Understanding the mind through four animal metaphors 2 – Dog & Sheep – Hindi

[Sunday feast program at ISKCON, Gurugram, Delhi, India]

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you very much. Question in Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi Hindi I was very angry when he wrote something like this. How did he do it? How can he speak like this? How can he do it like this? So, when this thought was coming to my mind, and when he was asking the question to the devotee, he was finishing his question and going ahead, then I had a thought in my mind that look, this person is in front of me, but I am careful that I will not give this person more time than necessary.
I will not give him more time than necessary. But that person is in India for thousands of years, but how much time am I giving to that person in my mind? At the level of my mind, I am thinking, how did he do it? Why did he do it? How did he do it? I keep thinking about it again and again. So, what happens to all of us is that sometimes there is a fight between two people.
So, we say, I will not talk to you. So, in a way, we say, we will not talk to you. But on the other hand, our mind keeps talking a lot about that person.
He is like this, he is like that, he did this, he did that. So, what is happening here? We are still giving our time to that person. And is our time precious? Yes, it is precious.
But our time, in reality… Any problem? Who is there? Hare Krishna. Is it clear now? Yes. Is it less now? Yes.
Okay. So, we are our time. When we think about our time, what do we see? I am doing this work in the morning, I am doing this work in the afternoon, I am doing this work in the evening.
Many times, we count our time as work. I have to do this work, I have to do this work, I have to do this work. But in reality, only work does not take our time.
Thoughts also take our time. Suppose, I am a student, I go to class. And before class, there is a fight.
Someone insults him. So, the student is sitting in the class. He will remain in the class for an hour.
But his mind is… How to say it in this way? In English, it is called revenge fantasies. I will take revenge. I will take such revenge that I will throw him down in front of the world.
So, what is happening? If you see in our diary, it will be like this. I was in the class for an hour. But in reality, I was not in the class for a minute of an hour.
So, what is happening here? Our time does not come only in work. Our time goes in thoughts. And through our thoughts, sometimes we give a lot of time to some people.
This person was thinking about that person. Why did he do this? How did he do it? How dare he? What must he be thinking? And similarly, our mind keeps rotating in an auto loop. And nothing comes out of it.
Only we get more angry. We get more irritated. And that time also goes by.
Here, what is the purpose of saying this? That our mind is inside us. And many times from inside us, it works against us. God says in Bhagavad Gita that through our mind, we can be uplifted.
And through our mind, we can be destroyed. Uddhareetatmanatmanam naatmanam avasarthamet Aatmai mayaatmanobandhah Aatmai vadhrithuratmanah He says that you uplift your mind. You destroy it.
Your mind is your mantra and your enemy. So, how does this happen? In reality, we can compare the mind with a dog. Now, there are some dogs who are very hungry, but don’t bite.
When they are hungry, they look very scary. They bite. But they just keep on eating.
But they don’t bite. And when they see a stone, they run away. So, there are such dogs.
They look very scary. But they can’t do anything. If someone challenges them, they will run away.
To bite them, suppose a dog looks very scary. Like Doberman, a dangerous dog. But someone bit its teeth.
What will the dog do? It’s a dangerous dog, but it can bite. So, in the same way, the mind is like a dog that can bark, but can’t bite. Unless we let it bite.
The mind is like a dog. It barks, but it can’t bite. Until we don’t let it bite.
Let me give you a few examples. Let’s say, there is a mother who is going shopping with her kids. She is driving a car.
There is a child sitting next to her. The child says, Mom, look at this. Look at this advertisement.
Look at this. Mom, let’s go there. I want to eat in a hotel.
I want to buy some toys there. I want to play a game here. So, the child is sitting next to her.
And the child says, I want to do this and that. Now the mother has to look everywhere. What is this? So, she won’t be able to drive the car.
And if she goes everywhere, she won’t be able to go where she wants to go. But, the child is a small child. If she says, I want to go there.
Still, the child doesn’t have wheels in her hands. She doesn’t have a steering wheel. So, if she says, I want to go there.
The mother says, I want to go here. The child won’t be able to do anything. She will shout and scream.
But, she won’t be able to push her mother away. She won’t be able to sit there. She won’t be able to drive the car.
Who has the power to drive the car? The mother. In the same way, our mind, we are the soul. We are driving the car.
