Timeless insights on today’s issues – Prerna-Nasik 2013 Sept

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
For your kind introduction, I’m not worthy of your words, but still, I will be happy to have some opportunity to serve you. Today I’ll be speaking on this topic of… This is a book that has recently been published, Timeless Wisdom on Today’s Issues. So within that I’ll take a set of topics.
These are two of the topics that I will take. They’re based on two of the articles in the book. Before we start, let’s have some prayers.
ॐ ज्यानति मिरंधस्य ॐ But recycle sunlight. So, we always need sunlight for illumination, whichever be the age that we live in. Similarly, just as sunlight is needed for external illumination, for internal illumination, we need timeless wisdom.
Certain things may change in this world, and we need to be progressive. But at the same time, there are eternal principles, which govern existence. And understanding those principles enables us to live productively and joyfully.
Whether it is ancient times or modern times, if an object is dropped from the top of a building, it’s going to fall. If a person jumps or falls, the person is going to break. These are universal principles.
So, whether it is ancient or modern times, it doesn’t matter. The principles will always act. So, just as there are principles governing the behavior, the interaction of physical objects, that means a stone dropped falls.
So, that is the behavior of physical objects. Just as there are principles, like the principle of gravity, that govern the behavior of physical objects, similarly, there are principles that govern the behavior of living beings. There are certain ways, when we act in those ways, it results in happiness.
There are other ways in which we act that leads to misery. So, these timeless insights apply whether we live in whichever time it may be. All of us need some guidance for our decision making.
Many of you use cell phones. Some of you may be using computers. Now, when you want to send a message to somebody, if every time you start sending a message, the machine starts asking you a dozen questions.
Which is the language you want to set it in? What is the font size that you want to use? What is the font that you want to use? Do you want to have auto spelling complete or not? Do you want to have symbols or not? If you go into the technicalities, there can be so many questions. What is the theme of the way the message is to be sent? Now, if every time we had to choose all of these, then we would spend so much time in choosing these settings itself, that we would get exhausted by the time we come to the message itself. Every time, if I have to type an email, and I have to go through all these options, it will take so much energy.
That’s why in a computer or in a device, there are default settings. Those default settings are thought of by the designers, or we can modify them if we want, but those default settings are set so that we can get on with the real work of life. Default settings we set once, and then after that we can get on with the real work of life.
If each time we have to choose and enter the default settings, we will not be able to get down to the real work of life itself. Same way in life, every day when we wake up, there are so many forces internally and externally telling us, eat this, watch this, go there, have this, take that. If we don’t have some framework for decision making, some framework for decision making, then we will have a mental overload and a psychological breakdown.
Because every time, without the default setting, in the morning if I wake up, what do I do after waking up? If there is no routine. For most people, if they don’t have a routine, the dilemma begins right from waking up. Should I wake up or not wake up only? I just want to sleep on.
And then, if there is no habit of brushing the teeth, or bathing, after waking up, one may just stay in an unhygienic state. And then, actually, if we do not have certain default habits, then everything becomes an effort. So, the more we can have our life, certain default settings, for things, it’s not that we mindlessly decide those things, but we thoughtfully decide and set those settings.
Then afterwards, we can get along with the real activities of life. Just as this applies to our routines. For example, if we are going to eat, if we decide this time, this time, this time are my meal times.
That’s fine. If then, I can get on with doing other things. But, if I think anytime I can eat, then I just keep food with me.
I am constantly munching on the food. All day long. All day long.
So, researchers have found, that among children, for every 15 minutes, extra than normal that they watch TV, for every 15 minutes, their waistline increases by 15 mm. You know, it just keeps increasing. That means, what happens? The more TV they watch, people want something to do at that time.
So, the children especially, children want to enjoy, but when they are watching TV, watching movie, actually everything there is second-hand enjoyment. Second-hand enjoyment means, somebody else is enjoying, and we are imagining, if I was there, it would be so nice. Isn’t it? The hero and heroine are embracing, and everybody is whistling.
Why? Because they are thinking, if I was there, it would be so nice. So, it’s all second-hand enjoyment. So, people, if everything is false, something has to be real, so they keep eating something.
So, what happens? The point which I am making is, that if we do not have certain default settings in our life, then everything becomes a decision to be taken. And when everything becomes a decision to be taken, often we choose the path of least resistance. The path of least resistance means, it’s often the least beneficial path.
So, we may oversleep, we may overeat, we will underperform, we will underachieve. That’s why all of us need default settings. Even the best athletes, they have their own kind of, what you call, rituals.
When the athletes are going to perform, the athletes will say, one of the world’s top tennis players, there is a particular way he will wear the band on his head, a particular way he will hold his tennis racket, a particular way he will stand, a particular way he will breathe. So, all that creates a mental setting. Now, all this is going to go into a routine, and once it goes into a routine, then I can focus on the real stuff.
So, like that, all of us need certain default settings for our life, so that we can get on with the real business of living. So, we may be students, we may be businessmen, whatever we are, we want to get on with the real business of life, but most often, when we don’t have these default settings, then the peripheral activities of life take up most of our mental energy. So, now, how do we decide these default settings? Generally speaking, we make our decisions based on three factors.
There is culture, there is tradition, there is mood, and there is, fourth is, logic. Culture means, okay, if you go, most students, when they join hostel, they may not smoke or drink, but then, when they get into the hostel, they all start smoking, many of them start smoking. Why? Because everyone does it.
Everyone does it. So, it’s a culture. This is a vulture culture.
It’s a vulture culture. You know, in 1929, the cigarette companies in America found that they were about to come to a place, a level where they would not be able to sell any more products. Because all the people who would purchase cigarettes, they were already hooked to cigarettes.
So, one of them got a brainwave. What he thought, actually, we have not tapped 50% of the population. Why? Women don’t smoke.
So, during the, just like we have Independence Day, America also has Independence Day, there is an Independence Day parade, they got many of the top American female icons, they were going along the parade in New York City, and at the most visible point over there, they had made, they had made custom-made female cigarettes, thin, longest cigarettes, and all of them flipped out, and they lit it and started smoking. And it was broadcast, and it was photographed, and everywhere. And they called these cigarettes as the torches of freedom.
The torches of freedom. And that was the time when the suffragette movement, the idea of women getting liberalized, that was getting a lot of momentum. And then, when they mentally associated this, yes, the cigarettes are torches of freedom.
Yes, we want to be free, therefore we should light this torch of freedom and become free. And the sheer effect of the culture was so great, that thousands and thousands of women started smoking within less than a decade. And it was only more than a decade later, by 1950-1955, that the harmful effects of smoking, which are far more for women than for men, and especially for women in their pregnancy, that came out.
But by that time, the floodgates were open. So much disaster that resulted because of that. So, now, in the frenzy that came because of this nomenclature, the torches of freedom, what happened was, nobody asked the question, how are cigarettes related with freedom? So, when we just surrender to the culture, and we do something, why? Because everyone does it.
Then, often, we act in self-defeating ways. We act in ways that harm us. So, the culture may be one factor in how we decide what we will do.
But if we make the culture the decisive factor, then we are going to be in for a long ride. We’ll be misled. So, we cannot just let everything about our life, especially the primary issues of our life, be decided by culture alone.
Culture is, everybody does it. So, the second factor, which many people use for deciding is tradition. Tradition means, we have always done it.
