishes the Gita.
Then, there is so much nectar in the Gita. I want to find out what is there. I want to study it.
If you meet some devotee who loves the Bhagavad Gita, and Krishna’s pastime, the religious philosophy, the religious pastime in the Bhagavad Gita, they are relishing it, seeing them relish it, you also get a desire. Many times, when we used to go to temples, before we were introduced to bhakti, kirtan was just a part of religious worship. Go to a temple and a kirtan, one man clapped hands.
But, now, when we come in association with devotees, we absorb in Krishna. We relish kirtan so much, we say, what is this? We also close our eyes, absorb, go deep into the kirtan. It’s association that activates our spiritual desires.
And the fuel for taking the vehicle of our vehicle towards Krishna, that fuel is our desire. It is our desire to take us towards Krishna. It says that, actually, the attraction for Krishna, that is very rare.
Even if somebody does punya for many lifetimes, punya is good, but that alone will not lead to attraction to Krishna. So, when people are pious, at that time, for them, God is like the spare wheel in their car. That means, that yes, I have, I’ll do this, I’ll do this, I’ll do this.
And, if nothing works out, God is also there. So, I saw one ad of an insurance agency, which says, if you are not insured with us, it’s time to say your prayers. So, their idea is that, they think that, if you have not done anything material, then you pray to God.
But it’s not like that, actually. God acts even through the material. But people think that, I’ll try everything and if nothing works, then I’ll go to God.
They think of God as a spare wheel. When I was in college, there was one of my friends, more of a colleague than a friend, he was not very interested, at all interested in Krishna. He is almost like an atheist.
And, recently, he said, he called me and said, I would like to give some donation to the temple. I said, yes, you can come. And I asked him, you are not at all interested, you didn’t believe in God, so, or inspire you to do donation.
So, he said that, actually, I just started a new business. So, in case God exists, if you got killed in trouble, so, people prayed to God as a spare wheel. I’ll try everything, if nothing works, then I’ll go to God.
But it doesn’t have to be like that. God is the ultimate goal of our life. And He is our companion.
He is our stabiliser. He is the person who can actually guide our life. Earlier, I talked about a bright attitude being a steering wheel.
Actually, it is Krishna and devotion to Krishna that becomes our steering wheel. When we make that the purpose of our life, then, with the focus on Krishna, we know, ok, listen, let me navigate this way, let me navigate this way. So, what will take us towards Krishna is our desire for Krishna.
But the desire is a fear. And for most, I was talking about this right now, for people who are pious, there are people who are pious and there are people who are spiritual. Punya and Bhakti is not the same thing.
Punya is at the material level. We do material good things and we get materially good results. But that doesn’t necessarily take us to Krishna.
Bhakti is actually developing attraction to Krishna. So, what does that is, activities of Bhakti. So, it is only when we love Krishna more than this world, then, at the time of our death, Krishna will take us out of this world to Him.
If we love things of this world more, then Krishna will allow us to come back in this world to try to enjoy those things again. So, what will take us towards Krishna is our desire for Krishna. And that desire comes primarily by association.
The more we associate with devotees who have a desire for Krishna, then our desire for Krishna becomes more and more. And conversely, association is not just physical proximity. The essence of association is the transfer of desires.
When Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna, at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, what did Arjuna say? Arjuna didn’t say, My lecture, Krishna. Arjuna said, I will do your way. That means, Krishna’s desire became Arjuna’s desire.
The transfer of desire is the essence of association. So, when we associate with devotees, devotees have a desire to chant Krishna’s name. Devotees have a desire to worship Krishna.
They have a desire to relish Krishna’s message, to share Krishna’s message with others. So, when we get that desire by the association, then truly we are associating. That desire, if you get by the association of devotees, that will be our fuel.
And along with the desire, also, it’s our own practise. Just by repeatedly exposing ourselves to Krishna, His attractiveness starts becoming redeeming to us. In 12.9, Krishna says, repeatedly try to fix your mind on me, by this your desire for me will become stronger and stronger.
So, like Prabhupada said, how do we become a drunkard? By drinking and associating with drunkards. Similarly, how do we become devotees? Just by doing devotional activities and associating with devotees. Both of these will make our desire for Krishna stronger and stronger.
And as we make the desire for Krishna stronger and stronger, we will move more and more firmly and more and more swiftly towards Krishna. So, the car means adequate fuel to move on. So, if the fuel gets over, then even if I am determined to drive the car, I won’t be able to move forward.
So, like that, sometimes, we may intellectually understand, I should be doing this. But we just have no desire. Because our association will be there.
So, we need association and not just association of any devotee. Of course, any devotee association is good. But whether the association is devotional or not, we have to evaluate that.
Sometimes, some devotees may come together, but they talk all mundane things. Sometimes, devotees come together and they find fault with this devotee, find fault with that devotee. That is not devotee association.
Because we have to see after the interaction, is my desire to serve Krishna increasing? If that is happening, that is devotee association. Wherever we get that association, we cherish that. And we move forward towards Krishna.
With that fuel of the desire for Krishna. And as the desire for Krishna becomes stronger, our connection with Krishna becomes stronger. And when our connection with Krishna becomes stronger, then even in this life, bhakti becomes joyful.
