Any statement about a particular gender in Srila Prabhupada’s teachings is not meant to target or diminish any demographic. The overarching focus is on Krishna consciousness and spiritual elevation, and everything needs to be seen in that light.
At times, such statements may appear anti-women or male chauvinistic. However, that was never the intention of Srila Prabhupada. In fact, if we consider his life and legacy from an experiential perspective, we find that he had many female disciples — most of whom were Western women raised during the 1960s and 70s, when the feminist movement was gaining momentum.
Despite this, these women dedicated their lives to serving Srila Prabhupada, which strongly suggests that he was not at all trying to demean or suppress women. None of his female disciples reported that Srila Prabhupada made them feel inferior or devalued due to their gender. On the contrary, he empowered women in extraordinary ways — encouraging them to lead kirtans, give classes, distribute books, manage temples, and take leadership roles in his movement.
From a philosophical perspective, when Srila Prabhupada used the term “less intelligent,” we must consider the context. He often spoke of intelligence in terms of realizing our spiritual identity. All embodied souls — regardless of gender — are conditioned to identify with the body. However, due to their nurturing roles, women may be more likely to develop stronger bodily identification, as their responsibilities involve physically caring for and emotionally connecting with children.
Still, this deeper emotional capacity is not a sign of inferiority. On the contrary, it reflects a different kind of intelligence — an emotional intelligence that is invaluable for nurturing and sustaining human life. When Prabhupada mentioned “less intelligence,” he was referring more to philosophical inclination, not overall ability or value.
In fact, emotional sensitivity, often more prominent in women, enables them to care for infants and others with greater empathy and intuition than most men. That is also a profound form of intelligence, vital to family and society.
From a traditional perspective, among all the religious traditions, the Vedic tradition offers some of the most inclusive depictions of the divine feminine. There are female deities, and God is often represented as a divine couple, where the female is mentioned first — Sita-Rama, Radha-Krishna. The goddess of learning and intelligence, Saraswati Devi, is also a female deity.
Even in the Bhagavad-gita, intelligence (buddhi) is described as a feminine quality. So, philosophically and metaphysically, intelligence is closely associated with feminine energy.
It’s also important to understand the cultural and historical context of Srila Prabhupada’s time. He learned English during the 1910s and 1920s and preached primarily in the 1960s and 70s. At that time, public talks often addressed men more directly. Hence, women and children were sometimes grouped together as those who need protection, not in a demeaning way, but as a call to responsible guardianship from men.
Even today, during wars and crises, the term “women and children” is commonly used to refer to vulnerable groups who should not be harmed. The emphasis in Prabhupada’s talks is not on labeling women as “less intelligent” to justify subjugation, but rather to urge men to take responsibility for protecting and respecting them.
Furthermore, Srila Prabhupada made a clear distinction between principles and details. The core principle was always Krishna consciousness. While he supported traditional gender roles in his writings, he was flexible and pragmatic in practice. He recognized that Western women were quite different from Indian women and engaged them according to their abilities, often saying they were “as good as their male counterparts.”
In conclusion, statements that appear critical of women should not be taken as reflecting a misogynistic mindset, but should be seen within the broader, transcendental purpose of cultivating Krishna consciousness. That was — and always remained — Srila Prabhupada’s ultimate concern.
Ekadasi is one of the regular celebrations in the Vaishnava calendar. It is observed eleven days after the full moon and eleven days after the new moon of every month. Even in the thirteenth, or leap, month, called adhika-masa, or purusottama-masa, which comes every three years, during which no other festivals are celebrated, Ekadasi is observed. Ekadasi is known as the day of Lord Hari and is said to be the mother of devotion. Keeping the fast on Ekadasi is one of the sixty-four items of devotional service listed in Srila Rupa Gosvami’s Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu. In fact, it is one of the first ten.
The Nectar of Devotion, Srila Prabhupada’s summary study of Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, states, “In the Brahma-vaivarta Purana it is said that one who observes fasting on Ekadasi day is freed from all kinds of reactions to sinful activities and advances in pious life. The basic principle is not just to fast, but to increase one’s faith and love for Govinda, or Krsna. The real reason for observing fasting on Ekadasi is to minimize the demands of the body and to engage our time in the service of the Lord by chanting or performing similar service. The best thing to do on fasting days is to remember the pastimes of Govinda and to hear His holy name constantly.”
