Sunday Feast Chaitanya Charan Prabhu March 31st-2024

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
jnanati mirandasya jnananjini shalakaya jakshurun mila tamyena dasmai shri guruve namaha nama om vishnu padaya krishna prishtaya bhutale srimate bhakti vedanta swami iti namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo namo how Lord Ram against all odds fights against Ravana and wins eventually stories have great narrative value in themselves and sometimes when the word literal is used it may be devalued but just hearing the stories is also purifying so all these four levels at one level there is purification because there is engagement with the story centred on the Lord this is the first level is the literal level the Bhaktivinoda Thakur says this is the level at which the Kanishtas Kanishtas are those who are first level are introductory devotees they approach stories at this level so I will give an example of each of these afterwards as we move forward but let’s understand the levels first the second level is the ethical level at the ethical level we look at the stories to try to see what actions who did so we try to look at the moral reasoning of the characters so why did Dashrath send Ram away why did Ram not fight to stay there forever what was the right thing to do how did Kaikei get influenced so basically we try to understand the motivations of the characters and then by that we try to understand what was the right choice what was the wrong choice by this we get guidance in our life at this level at the first level we are not really interested in any life lessons we just want to enjoy the story but here we look at ethical level guidance to understand and this is the level at which often within the tradition also the stories have been seen certain virtues like selflessness service attitude honouring one’s word the ethical values that are important and the literature like the Ramayana Mahabharata the Bhagavatam the values that people learn from them are what have shaped their minds and lives then the next level is the allegorical level it’s important to understand that the stories themselves are not allegories the stories are records of incidents that happened long ago but the stories also represent certain things so allegory means we don’t just we are looking at what does this particular thing symbolise so for example Ravan symbolises lust especially lust that rejects all boundaries lust that goes completely out of control so at this level the question is not just who is Ravan but what is Ravan what does he represent Prabhupada talks about this sometimes say for example when he says Devaki she had six children whom she lost or who were killed before Balram and Krishna were born and those six children represent the six misgivings in the heart lust, anger, greed, envy, pride and illusion it’s important that sometimes when the allegorical is spoken they say that ok the literal is not true at all it’s only symbolic that’s not the point so at the at the allegorical level we look for universal themes and universal themes ok what is this how does it relate to at a universal level and by this there is more of intellectual appreciation intellectual depth ok this represents this represents that and now these two are the level Bhaktindra Thakur says the Madhyama’s approach to the middle level they can get the most guidance for their own lives by approaching scripture at the ethical and the allegorical level now Bhaktindra Thakur makes a very interesting point he says that those people who can look for symbolic meanings they often think that they are much more intelligent than those who are looking at the literal level and they often feel that oh the literalist what do they know but he says that yes you may be advanced in your analytical capacity but there is one more level beyond it and that level is the devotional level where everything is seen simply as the Leela of the Lord so Leela means it is a divine arrangement it is a divine plan so what this means is that here we see everything as a play Leela means a play or a pastime and everything is arranged for the purpose of reciprocating love between the Lord and the devotees so for example Prabhupada sometimes takes things at a ethical level in the Bhagavad Gita he says Arjuna because of his attachment was hesitating to fight and he had tears so that is Prabhupada taking it at an ethical level he should be aware that actually our real identity goes beyond our physicality he doesn’t know that Prabhupada is taking it at an ethical level but then Prabhupada also says that actually Arjuna’s illusion was arranged by Krishna so that the Bhagavad Gita could be spoken so that is at a devotional level everything is seen as an arrangement of the Lord and at this level the result is attraction attraction to the Lord love for the Lord that is what is the result at this level and this is the level at which the uttama approach so those who are at the highest level they simply delight in hearing about the Lord in remembering the Lord in absorbing themselves in the various pastimes of the Lord to the uninformed mind it may appear that the uttama level are also at the Krishna level the devotional and literal readings might look very similar because those who are very absorbed in devotion they may not like to do much analysis they just want to remember and love the Lord but there are two significant differences between those literal level and devotional level those at the devotional level are capable of ethical and allegorical analysis they are just not interested in them that is not their priority and secondly the difference is those at the literal level they see these simply as sources of entertainment and because it’s the primary