When we can’t give up our conditionings is just calling out to Krishna the solution?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
When our redirection, our restriction, it just keeps getting thwarted.
There are three different situations over here. Of course, we need Krishna’s help ultimately to overcome. But if we look at our own life, there are different battles which we can fight at different times.
So sometimes some particular conditioning might just be too difficult to overcome. And we ourselves have to observe whether this is, how important is this for me. Sometimes we get too caught in what I am not meant to do.
Oh, I should not be doing this. I should not be doing this. I should not be doing this.
But then even if somehow we are not able to stop ourselves from doing it, that does not necessarily mean that we cannot do other things. So in some cases, say somebody just needs a particular amount of, they just like to eat a lot. Somebody needs to sleep a lot.
Somebody needs to do a particular activity. All of us have particular habits which we can give up with a little effort, some which require huge effort, and some which seem to be like mountains. They do not get shaken at all.
So then in our spiritual life, we all need a sense of success. And sometimes just trying to get rid of some habit can itself become an obsession. So instead of letting that happen, okay, this floor is not getting inclined.
Okay, but I did go in this direction, but in this area, I am not able to control myself. But let me keep practicing bhakti. So there is, in the path of bhakti, renunciation is important.
At the same time, renunciation is not a precondition for bhakti. By renunciation, I don’t necessarily mean the renounced order. Renunciation simply means whatever it is that we want to give up.
We know that Krishna has six opulences. He has beauty, strength, does anyone know? Beauty, strength, intelligence, power, strength, renunciation is one of them, knowledge, and fame. He’s all famous, he’s all wise, he’s all beautiful.
So now if we consider all of us, because we are parts of Krishna, we also have in some fraction Krishna’s opulences. Some people are very intelligent. Some people are very good looking.
Some people are very wealthy. Some people are very strong. So if we see that somebody is very beautiful, or somebody is very strong, that does not necessarily mean that they are spiritually advanced.
We obviously understand. This is just, we all have done certain karma in the past. And based on our past karma, we get certain gifts.
So beauty is a gift. If somebody has it, they can use it in Krishna’s service. People who look good, they attract others.
And through their attraction, they can attract people to Krishna also. People who are intelligent, they can attract others. By their intelligence, they can get people to come close to Krishna.
Intelligence is a resource that can be used in Krishna’s service. Beauty is a resource that can be used in Krishna’s service. So similarly, renunciation is a resource.
And some people may, just like some people may be more beautiful than others, by their past karma. Similarly, some people may be more renounced than others by their past karma. So, we may just, in some situations, or in some particular areas, we may just not have that renunciation.
So, that will develop. Now see, there is, in logic, there is something called as the error of the antecedent. Error of the antecedent means what? If I say, if A, then B. So, if it rains overnight, my lawn will be wet today.
The lawn will be wet the next morning. Then, my lawn is wet the next morning. My lawn is wet today morning.
Therefore, it must have rained yesterday. This is not necessarily valid. There might be a leakage in the garden.
Because of which the lawn might be wet. So, the point is, if A, then B. That’s the causal connection. I can’t say B, therefore A. I have to know whether B can be caused by something else also.
Unless A is the only cause of B. I cannot say just because B is there, A will be there. So, why I am giving this correlation is, that if we become spiritually serious, we become spiritually advanced, we become detached from worldly things. So, if A, then B. So, A is spiritual seriousness, B is detachment from worldly things.
But, A is not the only cause of B. As I said, renunciation can also be a result of past good karma. So, some people, maybe even materialistic people, they may be in some ways very renounced. Whereas, one of the greatest ironies of the last century is that, Hitler was a lifelong vegetarian.
He was vegetarian for a large part of his life, not lifelong. But, he was a vegetarian. And, you know, he was not violent towards animals, but he was violent towards millions of humans.
There are many people, may be really good people, but they just are hooked to meat. So, the point is that, that vegetarianism of Hitler, that had nothing spiritual in it. Nothing spiritual in it.
So, sometimes, giving up certain things is very difficult for us. It will happen by the process of bhakti, but it may take time. And, you may say, somebody else, so easily they are giving up this.
Why can’t I do that? There is no need for that kind of comparison. Even if we are not able to, even if the water is leaking away in this direction, and we need Krishna’s help, and sometimes, you know, we find that Krishna does not seem to be helping, why is he still continuing? So, it’s not that Krishna is not helping. It is that, that particular aspect of our life, we just require a time to be dealt with.