And the soul is sitting next to us. Sorry, not the soul. The mind.
We are the soul. The mind is sitting next to us. And the mind says, Look at this.
Eat this. Buy this. Take this.
Take that. And when the mind says something, we don’t have to do it. Because, the mind can only propose.
It can never impose. The mind can make a proposal. And it can make a very strong proposal.
It can make a proposal that we don’t have to take it. But, taking it is our choice. The mind cannot force us.
Sometimes we feel that the mind is forcing us. But, in reality, the mind proposes in such a way that we feel that we have to do it. But, the mind is not the controller.
The body is controlled by the soul. So, we are driving the car. And we have to decide where to take the car.
For example, a dog barks. And says, let’s say, we are going to a house. And there is a very dangerous dog.
Can it bark? Can it bark? No, I won’t go there. The dog will bite me. But, in reality, the dog is barking, but it cannot bite.
What does this mean? The mind can say a lot of things. But, it cannot force us that we have to do it. The mind has the ability to avoid But, this ability is not on its own.
Sometimes, some parents spoil their children a lot. What does this mean? They fulfill all their demands. Take this.
Take that. Take whatever you want. This happens So, what happens? Maybe, the purpose of the parents is good.
I have got a lot of things in my childhood. I will give whatever I want to my child. The feeling can be good.
But, the child is going to grow up. So, the world is not going to give When a person is going to grow up, the parents do not have the power to give what they want. So, an essential part of growing up in life is learning to accept no gracefully.
When we grow up, what does it mean? When we want something and we do not get it, we have to accept it. Accepting it is a part A small child says, I want this toy. You say, no, not now.
He starts crying So, if a young boy or an old man or a middle-aged woman starts crying on the road, it will become a spectacle. So, when we grow up, it happens in our life that we do not get something. Maybe we can be very free.
But, when we grow up, what happens? Even if the world says no, even if life says no, we have to accept it. So, accepting is not giving up. It is the nature of the world.
Sometimes we get what we want. Sometimes we do not get it. Bhagavad Gita gives an example of how if it is very hot, and someone keeps asking does it mean that the heat is not going to reduce? It is hot.
So, āgam āpāyino nityas tāṁ sthitiḥ kṣeṣu bhārata Who will give the Matras Parshastra? śhīkoṣu sukha-yukṣalānā āgam āpāyino nityas tāṁ sthitiḥ kṣeṣu bhārata Bhagavan says that the heat, the cold, the sorrow, will keep coming and going in the world. So, when it comes, do not bear it. Do not get too much hurt by it.
Do not get too much upset by it. So, sometimes what we want is not there We do not get what we want. So, accepting it is the sign of growing up.
This is not losing or getting defeated. It is just learning to grow up. In many situations, we accept that I will fight, I will fight with determination and I will achieve it.
It is good if you have determination. But if you haven’t got it yet, you should accept it. If you haven’t got it yet, you should accept it.
What you have to do now, you can decide later. But if you haven’t been able to accept it, then what? We have been like this since childhood. So, why am I giving this example? We are discussing the mind.
We are discussing the mind. And how is the mind? It is like a child sitting next to its mother in the car. So, it is like a child.
So, sometimes parents spoil their children a lot. And after that, the children also understand. If I want anything, what should I do? I start crying a little.
And if I start crying, the mother will not say it first. If I start crying, she will say, give it to the child. So, what happens? So, even if the mother has the power to say no to the child, but she is not able to say no.
What happened? I think everyone can just come ahead. If you want to ask a question, you can come ahead. It will be easier.
Is it better or the first one was better? Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. Is it okay? Okay. So, the child can say no to the mother.
But because she always says yes, the child knows how to say yes. How can you ask the child not to say yes? The child will have to say yes. So, what happens? When we repeatedly say yes to what the mind wants, then it becomes difficult to say no later.
What happens? Many times, we have some desires that are impulsive. Impulse means the desire to do this, to do that. So, it is impulsive.
But if we keep doing it again and again, then repeated indulgence makes the impulsive compulsive. The desire to do something once, if we keep doing it again and again, then we feel like we can’t leave it. An Oscar-winning British writer says, Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world.
I have done it thousands of times. What he is saying is, quitting smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I have done it thousands of times.
