User Friendly spirituality and Krishna consciousness

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

Summary

Discover how Vedic wisdom provides a flexible, accessible spiritual path tailored to every individual’s nature, desires, and level of qualification.

• User-Friendly Access: Unlike rigid frameworks where a single path fits all, the Vedic tradition recognizes diverse human desires and offers structured gateways ranging from material fulfillment to pure love.

• The Progressive Hierarchy: The scriptures outline a systematic, step-by-step master plan (Karma-kanda, Jnana-kanda, and Upasana-kanda) that elevates seekers gradually from sense gratification to ultimate spiritual liberation.

• The Principle of Adhikar: Progression in spiritual life depends on one’s qualification (adhikar) and readiness, much like education or science, ensuring practitioners avoid confusion by engaging with appropriate practices.

• Unity Amidst Diversity: While passionate minds see only endless differences and strict literalists miss the hierarchy, a balanced, open-minded approach reveals the cohesive unity behind all Vedic paths.

• The Role of a Spiritual Master: A genuine guru creates the necessary adhikar and provides guidance, helping sincere seekers navigate past doubts and materialistic desires directly toward the ultimate goal.

Full Transcription

How the Vedic scriptures offer user friendly spirituality so user friendly is a popular word in today’s consumer culture where you have user friendly devices computers or gadgets or whatever but actually the Vedic scriptures offer spirituality that is very friendly, friendly in the sense that very easily accessible and relatable for all varieties of people so how does this happen how do we get user friendly spirituality in spirituality spirituality so in every activity in life there is sadhya and there is sadhana so for example all of your students your sadhya is a good job that is what you want or good marks at a more short term level and for that the sadhana is systematic studies so there is a means and there is an end or a goal now in the religions of the world apart from sanatana dharma there is actually not much flexibility with respect to sadhya and sadhana so for example if we look at christianity or islam or judaism there is only one goal that is you have to surrender to god you have to go back to the kingdom of god and there is only one way that is you have to follow this particular prophet as it is said in the bible and christians love to quote jesus said i am the way and the light and the truth and none shall go to the father except through me so the idea is that this is the only way to going back to god now of course all religions claim this and the reason for this sort of statements are it is meant to inspire one pointedness in the minds of the followers so that is there but that does not mean that there is absolutely no other way so actually the word of god is the only way and that particular prophet or messenger is teaching god’s word at that time so in that sense he is the only way but if people are not attracted to that particular path or that particular messenger then they have no other way to be elevated so in that sense this is the way or there is no way that is what the semitic religions teach but the vedic culture is based on a much broader understanding that different people have different natures, different desires different inclinations and based on that they will be attracted to different things so whatever it is that people are attracted to that can be doted in the ultimate spiritual quest so for some people sense gratification is their goal and of course this is not some this is most people but if sense gratification is the goal the scriptures say that just because you want sense gratification that doesn’t mean that you are disqualified for spiritual life so if the sadhya is sense gratification then for them the sadhya is karma kanda that is a section of the scripture which tells how by religious means one can get sense gratification now of course in all these rituals, the vedic literature especially the four vedas they are all based on the principle of performing sacrifices so the mantras of the Rigveda are used to invoke the gods and after invoking the gods then the mantras of the Samveda, Samveda has very sweet sounding verses so the mantras of the Samveda are used to glorify the lord and then the mantras of the Yajurveda are actually used to sanctify the offerings that are made so Yajur is related to the Yajur sacrifice now these three are actually important vedas that’s why in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna often uses the word Trayvidya so in 9.20-21 while he is talking about this he explains that the three vedas give this knowledge Atharveda is a compilation of selected extracts from different things plus a few additional things but the principle is what we invoke the gods and then we satisfy them with the sacrificial offerings glorify them and then they bless us now apart from this karma kanda by which one gets sense gratification over a period of time gradually people start developing two things, one is faith in the efficacy of the vedic teachings and second is a detachment from sense gratification how does detachment from sense gratification come because by repeated indulgence in a religious way once sattva guna starts awakening because every time when the yagyas have to be performed certain rules and regulations have to be followed and rules and regulations are very difficult to follow if one doesn’t have any mode of goodness so even when students study for their exams their goal may be passionate but to some extent they have to come to goodness they have to regulate their lives of course their regulation may be that they will stay awake all night and study so that is not the best regulation but some amount of goodness is required for any long term pursuit so because they are doing it in a religious shelter so gradually the goodness awakens and by that goodness brings some detachment then over a period of time when people get repeatedly frustrated in their