Supersoul speaks part 3

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
we discussed thank you for coming today for the last session in our series of discussion on when the super source speaks with us so this is the section on the human cognition part where the puranjan pastime is coming to its conclusion and puranjan who has in his next life become a queen who has now lost her husband at that time when she is devastated being abandoned at that time the lord comes in the form of a brahmana he is the avidyan sakha the unknown friend and he starts speaking to her words of wisdom and he is telling her how we have been close to each other but you have wandered away from me and you became attached to the lord and get lost within him and through it all I have been with you all this time so this is not just a conversation that happens at one time in some story it is actually meant to be a conversation that happens between us and the lord the lord is trying to speak to us and if our mind becomes calmer and clearer we can start perceiving that but till then we can try to appreciate the lord’s wisdom and lord’s love so we can see through such conversations so let’s continue reading the section so who would like to press the like button do you have a second mic somewhere ok it’s here so once you can have yes yes yes so do not do not find any quality difference aham bhavan leh chavan yastav so now one of the upanishads that you are that and there are discussions by the vedantic commentators on what does it mean so that actually there is a fundamental level of now you know now the wise people what do they see what do they see because of the mind so there is a time when the quantitative difference between us and the lord is to be emphasised and there is a time when the quantitative oneness of us and the lord is to be emphasised both of them have their place so for example when we have when we are overwhelmed by the enjoying what the control mentality at that time it is important to emphasise that we are finding the lord is mighty and we are at the service of Krishna at the same time when we are feeling the anxiety uncertainty at that time what needs to be emphasised is that just as the lord is eternal and indestructible we are also eternal and indestructible so both sides the ved and the abhed that needs to be emphasised if only the ved is emphasised then the relationship aspect if only the ved is emphasised then the sense of security and the sense of calmness and serenity that comes when we spend the quantitative oneness lost but if only the ved is emphasised then the beauty of the relationship and the love that can come from the relationship that can be lost so our relationship with Krishna is only ved ved means what difference so it’s often called oneness and difference or you can also say similarity and dissimilarity so if only the ved is emphasised that could be an extreme and only the ved is emphasised so if only the ved is emphasised then what happens then there is basically the the the fragility our bodies are so fragile they can be destroyed so much the fragility of our being leads to a sense of insecurity it makes us feel god is so far away from you god is so different from you we are also spiritual we are eternal in the bhagavad gita when arjuna is overcome by the fear when arjuna is overcome by the fear of course his fear is not fear of his own death his fear is of doing a wrong thing and causing the death of many others so there Krishna doesn’t begin by telling him you are the servant of god Krishna begins by telling him what he does why? because in general ved if it is emphasised it does something and it does not when the abhed is emphasised it does something it does not do something so when the abhed is emphasised then there is no relationship and there is no now thereby so it leads to an existential loneliness a sense of oneness so we basically we are different from the lord if the lord is great then we are small so this actually counters desire because if the soul is I take it by two things, fear and desire so the desire that I want to be the controller I want to be the enjoyer that by emphasising if the lord is so great how much can we achieve give it to servant but when the abhed is emphasised the positive of that is it counters fear we are determined that’s why the Gita starts with this because Arjuna is not afflicted by greed to get a guru Arjuna is afflicted by greed so the balance is both we talk about bhed and abhed so now in the case of of this queen who has become a widow what is she affected by is it desire or fear it is fear so she has lost her husband she is all alone so at that time what needs to be emphasised is soul is eternal if somebody has lost a loved one we shouldn’t be emphasising god’s greatness god’s will is perfect and don’t you dare question god no at that time somebody has lost a loved one if your loved one is eternal then they have gone to some other place but they are still living you are also eternal you don’t have to also go on so the right thing should be emphasised in the right time the super soul himself the whole tone of the super soul is not that I am god you are disobeying me that’s why you are suffering I am your friend you have forgotten me the tone is not at all in the judgement the tone is very timely god is extending a hand of friendship more than the hand of mercy the hand of friendship is more horizontal the hand of mercy is more vertical like somebody from above is lifting us up that is also true you may have seen the 12th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita Vishnu is coming on Garuda extending his hand lifting the soul out of the ocean of material existence that is true that is there but there is the hand of mercy there is a time for that and there is a hand of friendship so here the tone is more the tone of friendship that’s why the words I do not I am your god I am your swami there is a time for that also but here the word is much more personal like a friend so we are qualitatively the same then yes yes yes yes this is somewhat complex metaphor I think the previous focus was on the now there is some point that there is a relationship between us and the lord and there are many different metaphors used for it sometimes it is like the lord is in the fire and we are the sparks sometimes it is like the lord is the original and we are all the reflections so now what we describe over here is sometimes a person is naive this is the reality this is the reflection he says okay both look identical but one is real one is the reflection so in the Abrahamic religions the name is maybe the energy of God but there is a lot of theological exposition on what does it actually mean does it mean literally that that only humans and souls only man is made in the image of God not any animals or does that mean God has a form like human beings there are many different explanations given to that but anyways there is some similarity but man is made in the image of God that does not mean that man is God there is a difference between it but there is also some similarity so the metaphor here assumes that when we see a reflection we see a reality people may think they are exactly the same but they are not actually the same only the reflection is the reality so the lord and the souls of every one of us now no material metaphor can absolutely capture a spiritual