So, culture more refers to what is currently happening. Currently, everyone does it, so I do it. Second is tradition.
Tradition means, we have always done it. So, now, in, for example, in America, many people, right from their childhood, not even childhood, from early babyhood, they eat meat. They eat meat.
So, in fact, they have this whole myth, it’s called the great protein myth. I’m writing a book about vegetarianism, where I analyze this elaborately. They have the myth that if you don’t eat meat, then you will not have enough proteins.
Actually, normal vegetarian foods, if chosen carefully, can also give adequate proteins. But the point is that they have such a notion that children, infants, one of the first foods that they are fed after they are weaned off the mother’s breast milk is not cow milk. It is liquefied beef.
It’s liquefied beef. Why? Now, most children, in America and Europe, there is a far greater culture of having pets than is there today in India. And children adore their pets.
But, actually, the animal that they eat for their breakfast is not much different from the animal that they love. But they practically never make the connection. Just keep eating meat all the time because that’s their tradition.
We have always eaten meat. We have always eaten meat. So, tradition does not always have to be right.
Just because we have always done something doesn’t make it right. We could have a tradition of illusion, a tradition of misconception. And, similarly, we are not just criticizing the West over here.
In India also, there are so many traditions which are superstitions, which are blind beliefs. Not everything is. Definitely not.
But there is much that is blind. So, if tradition is not understood with some other factors, which we’ll discuss later, then tradition can also be a cause of setting wrong default settings. I started the discussion with default settings.
How do we decide the default settings? Some people decide it by culture. Everyone does it. Some other people decide it by tradition.
We have always done it. But neither of these are reliable. Then, some other people, they decide it based on mood.
Mood. It feels good. Why do you do that? It feels good.
So, now it feels good. This is one way in which most people make most decisions nowadays. before 1920s, around 1900 to 1920, at that time, Sigmund Freud and other psychologists of the psychoanalytical school, they studied the mind.
And they found, their theory is that actually human beings are governed not by rationality but by emotionality. Rationality is our logical thinking capacity. And emotionality is our emotions.
So, rationality means we think and then after that we calmly decide. Emotionality means whatever feels good, we do it. So, in the previous century, even when there were advertisements, all the advertisements were based on how a product will be good for you.
How the product is. If a car is being advertised, they will say, this is the mileage of this car. This is the seating capacity.
This is the tangible, practical virtues of the car were told. And that’s how cars were advertised. But then, when they found that people act primarily by emotions, not by rationality.
So then, the whole focus of advertising changed. And the whole advertisement was focused on making people feel good about themselves. So, advertisement became pop psychology.
Pop psychological session. That means, when people go to psychiatrist or psychologist, they feel bad about themselves, they want to feel good about themselves. So, for that they go.
So, advertisement was all about not how good the product is, but how the product will make you feel good. So, a few months ago, I was going to Mayapur for a program. So, I was at the airport.
And at the check-in counter, I saw there was a TV on top. So, I saw there was an advertisement. And this advertisement of Bollywood star was there.
And there was a young boy who was walking along. And there were some good-looking girls. And none of the girls were noticing this boy.
So then, suddenly a Bollywood star came along. And they all squealed and ran to him and hugged him and kissed him. And this young man was burning in jealousy.
And then, after that, business, the Bollywood star came to him. Do you want to know my secret? And then, he said, yes. You know, this particular, he said, this shampoo is my secret.
And then, after that, he puts on the shampoo and he comes. And as soon as he comes along, immediately the women start squealing and they come and embrace and kiss and hug him. Now, such an advertisement is an insult to both male and female intelligence.
Why? You know, to portray that women will fall for a man just because he is wearing some shampoo, that’s an insult to female intelligence. And that men will believe such stupidity, that is an insult to male intelligence. Isn’t it? But, what happens is, people don’t consider an insult to their intelligence.
They just think it as a feel-good. It will make you feel good. And they take it.
So, actually speaking, our moods are very unreliable. Our moods, the one thing that we feel very good about today, the same thing tomorrow, I may feel miserable about. And that’s why, many times, when people get married, based on love marriages, then most of the time, it’s largely based on feel-good.
And I feel good, so I get married. And then after that, after some time, what happens is, I don’t feel good. So then what do I do? Actually, just as, you know, some people, nowadays we have a use-and-throw culture.
so, I want a, I want a, I want a new mobile, I want a new computer, I want a new car, I want a new house. Like that I want a new spouse also. So what happens is, actually, when we just rely only on our feelings, on our moods, then our moods can make us into monkeys.
The monkeys are constantly jumping, jumping, jumping. So therefore, the moods can also not guide us. Then, the last, among the criteria that people use is logic.
This makes sense. I hear something, and it makes sense to me, therefore I do it. So, among these four, actually logic is, relatively speaking, the most reliable.
But still, it is also not fully reliable. Why? Because, logic can be applied based on how much our knowledge of the situations. For example, if a doctor is diagnosing and treating a patient, and the doctor has found that this patient has got an appendix problem.
Now the appendix problem can be treated slowly by medicine, or it can be treated quickly by surgery. So now, logically, it may say that, okay, the patient says, I want to be cured quickly, then we’ll do surgery, we’ll cure it all. But then, if, at that time, it seems a logical decision.
But if the patient has a past history of brain problems, because of which the patient is given anesthesia, it’s possible that the person may never come back to consciousness. Then, giving a person anesthesia, making him unconscious, would be a disastrous decision. So, what seems logical, with one level of knowledge, can turn out to be suicidal, when we get another level of knowledge.
So logic can be helpful. But, we cannot even make logic as the final authority for our decision making. So, all these are helpful.
We cannot reject them. We should look at culture, we should look at tradition, we should look at feelings, we should look at logic also. But none of these can be definitive.
Then what is definitive? What is the guidance, the source of authority that will give us timeless guidance? That is scripture. Scripture is the word of God. It is the lighthouse that never shifts.
It is the lighthouse whose light always illumines us. Some people ask, you know, scripture? Why scripture? And who knows, maybe some old people wrote some scriptures so that people will behave properly. How do you know that scriptures are actually the word of God? Yes.
Understanding that scriptures are the word of God comes by firstly, logical inference. As I said, among these four, logic is most important. But it’s not decisive.
If we look at the life around us, we will see that whatever are our basic necessities for living, they have been provided. We feel thirst and water is provided in nature. Imagine if after man came in, human beings came into being, then we decide, I feel thirsty.
Now let me invent some liquid to satisfy my thirst. If we had to do that, we would become extinct before we would succeed in the invention. So it’s remarkable.
You see, there are millions of species in creation and many species have different kinds of foodstuffs which they eat. But there is the foodstuff which they need there already in nature for all of them. So we need water, water is there.
We need food, food is there. We need air, air is there. We need light, light is there.
We need energy, energy is there. By energy I refer to heat. So, what are the basic necessities for living, they have been provided.
Then, there is one more necessity and that is knowledge. You know, if somebody provided all the basic necessities for living but did not provide the knowledge of how to live, oh, that kind of person would seem to be very foolish. So, if God has created the world and there is abundant scientific evidence, many of the eminent scientists throughout history, from Newton to Dalton to Copernicus, to Galileo, to Kelvin, to Bohr, to Max Born, to Einstein, they all saw that the orderliness of the universe is indicative of a supreme intelligence.