pursuits of sense gratification then they start feeling ok none of this will give me happiness and for such people then there is the next one that is jnana kanda and such people their goal is shanti shanti shanti all of you know that many times in yagyas and hindu rituals they say this shanti three times so why three times because there are three things which make us ashant adhyatmik adhibhautik and adhidaivik so adhyatmik shanti please our body is ever prone to diseases our relationships are ever prone to misunderstandings and our environment is ever prone to calamities so in this way there is padam padam yadvipadam so I don’t want any happiness because the more happiness I get the more agitation it creates so therefore I just want shanti shanti shanti and for them there are the upanishads which provide descriptions about the impersonal aspect of God now again the Vedic scriptures recognise that for those who are fed up with relationships of this world because of repeated frustration if they are told that you have to develop a relationship with God they will recoil from spirituality so for them there are the descriptions of even the impersonal aspect of the absolute truth so what is nectar for one person can be poison for another so for the devotee who delights in developing a relationship with the Supreme Lord that liberation where there is no relationship with Krishna is like hell but for one who is fed up with material relationships for him relationships will be like hell now there was one western philosopher I think it was Sartre he was asked what is hell he said hell means other people you can imagine how frustrated he must have been in this relationship so hell means other people so all the person has got such terrible anguish that now he feels I just want peace peace peace peace for such people the upanishads are very attractive and they inspire people to follow certain rituals by which they can become detached from the material attachments,material relationships and rise to the equanimity that is the basis of spirituality now in the 14th chapter sometimes devotees get confused because Krishna says in that 14.27 brahmano hi pratishtham amritasya vesya,shashvatasya dharmasya sukhasya ekantikasya so there Prabhupada translates I am the basis of the impersonal brahman which is the foundation of ultimate happiness now we may wonder how can brahman be the foundation of ultimate happiness so there Krishna is not talking about brahma jyoti he is talking about the brahman platform so without coming to the brahman platform one actually cannot experience spiritual happiness and that is why in the 18th chapter in verses 54-55 Lord Krishna says that only when one comes to brahmano hi pratishtham brahma bhuta prasannatma na shocati na kankshati samah sarveshu bhuteshu then mad bhaktim labhate param so actually bhakti which gives true happiness starts when one comes to the brahman platform so therefore the upanishads are also very important part of the Vedic master plan to elevate people from irreligious sense gratification to religious sense gratification to detachment and then to spiritual attachment so this is systematic master plan now beyond that for those who want pure love for them there is upasana kand upasana kand is the process of talking about worship of the Supreme Lord by which one can develop pure love now in one sense all of us want all these things you know we want peace also we want enjoyment also we want love also but unfortunately the love that we want right now is not pure when we say we want love what we want basically is our own enjoyment basically a boy may say I love a girl but you know if some fire accident burns her face then his love also gets burnt so actually that love is not selfish that love is not pure that love is because I will get pleasure from that love now it is not that we should not get pleasure but the point is when there is true love there is a desire to give pleasure to the other person and by that in giving pleasure to the other person one gets pleasure so this brings us to the third point that is Adhikar Adhikar means what is one’s qualification so without understanding whether one has their Adhikar or not if one tries to practise something one will simply make a mess out of it now modern times people say why is it that in the past only the Brahmins were allowed to study the Vedas why this sort of elitism elitism means elite class of people why this sort of monopoly on knowledge but actually the principle of Adhikar or qualification is there in every walk of life if somebody has not studied say science at his undergraduate level he has not done 12th standard, he is not in science and if he says I want to do BSc you can’t do that, you need qualification Adhikar in every walk of life in fact even there is not just Adhikar within science but even within fields within science for example there are two scientists one is specialising in history of science another is specialising in physics and the person in history of science writes something about physics the scientist of physics says what authority do I have to speak on this the principle of authority is there everywhere so without Adhikar we cannot get anywhere in life so now we understand this in day to day life especially in education or occupation but often we don’t understand this in terms of spirituality or even in terms of relationships, why is it said in the Vedic culture that people should not go for love marriages because when one is just in the adolescence one should not decide one’s partner or one’s own one should let elders decide one’s life partner because when one is in the adolescence one does not have the Adhikar to understand what will be the best for my life best for my life doesn’t mean just that I have to become detached and give up in the long run, but what sort of relationship will be most compatible for me, one cannot understand that that’s why the Vedic culture said let us have arranged marriages let the elders in the family decide unfortunately in the modern times even the elders don’t have Adhikar because when they also decide they also see which