The mind may stray away, but don’t let it stay away

[Sunday feast class at ISKCON, Baltimore, USA]

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
thank you foreign as my namaha om vishnupadaya krishna bhootale bhakti swami namaste saraswati deve gauravani pracharine nirvishesha sunyavadi ashyatyadeshitarine vancha kalpataru bhyasya krupasindhu bhyaiva cha patita nampavalebhyo vaishnavebhyo namo namaha jai shri krishna chaitanya prabhu nityananda shri advaita gadadhara shri vasadi gauravakaranda hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare hare krishna grateful to be here amongst all of you today today i’ll speak on the bhagavad gita on the 6th chapter where it talks about how the mind gets distracted and how we can bring it back under control so i’ll talk about 3 verses primarily from the gita topic will be that that the mind will stray away but don’t let it stay away the mind will stray away but don’t let it stay away now many of you are parents and if you have a child you want the child to study some exams are coming up if you tell the child okay sit and study now and then you go and start doing your work at home somewhere else if you come back after 10 minutes you’ll probably find the child is doing something else now this is just the nature of children they are restless and as a parent you know you have to monitor them, you have to guide them you have to expect that they will get distracted and then you have to get them back on track so Krishna also says similarly that that wherever and whenever the mind wanders the mind is by nature restless you have to bring it under discipline regulate it bring it under your control for the 6.26 the previous verse Krishna says how do you do it slowly step by step with intelligence sustained by conviction with intelligence sustained by conviction focus the mind, mind wanders bring it back so basically inside us there is the mind which is like a child but inside us is also the intelligence which is meant to be like a parent and the parent is meant to guide the child similarly the intelligence is meant to guide the mind now what do we mean by inside us there is the mind, there is the intelligence basically if we consider say that you are driving a car and while you are driving a car at that time your child is sitting next to you and the child says mummy look at that mummy look at that now the child is going to be restless look at that if you are driving the car and if you start looking everywhere then the car will be in danger the car will be in an accident shut up he is silent now the child is not going to stay silent even if you tell like that but as a mother as a father you know when the child is calling out when to take it seriously and when to just neglect it sometimes children cry not so much because they are in trouble but because they want attention and especially small babies so what happens is that the mind is like if you consider the Bhagavad Gita Bhagavad Gita says that there is the soul and there is the body the soul is like the driver of the bodily car but the mind is like someone right next to the driver is a constant distractor so now the mind is always going to distract because the mind is like a child the mind is very impulsive whatever happens it assigns feelings to them it gets excited about them whereas it is the intelligence which processes this is important, this is not important the the world around us is so complicated that we cannot take in all the information say right now in this class you are sitting and hearing but while you are hearing maybe some baby is saying something maybe the door is opening from behind now there are so many stimuli coming in and it is for you to decide which stimuli you want to pay attention to but the stimuli will come in and the mind wants to go towards the stimuli that is either the most exciting or the least demanding most exciting means say if a student is there studying sometimes students say that ok I am reading my study material on the computer now they may be reading on the computer but in the background YouTube may be on also now whether they are reading their study material or watching a video on YouTube we don’t know at one moment when we come in front of them ok they are reading the study material but as soon as we go they change the browser the tablet may be watching the video so basically what happens is that for us many many inputs are coming and like a child simply looks what is most interesting or what is least demanding I in India often do college programmes so in colleges when we present bhakti wisdom to students at that time they are interested but when their exams start coming they are prepared to leave at that time suddenly they start developing a great interest in Ramayana and Mahabharata all these studies they are material they are mundane, they are temporary I want to read Shastra that is eternal Shastra is eternal but why did you attracted for Shastra come just before the exam and they are not interested in reading Prabhupada’s book with the philosophy they want to read some stories so why because the mind likes to go to the path of least resistance and in the case of their studies the study seems intellectually demanding whereas Ramayana and Mahabharata seems entertaining so actually that is not attraction to Krishna, that is not spiritual attachment that is simply material irresponsibility sometimes people ask what is the difference between detachment and irresponsibility how do we know whether we are being detached or we are being irresponsible there can be many aspects but