Steadiness by understanding Dharma and bhakti. Bhagavad Gita 9.33. Brisbane, Australia.

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

In Government College of Pune. Prabhuji subsequently served as a software engineer in a prominent multinational software corporation. Prabhuji also secured 2,350 out of 2,400 in GIE, which is the top rank in Maharashtra.

Gaining the top rank, Prabhuji saw prevalent problems of stress, depression, problems, addiction and overall misdirection, all caused by lack of spirituality. Prabhuji felt so inspired that Prabhuji dedicated his whole life for the cause of sharing the spiritual knowledge and wisdom from Bharat Gita under the aegis of ISKCON. Prabhuji travelled all over the world, from Australia to America, giving spiritual talks in the US, Princeton, Cambridge, companies like Intel and Microsoft as well.

Prabhuji is the author of the world's only Gita-based… That's a very long introduction, you can stop it. I don't know, I had to give a shorter introduction, but you can just stop it. You can stop now.

Thank you. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. So, you have got this book, you can go to shloka number 9.33, that is page 130 in your book, 9.33. So this is Prayers Inspired by Bhagavad Gita.

So here basically, I am taking various verses, key verses from the Gita and discussing how they actually can be approached in the form of prayers. So, 9.33, I think page 130, is it? Page 130, okay, fair. So, we will discuss here about this particular verse.

So in each of these prayers, there is one beautiful picture of Krishna, the deity to whom we are offering, the temples from all over the world, which temple it is and where it is as mentioned at the right bottom. And then, based on the verse, there is a spiritual prayer, an affirmation, a devotional affirmation, and we have a poetic translation of the verse. And then we have a one-page prayer based on that.

So, if you like, you can repeat after me. My dear Lord, the world's misery is real. More real still is your mercy.

Let us recite this verse. See, there is a poetic translation of the verse. What then to speak of sages, pure and devoted, And saintly kings, surely will they all be elevated.

Being born in this world, fleeting and full of distress, Just worship me and attain everlasting happiness. Let's recite the verse two more times. Once we will recite it responsibly and then after that collectively.

Together, one last time. Namah Om Vishnupadaya Krishnapreshtaya Bhutale Shri Mathe Bhaktivedanta Swami Itinamine Namaste Saraswati Deve Gauravani Pracharine Nirvishesha Shunyavadi Pashchakya Deshatarine Vancha Kalpataru Vyascha Kripa Sindhubhya Evacha Patita Naam Paavane Vyok Vaishnave Vyona Mona Maha Jai Shri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu Nityananda Shri Advaita Gadadhara Shri Vasadhi Gauravakta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare My dear Lord, please guide us all so that through all the ups and downs of life we can stay fixed in your remembrance and your service. Hare Krishna.

So thank you for coming today. And today we're going to discuss about this particular verse from the Bhagavad Gita, which is 9.33. It's the last verse of this ninth chapter. And here Krishna is talking about how we can deal with the trials and troubles that come in our life.

What is the overall frame of mind that can help us to deal with the troubles? So let's say I request different participants to read one one paragraph. If any of the kids would like to read, there are some slightly bigger words, but you can read as much as you can. My dear Lord, help me acknowledge the undeniable reality of misery in this world.

Guide me to see through the world's promises of pleasure, power, position and best style. And appreciate how they are untimely, empty and futile because they are temporary. That's well read.

A lot of big words were there. Thank you. So, who is the Bhagavad Gita spoken to? Arjuna.

Yes. The Gita is spoken by Krishna to Arjuna. And why is it spoken? Okay, it's for our benefit.

Yeah, that is true. But from the immediate context. Yes.

Yes, Arjuna was confused. Actually, Arjuna was not just confused. Arjuna was confused.

He was conflicted. And he was confounded. Now, confused is okay.

There are many things you might be confused about. Say, there are two political parties who are campaigning very aggressively. Now, which party is better? Which party? You might be confused about that.

Two people have a debate about something. And who is right? Who is wrong? You might be confused. But there can be many things we might be confused about.

We might not care much about it. Whether this party comes or that party comes. It's not that our life is going to change dramatically.

But conflicted means it's much more emotional. So, confused is more intellectual. Conflicted is much more internal, personal, emotional.

And not just conflicted but he was confounded. Confounded because I just don't know what to do. So, if we are conflicted about some issue, that is, okay, one part of my life.

But if it is about what we are supposed to do right now, it's consuming our entire life. Then it's very difficult. So, if say, okay, in future, you know, I might get an opportunity to get a better job somewhere else.

Should I take that job or not? I might be conflicted. But if right now, I'm told, either you relocate to that place or we'll have to let you go. And you'll decide in the next five minutes.

How do I decide that? I'll be confounded by that. So, Arjuna was right in that situation. And he was in immense distress.

So, while we can say that the Bhagavad Gita was spoken for many purposes and they are true. Now, the point of the Bhagavad Gita was not just to get Arjuna to fight. If Krishna had wanted Arjuna to fight and that was all that he had wanted, Krishna could have just reminded Arjuna about how the Kauravas had dishonored Draupadi.

Do you remember, Arjuna, how they tried to disrobe Draupadi? Do you remember her tears of anger and pain as she was looking at you with fury and helplessness? Do you remember your own anger that you could not do anything at that time? Do you remember how Duryodhana was laughing at that time? Now is the opportunity for you to take revenge for it all. Shoot and kill them right now. And just a few sentences like that would have been enough to get Arjuna's blood to boil and Arjuna would have been ready to fight.

So, Krishna not only does not take that route, which would have been the easiest, but Krishna almost studiously avoids any mention of any of those inflammatory incidents. So, Krishna actually takes a much more philosophical pathway. And why is that? The purpose of the Gita, generally any book we want to understand, if you consider a book to be like a talk, the Gita is of course a talk in itself.

It's more to use contemporary language. It's not so much of a talk as it is a podcast. Podcast is more of a free-flowing discussion with interaction.

So, that's like, it's a podcast between Krishna and Arjuna. Now, within this, what is the purpose? So, generally, if we are going to attend a talk, then generally at the start of the talk, either the speaker will say, I am going to speak about this topic or the organizer will say, okay, today we are going to have a talk on this topic. Or at the end, there might be some words, this is what I spoke about the speaker may say, or the organizer may, the vote of thanks say, this is what we spoke about.

Thank you for speaking on this topic. So, generally, if you look at the beginning at the end, it's easy to know, to get a good sense of what is the purpose of what is being talked about. And especially this, it's not just off the cuff, spontaneous talk, it's a systematic organized presentation.

Then generally, at the start and at the end, there is a clear indication of what is, what was the purpose of what is being spoken. So, Jiva Goswami is one of the prominent acharyas in our tradition. And he starts by using this approach to analyze the Gita.

And he says, what is the first instructive word that Krishna speaks? That comes in 2.11. That is from where Krishna's instruction starts. Ashocchan anvasocastam. Ashocchan.

That means not worth lamenting, not worth fearing, not worth dreading, not worth being in pain about. Not worth being in pain, not worth being in fear, not worth being in, there are various negative emotions. Not worth being in pain or fear.

And what is the last instructive word that Krishna speaks? That is 18.66. And it is maa shuchaha. So, exactly the variant of the same, Ashocchan and maa shuchaha. So, maa shuchaha is do not be, do not fear, do not lament, do not be in pain.

So, Jiva Goswami explains, the purpose of the whole Bhagavad Gita is to free Arjuna and thereby all of humanity of pain. To free us from pain in life. That is the purpose of Bhagavad Gita.

So, now, when we talk about pain, often the notion that drives almost everyone in the world is, I am in pain, but that person is not in pain. If I can become like that person, I will become happy. Oh, I have a small house, that's the problem for me.

If I get a bigger house, that person has such a big house. If I have a big house, I will be happy. Oh, my job only pays me this much.

If only I could get a bigger paying job. Oh, you know, I am so short, that person is so tall. Oh, I am of this complexion only if I have that complexion.

There is always, the general principle is, we think of distress in terms of how our situation compares unfavorably with other situation. And conversely, there is also that form of happiness. That my situation is better than someone else's situation.

I once saw an ad for a car. He said, buy this car and enjoy the envy in your neighbor's eyes. It is not even enjoy how smooth the car is.