If I have given up smoking thousands of times, then what happens? I have given up once and started again. I have given up once and started again. So, I have done it thousands of times.
We give up something, but it doesn’t leave us. So, what has happened here? Has the echo increased? Or is it okay? Okay, I will try to speak softly. So, what we are doing here, if we keep doing it again and again, then we feel like we can’t leave it.
When the mind says we have to do it, we feel like we have to do it. But in reality, the control is with us. We can’t leave it.
When the dog barks, we feel like we have to calm it down. But the dog says, don’t go there, whatever you have to do, do it. But what does it mean when the dog bites us? When we do what the mind says, then we get into trouble.
We get angry, we say something in anger, and then we regret it. Why did I say that? What did I do? So, in this way, the mind is something inside us, which sometimes tells us to do something wrong. And we have to say no to it.
How do we say no? First of all, we have to understand that the voice inside me doesn’t have to be my voice. Suppose I am speaking to you, and you are listening, and you are thinking, is this right or wrong? And then after thinking, you decide that this is not right. No, this is not right.
So, if someone speaks to us from outside, then we have to check his words and decide whether we accept it or not. But, if a thought comes to our mind from inside, then what do we do? We think that this is my idea. So, we have to accept it immediately.
But what is it? Even if that thought is coming from inside, it doesn’t mean that it is our thought. Everything that is inside me is not me. Everything that is inside me, is not necessarily me.
Bhagavad Gita says that our existence is on three levels. Body, mind and soul. What we see is the body.
What is inside the body is the mind, and what is behind the mind is the soul. If we see a computer, it has hardware, software, and a computer user. The hardware is like the body, the software is like the mind, and the soul is the user.
So, many times, if we are working on a computer, then we decide to type something. Then a prompt comes automatically. Should I install this program? Or, if we are reading something on a website, and suddenly a pop-up comes, that there is an advertisement on this website.
So, that pop-up has opened on our computer. But, have we opened it? Whatever happens on our computer, it is not necessary that we have done it. Many times, the computer does things that we have not done.
For example, I use a software, and whatever is written, it reads it. So, whatever we write, it reads it. It reads it in English, Hindi, whatever language it is.
So, what happens with that? Whatever is written, it can hear it. And if I am a writer, it reads it. So, whatever I write, to proofread it, I read it.
So, many times, there is a program in the computer. So, I once wrote, The soul is Sat Chit Anand. So, the computer started reading, The soul is Saturday Chit Anand.
What did it do? It made Sat as Saturday. S-A-T. The computer thought, how is S-A-T? It said, M-O-N Monday, T-U-E Tuesday.
It said, S-A-T is Saturday. So, what is it? I wrote it on Saturday, and it became Saturday. So, everything that happens on my computer, it is not necessary that I did it.
So, if a program has opened on my computer, then I have to see whether it is open or not. If it is open on my computer, it does not mean that I opened it. And I want it to be open or not.
If I don’t want to go to this website, I don’t want to run this program, what will I do? I will close it. So, in the same way, whatever program opens on my computer, it is not necessary that I opened it. Sometimes it opens, because of the software.
In the same way, the thoughts that come to our mind, it is not necessary that they are our thoughts. Thoughts come to our mind, because they are our old habits, old desires, old values. But they may not be our desires right now.
There is a person, he used to drink alcohol, but now he has stopped drinking. He has decided to stop drinking. But still he has the desire to drink.
So, that desire has come to his mind, but it is not his desire. If he is able to understand that this desire has come to my mind, but it is not my desire. Whatever comes to our mind, it is not necessary that it is our desire, it is our thought, it is our attitude.
If here we are able to understand that whatever is coming to my mind, it may be my desire, but it may also not be my desire. It is just the beginning of the whole Sanskar, it is coming automatically. For example, now I am saying something, so you are listening, and then you think, is this thing good or not? Is this thing right or not? And then you decide.
Similarly, whatever thoughts come to our mind, we have to direct them. Thoughts have come to your mind, but is this thing right or not? Now what happens, if someone is on a diet, someone says that I am going to eat less, I am eating a lot, I have gained weight, I am not feeling well, I am going on a diet. So, what happens? If a person comes to another person, he says, No, I am on a diet, I will eat sweets.