one simple aspect is a simple difference is that detachment is after we do the action irresponsibility is before we do the action if a student has got exam mother says study I am detached that is not detachment that is irresponsibility it is after we have given our exams, now it is over now worry how much marks will I get, what will happen just leave it now, you have done your part entrust it to Krishna, be detached so detached when Krishna talks about detachment it is Krishna is saying be detached from the results not from the actions so doing our actions well, that is responsibility and not obsessing too much over the results, that is detachment but our mind does the opposite so what happens with the mind it is restless, so it keeps going off to the place where we don’t want to be where going is of no use nowadays mental health problems are a huge challenge in the world and two major mental health challenges are depression and anxiety there are specific situations or causes that may be there for depression or anxiety but essentially what happens when a person gets depressed or when they become anxious when the mind goes off from the present to the past and thinks of all the bad things that have happened in the past this person did like this to me I lost this job I couldn’t purchase this house this didn’t happen think of all the negative things in the past and we start dreading the same thing will happen in future then that causes depression so the essential cause of depression is the mind is going off to the negative things of the past and reimagining those things will be repeated again if the mind could stay on the present the depression would go down substantially but the mind just keeps going to the past on the other hand the mind goes to the future the mind goes to the future and when it goes to the future and thinks about all the problems that are there that causes anxiety this may go down that may go down now if we have a fan when the fan moves it cools people down it cools us down the fan moves round and round actually if we compare the kinetic energy of the fan moving the fan can cover a long distance but the fan is just moving in one place, at least it’s moving in one place cools the room down but our mind also moves like a fan what if this goes wrong, what if that goes wrong what if that goes wrong this keeps going round and round like a fan but when the mind goes round and round like a fan, it doesn’t cool us it heats us up we feel alarm we feel fearful we don’t know what to do so the mind is actually the cause of much of our unnecessary distresses in the world distress is unavoidable things will go wrong if somebody claims I am happy in life ok you can be happy but nobody can be absolutely happy even the world’s wealthiest person, even the world’s most popular person even the world’s most powerful person they can’t be happy why not simple definition of distress is that to get what we don’t like and to not get what we like if we don’t get what we like we feel unhappy if we want to get a job we don’t get it, we feel unhappy and if we get something we don’t like we don’t want to become sick, we don’t want to have this, that happens to us so Prasad Maharaj says in the 7th Canto, 9th Chapter in his prayers to Narasimhadev यस्मात् प्रिया प्रिय वियोग संयोग जन्म शोकागनिना सकल्यो निषुद्ध है यमानः so यस्मात् प्रिय अप्रिय वियोग संयोग so with the Priya that which is dear, we want Sanyoga, we want the desirable to happen and with the Apriya, we want Viyoga we want separation but the opposite happens with the Priya, we have Viyoga with that which we want, it doesn’t happen and with Apriya, there is Sanyoga it happens and that’s why शोकागनिना everybody is burning in the fire of distress this is just a fact of life for everyone, this is going to happen it is not that if you become more powerful or more wealthy or more popular, this won’t happen it will happen to everyone however, so this is distress and this distress is unavoidable in life but when we keep harping on it when our mind keeps replaying it oh, why did that person do like that? why did this happen like that? why? why? why? when we keep replaying the bad things that have happened or we keep replaying the fear of the bad things that will happen that multiplies our distress let’s say, if I fall down and I fracture my leg now, the leg is fractured that’s going to cause me distress but, I am so angry, why did I fall down? and I pound my fist but I pound my fist on my fractured leg only what is going to happen? I am going to hurt it further at a physical level if we are injured we won’t hurt that leg further but, at a psychological level that is what we do when bad things happen to us then, we just keep replaying it again and again and again Krishna says in the 18th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita that this is actually determination in the mode of ignorance in 18.35 he says that that when we keep thinking, thinking, thinking about the things that hurt us you know, why did this person do like this? why did this happen and it has to happen like this? sometimes, if we may beat ourselves up also why did I speak like that? why, why, why? so, it’s generally if you are watching some movie or if you are watching some cricket match then, if there is some exciting moment say, our favourite team wins after the match gets over, people want to replay I want to see, how he hit that sixer or how he made that bowl out the batsman so, when there are enjoyable moments you want to replay them again and again and see them but, the mind has a perverse tendency