Unraveling the Mystery of Karma

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Today evening’s discussion on this topic of vital importance to the life of each and every one of us. Karma.
It is entitled as the mystery of karma because for most people, the actions and reactions don’t seem correlated. Most people find it difficult to believe in karma. Although the word karma has become much more acceptable in the last few years, last few decades.
Karma has not only a place in all the English dictionaries, but Gallup surveys show that an increasing percentage of people, not only in the Eastern world, but also in the Western world, believe in some sort of cosmic accountability that we are accountable for our actions. So today we’ll try to unravel this mystery based on the teachings of the scriptures as explained by Sri Prabhupada. This will be the overview of how we will be going.
We’ll be covering these six main points. First we’ll do an introduction to karma. Then what is the logic of karma? Then we’ll discuss some commonly asked doubts and questions about karma.
And we’ll go into a deeper understanding of the science of karma. Then we will understand the individual and social level. What are the benefits of understanding science of karma? And then we’ll talk about how devotional service brings about the ultimate freedom from karmic entanglement.
So this is a simple statement of the law of karma. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is actually not the law of karma.
This, as we know, is Newton’s law. Newton’s law is a small subset of the universal law of karma. Why a subset? Because Newton’s law talks mainly about the interaction between non-conscious or dead material objects.
And it does not involve any higher principles like divine intervention or divine supervision or cosmic justice. But this law is a rough approximate statement of the universal law of action and reaction. Which also says that to every action that we perform as human beings, we will get an equal reaction.
So it is phrased differently in the Bible. They said as you sow, so shall you reap. So that is a simple introduction.
Let’s see some simple logic for karma. So all of nature obeys laws. That’s what science has discovered.
Right from the microscopic level to the macroscopic level. Everywhere there are laws. For interaction of everything with everything, there are laws.
If there were no laws in nature, there would be no scientists. There would be no study of science without laws. So if all of nature is governed by laws, why should we humans be an exception to those laws? That’s why there is a saying that we can never break God’s laws.
We can only break ourselves against God’s laws. Just like if somebody says, I don’t believe in the law of gravity. I don’t believe it.
I will break that law. He jumps off a 10 story building. What will happen? He will not break the law of gravity.
He will break himself against the law. He will fall down and hopefully break his leg. Or if he is not so fortunate, he might break his head.
So we can never break the laws of God. Just as the law of gravity is impartial and inexorable. Impartial means it doesn’t differentiate.
If it’s a baby or a macko man or a stunt man or whoever, he comes on the floor, the law of gravity will act on it. So similarly the law of karma is also impartial and it is inexorable. Inexorable means we cannot escape it.
We cannot stop it. So if nature obeys laws, then why should we humans be an exception to this universal phenomena seen in nature? And not only that, all our life, everything we do is based on an implicit understanding of the correlation of action and reaction. So you go back to the hostel after this class and you see a friend in the hostel having a burn scar on his hand.
What will you ask him? You see a burn scar on your friend’s hand. What will you ask him? Yeah, how did you get it? What happened? Isn’t it? That means as soon as we see an effect, we immediately assume and implicitly understand there is a cause to it. You may not know what the cause is, but we understand that there is a cause.
So similarly, when we see some reversal, some suffering, some problem is coming in life, we can infer through an implicit understanding, there must be this effect which is coming in my life, must be having some cause. Although, as it was mentioned in the introduction, sometimes we do well in our exams and we don’t get good results. But in general, there is a correlation between to study, get good marks.
Just as if some of your friends, one of your friends doesn’t get good marks, what will his parents ask him? Didn’t you study for the exam? Isn’t it? Or somebody gets a topper, you’ll ask him, how many hours did you study every day? So in general, in every aspect of life, there is a correlation between cause and effect. We will come to the exceptions later. But first, the general principle is that every effect is produced by a cause.
Every effect that we see now is produced by a cause from the past. And every cause that we are initiating or activating now will produce an effect in the future. So there is implicit understanding of cause and effect.
Just as if early morning, a patient calls the doctor, doctor, I’m having a stomach upset. So what will the doctor ask? Yes, what did you eat last night? So here the cause effect correlation may be delayed by a few hours, maybe seven, eight hours. When he’s eating, he may not feel anything.
But later on, the effect does manifest. So every cause produces an effect and every effect is produced earlier by a cause. Similarly, you see another point that in our day to day life, our parents, they train us and we will train our children by punishment reward.
The student studies nicely, the parents appreciate him, praise him, give him some gifts. And the student doesn’t study nicely, then they chastise him, punish him, they stop his pocket money or whatever, decrease it. So and the same system we see in day to day affairs.
That means whenever there is a supervisor, a superior and a subordinate award, the normal way of training is by punishment for good, punishment for bad and reward for good. Choice of action. So now if God is the most benevolent parent, the most intelligent trainer, will he also not follow the same system? So, of course, in this presentation, we will not go into the existence of God.
Let’s assume that all our students over here have heard the device for session and the existence of God is understood. That is a different presentation. So here we’ll move forward.
If God exists, which can be scientifically inferred from the extraordinary design that is there in all parts of the universe, then if God is like a teacher or God is like a parent, then will he not use cause and effect? Will he let everything happen chaotically in life? Doesn’t seem logical at all. So now this is a straightforward understanding that our actions will produce reactions. So now let’s consider some of the doubts.
One of the most common doubts people have is why do we see so many bad people? We see so many criminals. They seem to be flourishing. The police is not catching them.
The law is not able to even do any harm to them. So we see that they are flourishing. So how is it that the law of karma is acting? So the principle to understand is there is, as the thinker Harold Percival said, cause is always followed by effect.
But just as harvesting does not follow immediately after sowing, similarly, there may be a delay between effect and cause. Just as harvesting does not immediately follow after sowing. There is a different time lag between sowing and harvesting as per what kind of seed is being sown.
So here a simple example is given. In the villages, the farmers store their grains in huge vertical containers called as silos. And they store their grains year after year after year in that.
So if the farmer has in the past years produced a low quality grain called C and he has stored that in the container. And another farmer has produced in the past high quality grain called A and has stored it in the container. So now in this particular year, the farmer, the first farmer has produced now high quality.
And he’s putting in high quality grains from there, A quality grains. But what is he getting out? C. And on the other hand, the neighbor is producing C quality grains. But what is he getting out? A. So this is just delayed karma.
It’s not that if somebody is putting in A quality grains, it’s not that he will always keep getting C. The C will get over and he will get A also. And if somebody is putting in C quality grains, it’s not that he will always get A. Sooner or later the stock of A will run out. And he will have to get the C quality grains.
So it’s not that bad people flourish permanently. Actually, in this world, nobody flourishes permanently. Ultimately, everybody has to die.
And many people, they lose their wealth in just one moment. Say a big underworld criminal like this will be caught and put in jail. Or as we saw, big, big dictators and conquerors like say Napoleon Bonaparte.
He went out to conquer the whole world. And what happened? As long as karma was there, in spite of all the atrocities he was doing, he was conquering. But once his karma ran out, and from the prospective conqueror of the world, he became a helpless prisoner in an island called Elba.
And he died a pathetic death thereafter. So the karma, as long as the good karma is still in stock, a person may be getting good results in spite of bad actions. But the bad actions will eventually produce bad results.