So, what happens, if another person says to him, that you eat something, the person does not say, but later, let’s say, he puts the sweets in his room, and he goes away. Later, the mind says, eat some sweets. So, if someone says from outside, No, I will not eat.
Then, from inside, he says, eat it. So, he eats it. What is the problem? He eats sweets, and after exercising, he gains weight.
So, what happens? He does not know. He eats it. So, this is the same idea.
When another person says, we think about it, whether to do it or not, and we do not say. But, if the same thought comes to our mind, what do we say? It is my wish, why don’t I say it? But, even if that thought has come to our mind, it does not mean that it is our thought or our wish. Many times, the wish that comes to our mind, it is only due to the pre-existing samskaras of the mind.
What is the pre-existing samskara of the mind? How many of you use a computer? Or, do you use a phone? Almost everyone uses a phone. Mostly. suppose, we go to a website on a phone.
If, any, suppose, we go to a website like India News, then we press I and then India News comes up. And, later on, now, we are in bhakti, I don’t want to see that much news, I want to see something else. So, we are pressing I, we want to see something about ISKCON.
So, we press I, now, we want to see ISKCON. But, as soon as we press I, what comes up? The computer autocompletes India News. So, now, India News has come up.
We didn’t type it. But, why did it come up? Because, we had selected it again and again. So, our aim was not to type India News.
Our aim was to type ISKCON. But, India News comes up automatically. So, even though it has come up in our browser, that site, but, I don’t want to go to that site.
Similarly, what we have done because of that, some things can happen automatically. So, we don’t have to say that, we have to do what we want So, I say, the mind whispers, but, it doesn’t cut. What does it mean When I press I, India News comes up.
India News has an option, but, that computer won’t automatically go to India News. I have to click here. So, when we say, do this, see this, eat this, do this, when we say yes, then, immediately, the mind cuts.
The mind does this, until then, it shouts a lot, but, it can’t cut until we let it cut. What does it mean when we say yes? We As soon as we say yes says, then, the mind cuts everything. We are forced to act as we choose to desire.
We are forced to act as we choose to desire. But once we have made the choice, after that we cannot make any decision. Once that choice is made, the flow of the mind will take us there.
If I am on the 10th floor and I put two feet down from there, then what will happen? I will have to fall down. I have taken those two steps forward, after that I cannot make a choice. I could have made the choice before that.
I have made the choice, after that I will have to fall down. I could have made the choice before that. Similarly, when we choose the path of the mind, as we choose to desire, the mind tells us to do this, do that.
When we accept it, after that we become helpless. The mind controls us completely. The mind controls us completely.
But not accepting the decisions of the mind, we have this power. But the more we keep saying yes, the more difficult it becomes to say no. But still, it is impossible.
So in this, the mind, if we have to say no to it, first of all we have to understand that the mind, me and my mind are different. What my mind is saying is not necessary, it is my desire. How can we know? If I have a desire, then how is it not my desire? That we get to know after some time.
So what happens? We decide that I am not going to eat much. Then take one more sweet, and then later, I say, what have I done? What has happened to me? So what happens later? We say, why did I do this? So first we think we should do it, but later we say, why did I do this? So what happens in this? When we had a desire earlier, it was not really our desire. It was the desire of the mind, we said yes to it, and later when our intellect has awakened, we say, why did I do this? This can be about different things.
But the important thing is that first of all, if we understand the nature of the mind, then we become aware of the nature of the mind. So before the mind says no, the first thing we need to understand is that my mind and my mind are different. And that is why the mind gets some frustration, I want to do this, I want to see this, I want to eat this, I want to buy this.
So what happens? The easiest thing is that it is very difficult to say no. So we say, pause. Not yes, not no, but pause.
Okay, let’s see later. Right now I am not able to think whether I want to do it or not. So I say, just wait.
After some time, if we think, then what happens? The pressure of the mind reduces a little. Then we can decide whether we want to do it or not. We can think peacefully.
So, if we don’t do it, then due to the effect of the mind, we do a lot of things which can trouble ourselves and others a lot. Now suppose, if someone has done something to us, or said something to us, I get very angry. So now, what happens? Usually we think that I have only two options Either I express it, or I repress it.