that those which are distressful moments, the mind keeps replaying them, replaying them, replaying them and by the repeated replay of the negatives of life we end up distressed so, the bad thing has happened and we can’t deny the bad thing, we can’t wish away the bad thing, the fracture is already there but, I don’t have to pound my hand on the fracture similarly, okay, the nature of the world is, sometimes people will cheat us, sometimes people will betray us sometimes people will disappoint us sometimes the best plans will get upset, will get disrupted this happens at the nature of life but, we don’t have to aggravate the misery unfortunately, the mind does not discriminate it does not think very carefully about what I should focus on earlier I started by saying how the mind is like a child but, a child is simply restless however, the mind is not just restless, the mind is also reckless restless means, can’t sit in one place, but reckless means like a child doesn’t, you tell the child to sit and study, but when you go back, the child is peering out of the window and is about to fall off the window hey, what are you doing, come back so, like that, the mind is not just restless, it is also reckless so, it just goes in unwanted and unhealthy directions and in this way it keeps increasing our misery so, to the extent we recognise that this is how the mind is working the mind is simply replaying things which are unwanted so, it’s just like, if you consider you are at home and there is a TV going on now, on that TV, some horror movie is being played to the extent, we keep watching the horror movie, to that extent we will get more and more agitated hey, what is this, what is this and of course, the horror movie is the mind plays in that horror movie, we are not the spectators, we are the victims so, all the bad things are happening to us and that’s why, it is the mind which increases our distress manifold so, now, if I just decide, I don’t have to watch this movie this movie is going on let it be there, let me focus my attention elsewhere so, Krishna says that when the mind wanders, bring it back it wanders, bring it back now, you can after this class, when you go home you can look back at your own life and think of the times when you were actually in a comfortable reasonably peaceful situation but the mind by its negative replays made you miserable and you may say, actually the mind doesn’t only do negative replays it also does positive replays ok, some enjoyable events it replays that also yes, it does that also but again, earlier I said, the mind goes in the path of least resistance so, the enjoyable things that the mind keeps replaying those enjoyable things don’t really add value to our life they are just some trivial things most of the people today are so caught with entertainment now, entertainment is such a obsession, entertainment has always been part of human civilisation but never before in world history, have people been so manic about entertainment if we consider today probably the highest paid professionals they are not the lawyers they are not the doctors, they are the entertainers if you are a doctor who can cure a broken leg, you will be paid something but if you are a football player who can kick with that leg, you will get 10 times more so and even entertainment is not enough, entertainment also has to be offered in a more and more entertaining way that means there was a female boxer in India from the North East who won some gold medals and then a movie was made about her in Bollywood and the Bollywood actress who made that movie for making that movie, she earned more money than what the boxer earned throughout her life so the point I am drawing by this is that how are actors being paid so much, ultimately it’s money going from our pocket so why are people ready to pay so much for entertainment because they feel entertainment is such a great need for them what we value reflects our values so if I am ready to pay a lot for watching movies that means I consider movies very important now why do we feel that entertainment is so important it is not that actually entertainment is so entertaining it is that the mind finds real life very boring the mind finds real life very boring and whenever any problem comes in real life instead of addressing it, instead of processing it, the mind chooses the path of least resistance let’s go and turn on a TV let’s turn on some YouTube, let’s watch something and forget the problems now yes, we all have distresses in life and we need relief from them but the mind on one side it keeps replaying the negatives by which it increases our distress and other side it makes us go towards quick positives and those quick positives they don’t add much to our life this kind of quick positives are like painkillers when I have trouble when I have a disease and I have pain if I take a painkiller the pain subsides but for how long the painkiller has not killed the pain the name is actually wrong, it has simply killed our sensation of the pain and it’s going to come back again when it comes back again at that time it is going to be worse and then I will need an even more dosage of painkiller and I take again the painkiller again the pain comes back, then I need even more dosage of painkiller if we consider say with respect to entertainment, broadly entertainment is like a painkiller and if you consider India Indians have two favourite painkillers one is Bollywood and other is cricket and I think about 10 years ago both these two painkillers got married and they produced a child whose name