Now, the Vedic scriptures give an understanding broader and deeper than most other scriptures as they are understood today. That is because the Vedic scriptures also include reincarnation in correlation with karma. That means, this is one life.
This is birth and this is death. So even in this life also we see action-reaction at work. Isn’t it? If somebody has illicit sex, he gets AIDS.
Somebody does intoxication, he gets liver problems. Somebody has smoke, he gets lung problems. So we do see action-reaction in this life also.
As I said, cause and effect is implicit in our day-to-day lives. But whenever we don’t see that, whenever we see the exceptions, Vedic scriptures explain that this law of karma extends not only from this point of B to the point of D, birth to death, but it extends before B and after D. And therefore, in this life, we may get reactions from a past life, and reactions to the actions of this life may come in a future life. And this helps us to understand cosmic accountability in a broader way.
Somebody may ask, why should I suffer now for the reactions of a previous life? So the answer is, different seeds subtractify after different time durations. If somebody sows grains, and the grains will sow a harvest after 2-3 months. If somebody sows a mango seed, that may take 20 years.
If you take a eucalyptus seed, that may take 90 years. So every action that we do is like a seed-sowing program. And the seed will fructify.
And this is a seed which we cannot escape. I don’t like this fruit. I don’t want to eat it.
No, we are forced to eat it. Even if the fruit is thorny, we force it into our mouth. We have to eat it.
So the reactions will come. But different kinds of karma have different time durations after which they fructify. Now somebody may think, okay, there was all this system.
Then why didn’t God give all the reactions in this life only? Then it will be easier to have faith. Easier to make sense out of this. In fact, this was the question that Dhritarashtra asked Krishna.
After a bloody Kurukshetra war, Dhritarashtra asked, Krishna, I got 100 sons and all of them were killed. Not even one exception? Krishna told, 50 lifetimes ago, you were a hunter. And while hunting for birds, you tried to shoot a male bird and it flew away.
In anger and the inability to kill the male bird, you ruthlessly slaughtered the birdlets which were there in the nest. There were 100 baby birds, 100 birdlets and you killed them. And the father bird was helplessly watching in agony.
Because you caused that father bird the pain of seeing the torture and death of 100 persons dying. Similarly, you had to see your 100 children. Dhritarashtra asked, okay, but why did I have to wait for 50 lifetimes? Then Krishna answered, to get 100 sons requires a lot of punya.
So, for 50 lifetimes you had to do punya to get 100 sons. And then you got the reaction for the path that you had done 50 lifetimes ago. That’s what Lord Krishna says, gahana karmano gati that the gati, the way in which action and reaction works is very gahan, it’s very deep.
It’s not something which we can just casually understand. Therefore, God knows best how to give which reaction at what time. And certain reactions have to be given under certain conditions.
So, therefore, some reactions may come in this lifetime. Some reactions may come in the next lifetime. Some reactions may come in a much later lifetime.
But the mills of God grind slow, but they grind exceedingly fine. So saying, what does it mean? That means there is a grinding mill. And in the grinding mill, the grains are being ground into powder.
Sometimes when the grinding device is moving round and round, some grains seem to escape. Some of the grains get ground to powder, but some grains escape. And then the grinding mill is moving slowly.
And then some grains, once they think they have escaped, oh, nothing is happening. They have escaped. The grinding mill is moving round, round, round, round, round and again it will come.
And again some grains will be crushed. And again it will come and again the grains will be crushed. So, the mills of God grind slow.
That means some grains may not appear to be ground to powder immediately. They grind slow, but they grind exceedingly fine. Exceedingly fine means that every single grain will be ground to powder.
Every single action will be accounted for. Bhagavatam gives the example that if we have a cow shed with thousands of cows in it. And we leave one mother calf over there.
The mother cow is able to find out which is her calf among those thousands of cows. It has a mystical ability based on her natural love. So, just as the mother cow can find its calf among thousands of cows, similarly, Bhagavatam says, our karma will find us among the millions of people on this planet.
There may be thousands of people going on a road, but only one person meets with accident. It’s not by chance. It’s by karma.
So, the laws of karma grind. They grind slow, but they grind exceedingly fine. Exceedingly fine.
Nobody escapes. Somebody may say, okay, I don’t know about the law of karma. Why should I suffer? Why are the ignorant not excused? Once, a person was driving on a bike.
And he came to a road crossing and there was a red signal. He slowed down and then he saw that a buffalo was walking through the red signal. The buffalo appeared to be nonchalant, completely unfitted, undisturbed.
He was walking through the red signal. Buffalo, let me also go through. He went through and the whistle blew.
And he stopped. And how did you find him? Sir, you didn’t find the buffalo. Why are you finding me? Because you are a bigger buffalo.
So, ignorance is no excuse. The buffalo doesn’t have the intelligence to understand the law. But if we humans are driving on the road, it is not the responsibility of the government to educate us on the law.
It is our responsibility to learn the law. Similarly, if we are living in this world and we are taking air, we are taking water, we are taking sunlight, we are taking heat, we are taking food from nature. It’s like, this world is like a palace.
If you just come in the palace, just go into a palace and start eating here, eating from here and there, we cannot do that. So, the bill will come. If you are in a hotel and you start eating anything, sleeping anywhere, watching television and just enjoying all the facilities of the hotel, the bill will come.
And if you don’t pay the bill, the reminder will come. And if you don’t pay the bill, the reminder will come. And power will be cut off.
And we will start getting the reaction. So, similarly, it is not for the material nature to teach us. When we take the human form of life, it is for us to learn the laws of karma.
Because that is the way we see everywhere in human society. Now, of course, if somebody is ignorant, the punishment will be slightly minimized. But if we see with respect to the laws of nature, if a child says, I didn’t know that if I jump from a 10-story building, I’ll fall down and break my leg.
Will the law of gravity accept it? After all, the exception is unknown. So, the law of gravity is impartial but inexorable. Similarly, the law of karma is impartial but inexorable.
One more important point to recognize is that ignorance is not an excuse for sin. Rather, ignorance is the consequence of sin. How is that? A simple example.
When a person commits a crime, he is put in a jail. And in a normal jail, often there are reformers who come to give good counsel to the prisoner so that he will give up his errant ways and become a reformed citizen. But if in the jail also, the prisoner acts criminally, he starts beating the other co-prisoners, he starts beating the counselor, he starts beating the jailer, what will happen? He will be taken from the normal prison cell and put in a dark dungeon where he will only be given food from a window.
Nobody will come to give him counsel. Now, why is that? It’s his own action. So, now he is put in a place where he has no opportunity to reform himself.
He has no guidance or support to reform himself. Why? Because in the past, he rejected the opportunities to reform himself. The same way, if today somebody is born in a social situation or in a cultural environment where that person never gets to know about the law of karma, then that is because he has by his past actions shown God and the material energy, the superintendent, that I am not interested.
I don’t care. I will do whatever I want. So, then he is put in a place where he has no opportunity for getting to know God.
And Kalyuga is acting such a dark age. Actually, the souls who are born in Kalyuga, they are the souls who in the previous ages of the Yuga, Trita Yuga, Dwapar Yuga, have shown by their actions that they don’t care for the laws of God. And that’s why many of them are born in a situation where they don’t come to know about the laws of nature, about the laws of God.
So, ignorance is not an excuse for sin. Ignorance is a consequence of sin. Of course, God is not just a judge.