So if God has created the world and he has created intelligently, then will he not give us the knowledge of how to live in the world? If somebody creates a very complicated machine and then gives the machine to someone, a person gives the machine to someone, that person has no knowledge of how to use the machine, then will not the giver of that machine provide some kind of manual about how to use that machine? Obviously! So, by logic we can understand that if God has provided the necessities of life, then God will also provide the knowledge for living. So this is the first point. So in principle we can understand that God must have provided some knowledge.
A second question comes up, okay, then how do we know that the scripture, say how do we know Bhagavad Gita, is the knowledge that God has provided? So, if I have a complicated machine which I don’t know how to use and there is some other book next to it, which is supposed to be the manual for that book, how do I know that it is the manual? Simple! Two simple characteristics. First is that it helps me to make sense of the machine. And second is it helps me to use the machine better.
Isn’t it? Without a manual I just press some buttons here and there and try to do something. I figure out a few things here and there. But, if I have the manual, I will be able to make sense of it.
Okay, this button is for this, this facility is for this, and this is how I do this. And then I will be able to get things done better. So, same way, it’s not that by blind faith we have to accept that Bhagavad Gita is the word of God.
We can put it to this test, the test of sensibility and the test of usability. Does it help me to make sense of life better? So, if we study the Bhagavad Gita, we will see that the more we study Bhagavad Gita, the more it helps us to make sense of life. Now, you will find that the various aspects of life will be like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and they will all fall together.
So, when we study the Bhagavad Gita systematically, more and more of life will start making sense. And, see, in life, we do not fear suffering so much as we fear meaningless suffering. What is the difference between suffering and meaningless suffering? Now, if, say, Pakistan attacks India and soldiers go out in war, now they know there is a likelihood of terrible wounds, pain, even death.
But they go out because for them it is meaningful suffering. It is suffering in the cause of the nation. But, if, before the war itself, you know, there is a freak accident and the soldier falls off of the battle tank and breaks his neck and dies.
So, actually speaking, we are not afraid of suffering as much as we are afraid of meaningless suffering. Even the greatest suffering can be born if we know that it is meaningful. When a woman becomes pregnant, the pains of labor are quite severe.
now it is not that the woman loves the pains. The pains are painful. But, she knows it is a meaningful suffering.
Through this suffering, new life, my own cherished child is going to come into the world. And that is why, she will tolerate the pain. Suffering.
So, suffering becomes acceptable, tolerable, when we know that it is meaningful. So, in this world, all of us will experience suffering. No exceptions.
But, Bhagavad Gita helps us to understand that our sufferings, our problems, they are not meaningless. There is meaning to those problems. But, this meaning is not automatic.
The meaning will emerge when we make right choices. So, what is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of the problems that we have in life? As I said earlier, that this world is a place where there is design. We can see design.
Right from the microscopic to the macroscopic level. Everywhere, science has shown us design. At the same time, we also see suffering over there.
So, is there any place in the world where we have both design also and there is suffering also? Most atheists, people become atheists not because atheism is somehow intellectually superior. People become atheists because they can’t reconcile the idea of a good God with the suffering in the world. They feel if God has designed the world, how can there be suffering? But, is there any place in the world where there is both design and there is suffering? That is a hospital.
In a hospital, everything is well designed. This is a department for this, this is a machine for this, here this kind of patients will go, here this kind of doctors will come. Everything is well designed.
But, at the same time, there is suffering also. Everybody is suffering. Now, the hospital is not meant to aggravate the suffering, it is meant to terminate the suffering.
Similarly, this world, there is design and there is suffering. Both are there. This world is like a hospital.
The purpose of this world is not to make us suffer. It is to heal our suffering. But, just as in a hospital, the patients do not heal automatically.
The patients have to cooperate with the treatment. And for that, they need to know at least preliminarily, what the treatment is and how they are meant to cooperate. So, same way, in this world, the first point I want to make if you want to know scripture as the word of God, first is sensibility and second is usability.
So, sensibility. We see there is so many complications in this world. Why are they there? Because this world is like a hospital.
All of them are like a understand this. And what should I do? There is a treatment by which we can be cured. And God is not the cause of the suffering.
God is the cure for the suffering. God is the cure for the suffering. How can you believe that there is God? No God would have lost his suffering.
Then he went out and after a few minutes he came back in. He said, there is no doctor in the city. He said, what do you mean? I treated you.
There is no doctor in the city. What do you mean? He came out. Just outside his clinic, on the footpath, there was a beggar coughing piteously.
And he said, the fact that he is sick proves that there are no doctors in the city. The doctor said, are you crazy? He said, he is sick because he is not coming to me. The devotee said, exactly.
People are suffering because they are not going to God. So the existence of disease does not prove the non-existence of the doctor. Similarly, the existence of suffering does not prove the non-existence of God.
There are two possibilities. One is that the patient does not go to the doctor. In both cases, they will be suffering.
So some people don’t go to God only. And other people just go to God for not learning anything about life. They go to God just to show the world that I am also a pious person.
I am also a good person. So, for some people, they go to the temple not to take darshan of God but to give darshan of themselves to everyone else. See, I am also a religious person.
I also go to God. So, actually, this kind of approaching God will not benefit as much. But, the first point is sensibility.
Second is usability. So, if it is that this world is like a hospital and God is the doctor, then, if we follow God’s directions, then, we will become happier. We will feel better in the sense not just moodily sometimes better sometimes worse but overall our state will become better.
So, how does that happen? So, we will look at it in two ways. First is, if people don’t follow God, then what happens? And, second is, when people follow God, what happens? So, today, the whole world is imitating the West, especially America. And, America also in the past was a part of the West.
So, if we what we will discuss is, when people do not follow, people become more and more materialistic. They may be nominally following God also, but if they are materialistic, then they cannot actually get the true benefit of approaching God. There are many books which have talked about the many books we have talked about how America, if you compare it even 50 years ago, and we compare it now, there is a huge difference.
And, this difference is not just in terms of subjective moral judgments. Subjective moral judgments means, okay, leave it. Leave it.
You don’t need it. I still got one or two slides to display. So, I was going to show statistics from a book.
So, this is a book called The American Paradox. It is spiritual hunger in an age of plenty. There are several books like this which have analyzed the American social situation.
And, this book analyzes America in 1960 and America in 2000. So, it says, as compared to 1960, what all has happened? The divorce rate has doubled. The teen suicide rate has tripled.
The violent crime rate has quadrupled. The prison population has quintupled. Quintupled means five times.
The percentage of babies born outside marriage is sextupled. Sextupled means six times. And, you know, babies born outside marriage, very difficult for them to be taken care of and grow properly.
And, depression has soared to ten times of the pre-World War II level. So, here, we are not talking about some religious beliefs and degradation in those terms. You know, people don’t believe in God, people don’t believe in soul.
These are objective parameters. Even a materialistic person will recognize that if suicide is increasing, prison population is increasing, if depression is increasing, if crime rate is increasing, there is something seriously wrong. So, Dr. Abdul Kamal Kalam, in his book Ignited Minds, he quotes a conversation between Albert Einstein and Werner Heisenberg.
And there, he quotes how Heisenberg and Einstein discuss. He says, you know, in the West, we have built a magnificent ship, but, it has all the facilities, but it has no compass and it doesn’t know where it is going. No compass and it doesn’t know where it is going.
So, what has happened is, the more people live materialistically, the more people live godlessly, suffering is increasing. Now, we may say, in India also, there is so much suffering. Yes, it is there, no doubt.