is IPL so IPL has cricket players and is a Bollywood player and then everything gets more and more agitated in the past some action would have been one hero is fighting with a few villains but now action means explode a big building boom then people say it was fun some fun, so what has happened we have become internally so deadened that the painkiller that we need is actually becoming more and more intense when people go to watch movies often they take some popcorn or something to eat why? because everything is imaginary something has to be real so again this entertainment it’s a painkiller painkillers are not bad painkillers can also be a part of a treatment painkillers become bad when they are the only treatment if I go to a doctor and I don’t take any curative medicine I take only painkillers then actually my disease is worse so Krishna says yes we need entertainment in a regulated way entertainment is fine but today it’s obsession so now the point which I am leading to is that the mind makes us crave after the painkiller of entertainment but what is the pain that we are trying to kill that pain is also created by the mind only how? by replaying the negative events that have happened in life so on one side bad things happen in life that’s just natural but the mind keeps replaying the bad things this person did like this, this person did like this so the mind creates the pain for us or rather aggravates the existing pain so that it becomes undurable and then it makes us go down the paths of least resistance which are painkillers to try to hide the pain but in either case actually we are not addressing the problem so even if we get better and better entertainment what will happen eventually the mind is going to catch us, the mind is going to make us miserable so if you want to come out of this trap it’s that life bad things happen so then the mind starts replaying oh I won’t escape from this so I turn on entertainment and by that entertainment I just deaden myself more and more and then after that as soon as I come out of the entertainment another bad thing happens again I won’t entertainment and entertainment at least is not that bad, some people can get into worse things, some people get into smoking, they can get into alcohol they can get into drugs all these are escape ways that the mind offers for relief from the problems that the mind itself has aggravated so the the solution to this is that we understand the nature of reality I’ll conclude with this point that understanding the nature of reality that means we understand the nature of the world we understand the nature of the mind and we understand the nature of the soul the nature of the world is that there are going to be problems everybody is going to suffer sooner or later, Krishna said this word is Dukhaalaya the movies tell us happily ever after oh you’ll enjoy life you’ll find your love and you’ll be happily ever after the Bhagavad Gita says Dukhaalaya Mashashwata it’s the exact opposite, happily ever after Dukhaalaya Mashashwata this world is a place of misery and it is temporary now which is real? actually the world is temporary nothing is going to last forever so the nature of the world is that it is going to be it is going to give us distress however although distress is a feature of the world distress is not the purpose of the world what is the difference? distress is a feature of the world but not the purpose of the world the world is like a hospital in a hospital pain is going to be there it’s people who are sick and are in pain are in the hospital but the purpose of the hospital is not to cause pain the purpose of the hospital is to help the patient be treated of the pain similarly the same verse in the Bhagavad Gita which talks about Dukhaalaya Mashashwata 8.15 in the Bhagavad Gita what it says Dukhaalaya Mashashwata naak nuvanti mahatmana samsiddhim paramangataha it says those who become devoted to me they will go beyond this world of distress they will attain my eternal abode where there is happiness and they will not come to this world so Krishna is not harping oh this world is a place of distress so stay distressed it’s not like that Arjuna at the start of the Gita was distressed he was in tears but Krishna gave the message of the Gita and Arjuna calmed down he became calm so the Bhagavad Gita’s message was help Arjuna to become free from the distress now there is a distress externally of that he had to fight a war against his loved ones but it was the mind which was replaying oh what if this happens what if that happens that aggravated his distress the Bhagavad Gita’s message helped him to deal with the mind so the world to put it succinctly the nature of the world is that the world is a place of treatment not enjoyment the world is a place of treatment not enjoyment so here it’s like a hospital if I go to the hospital and I order from the canteen a 10 course meal I say we will give you some soup what soup I want a 10 course meal this is what you are going to get so if we moderate our expectations in life I don’t think that everything will be wonderful yes some things will be good some things will be bad but there is a higher plan beyond the immediate good and bad that higher plan is for us spiritually so when we don’t often we become depressed if we don’t want to become to have depression we don’t have to depress ourselves we have to depress our expectations everything is not going to work out the way we plan or dream because the world is not a place of enjoyment it is a place of treatment so when we understand the nature of the world