He is a father. And therefore, there is God’s justice and there is God’s mercy. And which is greater? His mercy is greater.
So, even in the dark dungeon of Kalyuga, normally where no prison reformers will come, here also the Lord sends his representatives. The Lord himself comes, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the Lord sends Prabhupada and his devotees to give knowledge of the law of karma to even those who by their own past karma don’t deserve to know about it and don’t desire to know about it. That is why all over the world, people have the opportunity to turn towards God.
Actually, God by his grace arranges in the life of every single human being at least at one time in his life. God arranges circumstances in such a way that he has the opportunity to think. What is the world all about? At that time, the curtains of ignorance are just opening.
The stream of enlightenment is just coming through. The person just pushes the curtains a little bit. If at that time, when the circumstances to turn towards God are created by God in his life, if he seeks knowledge, if he seeks wisdom, then God will guide him to a place where he can surely get wisdom.
And that’s how a person can, even from the situations where he is actually forsaken, he is actually deprived of spiritual knowledge, he can get spiritual knowledge even in those situations. So, as many of you know, Krishna Consciousness is spread all over the world. There is one young Islamic youth in the Middle East, his name was Asif Mushtaq.
And this person was young, intelligent and rebellious. So, once when the Mullah was giving a class, so the Mullah was saying, Allah is there everywhere. Then just out of his rebellious attitude, Asif, if Allah is everywhere, is he there in stool also? Mullah was outraged, he said, blasphemy, blasphemy, you dare to blaspheme Allah, get out.
He was waiting for that only. So, he just got out and decided, I will never again go to any place of God. And he was intelligent.
So, in the Middle East, he gave exams, he passed and he came to America for his higher studies. And actually, because of the rebellious attitude, he broke free from the traditional discipline and got into all sorts of intoxication in the West. So, one day, after taking his heavy intoxication dose, he fell unconscious.
So, the other people in the party, because he was completely unconscious, they picked him up from the party and took him to the bottom of the hotel and put him in a dungeon. So, there, after some time, he came back to consciousness. He opened his eyes and he was groggy.
He didn’t understand what was happening. He opened his eyes and saw everywhere was dark. He saw there was a thin slit of light coming from one corner of the room.
And that light was falling on some magazine. And on that magazine, it was written, God is present everywhere, even in steel. All his grogginess went away.
He got up. He ran there and picked it up. That was the Back to Godhead magazine.
Then, he read that article. It says, God is present everywhere, but he is transcendental. He is divine.
He is unaffected. Just as the Prime Minister may go in a jail, but the Prime Minister doesn’t become a prisoner by that. The Lord can be present in any material circumstances, but he is transcendental.
He is present in every atom. He was amazed by this explanation. Then, he looked at the address.
Just close by, there was a Sikon Temple. So, he went there in the early morning. All the devotees were running for Mangal Aarti.
And then, he said, God is there everywhere. I want to know more about this. He said, later, later.
He said, come with us. Then, they took him. And he also did mantra meditation.
He liked it very much. He sat down and he asked questions. And he was amazed.
Every single question that he had was answered. The same devotee is one of the most powerful preachers of Krishna Consciousness in the Islamic world. They initiated this devotee named Airavat Prabhu.
And he writes books on comparative cosmology. Christianity, Islam, Modern Science, Christianity, Islam, Sanatana Dharma. And he is a PhD.
So, Arsit Mushta, PhD. So, many Muslims. So, it’s comparative cosmology written by Muslim.
Probably, it will talk about the glory of Islam. And they open the book and it talks about Islam also. And it talks very subtly and intelligently how the highest understanding is given in Sanatana Dharma.
So, many people are becoming devotees by that. So, we see that person had one inquiry. How is God present everywhere? God took note of that inquiry.
And also has a situation where he had relatively lesser knowledge. But he came in a very extraordinary way to a place where he could get complete knowledge. That’s why God’s grace is greater than his injustice.
Therefore, yes, the ignorant are punished by the law of karma. But they can be rescued by the grace of God. Another question people get.
Why do natural calamities kill thousands of people? So, when disaster like tsunami occurred. I remember in Times of India after tsunami, the article. Whose God is it? That means if the God cannot protect us, whose God is it? That was the insinuation over there.
So, yes, it is very sad. When thousands or millions of people, lakhs of people sometimes die. Then, if you carefully observe, even in these natural disasters.
On that fateful morning, when tsunami wiped out major coastlines in the Indian Ocean. On that fateful morning, some scuba divers went to do scuba diving in the ocean. All of you know what is scuba diving? Go underwater with a special gear to look for some jewels or some other underwater belt.
And they went underwater and as they were going underwater. Suddenly, they felt a force pushing them upwards. They were trying to go underwater.
But this was lifting them up, lifting them up. When they were trying to go underwater, they were being lifted up. And after some time, the force subsided.
And then they went underwater. Did their work. Came back to the surface of the ocean and swam back to the coastline.
And they found there was no coastline. The tsunami had devastated everything. Just consider, the tsunami killed those who were on the land.
But those who were in the water were unscathed. If these scuba divers had gone into the ocean a little later. They would have been on the surface.
And the wave, the killer wave would have smashed them back on the coastline and killed them. Or if they had gone a little earlier. Then they might have gone underwater and be on their way up and again the killer wave would have smashed them.
But by their karma they were not supposed to die at that time. So although they were in that place, they were in the ocean. Another even more amazing example.
This came in the newspapers also after the earthquake in Gujarat. There was a mother with a small infant whom she was suckling on her breast. And suddenly the quake was there and a column from the roof fell on the head of the mother.
And the mother died on the spot. Almost 24 hours later, when the rescue workers worked their way down through the debris. They found the mother dead and the infant moving his hands and legs, holding on to the breast of the mother.
The infant is so tender that one small blow can prove fatal for him. Here there was a quake that was fatal for fully grown up adults. But the infants survived.
That means although the natural calamities kill in mass, they don’t kill blindly. Only those who are having the kind of karma by which they are all supposed to die at that particular time. They will be brought together by the higher powers of karma.
And then they will die. So there is individual karma, there is also mass karma. Mass karma means that number of people, they may all have done different bad karmas.
But the reaction for their karma is that they are supposed to die. So then all of them are brought together in one plane. And in that plane, the engine fails.
The plane crashes. So karmic law acts in one stroke. And person who is not supposed to die, he will be going in his car and his car will break down.
And what will happen? He will miss his flight. And he will be cursing, why did I miss my flight? And then when he understands the plane crashed, he will thank God. So actually the law of karma, karmana karmanogata.
So karmana daivane tredha. It all acts under the divine supervision of God. So even the mass calamities kill thousands of people, but not one person is killed blindly.
Everyone is getting the reactions of their own karma. So now coming to the science of karma. So now the karma word can mean different things.
So here we will clearly specify. Sometimes the word karma is used to mean the actions that we are doing. That’s the general meaning.
Sometimes the word karma is also used to mean I am suffering for my karma. So here the word karma means the reactions for the actions that I have got. And sometimes the word karma can refer to the whole system.
The science of karma as we are saying over here. But here we will specify analytically the definitions of few different terms. So karma primarily means actions.
Which we do. Which are performed in terms of one’s prescribed duties as mentioned in the revealed scriptures. Vishal Prabhupada based on the Vedic scriptures gives these definitions in the purport of the Isopanishad.