It’s primarily disconnection from Krishna that prevents us from accessing the joy of bhakti. So, as I said, Krishna is not just our destination, He is also our companion. But because we are not presently connected with Krishna, our consciousness is distracted, that’s why we don’t perceive His presence and don’t relish His presence.
Suppose, the mother is feeding the child some drink. Nice and sweet drink, but somehow, the child thinks, this is bitter, I don’t want it. And the mother tries to give the drink, the child moves her face away.
And all that drink in a spoon spills out on the face. Mother again tries to feed, child again moves the face away. And again the drink spills out.
Mother tries to feed, the child is moving the head away. But, the child may keep moving the head away, but the mother keeps trying to feed. Gradually, the child was asking, I want to do this, I want to watch this.
The child tasted it. Hey, this is good. Why am I holding this? The child stops moving the head around and then starts saying, hey, this is delicious.
Give me more, give me more. Like that. So, similarly, our mind is like that child.
Our mind presently has many ideas, this will make me happy, that will make me happy, that will make me happy. So, although, Krishna Bhakti is available for us, but, we don’t drink it. Krishna Bhakti is not just Krishna’s name, the Krishna Tatha.
It is not just heard through the ears or spoken through the tongue. It is actually to be relished through the mind. From the mind, it goes to the soul and activates the soul.
Pipamana Sri Krishna Divya Aushadham. Kula Shikhar Maharaj, one of his prayers, he says that, Pipamana, oh mind, please drink the nectar of Krishna Bhakti. So, at present, what has happened is, because our mind has so many ideas, oh, this is enjoyable, that is enjoyable.
That’s why, mind keeps taking our consciousness away. And even when we are chanting, we don’t connect with Krishna. When we practise Krishna Bhakti, we don’t connect with Krishna.
That’s why we don’t taste the sweetness of Krishna Bhakti. We just keep drinking. Gradually, the desire becomes stronger, I want to drink this.
Then, the child stops moving the head away. Start focussing on Krishna. The connection becomes stronger.
Then, the absorption, the satisfaction also becomes deeper. And thus, Sushukham Karkam. As you mentioned, the Bhakti will become joyful, even in this life, as our desire to connect with Krishna becomes deeper, becomes stronger, and our connection with him is deeper.
Thus, we can march steadily through the journey of life towards destination Krishna. I’ll summarise. As I spoke in this last session about how to, how Krishna is the ultimate destination of our life.
All of us need some purpose. And we have purpose. Short term purpose may be, I’m hungry, I need food.
Medium purpose may be, I want food, I want a family, I want security. Long term purpose may be, oh, when I retire, I should have enough for myself. But we also need an eternal purpose.
Without that, the other purpose is, sometimes they can just be frustrated. Somebody wants to become athlete and they become injured. When that purpose is frustrated, if that purpose was what they lived for, you don’t know what to live for.
So, failure in a purpose can be very distressing. And if that has been the ultimate purpose, then it will permanently be distressing for us. But, it should be even more distressing is, if we have a purpose and we fulfil that purpose, and then we find it’s empty.
It’s even more disorienting. What am I to live for? So, we can have short term, medium term, long term purposes, but we need to harmonise them with our ultimate purpose of going towards Krishna. We eat Krishna prasadam.
We have a family, but we make our family structure. I talk elaborately about how our vertical relationship with Krishna can improve our horizontal relationship. If we have a security, then we don’t get shaken too much by ups and downs in the horizontal relationship.
We can be more mature and balanced. And similarly, our horizontal relationship can nourish our vertical relationship. Because, if we inspire each other in the practise of Krishna bhakti, then these relationships can be seen by all.
And ultimately, the wonderful thing about Krishna, a long term goal also before that, we want to have security, we want to have leisure, so that we can focus more on Krishna bhakti. The long term goal of Krishna bhakti can help us to manage the ups and downs with respect to our short term goals. If I know I am getting 5 million dollars, then I won’t be distracted by 5 dollars if a promise of gain comes or a threat of loss comes.
We keep purposeful. So, like ups and downs, we can manage them better if we are fixed on the ultimate goal. Krishna bhakti is the one goal, is the only goal which on achieving there will be nothing more to achieve.
And which on achieving, even the greatest distress, we will be able to withstand. And for moving on that journey towards Krishna, what are the landmarks? One is detachment from worldly things and attachment to Krishna. Just the process of bhakti gives us inner experience of Krishna and the inner experience brings detachment from other worldly experiences.
So, if that detachment is not coming, we don’t have to become disheartened. We may fall down, but we don’t have to fall again. The same mind which allures us to rob then becomes the one who punishes us.
So, instead of being mind conscious, we become Krishna conscious. Even the spikes of the mind make us do wrong things, in between we stay focused on Krishna. Even if the storm takes our car away from the road, as soon as the storm stops, come back on the road and move on.
And the attachment to Krishna we develop by two things. By the practise of bhakti and by association of other things. So, our desires are not just linear, but also triangular.
Then, we see someone enjoying something, then our desire for that thing increases. And because most spiritual sense objects may not appear immediately attractive, we need to associate with those who are relishing them, and then our desires will become stronger. The essence of association is the transfer of desires.