concern is entertainment today they may hear the Ramayan tomorrow they may watch a movie day after tomorrow they might read a novel so for them entertainment is important Krishna or the Lord is not important at the transcendental level at the devotional level they are interested only in Krishna so capable they are capable of ethical analysis and they are attracted only to Krishna because they understand he is the ultimate reality they are not just seeing Krishna as a source of entertainment although they may very much enjoy delight in the past times but for them Krishna is the supreme reality and all other realities fail in comparison so what he is basically saying is you can do ethical analysis allegorical analysis that’s good but don’t think you are the highest there is a level beyond that also where we simply relish the past times the important thing is at any level at any level approaching the lord in his past times is beneficial but when it becomes problematic is if somebody starts thinking one level is the only level those who like the allegorical level for example say that’s the only level then it becomes problematic if that’s the level they want to approach that’s okay so with this background now let’s try to see how this can be this analysis can be applied to the Ramayan by focussing on a particular incident so I’ll focus on the incident of Hanuman burning Lanka and now so Hanuman I’ll go into the background briefly and then focus on my main incident so Hanuman enters into Lanka and he searches exhaustively can’t find Sita anywhere becomes utterly discouraged and then he’s just become so despondent at night darkness seems to reflect the darkness within his heart he’s come so far he has done the incredible feat of leaping across the ocean and yet now he searched all the palaces just can’t find Sita where is she is she dead how can I tell that to Ram as he’s thinking if I can’t find Sita I go and tell Ram that Sita is no longer there Ram will die if Ram dies then Sugri will not be able to live Sugri will die if Sugri who dies the entire Vanara kingdom will perish if Ram dies Bharat will come to know about it Bharat will perish the entire Ayodhya kingdom will perish and all this destruction of both the kingdoms will be because of my failure I would rather die trying to find Sita than be the cause of such destruction he says whatever happens I’m going to keep trying so just by contemplating the consequences of giving up his determination goes up sometimes when we say the failure is not an option that doesn’t mean we won’t fail but that just means that I’m going to keep trying and as soon as his spirits rise it seems as if the heavens also rise in their spirit the clouds part and the last rays of the setting moon appears through as Hanuman is looking around he suddenly notices hey there’s a garden there I have searched all the palaces but I didn’t search that garden and immediately he goes over there when he goes there that’s where he spots Sita Ravan is going that way so he waits and watches see there’s Hanuman approaches Sita he starts singing the glories of Ram and that triggers Sita’s interest she’s a little suspicious who is this is this some impersonator but then Hanuman jumps down and gives the signet which Ram has given her and she becomes overjoyed seeing that her joy comes not in the form of smiles it comes in the form of tears she’s very happy she’s very happy that Ram remembers her Ram has sent something as a memento to her but that she’s so far away from Ram it fills her with agony and then they talk and then Sita says you please tell Ram to come back come quickly Hanuman has given me one month if he doesn’t I don’t submit to him within one month he said I’m going to enjoy you one way or the other if you don’t give yourself to me I’ll have my cooks cook you and you’ll be my breakfast he’s after all a cannibal so Hanuman becomes alarmed he says if that is the case I’ll just take you right away with me now sometimes when some people take on a particular form sometimes people disguise themselves so when they disguise themselves normally they can maintain the disguise but when there’s a lot of anxiety a lot of emotion forget the disguise one of my friends was in the army he was actually in the Indian espionage service so he was trained to become a spy so he so he had to go to Pakistan as a spy so he was told that he had to learn Urdu and he said if you’re sleeping and somebody kicks you in your sleep when you wake up you should curse in Urdu not in Hindi so then he said you’re trained enough to become a spy but the idea was that so Hanuman he was disguised but when he heard Sita is in danger he was disguised means he had come in a very small inconspicuous form so Hanuman said you know if there’s such a danger for you I’ll take you right away I’ll carry you on my back and Sita couldn’t restrain her smile he said you’re so tiny how can you carry me now Hanuman was a warrior he didn’t like his strength being challenged and then right in front of Sita Hanuman started raising his expanding his form Sita was looking down at him and within a few minutes she was looking up at him and then Hanuman said is this form large enough for carrying you so then Sita said yes but you’ll have to fight with the demons and if I am carrying you then fighting with them will be difficult and Hanuman was not convinced I can fight no I can do it and Sita said that okay but you know I don’t want to be touched by any other man Ravan touched me forcibly let Ram come and rescue me so Hanuman decided yes I respected her wishes and then he was about to leave but now he had already done a significant service but he felt that he should do something more so they thought that in one month he might