So karma just doesn’t mean any good activity. Actually activity done according to the scriptures. That is considered karma.
So here the word karma means good karma. And then there is vikarma, viruddha roopena karma. That means actions which are done contrary to scriptures.
By the misuse of our free will which take us down to the lower life forms. They are called as vikarma. So now there are many vikarmas.
But especially in Kali Yuga there are four main vikarmas. Which are they? Intoxication, meat eating, gambling and illicit sex. Yes.
Striyam, paana, dhuti, suna, yatra, dharma, shatrughna, dha. The four main illicit activities. Illicit sex, paana is intoxication, dhuta is gambling and suna is animal slaughter, meat eating.
So that activity which leads to severe mass karma. And of course they will give severe karmic reactions. Eventually to us at an individual level.
But even in this life all of them give tremendous karmic reactions. As we discussed illicit sex leads to a variety of diseases. Meat eating leads to heart problems, to cancer.
Leads to a variety of diseases which would otherwise not occur. Because when we eat food that is not meant for our body. Our intestines are long so when we eat the animal food.
And it stays in our intestines for a long time. It decays and gives out toxins. It poisons our system.
So meat eating leads to a variety of diseases. Similarly gambling. You can get entangled completely in gambling.
And then they lose sense of whether they are winning or losing. They lose everything eventually. So and of course there is intoxication.
Intoxication is a ritual of self-torture. Ritual of self-torture. People think we are enjoying but they say cheers.
What happens? And they say cheers and after that they become bruised. They speak things, they do things, they don’t care. And I am a big person.
And one slip of the leg and they fall into a gutter. Somebody goes to help them. I am okay.
I am a big person. Why do I need your help? Just make a fool out of themselves. Waste money.
Waste their time. Lose their health. So all these are four bad karmas.
And now apart from that, karma, vikarma, there is akarma. Akarma doesn’t mean inactivity. It means activity that brings no reaction.
Activity that frees us from the cycle of birth and death. So we will come back to this once again. Akarma later.
But let’s go forward. So when we say karma, what does it actually imply? Say now, if this is our life’s journey. And please have a look over here.
I will explain what it is on the slide. This is our life’s journey. And we have come to this particular point.
Most of us are around age 20. So one third of our life according to the average lifespan, something like that. So now say we are here.
So what does the law of karma determine? Is the whole life’s journey determined? Or do we have something? So there is something called destiny. But it is we only who make our destiny. We make our destiny by our karma.
Now what exactly is destiny? Destiny is something like our weather forecast on a journey. That means, say somebody has to, wants to go to Badrik Ashram for a pilgrimage. Or somebody wants to go on a mountain expedition to the Mount Everest.
And then we look at the weather forecast. Is it going to snow over there? Or is it going to be sunny? So that weather forecast, what does it tell? It tells what is going to come on the path. But it doesn’t force one from going further on the path.
If it is going to be snowy, then one has to go slowly, more cautiously, with more preparation, more warm clothes. So it’s like a weather forecast. And that’s why Dhritarashtra was told by Vidura, that destiny determines the consequences of our actions, not our actions themselves.
Very deep statement. What does this mean? This means that we are not like programmed robots, that we have no free will, we have no choice. No, our karma determines, our past karma determines what will happen in our life.
But it doesn’t determine how we will react, what choices we will make. So there are two schools of thought, which are called as Karmavada and Gaivavada. So how many of you were present for the class on destiny that His Grace Adi Shankar took several months ago, a couple of months ago? How many of you have heard of this Karmavada and Gaivavada before? So, Karmavada is basically the school of thought of most world people today.
It means, by my karma, I will be successful. If I just work hard enough, and smart enough, then I can become the next Bill Gates, or the next Warren Buffet, or whatever. So, that’s the Karmavada.
And now, of course, this appears very attractive. By the sweat of my brow and by the work of my muscles, I will succeed. But if you look at the reality of life, so many people work hard, and not all of them succeed.
So, the Karmavada, the idea that everything depends on my actions, that brings frustration. And people who think that everything, because I work hard, it should come out successful. If it doesn’t come out successful, they think I am jinxed.
Jinxed means, oh, maybe there’s something, my luck is bad. Nothing will work out right in the end. They develop hopelessness, they develop inferiority complex, they develop all sorts of psychotic disorders, because of which they can’t function effectively.
Yes, there may be some bad karma patch which we are going through, and for that we may not get reactions the way we want, for our actions. We may do good and we may not get good, but we should know, like, the storehouse is soon going to get over, and grain is going to come out. So, Karmavada leads to frustration, because in reality, our actions alone don’t determine our reactions.
Now, many times as students, we feel very pained, when we study very diligently, and we don’t get marks as per our expectations. But, to be honest, we will also admit, that there are times in our life, when we don’t study much, we don’t study very diligently, but whatever we study comes in the exam, and we get good marks also. How many of you have this experience? Isn’t it? Almost everyone, amazing! So, that means, that the law of karma works both ways.
I mean, sometimes, when we are trying to get good marks, then we just study, what is going to come in the exam, and we get good marks. So, it’s not that the law of karma is unfair. Sometimes, by our past good karma, we get good reaction, even when we don’t do the proper action, like the two grains you are seeing.
I am putting in C, but I am getting A. I am putting in A, but I am getting C. The same way it happens. So, Karmavada will lead to frustration soon. It will lead to inferiority complex.
It will lead to depression. But the other extreme is called Daivavada. Daivavada means, everything is determined by destiny.
What can I do? In fact, this Daivavada was what Viprashtra was trying to use to justify his inaction when Duryodhana was unleashing all atrocities on the Pandavas. So, Duryodhana told him, Stop your son, Duryodhana from waging war against the Pandavas. Let him accept Krishna’s Shanti proposal.
If it is the will of destiny that this war takes place, who am I, a tiny mortal to stop the will of mighty destiny? Viprashtra started speaking philosophy. Vidurali was an expert. He knew how to smash this so-called philosophy.
He told him, destiny determines the consequences of your actions, not your actions themselves. That means, just like if somebody is on the 10th floor, destiny doesn’t determine whether he will jump off the 10th floor or not. If he jumps off the 10th floor, destiny determines what is going to happen.
Isn’t it? So, destiny determines the consequences of our actions, not our actions themselves. If I choose to jump on the 10th floor, then it is destined what is going to happen. But I am not forced to jump off the 10th floor.
That’s what Vidura was telling Viprashtra, that you have the freedom to choose. You should try to stop your son to the best of your capacity. This Daivavada is what many western thinkers and many westernized Indian thinkers misunderstand the Vedic philosophy today.
They think that those who are Vedic followers follow the spiritual path in India. No, they just believe in destiny. They believe that everything is going to happen the way it is.
So, why work hard? And therefore, they don’t work. And many westernized Indians, they say that in the West, because they didn’t believe like this, that’s why they haven’t worked and succeeded so much. Indians, we believe in this Daivavada.
This Daivavada is actually not the correct understanding. And Indians were never lazy. The world’s biggest poem is Mahabharata.
Mahabharata is 110,000 verses. The other two biggest poems are the Iliad and Odyssey. The Germanic sagas from the Roman age.
But the Mahabharata is seven times bigger than the Iliad and the Odyssey combined together. Could lazy people have written that? Isn’t it? There are such amazing works of literature, of architecture, of art, even science and math in the Vedic times. This is not the product of lazy people.