But, even when that is happening, still, we can continue to practice bhakti. Even when our conditionings hold on to us, still, we can hold on to Krishna. I’ll give an example for this.
Say, somebody has fallen into a well. And while they are in that well, they are being pulled down by someone who is in the well. Somebody has dragged them down, wants to keep them in the well.
And there is somebody from above who has offered them a rope. And with the rope, they are being pulled out. Sometimes, the person from below may pull with such force, pull with such force, that the person simply gets dragged down.
Now, when they are pulled with such force, they may think, I can’t hold on to this rope, I’ll just let go. Then they’ll fall completely down. But, if the rope from above is extendable, the person is, ok, you can go down, so the person may be pulled down, but they can still hold on to that rope.
So, like that, Krishna is the person who is on top. We are the person who is in between. The process of bhakti is the rope.
And our conditionings are what pull us down from below. So now, sometimes our conditionings may pull us so forcefully, we just get dragged down. We can’t resist at that time.
But that does not necessarily mean that we have to let go of the practice of bhakti. We can still keep practicing bhakti. During the moment of conditioning, we may have a lapse.
But what after that? We decide that I am going to hold on. Eventually what will happen is, if we just hold on to that, the pull from down is not going to be equally forceful all the time. And when its forcefulness goes down, then we can again raise ourselves up.
So, third point I was going to say in this direction is, first as I said that renunciation can be just a result of past karma. And some of us may not have renunciation in particular things. Second point I said is that, even if we don’t have renunciation, even if we are pulled away, pulled down into certain undesirable activities, still we can hold on to Krishna.
The third is, if we consider an example of a graph. If we consider, say, our consciousness to be like a graph, and within that certain desires, unwanted desires, sometimes they just shoot up. And when the spike of desires comes up, at that time, it is almost impossible to give up.
We just succumb. Now, when that spike of desire comes up and we succumb at that time, after that, quite often, we just keep beating ourselves. Why did I do that? Why did I do that? Why did I do that? Now, actually, by that, we are not really purifying ourselves.
We are not really strengthening ourselves. We are simply beating ourselves up. And then, next time the spike comes, again we succumb.
So, what happens is, the mind plays a double role over here. The mind, like some innocent person, somebody comes and says, you know, come on, let’s rob a bank. You know, we can get some easy money.
I have got a good plan. Nobody will catch us. And this person goes, and he goes to somebody else and robs the bank, and the fellow gets caught.
And the other person has run away. And then, he is brought in the court, he finds that sitting on the judge’s position is that other person only. You fool! Why did you rob the bank? So, the mind is like the double role.
First, it tells us to do wrong. The mind might tell you, come on, eat a little bit more. It’s a problem.
Little you can enjoy. No problem. Eat a little more, little more, little more.
And then, after that, the stomach feels like bursting. And the same mind switches. You fool! When will you learn? How many times have you experienced? You are such an idiot! So, the mind switches this double role.
First, it makes us do wrong, and then it beats us for doing wrong. And in both situations, we are basically mind conscious. We are not Krishna conscious.
And when we are mind conscious, we don’t get purified by that. So, if the spike comes, at that time I suck up. That is, the mind impels us to do something undesirable and we do it.
But after that, it’s not that our desires torment us 24 hours a day. They come, sometimes they become irresistible. Other times, they are like background noises there.
They are not that tolerable. Sometimes, they become intolerant. So, the spikes may not be so much controllable.
But in between the spikes, what do we do? If at that time we connect with Krishna, okay, what happened has happened. It’s not that I am excusing myself. It’s not that I am justifying it.
But it’s happened now. I can’t do anything about it now. So, let me now, when my consciousness is manageable, this time let me engage it in positive activity.
So, if I engage it in positive activity, if I engage it in bhakti, that purifies it. And next time when the spike comes, I am better equipped to combat it. And it may not happen immediately.
But over a period of time, if we, in between the spikes, we focus on the steady practice of bhakti, then gradually what will happen is we will become stronger. We will become purer and eventually we will be able to resist the spike also. So, in the long run, how we grow spiritually depends not just on what happens when the spikes come.
It also depends on what we do between the spikes. So, if we are not just beating ourselves up, but we are actually picking ourselves up, and we are moving towards Krishna during that period, then gradually we will find that our inclination, as I said, it has changed. So, it’s sometimes very frustrating when again and again same things happen.
But some changes may just take too much time to happen, may take time to happen. So, we decide that no matter what happens, I am going to continue staying connected with Krishna. Then that will keep us enthusiastic.
Any other comments or questions?