Later in The Nectar of Devotion, Srila Prabhupada cites the observance of Ekadasi as a stimulus (uddipana) for ecstatic love: “Some things which give impetus or stimulation to ecstatic love of Krsna are His transcendental qualities, His uncommon activities, His smiling features, His apparel and garlands, His flute, His buffalo horn, His leg bells, His conchshell, His footprints, His places of pastimes (such as Vrndavana), His favorite plant (tulasi), His devotee and the periodical occasions for remembering Him. One such occasion for remembrance is Ekadasi, which comes twice a month on the eleventh day of the moon, both waning and waxing. On that day all the devotees remain fasting throughout the night and continuously chant the glories of the Lord.”
The importance of the Ekadasi fast is also seen in the history of King Ambarisa and the sage Durvasa. Maharaja Ambarisa had observed the fast without even drinking water up until the appointed time to break the fast, called the Ekadasi-parana. Durvasa Muni was to have returned before the time of the parana, and because he was playing the part of a brahman and Ambarisa Maharaja the part of a kshatriya, proper etiquette dictated that Durvasa break the fast first. However, because Durvasa did not come in time, Ambarisa was in a dilemma. If he did not break the fast punctually, the whole observance would be spoiled. At the same time, if he did not wait for Durvasa, he would be guilty of an offense, because the etiquette demanded that he wait for the sage to break the fast first. King Ambarisa consulted his advisors, but none could resolve his problem. Finally, the king himself determined the solution: he would take water. Taking water would break the fast and at the same time not break it.
So, Ekadasi is an important observance. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu personally observed Ekadasi, and He ordered all of His followers to do the same. And of all the Ekadasis, Pandava-nirjala Ekadasi, Bhima Ekadasi, is the most special.
The story behind this special Ekadasi is recounted in the Brahma Vivarta Purana. Five thousand years ago, during the time of the Mahabharata, Arjuna’s elder brother Bhima admitted that he had great difficulty fasting. (In those days everyone would fast completely from all food and water.) So the Vedic authority Vyasadeva gave Bhima permission to observe the full fast (nirjala, “without water”) just once a year, in the early summer, and to derive the same benefit as if he had observed all the other twenty-three Ekadasis. Thus, devotees who are unable to properly observe Ekadasi during the year, or who by chance happen to miss an Ekadasi, can get the benefit of fully observing all the Ekadasis if they properly observe the Pandava-nirjala Ekadasi. Strictly observed, the fast begins before sunset the evening before Ekadasi and continues until the parana, about the time of sunrise, the morning after Ekadasi. Many devotees try to chant at least sixty-four rounds on Ekadasi, especially the Bhima Ekadasi.
Once, when we were with Srila Prabhupada in Amritsar, Yamuna-devi read to him from the newly published Nectar of Devotion: “One such occasion for remembrance is Ekadasi, which comes twice a month on the eleventh day of the moon, both waning and waxing. On that day all the devotees remain fasting throughout the night and continuously chant the glories of the Lord.” Then she asked, “Should we also observe Ekadasi like that?”
“No,” Prabhupada replied. “We have too much service to do for Krishna.”
Still, Srila Prabhupada said, “Ekadasi is most auspicious. And chanting is more effective.” And to a disciple who asked, “Should we chant twenty-five rounds on Ekadasi?” Srila Prabhupada replied, “Why only twenty-five rounds? You should chant as many as possible.”
So, the basic observance of Ekadasi as prescribed by Srila Prabhupada is to refrain from eating grains and beans and to chant as many rounds as possible. Although most devotees in ISKCON do not perform nirjala on every Ekadasi, many do on Pandava-nirjala Ekadasi. They also try to chant at least sixty-four rounds. And by the mercy of Ekadasi, they make great spiritual advancement: they are blessed by spiritual strength and realization and so continue their service to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission with renewed vigor—enthusiasm and inspiration.
In 1973, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), arranged for several of his disciples to go to Mayapura, West Bengal, to study the traditional art of putul (dollmaking). These unfired clay figures are composed of raw materials gathered from the riverbank of the Ganges, traditionally created for holiday Read More...
Once Bhimasena, the younger brother of Maharaja Yudhisthira, asked the great sage Shrila Vyasadeva, the grandfather of the Pandavas, if it is possible to return to the spiritual world without having observed all the rules and regulations of the Ekadasi fasts.