And by associating with devotees, as our desire to move towards Krishna becomes stronger, that is the fuel which will keep us moving onwards. And that desire for Krishna will connect us with Him. And even now, in this life, as our connection becomes stronger, we will become more joyful.
Like a child who doesn’t want to drink a delicious drink, but then realises its taste and wants to drink more and more. Like that, the mind is distracted, will become focused in Krishna and will become delighted in Krishna. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Are there any questions or comments? Any questions? Prabhuji, can you speak more than three words? How did you come to the Krishna consciousness? I spoke more than three words. I told actually.
So I am infected. I am writing a whole book about this. It is not really written.
It is going to be published in December, by next year probably. But one was the factor of being as I said frustrated by success, but another important factor was that I was involved in social service. I had a lot of faith since my childhood in the power of education.
So, when I was in my college, I used to go to as a part of a social service organisation and we would go to nearby slums and I would offer free tuition classes for the kids over there. And I found that the family lives were a mess. Most of the fathers were drunkards and there was domestic violence.
I started thinking how much is this education going to help them? Then our organisation decided to expand its charter and we started working on an anti-alcohol campaign. So, there was a small village nearby which we made it dry and got everybody over there sober. A big achievement for us.
So, one of my friends had gone to that village and I had gone to nearby slums and when he came back, he was shattered. I asked him what happened. He said that there had been local panchayat elections and all the candidates in order to be elected he brought three truckloads of free alcohol.
And not only the fathers, even the kids were drunk. So, at that time I realised that it’s not just education opened new doors for us. It’s not just that we need to open doors.
People also need the inner strength to walk through those doors. In my college there was another student who had been a university topper throughout. All 8 semesters he had been the first in the university in engineering.
And at that time he got the highest paid job in the history of our college. So, he was like a hero forever. But, he was a chain-sneaker.
And the first six months of his job, he was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. He died. So, it struck me at that time that this inner strength to resist bad habits, that is not provided by our education.
So, that inner education opened new doors. But, the inner strength to walk through those doors, something else needs to provide that. So, when I started studying the Bhagavad Gita, I started practising Bhagavad Gita.
I was a very short-tempered person. I wasn’t famous for my anger. But, I found that my temper went down substantially.
One of my friends, he was just going into alcoholism. He started smoking and doing alcoholism. After seeing me practise bhakti, he started practising bhakti.
It just came down. So, then I felt that there is something special in this process. So, that was when I had passed out and I worked in a software company.
But, then I felt that that there are many other people who will do this job of software engineering. But, there are not many who are inspired to share the message of the Bhagavad Gita. I felt I should study this more and share it more.
And that’s what I am trying to do. Hare Krishna, Prabhuji. Actually, you have explained Krishna Bhakti with car analogy.
And, you also told our ultimate goal is to achieve Krishna. So, like, suppose I was just thinking if my car is there, the most important thing is that regular maintenance, what we do, to ensure there should not be any breakdown and I reach safely on my destination. So, that car maintenance part, like how you place that part in Krishna Bhakti.
So, normally, if you have a car we need to maintain it. So, how do we compare car maintenance in this example? Basically, the car is compared to the body. So, the body needs maintenance.
Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, युट्टाहार्यारस्यं पिकेश्चस्यः पिकेश्चस्यः युट्टसप्नावभोधस्य योभोभोधस्यः He says that, we need to be regulated in our body affairs. If we do too little or too much. If I sleep too little or sleep too much.
Then one cannot practise it. So, basically, the body we can have three different attitudes towards it. One is that the body itself is a source of enjoyment.
And we think that the senses in the body are the gateway to pleasure. And then we pander to all the bodily desires. That is, give us little pleasure but simply entangle us more.
The other extreme of the thing is the body is simply material and spiritual and I don’t care for the body. So, the bhakti understanding is the body is material but it is too much. So, whatever are the needs of the body, that I have to take care of.
There are three categories of people, karmis, jnanis and bhaktas. Karmis are materialistic people. Jnanis are more of those who renounce the world.
So, karmis, they romanticise the world. They think that, oh, this is like this, I get this, if this works out, I’ll be happy. They romanticise the world.
Then jnanis demonise the world. They demonise this body also. This body is a source of illusion, a source of entanglement, a source of misery.
But devotees don’t romanticise, they don’t demonise, they mutilize. Mutilize the body. So, we respect the body and this is also a vehicle which is given to us by Krishna.
And depending on our particular bodily nature, whatever is required for its maintenance, we do it. We respect the body. So, Prabhupada, he would take massage in, he would go on morning walks, extremely busy, but he took time out for that.
So, whatever is required for us to maintain our body, we do that, but we don’t do it so that we can enjoy the body better. But we do it so that we can use the body better than Krishna says. I have a very basic question.
You say that we need to control and all that, but when it comes to real doing it, especially for me, I tell you, I am failing. So, if I say just to control Yuktahar, we say Yuktahar. So, to control Ahar, I know this is bad.
Even I know that this will hurt me and this is not going towards Krishna consciousness. But when it comes to the real actions, seeing the food fried and all, it goes away. So, basically, practically I am not able to follow, even I understand.