Enjoy how others are unhappy. And then seeing that, you become happy. So, often when we talk about distress or misery, distress often it may seem to be relative.

That relative means that I don't have this, that person has this, so I am unhappy. Or that person does not have it, I have it, so I am happy. So, while our mind is often consumed by this relative conception of distress, because of which we keep working in relative terms.

Okay, if only I can get this, then I'll become happy. But the Bhakti texts define distress in much more absolute terms. What do I mean by absolute terms? It talks about three dimensions of distress.

That there is, Prahlad Maharaj talks about this in the 7th Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam. And it's also mentioned at other places in the scriptures. So, he says, yasmāt priyā priyaviyoga saiyoga janma śoktāgniṇā sakalayo nishudaya mānaḥ duḥkhauśadham tadapi duḥkham atadyāham umānbrahmāmi vadame tava dāsyayogam So, he says that there are things which are priya for us.

And that which is priya, we want sanyoga with that. We want to get those things. Sanyoga means to obtain, to connect, to get.

That which is priya, we want sanyoga with that. And that which is apriya, we want viyoga with that. We want to stay far away.

So, if say, we are going for a picnic to a scenic place, then we want, oh, I should have a wonderful time over there. And we go for the picnic and that day it turns out to be a rainy and stormy day. And we have to stay in the hotel room and we can't even go out anywhere.

This is just what I didn't want to happen. So, often what happens is distress comes because these two get interchanged. So, what happens with priya, we have viyoga.

What we want does not happen. And the exact thing that we don't want happens. So, now, both of these, they cause distress.

Now, the specific of what somebody considers desirable and whether they get it or not, that varies from person to person. But everybody has some things which are desirable that they don't get. And some things that are undesirable, they get.

Now, somebody who is not very popular, they will say, oh, nobody knows me. I am not very well-known in the world. And that is, oh, when I go out, nobody knows me.

That is the cause of unhappiness. But somebody becomes very famous, then wherever they go, people approach them. I have no privacy.

And that is the cause of their misery. Now, yes, we may say, if I am not known, I want to be known. I want people to come and approach me and talk with me.

But wherever we go, people are crowding around us. It's frustrating. You don't have any privacy at all.

So, what is priya and what is apriya, with what viyoga is there, what yoga is there, that may vary. But this is the principle for everyone. That distress comes because we don't get, we have viyoga with the priya.

This is one form of distress. So, we don't get the desirable. This we can call as dissatisfaction.

Oh, when will I get this? When I don't get something, I am dissatisfied. But then, there is another form of distress is, I get what I do not want. And this also happens to everyone.

Somebody becomes very successful. One of my friends, he is very charismatic speaker. He is a celebrity on social media.

He was telling me that, he said he got 5 million followers. And we were discussing, immensely popular. And then he said that, because now he is in the elite circle of social media celebrities in India.

So, he was invited to some kind of conference among people who were more of a pro-Hindutva background. And he saw that, he told me that there was so much insecurity and envy among them. All of them have millions of followers, the amount of followers that most people cannot imagine also.

But, oh, you know, I have 5 million, you have 8 million. And that you have 8 million, that causes so much insecurity. Or I got 8 million, that gave me happiness, but you got 9 million, that gives me great unhappiness.

So, it is that everybody has something. Sometimes when the apriya, when what we do not want to happen, that happens. Then that doesn't just cause dissatisfaction, that causes frustration.

When I don't get what I want, that's dissatisfaction. When I get what I don't want, that's frustration. And the two are not same.

There are different kinds of unhappiness. But the twist in the tale that Prahlad says is that the worst, the most unexpected is that when there is, when with priya we have sanyoga and with the apriya we have vyoga. That we are able to get what we want, we are able to avoid what we want.

In spite of that, there is emptiness. There is still something missing in life. What is empty? And he is talking about this by his observation of his own father, Rinald Nekashyam.

Who had power and prestige and position what, like what nobody can even imagine. Nowadays people talk about, nowadays we have technology advancing with AI going so fast. They say in social media there was a viral thing about, there was a robot which was supposed to be a monk.

How can the robot be a monk? Their idea is that this monk, this robot knows all the buddhist texts and he is better than all buddhist monks. So, they are thinking in a monastery they will have the robot give the talk. The people said okay, they will have robots come and attend the talk also.

But the point is that technology is advancing very fast. So, we might in the past if we have to turn on the fan, we go and press the button. We might have remote.

Now we might have wide operated technology. Just turn on the fan or increase the fan from 2 to 3. Now Hiranyakashyapu had eyebrow operated technology. He would just raise his eyebrows, and what would happen? The Pavanadev would increase the wind or decrease the wind.

Suryadev would decrease the temperature or decrease the temperature. So, we may call all this as fantasy. But it is fantastic, not fantasy.

It is extraordinary power that he had. But the point is in spite of having this, he was not satisfied. He was empty, so empty that he used to fill his emptiness with intoxication.

And so the point is this for most of us our life goes in getting what is desirable, avoiding what is undesirable. But what few people realize that at the end of this even after getting what is desirable and avoiding what is undesirable, still there is distress. Dukhaushadam tadapi dukkham atadyaham.

So, dukhaushadam tadapi dukkham. So, that these are three broad phases of distress. And that's why misery or distress, it's not relative.

It's not just individual. Oh, I am having these problems. It is universal.

The specific kind of problem that different people may have may be different. But the principle of distress is universal. So, that's why the prayer that we started with was that distress is, misery is real.

Who would like to read the next paragraph? Electorat. O merciful Lord, grant me the holistic vision to see beyond its miseries, to see how you reign supreme with unfailing mercy. Therefore, my Lord, help me dwell on that mercy and on the truth that you are not only competent but eager to energize my life with a higher purpose that makes life's distresses bearable.

Yes. So, the distress of the world is real and undeniable. And when we are facing distresses, if we are here and say this is some distressful situation which we are facing.

Now, we all have problems and we need to deal with them. But constantly dealing with problems becomes exhausting. So, at that time, we have to get away from the problems.

Now, there are two ways to get away from problems. So, if this is the real world, real world means, I am using the word real in the sense that the world that we experience out there. And the real world is distressing, frustrating.

And if it is not distressing, it is boring. And it being boring also becomes distressing after sometime. Because so much boring, there is nothing exciting in my life.

So, what happens at that time? Either we can go down or we can go up. Now, go down means what? That we go into an imaginary world. The way to the imaginary world is through entertainment.

So, entertainment means what? That okay, watch this movie, play this video game, do this, do that. And that way, we try to escape from the distress of the world. In fact, that word is often associated with entertainment in the sense, it was nice escapist entertainment.

So, escapist is, I escape from the distress of the world. And that's okay. Krishna also says, Yuktahara Viharas.

Some recreation is required. But the point is, recreation or entertainment should be a break from life. But entertainment should not break our life.

What do I mean by that? For many people, the movie world or the TV series world or the video game world or nowadays the social media, the virtual world, that becomes more real than the physical world. And because of that, they just can't function. They can't function in the real world.

There are so many people who believe all kinds of conspiracy theories. There are so many people who get all kinds of weird ideas and people get addicted to certain things. And much of that influence comes to social media, to the virtual world, to the imaginary world.

Now, the healthier way to deal with it is to go upward. So, while here there is a imaginary world that we can create and through technology we are creating more and more of that imaginary world. But above this is the spiritual world.

So, this is the spiritual reality that each one of us is a soul. Each one of us is a part of God. And this is by enlightenment.

Now, enlightenment in this context is raising our consciousness upwards, getting a bigger vision of what is happening in life. What is the purpose of life? So, yes, everything that is going on in our life, it might be boring, it might be distressing. That is true.

But it is not the complete picture. So, when Arjuna is facing the prospect of fighting a war, what is happening for him? For him, both of these distresses are there. Yasmat Priya Priyabhiyoga Sanyoga Janma.

So, Arjuna would much rather offer respects to Bhishma and Drona. But he is on the opposite side from them. Not only the opposite side from them, he also has to fight them.

He has to kill them. That pain is unbearable for him. Because these are not just his elders.

These are the elders from whom he learned archery. These are the elders for whose pleasure he learned archery. And now these are the very same elders he has to kill with that same archery.