Either I say it, or I suppress it. So what happens? If I get angry, and I say it, then due to the effect of anger, what I say, I say such things, that the person’s heart can break. And sometimes, if someone says something in anger, and the other person records it in his phone, what he has said.
And later, he shows the same person that you said it in anger. What? I said it? How did I say it? I never wanted to say it. So what happens here? When anger comes, many times we say such things, that we feel very guilty.
Why did I say it? So in the effect of anger, it is not right to say it directly. And it is also not right to suppress it. Anger, that is suppressed within, becomes hatred.
If we keep suppressing anger inside, then it becomes hatred. And hatred is also very dangerous. Hatred comes out in a very bad way.
So our feelings, we think that either I have to express it, or suppress it. But in reality, there is a third element. Not expressing, not repressing, but processing.
Processing. Processing means, okay, I am also angry. So why did I get angry? What did I do so many times? So, if we use our intellect to think about the cause of that feeling.
So, for example, I am a writer, so I get correspondence from many people through email. So if someone does something to me, I get very angry. So the anger, I write an email in anger.
But after writing an email in anger, I don’t stay for a minute. I don’t send it in 24 hours. And as soon as I write it, what happens? The burden in my heart reduces.
I forget it. And after a day, I go back and see. He is speaking too much.
I am thinking that this person did this because of this. But how do I know what was his thought? I should get some information from him. This is right.
I should say this. This is right, but the words are very harsh. I should use good words.
So I do this. So what happens? After a day, if it happens that I don’t need to send that email for 50-70 days. I don’t need to send an email.
What happens is, in a day, the other person sends a clarification and the matter is solved. But sometimes, when you have to send something, a lot of people can send it peacefully. And what does it mean? When I said it, I wrote it.
And after that, I processed it. Processed means, with my intellect. So when the mind is shouting, hey, it is not completely quiet.
You can keep it quiet. But it is not necessary that what our mind is shouting, we have to tell the world. Okay, we have to say it.
Let it speak. I have written it. After that, we have to process it with our intellect.
God says, how to control the mind? With intellect. evam buddhe parambudhav With intellect, how to understand yourself and how to control the mind? shanai shanai rupar mai buddhya dhruti gruhi uttaya Chhattisgarh Shloka 25 With your intellect, control your mind. So, if we do it like this, we are not suppressing our feelings, we are not even saying it immediately.
Let’s press the pause button. Okay, I have to say it like this. Not even yes or no, let it speak.
After that, we have to think about it. So, many times, our intellect comes back to its place. Then we can think and then we can decide.
So, like this, now, I said, mind is a dog that barks, but does not bite. So, if it is barking, we cannot keep it quiet. But it is not necessary that if it is barking, whatever it says, we have to do according to it.
We can decide with our intellect. And for this, how can we decide and why can’t we do it? I will give another example for this. The second example is that of a wolf.
A wolf is a sheep. A sheep and a wolf. A wolf.
Okay. A wolf is a jackal, a wolf. Okay.
So, a wolf is, many times, it is a sheep mentality or a herd mentality. What does it mean? If there is one sheep, if it goes in one direction, everyone else goes in the other direction. So, everyone starts doing the same thing.
So, what happens with this book? In today’s society, there is a lot of advertising. And what does advertising mean? Actually, if we see 200 or 300 years ago, there was no such thing as advertising. Whatever advertising was, means, if someone was distributing something on the road, the more his voice would be heard, that I have fruits, give it to me, give it to me, that much was the advertisement.
And there was no such advertisement. And after that, there was an industrial revolution. Many big industries came.
What happened because of that? A lot of things were produced. And because of that, so many things were produced that it was necessary to distribute them. So, there was no such advertisement.
So, what happens in advertisement? That, people do not have a desire. What is the purpose of advertisement? That people do not have a desire. Most of the advertisements, most of the advertisements, are not for the important things.
The necessities, are not advertised for them. The luxuries, are advertised for them. The things, which are for leisure, are advertised for them.
Now, how many advertisements are there for rice, dal, sabji, chapati? Nothing is there. If there is an advertisement, it will be for pizza, for cake, for soft drink. Now, it is not that those things are bad.
But, what is the purpose of my saying? That, whatever advertisements are there, what happens in that? The purpose is And how this desire is stimulated? It happens in two ways. One is, if you buy this, you will become so attractive. You will buy this, you will eat this, you will buy this hairstyle, you will wear this clothes, you will buy this mobile.