Bhimasena then spoke as follows, “Oh greatly intelligent and learned grandfather, my brother Yudhisthira, my dear mother Kunti, and my beloved wife Draupadi, as well as Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva, fast completely on each Ekadasi and strictly follow all the rules, guidelines and regulative injunctions of that sacred day.
Being very religious, they always tell me that I should also fast on that day too. But, Oh learned grandfather, I tell them that I cannot live without eating, because as the son of Vayudeva – Samanaprana, (the digestive air) hunger is unbearable to me.
I can give widely in charity and worship Lord Keshava properly with all manner of wonderful upacharas (items), but I cannot be asked to fast on Ekadasi. Please tell me how I can obtain the same merits result without fasting.”
Hearing these words, the grandsire of Bhima, Srila Vyasadeva said, “If you want to go to the heavenly planets and avoid the hellish planets, you should indeed observe a fast on both the light and dark Ekadasis.”
Bhima replied, “Oh great saintly intelligent grandfather, please listen to my plea. Oh greatest of munis, since I cannot live if I eat only once in a day, how can I possibly live if I fast completely? Within my stomach burns a special fire named Vrika, the fire of digestion.
Shrila Vyasadeva replied, Oh king, you have heard from me about the various kinds of occupational duties, such as elaborate Vedic ceremonies and pujas. In the Kali-yuga, however, no one will be able to observe all these occupational & functional duties properly.
I shall therefore tell you how, at practically no expense, one can endure some small austerity and achieve the greatest benefit and resultant happiness.
Vyasadeva replied, “Without drinking even water, you should fast on the Ekadasi that occurs during the light fortnight of the month of Jyeshtha (May-June) when the sun travels in the sign of Taurus (Vrishabh) and Gemini (Mithun),
One must certainly not eat anything, for if he does so he breaks his fast. This rigid fast is in effect from sunrise on the Ekadasi day to sunrise on the Dwadashi day. If a person endeavours to observe this great fast very strictly, he easily achieves the result of observing all twenty-four other Ekadasi fasts throughout the entire year.
Washington, D.C., Maryland, Delaware, New York City
(Sent from New York City on June 7, 2025)
Where I Went and What I Did
For the twenty-second week of 2025, I spent four days in Maryland, one day in Delaware, and two days in New York City. Wednesday it rained, and so I chanted Hare Krishna with Gurudas Prabhu at the Bethesda Metro Station for an hour or so. Thursday I chanted with devotees from ISKCON DC in front of the Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., during the middle of the day, and with devotees from ISKCON Baltimore and the Baltimore Krishna House on the Inner Harbor Waterfront in the evening to promote the Baltimore Ratha-yatra. Friday I chanted at Inner Harbor Watherfront for three hours with Bharata Prabhu, of Augusta, Georgia, who is working in Baltimore temporarily, and who I met when he briefly worked in Tallahassee. Saturday was Baltimore Ratha-yatra. Sunday I spoke at the Sunday feast program at ISKCON Delaware, and I chanted with devotees afterward for an hour at Newark, Delaware, a local college town.
Monday and Tuesday I spent at ISKCON NYC in Brooklyn, serving Rama Raya Prabhu’s NYC Harinam program by chanting Hare Krishna and distributing Ratha-yatra flyers for three or four hours each day, at Battery Park and Union Square, respectively.
I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, and Krishna: The Supreme Personality of Godhead. I share quotes from Sri Caitanya-bhagavata by Vrindavana Dasa Thakura and its commentary by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati and from Prabhupada Nectar by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. I share notes on classes by Arcita, Nityananda Chandra, Sundarananda, and Nitai-pada-kamala Prabhus.
Many thanks to Nimai Prabhu for his kind donation toward my Delaware visit. Thanks also to Sankarsana Prabhu for his donation toward my visit to ISKCON DC. Thanks to Ryan for picking me up at Baltimore Ratha-yatra and dropping me at the Chinese bus station in Wilmington, DE. Thanks to Ahaituki Prabhu for the photos and videos of NYC Harinam.
Itinerary
May 7–June 16: NYC Harinam June 17–August 19: Paris – June 22: Paris Ratha-yatra – July 11: Amsterdam harinama – July 12: Amsterdam Ratha-yatra – July 13: Holland harinama August 20: London harinama August 21–22: Liverpool harinamas August 23: Liverpool Ratha-yatra August 24: Manchester harinama August 25: London harinama and flight to New York
Chanting Hare Krishna in Washington, D.C.