Ravan might kill Sita that was very much there in his mind so he decided that he would like to send a warning to Ravan a deterrence normally if two people are fighting if one person thinks I am way too powerful and other person is weak that person may exploit and abuse this other person knows the second person knows that this person is also strong this person will hit back then they will not abuse their power too much so he said I want to have deterrence so he decided to challenge Ravan so it was a well thought out thing started breaking down the trees over there and then Ravan sent regiment after regiment and all of them were destroyed and he sent his son Aksha he was also killed Ravan was enraged who is this upstart monkey he has come in my garden his garden was called a shokvatika that became a shokvatika object of distress for him what is happening finally sent Indrajith Indrajith used the brahmastra and he had Hanuman arrested now whenever actions are done there are always multiple signals being sent now in Ravan’s Lanka his control was iron clad and that somebody would come and destroy his favourite gardens was something that could not be tolerated so Indrajith decided that I will parade Hanuman through the streets of Lanka and all the soldiers with him they would kick at him laugh at him punch at him even spit on him and this way all the citizens of Lanka will see what happens to anyone who dares to challenge Ravan’s authority so he did that now Hanuman was being humiliated but Hanuman had his own purpose his purpose was while he was being taken through the streets of Lanka he was a warrior he was observing the military formations in Lanka which road leads where where the weapons are and later on during the war they have an ambush attack they devastate Lanka because they are led by Hanuman so Hanuman is focused on his purpose as in that he is being beaten and humiliated doesn’t matter to him he is focused on how can I serve so for him it’s a reconnaissance mission for him he is going through it and finally he is brought into the court and Ravan so angry he says this person should be killed right away that’s what the ministers they all say you know how audacious he has been Ravan says I want to know who he is who has sent him why is he doing this so he asks him Hanuman says that I am the messenger of Ram you give me a seat first so you are not a messenger you are simply a criminal Hanuman says that I will get a seat for myself and then he just expands his tail and again the same thing happens the same dynamic Ravan is looking down at him suddenly he starts looking up at him it makes his tail seat so big and then Hanuman gives the message he says I am the servant of Sugriv who is the servant of Ram and if you don’t return Sita immediately Ram will come with hundreds and thousands of monkeys and they will destroy Lanka if you care for your life if you care for your citizens if you care for your kingdom return Sita honourably to Ram Ravan was not used to being lectured and certainly not being instructed in his own palace he says this devilish monkey kill him so Vibhishan said wait wait wait he is a messenger cannot be killed that is the code but he has not acted like a messenger he has destroyed property destroyed my garden he deserves to be punished so Hanuman is playing a lot Hanuman said oh actually I am just a monkey now after coming all the way to Lanka I got hungry so in searching for food I jumped on some trees and those trees fell down and when those trees fell down some people attacked me and I just tried to defend myself so Ravan decided that I have to punish him and thought that this this fellow is sitting on a seat higher than me that was burning in Ravan’s heart so he decided let us burn his tail now what was the idea of burning his tail he said monkeys are very proud of their tails so if you burn it then he won’t be killed but he will be scarred for life he will be humiliated Krishna in the Bhagavata says for those who have been honoured dishonour is worse than death so it might seem like a small prank but it was a plan to humiliate Hanuman and then he said he will go back alive and all his associates will see what happens to someone who tries to challenge Ravan’s authority so everybody is trying to send messages to everyone else over here now Hanuman when he hears this he is ready to tolerate the pain he has been tied by the brahmastra Hanuman has a blessing that the brahmastra will affect him only for a finite time and he has already tested that the brahmastra is no longer binding him so what happens is all the period when he is being paraded through the streets the time is going in all that time and thus the brahmastra is actually free he is letting himself bound he is ready to tolerate the pain he is waiting waiting but suddenly there is no pain at all and he looks back and he sees that in order to burn his tail they had got lots of cotton lots of inflammable cloth they had got ghee they had got fire and all that cloth around his tail was on fire so his tail was literally on fire but he was not feeling any pain at all so he realised now different commentators explained differently but generally the understanding is when this was happening there were messengers going to and forth so Sita was being told Hanuman has been caught Hanuman has been paraded through the streets Hanuman’s tail is going to be burnt so she prayed to Agnidev please let Hanuman not be hurt now here Sita also interesting what she prayed she didn’t say that let fire not be let because that would have been too suspicious what’s going on over here see even Agnidev although he is powerful Agnidev also didn’t want to cross Ravan Ravan was very powerful so the god of fire he said fire may