When things go wrong, how can keep faith and avoid feeling the pinch?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, we may understand that Krishna’s plan is acting in our life and we may accept that theoretically.
But emotionally when things go wrong, at that time we feel the pinch. So, how do we overcome that? It’s not that bhakti means that we have to deny or suppress our normal human emotions. Bhakti means that we don’t let our actions be determined by our emotions alone.
When Abhimanyu is killed, Arjuna is devastated. And Arjuna cries and Arjuna even turns to Krishna and says, Krishna, you must have known what was happening. Why didn’t you tell me? Arjuna was crying.
He castigated his brother, he says, your weapons, what are they? Are they simply ornaments? You couldn’t protect my brother, my son. He is very angry with everyone. And the whole chapter in the Mahabharata discusses Arjuna’s lamentation.
Krishna has not told Arjuna, Arjuna, you have forgotten, you have become attached, now you forgot the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna doesn’t speak like that. Krishna is very understanding, very empathic.
He is very kind. So, the important thing is, Arjuna may have that emotion at that time, but he doesn’t let that emotion interrupt his devotion. So, we are not meant to become unfeeling.
There are material situations which come in our life, and naturally they will create some emotions. When Draupadi is dishonored, at that time she is anguished. She is saved at that time, but later on when Krishna comes and meets them in the forest after their exile, Draupadi is so upset, she tells Krishna, Krishna, why didn’t you come? And Krishna doesn’t say, I have a perfect plan, don’t doubt my plan.
Krishna actually is disheartened. He says, I didn’t know. Krishna says, actually I was busy.
Krishna tells that there was a demon, Shalva, who had attacked and devastated Dwarka. So, I had to be there with him to protect Dwarka. But as soon as I came to know what had happened, I immediately came here.
So, there are normal human emotions which come in different situations, and we don’t have to see those emotions as defects in devotion. Just normal human reactions. When something would go wrong, Prabhupada was giving an interview in India, and a reporter asked him, Swamiji, your disciples are so young.
So, after you depart, who will take care of you next? Prabhupada said, why are you discouraging me? He said, no, no, Swamiji, I am not discouraging you, I am asking you questions, but your question is discouraging. Now, somebody may say, Prabhupada is a pure devotee. How can he be discouraged? When we talk about discouragement as an emotion, and discouragement as a resulting action, Prabhupada faced so many discouragements while he was in India.
And nobody helped him. When he went to America, he had to go all alone. He faced heart attacks.
After he came to America also, his typewriter was stolen. He was attacked. Through all those discouragements, Prabhupada persevered.
That was his devotion, that was his determination. But that does not mean that when things went wrong, he would not feel emotion. Yeah, if somebody is going to build a whole movement, and somebody says, your movement is going to collapse after you, that can be disheartening.
But Prabhupada did not let that discouragement interrupt his devotion. So, it’s not that we have to suppress our normal human emotion. When things go wrong, it’s not that we have to imagine that even the bad things are good.
There are some people who put a Geeta Saar in many shops I have seen. And one of the sentences in the Geeta Saar is, Jo hua, wo achcha hua. Jo ho raha hai, wo achcha ho raha hai.
Jo hone wala hai, wo bhi achcha hi hoga. Whatever has happened is good. Whatever is happening is good.
Whatever will happen is also good. I have recited the Bhagavad Gita thousands of times. I have read it hundreds of times.
I have never seen any verse which comes anywhere close to this. It’s not said at all in the Geeta. The Geeta is not about what is happening.
The Geeta is about what we are doing. Pruchchaamitvam dharma sammur Geeta. Arjuna is asking, what is my dharma? The Geeta’s focus is on this.
That, what should I do? What is my course of action? So, it’s not that when Draupadi is dishonored, you know, the sages come and tell, jo hua, wo achcha hua. Whatever happened is good. No! Not like that.
Bad things happen in life. So, it’s not that bhakti means we have to imagine the bad to be good. It means that we have the faith that the bad can also be for good.
The bad is not good. But the bad can be for good. Krishna will bring good out of the bad.
That is our faith. But faith doesn’t mean that we somehow try to imagine the bad to be good. When bad things happen, they do happen.
In Alachua, about a month ago, I gave a Sunday Feast class. The topic was that we can’t be grateful for all situations. But we can be grateful in all situations.
For all situations means, okay, this is happening. I get a terrible disease. I lose my job.
I face some relationship trauma. I can’t be grateful for that. The bad things.
But even in those situations, I can be grateful. I can be grateful that I have the shelter of Krishna. I can be grateful that I have the many ways by which I can shield myself from this blow that has come.
So we don’t have to deny normal emotions. And it’s not that just because we get some negative emotions and bad things happen, that does not mean our bhakti is simply theoretical. What it means is that we are just human beings.
But we also, we have emotions, but we also have intelligence. And with our intelligence, we need to learn to connect with Krishna even in that situation. And we don’t let that situation or that emotion interrupt our devotion.
It’s not that because this has happened, what is the use of practicing Krishna bhakti? I give it up. No, we move onwards. And when the Ganga faces some block, it can’t imagine there is no block.
The block is there, but it doesn’t stop flowing. It finds some way to keep moving onwards. So when bad things happen, we accept, okay, we may feel bad also about it.
We may rant a little bit about it. But we don’t hold that as between us and Krishna. We move on towards Krishna in whatever best way we can.
Does that answer your question? Thank you.