Wednesday it rained the whole day, and because the authorities do not allow Sankarsana Prabhu to have a tent, it was impractical to chant by the Museum of Natural History as usual. Gurudas Prabhu told me that Bethesda Metro Station was protected from the rain, so he and I decided to chant there. There was saxophonist setting up to play between the metro and the buses, so I positioned myself between the buses and the parking lots. We chanted for a little over an hour. One young guy, who was attracted to the music, played the shakers and chanted for five minutes, asking if he could keep the “On Chanting Hare Krishna” he had been reading mantra from when he left. A young Indian woman said “Hare Krishna” to us. She enjoyed attending the Potomac temple as a child with her parents. I told her about our new temple building, and encouraged her to visit. I am glad I decided go on harinama despite the rain.
Thursday Sankarsana and I were back by the Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
After Sankarsana Prabhu chanted for a while, we were joined by devotees we had invited from the Potomac temple, along with two devotees visting from Festival of India.
Here Baldev Prabhu chants Hare Krishna with devotees from ISKCON DC and the Festival of India by the Museum of Natural History (https://youtu.be/xybIr_FCULI):
Later while Baldev Prabhu was chanting Hare Krishna, passersby, encouraged by devotees, played shakers and danced (https://youtu.be/oRU76gJobM8):
Gangadhara Prabhu of Festival of India chants Hare Krishna by the Museum of Natural History, and an Indian man plays shakers (https://youtu.be/oydlA5msHDQ):
Chanting Hare Krishna in Baltimore
I proposed doing harinama two days before Baltimore Ratha-yatra to the Baltimore temple president, Nila Madhava Prabhu, and he scheduled harinama for Thursday, saying that Friday people would be setting up for the Ratha-yatra. Kartikeya Prabhu of Krishna House picked me up at the train, and joined me on harinama at Inner Harbor, near the place where the Ratha-yatra festival is held.
On harinama I was happy to find about 70% or 80% of the passersby would accept invitations to the Ratha-yatra, which is much greater than in New York or Paris, where it is less than 30%.
Friday I did harinama with the assistance of Bharata Prabhu of Augusta, Georgia, who I met when he was briefly working in Tallahassee but who is now working temporarily in Baltimore. We chanted Hare Krishna for three hours and passed out many invitations.
Ajamila Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the beginning of the Baltimore Ratha-yatra (https://youtu.be/6zywJWA6U7M):
Isha Ray chants Hare Krishna on the Inner Harbor Wavefront in Baltimore during Ratha-yatra (https://youtu.be/3fDuW-beupc):
I sat in front of the kirtan tent while I took prasadam. I let people play my shakers while Vishnugada Prabhu was leading the chanting.
After I finished prasadam, Sasthivara Prabhu chanted Hare Krishna at Baltimore Ratha-yatra kirtan tent, and Vishnugada Prabhu played my pink shakers (https://youtu.be/HGqn903kSgs):
Chanting Hare Krishna in Delaware
Nimai Prabhu from Delawarevisited our NYC Harinam party for a few days not too long ago. He told me about their temple in Delaware and his love for harinama. It occurred to me that it may be possible for me to attend the Sunday feast program and do a harinama there in Delaware, while returning to New York City, after Baltimore Ratha-yatra. There were about thirty people attending the Sunday feast program in Delaware, which is held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. At least ten were Westerners. Then about six of us did harinama at Newark, DE, a local college town, though the college was on summer break. Several people were clearly happy to encounter the devotees, their kirtan, and their literature.