And similar is happening with sleep. Similar with whatever I speak. Sometimes I will be angry, speaking wrong words and all.
I know all these things, but to get into practise, that I am failing. So, if you can some light on that. So, we need to control ourselves.
If you are practically not able to do, what to do? Yes. For all of us, this gap between knowledge and action is always there. Now, why is it there? Because our intelligence understands faster than our mind.
The intelligence is like a mother. The mind is like a child. So, if the mother sees my child is sick, the mother goes and takes the child to a doctor.
And the doctor is very clear. The child has got a disease. You take this medicine.
It is very complicated. So, morning, afternoon, take this, take this. And tell, don’t let this child take this, this, this.
When they tell this, the child is small. Child will not understand. The mother understands.
So, our intelligence is like the mother. So, when we hear the philosophy, when we hear wisdom, we please understand. But the mind is like a child who is restless.
So, we have to understand that this is a child. To some extent, the mother tries to control the child. Sometimes the child is insisting.
The mother may have to choose her battles. Let the child do something. But the child is also growing up.
And as long as the child grows up, the child will also become mature. So, we do want to control ourselves. But we don’t have to define our bhakti in terms of our senses.
Focus on our bhakti is simply connecting with action. So, our intelligence will always understand faster than the mind. And that’s why there is a difference between knowledge and action.
Because we are often impelled by our mind’s feelings to act. So, what can we do? Firstly, don’t be discouraged. It’s just natural.
It happens with everyone. At least we can be grateful that at least my intelligence has understood. So, we have the knowledge.
We have accepted the knowledge. And even if we can’t do the regulative side of bhakti so well, we can focus on the affirmative side of bhakti. That means chant as much as possible.
Associate with devotees. Study Bhagavad Gita. By these affirmative activities, we are still improving ourselves.
Our intelligence is becoming stronger and even the mind is becoming clearer. Sometimes, the mother, say the child has got a disease which requires a lot of restriction. And then the mother may also become a little gentleman.
Oh no, I can’t deprive a child of so many things. So, like that, if our intelligence is not convinced, we may pander a little bit. But as you do practise in bhakti, both the intelligence becomes stronger and the mind also becomes clearer.
So, as the mind starts becoming clearer, then the mind also stops proposing for forcefully. And as intelligence becomes stronger, intelligence becomes more and more equipped to resist. So, first principle is don’t become disheartened.
It’s just an universal principle. A gap between knowledge and action. And as far as practical is concerned, we can try to create some practical barriers for ourselves.
That means, if we find that they say, I tend to eat too much or I tend to sleep too much, then try to create some practical support system. As I said, if you sleep too much, then we have not just one alarm, but we have two alarms or have somebody else tell somebody, they can wake us up. Try to create some practical support systems.
See, for changing ourselves, for changing ourselves internally, external change is almost always necessary. And almost never sufficient. So, if a person is a drunkard, in that person’s house say, he is above a bar, he will never be able to go there.
Every time they go to their house, their desire will fall. The external change is necessary. But external change alone is not enough.
Even if they take a house far away from a bar, if the internal change has not been made, they will go find a bar somewhere and go there and drink. So, we want the internal change, but sometimes external change can be a very valuable support. So, for example, as I said, whatever practically you can do to support our internal change.
Because when the desires come up, the desires come very forcefully, but they don’t usually stay that forceful all the time. So, if during the time the desire is forceful, somehow you can tolerate it. Often the desires offence.
So, the desire is up, it stays for some time, and if I get a strong desire I have to eat something. But that is not available. And I have to go somewhere, buy it, and let it, eat it, or cook it and eat it.
And I also know it’s very fatty, it’s not very good for me. And by the time I start cooking it, slowly what happens is my emptiness starts coming. You may have seen sometimes in movies, if a thief wants to come and rob a bank or something like that, then the thief just comes and gives a blow on the head of the guard.
The guard gets knocked off. And the thief is going inside, and he’s trying to steal now. But if in that period the guard comes back, what are you doing? The guard catches you.
So, like that, sometimes when desire comes, desire just locks our intelligence. It becomes unconscious. It was paralysed for some time.
But during that brief period when the intelligence has become paralysed, at that time, we can resist the desire. If we don’t have the facility to immediately indulge in the desire, then by that time, we go to that object, get that object and enjoy it, what happens? During that period, the intelligence says, hey, I don’t need to do this. So, we can be patient, just keep practising bhakti, and externally try to create some values.
Thirdly, we can try to find out some way in which we can internally direct our thoughts towards Krishna. If you find some way, all of us may find some way in which our thoughts move nicely towards Krishna. Some of us may like some quotes, some of us may like some pictures of Krishna, some of us may like to hear from some devotee.
So, whatever it is, in Krishna bhakti, we can easily absorb our consciousness in Krishna. We keep that readily accessible for us. So, keep a picture, a beautiful picture of Krishna, which fills us with devotion.
Keep that readily accessible. Whenever the mind gets agitated, just look at that. Because, basically, how do desires allure us? Desires allure us by creating a sense of vaporisation in us.
If you don’t do this, you are missing so much. How can you? This is so wonderful. This is so irresistible.
How can you miss it? So, desires allure us by creating a sense of vaporisation. But, if at that time, we provide ourselves some source of spiritual satisfaction. It’s nice.