So, Daivavada is also a misunderstanding, as Vidura pointed out to Dhritarashtra. What is the real understanding? The real understanding is that our results, the results of our actions are determined both by our actions of this life and the reactions from the past life or the past karma. A simple example, when a farmer sows seeds, he sows the seeds and he ploughs the field and he waters the field.
Now that is his karma. Whether rains will come or not, that is the Daiva. So now, when he ploughs the field and he does his karma and the Daiva is also uncool, favourable, then the rains come.
Now let’s consider two scenarios. If somebody is a believer only of karma, he says, I must do my rains and I will get a fortune lap. He will not get.
He will get persuaded. But if somebody is just a Daivavadi, he says, oh, what is the use? Rains may come or rains may not come. And even if rains come, if he has not sown the seeds and he has not ploughed the field, what will he get? Just weeds.
He will not get any grace. Therefore, the Vedic scriptures always say we should do our duty. We should always do the right karma and not bother about the Daiva.
Whatever the destiny, without bothering about it. Not bothering about it means not letting the destiny discourage us from doing our duty. Whatever it is.
Because if we do our karma now, this karma will give us the fruit if the Daiva is favourable. But if the Daiva is not favourable, this karma is creating the Daiva for the future. Daiva for the present is created by the karma for the past.
The karma for the present will create the Daiva for the future. And therefore, there is no reason to be discouraged or disheartened in performing one duty. But there is one thing we have to understand.
That even if a person does good karma, that good karma will bring good reactions. Those good reactions means that a person has to stay in the material world. For example, if somebody offers free water taps in charity on the road, or people give free water tanks, then that’s certainly good karma.
The reaction is that he will have to take another birth in which he will never suffer from shortage of water. He will be born near a lake or a river. Or if somebody gives school textbooks, school notebooks in charity, in the next lifetime, he will be the owner of a printing factory.
He has to take birth again. And take birth again means he has to grow old, he has to get deceased, he has to die, he has to suffer threefold diseases, Adhyatmik, Adhibhautik, Adhidaivik. In fact, if somebody gives charity to a beggar, then he may have to take another birth to receive charity from someone.
He may have to become a beggar in the next life to receive charity also. Of course, it is not that that particular activity will make him a beggar, but he may do other bad karma which will make him a beggar. But the point is that by good karma, we don’t get out of the material world.
We stay in the material world. Because good karma is not necessarily godly karma. Godly karma is a karma.
As long as we are forgetful of God, we stay on in the material world, no matter what we do. So, the real way to come out of the material world, which is the place of suffering, is by developing a devotion to God. And devotional service to God constitutes a karma.
Before we go to that, before we understand a karma, let’s just understand the importance of understanding the science of karma. So, at a social level, only when we understand karma, can the call to morality have any meaning. Imagine you come to a city.
Welcome to our city. There is no police in the city. Please follow the laws.
Do you think anyone will follow the laws? No, very well. So, today’s society has become like that. The legal system is known to be inept, incorrupt.
And so people think if I’m just clever enough or influential enough or cunning enough, I can do whatever I want and get away with it. So, if we want morality in society, we need people to understand the law. Then and then alone will the call to morality, call to ethics have any meaning.
That’s why the fear of God is the beginning of history. Just like a child. For a child, fear of his father is generally the main impetus for him to study.
Now, how many of you at some time in your student life were chastised by your parents and forced to study? Almost everyone. Sometime or the other. And that time we didn’t find it pleasant.
But now, say when we have a good career ahead of us, yes, if at that time I had not studied, I would have been in trouble. So, here itself we see from our own lives, fear is very often the impetus for doing duty. Similarly, even material good karma people will not follow if there is not an understanding of the law of karma.
So, ultimately how much can the legal system, yes, the legal system should be much more efficient than what it is now. But, if people think that this world’s legal system is all that is there, they will never have much inspiration or impetus to follow the law of karma. So, if you want morality, if you want freedom from corruption, nepotism and all these evils in society, you have to be educated in the law of karma.
That is at a social level. And, as devotees who are trying to share Krishna Consciousness, we are working at the social level also. But, more important, for us at an individual level, what happens? Individual level, when we understand the science of karma, it helps us to make sense of our present condition and gives us the strength to face suffering.
Actually, a person without spiritual knowledge, what is the situation? A person who is blindfolded and he is being beaten from top, bottom, left, right, middle, back and he doesn’t know from where the next blow is going to come. People may be looking very smart in jeans and tie and cap and going on a bike. But, actually, they are just victims of karma.
At any moment, any suffering may come. And, it is helpless. They don’t know what is happening, why it is happening.
Why me? Why now? Why this? Because, why me? Why am I alone suffering? Why this way? I wouldn’t have mind any other problem except this. And, why now of all times? If this problem had come later, it would have been ok. But, why now? Why me? Why this? Why now? People are just miserable.
Suffering from all kinds of unpredictable, uncontrollable problems. That is the situation of people without spiritual knowledge. It is like a person being blindfolded and beaten from all sides.
So, when we become well-versed in the understanding of the science of karma, then, the blindfold is removed. Then, we understand how the blows are coming, why the blows are coming and how we can protect ourselves. So, therefore, it is a big relief.
And, I was in a hospital for two months when I was sick. And, when I was in the hospital, I was looking at other patients, I was talking with them. One of the things they just couldn’t understand and that was what was emotionally crushing them.
All my relatives, all my friends, they are all happy. They are in their homes, they are in their parties, they are in their jobs and they are enjoying life. Nobody is enjoying life actually.
But, that is the illusion. They are all enjoying life. Why am I alone and suffering like this? So, that itself crushed them completely.
And, for me, as a devotee, I just live with my karma. Just let me endure it and it will get over. So, it helps us to make sense of our suffering.
What is happening, we understand. This is the cause that is happening. So, let me just tolerate it and it will get over.
So, secondly, it helps us prepare for the future with confidence. It’s not that just by knowing the knowledge of karma, we will become free from suffering. But, it’s like a patient who has understood what his disease is and has understood what he should do to cure the disease.
So, the pain is still there, but his pain is going to decrease. Whereas, a person who doesn’t know, his pain is going to increase. So, if we are taking the right medicine, we can be confident that soon in the future, all the suffering will end.
Similarly, a devotee has confidence. Because, you know, I am giving a bad karma, so sooner or later, all the suffering will end. Now, this is a spiritual book he wrote.
It’s like an autobiography, The Razor’s Edge. And he also says, has it occurred to you that transmigration is at once an explanation and a justification of the evil of the world. The evil of the world means the sufferings, which people think that they don’t deserve.
If the evils we suffer are the results of sin committed in our past lives, we can bear them with resignation and hope that if in this one, we strive toward virtue, our future lives will be less afflicted. So, the science of karma is not a science of condemnation. It is a science of redemption.
The science of condemnation is not a philosophy of condemnation. You are sinful, suffer. No.
It is a science of redemption. Do this and God’s grace will come upon you. And you’ll be saved.
So, that’s what is the focus. And now, going beyond good karma, we understand what is devotional service. Devotional service brings the ultimate freedom from karmic entanglement.
Let’s see how. First of all, when we practice devotional service itself, the Lord is the Parmatma within our heart, grants us the knowledge to make the right choices. That means, all of us have the voice of conscience.