we don’t have unrealistic expectations that decreases the distress if I am expecting a 10 course meal and then I get a soup and salad I will be outraged but if I know this is a hospital I will get a soup and salad it is fine it is not that always soup and salad has to come we can get healthy food but it may not be opulent food so like that in life if we expect too much then we will be agitated and we don’t get it but if we move forward through life looking at what our needs are and trying to fulfil them understand this world is a hospital we will find that we won’t get that distress so the nature of the world is that distress is a feature but it is not a purpose the nature of the mind is that it will keep replaying the negative and will be replaying the quick positive it is like a child but we don’t have to listen to the mind when the mind starts replaying some past you know this person did like this then at that time we have to become more aware whenever we find ourselves feeling agitated feeling distressed feeling depressed we can try to become more self aware what am I doing right now I am sitting here in this class what is my mind doing right now oh my mind has gone home and is worrying about this and that ok do I need to think about that right now ok no we can think about it later also so we want to learn from the past but we can learn from the past when we are calm and we look back at the past and this happened I could have done this at that time they could have done this like this but when the mind just goes back to the past it will simply be like this we have to prepare for the future but if we understand that the mind is restless and reckless and we don’t get carried away by the mind we bring the mind to what we are trying to do rather than let the mind go here or there and this so the nature of the mind is that it is restless and reckless and we need to regulate it and the last part is the nature of the self that we are souls and the soul can never have happiness lasting happiness unless it is connected with the whole we are a part of Krishna we are and we are part and we can never be apart from Krishna if we go apart from Krishna if we disconnect ourselves from Krishna, we subject ourselves to agitation when we connect ourselves with Krishna we find ourselves becoming peaceful as soon as we become disconnected from Krishna, we find ourselves becoming agitated say it is hot outside and the heat is out there and we are feeling tormented by the heat if we come into an air-conditioned room we become peaceful we feel peaceful similarly our mind whenever it goes to this that, that, that, it gets agitated but if we just get the mind back to Krishna it is like getting the mind into an air-conditioned room the problem is there and the problem we have to deal with but we don’t have to be agitated the soul can never be happy unless it is in harmony with the whole unless it is in harmony with the whole to the extent we connect with Krishna to that extent we will become peaceful and joyful so for us the connection with Krishna is established through the practise of bhakti through the chanting of the holy names through the study of scriptures through the association of devotees when we shelter ourselves in Krishna then we will find that although the mind may get agitated we won’t get agitated with the mind how will that happen? that is say if we are in a boat and the boat is in the ocean the ocean waves are going to come and the boat is going to move up and down but if the boat is anchored to something heavy either to land or some heavier object then the boat will not shake that much similarly for us the mind is like that boat we are situated in that boat and the world’s ups and downs are like the waves so when we anchor our mind to Krishna bhajahure mana shrinandanandana abhayacharna ravindare we fix the mind on Krishna we become calm so the mind will wander but we try to connect with Krishna mind goes here, mind goes there just try to connect with Krishna I don’t have to go with the mind there is a Maharashtrian saint Tukaram Maharaj once a devotee, once a sadhaka asked him Maharaj when I try to chant the names of God my mind wanders here and there he said ok let the mind wander why do you wander with it the mind is going to wander you stay focused on Krishna and you get the mind back to Krishna the mind may stray away but don’t let it stay away get it back to Krishna, focus on Krishna and gradually the mind will understand I am getting excited about this I am thinking that is good, I am thinking this is terrible I am thinking this is terrific but actually Krishna is better than everything else focussing on Krishna gives me so much relief it gives me so much strength it gives me so much joy let me do this first and then when we focus on Krishna then whatever life’s problems come inevitably we will be able to deal with them better rather than simply replaying the negatives we will rather evaluate the negative ok this thing has happened, now what can I do about this Krishna says if we fix our mind on him he will give us the intelligence how to deal with problems I will give the intelligence to make wise choices I will give the intelligence by which to control the mind I will give the intelligence by which you can come back to me so by becoming conscious of Krishna we will be able to minimise the agitations of the mind and in that way we will minimise the distresses that we face in life and not only that we will ultimately go to Krishna we will go to life’s ultimate destination which is to be reunited with Krishna so I