reality and every metaphor serves some particular purpose to convey some particular so here the point is not that we are false like a reflection does not exist in one sense but the point is that we have come from the Lord the reflection would not exist without the souls without the souls there is no reality so basically you see she is being told over here that the Lord is sustaining you the Lord is the source of your existence yes you are qualitatively one but still it is the Lord which is sustaining you in this way both forms are relevant the first form is instructed by the other which is related to this this means the original consciousness so here the same example is also one that mind is a very complicated concept but it refers to the inner world the inner landscape within us in that the both of them live so from one you may have seen the image of the two birds on a tree but in the second bird just turns towards the first bird samana by understanding the glory of the Lord person can become free the birds eating fruits can become free from all the sins so the Lord is with us but when we are ready to become enlightened by our Lord swasta is in our own situation but from that one has slipped away that memory which is lost can be restored it turns towards the Lord enlightened by the Lord so indirectly he is telling that the wisdom that I am giving is meant to enlighten you so now this is the conclusion of the chapter means indirectly so this is not puranjan is not history it is a allegory, a symbolic story meant to convey something so parvakshena sometimes opposite to the text so this is the conclusion of the book but the point is the last verse was that if we are ready to be enlightened by the Lord then we all can become swasta we all can become situated in our own position and let’s see how we can do that so I will do a quick recap of what we have been discussing what is the broad acronym we have been discussing in connecting a super soul a c a was appreciate so appreciate means we discussed how when we are functioning in the world we can start seeing that there is some higher reality we appreciate the gift of life the gift of life when we are going through life we will have different worldviews and which is the worldview that is the most affirmative for us so we discussed the worldview of devotion where this world is real and the other world is also real so I am really focussing on these points in the classes which we will be building on today and c was connecting so connecting is what we discussed yesterday how we connect the events of our life with the lord so here we discussed the gifts in life it’s very easy to forget the gift of life because we are so caught in the daily life challenges and then we discussed how we can appreciate that there is some order we have some gifts yesterday I discussed that remember that yes so we discussed primarily about the principle of karma as an organising principle so we appreciate that there are good things in my life that I have that I have got good things I have got good things and there are times when I did good and I got good also but then key words persist we understand that when things don’t seem to be working either I can say there is no ordering principle at all or that the ordering principle is against both of which are not very good so we understand that there is some bigger picture so instead of so no ordering principle no order or the order is against the order means higher principle is against so the solution is there is a bigger bigger order is there so I am going through negative things right now that’s why I am not getting results so we persist through that and then key words transcend transcend means basically the things which we are worried about we start realising that they are not that big so we discussed this metaphor of how initially the world is big and God is small and eventually what happens is the world becomes big and God becomes small for us does it? no so initially the world is big and God is small eventually the world becomes small and God becomes big so it’s like when we say child grows so initially what happens is the child sees desires as more important than needs when the child grows then what happens the needs become more important than desires so like that also for us the spiritual things our inner state of mind our thoughts being in the same manner for our happiness and well-being much more than things in the outer so today we will be going on this background the last part what was T? target yes, target means we don’t just want to connect with the Lord and seek his blessings in this world it’s a good thing but there is something we want to make the Lord the goal of our life we don’t just want him to give us good things in life we want to come to the appreciation that he is the ultimate good of life so let’s see how this happens so today’s discussion I will to some extent based on the 7th chapter 7.16 to 7.19 this is the section where Krishna talks about the four kinds of people who come to him and then 7.19 is how bhagwanam janmanam anityam person becomes surrenders to him completely so now let’s consider two metaphors for the stages so here it is we could say starting devotion or impure devotion, mixed devotion and then there is deep devotion so initially say if we could use two different metaphors for the relationship of God of we and God so one metaphor we could use is child and parent so now say if a child has gone away from the parent because of whatever misunderstanding or some conflict or whatever and the child gets into some trouble and when the child is in a lot of trouble the child comes to the parents please kill him and at that time are the parents going to say now that you are in trouble only then you kill him the parents are going to say that if you are in so much trouble why did you come before why did it take so long it takes so long for you to come the parents are going to say when the child gets into trouble so like that for whatever reason we come to Krishna Krishna is happy that we come and that’s why he uses the word Sukruti Sukruti anyone for whatever reason they are coming Krishna is saying they are good people in fact next verse he says the Gyanis are better the Gyanis are better what is the word means generous so generous so normally we can have say there is the there is the donor and there is the receiver or we could say there is the seeker the seeker of charity and the giver of charity so now normally in this interaction whom would we call as charitable Udara the giver would be called as Udara isn’t it but amazingly here Krishna is here and the soul is here and the soul has also come to Krishna for some material things and Krishna is calling the soul as Udara so how can the seeker of charity be considered to be generous so the idea over here is Krishna is so eager for our love Krishna is so eager that we we come back to him we have a relationship with him he is so so much wanting that if we just offer even a bit of our heart to him and for whatever reason we offer the heart to him Krishna becomes very happy so thank god you came to me now god doesn’t say thank god but the idea is that Krishna is so happy that oh at last you have come to me so that’s how Krishna is loving you people can go in many different directions somebody can try to rob and cheat and try to solve the problem somebody can just