relationship will give the most money or which relationship is most suited for our prestige and things like that but actually when the elders are spiritually mature then they see what sort of compatibility is there and astrology can help in determining the compatibility but the point is because there is no consideration of Adhikar, so people just form relationships based on instinctive impulses then the marriages happen quickly and they dissolve also quickly so without Adhikar things are done, they lead only to chaos the same principle applies actually to spirituality in a far greater degree in spirituality, especially in the study of the Vedic literature the Vedic scriptures actually those who are attached to Sanskritification, at that time they cannot understand the deeper spiritual truths for example, if a person who is filled with lust, if he hears the intimate past of Radha Krishna, all that will happen what will happen to him is, he will simply become more agitated not only will he become agitated by just hearing about some movie hero but if he reads about Radha Krishna’s past time, not only will he become materially agitated but also he will become contaminated in his vision of Radha Krishna so therefore without the Adhikar one trespasses into confidential territory and one makes a mess not only of one’s material life but also of one’s spiritual life so therefore without Adhikar the Vedic scriptures say that one should not trespass into Vedic knowledge so as long as Devamrith Maharaj uses a nice word to describe this in his searching for Vedic India he says the Vedic knowledge is state specific state specific, what does that mean? in physics, contemporary physics they are using this word state specific, that means is light a wave or is it a particle this is that state specific because in certain situations it behaves like a wave in certain situations it behaves like a particle so now according to quantum theory there is no matter, there are only waves according to Einstein’s relativity theory there are particles, so are there waves or are there particles as the fundamental building blocks of matter this is state specific, depending on what you are using what purpose you are using a particular gadget or a particular technology for the matter will behave in a particular way so some scientists propose that below waves and below particles there is something called vivicles and the vivicles manifest sometimes as waves and sometimes as particles, but of course this is just a theory but the point is that the state specificity, that means depending on the state of one’s technological equipment, that same vivicle will behave like a wave and will behave like a particle at different times so depending on the state of our consciousness, we will see things in a particular way so if we are in a mode of passion, in the Bhagavad Gita 18th chapter, Lord Krishna describes knowledge in the three modes so he says, what is the characteristic of the mode of passion pruthak tvena tvayat bhavan, nana bhavan pruthak vidhan, that one can see things in their separateness one cannot see the unity of things so Prabhupada explains this with respect to the soul, he says people think that, in the mode of passion they think that different bodies means different persons and different persons means that there are different personalities and different personalities means there is no similarity that means they think that actually there is no unifying principle, on the other hand when one comes to the mode of goodness sarva bhuteshu yenaikam bhavam avyayam ikshate, one who sees that among all living entities they may have different forms, but there is something common bhavam avyayam, that is the imperishable spirit so you understand, that is actually similar sparks of spirit that are there in all souls, of course in the mode of goodness one cannot get devotional knowledge, one can get spiritual knowledge spiritual knowledge means knowledge of the realm of spirit devotion means knowledge of the relationships between the realm of spirit, so in goodness one can get impersonal knowledge, not personal knowledge but still in goodness one can see the unifying aspect within all the diversity of this world so what happens is, when people in the mode of passion study the Vedic scriptures they see everything diverse they actually, you know the Vedas are one body of knowledge the Upanishads are another body of knowledge, the Puranas are third body of knowledge the Itihasas are fourth body of knowledge and the Pancharatras are fifth body of knowledge and they are all saying different things Shiv Puran is saying one thing Vishnu Puran is saying another thing, some other Puran is saying they can’t see the oneness in all these things they see only the diversity and therefore there are some people who come up with their theories that actually the Vedas are older and the Puranas are later and the Itihasas are the latest and things like that but this is all based on mental speculation because if you look at the Vedic scriptures if we see carefully there is correlation for example the Rig Veda which the scholars say is the oldest book in the Rig Veda there are references to saintly people coming together and discussing spiritual topics if we look at the Vedic literature itself means Rig Veda, Sam Veda, Atharva Veda there is no such incidence of saintly people coming and discussing spiritual topics because they are mostly about sacrifices and wars and the fruits of sacrifices but saintly people coming and sitting and discussing spiritual topics that happens mainly in the Puranas and Itihasas so the Rig Veda is referring to this, it is referring to what is happening not in the Vedas, it is referring to what is happening in the Puranas and Itihasas so they are co-existent and there are many verses in the Vedic scriptures also directly in the Rig Veda, Chandogya Upanishad which say that the Vedic scriptures are there are 5 Vedas, not 4 Vedas and the Puranas and Itihasas are the 5th Veda but if one is in the mode of passion one will always see differences one will not be able to see the unifying aspects even if they