will summarise I spoke today about how the mind may stray away but don’t let it stay away I started by talking about the mind is like a child and just as a child is going to be restless not stay at one place, mind is going to go here, there and everywhere and for us most of our distresses are caused by the mind’s wandering off so the mind distracts us like a mother who is driving a car and the child says look here, look there the mind gets us into unnecessary trouble and two of the major mental health problems depression and anxiety are caused because the mind either goes back past and replace the bad things that have happened in the past or it goes to the future and portrays a horror movie of all the bad things that are going to happen in the future and the mind there are distresses that are there in life inevitably to get the things we don’t want and to not get the things we want that is distress but the mind when it keeps replaying those things then the distress increases manifold and you may say the mind replays positives also but what the positives it replays are actually trivial they decrease the quality of our life one example is entertainment people are so manic about entertainment because the mind wants to choose the path of least resistance and first the mind puts us into pain by replaying negative events again and again and then it shows us the way out of pain is just get into entertainment and that entertainment is like a painkiller but the mind is creating the pain and then is offering us the way to kill the pain but the painkiller doesn’t work for long and then we need more and more entertainment we become obsessively dependent on it and entertainment is bad it’s not that bad you could say but there can be addiction that happens which is all because the mind’s shortcut that it is seeking so rather than getting into this trap we have to come out of it. How do we do that? By nourishing our intelligence nourishing our intelligence means that we understand the nature of the world, the nature of the mind and the nature of the soul. Nature of the world is this is like a hospital it is a place for treatment not enjoyment.
So we moderate our expectations so that too many things won’t happen against what we have planned and that way we don’t get too agitated the pain is a distress is a feature of the world but it is not a purpose of the world it is a treatment that is there Krishna says it is a bhakti treatment the nature of the mind is that it is restless and reckless and if I am injured I won’t beat my fractured leg but the mind the hurts that are there by replaying it worsens us. So we have to distance ourselves from the mind and how do we do that? By understanding that we are souls and acting at the level of the soul the soul is a part of the whole to the extent the soul is connected with Krishna to that extent it can resist the mind’s pulls and pushes so the boat that is anchored to a heavy object will not be shaken by the waves. Similarly when we are anchored to Krishna we won’t be shaken that much by the mind’s distress, by the mind’s aggravation of the world’s problems and bhakti by offering us the connection with Krishna helps us to minimise the distresses during our life journey and helps us take this life journey towards the ultimate destination of Krishna which is beyond all distress that is how the process of bhakti helps us to create the least distressful life in this world and progress towards the happiest destination beyond this world Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna So do we have time for questions or it’s time for Aarti or something Any questions or comments? Yes Thank you Prabhuji for nice explanation about the mind in many details So here is a question This particular philosophy sometimes our own devotees they practise more than 40 or 45 who trained me up 1978 today he is not in our society he don’t believe our philosophy so question is here so many years of practise, he is a practitioner of devotional service he teach or he make many new devotees for the society but today himself he don’t believe how do you see that connection of the mind So if somebody has been practising and teaching bhakti for a long time but even after that they stop practising and they stop believing it also why does this happen? There could be many specific reasons we have to understand the soul always has free will and for the soul to go towards Krishna or to go away from Krishna that is an option that is always there the more advanced a devotee is the more is the inclination to go towards Krishna and the less is the inclination to go away from Krishna but that doesn’t mean that the option of going away from Krishna is not there it is always there for the soul so now for different people different situations may come up which will make them do stupid we don’t know I don’t know the specifics of whoever you are talking about but we have to understand two things that each soul has to make its own journey towards Krishna now we have I have an individual relationship with Krishna you have an individual relationship with Krishna all of you have your relationship with Krishna and the same Krishna he guides us to different people there is a famous verse Tomeva Mata cha Pita Tomeva, Tomeva Bandhu cha Sakha, Tomeva Tomeva Vidya Dravinam Tomeva, Tomeva Sarvam Mamadeva Deva says you are my mother you are my father, you are my brother you are my friend, you are my wealth, you are my knowledge you Lord are my everything what does this mean this means that isn’t that literally the mother is God and the father