When the world is Maya, why not just renounce it?
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Hare Krishna. Question from Padmanayak Mataji. Scriptures tell us that we are not the body, we are the soul.
Do they offer us any method by which we can always be conscious that we are souls? And once we understand that this world is maya, why should we stay in samsara? We can follow some rules and regulations, but still we have to fight against maya constantly. But if we are in the temple, we can always be Krishna conscious. And we don't know how long a life we have.
So why should we continue still in material life? And why should we not just completely focus on spiritual life? So that we can, in the short life that we have, attain ultimate realization. Answer? Yes, certainly we need to focus on attaining ultimate realization. And becoming liberated from material existence.
But to do that, there is a process. And that process is not just simply renouncing the world. Because more important than renouncing things externally is renouncing desires internally.
Yes, when we are living in the outside world and then we come to the temple, we feel a significant difference. Because the outside world is generally very materialistic and the temple has a devotional spiritual atmosphere. And we feel spiritually inspired and spiritually alive and spiritually motivated in the temple atmosphere.
At the same time, our mind does not change. If we stay, if we are going to visit a temple for a few minutes or a few hours, that time may be inspiring for us. But if we are going to stay in the temple constantly, we will find that the mind will get used to that.
And the mind will, over a period of time, start reverting to its materialistic ways, even when it is in the temple. Because for the mind, familiarity weaks contempt. And over a period of time, it will start taking the deities for granted, devotees for granted, classes for granted.
And it will start relapsing back into its worldly habits. So, unless there is an inner change, outer change will not sustain. Now, certainly, this does not mean that coming to a temple is not important or living in a temple is not valuable.
Yes, both are true. It is important and it is valuable. But the important point is that real change has to be internal, not external.
So, the scriptures recommend that we practice bhakti yoga exclusively for some time of the day. So, we have our sadhana, we chant the holy names, we study scripture, we worship the deities. And then the spiritual consciousness that we have, we carry it with us into our life.
And we, rather than, so at an analytical level, we can separate. Okay, these are my spiritual activities, these are my material activities. By that, by analytical level, we separate so that we give quality time for our spiritual activities.
We give quality time for sadhana, for swadhyay, for seva. But along with that, our life is not just analytic, it is synthetic. Our life is a whole unit, is a whole unit lived as a whole.
So, from the synthetic point of view, we don't leave our spiritual life when we stop doing spiritual activities. Rather, we spiritualize our consciousness and take that spiritual consciousness into our material activities. And rather than seeing those material activities only as material, to say that this world is maya is a philosophical understanding, but it is not a philosophically complete understanding.
Why? Because in the ways of looking at the world, there are three ways. You know, we, initially when we are in the world and we associate with materialistic people, there is a tendency to romanticize the world. That means, oh, this world is a beautiful place, this world is wonderful, I just want to achieve certain things, maybe I get some wealth, maybe I get this position, then I'll be happy.
So, we romanticize the world. That is the path of karma. That means, I work and then I'll be able to get the things for enjoying and then I'll enjoy life.
Then, as contrasted with that, there is a path of gyana. In the path of gyana, people tend to demonize the world. Oh, this world is filled with entanglement, this world is a place of misery, this world has so many temptations in it, better I just go away from this world.
We think that the world is like a demon and we want to go away from the world. The path of bhakti, however, is about utilizing the world. Neither romanticizing the world nor demonizing the world, but utilizing the world.
So, in both cases, in both the cases of karma and gyana, we are focusing on ourselves. Oh, this world is for my enjoyment, therefore, I will pursue it more and more. That is the path of karma.
Oh, this world is going to cause me entanglement, therefore, I'll stay away from it. So, both are I-centered perspectives. Whereas, the path of bhakti, we worry neither about enjoyment nor entanglement, but about engagement.
So, we engage ourselves, that means, the center is not I, the center is Krishna. And Krishna says that he has his material energy and he has his spiritual energy. We all are his spiritual energy and the world is his material energy.
So, we are meant to serve Krishna and we are meant to use the things of this world to serve Krishna. So, in this way, there is actually the joining in devotional intention of all three. We have a devotional intention and then we use the world in Krishna's service.
So, yes, it's always possible that we may get distracted from this world while we are acting in this world. When we are surrounded by temptation. We need regular devotional impressions and we need regular devotional association.
At the same time, it is also important to recognize that we, in and of ourselves, we cannot just by our own imagination come out of the entanglement. There is a process that has to be followed by which we can break free from the entanglement. And that process is given in scripture.
So, yes, there are different varnas, there are different ashramas and they all have their duties. And the important point is that we follow the scriptural path. Krishna does not recommend arbitrary renunciation, whimsical renunciation.
Renunciation also has to be directed according to Guru Sadhu Shastra. And according to our nature, according to our situation, we can serve Krishna in the best possible way and move closer to him. And if we move closer to him, automatically, we will move away from maya.
We will stay away from maya. And rather, whatever within this material world is usable in Krishna's service, it will be used in Krishna's service. So, the mood of a devotee is to try to change one's consciousness from being self-centered to being Krishna-centered.
And rather than worrying too much of thinking, I am not the body, I am the soul, we focus not so much on the analytical fact as the practical application. That means, if I am just going to think, I am not the body, I am the soul, I am not the body, I am the soul, I am not the body, I am the soul. Now that, it's okay to think about it.