“There is complete facility for the small complete units, namely the living entities, to realize the complete [Krishna], and all sorts of incompleteness are experienced due to incomplete knowledge of the complete. So Bhagavad-gita contains the complete knowledge of Vedic wisdom.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.1.16, purport:
“A devotee is always in a renounced temperament because the worldly attractions can never satisfy him.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.7.19:
“By serving the feet of the spiritual master, one is able to develop transcendental ecstasy in the service of the Personality of Godhead, who is the unchangeable enemy of the Madhu demon and whose service vanquishes one’s material distresses.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.7.19, purport:
“Service to the Lord is rendered in different transcendental mellows (relationships): neutral, active, friendly, parental and nuptial. A living entity in the liberated position of transcendental service to the Lord becomes attracted to one of the above-mentioned mellows, and when one is engaged in transcendental loving service to the Lord, one’s service attachment in the material world is automatically vanquished.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.7.36:
“O best among the brahmanas, those who are spiritual masters are very kind to the needy. They are always kind to their followers, disciples and sons, and without being asked by them, the spiritual master describes all that is knowledge.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.25.19:
“Perfection in self-realization cannot be attained by any kind of yogi unless he engages in devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for that is the only auspicious path.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.8.45, purport:
“Impersonal meditation is a bogus invention of modern days. In none of the Vedic literatures is impersonal meditation recommended.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.8.46, purport:
“Everyone has to surrender to someone superior. That is always the nature of our living condition. At the present moment we are trying to surrender to someone—either to society or to our nation, family, state or government. The surrendering process already exists, but it is never perfect because the person or institution unto whom we surrender is imperfect, and our surrender, having so many ulterior motives, is also imperfect. As such, in the material world no one is worthy to accept anyone’s surrender, nor does anyone fully surrender to anyone else unless obliged to do so. But here the surrendering process is voluntary, and the Lord is worthy to accept the surrender. This surrender by the living entity occurs automatically as soon as he sees the beautiful youthful nature of the Lord.”
From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya 22.16:
“O my Lord, there is no limit to the unwanted orders of lusty desires. Although I have rendered these desires so much service, they have not shown any mercy to me. I have not been ashamed to serve them, nor have I even desired to give them up. O my Lord, O head of the Yadu dynasty, recently, however, my intelligence has been awakened, and now I am giving them up. Due to transcendental intelligence, I now refuse to obey the unwanted orders of these desires, and I now come to You to surrender myself at Your fearless lotus feet. Kindly engage me in Your personal service and save me.” (Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhi 3.2.25)
From Krishna, Chapter 87:
“‘The conditioned souls can execute pious activities only when You mercifully inspire them to do so. Therefore, without taking shelter at Your lotus feet one cannot surpass the influence of the material energy. Actually, we, as personified Vedic knowledge, are always engaged in Your service by helping the conditioned souls understand You.’”
Vrindavana Dasa Thakura:
From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 18.149:
“Krishna is unhappy when the demigods are offended. If one worships Krishna
along with His associates, He is pleased.”
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura:
From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 18.149, commentary:
“If one serves Kṛṣṇa with His associates, Kṛṣṇa becomes particularly pleased. By becoming envious of heroes like the demigods and scenes that consist of false ego in the mode of goodness, one denies that they are related to the devotional service of Lord Viṣṇu. When after giving up the desire for material enjoyment one begs all living entities, including the demigods, for the service of Kṛṣṇa, then such natural prayers are devoid of all driving urges for material enjoyment. When living entities freed from the influence of mundane knowledge follow the examples of the Lord’s associates and their characteristics, they become liberated from material concepts. Such maha-bhagavatas are fully capable of pleasing Kṛṣṇa.”
“Faith in Srimad Bhagavatam and freedom from faultfinding in petty matters are symptoms of a pure devotee.”
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami
From Prabhupada Nectar:
From Chapter 1, Number 47:
“‘Yes,’ said Śrīla Prabhupāda, ‘you can decorate the naked dancing club and go to hell, or you can decorate the temple and go back to Vaikuṇṭha.’”
From Chapter 2, Number 5:
“While Prabhupāda was living in Los Angeles in 1969, he got a letter from one of his relatives stating that one of his brothers had died. Prabhupāda received this information in the presence of some of the devotees and he informed them, ‘I have just received this letter saying that my brother died. Previously my other brother died. These two brothers were very nice. They wanted to live long, healthy lives, but they didn’t care so much for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But my sister and I,’ Prabhupāda laughed softly, ‘we didn’t want to live long, healthy lives. We only wanted to do some service, and when Kṛṣṇa wanted to, He would take us. Now I see that my two brothers are both dead, and my sister and I are living long, happy lives.’”
Arcita Prabhu:
I heard many classes with Srila Prabhupada in person, and he would typically allow fifteen devotees to chant the verse before he spoke on it because he wanted the devotees to remember it.
I personally heard Srila Prabhupada tell the story of the brahmana and the cobbler. That story makes the point that there is nothing that the Lord cannot do.
“We used to think, but now we know!” is a quote from a class given by Sadaputa Prabhu in San Diego. He was referring to the scientific community in general, not a particular scientist! He stated that reality was just the opposite: “They used to KNOW, but now they THINK (differently)!”