take drugs and go into alcohol and destroy themselves people can try to deal with problems in many different ways Krishna is happy that we have come to him your heart Krishna controls everything everything in this world except one thing what is that one thing? our children let’s do from a philosophical perspective from an emotional perspective or relational perspective it’s our heart Krishna doesn’t control and Krishna wants us to offer our heart to him so when we offer our heart or even a small part of our heart Krishna is extremely pleased so in one sense Krishna is appreciative that we are coming to him so this is Krishna’s greatness and even if we come to him because we are in trouble Krishna is happy that we have come to him he is very happy but now we could use another metaphor for the same thing if we take the metaphor of a lover and a beloved say a boy proposes to a girl he is married and the girl asks why do you want us to marry why do you want to marry me and the boy says because no other girl in the city is ready to marry me that won’t be the most romantic of proposals so now if the girl accepts the proposal at that time that shows her love for him not his love for her even if she is her last option she is his last option still she is so happy she wants to be with him but she is ready to be the last option but the boy’s love for the girl will be shown even if other options come for him he stays with her so like that for most of us we turn to God when nothing else works we often say you are my last hope now we often express it as an expression of our despair or intensity or urgency but who would really like to be the last option but Krishna is so kind even if we are the last option he accepts that shows Krishna’s love for us but our love for Krishna will be shown when we make him our first option that we turn to Krishna not because nothing else is working but because even if everything else is working Krishna you are better than all so that is our love for Krishna so basically Krishna’s love for us is that he accepts that we are his we are the last option but our love for Krishna is the opposite that we establish him as our first option like in the Bhagavad Gita it says He remembers you and then you find him so we start our day not like oh what has happened this part of the world so how does this happen so of course the practicalities of my practical dealing with the world we have to focus on the issues that we are facing but in our heart in our understanding of priorities Krishna has given us priority so this is the evolution of devotion so this is 7.16 that Krishna accepts everyone but 7.19 is Krishna becomes our first priority Krishna is everything whatever pleasure and shelter the things of this world may give me all that and more is given by Krishna therefore I will focus on Krishna Vasudeva this is not existing to attain Samatma Sutra it remains to be obtained so today what we will be discussing is this evolution of devotion how can we do that so initially God is one of our options and that’s also God is happy to be there but to make it the first option so we go from this 7.16 level to 7.19 this is our evolution of devotion from say it’s a mixed devotion to pure devotion or from or from the world as our priority to God as our priority going back to that particular diagram which I had drawn over here see initially for us the world is big and God is small and here the world becomes big and God becomes so the world becomes small and God becomes big so that is one difference but there is another difference over here that here the world is the means sorry God is the means and the world is the ends you know means and ends means what is the tool we are using and what is the goal we are trying to achieve so the idea is I will worship God so that my problems in this world can be solved so the world is the means and God is the ends at this stage the world becomes the means and God becomes the ends that means that if I can get wealth in the world with that wealth I can serve Krishna if I get fame, if I get power, if I get talent I will use it in Krishna’s service but the fame or talent or wealth those are not the goal it is Krishna who is the goal so the difference between pure emotion and so when we talk about the difference between means and ends which is more important the means or the ends the ends are more important let’s say you wanted to come for this programme now if you hatch a car you come by your car but if your car suddenly stops working you might decide okay I have to fix the car if I fix the car the car can’t come for the programme now that could be one way of looking at it if you really need the car go somewhere else but if coming to the programme is the important end for you, if the car doesn’t work then we will ask somebody we will find some other means so when the world becomes the means and Krishna becomes the ends that means the devotee’s devotion is not dependent on what that devotee gets in the world the devotee gets wealth yes, I lose the wealth in Krishna’s hands but if I don’t get the wealth it doesn’t mean I stop my because Krishna is the more important so in one sense the means are a variable so there could be prosperity that could be a means there could be poverty now poverty may make it more difficult to serve Krishna in some ways but the difficulty is more at the material level that you don’t have to be elaborate except that the ends is invariable the ends is fixed the ends is Krishna for us so quite often when we are practising bhakti even when our ends is Krishna sometimes we become very attached to particular beings I want to do this for Krishna I want to do this for Krishna and if that doesn’t work out we start thinking what is the point of practising bhakti does Krishna even care about me does his bhakti even work at all and that way we can become misguided so this our topic today is how can we make Krishna the target and not make Krishna a means to the world as a target so I will talk about two broad steps in this and then we will discuss some elaborate steps this is based on 625 Bhagavad Gita Arjuna says Krishna is very difficult to match Krishna is very difficult to match Abhyasa to Kaunteya Vairagya to Chakraviyate so Abhyasa and Vairagya so Abhyasa and Vairagya these words can be translated in different ways So one way to understand this is boundaries and bonds boundaries and bonds.
This is a useful transformation of these two worlds, especially if we are focused on the principle of relationship. What determines whether Krishna is big or Krishna is small? To me, Krishna is always the biggest reality. It’s only because of our mind’s distorted perception that Krishna becomes small and the world becomes big.
Whatever becomes big for someone, that is because of the mind’s perception. Somebody is attached to sports. For them, who wins the match becomes the most important thing in the world for them.
That’s because of the mind. So when you want to make Krishna big and the world small, it’s not so much making as our mind realising it. So the principles that apply to the mind management, they apply here also.
In any relationship, how does the relationship develop? Any relationship has these two things, bonds and boundaries. Let the man and the woman get married. Then for the bond to develop, they need to spend time together, they need to do something valuable together.