The viveka buddhya that is called in Sanskrit. When we start doing something wrong, there is a voice that stops us. Don’t do this.
And if you want to do something right, the voice tells us, do this thing. Prompts us to do the right thing. So, when we chant the holy name of Krishna, when we practice devotional service, this inner voice becomes to do that.
And we get the guidance, we get the direction to make the right choices in life. Most people don’t know what is right. And even if they don’t know what is right, they don’t have the guidance at that moment to do the right thing.
So, first of all, that means, if we look at karma, the cycle of karma comes because of two things. There are past karmic reactions that are coming upon us. And we are ourselves doing bad karma, which is going to create further bad karma.
So, devotional service saves us from both. First of all, it saves us from doing further bad karma. Not only that, many people, they understand that some things are wrong, but still they can’t stop themselves from doing it.
In Marathi they are saying, I know it is right, but I am not able to do it. I know it is right, but I am not able to do it. But then, when we chant the holy names especially, then we get a higher taste, which frees us from the lower desires.
By chanting the holy names, we get an inner satisfaction that the bad activities, the bad desires that impel us towards those activities, those cravings go away. So, this is with respect to helping us make the right choices by which our future will be secure. Apart from that also, now in the past, from the past also certain reactions are going to come to us.
But devotional service helps us even in that. How does it help us? Krishna says, aham tvam sarva-papebhyo mokshayi shyamimah It minimizes, Krishna says that for my devotees, I just do a sample of the reactions. I minimize the reactions of their past life.
Why a sample? Krishna can remove the whole reaction, but if you remove the whole reaction, we will think this world is a happy place. We will think there is no need to go towards God. So, Krishna gives a sample to remind us that no, this world is a place of misery.
That means, somebody is, Lakshmila Prabhupada said, once when a devotee was cutting sabji, his finger got cut. She went and asked, Prabhupada, I was cutting sabji for Krishna. Why did my finger get cut? Prabhupada told, your neck was supposed to be cut.
Only the finger was cut. That is minimizing of the suffering. And whatever residual karma comes upon us, devotional service grants us the strength to tolerate, to endure that suffering.
So, one of the names of Krishna is Karunanidhi. Not the politician Karunanidhi. He is Irshanidhi.
He is full of envy for Krishna. But, the Lord is actually full of, He is a reservoir of compassion. So, our Madhva Sampradaya Acharya has given a nice example.
He said, how Krishna gives us the strength to endure our suffering. He said that, just like imagine there is a mother and she sends her child to the school. And she knows, today my child has not done his homework properly.
So, the teacher is going to beat him. So, the teacher knows, the teacher will say, take out your hand, beat him on the stick. So, now the mother doesn’t want the child to be beaten.
At the same time, mother wants the child to be disciplined. She doesn’t want the child to be so lenient that the child will never do his homework. So, what she does? She sends the child to the school.
But gives him a glove to wear. Gives him a nice thick glove. And you put your hand out, beats him.
And he feels the impact, but he doesn’t feel the pain. So, similarly, Krishna, for his devotees, he gives his holy name. So, when a devotee has some pain in the body, he has a disease.
And materialistic people, for no knowledge of God, they scream. They cause pain for themselves and they cause pain for others. But a devotee, Krishna, he just calls out.
And what happens by that? He gets purified. He gets relieved. His consciousness gets raised to a higher level by which he doesn’t feel the pain.
So, Krishna not only minimizes the reaction that is going to come to us, Krishna also gives us the strength to face that reaction, to endure that reaction. And thus, he frees us from all suffering. So, I’ll conclude with one story of how a devotee who practices devotional service enthusiastically can escape all karmic entanglements and become free.
This is a real story of one devotee in America. He is a general in the American army. So, he was general before he became a devotee.
So, when he became a devotee, his spiritual master gave him the name Parthasarthidas. Krishna was also Parthasarthi, the war field. So, then he became a devotee.
He was nicely practicing devotional service. And then, there was this America declared war on Iraq. And the government told him, you have to go to Iraq.
He was thinking, why is Krishna sending me here? I don’t want to kill anyone. I don’t want to go to this war. I don’t want to be in this politics.
But then, the government told him to go. His spiritual master told him, that is your job, that is your duty, you have to go. So, he went to Iraq.
And because the Iraqi soldiers were outnumbered, they were mostly attacking by ambush. And that’s why he had around 50 soldiers in his unit. So, he was always in great tension.
And all the soldiers were in tension. So, he says, there, amid the tension of the war field of Iraq, I discovered how wonderful was the name of Krishna. So, I had no idea.
There was so much tension. Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna. I was just constantly uttering to myself softly.
As I was chanting the name of Krishna, my mind became clear and calm. And there were many ambush attacks, but by his expert intelligence, he survived and he enabled most of his, almost all of his, troop members also to survive. So, one day after escape from an ambush, his troop members asked him, Sir, in such tense situations, how do you stay so calm? And they were all asking him, eitherly.
Then he understood why Krishna had sent him to Iraq. He realized that this was an opportunity to preach Krishna’s message to all these soldiers. Telling him, I understand that I am not the body, I am the soul.
And the soul never dies. These people are on the verge of life and death. If they had been in America, they would not have cared for all this.
But now it was an immediate matter for them. So, I was very, very attentive. I told them, life or death, we are always the servants of God.
If we remember God, we have nothing to fear. How do we remember God, Sir? And he was just jumping with joy. We chant the names of God.
And the best name we chant is the name Krishna. Then, all his troops, they started chanting. And every time he would go on a military operation, he would give a small pep talk.
Inspire them to be confident and to be dependent on God’s grace. Then, after the whole talk would be over, all these soldiers with their helmets and armor and guns, they would come in front of him and bow down. And he would offer Gangajal on their body.
So, then, in one of the ambushes, he got attacked and his arm got wounded. So, it was a terrible attack and just in the last moment, it was like a mine under him. Just somehow, he was walking in a particular and he felt the impulse that, there is a danger, let me walk this way.
So, he just walked straight. He was blown to pieces. So, he walked right and there was a minor explosion.
Small attack. Then, he had to go to America to get recovered. And again, he came back.
This time, he was even more inspired. So, he was not only inspiring his troops, he thought everybody is on the verge of life and death. So, he started preaching to other troops also.
So, currently, recently, ISKCON GBC, GBC is the chief body of ISKCON. So, this Parthasarathy Prabhu’s preaching report was presented to GBC and they were all amazed. So, three evenings, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, he has spiritual music sessions because they don’t have much entertainment over there.
So, he just has kirtan and he is a good musician and people enjoy. And Sunday, he has his Bhagavad Gita class, spiritual class. And just about two and a half months ago, he conducted Rathyatra in the army cantonment of the Iraqi army, of the American army in Iraq.
So, for a devotee, Krishna can transform the greatest adversity into opportunity. Opportunity for going closer to Krishna and opportunity for helping others to come closer to Krishna. So, we will conclude with one verse.
So, and you can repeat this verse after me. This verse describes how for a devotee, the internal and the external benefits, how a devotee is purified of the desire to do bad karma and he is saved from the reactions of past bad karma. GALOBHO NACHAMAT SARYO PRAKRODHO NASHUBHAMATIHI BHAVANTIKRITAPUNYANAM BHAKTANAM PURUSHOTAME NAVASUDEVA BHAKTANAM ASHUBHAM VIDYATE KVACHIT JANMAMRUTYU JARAVYADHI BHAYAM NAIVOPAJAYATE So, this means that all the forces that impel people towards bad activities, towards bad karma.