I’m not feeling so deprived. Then, we have new goals now. So, by just being patient, by trying to create some barriers to protect ourselves, and by finding channels to direct our consciousness towards Krishna, we can gradually learn to increase our self-control.
So, this voice which comes, is this the voice of mind or intelligence? How to differentiate the voices come? So, it is mind or intelligence? How do we know which is the voice which comes from within? If it is generally towards short-term, impulsive pleasures, it is the voice of the mind. If it is guiding us towards something which is in turn, in harmony with the principles of morality and spirituality, in harmony with scriptural knowledge, then, we can say that the voice is intelligence. Yes, sometimes the inner voice can also guide us.
Inner voice can also guide us. We are about to do something, something don’t do it, don’t do it. But the inner voice guides us.
So, we have to have an external parameter or external benchmark based on which we can evaluate where the inner voice is coming from. Any questions? Any more questions? Probably just to follow up on what he said, the inner voice. Isn’t it the Paramatma talking to us? I mean, sometimes we say the Paramatma guides us from within.
Any questions? Is the inner voice the Paramatma? Yes, of course. The Paramatma guides us to the intelligence. If we see in the chariot body analogy, the chariot here is the intelligence.
If we consider the Bhagavad Gita, its setting is also chariot. And in this chariot, Krishna is the chariot. And basically, when we learn the Bhagavad Gita and try to mould our life according to Bhagavad Gita, then we are entrusting the reins of our chariot to Krishna.
We are harmonising our intelligence to Krishna. So, that means the inner voice is the voice of Krishna manifesting as intelligence. And secondly, you talked about Sadhus and how important it is.
With that said, I’m sure I can speak for everybody here. We are very glad to have your association today. And it’s a humble request from a very busy schedule of yours.
I understand every time you come to US, if you are able to spend a couple of days with us here, we will be very indebted and your association is invaluable to us. I’m sure I can speak for everybody here. So, next year, please do keep us in mind here.
We are a small group, but we really need associations from devotees like you. We need somebody to give us a desire. That’s right.
You are using your own tool now. But you have to give me my desire. No, we have somebody who has to spill the desire on us.
So we can… Hare Krishna. Thank you so much for the class. One question.
We are working in a regular job, 9 to 5, and sometimes we feel that, or I feel, you know, I spend more time in reading and devotional services, and if I lack from work, then I have more financial worries, for example. How do we keep those worries go away, or balance in between, or how do we know when we are ready, maybe, to do more devotional, nice work, or… That’s the kind of question. So when we have to work for many hours in our office, we feel that I would like to spend more time in practising Krishna Bhakti, but then our financial insecurity appears.
So how do we balance, and how do we know when we are ready to do more Krishna Bhakti? In general, there are two broad conceptions of how we see Krishna Bhakti. Or rather, how we see the spiritual and the material. One is, we see spiritual and material as competitive.
That, oh, I go to my job that is material, and I come to the temple and practise spiritual. And that material is taking my time away from the spiritual. That’s one way of looking at it.
Another way of looking at it is that we see that Krishna is not just the God of the temple. Krishna is the God of the whole world. Krishna is the God of my office also.
Krishna is the God of everything. So, we see that even our work is a form of service to Krishna. So Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, And by your work, worship it.
So, Arjuna, when he was practising as an archer, he was not thinking at that time, he did not know at that time, that in the future there is going to be a great war, in which my archery skills will be used in this service, in Krishna’s service. No, he just practised archery and excelled in it because that was his karma. The Kshatriya, as a martial guardian of society, he didn’t have to and he did that well.
But of course, he also took time out to associate with the Kshatriyas, hear from them. So, we needn’t see, especially if we are in the Rajasthashram and we are in more or less in our youth, at that time we don’t have to see the material and spiritual as competitive. We see them as competent.
That even through our material life, whatever talents we have, Krishna says, I am the ability to keep it. So, my talents are based on Krishna. I am using them in Krishna’s service.
And who knows what doors Krishna may open for us in the future. We learn some skills, we develop some, get some position in society and then Krishna may give us some opportunity even for direct service later on through those talents. So, it’s important that we don’t become workaholics.
Workaholics, they not only neglect God but actually they neglect even their family. They even neglect their own bodies. Obsessed with God.
We don’t want to do that. But whatever time we are working, we can do that in the mode of service to Krishna. And through that also, through the position that we have, the proficiency that we have, we can attract people to Krishna through that.
I was in a university in India and one student asked me, how can I preach to my other students? How can I inspire them to become devotees? So I told him, by studying myself. Of course, there is no guarantee that if you study well, your friends will become devotees. But I can almost guarantee you that if you don’t study well, they will never become devotees.
Because very few people are directly spiritually interested. Very very few people. There are some exalted disciples who went out in search for God.
But most of us didn’t go out in search for God. God’s devotees came out in search for us. So, there are very few people who are directly spiritually interested.
What people will see is how we are functioning in the material world. Not that we have to be workaholics, but if we are reasonably good at our work, if we are well-behaved, if we are cultured, people see that. In a television interview, somebody asked Prabhupada, how do we know he is a disciple? Prabhupada said that they are perfect gentlemen.