Ratha-yatra is so important because it gives persons who have absorbed themselves in matter their whole lives the chance to have darsana of the Lord and to ultimately attain the spiritual world.
In so many places of worship there are people doing business and searching for a mate and very little genuine spiritual life, so people have lost faith in them.
A rtvik is someone who is appointed by someone who cannot be present. You cannot appoint yourself as a rtvik. That is another defect of the rtvik initiation idea.
Srila Prabhupada said that the gardener who grew the rose that is offered to Krishna gets the same benefit as the person who offered it.
Referring to Rukmini Dvarakadhisa, Srila Prabhupada said that the Deity is ready to speak with you. He then suggested that one go before the Deity and say: “Sir, this is my problem!”
We should have halfway houses for those not ready to move in the temple.
Nityananda Chandra Prabhu:
There are three different ways Sanskrit verses are translated:
Mukhya-vrtti is the face (mukhya) value of the words.
Laksana-vrtti is an interpreted meaning when the mukhya-vrtti does not make sense.
Gauna-vrtti is a metaphorical meaning that does not stray far from the mukhya-vrtti.
One of the acaryas explains that the four items mentioned in Bhagavad-gita 9.34 are listed in a progression. (1) Always think of Me. If you cannot do that, then (2) become my devotee. If you cannot do all the items of devotional service, then at least (3) worship Me. If you do not have the means to worship me, then at least (4) bow down to Me.
According to Krishna, Chapter 87, if we want knowledge we should get it from someone like Sanat Kumara, who does not only have knowledge, but who is also austere and who has good character.
Sundarananda Prabhu of Baltimore:
Through the stories of the lives of great souls in Srimad-Bhagavatam, we learn how to see the events in our lives in relation to the Supreme Lord, and thus develop our relationship with Him.
We give advice when people ask for it, otherwise they likely will not take it seriously.
Duryodhana called Vidura a maidservant’s son (dasi-putra) and said he should be thrown out of the palace. Actually according to the culture, dasi-putras, although they cannot inherit the throne, are allow to live in the palace and be maintained.
If we are mistreated we can see that the aggressors are being controlled by the material energy and therefore not have a grudge with them. We can also consider that everything is ultimately sanctioned by Krishna, and if we are upset about an action, we are upset with Krishna.
Devotees continue with their practice of bhakti, no matter what happens to them, and thus they receive the right to attain the kingdom of God.
Svayam Bhagavan Keshava Swami says that obstacles are not the problem but rather our attitude toward obstacles is the problem.
If someone does something nice for us, we feel gratitude both to the person and also Krishna, who inspired and sanctioned the nice act.
Comments by me:
It is offensive to consider the birth of a pure devotee, as Duryodhana does here with Vidura.
From difficulties we can always learn that the material world is a miserable place, and we can become inspired to endeavor to get out of it.
We cannot expect everyone to be nice to us because everyone is not even nice to Krishna, and He is far more qualified than we are.
Comment by Kartikeya Prabhu: We may have a problem with someone in the ashram, but then when we go to the office, we find that we have the same problem with someone else. Thus the problem is in ourselves, and we have to find out what it is and solve it.
Nitai-pada-kamala Prabhu:
Even Vyasa, the author of the Vedic literature, needed a guru to visualize the form of the Lord.
They asked Srila Prabhupada if our pictures of Krishna looked like Krishna, and Srila Prabhupada said they looked close enough that we would recognize Him.
Arjuna said he was unable to concentrate his mind, and yet he was so qualified he was the only one of Dronacarya’s disciples who could fix his mind on the target. How hard then will it be for us to concentrate our minds in the way Krishna recommends.
Acaryas explain Bg. 9.27 as being karma-misra-bhakti.
Dhruva was so enthusiastic in following the instructions of his guru, Narada Muni, he became so powerful within six months that he could influence the whole universe.
Comment by Narada Rsi Prabhu: It is said, yasya deva para bhaktir. I was told by Gopal Krishna Maharaja, Sridhara Swami, and Bhima Prabhu to manage the Mumbai BBT, and I knew nothing about printing of books. I surrendered, and by Krishna’s grace I was able to learn everything required.
Krishna Kripa Das:
From posts to Official Hare Krishna Humor:
I wondered why there was no quiet time in the ashram and why the washers and dryers can be found running at any time of the day or night, and then it came to me. New York is the city that never sleeps for devotees too!