burn but let its heat not hurt Hanuman so Hanuman looked at it hey its not getting hurt and on one side there was relief but the nature of a devotee is a devotee is always eager to serve the lord so then he realises this burning but not hurting fire is like a ready made weapon that Hanuman has given him like its almost like given your Ravan ends up giving his enemy a machine gun with unlimited pistols unlimited bullets so Hanuman just one moment Jai Shri Ram he calls out he just leaps free of everyone how did he break free not only did he break free he just jumps off and jumps to a nearby building he has been observing which parts of the building are inflammable also he is a warrior he jumps to one building that catches fire jumps to another building and for Ravan he has at one level that a prisoner breaks free that itself is humiliating but after that the prisoner breaks free and starts devastating your own city generally speaking if a prisoner breaks free the prisoner will want to run away but here the prisoner has broken free and the prisoner is just with fearlessness and impunity running around the city burning the city Ravan says catch him catch him and the demons try to catch him and the city is on fire and the demons don’t know should we douse the fire or should we try to catch him what should we do Hanuman is just jumping with lightning speed and then he sets the whole nearly half of Lanka on fire and then finally he goes on the Lanka’s border he stands there in his majestic form the tail rising behind him the night sky is there it is completely dark and in the canvas of the sky there are few clouds there are few stars and the moon but Hanuman is like a blazing apparition his tail which is lit behind him his tail is high aloft the tail is creating like an aura around his entire face and his entire body and he looks for those who are devoted he looks like a wonderful sight for those who are not he looks like a dreadful sight and there Hanuman roars he says oh Ravan listen I am the smallest of the monkeys who are serving Sugriv and Ram if you do not return Sita then thousands and millions of monkeys like these will come and will destroy your entire city if you care for your own life if you care for your citizens if you care for your kingdom return Sita immediately saying this Hanuman leaps off and as he leaps the entire wall that was considered impregnable just collapses and there is a sometimes there is an exit there is a dramatic exit there is a clever exit this is a fearsome exit heroically dramatic and fearsome exit Hanuman had wanted to send a message he couldn’t have sent it in a better way so at a literal level itself the story is dramatic and it’s adventurous but there is much more to the story so at the ethical level Hanuman just become angry and decide to burn Lanka well it’s not that simple now he is introspective enough when he starts burning Lanka he starts thinking oh have I burned Ashok Vatika is Sita safe so he is careful he is contemplative but the point is it was a calculated action it was not just a anger fuelled anger fuelled arson so what was going on over here at an ethical level we can look at it from Hanuman’s perspective what he did we can look at it from Ravana’s perspective what happens for everyone the principle of Karma is action leads to result that is a universal principle but depending on the Karma of a person sometimes the action may be here and the result may come after a long time just like somebody has money if the person is squandering money on trivials if that person has very little money within a day they will run out of money if that person is say inherited a billion dollars from their parents then that money may last for years but it is going to end but they will feel the pinch of having no money maybe after a few years they will feel so like that if somebody has some good Karma from the past then they may not feel the consequences of their actions coming immediately but the consequences will come so this distance this particular distance this buffer is created by past Karma past positive Karma past negative Karma whatever it is another person may not get the consequence of their actions this could also mean that sometimes we may be doing good and we may not be getting the results of those good because there is a mass negative Karma to be worked out but when the consequences of our actions start coming they don’t just come generally at the bolt out of the blue there are some signals like when a person is doing something wrong repeatedly it’s not that one day a person somebody starts drinking alcohol it’s not that one day suddenly the person becomes an addict and that person becomes helpless they get signals along the way I went to take a one drink and I just spent all the money I had or other time you know I was driving under influence was not caught no I almost hit someone when a person is doing wrong they may not get the results sometimes but they get indications that things are going wrong if they take the warning signals they can be saved but most of the times people think nothing is going to happen to them so you know at this level a person who is intelligent a perversely intelligent once a traffic cop caught a person who was going way above the speed limit and he asked the person didn’t you see the speed limit I saw the speed limit I just didn’t see you suddenly that should be said but the point is many people think that intelligence means not to not do the wrong thing but to do the wrong thing in such a way that we don’t get the consequences but the consequences are inbuilt in the actions they will come so Ravan got this warning that his own impregnable kingdom was burnt but he did not pay attention and what happened thereafter