So, the level of unbearable pain that he is in at that point, what do I do? I just don't know what to do. Fighting is not a solution. Not fighting is also not a solution.

Why is not fighting not a solution? Because he may decide not to fight, but Duryodhana may still want to fight. Now, Duryodhana may say that, okay, maybe Bhishma intervenes and says, let the Pandavas live. They will live in a forest and you live in the kingdom.

But Duryodhana is such a wicked person, he is not going to stay peaceful with that. Because before the war happened, there were alliances formed. And both sides were trying to get support.

Now, those who supported Pandavas, Duryodhana would get back at them. You chose their side, now I will show you. And when Arjuna would see that, because they supported me and now I backed out, so now they have to suffer because of me.

Arjuna is by nature a protector. He would not be able to live with himself on seeing others suffering because of him. So, for Arjuna, there was no good option over there.

And at that time, the profound distress that he is in, the Gita elevates his vision. What does it do? That, yes, you are in a distressful situation, but there is a bigger reality over here. So, Prahlad also says that, my dear Lord, when I am making decisions of what to do and what not to do, rather than trying to get the priya and avoid the apriya, what I want to do, what is? Vadhametava Dasya Yogam.

Vadhametava, please speak to me, Dasya Yogam. How I can be of service to you? So, rather than trying to do the yoga with the priya and yoga with the apriya, what I want? Yoga. What I want connection with is Dasya.

That, how can I be of service to you? So, he has a bigger vision that through whatever happening in our life, something may be good, something may be bad, but through all of it, a higher plan is happening. And we are a part of that plan. So, what that higher plan is and how we can participate in that plan, that is ultimately the message of the Bhagavad Gita.

That you are seeing things at a particular level, but there is a bigger plan. So, if we can put it this way, say, if I am here, some things are happening to me, and some things are being done to me, and some things are being done by me. And what Krishna is saying, now we often think that, okay, God is there, God is up over here.

That is true. But God is not only up over there. Maya tatam idam sarvam.

Yena sarvam idam tatam. Krishna says, actually, Krishna exists everywhere. So, what is happening to us and what is being meant to be done by us, both of these are meant to be God filtered.

Both of these are a part of Krishna's plan. That, what do you mean, I'll explain what God filtered means. But essentially, bad things may be happening to us, but there is some plan of Krishna happening even through that.

And we may be in a very difficult situation where nothing seems to be right, no option seems to be good for us. But even in that situation, we can be, we can, by having a service attitude, by trying to be in a mood of service, we can be a part of a higher plan. So, at this level, the reality is there is misery.

There may not be constant misery, but at the reality of, okay, what is happening to me and what am I to do about it? Like I said, Arjuna was confused, conflicted and confounded. Now, we may not be at that level of pain, but at this level, misery is there. But if we learn to see things at this level, where there is Krishna as the bigger reality and there is Krishna's plan as a bigger reality.

So, misery in this world is real, but greater than the misery is the mercy of the God. So, let's try to understand what, how, is this just a sentimental vision? Oh, we just have faith, so we believe this vision. Or is there some way we can get a more tangible understanding of this bigger picture? So, who would like to read the last paragraph? Anyone else? Oh me, oh undefeatable Lord, not to wait passively for some mystical revelation of purpose, but instead to make choices that add meaning to my life, no matter how messy or meaningless things seem at the moment.

Bless me with the conviction that every situation carries opportunity to serve you responsibly by doing something meaningful. Incomplete? Is not the thing is there in the book? Okay, the next paragraph. It's a separate paragraph in your book.

Okay, sure. I got an old version of the book. We've got the latest version.

So, now, what does this mean that if we consider Arjuna's situation itself. Now, Krishna was with Arjuna. So, when we are talking about unsteadiness.

So, Arjuna himself was actually a very determined and very dedicated warrior. But the situation that came in life knocked him down. It made him extremely unsteady.

So, what was the unsteadiness for him? What am I to do? How can I fight against my own elders, against my own relatives? So, against my own worshipable teachers and teacher and grandfather. So, he just felt completely lost at that time. And at that time, what Krishna told him.

Now, Krishna's message itself is quite subtle and multilayered. But we will focus on some key points in trying to get this bigger picture of what Krishna's message is. How understanding this bigger picture can help us to persevere through the things that would otherwise make us unsteady.

So, if we are in an ocean, if say there are waves in an ocean, the normal waves will be there, will go up and down. But sometimes giant waves come up. And if these giant waves come up, we will just be thrown up and down.

So, now we can't control what will happen in our life. But we can control how prepared we are for what happens. So, we can't know, for example, tomorrow whether we will have a job or not.

But we can control whether we save money so that for any day we have some savings. So, we can control how prepared we are. Now, we may say, okay, will our preparation be enough or not? We can't be sure about that.

But at the same time, preparing is in our control. So, amidst life's unsteadiness, we cannot expect that life will no longer be unsteady. That expectation, oh, in future, if I practice bhakti, everything in my life will be nice.

That is like a spiritual lala land. Lala land is an imaginary world. It is not going to happen.

But the idea is we can become steadier. So, say there is a small, if we have a small boat. And we are in the small boat.

The small boat can protect us from small waves. But if there is a huge wave, then that small boat will be completely swept away, overturned. However, if we have a large boat, then what will happen? In that large boat, there will be a greater shelter.

There will be a greater protection. So, the ocean of the world is huge. The storm of this world can be so large that no human being can ever make a boat or a ship so large that no boat, that no storm will ever shake it.

It is just not possible. We can make larger and larger and larger ships. We can have cruise ships.

But even cruise ships don't always cruise in the ocean. Because sometimes the ocean becomes stormy. If you consider Australia, if you consider South America, South America and Australia are more or less in the same latitude.

To some extent, some part of South America. And if you want, if Australia wants to export something or they want to import something, there could be a straight way. It's not exactly the same latitude, but very close.

They could just come, ships could come straight. But there are zero ships that go straight. Because that part of the ocean is the stormiest.

Because South America ends over here and Australia is slightly below. So, they are not exactly very similar, but they are here. So, that patch of ocean, there is no landmass over there.

And because of that, the winds that flow and the waves, the river, the water that flows, that gets so much pace. And there is nothing to break its momentum. So, even the best of ships, they can't go for very long in that.

Sometimes they have to cross that path, but they try to cross quickly and get out of that. That zone is extremely dangerous. So, in the material world, the waves can be so large that we can never make a ship large enough to protect ourselves from all waves.

But in existence as of, if you consider existence as a whole reality, then Krishna himself is the supreme shelter. So, it's not just that if we consider this ocean with waves, we have some small waves and sometimes some huge waves come up. Now, Krishna himself is not just a large boat, but Krishna is actually like the boat that contains the ocean.

Krishna contains everything in this world. So, Krishna is aham sarvasya prabham. So, greater than everything in this world, greater than the greatest danger of this world is Krishna.

And this is what the Bhagavad Gita, we will talk about three points in the Gita's message. That first is with our intelligence, that with our intelligence, we understand that there is a bigger reality. That there is some being, some reality bigger than what I perceive on a daily basis.

Now, how is this just our faith? Well, yes, it's faith, but it's not just faith. If you see, life is so uncertain. Life is so fragile.

And often things go wrong in life. But what with our intelligence, if I consider my life journey, I often look at what happens to me in my life. And sometimes bad things happen and sometimes good things happen.

And we look at based on that, oh, priya and apriya has happened. So, we often evaluate our life's quality based on the gifts in life. Gifts in life is, okay, what are the good things that happened to me? What are the bad things happened to me? I got some gift.

I didn't get some gift. Now, that is okay. We can always look at this.

But at a more fundamental level, there is the gift of life. That we are alive itself is a miracle. There are so many things going wrong inside our body.

Our body is so fragile and vulnerable that one bang by an automobile from outside or one bang, bullet from outside or one bug from inside, it can end our life. The fact that we are all alive means that there is more right than wrong in our life. The fact that we are alive means that Krishna still has some purpose for us.

Krishna is not yet done with us. So, yes, there are so many dangers in the world and we don't deny those dangers. There are so many distresses in the world.

We don't deny those distresses. But just the fact that we are alive, in spite of all the dangers and distresses that have come in our life, means that there is a bigger sustaining reality. So, for us, the Bhagavad Gita talks about this in the 15th chapter.