It always disturbs me when they mispronounce rati-keli-siddhyai as ratty-keli-siddhyai. I think of the rats I see in the New York subway stations, instead of the elevated sentiments expressed in the prayer!
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Although we may have so much theoretical spiritual knowledge, we may feel a lack in practical realization. How do we get that realization? This important verse from Svetasvatara Upanisad, which was quoted over three hundred times by Srila Prabhupada, gives us a clue:
yasya deve para bhaktir
yatha deve tatha gurau
tasyaite kathita hy arthah
prakasante mahatmanah
“Only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed.” (Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.23, quoted in Bhagavad-gita 6.47, purport)
Regarding the issue of book changes, somehow that topic has not caught my interest deeply, and I’ve often wondered why people are so fixated on it. Still, I’ll share my quick understanding, based on whatever I’ve studied.
The way Srila Prabhupada’s books have come into existence is quite an unusual process compared to how most books are written. While some spiritual teachers’ books may have evolved in similar ways, most authors usually sit down and write their books themselves—either by hand or by typing—and they carefully review any edits. Prabhupada, however, did not personally check all the edits. But when he noticed any edits that he felt were inappropriate or incorrect, he asked the devotees to correct them.
The Five Stages of Book Preparation
To understand the issue better, we can look at the stages involved in the creation of Prabhupada’s books. I propose a simple model of five stages:
Stage 0 (0D) – Dictation: Prabhupada would dictate his content. In a few cases, he also typed himself, but he practically never handwrote his works.
Stage 1 (1T) – Transcription: The dictated content (0D) was transcribed by devotees.
Stage 2 (2P) – Initial Publication: The transcribed text was edited and then published. This editing involved basic grammar correction and sometimes minor interpretative changes.
Stage 3 (3P) – Publication during Prabhupada’s lifetime: This included further edited versions that were approved or at least not objected to by Prabhupada during his physical presence.
Stage 4 (4E) – Edited editions after Prabhupada’s departure: Editors attempted to revise based on listening to original audio recordings and comparing them with transcriptions and printed versions. This stage is where most of the controversy arises.
Types of Editorial Changes
Editing is essential because spoken words are not always suitable for direct publication. Based on my understanding, editorial changes generally fall into five categories:
Basic Grammar and Punctuation Fixes – These are universally accepted and necessary.
Incorrect Attribution of Words – For example, Prabhupada may refer to something inaccurately, such as confusing a reference point or mislabeling a term.
Incorrect Quotation of Verses – E.g., quoting a verse slightly wrong due to memory or dictation error.
Improper Wording or Ambiguity – An example is the phrase “O the King,” which can misleadingly suggest a person named “O.” The correct rendering should be “O King.”
Content Issues or Problematic Phrasing – For instance, in one lecture, Prabhupada said the blood from a fight reached the sun, to indicate that the sun is closer than the moon. Later, Harikesh Prabhu pointed out that the battle he referred to took place on another planet. When this was brought to Prabhupada’s attention, he admitted the point was more to discredit scientific claims and asked that the line be edited out.
Similarly, Prabhupada used certain analogies—like the one involving a Black man inside a grand car—to illustrate concepts. Today, these examples could be seen as racially insensitive. Such cases fall into the realm of problematic content.
Points of Agreement and Contention
Most devotees agree on the need for grammar corrections (Category 1) and even for addressing obvious misquotes or misattributions (Categories 2 and 3). The real debate arises around the fourth and fifth types of edits—especially when they involve interpretation or what might seem like modifying Prabhupada’s intent.
There have been instances where editors have gone too far, though such cases are a minority—perhaps two to five out of hundreds. Still, these become the basis for significant mistrust.
Some major changes have sparked agitation, but when carefully examined, they often don’t fall under malicious alteration but rather result from correcting earlier transcription errors. For instance, in the early days, devotees sometimes transcribed Prabhupada’s dictations inaccurately. Later publications were based on these faulty transcriptions, leading people to assume that the first published version was the “original.”
However, the real original is Prabhupada’s dictated word (0D), and not necessarily the first printed edition (2P or 3P). So recent changes in the edited editions (4E) are attempts to return to a more accurate rendering of Prabhupada’s spoken words.