was one by one by one his generals were killed his sons were killed and then eventually he himself was killed so you know at a ethical level this is it’s symbolic like warnings before destruction there are small warnings that things are going wrong you don’t pay attention then our self-destructive actions eventually come hit us severely now at an allegorical level at a symbolic level the ethical and the allegorical are not always separate they can be separated but they are quite similar but in ethical the focus is on actions and choices in the allegorical level the focus is on the symbolisms so Lanka is actually Lanka burning when it was Ravan was prosperous he was powerful but he ate and Hanuman set Lanka on fire Ravan just couldn’t do anything he was just destroying so here for somebody that that kind of destruction that kind of pain it was not just that his city was burned but this what it represents the defeat Ravan’s Hanuman’s purpose was to humiliate Ravan it was to warn Ravan but it was humiliating for him that I am defeated in my own city by one single warrior that was unbearable for him so Ravan what he considered everybody thinks that they are invincible till they are no longer invincible the more power a person has the more they think that nothing can get to me but Ravan generally what happens is when we have ego now ego what does the ego do ego edges God out Ishwaroham Ahambhogi I am the controller I am the enjoyer so basically I am the controller means I can do everything nobody can hurt me so for Ravan he was the king but he thought I am God I have defeated him in Indra nobody can hurt me but his ego was exposed over here so at one level if Hanuman had listened if Ravan had listened to Hanuman he could have been saved so when a person has too much ego they don’t listen to those who are giving them good advice because they think that essentially they think that they are God they may not say that explicitly but when a person refuses to listen to good advice then that person’s heart head and life will be set on fire that’s just the way things work in life it may take time but the destruction will come and the final level is the devotional level now this particular story is remarkable in demonstrating the power of devotion Hanuman is often depicted he has his folded hands he also has a mace with him so now that mace is always there with him in his iconography and his deities but when Hanuman left to Lanka you know he travelled without any check-in baggage leave alone check-in baggage he travelled without any carry-on baggage so it was a huge leap so he actually did not carry any mace with him so when he fought when the demons were attacking him there was a gate to the garden he just broke that gate and took an iron slab and he was fighting with that but the point is Hanuman’s folded hands they represent his bhakti and his mace which is there in his iconography that remains shakti so Hanuman shows that devotion is not just praying before God yes it is we are prayerful but along with being prayerful a devotee is also powerful powerful in the sense that for the service of the lord whatever is required a devotee is ready to do that and the lord empowers the devotee so in many ways what Hanuman achieved was actually greater than what Ram achieved as Prabhupada would say Hanuman flew across Lanka Ram built a bridge to go to Lanka it is by the lord’s grace the devotee does something greater than what the lord does so at the devotional level we see it all as the arrangement of the lord by which the devotee can be empowered in extraordinary ways to do things which are beyond human calculation maybe even beyond human imagination but here there is one important point that if in the devotional level love love means divine love love for the lord love is the ultimate reality everything that happens in this world oh yes people do bad things to us sometimes we make some mistakes adversities befall us all that happens through it all the lord is acting the lord is drawing us closer towards him so hanuman maintained as I was talking about how to transform adversity there is a topic so hanuman was being burnt because he maintained his service attitude what happened was that he was able to find a way to convert that particular burning tail into a weapon that worked for him at the same time the lord’s plan works in different ways hanuman was empowered to do stupendous things but the same ramayan also depicts the story of jatayu jatayu fought heroically and he unfortunately perished so did the lord not bless him did the lord not empower him no that’s not the point see the lord blesses everyone for hanuman at the end of his tour and he came back and he told all that he had done ram was so pleased ram embraced him jatayu fought and perished but lord ram was there for jatayu also he departed from the world in lord ram’s lap lord ram performed his last rites so if somebody is devoted to serving the lord the lord will always reward them the lord will never forget the service but the path through which a person will go that will vary now we are all parts of the lord and the lord has a part for each one of us so he has a part in his plan but we don’t determine the part the lord determines the part for us and we just have to play the part the best way we can so the part that the lord had for jatayu was to be a martyr the part that the lord had for hanuman was to be a victor but both of them were equally glorious in different ways so when we say love is the ultimate reality a part both of them had parts in the lord’s plan so jatayu’s part was to be a martyr hanuman’s plan part was to be a victor so different people will have different parts but if we play our part well the lord will reward us