Suffering is there everywhere in the world. But, if we compare just 50 years ago to now, now, how many people would suffer from heart attacks? How many people would suffer from stress? Now, actually, I met a young devotee, fifth standard student. He is a devotee’s son, and he said, Prabhuji, today, in our school, we had a very important lecture.
I said, what was the lecture? He said, stress management lecture. So, a fifth standard student, you know, fifth standard students, why are they getting stress? So, what is happening is, our whole culture is filled with so much tension, and everybody is burdened, and it’s that everybody is filled with anxiety. So, at a physical level, we may have more comforts.
You know, we may have air conditionings, we have cell phones, we may have fast cars. But, at a mental level, the suffering is far greater than ever before. Suffering is far, far greater.
And everyone is suffering. And what happens is, the more people go away from God, the more their mind makes them crazy. The more mind drives them mad.
So, actually speaking, spirituality is a necessity for everyone. It is a necessity because, spirituality enables us to connect with the power of God. And by connecting with the power of God, we experience inner happiness.
How does this happen? Is it some magic? No, it’s not magic. It’s a simple principle. If a person is in an ocean, if we are in an ocean, there will always be waves.
So, when the waves are there, at that time, if a person is there, the person constantly gets shaken. The person is in a boat, the boat also gets shaken. If you want to be steady, what do we need? To connect the boat to an anchor.
And then the anchor is a heavy, even unshakable object, and the stronger the anchor, the stronger the connection with the anchor, then we will become steady. The boat will be shaken less and less. Instead of just going up and down with the waves, up and down.
And the amplitude will decrease and become steadier, steadier, steadier. So like that, God is the anchor. And when we connect with him through spirituality, then our mind is like that boat.
We are sitting in that boat. We are souls who are sitting in the boat of the mind. And we keep getting shaken.
So everything that happens, either there is elation or there is devastation. You see this often in the tennis court. When one player wins, one person jumps up and the other person sinks down.
So what happens? We go up and we go down. And we keep getting shaken up by the ups and downs of this world. But if we want calmness, if we want steadiness, and Krishna says that without steadiness, there can be no happiness.
Krishna says in 2.65 in the Bhagavad Gita, that how can a person who does not have peace have happiness? So therefore, we need steadiness. That comes from the connection with God. And how to connect with God is not just a sentiment.
It’s not a sentiment. See again, the connection with God is also not to be established simply based on some culture or some tradition or some mood. It should be based on scripture.
Many times, people start worshipping or following some spiritual teacher based on maybe just the looks of that person or the feelings that come in that person’s presence or just some popularity of that person. See, the popularity of a person does not determine the authority of the person. Somebody can be very popular but that doesn’t mean that person is authoritative.
So if we decide to connect with God also based on culture or just tradition, culture means everybody is following this particular teacher so we will follow. Tradition means oh, our family is always following this particular person. Then, it’s not necessary that we will be truly connecting with God.
For connecting with God, how to connect with God, we need scripture. So scripture tells us who God is and scripture tells us who the representative of God is. When we understand this, who God is and who the representative of God is, then we learn how to connect with God.
So, which is going to display a slideshow, but a simple point, you can make it out. In science, this is the concluding point I will make, it’s an important point. Science has two aspects.
There is theory and there is experiment. Now, both are important in science. So, Newton saw the fruit falling.
Most people who saw the fruit falling, they just pick it up and eat it. So, then there was no observation, no theory. But Newton observed and thought about it.
And from that he came up with a theory. The theory of gravity he came up with. Now, when the theory comes, basically what is a theory? It’s an intellectual attempt to explain and observe phenomena.
At this stage it is tentative. But after that, there is experiment. The experiment verifies or disproves the theory.
If there is a force called gravity, then not just a stone, but not just a fruit, but any object that is thrown up, it will fall down. And not just in this place, everywhere. And not just by me, by anyone else.
So, just as there are these two limbs in science, spirituality is similarly a higher dimensional science. And spirituality has two aspects. There is philosophy and there is religion.
So, philosophy is like the theory of science. And religion is like the experiment of science. So, philosophy tells us what is what.
It’s an intellectual explanation for what is happening in life. So, philosophy, for example, tells us that we are not the body, we are the soul. And, at the level of the soul, we can experience real happiness.
This is just like the theory of science. At this stage, it’s tentative. Who knows? I have not seen the soul.
I don’t know whether I am the soul or not. But then, there is religion. So, religion is not just some set of rituals that somebody has told us to do, so we do it.
Actually, religion is a precise set of activities meant to give us realization of the philosophy. This is experiment is for what purpose? To demonstrate the theory, to prove the theory. Similarly, religion is for the purpose of experientially verifying the philosophy.
So, material science is experimental. Spiritual science is experiential. Experiential means the experiment is done in the laboratory of our heart on the object of our consciousness.
And the result is, Krishna describes in the Bhagavad Gita in 9.2, राज्य विद्या राज्य गोय्यम् पवित्रमिदमुत्तमं प्रत्यक्षावगमं धर्म्यम् सुसुकं कर्तुम अहुययम् So, he says, this is the best of all knowledge. And, what does this knowledge do? प्रत्यक्षावगमं धर्म्यम् It gives direct experience. And the ultimate experience is what? सुसुकं कर्तुम is joyful.
So, if it is true that I am not the body and the soul, then if I nourish the soul, then I should feel satisfied. I should feel joyful. So, now, when we come to the temple, we chant and dance and sing in kirakuls.
You know, anybody, even a materialistic person, just open, that person can actually experience happiness. Now, ordinary person may come, a non-philosophical person may come and say, okay, I go to the temple, I dance and sing, I feel very happy, good. So, whenever I need a break, I’ll come here and I’ll feel happy.
It’s okay, that attitude is fine. But, a philosophical person will be observing and analyzing. Now, if a new wall is made, child sees a wall, he thinks, okay, I’ll just throw a ball over there and I’ll catch the ball and I’ll enjoy game.
Now, a design engineer may also throw a ball at the wall. He’ll throw a ball at different parts of the wall and the design engineer is observing. So, I throw the ball over here, it comes back fast.
I throw it over there, it comes back slow. So, the activity of the child and of the engineer is the same. But, the engineer, because he has knowledge of physics, he has knowledge of structure mechanics, he understands.
Ball is coming back faster, means the wall is harder over here. Ball is coming back slower here, means the wall is softer over here. So, the external activity may be the same, but because internal knowledge is more, so the understanding that comes from the knowledge is also more.
The same way, many people can come to the temple and chant and dance and feel good. But, if they have scriptural knowledge, they will think, what is it that makes me feel good? What is it? And then, okay, scripture told me that I’m not the body and the soul, and now I’m experiencing. It is said that by nourishing the soul, I’ll experience happiness.
And now I’m experiencing happiness. Therefore, what the scripture says must be true. So, when we come and practice spirituality, we will find it to be a science of inner transformation.
It will enable us to become sushukham, joyful. And, this is something which each of us can experience. Each of us can experience.
And when we experience it, at that time, our faith comes from our own realization. And then, irrespective of what happens to anyone, sometimes we may go to a hospital and take a treatment and we may get cured by that. And afterwards, somebody finds that okay, in that hospital, some scam was going on.
Okay, the scam was going on. There are some people who did that scam. Fine.
But I know, I was treated and I was cured. So, okay, some things might be wrong, but this process works. Similarly, there can be problems.