are there so as we are saying that actually the Vedic scriptures are like a hierarchy, so Karmakand, Jnanakand, Upasanakand it’s a hierarchy which takes one upwards but if one is not able to see the unifying aspect in that hierarchy, one sees all of these are very different paths so in the mode of passion we see diversity in the mode of goodness we see unity so those who are little in the mode of goodness they don’t see the hierarchy over here, they see only unity they say all paths lead to the same goal so one is they are all different paths only the second is all paths are the same only but actually this is also not correct you know there is this concept of Panchopasana this is quite popular, they say that actually there are these 5 Gods whom you can worship now many people think that this Panchopasana is actually a means to attain the impersonal Brahman, their idea is that actually God is impersonal and all these Gods are just metaphorical tags that you place on the impersonal Brahman that is you give some sort of dress to that impersonal Brahman so Shiva is a dress, Durga is a dress Ganesh is a dress and because you cannot think about the impersonal Brahman, you choose whichever dress you like and ultimately you have to undress the Brahman this is vulgar language but you know that is what their idea is, you have to go beyond the dress to the essence so they say that everything is just one but actually that is not correct you know, Bhakta Sudhanshu Sri Thakur has written his own commentaries on the Bhagavatam so in his Gaudiya Vahishya commentary on the Bhagavatam he quotes from the Pushkar Samhita and he describes how actually what is called Panchopasana is a hierarchy he says that those who want Dharma they worship Surya those who want Artha, they worship Ganesh those who want Kama, they worship Shakti those who want Moksha, they worship Shiva and those who want Prema they worship Vishnu so what is a vertical hierarchy those who are not having proper understanding but they are somewhat in the mode of goodness that is a vertical hierarchy they make into a horizontal homogeneity it is a progression by which you go up but you make the ladder horizontal you don’t go anywhere with the ladder you just stay where you are so it is a progression and by worship of different deities we get different results but they make a mess out of it and they say actually everything leads to the same goal now all paths may lead to the same goal but all paths don’t lead all the way to the same goal by dharma, by doing Karmakant it goes towards the goal, but not all the way to the goal it drops you along the way, you go to heaven, it drops you over there after that when you come back, Gyankant, it also takes you up it takes you to Brahmajyoti, it drops you over there, you have to come back all paths don’t lead all the way to the same goal they lead partially to that goal whereas it is the Vedic master plan that different people can go to different distances and the fullest distance is covered by that which is the conclusion of the Vedic literature the conclusive path so one devotee recently showed me some video because of a Hindu organisation they were reciting the Bhagavad Gita and when they came to the last chapter this 18.66 so they recited the verse sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam sharanam vraja so they can’t understand how you can give dharma because the goal is dharma, so they changed the Bhagavad Gita and said sarva adharman parityajya so the scriptures are there for what? we should change our conceptions according to what is given in the scriptures but because we are attached to our conceptions so we change the scriptures according to our conceptions that is the meaning of adhikar if we don’t have adhikar then this is the sort of thing that we do if we don’t have adhikar we will see everything as entirely different or we will see everything as entirely one so when Krishna is telling sarva dharman parityajya what does it mean? it means all this lower dharma, karma kanda, jnana kanda you give that all up and just surrender to me so this is clear indication that there is a hierarchy sometimes in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna seems to talk about oneness so Krishna talks about all these three things we talk about three things now diversity, unity and hierarchy so people see diversity in the mode of passion they see unity in the mode of goodness and they see a hierarchy which leads to transcendence in the mode of pure goodness so Krishna is actually talking about a hierarchy in the Bhagavad Gita but sometimes he seems to talk about diversity if you do this you will go here, if you do that you will go there that is actually talking about diversity but then Krishna only doesn’t talk about diversity he also says that that whoever gets any fruits from the demigods they are getting it ultimately from me and he says they will also get elevated on the other hand sometimes Krishna seems to talk about unity now this doesn’t talk about diversity, this talks about reciprocity this talks about reciprocity but the second part of it is what impersonalists quote Prabhupada quotes the first part very often the impersonalists quote the second part now Prabhupada explains that this verse means all people are on my path but what the impersonalists do is they want to see unity everywhere so vartam is path anuvartante is to go on the path manushyaha is people partha arjuna sarvasyaha so sarvasyaha is all people so now this all adjective if you look at the placement of the sentence it applies to manushyaha because that is closest so manushyaha sarvasyaha all people are on my path mama is close to vartama sarvasyaha is close to manushyaha so logically how it translates is all people are on my path but what the impersonalists do is they take the sarvasyaha and apply it to vartama so all paths all people on all paths come to me Prabhupada had a simple refutation to this Prabhupada said if all paths one person asked Prabhupada Swami I heard that bhagavad gita says all paths lead to the same goal whatever we do will come to Krishna Prabhupada said if whatever