Perfect ladies, perfect gentlemen. So, he did not say they are constantly chanting Hare Krishna, they dance on the streets in Kirtan. All that is true.
But at that point, people, what will they make sense of that? They will see how we function, how we behave, how we interact. So, if we are doing our job well, if we are interacting nicely with people, people see that. And they can be attracted to Krishna.
So, we need to have this integrated understanding of Krishna. Yes, for practical purposes, make sure that we have enough time for direct devotional activities, we can separate. Every week, on Sunday, I go to a programme, or in the morning, I will be chanting.
I separate my life into material and spiritual. But after allotting the basic time for our direct devotional activities, we don’t have to constantly think, oh, this is material, this is spiritual. Ultimately, what is material and what is spiritual? It is determined by attitude.
If my attitude is to serve Krishna, then I am actually in a devotional institution. Somebody may be in an office, and they may be doing that in a devotional mode. Oh, I have a temple in my home.
I earn well. I provide for the deities at home. I serve the devotees.
I provide for Krishna’s mission. I take care of my family members. Somebody can have a devotional institution.
Somebody can be in a temple and they may be on a YouTube. How many followers do I have? How much fame do I have? If that happens, then their consciousness will be more mundane than somebody outside. This doesn’t mean in any way to minimise direct devotional activities.
They are important. We would like to do them more. But the point is that we don’t have to dishearten ourselves because we are not going to do them right now more.
Even our mundane activities can be spiritualised. As we keep doing this, gradually, we ourselves will develop a realisation and renunciation organically. So, yes, I did this now.
I want to focus more on Krishna. So, after we get some financial stability, after we have some good experience, then we can maybe take a less demanding job where we can focus more on direct Krishna bhakti. So, it can be a gradual process.
one definition of surrender is that surrender means to serve Krishna with what we have now. In the future, if I have more renunciation, in the future I have more time, I will serve Krishna then more. But now, with what I have, I will serve Krishna.
That applies in everything. It applies to time, it applies to our talents, it applies to our… Even if you want to do charity, sometimes people say, oh, I don’t have much money, I do charity. Well, that’s fine.
But charity is not just an activity. Charity is a mentality. So, it’s a habit.
Even if I do a small amount now, I develop that habit. And that habit, that habit of mind is what will purify us much more than the specific amount that we have. So, the externals are important.
But the internal is also not more important. So, by that integrated understanding of Krishna bhakti, we can spiritualise even our material life to ourselves. Did I answer your question? Yes, I did.
Okay, similar? Okay, good. Okay, good. I just remembered, there’s one question somebody had asked yesterday.
That if we resist a desire, is it that the desire will keep coming again and again? Who had asked this question? Yeah, you had asked now, right? So, yes. If we resist a particular desire, is it that the desire will keep coming again and again and then… Your mind just going to go crazy, because you keep resisting. It’s not going to come down, it’s going to be opposite that time.
So, if we resist a desire, sometimes the mind just goes crazy and the desire seems to go stronger and stronger. So, what should we do at that time? It depends on what that desire is. There are needs.
If I need food, now, if the body is demanding the food more and more, that’s because the body needs it. But there are some desires, which may not be needs, but they are more like cravings. So, with respect to needs, we should not deprive them.
Maybe someday, like fasting, we say no to them, but needs have to be fulfilled. If it’s more of cravings or something which you don’t really need, at that time, it depends on how much that desire you are habituated to. If it’s a very strong desire, then resisting it is difficult.
But in general, it’s not necessary that resistance will make the desire stronger. Although it appears that it becomes stronger. Suppose, somebody wants to train.
There’s a circus animal trainer who wants to train a tiger. One of the best ways to train a tiger is by not giving food. Only when the tiger does the tricks that they train them to do, then they feed them.
Otherwise, they don’t feed the tiger. Now, when the tiger is starved, what does the tiger do? The tiger roars! And roars more ferociously. And roars so much that everyone around them gets scared.
Although the tiger is roaring louder, it is becoming weaker. Because it is not being fed. It will be roaring louder and louder and louder.
But it’s becoming weaker and weaker. And if the trainer doesn’t get intimidated, then that roar will come down to a whimper. And the tiger will become calm.
So, similarly, sometimes when we say no, the mind starts screaming more and more and more. But although it is screaming more and more, there will be a phase when it is very difficult to tolerate. But if we don’t get intimidated during that period, if we just tolerate that phase, the desire will go down.
Basically, the desire is fuelled by indulgence. The food for the desire is our past indulgence. Because of our past indulgences, the desire is strong now.
And the more we feed it, it will become stronger. But if we say no to it, although it will intimidate us, it will gradually go down. Now, specifically, how we deal with a particular desire, that will vary.
See, not all desires need to be rejected. As I said, there can be basic needs which can be fulfilled. So, we have to see.
Sometimes, we just start with categories. Material desire and spiritual desire. But even in material desires, there is more of goodness, there is more of passion, there is more of ignorance.
So, desires in the mode of ignorance and in the mode of passion are often more spiritually damaging or devotionally damaging as compared to desires in the mode of goodness. So, basically, we have to deal with the desire appropriately. So, some desires may be anti-devotional.