When they have a child together, then they become bonded even more together. And then the relationship is to be serious. So there are boundaries.
The way unmarried man or unmarried woman will deal with other people, married man or unmarried woman don’t do that. So there are certain boundaries that come after the relationship. So for a relationship to be serious, there are bonds and boundaries.
And the same principle applies for our relationship with Krishna. So the bonds, the bond that is developed is basically, we bond with the things that remind us of Krishna. So we come to the temple, we chant the holy names, we hear Krishna Katha, we develop a bond with those things.
Krishna is not yet visible for us, but there are places where Krishna is more manifest to us. And by going to those places regularly, we develop a bond. Now the boundaries are the things that distract us from Krishna, that cause us to forget Krishna.
So for example, when we have these four aggregate principles, these are said to contaminate and agitate our mind so much, it becomes difficult to focus. So broadly the principle is that, if I go back to this particular diagram, the world is big and Krishna is small. So what I need to do is, I need to connect with Krishna more and more.
This is the bond that we develop. For that, that’s why one of the fundamental principles of Bhakti is remember Krishna. The more we bond with Krishna, the more we focus on him, the more he starts becoming bigger and bigger.
And then we have to create some boundaries, that we don’t expose ourselves to the world so much. Now in the world, there is constant news and there is politics and there is sports and there is movies and even all of these also, there can be something which is Rajasik, there can be something which is Tamasik. So there are certain things, which when we are exposed to, they start filling our mind and dominating our mind.
So we try to deal with them. These are our conditions. We try to regulate our conditions.
So essentially bonds and boundaries. So what we want to make bigger, we expose our mind to that. What we want to make smaller, we minimise the exposure of our mind.
And when we do these two things gradually, the world will start becoming smaller and smaller. It takes time, but it starts suddenly. The world starts becoming smaller and smaller and smaller.
And Krishna starts becoming bigger and bigger. So when we say Krishna becomes bigger, what does it mean? From an experiential perspective, from a philosophical perspective, Krishna is always the biggest reality. But from an experiential perspective, when we say Krishna becomes bigger, what does that mean? Essentially, whatever is bigger for us, that has a bigger effect on us.
So generally speaking, the world is a place of dualities. And there are many dualities in the world. There is heat and cold, there is victory and defeat, so many dualities are there.
Now, especially those dualities to which we are attached. Say that there are so many sports going on. There is cricket and there is football and there is rugby and there is tennis.
Now we may not be attached to all of them, but say we are attached to cricket. And in cricket also there are so many matches going on all over. Maybe we are attached to particular teams.
So then if our favourite team wins, we become delighted. But if our favourite team loses, we become disappointed. So basically, where there is attachment, these dualities start becoming greater.
So wherever we are attached, that means whatever is big for us, what will happen is the world is a place of dualities. And within that, whatever it is that we are attached to, that will become, those dualities will become even bigger for us. So now, if the world becomes smaller for us, then what will happen is the world’s dualities will also become smaller for us.
And then, if the world’s duality becomes smaller for us, those dualities and effect will also become smaller for us. So, one way to understand that Krishna is becoming bigger for us is that the world’s dualities won’t ever change. When we become spiritually advanced, these dualities will still keep happening in our life.
But amid those dualities, how they affect on us will We see, oh, this was a good thing, this was a bad thing. But when a good thing happens, there’s no need to jump up and down the sky. Okay, it’s good.
Then bad happens. Oh, yeah, this is not such a good thing. It’s not the end of the world.
So basically, one way we can understand our spiritual advancement is by seeing our material steadiness. How steady do we become? Say, before we started practising bhakti, if some problem had come, you might have become completely shaken or shattered. But now when a similar problem comes, we are concerned, we are worried, but the effect is not so much.
So, if we are steadier, that will mean that the world becomes smaller. So basically, we can say at this stage, we become materially, when we are materially steady, we also become materially peaceful. Now, many people say, I want shanti, mann bada shant, shant karna.
Now, the problem with seeking peace is that we also want joy. We don’t just want peace, we want joy. And in the world, if you say, I want to become peaceful, it can’t be that, say, if India wins the match, say many of us are in India, which is your country, India wins the match, and oh, I’ll be joy.
When India loses the match, I’ll be detached and peaceful. It doesn’t work like that. Isn’t it? If I want the joy when India wins, I’ll also get the pain when India loses.
So what happens for many people, they feel that if I become detached, then my life will become emotionally balanced, emotionally empty. Where is the joy in my life? Because when good things happen, I get the joy. When bad things happen, I don’t want that happiness that comes there.
But many people say this is a part of the package, this is what life is. So, when we become materially peaceful, say, when this boundary between us and the world becomes firm, boundary becomes thick and firm, then what happens is, the world doesn’t affect us so much. But then the exact joy that comes from our bond with our Lord, the bond becomes strong.
And through this bond, we become spiritually joyful. We become materially peaceful, but we become spiritually joyful. So when the Lord becomes the source of our joy, so another way we know that the world, that the Lord has actually become bigger for us is that the world’s things don’t affect us so much.
Oh, you know, my boss spoke like this, or this thing happened with my neighbour, this thing happened with this relative. It’s not a good thing. I don’t get so angry about it.
And after that, I come to the temple, I hear some katha, I participate in the movement. I find that a flood of joy, a great amount of joy, like a stream of joy starts coming. Then it gets that Krishna has become bigger for us.