you do you are going to come to Krishna then why does Krishna have to speak the bhagavad gita so this sort of superficial understanding of unity or homogeneity is logically ridiculous it just doesn’t work like that so Krishna does seem to talk about diversity he also talks about homogeneity but it’s not homogeneity it’s reciprocity reciprocity is based on adhikara that means Krishna reciprocates if this is your desire I will provide you this so that’s reciprocity but the principle is there is a hierarchy hierarchy based on what is our adhikara and what is our desire actually our adhikara is primarily determined by our desires it’s not determined by our now when I was telling you earlier that the brahmanas are allowed to perform the vedic yajnas now this brahmana is not necessarily by birth now there are two extremes in trying to understand the vedic varnasana system one is to say that birth is of no consequence at all and the other extreme is that birth is the only thing that matters so in the traditional context or the modern hindu context the idea is that birth is the only thing that matters so that is not supported by the vedic literature but the modern idea that everybody is equal in every way and there is no need to discuss about birth no that is also not correct birth does matter especially when there is a proper religion then the birth does matter religious culture is that when a brahmana and a brahmana unite then they will generally bear a child who will be a brahmana so birth does matter but birth is not the only thing that matters so therefore in the vedic culture because the vedic yajnas are dealing with material technology material power and material power can easily be abused for one’s own harm and for others harm therefore there is a restriction that the vedic mantra should not be chanted by everyone but that does not mean that common people are deprived from spiritual benefit common people also have they can also hear the itihasas, the puranas and they can become purified and they can also make spiritual advancement so the principle is not of restriction but protection the principle is not that certain people are restricted for certain things but the principle is that everyone should be protected from abuse of power like nowadays we have nuclear technology and the international governments they want to make sure that the nuclear weapons don’t fall in wrong hands now that is not for restriction but for the sake of protection so therefore the vedic scriptures have a plan for everyone in that sense they are universal but they also recognise the obvious fact that all people don’t have the equal adhikar so we talked about the diversity of sadhya and sadhana and what places a particular person at a particular place is adhikar so without understanding the adhikar not just understanding, acquiring the adhikar we will not be able to actually understand the whole vedic master plan so even now without becoming sufficiently purified at least coming to the mode of goodness if we start reading the different scriptures without guidance we may get confused how there is a one master plan there is on the other hand if we hear from more advanced devotees understand the vedic master plan and not just understand but get purified accordingly then we can see how there is cohesion within the diversity of the vedic scriptures and they are all a part of one revelation and all this is meant to ultimately elevate everyone to return back to the spiritual world which is the ultimate goal now when we talk about that ultimate goal of returning back to the spiritual world what qualification does that require? what adhikar does that require? it actually requires the adhikar of purity pure love as I said but when one does not have that adhikar that does not mean that one is permanently disqualified one way is that one can gradually get purified and develop that adhikar the other way is that if one can get the association of a devotee an advanced devotee who bestows that adhikar on us that’s why Prabhupada would say I have made your pious credits so how did Prabhupada make the pious credits? that means that Prabhupada actually taught us the conclusion of the vedic literature and gave us the means by which we could practise and reach the vedic conclusion that is the way he has given us adhikar so I was in Kharagpur at that time Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had come so I was asking certain questions so I was asking him how when devotees are non-Indians they hear Krishna consciousness and they accept Krishna as the Supreme Lord and they also accept Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as the Supreme Lord but in India we accept Krishna as the Lord but to accept Chaitanya Mahaprabhu it takes much more time so Bhaktivinoda Thakur in his book Lord Chaitanya Life and Precepts he gives a beautiful understanding he says that we leave it up to our readers whether they want to accept Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s divinity or not they may not want to believe in the miracles that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu performs but miracles are not important miracles are not the proof of divinity because even demons like Ravana perform miracles so he said the real gift of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the overwhelming experience of love that he offers and the transcendence that he offers through that love and we request our readers to only accept Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to be a noble and saintly person who gives us the doorway to divine love so if one just accepts that if one accepts that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is giving us a path by which one can attain divine love and follows that process then one will get purified then one will accept Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also so we don’t have to go about arguing Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is God or he is not God people should practise they practise and they will experience the potency but anyway the point I was asking him is that what can we do