is God if it literally meant that the mother is God and the father is God the child is there, the mother wants the child to become a doctor the father wants the child to become an engineer now which God is he supposed to follow no, the mother and father are representatives of God so when a mother gives birth to a child the mother offers the child one’s milk it’s a very intimate act of affection and care but still when the mother gives birth to a child it is not that the mother does anything special to create milk in her breast the same God who sent a child through her womb into this world arranged for milk to be there in her breast for that child so the principle of this verse is that whatever whoever does for us it is ultimately Krishna doing that for us through them so what our mother does what our father does, what our friends do whatever our relatives do even what money does for us what our knowledge does for us it is Krishna doing it for us through them so similarly if some devotee has helped us to come to Krishna we don’t have to see that devotee as separate from Krishna it is Krishna who acted through them and brought us to Krishna so now because Krishna acted through them we are grateful to them as an instrument but we also have to look beyond the instrument to the source it is Krishna who brought us to them and at that time they used their free will properly and they were going closer to Krishna and taking us closer to Krishna but now for whatever situation they are not using their free will properly so then I have come to Krishna I have to keep moving towards Krishna I am grateful for what they did for me but I have to move on in my journey towards Krishna so we don’t have to let that become a challenge to our faith it will become a challenge to our faith when we see them as independent agents who did something for us when we see it as Krishna who is doing through them Krishna guided me through this person now let me see through whom Krishna will guide and I will move on that way in fact the Bhagavad Gita also says the verse actually is in plural go and surrender go and seek knowledge from the seers of truth not one seer of truth, many seers of truth so we have many guides in the spiritual path having said that now from the individual’s perspective sometimes for each of us our past karma comes upon us in different ways so the past karma comes externally in the form of distress somebody gets some cancer somebody just loses their job and loses their money when external distress comes and the karmic reaction comes as external distress that is relatively easier to understand but when the karma comes in the form of inner agitation and the karma may come also in the form of increased desires the karma may also come in the form of increased doubts because the mind and intelligence are also material karmic reaction the karmic reaction comes at the bodily level that’s the one problem but the karmic reaction comes at the mental intellectual level that’s also a reaction we can see in our own lives our desires sometimes they are our worldly desires our sinful desires sometimes they are low and sometimes they just go up so why do they suddenly go up sometimes it is because we have exposed ourselves to something agitating but sometimes even without exposing ourselves to anything agitating just for no reason the desires seem to go up so those desires going up is also a reaction of karma so basically from the inner world we have two obstacles in the spiritual path the mind creates the obstacle of desires and the intelligence creates the obstacle of doubts and both can sometimes go up because of the result of past karma so at that time if someone doesn’t have a good support system in terms of very close friends then those doubts may overwhelm us and then a person who has earlier been teaching the same subject may get so many doubts that they may go away but Krishna never forgets whatever service one has done for him he always remembers it that service whatever they have done that is eternal and Krishna will get them back because they have served Krishna they have got that higher taste in Krishna whatever they do in this world it will not give them much pleasure and when some other situation comes in their life then Krishna will get them back they will remember oh this is what I should have been doing I should have been taking shelter of Krishna there are many many incidents of Krishna Prabhupada’s senior disciples who left the movement but during the last stages of their life they came back and took shelter of Krishna so that’s what happens so in the Vishnu Sahasranam there are two names Animisha, Nimisha Swagri Vachaspati Rudharathi Animisha and Nimisha Animisha means one who never blinks his eyes Nimisha means one who blinks his eyes so Baldev Vidya Bhushan has written a commentary on this verse on this whole Vishnu Sahasranam basically gives meanings of different verses so he says Animisha means that the lord unblinkingly notes notes and rewards even the smallest service that a devotee has done and Nimisha is one who blinks his eyes that means that if a devotee commits a mistake the lord blinks his eyes and overlooks the mistake so this is the grace of the lord which will ultimately get even those who have got lost to come back to him thank you Hare Krishna thank you we can take questions after the class thank you Chetan that was an amazing lecture we can allow her to go to Prabhu please Prabhu has I think 12 books and I think all books are on display there outside if anybody would like to buy any books or give donation