Many times, nowadays what happens is that generally, the idea is give a dog a bad name and hang him. That means, highlight the false in something and then blacklist it and then reject it. That’s how things are done.
Yes, there can be problems even in spirituality. There may be people who claim to be spiritual who may be doing some wrong things. But the point is, this is science.
It’s like medical science is a science and the validity of medical science doesn’t change because some doctors somewhere do some malpractices. Science works. There are many doctors who are sincere and if I take the scientific treatment under a good doctor, I’ll get cured.
Similarly, we will find that if we practice spirituality, there are various stages. I can’t go into the full science because I have again a slide over here. Spirituality is a science of inner transformation.
There are nine stages in it. So, the nine stages, and it’s scientific. With a little curiosity, little faith, we come in the association of devotees.
What is this? I want to know about it. And after that, we come to the association of Sadhu Sangha. And they tell us, try out this bhajana kriya, try out this mantra meditation.
And then we start experiencing our own inner purification. The bad things from our heart go away. And then, our faith becomes rock solid.
Why? It’s like a patient who has been cured. So, imagine, if you have taken a treatment and you got cured. And somebody comes and tells, oh, this treatment is all bogus.
Okay, the treatment is bogus, but I got cured. So, if I got cured, how can the treatment be bogus? So, each of us, if we follow scripture, we will find that our anger will decrease, our greed will decrease, our lust will decrease, our depression will decrease, our boredom will decrease, our loneliness will decrease, our negativity will decrease. How? Because God is a supremely positive reality.
When we bring God into our life, then the negativity is flooded out by the positivity that comes by connection with God. And when we experience it, then, pratyaksha vagam amdharmyam, there will be no doubts. So, actually, when Sri Prabhupada went to America, and he travelled all over the world and he shared Krishna consciousness, what attracted people to him? He was an old man, and he had no money, he had no credentials to his account, but what attracted him was the transformation that he was able to bring about.
People who were drug addicts. Even the American government couldn’t do much. At that time the hippies were there and the American government with all its power.
Now the world is concerned whether America should bomb Syria or not. Earlier there was a fear that Iraq has got weapons of mass destruction. So weapons of mass destruction can cause a lot of destruction.
But the biggest weapon for mass destruction cannot destroy one bad habit of one person. It cannot destroy. It doesn’t have that power.
But that power which is not there in the most devastating weapon of mass destruction, that power is there in the holy name of God. Anybody anywhere can chant the holy names of God and find one’s bad habit falling away and one getting internally empowered. And that’s what Srila Prabhupada was able to do.
Not just for one or two or three but for thousands of people. Thousands of people all over the world. And what has happened in the 1960s is happening today.
The Krishna consciousness movement is there all over the world and thousands and millions of people are being attracted. Why? Not because it is their culture, it is their tradition. We Indians may say it’s our culture or it’s our tradition.
But you will find that when Iskcon had a very big temple in Delhi and that was inaugurated, the Prime Minister of India had come. At that time, Times of India wrote an editorial, The Rebirth of Krishna. And they said that actually why is it, you know, what is India’s number one export commodity? Is it software engineers? Is it Indians speaking English? Because they can become cheap labor force in other parts of the world.
He says, no. But if you go to Botswana, if you go to Somalia, if you go to Uganda, you go to Siberia, you go to a list of countries. You will not find any software engineers over there.
You will not find an Indian speaking over there. But you will find Krishna temples and Krishna devotees. So Krishna is India’s number one export commodity.
So this is Times of India editorial saying, why? Because there are Krishna temples all over the world. Now, why are those people taking it up? You know, these people, they have never heard of Krishna also. So it’s not because of culture.
It’s not because of tradition. It is because they have found it to be a transformational science. Scripture has worked for them and it has worked for them.
That can work for all of us. And it will work easier for all of us because we’ve been brought up in a pious culture. So the timeless insights for today’s issues is that ultimately all the best changes in the world have to happen inside out.
You know, the world will change when we can change ourselves. And changing ourselves is best done when we connect with the power of God. We connect with the power of God through his holy names.
So by chanting Hare Krishna and by practicing the process of devotional service, we can empower ourselves to be agents of change in the world. Agents of change. You know, Anna Hazare wanted to have the Lokpal movement.
It became very popular at a particular time. Then afterwards it fizzled out. And it’s important, actually, that when people are corrupt, when people are greedy, we need an administrative body with teeth.
We need Lokpal to punish the greedy. But actually, even if we punish the greedy, or punish the guilty, the people who are guilty, who are criminals, they get away because there’s no good administrative body. But even if you punish the guilty, still, why do people become corrupt? Why do people commit crimes? Because they’re greedy.
They’re greedy. And, you know, no matter how strong the administrative body is, we cannot remove it. Lokpal can punish the guilty, but we need Gopal to remove the greedy.
You know, Lokpal will punish the guilty and Gopal will purify the greedy. How will Gopal purify the greedy? When people become devoted to Gopal, they experience a higher happiness. And they experience a higher happiness that they don’t need more and more and more things of this world for enjoyment.
So when we chant Hare Krishna, it is not just something, some religious ritual that we are doing, or not something that we are doing just for our own benefit. You know, every mantra that we are chanting, every scriptural sound vibration that we are hearing, every moment that we are spending in the association of devotees, we are improving the world, one thought at a time. The only way the world will improve is when the thought energy of the people of the world improves.
All actions begin from thoughts. And thoughts improve when we think about God. So, what we are doing, the timeless insight is not just for our own empowerment, but it is also for enhancing our contribution to the world.
That when we connect with God through devotion, we improve ourselves and improve the world, one thought at a time. And that is the best, most sustainable way in which we can help ourselves and help the world. So to summarize, I started by talking about how the sun always gives light in all ages.
Similarly, we need timeless insights, which will give us knowledge based on principles that will illumine our inner world in all ages. Then I talked about how we all need default settings, so that the smaller issues of life can be taken care of and we can focus on the bigger issues. And where do we get the default settings from? Normally we get them from culture.
Everybody does it. Tradition, we have always done it. Mood, it feels good.
Logic, it makes sense. All these are helpful, but all of them can be misleading. We discussed how.
Therefore, what is the best way to get our default settings? Some scripture. Now, just as God has provided for food, light, heat, air, like that he has provided knowledge also. How do we know that scripture is the knowledge that God has provided? Its sensibility and its usability.
It helps us to make sense. Why suffering in the world? Because this world is like a hospital. Usability, if we defy God, our suffering increases.
If we turn towards God, our suffering decreases. At least the mental level will become more peaceful, more powerful, more productive. And then we discussed about how spirituality is a science of inner transformation, experiential science.
Just as there is theory in science, there is philosophy in spirituality. Just as there is experiment in science, there is religion in spirituality. And with both of these, each of us can experience the inner transformation and help in bringing about outer transformation by purifying our thoughts, one thought at a time.
Thank you very much. Are there any questions? You can even write down and give your questions. Feel free to ask questions over here.
The mic can come to you. Yes, behind. Raise your hand.
Hare Krishna. Prabhuji, you told that at the starting about the ads, mostly when we see the ads, we consider the emotions. In the same way, my experience, I am telling that, suppose I am saying that I have knowledge, I am logically doing good things, but at the same time, whatever I am doing, that time my parents are getting hurt because they do not think logically.