Indian devotees have a little more difficulty because they have heard of Krishna they have not heard of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu so he laughed and he said that is the advantage of being born in the west he said we could accept Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Krishna equally and he said we had one more advantage you know we did not have to go past 33 million gods to come to Krishna just came to Krishna directly so that is the meaning of you know Prabhupada’s creating pious credits so where there is no Adhikar actually the Adhikar is created by the guidance of a pure devotee by the mercy of a pure devotee and for all of us also to the extent we can connect with Krishna through his devotee to the extent gradually we develop the Adhikar and when we develop the Adhikar then we can practise the process wholeheartedly and then Vidyate Hridaya Granthis Chidyante Sarva Shamsaya Kshiyante Chasya Karmani Drishtaye Vatmanishvare so as you know there are two obstacles in the spiritual path one is doubt and the other is desire so both become removed when we become purified generally we think of purification only in terms of desire, I have to give up lust, I have to give up greed but actually doubts are also a sign of impurity they also have to give up so Vidyate Hridaya Granthis so by the process of hearing the divine sound coming from the Acharya what happens is all the metal attachments are cut and then Vidyate Hridaya Granthis Chidyante Sarva Shamsaya all the doubts also go away Kshiyante Chasya Karmani then all selfish work ceases Drishtaye Vatmanishvare one understands the soul is actually beyond all this matter the soul is the Ishwar of the body he is not the servant of the body he is not meant to obey the whims of the body rather he is meant to make the body obey his command so that he can achieve the ultimate goal of life so there is this technicality which people talk Shruti is there, Smriti is there and Shruti is more authoritative than Smriti but no what is the logic for saying Shruti is more authoritative than Smriti they say Shruti the words are repeated as it is say Rig Veda there were there were Pandits who would be trained in reciting the Rig Veda and they would recite it in two ways one with one particular metre second with another particular metre and because of these two ways of recitation even if they didn’t have the text the words would be preserved as it is but in Smriti sometimes the words may change like there will be patha based like I was saying Sarva Dharmaan Parittaji Sarva Dharmaan Parittaji if you write it there will not be much difference but patha based can happen also they say that actually Shruti they have not changed at all and therefore Shrutis are more authoritative no the important thing is not whether the words have changed or not the important thing is whether the message the purpose is being preserved or not so when Bhakti Shalastri Thakur was asked this you know the Shrutis are unchanging he said you don’t understand what is the Shruti he says what is Shruti he says the enlivening nectar of the message of the absolute truth descending from the spiritual realm through the mouth of the bona fide spiritual master into the heart of the sincere disciple engaged in affectionate service that is Shruti so what is Shruti he said that the enlivening nectar of the message of the absolute truth so Shruti is not just this letter or this letter or something like that it is the message of the absolute truth and how does it descend from the spiritual realm but how does it descend through the mouth of a bona fide spiritual master and disciple and the spiritual master speaks to many people but where does it go the heart of the sincere disciple engaged in affectionate service so what is that verse affectionate service that is Shruti so and that is preserved as it is so the original Vedic literature has a purpose and that purpose is preserved in Parampara and when we understand our bona fide spiritual master then we achieve that ultimate purpose of all the Vedic scriptures and that offers us eternal happiness so as devotees we should not damage other people’s faith somebody is worshipping Ganesh somebody is worshipping Shiva we should not damage their faith but we should try to enhance their faith and one way to enhance their faith is I should tell them that you only pray you pray to your particular deity if you are worshipping Ganesh or Shiva or whoever you pray and you say Lord please reveal to me whatever is the highest whatever is the best for me please reveal it to me and if somebody prays sincerely like that the Lord will reveal there is a famous story of Vallabhacharya Vallabhacharya was he was he was in Gujarat area Gujarat, Rajasthan area so he was he was from his childhood a sort of devotee of Shiva at that time Shiva, Krishna temple, Vishnu temple all the places but one day some very great frustration happened in his life and he went to the temple of Shiva and he was praying very intensely very intensely he was praying in despair and at that time Lord Shiva immediately appeared over there he said what do you want and he was so surprised to see Lord Shiva he didn’t know what to do and there he said my dear Lord please give me that which is most dear to you and then Lord Shiva gave him a deity of Vishnu so actually there are many stories like this we know Keshav Kashmiri also a God actually so he got several blessings but then Saraswati told him my greatest blessing is not to make you a world defeating one that’s what you wanted I gave you that but now I am giving you the greatest blessing that is the shelter of my Lord so the what unifies all this apparent diversity is on one side the mercy of the pure devotee the mercy of the Lord and from our side it is the sincerity of our quest so if we have sincerity then we will see the unity with all the diversity and if we don’t have sincerity at least we should have open-mindedness but if we have close-mindedness you know this is what race of justice then we can’t go at anywhere as Krishna says Vedavadratahaparthah na anyat astitivadena na anyat astitivadena