NAKRODHO NACHAMAT SARYO No anger, no envy, no greed, no lust, no ashubhamati. A devotee is purified from all this. He doesn’t do any bad karma.
And NAVASUDEVA BHAKTANAM ASHUBHAM VIDYATE KVACHIT Even if some bad karma brings its reaction in a devotee’s life, actually that is not Ashub for a devotee. Krishna converted Ashub into Ashub. And Krishna gives the devotee the strength and the intelligence to move closer to Him.
Therefore, JANMAMRUTYU JARAVYADHI Even the devotee will grow old, get diseased and die. But those BHAYAM NAIVOPAJAYATE They don’t cause fear to a devotee. A devotee knows that Krishna is with me in life or death.
And if a devotee faithfully practices Krishna consciousness, then he returns back to the spiritual world. So, certainly we understand the principle of karma so that we choose in our day-to-day life karma and not weak karma. Beyond that, we should have to do work, chant the holy names and associate with devotees and practice the principles of Krishna consciousness.
And that is the ultimate insurance for all suffering. To quickly summarize, go back to the first slide. So, we started with simple definition of karma.
Then we discussed the logic of karma. There are laws everywhere in nature. So, why should humans not have laws? And cause-effect is implicit in all our day-to-day lives.
And reward-punishment is the way everybody trains anyone else. Why not God will do that? We discussed doubts of karma. That when bad people appear to be flourishing, that’s just temporary.
It’s like the silos. These bad quality grains are being put now. Because of the good quality grains stored, they are coming out at present.
It’s just temporary. And why do we get reactions from this life and the next life? Because each action is like a seed-sowing program. In different seeds we have different time durations.
And Krishna alone knows the expertise, has the expertise to know which karma’s reaction should be given when. We saw the story of Dhritarashtra and Krishna. That to do punya for 50 lifetimes, you get 100 sons.
Then you got the reaction for half of the other 50 lifetimes ago. And then we discussed about natural calamities. They kill in mass but they don’t kill blindly.
Ignorance is not an excuse. It is a consequence of sin. But greater than God’s punishment or God’s justice is God’s grace.
And those who are meant to suffer in ignorance, as most of us in Kalyug are, by our own past bad choices, even for us God sends his grace in the form of his devotees so that we can be reclaimed. We discussed in this connection, the story of Airavatram. And then we went to the science of karma.
There is karma, vikarma and akarma. And we discussed karmavada and daivavada. So, we should always be very enthusiastic to do our duty at the material level, karma.
So that, irrespective of whether we are going to get the results or not. Because if we don’t get the results now, then we are paving, we are creating for destiny in the future. The example was of the seed.
Flowing is the flowing is the karma and rains are the daivada. When both come together, we get the results. But just doing good karma is not enough.
We will stay on the cycle of birth and death. We will have to come back to this world to get the good results of our good activities. And then we discussed about the benefits of understanding the science of karma, even at a material level.
There is no spirituality or devotion at this level of the presentation. Even from a material social point of view, if you want morality in society, people have to be educated in law of karma. And if you want people to be able to make sense of their condition in their life, to be able to face suffering, they have to know the knowledge of karma.
If a person is sick, just feels they have been singled out and that causes him, more than the sickness itself. And then, further it helps us to prepare for the future. Person without karmic knowledge is like a blindfolded person being beaten.
Whereas a person with karmic knowledge is like a patient who is diagnosed and is being cured. And then further at a spiritual level, if you become devotees of Krishna, then Krishna helps us to become free from both the sufferings due to our past karma and the suffering that will come because of our doing bad karma. He gives us the knowledge and the taste to make the right choices in life and he gives us, he minimizes the karmic reaction and he gives us the ability to face the karmic reactions.
So, we discussed the story of Artha Sarthi for going in connection with this. So, are there any questions? Sagar is there. He is moving around with the chits.
You can have, you can write the chits also and you can do directly also. Hare Krishna Prabhuji. As you said, our present karma that is our present actions will determine the effect in the future.
So, whether our present thoughts have an effect in the future. Suppose I am doing a good karma but my thoughts are not so good. So, what will be the effect in the future? Fortunately for us in Kali Yuga, we are not accountable for our thoughts.
In earlier ages, even if we had sinful thoughts, we would get the reactions of it. So, in Kali Yuga, we have very little control over our thoughts. That’s why we are not held accountable.
That is the compassionate nature of the karmic justice. We just don’t have the self-control. So, if we do a good activity, we do get the good result.
But Krishna also explains that charity that is given out of pride or out of resentment, that is in the mode of passion. And that is not going to give us the best result. We may get a good result in the sense that we may get a we may get the result in the sense that if I give food to someone, I will get food in return.
But then, our consciousness stays contaminated by such activity. So, as you rightly pointed out, the activity brings the result but the consciousness in which we do the activity also brings the result. That’s like there can be charity in the mode of ignorance.
Like a person is a drunkard and he sees another drunkard. He says, tu bhi kya aath rakhega, le lek. It is charity but in the mode of ignorance.
Isn’t it? That will not be a good reaction. So, our consciousness also matters. But we are not accountable for the consciousness itself.
We know that every bad thought that we have, we get a bad reaction. However, if we continue to harbour bad thoughts, then the bad thoughts will translate into actions. And we will have to suffer for it.
So, it’s best not to have bad thoughts also. Bad thoughts are coming, we try to, especially if we chant the holy name, the bad thoughts go away. Krishna Surya Sama Maya Hai Andhakaar Yahan Krishna Tahaar Mahi Maya Rankaar So, if we chant the holy name while doing our activities, then when the negative thoughts start coming, they can be driven away by the sun of God’s holy name, which dissipates the darkness of these bad thoughts.
So, your question has three parts to answer. First is that we are not accountable for our thoughts, fortunately for us in Kali Yuga. Secondly, yes, our consciousness will create the future mentality.
It will not create the you know, our bad consciousness will do a good action, will not necessarily give a bad reaction, but it will create a bad mentality over a period of time. And thirdly, if the bad mentality is maintained over a period of time, then it will also lead to bad actions. Therefore, it’s best to avoid the bad mentality by chanting the holy names and cultivating a good mentality.
Okay. Any other questions? Yes, please. Dev Krishna Toji.
Dev Toji, sometimes there is, at times, when there are some, these unauspicious things are happening around, like these minks is overflowing or are these left eyes flickering. So, it is somewhat an indication that something bad is coming or a cat has crossed your way. So, sometimes like that.
So, but when the actual thing comes, we see that, okay, that happened, that’s why we are getting these karmas. So, but means if we chant the holy names, can it be possible that that karma is guided to the right place? It is not the right way. The right way is this one.
Yeah. Firstly, there is a subtle science by which certain omens are considered auspicious and inauspicious. There are certain, as you said, a cat crossing or certain part of the body itching suddenly for no reason.
This is described in the Bhagavatam and other places as omens of either good or bad. That is okay. Now, how does that happen? It’s a part of the karmic reaction.
Something good is going to come, that before coming, that good also gives us some signal that it’s coming. If it’s a bad thing, bad is going to happen, that also gives us some signal. This is a part of the karmic reaction package.