It's been the 11th verse. It's Pashyanti Gyan Chakshushaha. With our intelligence.

So, I was saying that greater than the world's misery is Krishna's mercy. So, how do we see the mercy? First is with intelligence. With intelligence, we can see that the fact of life itself is an indication of mercy.

And without this foundation, everything else that happens in our life, we will always be in dualities. That is, oh, you know, why didn't this work out? Why did this happen? When will this happen? If we are only looking for gifts in life, we will not be able to see God's mercy at all. Because at that level, there will always be duality.

But underline the duality. So, in the gifts of life, there is duality. But in terms of the gift of life, there is constancy.

Now, of course, you can say the gift of life is also not permanent. And that is true. We'll talk about that as we move on.

But while we are alive, the gift of life, every day, if we have a devotional disposition, every day we wake up, Krishna, you have given me this day. What do you have in store for me today? What do you want me to do today? How can I perceive your plan? How can I participate in your plan? What can I do today? So, this requires intelligence. Like if you consider a small child, a small child may consider, Mummy, I wanted this toy.

Daddy, I wanted this. Did you bring it? Did you not bring it? And that's the only thing the child sees. And if the child gets the toy that they want, they are happy.

They don't get what they want, they are not happy. But the fact that they are alive, the fact that they have parents who care, the fact that they are well fed, the fact that they are getting education, these are far greater gifts. So, the gift of life is very valuable, but it requires intelligence to perceive it.

So, what happens is the gift of life, gifts in life, these are actually, in one sense, they are available for, they, we, if we have this, I talk about this relative happiness, absolute happiness, relative distress and happiness. In the relative vision, what happens, the gifts in life become important. Oh, you know, I got this job, but that, I got this many marks in my exam, but that again got better marks than me.

Why? So, I got good marks, I am happy, but you got more marks than me, I become unhappy. So, the gifts in life, as long as you are operating at that level, our vision is relative and we cannot be happy. So, to appreciate the gift of life, we need to shift that absolute level.

The fact that I am alive, this itself is a blessing. This is, at the first level, the intelligence is to see the gift of life. Now, beyond that, after we have this, that I am alive, so Arjuna is now, he still has to move ahead.

So, beyond that, the next step with the intelligence that we have is that we take some responsibility. We do something with what we have. Quite often in our life, we think our happiness depends on what we get.

Oh, if I get better things in life, I'll be happy. And there is some truth to that. If somebody does not have any food and they are starving, if they get food, they will be happy.

So, to some extent, our happiness depends on what we get. Or it depends on, broadly speaking, you can say what we have. And while there is truth to that, but actually in the long run, our happiness depends on what we do with what we have.

It depends not so much on what we have, but what we do with what we have. So, responsibility, in the sense, is not duty. In the Gita, when the word dharma is used, dharma has six different meanings of the Bhagavad Gita and that's a bit of a technical subject.

But broadly speaking, responsibility, at one level it is duty. But it is not just duty. It is basically healthy belonging.

Healthy belonging. Let me explain what this means. Slightly technical concept.

But once it's understood, then we will see how we can see Krishna's mercy in whatever situation we are in. So, what is responsibility? I said responsibility, this means dharma. So, in the Bhagavad Gita, the word dharma is used in two different senses.

One is in 2.7, when Arjuna asks, pruchham itvam dharmasam mudhachetah. And then in 4.8, he says, dharmasam sthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge. That I have come here to establish dharma.

So, let's try to understand this concept of dharma through one incident in the Mahabharata. And this is, Arjuna is in great pain, but Yudhishthira actually was in even greater pain. See, there are different kinds of pains.

When Yudhishthira was in the forest, at that time, all the Pandavas were shattered. And among everyone, there are two, among the five Pandavas, six of them had gone to the forest. Draupadi had gone with them.

And Kunti had not gone because Kunti was quite advanced in age. So, Yudhishthira said, please let us stay with me. And Yudhishthira agreed.

So, now among these six Pandavas, there were two who were especially angry at that time. Can you guess who were the two? Bhima and? I am talking about six people who had gone there. Draupadi, yes.

And there was one person who was very peaceful, Yudhishthira. And seeing Yudhishthira peaceful made Draupadi even more angry. Now, to some extent, I don't want to go into the full gambling match incident at that time, but Yudhishthira had been the emperor of the world and now he had been stripped of everything.

He was in the forest. Now, we could say it was his mistake. I'll talk about that also.

But Draupadi was enraged with him. Now, Duryodhana said that, sorry, Bhima said, Bhima was also extremely angry, he was fuming. And one time Bhima and Draupadi joined forces and they approached.

And now Yudhishthira had been peaceful in the forest, sitting and hearing from the sages, discussing with them. And so, after they heard one talk from a sage and there was some story they heard where, the Sanskrit term for Varsha. The Varsha, while Varsha generally means a year, Varsha is a unit of time.

And, you know, words are multivalent. Words have many different meanings. Sometimes same word can mean different things.

So, there is some story that the sage told that Varsha can also mean a month. And Bhima approached Yudhishthira and he said, you know, Varsha can mean even a month. We have already been 13 months here.

Our exile is over. Let's go and demand the kingdom. So, Yudhishthira said, you know, that would be dishonorable.

We knew what 13 years meant. Bhima said, you are talking about dishonorable, but they were dishonorable. They pitted you against Shakuni.

Shakuni was a trained gambler, a trained games, and you were not. And the gambling match was supposed to be between Duryodhana and Yudhishthira. So, Duryodhana was putting the stakes and he should have been playing the dice.

He said, they acted dishonorably, we should also act dishonorably. So, what's wrong with that? So, at that time, Yudhishthira says that what you are saying is a dharma. And we need to act according to dharma.

So, Draupadi explores this. Where was dharma when such terrible things happened to us? So, there is no dharma protecting us. We have to protect ourselves.

So, at that time, Yudhishthira says that Oh Panchali, what happened to you was terrible. That I caused it to happen, that causes me immense pain. But still, he said that dharma is what sustains all of existence.

We are alive. That is because of dharma. So, now the word dharma has two different meanings.

One is in a moral sense and the other is in an operational sense. Now, operational or we can say functional sense. So, I will explain both these.

That dharma in a moral or operational sense, moral, these are two very distinct. So, dharma is basically a functional reality of life. So, if somebody is on a 10 story building and from there they step off and what is going to happen? They are going to fall down.

Now, the universe operates according to certain principles. So, gravity is a part of the operating reality of the universe. So, the earth will act according to its dharma and pull objects down.

Now, for us, we can't blame gravity. If a plane crashes and then the airline company, the authorities come and ask, how did the plane crash? Don't blame us. Who is to blame then? Gravity caused the plane crash.

You can't blame gravity for the plane crash. The planes are designed to fly in front of gravity. So, the idea is dharma is an operational reality of the world.

So, if we don't understand how the world functions and act inappropriately, then that is going to cause problems. So, for example, if somebody has diabetes and say it's their birthday and somebody very lovingly cooks some cake for them. Now, oh, you have cooked the cake with so much love for me.

So, maybe you can take one morsel. That's okay, to appreciate their sentiment. But if they take huge pieces of that cake, he says, I am not tasting the sweetness of the cake.

I am tasting the sweetness of your love. And maybe, but the biology of the body is not going to see the love. What is going to happen? It's going to see the insulin spike that is going to happen.

So, even if say, this is not just with respect to love, if somebody has got diabetes and somebody gives them Tirupati Balaji Prasad, you know, he says, don't take sweets. This is not sweet. This is Mahaprasad.

Don't have material vision. See spiritually. Yes, see spiritually does not mean see stupidly.

Isn't it? That the spiritual is more than the material. But that does not mean the material is not real. So, yes.

So, if somebody takes Balaji Prasad also, it's going to cause problems. So, there is a functional reality in this world. And that functional reality cannot be denied.

So, Dharma works at a functional level. Now, Dharma is also working at a moral level. So, that means what? Say, if I am, if I am walking on a slippery floor, and I don't, I am not careful what is going to happen, I am going to slip and fall.

So, if I am on a slippery floor, then what is this, my Dharma is to walk carefully. And of course, you can say the owner of the house, their Dharma should be that they wipe the floor properly. Or like if you are in an airport and some cleaning is going on somewhere, so they say, careful, wet floor here.