there is nothing else in the Vedas except this what is that I have to go to heaven and enjoy over there then one is close-minded then one cannot see the unity Vavad the open-mindedness will help us to see the unity and rise in the hierarchy to the ultimate goal so I will summarise started by talking about how the Vedic scriptures offer user-friendly spirituality so in the other in the Semitic religions either this way or you can’t follow this way then you are going to go to hell but Vedic scriptures recognise that there are different people with different levels of consciousness different kinds of desires so depending on the kind of desire there are different gateways for advancement given for them so if one has material desires then there is the Karmakand and of course now Karmakand is not just one way there are many ways within that also if one wants help to worship somebody if one wants progeny help to worship somebody if one wants wealth to worship somebody like that so but if you want material desires to fulfil that sadhya that is sadhana of Karmakand then if one someone wants peace to fulfil that that is Gyanakand the Upanishads are there then if somebody wants love then ultimate of past Nakand is there pure devotional service for that the Bhagavad Purana is there and then we discussed about how this is a hierarchy we discussed about the modes of passion ignorance and goodness so mode of ignorance what happens one is not considered spirituality at all or very little in the mode of passion one sees only the diversity these are all different scriptures and teaching different things and there is no correlation between them in goodness one sees the unity but one’s in the name of unity that which is a hierarchy vertical hierarchy one makes it a horizontal homogeneity and then we discussed how the Panchopasana is not five ways to one goal there are five steps in one hierarchy so for Dharma for Surya for Artha Ganesh for Kama Shakti for Moksha Shiva and for Prema Vishnu so like this hierarchy and then lastly we discussed about how the mercy of a pure devotee can create Adhikar where there is no Adhikar so he can help us to bypass in our new temple there is a bypass so you can bypass all the traffic jam created by the 33 million gods and the confusion resulting from that and he can take us directly to the ultimate goal and on one side there is the mercy of the pure devotee and second side there is the sincerity or atleast the open mindedness of the seeker by which the ultimate goal can be attained thank you very much is there any one question ok one at a time one is that what is the practical fear and very you know looks like look here in one sense for a person who is a seeker he doesn’t know any path what is the path then sincerity will mean is the same as open mindedness let me hear and try to learn what is it so if I am close minded this cannot be right for example in the Christian missionaries who studied the Vedic literature like Max Müller HH Wilson all those people they study with the express intention of destroying people’s faith in the Vedic literature Hindus faith so that Hindus will convert to Islam to Christianity but there is no open mindedness there is close mindedness only so open mindedly study and more important than study is also practise because its not just theoretical knowledge its like you know you go to a doctor and hear his diagnosis but diagnosis alone doesn’t help us to understand whether the doctor is bona fide or not so you have to apply the diagnosis take the prescription doctor may say you have to do a big surgery I say ok I can’t do the surgery right now you tell me some small medicine it will lead to some small benefit and no so if Krishna tells at this stage Sarva Dharma that’s too much I can’t do that then at least chant Hare Krishna a small prescription a small prescription will give a small benefit but when a small benefit our faith develops ok maybe there is something better over here then you know initially if you chant 16 rounds its like heavy rounds you know I can’t take this much rounds ok you chant one round so I got our process one time he was going for a programme he says will you chant Hare Krishna yes I chant one what one one mala no one mantra so I chant one mantra everyday so at least that dosage is there that is very very low dosage but something will happen even by that so sincerity would mean open minded to understand and to apply so Krishna doesn’t demand unreasonable levels of surrender at a preliminary level start with basic surrender basic level of surrender just a few minutes to chant few hours a week to hear a few classes something like that now at our level sincerity would mean practising at the standard that we can practise at our level if we are told to fast on every ekadashi that is very difficult but once a year we can fast that is also not necessary if we can but we can wake up in the morning we may not be able to sleep for 3 or 4 hours or 2 hours like Goswami or Prabhupada did but we can sleep for 6 hours and then wake up 5 or 6 hours whatever is required sincerity means according to our adhikar we should practise so at our level whatever our adhikar is we may not be able to accurately understand this is my adhikar but we can ourselves understand if we need 6 hours sleep and we sleep 9 hours we can ourselves know that I have been lazy so according to our adhikar if we practise then that is sincerity ok we will talk on this later yes somebody is already practising something then he is encouraging to add Hare Krishna then you are not disturbing that faith but in one sense Krishna also disturbs our renunciation Krishna says first na buddhim na buddhibhedam janahe don’t disturb people’s faith but Krishna says sarva dharmang just give up everything else forget everything else because that is a progression so there is a time in a sadhaka’s life when he will have to make a choice because if one is doing sandhya vandanam vishnu sahasranam and so many things all the other things they all take time if he also wants to practise serious sadhana bhakti as it is taught in the he will not be able to do that.