They think that, no, he is doing wrong. Then in this time, we cannot manage our emotions and they become hurt. And it is found very difficult to convince them.
So how can we manage this condition? The question is that when we start practicing spiritual life, because it makes sense to us, but then sometimes our parents feel unhappy about that and then when they feel hurt, we also feel bad about it. How do we deal with it? See, in general, our parents are among our greatest well-wishers and they want the best for us. They are apprehensive about several things, and especially one of the most important things is our career, our long-term well-being.
So they may fear that if you become too serious about spiritual life, then it may affect your studies or further fear is that you may become a brahmachari, people will brainwash you and then you will leave them. So the best thing that we can do is, we should in their terms show how our becoming a devotee has made us a better son, a better student, a better person. So our actions, you cannot tell philosophy to your parents.
If philosophy is to be told, it should be told by someone other than you. Anyone other than you in fact, not you, because it doesn’t work. So first and foremost is, if you can allay those concerns, if we take care of our studies and we don’t become fanatical in our behavior, we are responsible, then they will see that actually whatever my son is doing is helping him to become a better person.
Then when they see that, initially there is naturally some apprehension, that’s understandable. But beyond that, these are the primary parameters, your studies, your overall behavior, they see it’s becoming better, they will not mind it. And secondly, as far as brahmacharya is concerned, you have to understand that nobody can make anyone into a brahmachari.
It’s ultimately everyone’s individual choice. And it’s not that in Krishna consciousness, people are made into brahmachari. The whole Krishna conscious movement is to help people become devotees.
So especially if you can get them to a temple where they see a congregation and they see many families also, and that also will help to allay their concerns. See, we shouldn’t be confrontationalist with our parents. At the same time, we have to recognize that it took time for us to understand.
For example, if you were introduced to Krishna consciousness, probably you got a book from somebody, you met some other students, you met some other devotees who answered your questions, and it took time for you to understand. Similarly, it will take time for them to understand. So, in fact, they have lived in the world for more years, so maybe they have more preconceptions.
So it may take more time also for them. So we have to be patient. So we don’t have to be confrontationalist.
You can practice your Krishna consciousness, but in a way that doesn’t unnecessarily alarm or agitate them. And especially if you take care of our material life in terms of doing well in our studies, maintaining our health, and being a responsible member of the family, being a responsible son, then overall they will not object to it. What to speak of if somebody becomes a devotee, even for many brahmacharis, afterwards their parents also become, they understand, my son is doing a good thing.
And then they don’t become so opposed, although initially they were opposed. So we have to just allay their fears, address their fears in a mature way by introducing them to a community of devotees and by our own positive behavior. And in this way, we’ll be able to address this.
So my father is sitting behind over here. So I know that when I became a brahmachari, it almost gave a heart attack to him. But then, over a period of time, he loves me, he was my well-wisher.
So he saw that this was making me happy, and he saw that I was doing good work. I was writing books, giving talks. And now he’s happy about that.
So he himself has come into the temple. In fact, he comes here more frequently than I come. So I’m based elsewhere.
So he comes here almost every morning. So let your behavior be good, especially in terms of academics and family responsibilities. And introduce them to other devotees.
Give them time to get their misconceptions addressed. Does that answer your question? Any other questions? Can I ask a second question? I attended your previous lecture of Radhashtami, and also this one second. You started, it means you took exactly one hour, not less or not more.
In the same way, when we are studying, sometimes it happens that we are studying, sometimes we feel bored, and sometimes we come to the very form that our schedule is for one hour and we study for two and a half hours. So we cannot maintain steadiness. And in your lecture, you said that Krishna instructs in Bhagavad Gita that when you become steady, then and then only you can become happy.
And most of the time, the students, like me, those who are not studying whole semester regularly, but at the time of the PL, they study very hard. But they are getting benefits. So my question is that at that time, we are disobeying Krishna.
The question basically is, how can we be steady in our life? When we plan certain things, how can we execute our plans? We go on studying. See, in life, we cannot expect static steadiness. We require dynamic steadiness.
What is the difference between static steadiness and dynamic steadiness? Static steadiness means, in the morning, 7 to 8, I will do this. 8 to 9, I will do this. 9 to 10, I will do this.
10 to 11, I will do this. You know, life doesn’t work like that, because we are not God. So, when you try to make a rigid schedule, it just doesn’t work.
So many ad hoc factors come up. And then some of us, we just go to the other extreme and say, I’ll not make any plans only. But then when we don’t make plans, our mind makes plans for us.
And then usually we choose the path of least resistance, not using our time productively. So, plans may not work, but planning works. What is the difference between plans and planning? Plans are specific.
Planning is generic. So, overall, you know, we should not try to plan our life like a clock, on a clock basis. This way, it’s more on a compass basis.
OK, in the week, I have to get this, this, this things done. Sometimes one thing may take more time. So, I’ll give more time to that.
But on other days, I’ll do some other thing. So, yes, if I’m trying to study for one hour, but if I get in the mood of studying, I can study for two and a half hours. If I had some other things to do, I’ll do on another day.
But it shouldn’t be that I just do only one thing and I neglect the other thing. So, if we plan according to compass, that means this is the direction in which I have to go. And depending on circumstances, I will adjust what I will do more certain time, what I’ll do less certain times.
If you have a compass, then we’ll keep going in the right direction. See, if you’re going on a cycle, you may want to go this direction. But if there’s a wall, normally in the cycle, the balance stage is the vertical stage.
Vertical stage is balanced. But then if there’s a wall right in front, then you have to turn right. And when you have to turn right, the balanced state is the tilted state.
If you try to stay straight and then turn, you can’t turn. If you turn right for turning around, now after that again you have to become straight. If you just stay tilted, then you’ll go in a whole circle and come at the same place.
Isn’t it? So, you turn right and then you can come straight again. And you can turn left and go along straight afterwards. So, when you’re riding a cycle, the balanced stage is the vertical stage.
But you cannot have a static balance. You need a dynamic balance. Means straight you move, sometimes you turn like this, sometimes you turn like this.
Overall, knowing the compass, this is the direction I have to go, we’ll be able to move forward. So, like that we decide what are the things that are primarily to be done in my life. I have my studies, I have my family responsibilities, I have my spiritual life.
Like that we decide. These are the tracks on which I have to move forward. And some days I’ll move more forward on one track.
Some days I’ll move more forward on another track. So, if we have a compass and we know, we shouldn’t be too rigid about our schedules. But overall we have a plan and we move forward.
So, steadiness doesn’t mean that we have to become like a machine. Doing everything this time, this time, this time, this time. Steadiness means that we have an overall plan and stick to it on a steady basis.
Overall, we are moving forward in the right direction. That’s how we apply. Any other questions? Thank you.
Hare Krishna. Hello, Hare Krishna. My question is, Hello.
Yes. I am here. Okay.
Fine. My question is, as you have said that the materialistic progress is the cause of stress. Materialistic progress is a cause of stress.
I didn’t say exactly that. But go ahead. Okay.
If we consider, because due to the materialistic progress, the stress is increasing. The level of stress. Then why God created this materialistic progress? Or that materialism? If the God is the origination of both the world, materialist and spiritual.
Okay. So, if material progress has caused stress, then why did God originate matter and material progress? See, I did not say material progress itself is a cause of stress. Since material progress is correlated with stress.
Cause means one causes another. Correlation means wherever material progress is present, that’s where generally stress, anxiety are present. So, it is not that material progress in and of itself has to cause stress and anxiety.