Nowadays, there are so many advertisements for smartphones. If you see 4-5 years ago, 1-2 years ago, there were not so many advertisements for smartphones. And now, there are so many advertisements for smartphones.
Now, if the smartphone is actually smart, then smart people will buy it. So, what is the need to advertise so much? Because, people who have phones, they should feel that if you keep your phone, you will become old fashioned. Now, if you buy a new phone, you will become modern.
Oscar Wilde, the British thinker, said that fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that you have to change it every 6 months. You say that fashion means beauty. Yes, it is beautiful in a way.
But the fashion which looks beautiful today, after 6 months, it becomes old fashioned. And people who are fashion conscious, for them, nothing is worse than old fashioned. I am old fashioned.
You are defaming me. I am modern. I am trendy.
So, old and good things will be thrown away and given to nature. So, what is this? In a way, like a wolf goes in one direction, everyone else goes in the other direction. Similarly, the advertisements create desires in us.
And what happens to our mind? It becomes very insecure. It considers itself unsafe. So, if I am doing what a big person is doing, then I am also good.
If I am doing what many people are doing, then I am also good. If I am doing what is famous and fashionable, then I am also good. So, the insecurity of the mind is tapped and forces us to do those things.
For example, alcoholism is an addiction to alcohol. Similarly, there is one more addiction and it is also coming It is called shopaholism. What does shopaholism mean? For example, an alcoholic drinks alcohol.
A shopaholic keeps buying. Keeps buying. Keeps buying.
And many times people come to the shop to buy one thing and they come to buy 20 things. And later they say why did you buy? I liked it, so I bought it. What is the use of it? Let’s see if there is any use.
So, many times what happens is and nowadays sometimes there is a credit card and then we can buy with the credit card. So, if you don’t have money then also how will you give later? So, buy now and we will see later. So, what happens is many people get trapped.
For example, what becomes the motto Shop till you drop. Keep buying. Keep buying.
Till the time you stop buying. So, sometimes we do such things and everyone does the same. Now, it is possible that what everyone is doing is good.
But it is not necessary that what everyone is doing is good. Again, we have to use our intellect and decide. Everyone is buying Everyone is seeing something.
Everyone is getting something. So, it doesn’t mean that it is necessary to get something. I have to use my intellect.
The mind is like a cat. The mind is like a cat. So, whatever is said to be fashionable or attractive in the society is followed But, if we use our intellect that it is really necessary.
I have this phone and this phone has this facility. But, that facility is so necessary. If it is not necessary, then why do I spend money? Why do I need a new phone? Why do I need a new phone? So, buying a new phone is not a bad thing.
If it is necessary, then buy it. But, what is necessary? One is something that is necessary. And, second is something that seems necessary to us.
One is a real need and the other is an artificially created need. It is good to But, it is to take the security that is given to us by creating in us. For this, what should we do? we have to whether to do what everyone is doing or not.
If we have to decide this, how can we do it? First of all, we should know that the wise person stays away from the common people. He thinks he is great but he thinks that common people are not doing what everyone is doing with intelligence. We have our intellect to do our work.
And, our intellect to listen the scriptures. Scriptural studying helps us to differentiate between our authentic leads and our artificial leads. differentiate between our authentic leads and our artificial leads.
to differentiate our leads and our leads. To differentiate between our authentic leads and our artificial leads. to differentiate between our authentic leads and our artificial leads.
is not what we have. What determines our happiness is what we do with what we have. is what we do with what we have.
is what we do with what with what we with what we what we do with what we is what we do with what we what we do with we what we with have. we we do with we do with what we have. what we do with what we have.
what we do with what we have. what we do with what we have. what we with what we what we with what we do with we do with what we do with what we do with with what we with do with we with what we what do we do with we do with what we with what we do with what we do with what we do with what we do with what we do with with what we do what we do with what we do with what we with what we do with what we do with what we do with what we do with what we do with we do with what we do with what we do with do with what we do with we do we with what we do with what do with what we do with what do with what we do with what we do with what we with what we do with we we with what we do with what we with what we what we do with what we do with what we what we do with what we with what we do with we do with what we with we do with we with what we with we do with what we do with what we do with what we do with what we do with what we do with And these five Pandavas, despite being so different, are together.