Let no notice put over there. So, in one sense, Dharma is about how the individual belongs to the collective and how the collective acts for the individual. So, now, if we go back to the incident, which Duryodhana considered his personal humiliation.

Duryodhana slipped and fell. Now, when he slipped and fell, he felt that the Pandavas had insulted him. But had the Pandavas deliberately sprinkled water or poured water on the path of Duryodhana, so that he would slip and fall? No, that Sabha, that palace itself was called as the Maya Palace.

The Palace of Illusion. And Duryodhana, after everybody had gone, Duryodhana stayed on. And he said, I want to more carefully examine this palace.

And okay, if you want to examine this palace, then why were you here? Isn't it? So, the Pandavas did not deliberately go out of their way to humiliate Duryodhana. So, if there is a particular way things are, we need to harmonize with that. So, Dharma is a operational reality.

Operational reality, this is the way things are and this is the way you have to function. So, we might be going for some good purpose also. Say, suppose somebody is a doctor and they have a loved one and that person is sick and they are going in a storm.

That person has got a heart attack, you have to go there with them. Okay, it's your service, it's your love and you are going, that's good. But if somebody's car is not so well equipped to drive in a stormy weather, maybe their car tyre slips, maybe their brakes are not good, then their intention may be good.

But intention does not mean that the danger of the path is going to go away. So, Dharma is what? It's an operational reality. Operational reality means that whichever larger hole we are a part of, we need to belong properly to it.

So, now Dharma is also a moral reality. Moral reality means what? That if I do something good, I should get something good back. This is how things should function.

So, Dharma is a moral reality means that say if I work in a company, the company should pay me. And if I work more, I perform more, I should get some bonus. So, now the moral reality means that our contribution to the larger hole and the reward from the larger hole, the remuneration or the reward reciprocated to the larger hole should be proportionate.

This is how things should be. But sometimes things are not like that. Sometimes what happens? See the moral, the operational reality, it is automatic.

This is how it is. We all belong to a particular larger hole and we have to operate according to the rules of that larger hole. But moral means that it is not that automatically if somebody starts a company, the owner of the company is going to fairly pay everyone.

No, the owner or the boss will try to extract as much work as possible and give as less money as possible. So, now that's why there has been a government regulation, there has to be some rules. I spend a lot of time in America and I visit Australia also quite a few years.

So, there are lots of Indians in America and now Indians have become the highest migrant group in Australia now. So, there is some negative sentiment towards Indians everywhere. But the anti-immigrant sentiment in America is very different from the anti-immigrant sentiment in Australia.

In America, there is initially a lot of anti-immigrant sentiment because there are so many illegal immigrants coming. And one friend of mine, he had applied for the American visa and he didn't get it. So, he was talking with one American devotee who had invited him and he said, you made a mistake.

So, applying for the visa you should have just gone to Mexico and walked in from there. You could have come in. But there is so much illegal immigration and there has been a push back now.

All those people are coming and taking our jobs. And now that illegal immigration has stopped but now there is an anti-Indian sentiment. And what is the Indian anti-sentiment? Oh, these people are coming and they are taking the low paying jobs or they are living on welfare.

And they are burdening our society. That was the complaint against illegal immigration. But now there are many Indians who come as high skilled labour and they work hard.

So, now their complaint is, oh these Indians work so hard that because of them we have to work hard now. So, we want to work for 8 hours, Indians are ready to work for 10 hours. And because of that we have to work for 10 hours.

So, what is happening in America, there is this visa category H1B. So, I am using this example of dharma from a moral and an operational perspective. See what happens, normally if you have an employee you can't fire them very easily.

There has to be some process. But if somebody is in this H1B category, their visa depends on their employer. If their employer lets them go, then their visa also goes, they have to leave the country.

So, that's how the companies often exploit the Indians. They pay them lesser than, they pay less and extract more work. So, the idea is that, that's why the government wants to regulate.

Now in regulating what is happening is, they are just eliminating everything and that's excessive. But the point is that dharma as an operational reality is that we need to, wherever we belong, we need to function harmoniously with it. But will where we belong involve proper reciprocation? That requires effort.

That is not going to happen automatically. If we are in a particular country, you know, we have to follow the rules of that country. But after following the rules of that country, will the country be fair to everyone? Or will it discriminate against some people, not discriminate against some people? So, dharma is an automatic, operational reality is automatic.

But moral reality has to be conscientious. We have to put in efforts for this. This doesn't happen automatically.

When Krishna says, dharma samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge. He is saying that I come to establish dharma. So, what he is telling Arjuna is that you think you are in a terrible situation where you have to fight against Bhishma and Drona.

And that is true. It's a terrible situation. But you are in that situation already.

So, running away, so it's like Arjuna is a Kshatriya. He is on the battlefield. And the way he is in the battlefield, it's not very pleasant.

So, Arjuna is doing this profit-loss calculation. He is thinking that if I fight, I will have to kill. After killing, I get the kingdom.

Is the kingdom really worth killing Bhishma and Drona? He thinks it's not worth it. Therefore, he doesn't want to do it. And what he is thinking, I will just leave this and I will go to the forest.

And I will belong over there. But Krishna tells Arjuna, you are not meant to live in a forest. They lived in exile, but they knew the exile was going to end.

So, you are not meant to live there. That is not your sambhava. You won't be able to live over there like that.

So, the idea is sometimes you might belong to a reality that is not very pleasant. But responsibility means we make the best of it. So, Krishna is telling that if you take responsibility over here, then you can have a kingdom.

It's not just that you enjoy the kingdom, but you bring real dharma in the kingdom. So, this is a war that you would much rather not fight. But you are already here.

So, take responsibility. Take responsibility means make the best of the situation you are in. Wishing that I were not in that situation is of no use.

It doesn't get us anywhere in life. We are in a particular situation and there are things which are bad in our life. But, okay, what is good in my life? What is right in my life? What is the opportunity? This is wrong.

This is wrong. This is wrong. But rather than complaining about it, what can I take responsibility for? Responsibility for means what can I do with what I have? So, I can complain about how little I have, but instead of that take responsibility for what I can do with what I have.

So, you have archery ability. You have a virtuous temperament. You have a brother who is virtuous.

You can bring in a good kingdom in the future. Right now it's in a bad situation. It's a bad ruler.

So, take responsibility means, as I said, responsibility is see what we can do with what we have. And when we have this attitude, we can make, we can bring positive purpose into any and every situation. When Prabhupada went to America, he had nothing with him.

But he is praying, Krishna, you have given me this opportunity to serve you and for that I am grateful. So, he is just grateful for the opportunity. Even if there is no facility for him, there are no supporters, there is no money, there is no contacts also, but he is grateful he has the opportunity.

What do we do with what we have? Many of you know that I need crutches for walking. So, when I was one, I got polio. My mother took me to a polio clinic, to a clinic to get a vaccine.

And she was very dutiful in doing that. But unfortunately, that was a small town. So, because of that, the power supply was unpredictable.

The previous night, the power supply for the clinic had gone off. And neither the attendant nor the physician noticed it. And because of that, my vaccine became contaminated.

The germs in it got multiplied. And when that vaccine was given to me, instead of preventing polio, it ended up causing polio. Now, I was one, I was just learning to walk and I fell down.

I could never walk normally thereafter. Now, I don't remember any of this. But when I was about around three or something, a distant relative had come to our home.

And she was consoling my mother saying, it's so sad your son got polio. And I still remember my mother's words, very calm, clear, confident. She said, whatever he lacks physically, God will provide him intellectually.

I don't know why she said that, whether I showed some intellectual ability at that age or whether it was her hope, whether it was her prayer, whether it was her blessing. But whatever it was, that statement impacted me. And as I started reading, studying, I found that I had some intellectual ability.

So basically, what happens is if each of us, I belong, I function at a physical level. I also function at an intellectual level. Now, if each of us, we function at various levels in our life.

Now, at a physical level, I will have a lifelong disadvantage. There's nothing that can be done about it. But instead of getting frustrated about that, instead of, like I said, dukkha means we get something apriya in our life.