So we become spiritually joyful. This bond starts becoming bigger and bigger for us. So in this way, when we, so what are we talking about? Why should we target Krishna? Because when we target Krishna, these two things will happen.
We will become materially peaceful, we will become spiritually joyful. So, and these are both wonderful things, wonderful scenes to be in. Then we can become these two things.
So when we have target, as we target Krishna, one result is materially peaceful, other result is spiritually joyful. And when these start happening, we start experiencing life at a different level. We start accessing a joy that was no longer, that was not accessible to us.
When we are remembering Krishna, we become so near to Krishna, learning new things about Krishna. The joy, the richness that comes in our heart, but it is something which was not accessible. Maharaj was a great king.
As a king, he had access to all the pleasures of the world. Pleasures most of us cannot even dream about. And yet he said that ever since I have been absorbed in remembrance of the Lord.
I don’t know any other pleasure as good as So, how do we go about this? This is the last part of the talk. Bonds and boundaries. How do we go about establishing these bonds and establishing these boundaries? That is how we can actually target.
When we target Krishna, whenever we make something as a target, what does that mean? We focus on that thing and we avoid getting distracted. So the bondage is what I am focussing on. That is the bond.
That is the boundary. So what does bond and boundaries mean for us, particularly in the world? Because most of us still have to function in the world. We can’t just turn away from the world.
We can’t turn away from the world’s responsibilities. So this is where that first quadrant was that this world is real and the other world is also real. So that is important for us.
Now Bhakti has these two aspects to it. One is transcending. We turn away from the world.
So we turn away from the world and we focus on Krishna. Then Bhakti is also world transforming. That is also an aspect of the world.
So for example in 12.8 Krishna says, that in just 12.8 and 9 in the Bhagavad Gita he says, just fix your mind on living. But then in 12.10 he says, you will work for me, serve me. So there are multiple ways in which Bhakti can be practised.
And this world transcending aspect of Bhakti is primarily is the time of our sadhana. When we are doing our sadhana at that time we turn away from the world and focus on Krishna. We hear about Krishna, chant his name, we worship him, we recite his verses.
We turn away from the world. And the purpose of sadhana is not just to meet a particular numerator. That sadhana is important.
But what is its importance? During the time of our sadhana, at least for a few moments we need to make that experience. Actually Krishna is a much bigger reality. The purpose of sadhana is to bring our consciousness into the presence of Krishna and to realise that actually Krishna is a far bigger reality.
But Krishna is pre-realised. So we may not remember throughout the day that Krishna entered our life. Because we have to finish some negotiations and navigate to Pratayeev.
At that time those issues will be present in our mind probably. But actually sometime during the day, I remember the start of the day, we get some experience which reminds us that there is a bigger reality. There is another world beyond this world.
That world is actually that. There is Krishna. So this world transcends the aspect of Krishna that comes through our sadhana.
So in sadhana, I talked about this was 4.10, it is the Svitra Raga Bhaya Krodha, those three volumes. So there Krishna says Manmaya and then Mavapashya. So these are two distinct stages actually.
Manmaya and Mavapashya. What does this mean? That initially say this is my consciousness and this is Krishna. Krishna is small for me at this point.
But I give Krishna entrance into my consciousness. So for example, you are sitting here in this classroom. And there are so many things, maybe the temperature is too hot or too cold for you, maybe the floor is not so comfortable, we are hungry.
There are so many stimuli that are there in the consciousness. But we let Krishna be at least one of these. We bring Krishna into our consciousness.
Other things might be there, but let Krishna be there at least one of the things in our consciousness. So this is the stage of attention. We try to pay attention.
Pay attention means there are many other things which can catch our attention, but we are trying to pay attention to one thing. And then as we pay attention to Krishna from Manmaya, Manmaya is, we fix our mind and function. But after a period of time what happens is, if this is my consciousness, I understand that actually Krishna is the bigger reality.
And it’s not so much that Krishna is entering into my consciousness as my consciousness is entering into Krishna. We gain entrance into Krishna. But that doesn’t mean we merge into Krishna, but like our consciousness becomes emerged in Krishna.
Our consciousness becomes completely absorbed in Krishna. Sometimes when we block from a long and disturbing day, acts of kirtan going on. We sit down and try to focus on the kirtan.
And the kirtan becomes very slow. And you know what happens? It’s almost as if we forget that I am in Singapore, I am in this particular room. We feel as if we are transported to some other reality.
So what has happened is, our consciousness is entering Krishna. This is the state of absorption. So you want to be absorbed in Krishna.
So from attention, gradually absorption will come. Manmaya to Mahapashyata. So this is the world transcending that for at least some time during the day, we try to transcend.
We try to practise asada in such a way that we are reminded that there is another world. Well, I agree with Prabhu. I met Prabhupada for the first time.
It was on the streets of New York. Prabhupada in 1965 when he went to America, he had no money. There is no social media out there.
So even when he was conducting classes, there was no way for him to do publicity in those classes. So Prabhupada adopted simply the cheapest way of doing publicity. He would just go for long walks on the streets of New York.
And anybody who would stop and talk with him, Prabhupada would spend time talking. Imagine, you are a pure devotee just walking on the streets and all that you have to do is approach and talk with them. So that was a great fortune.