Say, desires involving breaking of the regulative instruments. Some desires may just be non-devotional. I want to go for some sightseeing, I want to go hiking.
It is not an anti-devotional desire. There is no devotional element directly in it. Some desires may be pro-devotional.
I want to learn some musical instrument. Now, that learning that musical instrument is not directly devotional. But I can use it in devotional sense afterwards.
So, we will have to see what that particular desire is. So, if that desire is anti-devotional, then it is rejected firmly. But other desires, we can deal with them appropriately.
It is not necessary that every single desire has to be rejected. Basically, one approach is rejecting the desires. The other is indulging it in the regulative.
And sometimes, by indulgence also, gradually the realisation comes. Now, I was so excited about it. My mind was so infatuated with it.
It is not the indulgence that gives the realisation. It is the hearing that we have done. The scripture that we have heard, that gives us the realisation.
It is like, in a desert, somebody is chasing a mirage. And when I am desperately thirsty for water, at that time, there is water over there, I have to go there. And even if I go there, I drink, and instead of water I get burning hot sand.
I spit it out. And after that, what will happen? I will see another mirage. I will chase after that.
So, just experiencing that it is hot sand, it is not water, that is not enough. It is only when I have knowledge beforehand that there is something called a mirage. And what I just now experienced is a mirage.
Then, next time when I see the mirage, then I will not chase after it. So, the important thing is to cultivate spiritual knowledge. So, even if some desire is very strong and we are not able to resist it, the mind is going crazy, and even if we intellectually understand that this is simply intimidation, but we get intimidated, and we indulge in it, it does not matter.
The important thing is, keep practising Krishna Bhakti. By the practising of Krishna Bhakti, by cultivating spiritual knowledge, at one time I understand, this is a mirage. I don’t need to chase it.
Just the experience will not give me that realisation, because by that experience I will understand this is a mirage, but I will say, no, that is not a mirage. That is water. So, that understanding that, ok, all of these are mirages, I have to go to Oasis, etc.
That understanding requires knowledge. So, basically, the processing of desires can be done just by hearing, I understand, and I say, no to it. But, if that doesn’t happen, then there is hearing and there is experience.
But then after that, we evaluate the experience in terms of our hearing. I knew this, but somehow I did this, now I will not do it. So, we may not be able to give it up immediately, but over a period of time, it will happen.
In general, desires cannot be given up. Because, we cannot, we cannot not think of a thing. If I come to know, there is a messy oil on this, so I will decide I will not touch this, because my hand will get oiled earlier.
So, if there is a physical object, I can decide I will not touch it. But, with respect to the mind, we cannot not think of something. To not think of something is to think of that thing.
Psychologists talk about this, they call it the pink monkey thought experiment. You tell someone, for the next 30 seconds, please don’t think of a pink monkey. And their life, for 30 years, they have not thought of a pink monkey, and in those 30 seconds, they think of it.
So, if you are focused on the negative, I will not think of this, I will not desire this. With respect to consciousness, we cannot not touch something. We cannot not think of it.
To not think of a thing, is to think of it. So, what we need to do is, we need to have something positive going about it. That’s why desires cannot be given up.
They can be crowded out. Crowded out means, we fill our life with positive spiritual desires. We have so many things to do in the service of Krishna, that we have no time for other things.
It’s simple. Say, suppose, somebody invites you for some party, some meeting, some programme, and then you are in two minds. Should I go, should I not go? If you have nothing planned for that evening, it’s really difficult to say no.
How will I say no? But, if you already have an alternative engagement, and we like that more, we also want to go there, then the no will come out much more immediately. No, I can’t come, because I have to go there. So, a no is never easy to say.
Unless, of course, we dislike that person. Then we will happily say, No, I will not come. Most of us will not be, even if we dislike, we won’t be that impolite.
But the point is, no is not easy to say. It’s not at all pleasant to say no. But, saying no becomes easier when we have something else to say yes to.
I have this engagement, that’s why I can’t come. Even if you don’t tell what that engagement is, saying no becomes easier. So, bhakti is not so much about giving up desires, as it is about taking up desires.
Taking up the desire to serve Krishna. Taking up the desire to share Krishna’s message. Taking up the desire to study Krishna’s message.
Bhakti Siddhant Sir Thakur, Sri Prabhupada’s spiritual master, had many, very advanced disciples. Many of them were very, very learned also. What distinguished Prabhupada from all his Godbrothers was, that he took up the desire of his spiritual master to share Krishna’s message all over the world.
Although he had no resources, he took up that desire and that desire filled his consciousness. It filled his life. And that’s how he was able to fulfil the instruction of his spiritual master.
So, bhakti is essentially about not giving up desires, but taking up desires. So, if we try to find out what it is in bhakti that I like to do, and try to do that more and more. And then, even if that desire comes up, sometimes you will resist it, sometimes you will not be able to resist it.
But as our life becomes filled with more and more devotional activities, then that desire will get crowded out. If you try to drive it out, if you drive it out through the window, it will come through another window. If you drive it out through the door, it will come through another door.
So, if you drive out the desire, it will keep coming back. But if you crowd it out, by filling our consciousness and filling our life with more positive devotional activities, then the desire will go. Does that answer your question? Yes.