If material progress is accompanied by spiritual regress, that means people go away from God in the name of materialism. You know, we have become advanced. Now we have got technology, we have got this, we have got that.
We don’t need God. God is for poor people. God is for old-fashioned people.
God is for primitive people. So, what causes stress is a disconnection with God. You know, the less we do chintan, the more we do chinta.
You know, Bhagavad Gita tells us, don’t be a worrier, be a warrior. Don’t be a worrier. Worrier means we maintain our faith and we fight off all the doubts, the anxiety, the tensions and move forward.
So, actually, when we practice spiritual life, but don’t let ourselves get disconnected from God, then even if we progress materially, that will not lead to stress. So, it’s not that spiritual life means you have to be against material progress. You are against material progress that takes us away from God.
And has God created material progress? See, God has created both matter and spirit. And the purpose of matter is to be used in the service of spirit. Everything material can be used properly with knowledge in the service of God.
But when we disconnect it from God, then that causes the problem. So, Sri Prabhupada gives the example that the sun is the source of light. But if I stand in front of the sun and turn away from the sun, I see a shadow, which is darkness.
Now, has the sun caused the darkness? Not exactly. Actually, because I turned away from the sun, so I am experiencing darkness. So, similarly, when we turn away from God because of being infatuated by the hopes of material progress, then that brings darkness in our mind.
And that darkness manifests as stress, as depression, as suicidal urges, and all these negative emotions. When we turn back towards God, then that negativity starts decreasing and eventually gets eliminated. Did I answer your question? Yeah, yeah.
My second question is… We will come back to you. Hare Krishna Prabhu, my question is that today’s material science and all that does not, means, teaches us like external ways to control anything, like any disaster or that. But they don’t think of the heart changing and internal things.
So, what is our responsibility? So, material science doesn’t teach us about how to change internally. It is more gross. More gross, yes.
That’s why I say technology improves things, spirituality improves people. You know, we need both. So, technology improves things.
Now, one of the biggest problems of avoidable death in the West is obesity. Now, in obesity, you may have many genetic and environmental causes, but one primary cause is overeating. So, now, if you see, the weighing machines, earlier we had the illustration of those weighing machines, big machines where you stand on it.
And in the clinics, we have the small machines on which you stand and the pain comes up. Now, there are very tiny machines, portable, just like a brick. Stand on it for 10 seconds and you get the weight.
So, the machines are becoming smaller and smaller, but the people on them are becoming bigger and bigger. So, why is that happening? Because technology can improve things, but technology cannot provide people self-control. Technology cannot improve people.
That’s why we need spirituality. So, what should we do? You know, we practice spirituality and we become both models and messengers. Models means people should be able to see, yes, this person is such a well-behaved person, so calm, so controlled, so caring.
We become models and we become messengers. We share this message with others. And then gradually by that, there will be balance.
People won’t just get infatuated with technology alone, but along with technology, there will be spirituality. And then there will be holistic progress. So, it’s our responsibility to be models and messengers of the potency of spirituality and bringing about inner transformation.
Thank you. Yes. You can speak loudly.
Yes, I have a second question. We’ll come back to you if you don’t mind. OK, thank you.
We have time. Yeah. Bro, I had a question that generally there’s always a fight going on between our minds.
Like there’s a good side, there’s a bad side. One says, the good one says that you’re going on a good course. You should go forward.
You should chant. You should be in Krishna consciousness. The other always tries to convince that why are you doing all this? You are progressing materially.
Why do you need all this? But the balance is, of course, when you hear, when you listen to it. I had a question that is it possible that you gain in both the terms? Means, would that be a balance like if I gain materially, I can be at par with my spiritual progress? Or is it like if I gain materially, I will be distressed in spiritual life? Yes. So the question is whether we can progress both materially and spiritually.
Or does it that we have to give up one for the sake of the other? No, no. Not that we have to give up one. See, we, our existence is two sides.
We are souls. But right now we are in the material body. So the body and the soul both have to be taken care of.
And as devotees, there is a balanced program. So we will have our professions. We’ll have our families.
Actually, speaking of the practice of spiritual life, we’ll be able to do our family responsibilities, our professional responsibilities also better. Because ultimately, whatever we do, it is the mind which is central. So if my mind is more controlled, my mind is more calm, more clear, I’ll be able to do my job better.
I’ll be able to take care of my family members better. I’ll be more sensitive, more responsible. So it’s not that we have to give up one for the sake of the other.
But where it can lead to extremes is if we treat spirituality as an escape way from the problems of material life. I like to chant and dance and sing. So students have got their exams coming.
Suddenly they develop a love affair with Ramayana and Mahabharata. I’ll just study Ramayana and Mahabharata. Why? All the study is material.
It is temporary. It is illusory. And actually only Krishna and Rama are real.
Well, they were not so real during the whole semester. Suddenly in PL when I have to study the Vikabari. It shouldn’t be like that.
So if we treat spirituality as an escape way from materialized problems, then that is a negative attitude towards spirituality. And that sort of escapism can lead to our negligence of material life. So if you are in the association of devotees, they will protect us from this trick of the mind.
See what the mind will do is it will make us neglect our material life. And then after that, when we get into trouble, the mind will say it is because of your spiritual life all these problems came. So give up spiritual life now.
So the problems did not come because of spiritual life. The problems came because of mind making us neglect material life in the name of spiritual life. So if we associate with devotees properly and take guidance, then we will not fall to this trick of the mind.
And the other extreme is that for the sake of material life, we give up spiritual life. Now my exam is coming. I don’t have time to do anything else.
No chanting, no going to the temple, no reading books, only studies. Now I say like that, I’ll do only studies. But when I go get bored with studies, I go for a movie and spend three hours over there.
We can’t study 24 hours a day. So we can treat spirituality during those periods as a relaxing break which will rejuvenate us. So generally with the association of devotees and proper philosophical understanding, we can balance both.
And we can actually do better materially also by our practice of spiritual life. And when we gain stability in our material life, that also helps us to practice spiritual life with more focus and enthusiasm. So we should be able to balance both and by philosophical understanding and by devotee association we can do that.
Thank you. Yes. Speak loudly.
Hello. My question is this, that whatever around us is according to our requirement. You said that we have water, we have plants to eat, that food.
Plants also have life. So why we are more concerned about the animal’s life regarding to plant’s life? We are not eating animals because God doesn’t eat that or we have to follow that. Okay.
So the question is, if plants also have life, then why do we say that we shouldn’t eat animals and eat plants? So actually yes, we cannot avoid killing while living in this world. The principle should be, let me cause the minimum pain. Now with respect to fruits, it naturally falls from it.
There is no pain at all. But even if we look at otherwise, I look at it scientifically, emotionally and intuitively. Scientifically, the amount of pain that is experienced depends on the development of the nervous system.
So the nervous system in plants is far less developed than in animals. And that’s why the animals suffer far greater pain when they are killed than do the plants. Secondly, if we look at it from the biological growth point of view, most of the plants, especially if they are crops, the crops will just wither and die if they are not harvested.
But that’s not the case with animals. Animals are killed in the prime of their youth, generally speaking, when they are healthy and they could have a long life. So they are not killed at the end of their life, not when they are about to die.
They are grown to be killed in their youth. So that’s from the scientific point of view. Now from the emotional point of view, if you go to a harvesting place where plants are being harvested, the whole atmosphere is cheerful.