Now, anyway, I agree with Prabhupada. At that time, the whole idea was there that you take drugs and can go high in your spiritual. So he was about to go to his Harvard villa.
He was going to meet his friend and they were going to take some drugs. And he had been to India in search of a guru before. Unfortunately, he had not found one.
He said that those who seemed enlightened, they didn’t know English. Those who knew English didn’t seem enlightened. They seemed like poor priests who were interested in our money and our fame and other things.
So he came back from India disappointed. And then he was walking on the streets. He saw, he’s looking here and there, he saw him.
He’s a sanyasi who was wearing saffron robes. At that time, Buddhism was not common in the West. Saffron robes were extremely rare.
He said, who is this? I have already taken drugs. I’m already high. The lorry went by.
And then he saw his family still there. He stopped and looked on. Another lorry went by.
He saw his family is actually still there. Also stopped and looking at him. And then he ran across to meet somebody.
And then he saw him and said, are you from India? He said, yes, and you? He said, no, I’ve been to India. And he started talking. And these giant lorries were passing by that road.
And the first thing that struck me was that Gopal was so peaceful. It was as if he was not in New York. Although he was there, but he was not there.
He was very attentive to what I was thinking and responding to that. But he seemed to be grounded in some other reality. He was so calm, he was so serene, he was so satisfied.
Now that is a glimpse. Sometimes when we associate very sacred, we notice it like a bad glimpse. Although they are here, they are also there.
They are grounded in something for people. They are grounded in some anchored sub-conscious reality. So that is again a very simple question.
Our consciousness becomes anchored. Now for most of us, this may not always be a steady experience. But even if sometimes it comes, even if at the time of sadhana, for a few moments, for a few minutes, or sometimes in satsanga we get that experience, there is a bigger reality.
So this, what it does is, this world transcending the aspect of sadhana, we get enrichment. Enrichment means we start feeling internally enriched, internally satisfied. Remember one of the things I said is that as we grow, we start understanding that our thoughts are more important than the things.
I can get good things in my life, but if my thoughts are all negative, I can’t really be happy. So that inner enrichment starts being experienced. Enrichment is actually a good thing.
It’s part of the experience. Now after this, see the world, there is another reality we want to experience that. It’s important to experience that.
But along with that, we also understand this world is real and we want to serve in this world. We want to do Krishna’s within this world. And that’s why the world transforming aspect of bhakti is that a devotee, after we have done our sadhana, the world transforming is our Seva.
Now Seva can be the direct Seva that we come into the temple. Seva can also be the family that we raise and Krishna’s servants. Seva can also be the job that we do.
Krishna says, through your work one thing. And through devotion, what happens is, for us, for doing this world transformation, what we get is empowerment. So we get enrichment internally through our sadhana.
And through our Seva, we start experiencing empowerment. Now what does empowerment mean? It is a common word in devotional circles. But empowerment means two different things.
I’ll conclude at this point that when we talk about empowerment, this involves at one level, we start finding abilities, resources that we didn’t know before. Somebody might think I’m very timid and afraid of speaking in public. But we start serving Krishna, we get the courage to start speaking about Krishna to others, to distribute books, to give classes.
We find that, we find abilities and resources and interest that we didn’t know before. So in one sense, internally are those abilities there by our past karma and we are discovering them? Are those abilities given to us by Krishna? Whatever it is, who knows? But this is my finding. I can do things which I thought that earlier I would never be able to.
So that is one aspect of empowerment. We start finding resources. The resources we have internally.
We get abilities, we get talents, we get something. And then not only that, we start finding, we could use the word miracles, but we could also use the word, let’s use the word miracles right now. Miracles means externally things start working for us.
We try to do something in Krishna’s service and then it’s not that immediately miracles start happening. But we try to do one thing it doesn’t work, second thing it doesn’t work, third thing it doesn’t work, fourth thing. Suddenly a dozen things fall in place.
Just everything starts working. So, for example, Brahmapada, for so many years nothing was working when he was trying to serve Krishna. Then, from 1966 outwards, so many things have just started working.
The way the Krishna consciousness spread from 1966 to 1976 was extraordinary. It was not just on Brahmapada it happened. But those who were following Brahmapada also it happened.
Those who were following Brahmapada, they also found they would go to a particular place and they would meet somebody and at that time when the devotees came to England, Lord Harrison was probably the most popular person in the world. And to meet him was next to impossible. The devotees were completely unknown.
But they not only got to meet him, they befriended him and he became in many ways a supporter, if not follower of Shri Prabhupada. So, how it worked out was extraordinary. It just worked out.
So, we find that externally things will start falling in place. They won’t happen automatically. They won’t happen immediately.
Because Shri Prabhupada, it took time. It didn’t happen immediately. But when it happened, Prabhupada said that his success exceeded his expectations.
Prabhupada did say, even he was in 1965 alone in Malacca, there are temples and they are filled with devotees, only time is separating this. So, Prabhupada had that temple. So, Prabhupada had 100 million temples, thousands of devotees all over the world.
That was extraordinary. So, that was the empowerment. And it’s not that empowerment is only for Prabhupada or for some special devotees who are loving Prabhupada.
No, Krishna wants every one of us to become our best. Krishna wants each one of us to do our best. When you talk about empowerment, what does it mean? See, we often have this verse 15.7. And we are all, we are parts of Krishna.