One last question and then we close. Sir, can I ask a question? Yeah, yeah, sure. Sir, yesterday you spoke about that talent is not as important as temperament.
So, I just wanted to hear more about temperament and what ways can be considered and that focus goes on a talent that one has. So, when you said that talent is not as important as temperament, what does that actually mean? It’s for specific activities, talent will be very important. Say, some specific activities are something like singing or playing a specific instrument.
Talents are required for that. And, in general in life, the temperament is what sustains a person in doing an activity. Even if somebody is talented in something, still there are difficulties.
Somebody may be a very good, say, good singer. But even then, there are going to be problems. Somebody may be a great singer, but even for them, the sound system will collapse.
Sometimes the power will go off. Sometimes they will get a sore throat. Sometimes they will not reach for their engagement on time.
All these routine problems of life will come to everybody. And if they get too agitated by that, then, oh, the sound system didn’t work, and they go into a bad mood. And that will affect their singing.
So, talent is vital when the performance is there. But our life is not just a performance of talent. Our life is about our overall consciousness.
So, a few years ago, there was this American comedian, Academy Award winner, Robert Williams. He committed suicide. Now, many celebrities have committed suicide, but this particular celebrity was a comedian.
He was a very good comedian. So, him committing suicide was alarming. Because normally, we think of comedians as people who make others laugh, they make others happy, so obviously they must be happy.
But, he was apparently so unhappy that he committed suicide. So, I wrote an article about it, titled After the Laughter. Yes, on the screen, we see the laughter, they’re laughing, they’re making others laugh, but what about after that? So, talent, just like some people may have talent to sing, some people have the talent of humour.
They can just tell stories in an entertaining way, they can make jokes, they can create jokes, and that talent is good for their performance. But, their overall life is going to be determined by their temperament. Life sends difficulties, how will they deal with those difficulties? So, in that sense, success in a particular field may be actually their talent.
But, success in life, having a satisfied life, having a meaningful life, that will depend much more on temperament. And even in particular fields also, if the temperament is not steady, then, one may be like a flash in the pan. One may be successful for some time, but then, after that, a person may just lose out.
In Indian cricket history, the example is given that Sachin Tendulkar is one of the best batsmen, the best batsman in India, I’ve heard. So, he and another batsman, you know, Kamli, both of them were very talented. In fact, Kamli was more talented than Tendulkar.
But, Kamli was very temperament. And this came on the screen, it came on the international circuit for some time. So, in every field, we see that there are people who are talented, but they don’t make it.
Why? Because they don’t have the temperament. So, in our spiritual life, or by our spiritual life, even if we are deficient in talent, our temperament gets improved. Broadly speaking, temperament is associated with the mode of goodness.
Even if somebody is doing a passionate activity like playing cricket, like limited overs, T20 kind of cricket, still, even then, there are also people who are cool-headed, and they are playing. And that cool-headedness is basically a characteristic of the mode of goodness. So, the more we practise bhakti, ultimately we’ll attain Krishna.
But, intermediately, we come and become situated in the mode of goodness. And through that mode of goodness, we can deal with life’s issues much more calmly. So, even when we have talents, to translate the talent into achievement, we need temperament.
And, even if, apart from the talent, the rest of our life, what about it? That will be determined by our temperament. So, in the material conception of life, the deficiency of talents can seem very crippling. But, in the spiritual understanding, the talents may not be improvable dramatically, but, the temperament can be improved significantly.
And thus, we can have a better life. Thank you very much. Shri Prabhupada Ki Jai.
Hare Krishna. We would like to thank Prabhuji for coming all the way here to enlighten us about the car. Now, we know what is a car.
The steering wheel. Remember? And then, the steering wheel and Krishna should be our companion. And, I hope we will put it in practise because it is good to hear that now we have to try to put it in practise.
Yes, we have to try now. And then, we would like to thank also everybody who has cooked. Because, now we will go for the next part of the programme.
Is the cooking. Thank you, all the Matajis. Super Matajis for helping in the cooking.
So, we have this programme for two days. I don’t cook almost anything at home. All the cooking has been done by these nice ladies.
And, first we were thinking that we will have like some simple prasad. But, Mataji is a cook a lot and we had this elaborate prasadam. Such a feast, we can say.
Right? Both days. So, thank you, thank you a lot for putting this together. Helping me.
So, I just get orders. Can you believe it? Yeah, I don’t do any work. Thank you so much.
Thank you for taking time out for coming. Both days. I know tomorrow is a working day.
But, you are still here. Please, have prasad before you leave. Okay, everybody? I want to bow down and thank you, Saira Prabhu and Lalita Mataji.
Hare Krishna. Next week, please, each and every devotee, please come to our home. We are going to have this again.
We will not have the Maharaj, but we will have Saira Prabhu. That’s good enough for us. Then prasadam.
Then prasad. Then you can go home. I know tomorrow is a school day.
Working day. But, you are still here. Then prasadam and then prasad.
Prasad. Prasad. Prasad.
Prasad. Prasad. Prasad.
Prasad. Prasad. Prasad.
Prasad. Prasad. Prasad.
Prasad. Prasad. Prasad.