If you go to a slaughterhouse, it’s dreadful. Why the difference? Intuitively, in all the cultures, anywhere in the world, the harvesting season is a season of celebration. Nature has given its bounty and we are celebrating.
Now tell me any culture where when people are slaughtering animals, they are dancing and singing and celebrating. No, it doesn’t happen, especially the kind of slaughterhouses that are there today. It’s brutal killing.
The people who do the slaughtering, they get psychiatric problems. And the turnover rate in the slaughterhouse industry is among the highest in all the industries in the world. So emotionally, tell a set of parents, in the school authorities, tomorrow we are going to take your children for a picnic to a harvesting place, to see the harvest.
Parents will happily allow. Tomorrow we are going to take your children to a slaughterhouse to see slaughtering of animals. Which parents will allow? Is there no difference? So intuitively also we understand, scientifically, emotionally and intuitively, there’s a world of difference between the killing of animals and the killing of plants.
So we want to cause minimum pain. And that’s why we don’t stop with just killing plants. Actually, we offer the food.
Plant free food also we offer when it becomes karma free. And the plant which contributed its body, that also gets sold back. It also has a benefit when you offer prasad.
So even if somebody doesn’t believe the spiritual aspect, but still we can explain from the other perspectives. Thank you. Yes.
Any other questions? Yes. You can speak loudly. Hare Krishna Guruji.
Thank you for a wonderful class. Guruji, my question is, you told in the beginning about advertisement. And while walking by the road also, we have lots of hoardings and boardings and we get tempted.
So how to deal with temptations? Yes. So how to deal with temptations? See, tolerance is the dam between temptation and transgression. Temptation means I feel like doing wrong.
Transgression means I do wrong. The bridge between them, the wall between them is tolerance. So when we can’t close our eyes and walk around.
But at the same time, we don’t have to focus our eyes on those things. So Krishna gives the example. In 2.58 in the Bhagavad Gita, he explains that just as a tortoise withdraws its limbs and brings them out when it’s still functioning.
Similarly, we don’t let our eyes wander around unnecessarily. And generally speaking, the eyes take us to Maya and the ears take us to Krishna. Not always.
When we come to temple, even the eyes take us to Krishna. And when we watch movies, even the ears take us to Maya. It’s possible.
Generally speaking, the eyes take us towards Maya and the ears take us towards Krishna. So we can utter some spiritual sound vibration, memorize some shloka, recite some Hare Krishna Mahamantra tune. When we are going through such situations, we can find ourselves calming down.
So generally, Krishna doesn’t say drushyato. He says what causes problem is dhyayato. Seeing is not what causes the problem.
Contemplating is what causes the problem. See, when we see temptation, what should happen is that an alarm bell should ring. Let me stay away.
And that will happen if we study philosophy properly and do our sadhana nicely. But when we don’t do that, what happens when we do spirituality properly? We understand there is a higher happiness and this all is temporary. It’s not going to make me happy.
But when we don’t do our spiritual practices properly, then we don’t have the intelligence and conviction that there is a higher happiness. And then what happens? This only happens when things should be there. So instead of an alarm bell, a welcome tune starts ringing.
Then what happens? We fall prey. So that’s why. So that means while we are exposed to temptations, we minimize the interaction, we minimize the exposure and try to have some spiritual sound vibration so that we avoid it.
And apart from that, in our sadhana, if we are strong, then both these things, means guardedness, alertness when we are exposed to temptation and preparedness by doing our regular sadhana, then these two will enable us to develop tolerance. And even the temptation comes that will not lead to transgression. That will not make us do wrong things.
Any other questions? Yes, behind. Hare Krishna Prabhuji, you said earlier that be a warrior and not the warrior. My question is, should we take the life as a playground or a battleground? Because when we consider life as a playground, then we mostly chase the happiness.
We try to chase the happiness. And when it is a battleground, it is a war between winning and losing. So what life is about? It is a playground or a battleground? Is life a playground or a battleground? It is a service ground.
Actually, it is an arena of service. In the arena of service, sometimes we may have to do battle. And sometimes we can play also.
We dance and sing and we play also at that time. But the primary focus is service. See, happiness is never a product.
It is always a by-product. What do you mean by by-product? When we do something purposeful and meaningful in life, then as a by-product of that, happiness will come. When we start doing some activity just to become happy, I think I will just go for a picnic and enjoy.
What happens? I may get a little enjoyment, but after that it is boring. When will I go back? So when I do some activity aiming that the product of this will be happiness, we will get bored after some time. But when we do activities for the sake of some higher purpose, then that higher purpose as a by-product will give us happiness.
And the highest purpose is to love and serve God. Because God is our greatest well-wisher. When we love and serve him, he wants us to do activities which will be good for us.
And through us, he will do good for others also. So, that’s why when we pursue devotional activities, and devotional activities just doesn’t mean what we do when we come to the temple. Even our whole life can be a form of devotional service to God.
So, when we serve life as a service ground and pursue service, how can I serve God in all situations? Then as a by-product of that, happiness will come. Even if we are fighting a battle, even if we are in a difficult situation, still by our connection with God, we will experience happiness. And we will be doing meaningful and purposeful things in life also.
One last question? Yes. Hare Krishna Prabhu, if God knows everything, then why the devotees should ask for comforts and solutions to God in his praise? If God knows everything, why should devotees ask for comforts? Devotees don’t generally ask for comforts. Solutions.
Actually, devotees primarily ask for service. And the reason is that the point of relationship is not knowledge. The point of relationship is reciprocation.
It is not that when a mother and a child are there. If the child is small, the mother knows what the child will do. The child will go here, the child will do this, the child will do that.
If the mother takes the child to the lab and offers the breast milk, what will the child do? Drink milk. So now, in that case, what is important is not knowledge. Knowledge is only one part of it.
It is reciprocation. So similarly, the point of approaching God is not just knowledge. It is reciprocation.
So, yes, God knows everything. God knows the solutions also. But when we share our heart with God, by that, we go closer to God.
See, the purpose of our life, the perfection of our life is to give our heart to God. But right now, our heart is caught up with so many things in this world. So then, if we can’t give our heart to God, then let’s give what is in our heart to God.
That means, we share our concerns with Him through prayer. We share our aspirations with Him. And through that, also we go closer to God.
And actually, meditation and prayer, they are two aspects of communication with God. In prayer, we speak to God. In meditation, God speaks to us.
We hear. That’s why when we are chanting, we don’t focus on our desires. Chanting is the time when we hear God.
God is coming in sound vibration. When we just hear the sound vibration, then the clarification will come. An illumination will come.
Krishna gives that intelligence. So we focus not on knowledge whenever we approach God, it’s on reciprocation. We share our heart with God so that we give Him a place in our heart and we go closer to Him.
And prayer and meditation are both ways by which we can go closer to Him. Does that answer your question? So, I said you can ask the second question. Can you just come back? You had a second question? You got an answer? Okay, fine.
So, thank you very much. So, I also answer questions on my website, www.thespiritualscientist.com. In fact, I have answered almost 1200 questions over there. So, if any of you have any further questions which you did not answer today, you can visit the website.
It may well be that your question is already answered over there. Okay, thank you. So, even if you have any questions, you can ask over there also and I will answer over there.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
First of all, I would like to thank English Chaitanya Chaturvedi Prabhu for enlightening us on this very hot topic.