What lesson does the Mohini Murti pastime teach?

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This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
You see, Lord Shiva was chasing Mohimurthy, he went through the area of various sages. And as it was shown to the sages that the particular person whom they are worshipping, he is also fallible.
He can also get attracted. That’s an important lesson for everyone. There is another lesson which Prabhupada talks about in later verses over there that actually what is Shiva’s consciousness? After he falls, he doesn’t feel humiliated.
He is elated. He says, nobody except Vishnu could have made me fall like this. How great is Vishnu? So, he still is temporarily captivated.
But immediately he recovers. And he doesn’t focus on his own, my own mortification, my own humiliation. He focuses on the Lord.
So, even Shiva’s greatness is also demonstrated. Not greatness in terms of that he is supreme, but his great devotion to the supreme. See that, generally, when we practice any kind of, say we practice spirituality, then we, if we keep practicing for some time, we get certain respect in that community.
And if that respect is taken away, then we still keep practicing. We need to actually love Krishna more than our ego, more than we love our ego. And sometimes what happens, Krishna Bhakti can boost our ego also.
So then, it’s a very big test. So, Shiva passes that test. And what that pastime demonstrates is, I gave a series of classes in this Mohini Murthy pastime that even if we can’t succeed in Krishna Consciousness, we can fail in Krishna Consciousness, not fail out of Krishna Consciousness.
We shouldn’t think of Krishna Consciousness as only success. Krishna Consciousness is not simply adhering to a set of standards. Krishna Consciousness is a state of consciousness.
And that Krishna Consciousness can include success and it can include failure also. Of course, we want to succeed in terms of following the standards, but even if sometimes we slip and fall. So, it’s not that only when somebody follows their vows of purity, then they are Krishna Conscious.
If they fail in following their vows, but then that makes them humble, that makes them prayerful, that makes them call out to Krishna more. So, they have failed, but they have failed in Krishna Consciousness. To fail out of Krishna Consciousness means, to think that I tried this for so long, I couldn’t succeed.
This is not for me. This doesn’t work. Maybe God doesn’t exist.
I don’t care for this. Thank you God. So, another way to put it is, we may fall down, but we don’t have to fall away.
Fall down is temporary. I was at the stand, I fell down. I rise up again and move on.
Fall away means we give up the path of bhakti. So, Shiva’s glory is also demonstrated in a paradoxical way over here. That he falls and Vishnu is so great that Vishnu can make even Shiva who is considered to be dhir to fall.
But Shiva is also so great that even after falling, he is not conscious of his own fall and his humiliation. He is conscious of the glory of Vishnu who has made him fall. So, he falls in Krishna Consciousness, not out of Krishna