So then, that will be at a particular time, but that time should not be too early. So, that requires intelligence and maturity to understand when to challenge that person’s fate. We have to inspire that person to come completely towards us.
A standard example is a bridge. If a person is here, this is one mountain, this is another mountain. And then we want him to come from here to here.
So we have to build a bridge. That bridge is his faith in us, his faith in Krishna. But then, if he crosses over, then we have to also break the bridge.
So he doesn’t go back. But, if we break the bridge before he has come here, then he will stay there. So, we have to give sufficient opportunity to develop faith in Krishna, in Krishna’s pure devotional service.
And then, we have to challenge his fate. Sometimes that may happen by the force of circumstances. Sometimes we may have to do it.
But, we have to give that person sufficient time. Initially, only if we do it, it becomes a big problem. And that person loses out on the opportunity.
He will come to Krishna. Any one more question? I am stopping this here. When the yagya is to be performed, the ahuti to be offered, the mantras to be chanted, that is primarily done by the brahmanas.
But, along with that, the yajaman is there. The yajaman is the host who is performing the yagya. So, the host actually is the main performer of the yagya.
But, he is performing the yagya, if the king is performing the yagya, he is performing the yagya on behalf of the whole kingdom. So, there are different levels of yagya. Now, there is the Jyotishtoma sacrifice, there is the Agnihotra sacrifice.
So, the Agnihotra is what every brahmana is supposed to perform at his own home. There is a daily sacrifice which is enjoyed by the brahmana. But, if you have a big sacrifice like the Ashwamedha yagya or Rajasvi yagya, that ordinary brahmana cannot perform.
Even an ordinary kshatriya cannot perform. Because that requires huge resources. So, there are different levels of yagyas.
So, especially the heads of states are expected to perform the yagyas or are expected to make the arrangements to perform the yagyas. Like the king is supposed to do that, the brahmana will actually perform the yagyas. But, the king will make the arrangements.
All the citizens participate in the yagya by contributing to the yagya. Now, the citizens may also have their own Kshatra dharma or Vaishya dharma or Shudra dharma where they have certain rituals that they perform. But, the specific activities, for example, everybody would bathe in the river and, generally speaking, everybody would come and hear the literal citations of the Itihasas, the Puranas.
But, yagyas, everybody participates at different levels of participation. The Shudras, they participate by just contributing, by carrying the luggage and carrying the sacrifices, sacrificial offerings and bringing to the yagya sthali and things like that. The Vaishyas may contribute more actually by giving charity.
The Kshatriyas may contribute by actually making all the arrangements, overseeing, managing. And, the Brahmanas will actually do the yagya. So, everybody participates, but there are different levels of participation.
Yeah, in Vaidika Varanashram, the benefit is also hierarchical. If one follows Vaidika Varanashram, the Shudra, by performing his duty, will become a Vaishya. Shudra will not go back to Godhead.
The Vaishya, by performing his duty, will become a Brahmana or Kshatriya and eventually a Brahmana. And then, Brahmana will go back to Godhead. That’s why, Vallabhidhya Abhushan in his Vedanta Samanta, he says that, there are some differences between the Madhva Sampradaya and us.
One of the differences is that, Madhva Sampradaya says only Brahmanas are eligible for Mukti. So, that is the Vaidika system. But apart from the Vaidika system, there is the Bhagavata system.
Daivya Varanashram, as he says. Daivya system is what? Yes, if one is actually doing Karmakanda rituals and gradual elevation, then it is only Brahmanas who will get liberated. And others, they will have to go through many lifetimes to come to the Brahmanas, then they will be liberated.
But if somebody is actually doing devotional service, then wherever he is, he can become liberated. Thank you very much. Krishna Prabhupada ki, Gaura Bhakta Vrindaki, Nityai Gaura Premanandai.