not everybody in this world who is serving the lord will be a victor when the ganga was to be brought to the earth so many kings performed austerities many kings performed lifelong austerities and they perished but one king who succeeded in getting the ganga to the earth who was that Bhagirath Bhagirathi Ganga is called so he is great he is heroic but it doesn’t mean he alone is heroic actually it is like what service to the lord service is like a relay race in a relay race what happens is different characters have they carry the torch one character’s role may be from here to here other characters may be from here to here other characters may be from here to here and then one character crosses the finishing line so the one who crosses the finishing line may be the one who gets the glory in the world’s eyes but all characters get the glory in the lord’s eyes everybody so everybody gets glory in the lord’s eyes now why the lord chooses somebody to get glory the why the lord does not choose somebody to get the glory in the world’s eyes that vary so Prabhupada was once asked that varies that is the lord’s inconceivable glory Prabhupada was once told Prabhupada Bhaktivinoda Thakur preached in Bengal Bhaktivinoda Thakur preached in India you preached all over the world therefore you are greater than all of them Prabhupada became very grave said never think like this the parents are the happiest when their children exceed them in their achievements whatever I have achieved is by their mercy so if we are earnestly serving the lord we may or may not be recognised in the world’s eyes but the lord is recognising us and we need to be satisfied by that we don’t need to become discontented or jealous if somebody else is being recognised and somebody else being recognised by the world’s eyes that person has to remember just because I am being recognised does not mean I am necessarily better than everyone else we are all serving the lord Hanuman was given this lesson later when lord Ram said you are building brick boulders this squirrel is getting small pieces of dirt but both of them both of you are equally valuable in my eyes both of you are doing the best so the devotional reality is that the lord empowered Hanuman but it’s also the reality that whether we get to play a successful part in this world or a part that is apparently unsuccessful in this world’s eyes the part that we play in the lord’s service will always be successful because it will draw us closer to him and ultimately unite us with him for a life of eternal love I will summarise what I discussed today we discussed the theme of Hanuman’s burning of Lanka we discussed the four levels of approaching the epics remember the four levels L was literal then what is the acronym lead E was ethical A was allegorical it’s important the story is not allegory but it’s a narrative that has happened but there is also more to its symbolism then there is devotional and then we discussed this Hanuman story at the literal level there is amazing level of entertainment in it so then at a ethical level what we get is guidance so the guidance over here is that from Hanuman’s point of view he was giving deterrence from Ravan’s point of view it is a warning Hanuman gave the warning effectively but Ravan unfortunately did not take that warning and therefore Ravan perished and then we discussed the allegorical level so we discussed how that somebody who thinks somebody who has ego that person ego the edge got out and what happens is their heart burns because sooner or later what they think they have in full control that will go out of their control and that is unbearable for them and then at the devotional level the Lord’s love for us is the supreme reality Hanuman went into Lanka all alone the odds were all against him but he was spectacularly victorious because he was empowered by the Lord but the Lord has different parts for different people parts were different for Hanuman it was to be a victor for Jatayu it was to be a martyr but either way both were spiritually successful so for us sometimes when we are trying to serve the Lord we may not succeed in getting glory and success in this world but if we are trying to serve honestly the Lord will always be watching and rewarding thank you very much Hare Krishna are there any questions or comments Hare Krishna thank you so much you reiterated this point couple of times that it is important to play the part the role play the part that the Lord has assigned us often when I introspect myself I find that because I am hooked to some entertainment or some intellectual motivation it is very hard to play the part always because that how to say the what I am expecting in return does not come through that easily or it is not visible so often so how do I carry on in that fashion because it may become monotonous and often without any tinge of devotion yeah that is true when you say we have meant to play our part irrespective of whether we get success or not that does not mean that we have to be resigned to a life of no happiness at all there is two things over here the action that we do at a material level if it is according to our varna according to our psychophysical nature and at a spiritual level it is in the mood of service so then at both these levels when we do an action according to a varna there is an extrinsic satisfaction that comes and then there is an intrinsic satisfaction at a material level suppose somebody likes music or somebody likes painting or somebody likes maths likes whatever it is now when they do that activity they just feel I am at home this is what I meant to do one of my services is writing so I used to read about various writers before I introduced bhakti also there is one writer who