Why does Indra commit so many mistakes?

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So if Indra is a role model, if he is a devotee, then how can he be a hypocrite? So could he not follow the three eyes? Yes.
See, Indra, different people teach us in different ways. Some people teach us by their example what to do and some people teach us by their example what to not do. So Indra, especially if you see in the Bhagavatam, he is depicted, if you look at the Vedas and even the Upanishads, Vedas especially, Indra is considered a very very powerful person.
And he is definitely, to become Indra is not easy and has to do a lot of punya. But the Bhagavatam tells those incidents from Indra’s life. Generally not in the Bhagavatam, in the Bhakti literature, in the Ramayana.
Those incidents when Indra goes wrong. If you consider the cosmic time span, Indra, there is not just one Indra, there are many Indras. And there have been many many universes.
So most of the time Indra functions well. But generally for us if we have to learn some lessons, it is when somebody does something wrong, why did they do it wrong? How can they do it right? We learn the lesson from there. So Indra, he has certain tendencies which come from the privilege and the power that he has.
So he does a lot of punya to get to swarga. By doing his piety he gets to heaven. But in heaven, his purpose is now, I did so much punya, so many yajnas, now I want to enjoy.
So what happens, he has certain piety which comes from his past life. Because he has lived piously. But there is also the enjoying mentality.
And sometimes that enjoying mentality goes beyond limits. Those are times when he can even challenge Krishna or he can do something wrong. But because overall he is not a demon.
He is a pious person, he is devta. So he comes back on track. So the Bhagavatam or the Bhakti literature broadly use Indra as an example of how material opulence is not an insurance from spiritual deviation.
That just because I am materially wealthy, I am materially pious, I am materially powerful that does not insure me from the temptation from wrong doing. Rather because I have that, I might do more easily. So he uses the example to teach certain things to us.
No, no, no, not at all. Not at all, not at all. Yeah, that’s true.
That’s true because as I said in the Bhakti literature, see every book has a particular purpose. The purpose of the Bhakti literature is primarily to glorify Bhakti. And Indra is not exactly a Bhakta.
Indra, there is a difference between Punya and Bhakti. Punya is piety, Bhakti you could say broadly spirituality. In Punya, what is the idea? God, I will be good provided you make my life good here.
So the idea is that in Punya, people are not interested in God per se or loving God. They are interested in what God will provide me here. In Bhakti, they are interested in loving God per se.
Attaining God’s kingdom. So in Punya, how one can do Punya and be elevated to a high destination, that’s what Indra demonstrates. But in Bhakti, even the success of Punya is considered to be inadequate.
Even if one lives a very pious life, what is the result of that? You still stay in the material world, you still stay in a place where temptation can befall anyone. And how a person who has been elevated to heaven can also be dragged down by temptation. That is demonstrated through the example of Indra.
Indra’s Rajoguna is predominant. I wouldn’t say predominant, but it does become dominant at times. Predominant means it’s constantly there.
Indra is virtuous overall. I said regarding the point that all the stories you have heard, that’s true because all the stories we hear are from the Bhakti literature. But if you read the Rig Veda, there is so much praise of Indra.
That he fought so many demons and he killed those demons and he is a great hero. And suppose there is a book on leg spin bowling. And then they describe how this leg spinner made this batsman out.
This leg spinner made this batsman out. Now that batsman might be a champion batsman, who has scored a century, double century, triple century also. But in that book on leg spinning bowling, all the time you see that batsman getting out only.
You say this batsman is so foolish, all the time he gets out. But the point is not that the batsman is bad, the point of this book is to show how leg spin bowling can be so expert. And then that expert batsman can also get out.
So like that Indra is not a weak person. But in the book when to glorify Bhakti, how somebody who lacks Bhakti can be overwhelmed this way, that way, that way. That is depicted over there.
So it’s not that Indra is constantly in Rajoguna. But when provocations come, when temptations come, Rajoguna does take over. I have a question from Rishiraj.