And you can be frustrated by that when that happens. But OK, this, where I belong, nothing is going to work out over here. Yeah, I can do some exercise, I can improve, but some diseases are just incurable.

No matter how much we do, we can't cure them. So in this belonging, if I put in a hundred effort, what I'm going to get is maybe a little bit. I got some basic mobility and that is there.

But so in some areas where we belong, nothing is going to ever work out. But that doesn't mean that in all the areas we belong, nothing is going to work out. So when I said dharma as responsibility, that means that it is what do we do with what we have.

In some areas, we don't have much and we can't do much about it. But in some areas, we do have something. So in the intellectual domain, I have been given something and I can do something with it.

So for all of us, we have to see, OK, yes, I have family, I have my job, I have my health, I have this thing, I have that thing. I may be in a particular social group. In some areas, in some relationships, in some roles, things may not be working out.

But that doesn't mean they won't work out anywhere. So Krishna tells Arjuna that in trying to fix your relationship with Duryodhana, we bent backward. We were ready to give them the entire kingdom, five villages.

They didn't agree. Bhishma also chose that side. So now you can't do anything about that.

That thing is not going to work out. But that doesn't mean nothing is going to work out. So dharma is about we would like every area of our life to work out wonderfully.

But life doesn't work out like that. So that's why if things are not working in a particular level, I put in this much effort, I'm not getting any reward. That doesn't mean nothing is ever going to work out for us.

So look, we all belong in different domains. And yes, we may not have physical ability, we may have intellectual ability. Somebody may not have mathematical ability, somebody may have musical ability.

So for us, that dharma is about taking responsibility for what we do with what we have. So if I look only, if say, if you look only at the physical reality, you could say, OK, where is God? Why did God do this to me? And you may say there is no God at all. But once we understand there is a bigger reality, there is a bigger plan.

Then where can I belong in a healthy and harmonious way? That means where can I contribute so that there will be some result? I told about Prabhupada. Prabhupada in India, he was trying to do a lot of outreach in India. But at that time, India was crippled by politics.

India was crippled by poverty. India was torn politically. India was enamored with West culturally.

So people were not ready to take his spiritual message seriously. So he realized that in India, if I put in efforts, it's not going to give results. He could have said, OK, maybe nothing is going to work out.

It doesn't work out in India, that doesn't mean it will not work out somewhere else. So healthy belonging. He came to America and he was spectacularly successful.

So the idea is we take responsibility. So we see Krishna's mercy first by understanding there is a bigger reality because of which I have the gift of life. And then responsibility for what gifts do I have right now? What can I do with what I have? And the last part, which I'll conclude, this is slightly longer class, but the last part is transcendence.

Transcendence means that when we chant the holy names of Krishna, when we do bhajan, we do kirtan, when we do puja, we experience Krishna as the bigger reality. That gives us a certain level of peace and strength that nothing else in this world can provide. That when we actually remember Krishna, when we become absorbed in the remembrance of Krishna, we get a certain higher level of many things happen.

We get peace. We get strength. And we get confidence.

Now, the specific combination which will happen will be different. But sometimes you may find that your mind is very agitated and you come in some kirtan and start practicing the kirtan. That agitation just goes away.

Or even if it is there, it doesn't disturb us so much. So, the challenges that we face in life, the tests, the test of Krishna. So, whatever difficulty we are having, that is a test of Krishna.

And when we have the test of Krishna, to pass the test, what do we need? We need taste for Krishna. So, the way to pass our difficulties in life, they're not just this person did this to me or I made this mistake. So, but when that has happening, this is a test of Krishna.

And yes, I had to practically find out how do I do this? How do I deal with this? But beyond that, I need taste for Krishna. I need to, I not just remember Krishna, but become absorbed in the remembrance of Krishna. Be transported and transformed by that remembrance of Krishna.

And when we do our morning sadhana, morning puja, just for a few moments also, if we experience Krishna, we'll find that that will give us so much strength. This taste for Krishna, when it happens, what happens? Normally for most of us, the world is very big. Oh, this went wrong and that went wrong and this didn't work out.

And God is small. But if we remember Krishna, not just become absorbed in the remembrance of Krishna, for at least a few moments, what happens? The world becomes big and Krishna, world becomes small and Krishna becomes big. And when this happens, this is what taste for Krishna.

This is what gives us peace. This is what gives us strength. This is what will give us confidence.

So in this way, each one of us can face life's disruptive challenges with steadiness. Let's quickly read the last paragraph and conclude the last part of the last paragraph. Would you like to read it? Do you have the book? Would you like the last two sentences? Would you like to read it? Let me accept the inevitability of adversity in this world and appreciate the opportunity it gives to access your purpose and power.

May I come closer to you through whatever I go through in my life. Come closer to you through whatever I go through in my life. So this was a bit long class, but I will quickly summarize what I discussed today, that steadiness through devotion, that how our bhakti, how we can be, our bhakti practice can make us steady and thereby how we can become inspired to be steady in our bhakti practice.

So I talked three main points. First was, I talked about how distress, or rather talked about four points. First was distress is unavoidable.

We talked about how distress can be relative, that somebody has got something better than us. But it's absolute in the sense that everybody is in distress. Even the people who think they are not in distress, they are also in distress.

So it happens at three levels. We get the undesirable, that causes distress. We lose the desirable, that also causes distress.

But ultimately we get desirable, lose or get rid of undesirable. But still there is emptiness. So in this way there is distress that is inevitable in this world.

Nobody can avoid that. And then the question comes up. So distress or misery is the reality of this world.

So what the Gita's message is that, I talked about how Gita is spoken to remove Arjuna, to free Arjuna from distress. So the Gita's vision is that while misery is a reality, but bigger than the reality of misery is the reality of mercy. So how is this mercy a reality? That I talked about three main points in that.

First was with our intelligence. So by intelligence what happens is we shift our vision from looking at the gifts in life to the gift of life. That I am alive itself indicates that there is some higher reality that is sustaining me.

Without that our life is so fragile that so many things can go wrong. So when we shift our vision from year to year, this Krishna talks about in the 15th chapter, 15.12 to 15, that with Jnana Chakshu we see how our being alive itself is a miracle. And that helps us to be positive.

And then after that we talk about responsibility. Now you may say, okay, I have the gift of life, but still to live, there are so many things wrong in my life. So what do I do about that? So there how do we see mercy? By seeing that our happiness depends not just on what we have, but what we do with what we have.

And what we do with what we have, we explain this in terms of the concept of dharma. So that is a bit technical, but I'll keep it simple over here that see each one of us, we belong to many different levels of reality. So we are in a family, we are in a country, we are in a job, we are in a social circle.

So we have many larger holes that we belong to. Now dharma can be understood at a moral level and at a functional level. Now at a moral level, ideally what should happen is that whatever larger hole we belong to, if we do good, we should get good.

So that is ideally how things should be. And we should try to get things towards the ideal level. But when things are not at the ideal level, functional level means that whatever I belong to, I need to function accordingly.

I need to accept that. Right now I am here. So it may happen that presently I may be putting in this much and I might be getting very less.

So then what do I do about that? That is a functional reality. So the way to deal with the functional reality is that we choose our belonging. So for example, I may belong here, I may belong here, I may belong here.

So now maybe this belonging doesn't work out, this belonging doesn't work out, but this belonging works out. So trying to protect the Kuru dynasty, that is not going to work out for Arjuna. Trying to prevent the war is not going to work out.

Trying to save the lives of Bhishma and Drona is not going to work out. But ensuring that actually there is a virtuous ruler who takes care of the kingdom and the Kuru dynasty goes on and dharma is established, thereby that we can do. So therefore, among the various areas we function in life, where can we belong in a healthy way? So that means where my contribution will be reciprocated.

But that doesn't mean I have to get rid of all the other areas. Sometimes we have to tolerate them, we have to endure them. But we focus our energy in the areas where we can get reciprocated.

That is our responsibility. So what we do with what we have. I gave my example of my mother that physically, whatever he lacks physically, God will provide him intellectually.

And the last part I talked about was transcendence. So transcendence means, okay, I am trying to fix things and I am working. This is where I can work.

But right now I have so much trouble. How do I deal with that? So for that, we want to pass the test of Krishna. We want taste for Krishna.