No Pandava tries to make other Pandavas like him. Yudhishthira didn’t tell Bheem that you have to be like me. And Bheem didn’t tell Yudhishthira that why don’t you be like me.
Sometimes there are differences, sometimes there are fights. But they solve it. My point here is that The Pandavas are united and still they are confident in their individuality.
Even though they are together, they have their own character, their own nature. They are content in that. They have self-confidence in that.
There is no insecurity in that. So we have to understand that the way I am, according to my situation, according to my state of mind, whatever is needed, I will do it. If someone else is giving you more, if they need it, I can take it.
If a devotee is buying a lot of things, then that is not helping in his devotion. Sometimes we wonder what is allowed. It is important to see what is allowed.
But what is important is what can we give to God. Our mind says, How much can you sin without sinning? How much can you do wrong without doing wrong? For example, if there is a 100th floor, I am looking down from the 100th floor. How much can I bend down without falling? I don’t know when I will fall.
What will I do after falling? So it is not necessary to go far. We have to see how much we can go to God. So these are two things.
If our goal is to go to God, to progress in devotion, then I will do whatever is needed for that. And different devotees have their own path. So according to them, there will be their desires, expectations, their conditionings.
I have to follow those devotees. I have to take inspiration from those devotees who are devoting with God’s purity. And with their example, I can go closer to God.
If we have such feelings, then we will not be misguided by the example of devotees. And we will not be judgmental with them. You are very strict.
You are very materialistic. There is no need to say this. Yes, there is a relationship between them and God.
They will decide how to go to God in their life. I have to decide how to go to God. Okay? How much time do we have? How much time do we have? Yes, we will come to you.
You can ask. When there is an inappropriate thought, I say we should think about it. We should examine it.
We should process it. It takes time to think about the process. We can’t think immediately.
What should we do? We should make a pause button in our life. What does pause button mean? We have to do this and that. We don’t know.
I can’t decide now. I will decide later. What does pause button mean? It is a process through which our mind comes out of that thought.
For example, I am angry. But if we decide, when the mind is satisfied, then I am going to do this thing. So if we do that thing, then we get a little peace.
When the mind is in God, then it gets satisfaction. Then the intellect awakens. Then we can decide.
So the pause button that will work for us, we have to animate it. For someone, I said, it can be a Girtan. For someone, it can be that they like devotional services very much.
So keep that time to yourself. And listen, I like some people. So remember them or keep them close to you.
So how fast can our mind go towards God? From what work? We have to animate that ourselves. And that work, that thing is with us. Through that, we will be able to pause it at least.
We will be able to pause the thoughts or feelings that are coming to our mind. Then later, we can check it and react accordingly. When we are in stress, in worry, then it is very difficult to press the pause button.
Because the thoughts of worry keep coming to our mind again and again. Then what should we do? In every situation, in our life, some things are in our control and some are not. So when we start thinking about the things that are not in our control, then we start worrying.
On the contrary, if we start thinking about the things that are in our control, then we will be able to act fast. So in the same situation, by shifting our focus from the things that are not in our control to the things that are in our control, we can change from anxiety to intensity. In the same situation, I had a very important interview yesterday.
If I get a job in the interview, it will be very good. If I don’t get a job, then what will happen? I have so much debt. Where will I live? How will I do it? There are many problems.
So now, whether I will pass the interview or not, it is not in my control. So if I think about that, then what will happen? I will be more worried, I will be more anxious. But what is in my control? If I have an interview tomorrow, then I have 12 hours.
Out of these 12 hours, I have to sleep for 6-7 hours. I have to cook food for 1 hour. So that means I have 3 hours.
So in these 3 hours, I have to study as much as I can. I have to prepare as much as I can. So in this way, if I think about what is in my control, then what will happen? We will be able to act fast.
And if we do what is in our control, then what is not in our control, there is a possibility that it will be good. If I am preparing, then there is a possibility that I will pass the interview. But if I keep thinking about what will happen in the interview, then what will happen? If I don’t prepare, then there is less possibility that it will be good in the interview.