was asked if you come to know that you are going to die in one minute what will you do he said I will die faster so now he is just attached to writing well yeah that’s one way of looking at it another way of looking at it is that for him the meaning of life comes through writing and this is what I am meant to do this is what I will do life or death now of course if that meaning that he is getting if it is connected with writing about Krishna that’s wonderful but the point is there is intrinsic satisfaction so not everybody will get extrinsic satisfaction because extrinsic satisfaction depends to some extent on past karma at least partly depends on past karma so but the intrinsic satisfaction so we need to observe ourselves and look at among the various things that we do in our life which are the things that give us intrinsic satisfaction and they should at least be some part of our life the way society is structured nobody can always do the things they like to do but at least sometime we need to have to do the things that are natural for us when Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita if you do some other dharma that is fearful what he means by that is if everybody in society is motivated is not doing something which they are naturally inclined to do then they won’t be getting any intrinsic satisfaction and if everybody is motivated only by intrinsic satisfaction then they won’t be able to do that work competently now say doctors consider for example now everybody needs money and doctors have worked so many years paid so many fees so naturally they want to go on handsomely from their medical work but imagine if a doctor gets no joy in healing patients if there is no intrinsic satisfaction then that doctor will be a doctor we should be afraid of isn’t it because they may complicate the patient’s disease they may prolong take more and more tests and the patient will just become a money making tool for them and that can happen in every profession so at least some level we should be doing some activity which gives us intrinsic satisfaction and similarly the same principle applies to the service of the lord through service we at external level we make contribution so contribution means that we are able to do some tangible service so if you go out for book distribution we are able to distribute books if we give some talks then people come for the talks people appreciate the talks whatever it is but there is an internal effect intrinsic is the connection through our service we develop our connection with the lord and the contribution is uncertain it may have manifest it may not manifest Prabhupada for 40 years was serving Krishna diligently and there is no contribution to manifest basically he had written the Bhagavatam that was one tangible thing but he did not have any followers he did not have a temple practically nothing to show but normally somebody works very hard and they get no success then they tend to become bitter instead of blaming the world but when Prabhupada came to America and those who later became his early disciples they met him he was just an unknown old man walking on the streets of New York but those who met him he found that he was just so cheerful he was just so happy talking about Krishna so and if nobody was there to talk about Krishna Prabhupada would be writing his books he was talking about Krishna to people in the future who would read his books at that time he didn’t even know whether his books would be published and they would be read but so the point is that Prabhupada was satisfied with the connection with the Lord of course he wanted to make a contribution that’s why he kept trying different things but as devotees also we need to know that our service is primarily for connecting us with Krishna of course when we are doing the service we should do it in such a way that others can also become connected with Krishna we are making a contribution but just read it to me when Prabhupada comes to America he says boro krupa koi le Krishna adha mera prati you are very merciful to me Krishna now what is the mercy he is just alone he has come to a foreign land the only physically valuable asset that he had was his body and that was subjected to motion sickness that was subjected to two heart attacks he has practised nothing material but Prabhupada is grateful because he has the opportunity he has no facility but he at least has the opportunity so I am going to opportunity to carry out his spiritual master’s instruction and in that for that he is grateful just to have the opportunity so service is so for him Prabhupada you know that his service was connecting him with his Guru and connecting with Krishna and that intrinsic satisfaction was itself what he was grateful for he of course wanted to get the external also but Prabhupada was not discontented or bitter because of that as devotees we need to be able to find intrinsic satisfaction both in the work that we do at a material perspective according to our nature and from the devotional perspective when we are doing service the primary purpose is that we connect ourselves with the Lord so thank you very much Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai So, each of these quotes is inspired by one verse from the Bhagavad Gita. If any of you would like to have this, I will be here for some time and I will use this for signing the books also. Thank you very much.
Books are all outside in the table so that we can go and then collect it from there and then Prabhuji can sign it. His Grace Chaitanya Charan Prabhu Ki Jai. Shrila Prabhu Par Ki Jai.
Let’s give Prabhu one more big Haribo. Thank you. Haribo.
So, I would just like to thank His Grace Chaitanya Charan Prabhu again for coming to Dallas.