So we pass by getting taste for Krishna. That means that for each one of us, we try to ensure that we can remember Krishna in a way that changes our conception, that gives us higher experience. So initially it may happen that for us the world seems very big and all the problems in it seem very big.

But when you practice bhakti and the world becomes smaller, Krishna becomes bigger. And when this happens, through this, we get a sense of peace, we get a sense of strength and then we get confidence. So in this way, we can face even the toughest of challenges of life and stay steady through life's unsteadiness.

So let us conclude with the starting prayer that we had offered that, My dear Lord, the misery of this world is real. But more real still is your mercy. Krishna Bhagwan ki Jai.

Thank you very much. Are there any questions or comments? Should I have 100 questions now? Yes. I think the question is, the biggest question is, when is Prasad going to start? Feel free to ask.

Thank you. I just heard that the test is to develop the taste. So developing the taste, we have our so-called responsibilities, right? So how do we balance the responsibility and developing taste? So how, like, we should strike a balance or we should prioritize which, how do we make it practical? Okay.

So how do we balance between doing our responsibilities and developing our taste for Krishna? See, the two can go in conflict, but they don't have to. I'll talk about two main concepts over here. See, there is emotional strength and then there is spiritual strength.

So spiritual strength means that everything that we do in connection with Krishna. So we chant, we do puja, we do seva. So all bhakti activities, they give us spiritual strength.

And often we may think of taste for Krishna means in this area. Okay, I should develop taste for chanting, I should develop taste for this. But taste comes at its own pace.

We cannot force it. So now emotional strength is slightly different. Emotional strength means that as per our nature, if we consider the range of activities that I'm doing, there are some activities that give us strength.

And there are some activities that require strength. So, for example, in our daily responsibilities, you know, maybe spending time with our children, that we love it, especially the children are very small. Now we get strength, oh, I'm working for my children, I'm taking care of my children.

But when the same children become teenagers, then it requires strength. So the point is that things change in life, but there are certain things which give us strength. So now, when we feel emotionally nourished, so we will all have certain activities which fall in certain categories.

So it's important to be aware of that. See among our social circle also, maybe when we have extended family get together, even extended community get together, some people will look forward to meeting. We just feel alive, we feel energized when we meet with them.

Some people maybe not so much. Oh, it may happen that you look forward to ending the meeting with some people. Now, that's just how people are.

So I'm not talking about specific people and their nature. I'm just saying that we need to be aware of what activities give us strength and what activities require strength. So now, among the activities that give us emotional strength, so if you consider emotional strength, emotional strength is to be like one circle and spiritual strength is another circle.

So, for example, recently one devotee asked me this question. He said that I was told that when you start chanting, chanting will free you from anxiety. But he said now I started chanting and completing my chanting is my big anxiety.

So, I explained to him, yes, that will be true. But, you know, if you consider anxiety, let's consider pain. Now, pain, there is a pain of the disease and there is the pain of the treatment.

That means that somebody has got some infection and they're coughing or they have stomach pain and they have to take a shot. Both are painful. Now, in terms of the experience, both pain are the same.

But it is with our intelligence we understand that they are different. Isn't it? So similarly, yes, anxiety may seem the same. But our anxiety to do our sadhana, that is a part of the cure.

Still, it may be felt as anxiety. We are not denying that it is felt as anxiety. Like when we take treatment, some treatment, some medicine may be sweet, some medicine may be bitter.

Now, we don't deny the reality that some medicines are bitter and some medicines are sweet. But we focus on the bigger reality that this is the medicine. And therefore, I take it.

So, like that, with respect to bhakti, some activities within bhakti are like bitter medicine. And some activities are like sweet medicine. So, for example, many kids, if you tell them to sit and chant, they may not like it very much.

But you tell them to do kirtan, they will love that. You know, they can hear such sweet kirtan was going on, the children. You want to sing it? It's very nicely, wonderful.

So now, kirtans, kids may like that. And they may learn musical instruments. So now, similar, so now, what we have to see that when we are talking about taste for Krishna, it is primarily in this category.

That means, which are the devotional activities that also give me emotional strength? So, yes, sometimes chanting will require strength. It may not give us strength immediately. It will give us purification and that will eventually give us spiritual strength.

But that will take time. So, taste for Krishna means that we find out which activities lie at the intersection of emotional strength and spiritual strength for us. And then we do that more and that's how we'll get strength.

We'll get shelter. We will get that peace and joy. So, this will not take us away from our responsibilities.

This will actually help us to do our responsibilities better. So, we may, if we like, if we find kirtan very strengthening or we like hearing classes, maybe a particular devotee's class gives us a lot of calmness and clarity. So, that taste for Krishna will actually help us face life's challenges better, help us to do our responsibilities better.

Okay. Thank you. Hare Krishna, does that mean that the intersection we try to enlarge is enlarged? Yes, perfectly.

Actually, in fact, the more we become purified, the more that intersection will automatically become larger. So, impurity means, basically, one functional way of understanding impurity is that what feels good and what is good, there is a wide disjoint between them. So, for example, if you consider an alcoholic.

Now, for an alcoholic, they have the impurity of alcoholism. What is good is giving up alcohol so that they can live responsibly. But what feels good is forget the responsibility and take alcohol.

So, now, even for an alcoholic, what happens is there is some sense of responsibility is there. Okay, I may spend money to drink, but I am not going to take the money that is meant for my child's fees and use it for my drinking. Some boundary is there.

So, my point is that everybody has some boundaries. So, it's like everybody has some way area that needs to intersect. But if there is no intersection, then life becomes almost impossible.

So, this is the distance that is created by impurity. And greater the impurity, the greater the distance between what feels good and what is good. And the greater the purification, as we move along the journey of purification, what these two will start intersecting more and more.

There may still be some things which are different, but overlap will become much, much more. So, it's like with respect to food. Now, there is food that is tasty and there is food that is healthy.

And the two were identical, life would be so easy. But that doesn't mean that it never intersects. Like, you know, if our child, we want them to eat vegetables and salads.

But now, if you find that a child likes a particular sabji, you will make more of that sabji for that child. Now, of course, if a child likes sweets and desserts and you make those also, but those are not healthy food. So, the point is, if there is some area where the two intersect, we need to maximize that.

So, there is a natural taste, but there is also an acquired taste. If we eat something, gradually we develop taste for it also. So, the point of taste for Krishna is, at one level, what is our natural taste? That is, at present, where is the intersection between these two? The emotional strength and the spiritual strength.

So, we start with that, build with that. And as we keep practicing bhakti, the acquired taste will also become more and more for Krishna. And then, actually it's an inherent taste for Krishna, but it's like we'll develop that taste, we'll awaken that taste.

And that's what purification essentially means. The role of the mind in all of this, can you explain that? The role of like, so, intelligence tells us like, this is what we need to do. And the mind keeps driving back to what feels good.

So, how do we… Yeah. So, that's a good point. What is the role of the mind in this? See, that's why when I talk about emotional strength over here, emotional strength is largely associated with the mind.

Now, spiritual strength is associated with the soul. So, now, sometimes we talk about controlling the mind and it's important. But that becomes a very unidimensional approach.

See, sometimes we say the mind is your enemy. And that's true. But, normally, if somebody has an enemy, they would just want to kill that enemy.

Isn't it so? Sometimes there are some terrorists might be there, government shoots at sight also. But does Krishna ever say, kill the mind? What does Krishna say? Make it your friend. So, now, do we control our friends? Well, to some extent, but control is not the main dynamic of the relationship.

If that is, then it's not friendship. So, it's very important to have a holistic understanding of the mind. See, sometimes the mind, this is a whole class in itself, but I'll quickly mention some things.

See, sometimes the mind is trouble. This trouble means it is coming with all kinds of crazy desires and ideas. So, when it is trouble, it is largely associated with desires and it needs to be controlled.

Eat this, watch this, touch this, buy this. So, the mind is trouble. It needs to be controlled.

But sometimes the mind is in trouble. It is not trouble. It is in trouble.

Now, this often happens with emotions. Say, when somebody has hurt us terribly, somebody has insulted us. Compare the example of the child.

Now, the child is, I want to buy this toy, I want this toy, I want this, I want that. Sometimes the parents have to say, no, discipline the child. But, suppose suddenly the power goes off and it's dark.