So now, how do we understand our mind? First of all, we have to understand it in terms of intellect. If you start worrying, then it is fine. What is in my control? What is not in my control? And there is no situation in which there is nothing in my control.
Now, there was a critical situation in Draupadi’s life. When she lost her clothes. She had no control.
No one was ready to help her. She could not help herself. But what did Draupadi do? The only thing that was in her control was her consciousness.
That consciousness was worshipping God. O God, I come to your refuge. I say, O Govinda, O Gopala, O Murari, you are my savior.
And completely she gave her consciousness to God. And then God helped her miraculously. Why am I giving this example? Not because God helped her miraculously.
I am giving this example because at that time, it seemed that there was nothing in her control. But still, there was one thing in her control. What will she think about? Where will she put her consciousness? So she put her consciousness in God.
So in the same way, if we do not think about the situation, what is in my control, I will force it. Then we can reduce our worry. But what does the mind do? It thinks that if I study well, what will happen if someone asks me a wrong question? How will I do? So the mind can make us worry again.
So what should we understand? If we look at it from a physical point of view, we see only two things. Either things are in my control or things are not in my control. But if we look at it from a spiritual point of view, we understand that the things that are not in my control, it is not that they are not in my control.
They are in God’s control. Things that are out of my control, are not out of control. They are in Krishna’s control.
They are in Krishna’s control. That is why I leave these things to Krishna. Leaving things to Krishna does not mean becoming irresponsible.
We have to do what is in our control. About 20 years ago, when I started giving discourses, I was given a sheet on how to give discourses. The last point was depend on Krishna.
It was in brackets, but only after you have prepared. You depend on Krishna, but only after you have prepared. So, when you are preparing for a discourse, first you have to say this point, give an example like this.
You have to prepare all this. But while preparing, you start thinking what will happen if I forget? What will happen if I get a panic attack? Only then you will see what will happen. It is in God’s control.
Before that, I have to work according to my capacity. So, in this way, if we do bhakti in this way, there are two things. In bhakti, we are teaching our mind to do what is in our control.
If it is necessary, we put it in japa. If it is not necessary, we put it in harina. What happens with this? The more we teach our mind, the more we decide that in this situation, this is in my control, so I will put my mind in this.
So, it is easy to put the mind which is in our control in the mind which is being taught. And it is difficult to put the mind which is in our control So, it is easy to put the mind which is in our control in the mind which is being taught. Secondly, with the work of bhakti, our faith in God increases.
And we actually believe that whatever is not in my control, that is in the control of God. God will take care of it. In this way, we can face our worries.
We can face our worries. One last question. If we know that we are doing something good, still we need approval from others.
We should respect others. We should tell others that they are doing good. Yes, that is a common human need.
We are social creatures. That is why, if we are doing something alone, it is very difficult to do it. Suppose, we come to a satsang.
And we see that 2-3 people have come. We all think that should I have come or not? But we come to a satsang and see that 100-200 people have come. We see that so many people have come.
So, that is why, we get strength in the Sangh. But which Sangh should we see for approval? Which Sangh should I appreciate for approval? We can choose that. If I want approval from a materialistic person, then they will say, drink alcohol, do this, do that.
And then they will say, I want approval from them. Many times, we want approval from such people because of which, we start feeling bad. We start feeling down.
So, we should not do like that. As I told you, I gave a lecture on Mahabharata. I gave 15 lectures on Karma.
In that, Karma is an ideal example that a good person becomes bad due to the attachment of bad people. Karma is very pious. But what happens is, he always wants approval from bad people.
And bad people like him. Bad people like him. For this, he does many things due to which he regrets.
In the Sabha, Karna himself suggests to bring Draupadi and take her clothes. Karna suggests this. But later, he is told, Karna tells Krishna and Bheeshma that he did a big mistake.
Now, Duryodhana never says that he did a mistake. Duryodhana says the opposite. I did a lot of self-study but I did not find any mistake in my work.
So, here, Karna was a good person. But due to the desire to get approval from bad people, he became bad. So, for this, we need approval.
And if we want approval in Satsang, if we come with devotees, and we need approval there, then we will become more pious. We will improve as a devotee. So, that is why, we cannot eliminate the need for approval, but we can choose the source of our approval.
We can choose the source of our approval. And if we choose that, then through that, we and our character will improve. Thank you very much.