And then we say we are always parts of Krishna. Sanatana. Now, we often use this philosophically to refute Mayavada, that we’ll never become one with God.
But there is also a practical application of that. What does it mean? If we are parts of Krishna, that means we have parts in Krishna’s plan. And we have parts in Krishna’s plan always.
Sanatana. Say, if somebody is selected as a part of the Singapore volleyball team, then if they are selected as a part of the volleyball team, then you have a part in the team. You know what exactly that part is, how that part will develop that way.
We are all a part of Krishna’s team. Krishna has a part for each one of us. For some of us, the part may be very big, for some of the part may be very small, but we all have a part.
And when we start playing that part, we are Krishna, we start doing amazing things. Krishna will empower us internally with our abilities, externally by situations, whenever we can use those abilities. And we will be able to do things far more than what we thought normally possible.
So that is how a devotee makes a positive difference in this world also. Devotees are not just meant to reject the world and go to one Krishna. We are meant to serve Krishna.
And this, this we have parts in Krishna’s plan always. This is understood through this 11.29, the Bhagavad Gita. 11.29 is the verse which describes, describes how the various warriors who are going to die in the battlefield, two metaphors are used.
Some are like moths entering into fire and some are like rivers entering into the ocean. So now, in the Srivastava tradition, there is a prominent follower of Ramacharya Vedanta Deshika. He has written a sub-commentary on the Gita.
And in that sub-commentary, he gives a beautiful explanation of this wind, river going towards the ocean. He says the ocean is Krishna and the river is the Jiva. Now, the river goes towards the ocean.
Now the impersonalism emerges into the ocean. But actually if you consider the river to be atoms, river to be water, the water never really emerges. The atoms still exist.
You just may not see them. So the point is not merging. But he says, when the river is going towards the ocean, it’s not just that the river is only concerned about going towards the ocean.
The river is concerned about going towards the ocean. But while going towards the ocean, the river nourishes so much life form on both its backs. So like that, a devotee whilst moving towards Krishna has benefit to this world also.
So the ocean is, the river is going towards the ocean. So the ocean is Krishna, but the land through which the ocean is going, that is the world. And this is the devotee.
So that means, yes, we want to attain Krishna, but while we are attaining Krishna, Krishna has given us some amenities, Krishna has given us some circumstances and we are meant to do good in these worlds in the name of service to Krishna. Whatever be our particular role, if our role is parents, we try to raise our children in the best possible way. If our role is a professional, we try to do that professionally.
If we are a doctor, we try to be in the service to Krishna. If we are engineers, we are lawyers, whatever we are doing in the name of service, we try to do good to others in that service. And ultimately, the river takes the ocean.
So the world is the means and Krishna is the end. So the means is important, but the end is the most important. In this last one or two months, since last Janmashtami, I have been reading Prabhupada’s life and one thing that struck me, it’s very moving and inspiring.
One of the single project on which Prabhupada invested more energy than anything else. Can you consider that Prabhupada fought practically like a war? Giriraj Maharaj has written a whole book about this. Now, the Juhu temple was inaugurated in January, January 1970, when Prabhupada departed from the world in November 1977.
Just two months ago. Now, Prabhupada wanted to build a temple for Krishna and Prabhupada could have said to Krishna, Krishna, I built this temple for you. Just let me see the inauguration of this temple.
When Prabhupada was asked, last few days of his life, earlier, in last December, Prabhupada said, it is not detachment, Prabhupada definitely invested in the temple, but Prabhupada invested much more in Krishna. So, that for a devotee, we may want to do things for Krishna. Prabhupada did far more things for Krishna than most of us can ever do, not just one life but many life times.
But yet, even while being so empowered to do so many things for Krishna, the brilliance never became more important than that. The world never became more important than Krishna. There was no dissatisfaction, there was no agitation.
Krishna, I have worked so hard, just let me see this temple. But that was Prabhupada’s exalted level. It is possible because although Prabhupada was devoted to bringing manifestations of the spiritual world in this world, he still knew that the spiritual world is the bigger world.
That is the bigger reality. And if I don’t complete this temple, Krishna will have somebody else. This is like a multi-part play.
There are multiple characters playing parts of it. It’s not that I am the centre. Prabhupada played his part, which is far bigger than anyone else’s part can be.
But Prabhupada knew that his part, and when Krishna told him your part is over, Krishna, Prabhupada took the service of demonstrating how to be part in Krishna consciousness without becoming agitated. Still being absorbed in writing about Krishna, in Krishna’s message, Prabhupada departed from the world. But this is where a devotee does consider this world real and does good in this world.
But a devotee also understands there is another world that is ultimately the bigger reality. The devotee moves through this world to that ultimate reality. In Bhagyajan Prabhupada’s literacy, we have the association of devotees and we have the opportunity to practise bhakti and also make Krishna the target of our life.
Both through our sadhana and through our seva. As we make Krishna the target through our sadhana, we will start experiencing enrichment in our life. And as we try to make Krishna our target through our seva, we will start experiencing empowerment in our life.
To summarise what we discussed today, today our focus was on how do we make Krishna the target of our life? What does it mean? So we started by talking about the evolution of devotion. Based on the journey from 716 to 719. So initially, we can use the metaphor of the parent-child.
That Krishna calls even the mixed devotees as Pudaraha. That Krishna is so eager for our love that he wants us for whatever reason we come to. But then it is the lover and beloved.