But how long can we keep thinking about it like that? Now, the practical application of that is, I am not the enjoyer, I am the servant. And I am not meant to love matter, I am meant to love Krishna. So, that should be the practical focus.
Let me love and serve Krishna, not love and seek worldly things for my enjoyment. And to the extent we absorb ourselves in serving Krishna in bhakti yoga, to that extent, we are automatically acting on the body, on the spiritual platform. Now, of course, while acting in bhakti, sometimes we may get tempted by worldly things.
Because while serving in bhakti also, we do come in contact with matter and matter may tempt us. So, at that time, we can remember, oh, I am spirit, this is matter, this cannot give me pleasure. So, I will not get entangled in this.
But as a regular meditation, the scripture doesn't tell us, always remember your atma. Scripture focuses more on always remember Krishna. Always remember Krishna, never forget Krishna.
This is the central among all scriptural rules. All other scriptural rules are subordinate to this one supreme rule. So, when we focus on this principle, then we will be able to deal with all situations systematically.
We will be able to, rather than just being analytically focusing on I am not the body, I am the soul, we will be practically engaged and practice practical engagement is enlivening. Why? Because we are doing something. For us, activity is natural and just inactive contemplation, it is good for some time, but over a period of time, we do need activity.
So, by focusing on active engagement in devotional service, we will automatically be acting at the spiritual level. And certainly, periodically, it's good to study the philosophy by which we keep reminding ourselves, I am not the body, I am the soul, by which we will be able to avoid getting carried away by materialistic waves that keep coming in the world. So, I'll conclude with one example to illustrate this point, that sometimes the scriptures do say that this world is like a dream and we have to come out of it.
But although it is like a dream, waking out of the dream is not as simple as just somebody who's having a nightmare, somebody just goes and taps him or throws some water on him and wakes up. Oh, the dream is gone. The dream world just disappears when we wake up.
But in this case, when we philosophically understand also that I am not the body, I am the soul, the world around us doesn't disappear. You know, we have still the same body, largely the same mind and the same mental intimations and we live more or less in the same world. Some of us may change our situation dramatically, but still, the body and the mind remain the same.
So, in that sense, the idea that this world is like a dream, that is philosophically okay, but practically, waking up from that dream is not as simple as waking up from a sleeping dream. So, to wake up from this dream requires a systematic process to attune our consciousness to a higher level of reality. And that systematic process is the process of Bhakti Yoga.
So, to rise from the current level of consciousness to spiritual consciousness requires a process and that process can be compared to a therapy, to a treatment. As a person understands, okay, I have got a disease because of which I am coughing. Now, I want the cough to go away.
But the cough, if I just suppress the cough, by suppression, there will be no cure of the cough. Suppression will only lead to complication. What we need is not suppression, but treatment.
We need rectification. So, the rectification has a process and that requires taking regular medicines, following a particular diet, avoiding things which are coughing or whatever. That's a particular process for that and by following that process, the cough will go away.
So, the cough is a little simple example. If I have any further disease, it may require a stricter process and longer time following of that process to be able to become free from that disease. So, similarly, when we talk about our current level of consciousness, materialistic consciousness, it's like a diseased consciousness.
We are said to be in Bhava Roga. And to rise from Bhava Roga, to get cured of Bhava Roga, there is a process to be followed. And that process centers on remembrance of Krishna.
So, remembrance of Krishna is done directly by the practice of Bhakti and remembrance of Krishna is also done by engaging in our worldly activities, the devotional intention. So, just as by suppressing a cough, I will not cure cough. So, similarly, simply by renouncing matter, the root cause of the cough is the disease in the body.
Similarly, the root cause of our entanglement with matter in the material world is not just our presence in the material world. It is the presence of material desires inside us. And those material desires, just as the cough will not go away if we just suppress the cough, if we just stop coughing.
Similarly, material desires won't go away just by coming out of a materialistic setting. It's temporarily suppressed, but sooner or later they'll come back again. For that, just as cough needs to be removed by curing the disorder inside, similarly, our material desires need to be removed by purification.
And that purification requires following the process of Bhakti. So, Krishna says that, Whatever work one is doing, in that one can attain perfection. That by working according to our nature, by doing our own prescribed work, we can attain perfection.
Krishna assures that, Whatever work you do, you offer the fruits to me and you will be conscious of me and you will attain me. So, rather than thinking of the world as a place of entanglement, we see the world as a place of engagement. For engaging ourselves in Krishna's service and engaging the world and its resources in Krishna's service.
And this way, we can actually, we can in a realistic way transform ourselves. And not only that, when we are engaged in the world in a spiritual way, then we inspire others also by our action and our examples. And others also get benefited.
So, it is a realistic way for us to become. So, the desire to want to make spiritual advancement, to become liberated from material existence as quickly as possible is very good. At the same time, the desire should be implemented in a way that is scripturally recommended, scripturally authorized.
Not just in a way which we feel will be the best, but rather in a way which is we understand scripture, principles and scriptural practices and adopt them accordingly. And surely, even while we are in the world, we can be spiritual. Padmapatra vivambhasa.
Padmapatram. It says the lotus leaf is in the water, but it doesn't get dirtied by water. Like that, a devotee can be in spiritual consciousness, can be in the material world, but can stay unaffected by material things and can be in spiritual consciousness.
Thank you. Hare Krishna.