And the child is scared. And the child starts crying. And the mother says, shut up.

No, at that time the child is scared. The child is in trouble. At that time, when the child doesn't need to be controlled, the child needs to be comforted.

So, with respect to desires, our mind does need to be controlled. But with respect to emotions, often we need to be comforted. And that's why one of the limits of bhakti is that guhyam akhyate pichu, they share our heart.

And that's why in devotee community we have the sense of belonging. We care for each other. So, we all need to be comforted.

When Abhimanyu is killed, Arjuna is in tears. Krishna doesn't tell Arjuna, control yourself. Krishna doesn't say, just 13 days ago I spoke the Bhagavad Gita, you forgot already? You know, I told, the body is temporary, the body changes, don't let me… The sober person says, maybe I should have found somebody else, you dumb Arjuna, to speak the Bhagavad Gita.

No, Krishna at that time comforts Arjuna. So, my point is that yes, there are times when we will need to control our mind. So, as I said, if the mind, the mind may grow in this direction of what feels good.

The mind may want to rush in this direction. The mind may want to go only here. But if we force the mind to go here, the mind's default will be to go here.

But if we force it here, it can't stay there for very long. What is good but what does not feel good, we sometimes have to do it. That's a part of discipline.

But if we force ourselves in that area only, we will get exhausted. So, we need to find that balance. And for a significant area or significant amount of time in our life, we need to be in that area.

So, if we have forced the mind, so for example, if this is the area. So, what feels good and say now let's visualize it. I don't know how do I draw the mind.

Okay. Assume the mind is a person. We sometimes personify the mind is a friend, mind is an enemy.

So, the mind, if it goes here, the mind goes here, we need, it needs to be controlled. But that means the mind is going towards whatever feels good. But it is not good for us.

Then we need to control it. But if somehow life forces us into a situation, it's the mind is forced to go here. Maybe we have to deal with people we don't like at all.

Maybe deal with people who are very disagreeable, who are very, very cruel or whatever. We get frustrated. So, if the mind is forced over here sometimes, then at that time the mind needs to be comforted.

So, eventually, this is the steady state for the mind. So, sometimes as a discipline, we take it here. And as a discipline, we push it here.

And as a discipline, we pull it back from here if it goes. That means, but overall, the steady state for the mind will be what feels good and what is good. And over a period of time, we learn to expand that.

So, if we are only here, we will get exhausted. And only here we will be degraded. So, quite often what happens is that the Bhagavad Gita talks about bhoga and tyaga.

Bhoga means what? We go over here and just do whatever enjoys, whatever gives us enjoyment. And after that, a person goes over there. Tyaga.

Like somebody, there's a cricket tournament going on. They spend hours and hours, days and weeks watching cricket. And their favorite team loses.

Smash the TV. Break it apart. I'll never watch TV again.

I'll never watch cricket again. But after that, what happens? Again, next time the match comes, again they go there. So, we oscillate between bhoga and tyaga.

But what we need is to find the intersection. Sometimes we may have to, our mind may go in the direction of bhoga, we pull it back. And sometimes the mind needs to be put in the direction of where there's austerity.

But overall, we need to find that state of intersection. So, the mind sometimes needs to be controlled, sometimes needs to be comforted. But overall, it is important that we develop a healthy relationship with the mind.

Healthy relationship with the mind means that we understand what feels good to the mind. And from that, we select what is good. So, it's like in a relationship, if two people are to have a relationship, if all the time, if I am there, the other person is here, if all the time what I am doing is what I like, and I never care for what you like, then it's not going to be a very sustainable or fulfilling relationship.

All the time I am doing what you like and never what I like. Then I'll feel dissatisfied in the relationship. So, there has to be a healthy relationship.

That means some of what is good, what you feel good, and some of what I know is good. And we find the intersection. So, the whole idea of swabhava, one's own nature.

Why does the Gita talk so much about swabhava? Because, now where is the swabhava present? It's not in the soul. It's not that Arjuna's soul is the Kshatriya. Arjuna's soul is the pure part of Krishna.

It is the body, mind, machine that is the Kshatriya. The varna, the swabhava, the nature is primarily present in the mind. So, when Krishna says act according to swabhava means what? That this is actually the domain of swabhava.

So, Arjuna naturally liked archery. Krishna didn't tell him, because you like archery, so that fighting archery, using archery sends gratification. So, give it up and fight with a mace like Bhima.

No, that would be stupidity. Am I answering your question? So, what you're saying is, if something is like pulling us to what feels good, but if that feels good is not the right thing, say for alcoholic, alcohol is not a good thing. So, if I was drinking, say, now… So, I need to pull myself back from that.

Pull yourself back. But you're saying that steady place is not like you balance alcohol and the things. Okay.

So, that's a good question. So, how it would be that? So, generally underlying every unhealthy craving, there is some healthy need which is distorted. Yes.

So, maybe it is that person is lonely. And in their loneliness, they started drinking and now it's become addiction. So, many people are social drinkers.

If they just change their company, they find people who don't drink and they join that company, then they will stop drinking. Or somebody maybe alcohol is just their way to deal with boredom. They feel bored, let me drink and get some stimulation.

Or maybe alcohol is their way to deal with pain. Now, when pain and trouble is there, this is the way I forget it. So, they may need to find a healthier way to process pain.

So, we need to go deeper to the underlying need and address that need in a proper way. That requires some introspection. So, the mind can be our enemy, but the mind is not intrinsically our enemy.

You could say the mind is circumstantially our enemy. Circumstantially means what? That based on the kind of conditionings that are there in the mind, it acts as our enemy. But if the conditionings can be changed, then it won't be our enemy.

So, as I said, if you consider the mind, if I put it over here, that the mind is multilayer. So, there are some cravings, but underlying the cravings, there are some needs. So, if we just listen to the cravings, that would be unhealthy.

But if we do need to address these, the needs are healthy, these are real and we need to address them. So, that's why controlling the mind alone all the time will not work. Certainly, if the mind is going in unhealthy direction, it has to be stopped.

But say, if a child is crying because there is a temper tantrum, then we have to discipline the child. But if the child is crying because there is some wound in the body, then just tell the child shut up. You know, we are not actually caring for the child at that time.

So, there is, we need to sometimes go deeper and understand what is triggering a particular conditioning and how that can be addressed better. One question. Does the subhava of any person, put him at a level where he has different understanding of dharma at functional level, his own understanding of dharma at an operational and functional level, does it vary person to person depending on their subhava? So, what is our dharma? Does it vary? There are broad categories, but within that categories there is always variation.

So, for example, Bhima and Yudhishthira, both are Kshatriyas. But they are quite different. You could say Yudhishthira is almost like a Brahmin Kshatriya.

And Bhima is like a Kshatriya Kshatriya, Kshatriya squared. That means whenever there is a conflict, Yudhishthira will try as much as possible to resolve it peacefully. Bhima will be itching for a fight.

Isn't it? Now, that doesn't mean Bhima has no self-control. And that doesn't mean that Yudhishthira doesn't have the spunk to fight. So, within the Kshatriya subhava also there can be variation.

So, each individual has to understand our subhava. So, it's not simply about understanding subhava means putting ourselves in some boxes. It's more about, more about observing to understand the box we are already in.

And then we function appropriately within that box. So, thank you very much. Shreemad Bhagavad Gita ki Jai.

Shrila Prabhupada ki Jai. Kaur Bhakta Vrinda ki Jai. Jai Jyotirmay Charan Prabhu ki Jai.

Prabhu's got few books. So, I talk about this book Prayers Inspired by Bhagavad Gita. So, this is based on 6 chapters, 7 to 12.

And this is the Bhakti section of the Gita. So, very sweet shlokas and there are very devotionally nourishing prayers based on that. So, there are prayers when you feel lonely or misunderstood.

Prayers when you feel lost or directionless. Prayers when temptations start becoming wild. Prayers when we feel tasteless and dry and far away from Krishna.

So, whatever we have particular emotional need, we can look at the table of contents and find a prayer that addresses that need based on the spiritual affirmation that is there. Many devotees have told me that reading one prayer before their morning chanting helps them connect with Krishna much more through their sadhana. So, if any of you want this book, I am here for some time to sign the books as well to answer any questions if you have.

Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.