At that time, even if we are just one among many choices or even the last choice, still Krishna accepts us. But Krishna wants him to be our first option, our first choice. And that shows our love for him.
So we discussed the metaphor of lover and beloved. And then how do we evolve in such devotion? For such evolution of devotion, we talked about abhyas and vairagya. Bonds and boundaries.
In any relationship, the person we want to bond with, we want to focus on that person. In others, we have to have some boundaries. The world is big for us and Krishna is small.
To make the world small and Krishna big, we need to create boundaries between us and the world. And we need to bond with Krishna. That means how do we bond with Krishna? That is why we focus on the things that remind us of Krishna.
That connect us with Krishna. And we keep a distance from the things that agitate us, that take us, disconnect us from Krishna. So in this way, each one of us has to find out what boundaries I need to establish, what bonds I need to establish.
And when we try to establish these bonds, what exactly happens to the bonds is that initially we give Krishna entrance into our consciousness. That is attention. The stage of attention is where we give Krishna entrance.
And then eventually what happens is we start realising that Krishna is a far bigger reality. And we gain entrance into Krishna. That is the stage of absorption.
Manmaya Mahaparshita. This is how we develop our bond with Krishna. Now this bond is what we develop through our sadhana primarily.
So remembrance of Krishna, but primarily through sadhana. So then we talked about a further aspect of this bond was that when we bond with Krishna, at the internal level, we experienced enrichment. So bhakti has this world transcending and world transforming aspects.
So transcending aspect is where at least for a few moments a day, we focus on Krishna so seriously that we realise Krishna is a bigger reality. And then we turn towards the world and its function in the world. And there we find empowerment.
Empowerment for our service to Krishna. Empowerment can be in the abilities that we discover internally. Empowerment can be in the facilities that come our way.
Somehow things start working by which we start getting the results. And we start being able to do things that we thought we might never be able to do. And our example was like a river that goes toward the ocean.
Also nourishes the life on the banks of the river. The river is the devotee. The banks is the world.
A devotee goes in the world and ultimately a devotee attains Krishna. And what is important is for a devotee, initially God is the means and the world is the end. But eventually the world becomes the means and God becomes the end.
And this is called Aushila Prabhupada. For him, Krishna always remained bigger than even his biggest project for Krishna, the Juhu temple. That was Prabhupada’s great devotion.
By his words, he can also be enriched and empowered in similar fashion. Thank you very much. Hare Hare Krishna.
Are there any questions or comments? So first thing is don’t reduce sadhana only to Juhu temple. Whatever enables us to experience Krishna gives you priority. For some people it might be Kirtan.
For some people it might be their puja. For some people it might be studying Shastra. So whatever it is that helps them experience the largeness of Krishna, the greatness of Krishna.
So at our level, the operational principle is Now having said that, what we need to do is, in our bhakti, there are a range of activities. In some activities, we could say, they give strength to us. That means we look forward to those activities.
We feel enlivened by those activities. Now some activities require strength. That means, maybe we don’t like the past or the present.
But we know it is good for the present and the past. It requires some strength and there is a willpower in it. Now both bring purification.
But one may be relatively easier, the other may be relatively tougher. It is like with people also in others. Some people, being with them enlivens us and energises us.
We look forward to spending time with them. Some people, as soon as they come, they feel like they suck all the oxygen out of the room. Every word they speak, they are going to step on a mine.
They are going to explode. So careful. Being with them requires strength.
When they heal, it is such a relief at that time. So the thing is, there can be different kinds of people. And sometimes the people who require strength, they may actually be good for a thing.
Their head must grow and they may also become more careful and meticulous. So for us, sometimes our chanting may give us strength. Sometimes our chanting may require strength.
Just as I am dealing with different people, during the course of a day, we have to make sure that we maintain our emotional energy balance. If in a day I am meeting 10 people and all of them require strength, I will be completely knocked over. If to one extent I can plan, maybe I meet 3-4-5 people who require strength and I alternate it with one or two people with whom I get strength.
And that way we maintain ourselves. So like that, with respect to our bhakti also, for the activity that requires strength, we need to gain strength from other activities to do that. So if we find that our mind is wandering too much in chanting, at that time, focussing on Krishna is requiring so much strength and we are not having that strength.
So then maybe just pause for a few minutes. Maybe look at the picture of our spiritual master, maybe our time in meditation. Or look at a picture of Krishna which reminds us of our favourite master.
Maybe sing one or two Adi Krishna Mahamantras. Or somebody would even like to keep some quotes about the holy name, the glory of the holy name. Have something which has accessibility to us, which gives us strength.
Now I can’t say that if I have to chant, I will spend so much time gaining strength that I don’t have time to do that. It’s not that, oh, I can’t focus on my mind, so I want to ask for chanting one and a half hour to Kirtan, and half an hour to chant. No, you have to have a balance.
Then certainly willpower and discipline are required. But try to have access to the source of strength. And then it will be easier to focus on Krishna.
Any other questions? So thank you so much for your participation for all these three days. And this was a devotional directed, but it’s also philosophically demanding presentation of a devotional conclusion. I appreciate how enthusiastic you were.
And I was pleasantly surprised to see so many of you coming on the birthday today also. So I pray that for all of us, Krishna becomes the bigger reality. That is, we all get to whatever degree we want to minister and empower in our particular domain of service.