Now, as devotees, what can we do? It is like a weather forecast. So, if the weather forecast says it’s going to rain, we can’t stop the rains. But we can choose to not go out or we can choose to go out with an umbrella or a raincoat and the rains will come but we will not be affected so badly by the rains.
Similarly, when there are some bad omens, then a devotee can choose an appropriate course of action by which he can minimize the risk of the suffering involved. But, in Kali Yuga, it’s very difficult to understand what is good and bad. Because, practically, there is no difference between good and bad.
Everything is bad only in Kali Yuga. So, therefore, although it’s a science which is dealt with by astrology. Astrology tells us that if this omen is coming, you should do this.
You wear this Mani or do this Pooja or whatever. But, in Kali Yuga, most astrologers are not competent because astrology is also a subtle science. Especially, when one starts charging money for it, then one loses the ability for subtle skills required for astrology.
Astrology is just a money-making business nowadays. Therefore, as devotees, we focus on our service for Krishna and do whatever is the best for our service to Krishna. That means, I’ll just give two examples for this.
Say, if we are going to… I’ll give a more devotional example and you can relate it to your life. Say, if we are going to build a temple for Krishna, then we will build a temple according to Vastu principles. This is just an example of subtle sciences, not exactly omens, but subtle sciences.
We’ll build it according to Vastu principles. But, if we are going to start a standard, say, if we have voices near Mayapur, GGD, then the voice building may not be constructed according to Vastu. But then, because the Lord’s message is to be preached, so wherever it is, we’ll preach it.
That means, if a devotee can harmonize with the subtle principles, he harmonizes. He doesn’t intentionally flay them. But, if in trying to harmonize with the subtle principles, one has to give up his devotional service, then he gives up those subtle principles and he focuses on the Lord and prays to the Lord for protection.
One of the temples in America, Los Angeles temples, that place earlier was a crematorium. Now, how can a crematorium be converted into a temple? By the Lord’s mercy, it’s possible. So, that’s why, as devotees, we should focus, as I rightly said, on chanting Hare Krishna and not worry much about the astrological or the subtle principles.
Focus on devotional service. And, if there are certain specific comments which are repeatedly coming, we can consult with devotees. But, in general, a devotee doesn’t worry too much about the concoctions of the mind.
He focuses on serving Krishna in the best way he can serve Krishna. Okay? Devotees also said that Vinashakale Viprit Buddhi. So, when some unauspicious thing is going to happen, Krishna takes away the intelligence of the person.
Krishna doesn’t take away the intelligence. The person takes Krishna away from his life. When we say Vinashakale Viprit Buddhi, that means that even when other people come to give him counsel, he doesn’t accept that counsel.
That’s what happened to Durudhana. Now, Krishna himself came to him. But, he refused.
So, it’s not that God is leading him to destruction. He is leading himself to destruction. And, even when God tries to stop him, he is not ready to stop.
So, it’s not that God is not helping. God helps. But, a person is determined to act the way he wants.
Then, that leads to Vinash. Okay? Some other questions? He has some questions here also. 3-4 questions here.
You can ask loudly. You can ask loudly. Just one minute.
Yeah, he is asking. He says that we get pain because of our bad karma. Past karma.
So, if I beat my head against the wall, is that pain which I get because of my past karma or this karma? No. We do create karma in this life also. That is what is called instant karma.
I slap someone, he slaps me back. It’s instant karma. So, it’s not that in this life we get suffering only from the past.
We get past life from our actions. That’s why I said, if somebody smokes, gets lungs diseases. Now, some people who may have exceptional good karma, they may smoke and they may not get lung disease.
And, some people who have exceptional bad karma, they may not smoke and they may also get lung disease. But, the exceptions don’t disprove the rule. The rule is that when we do karma, we get reaction.
We see that in this life also. Yes, please. I have one question.
Like, have you opened that astrology is like a very big thing nowadays. So, still, do you pay attention to astrology? Like, for example, like, a student who has just completed his first standard and he’s studying astrology. So, he should study astrology and then from the position of astrologer.
Because, he’s not fixed in his mind. So, he refers to astrology and astrology is generally fixed. Then, he’s like that.
So, second example is like in the marriage, or or astrologer. Different astrologers have different opinion about it. So, my question is how much should we believe in this astrology? Should we stay in it or how should we go about taking this? Should we go for astrologer or what are the possibilities? Actually, astrology is a subtle Vedic science.
It’s a science and we respect it. But, the people who are the astrologers today are not really bona fide. Therefore, their guidance will not help us much.
So, if because of our social pressure a family or a friend, if they pressurize us a lot that we should consult astrologer, then we might consult because of that. But, in general, a devotee doesn’t need an astrologer. Actually, a devotee doesn’t see a horoscope.
This is a horoscope. What is horoscope? Horoscope is the Bhagavad Gita. The vision that the Lord is giving us through the horoscope.
Like sometimes when we go in a train, some people ask, Panditji, do you look at your hands? Yes, why not? What is going to happen in future? You are going to get old, sick or die. What happens before that? How big of consequence is that? If somebody tells, okay, you are here now, and there is a big ditch. You are going to fall in that ditch and die.
Before that, somebody will give you 1 million rupees. And the other person is not going to get 1 million rupees. What difference does it make? You get 1 million rupees, when you die in that ditch, what are the 1 million rupees going to do for you? So, in that sense, astrology itself cannot save us from the repetition of birth and death.
So, devotee doesn’t dwell too much on these temporary material adjustments. But he realizes the real problems of life and knows that only devotional services are mentioned in that. My question is, are we the only getting the fruits or the results of our karmas or are the people who are associated with us also get the results of our karmas? Like in the material platform, we see that the actions of parents, the children also get some of the reactions.
And the second question, in addition to that is, can our practice of devotional service be some helpful to the people who are associated with us? They will also get the chance to practice devotional service. Firstly, yes. When we come in a family unit, then when say one person becomes sick, that particular person is suffering.
But along with that, other family members also go through inconvenience. So, he is suffering by his karma and other family members are going through inconvenience by their karma. So, that’s how the karmic system works out.
Say some child is born mentally retarded. Then certainly that is his karma. But then there is a parent’s karma also because of which they get that child.
So, yes, the network of karma is quite intricate. And others can also suffer, not because of our karma. They are suffering by their own karma.
But our karma becomes the instrument by which they get their suffering. You are understanding this? Now, about our devotional service, certainly, it helps them also. Balad Maharaj is told by Narasimhadev.
Balad Maharaj asked, my father was a very great sinner, but please forgive him. Narasimhadev said, that I have already done. Trisapta Pitaputa.
Trisapta, three into seven. Twenty-one generations of your ancestors are already purified because of your becoming a devotee. So, that is the greatest service we can do.
So, for our parents, if we become great devotees, then Krishna will not only ask the benefit of our parents, our relatives, many, many others the benefit of that. On the contrary, actually, at the material level, we cannot do much to help anybody. Everybody has their karma to come and they will get their karma.
Therefore, devotee focus, we know that the best service that I can do to my relatives, my family members is become advanced in devotional service. Any more questions? I have a lot of questions. Is it correct that our karma is dependent on our mentality? Yes.
And that’s why if we come in the association of devotees, our mentality can change. That’s how we get the ability to have the right choices and accordingly improve our future. But yes, mentality that we get is also, how is our mentality determined? By our family, by our friends and why are we put in that particular family and friend circle?