Institutional Handling and Divergences
Because of the sensitivity of this issue, the BBT (Bhaktivedanta Book Trust) formed a committee to review and regulate editorial policies. After much deliberation, they finalized new editorial guidelines. These are now being used to systematically review each change, chapter by chapter, starting with the Bhagavad-gita—a process that may take years due to its meticulous nature.
This initiative was undertaken primarily by the North American BBT. However, it has not been accepted by all. For instance, the ritvik groups insist on publishing Prabhupada’s unedited words and claim that some original dictations were deliberately erased. They argue that editing is being used to distort Prabhupada’s teachings and weaken his position, particularly concerning the guru issue.
There is also a historical conflict between the Indian BBT and the North American BBT. The Indian BBT has not accepted the American committee’s guidelines. They prefer to publish what they see as Prabhupada’s “original” words. But the question remains—what exactly is the original? The audio? The transcript? The first publication?
This remains a matter of ongoing discussion and debate.
Hare Krishna. This year Jhulan Yatra begins on Friday 5th August & ends on Balarama Jayanti, Saturday 9th August 2025.
All are welcome to participate in this blissful pastime of swinging Their Lordships after the 7am Shringar Darshan & 7PM Gaura (Sandhya) Arati at Sri Sri Radha Giridhari Temple.
Sri Balarama Jayanti - The Divine Appearance of Lord Balaram will begin with the morning Mangala Arati program followed by kirtan and an evening program from 6pm onwards.
Jaya Jagannatha! Join us at Sri Sri Radha Giridhari Temple (ISKCON Auckland) for the wonderful Ratha Yatra of Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva & Subhadra-Devi on Sunday 29th June 2025 from 12:30pm onwards. All are welcome to participate. We are located at 1229 Coatesville Riverhead Hwy, Kumeu. Hare Krishna!
On the auspicious occasion of Yogini Ekadasi be a part of the Divya Garuda installation at Sri Sri Radha Giridhari Temple on Sunday 22nd June 2025 from 11am onwards.
We invite you & your family to participate in the Maha Yajna & Divya Abhishek of Garuda for a donation of $251. All are welcome.
HE LIVES FOREVER IN FRANCE (and wherever he is present — in his books, followers, Deities, temples, and hearts…) The murti of Srila Prabhupada in these photos was lovingly moulded and produced by devoted members of the Russian yatra, offered as free gifts to every initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada. Thousands have been created so Read More...
Our Radha Kunjavihari temple is in the Klungkung area of Bali about 90 minutes from Denpasar. It is one of the eight regencies of Bali and home to the famous Klungkung palace, which used to house the old kings.
The temple is graced by the beautiful deities of Radha Kunjavihari and Gaura Nitai and worshiped mainly by the grhastha devotees. I regularly lead kirtan and give class here and feel blessed to have darshana of the deities and association of the devotees.
Nestled within the vibrant spiritual heart of ISKCON Los Angeles, the Bhagavad-gita Museum stands as a unique fusion of art, devotion, and transcendental storytelling. Located adjacent to the New Dwaraka temple, this museum—also known by its creators as the F.A.T.E. Museum (First American Transcendental Exhibition)—has captivated visitors for decades with its life-size dioramas that Read More...
Hare Krishna. So the question is, how can we see the current conflict that is going on from a Bhagavata perspective or spiritual perspective? Yes. This is currently raging in social media. And, I’ve been asked this question repeatedly.
And over the last month or so I’ve been reflecting on this. And so I’ll talk about this from four perspectives. First, a philosophical perspective. Then I’ll look at it from a psychological perspective. Then I’ll talk about it from a historical perspective in terms of how something similar has happened in other traditions also.
And then I’ll talk about it from an individual perspective of what we can do. Till now, most of the discussion has been at an institutional level with, a focus on trying to prove that, say, the ritwikks are wrong. I would like to take a broader perspective here. From a philosophical perspective, Krishna talks about the concept of Dharmasyaglani in the Bhagavad Gita. Dharmasyaglani is basically where dharma becomes disrupted.
And at that time, correction has to happen. So before we can understand this disruption of dharma, we need to understand what is dharma. So broadly, while the word dharma has many different meanings, so I’m right now talking about dharma in terms of the issue of, the role and position of the guru in the tradition. So dharma one meaning of the word dharma is harmonious belonging. That whichever larger unit we are a part of, we need to belong harmoniously to that.
And harmonious belonging is a two way street that we need to do our part in the larger whole, and the larger whole needs to do its part for us. So Krishna talks about we doing our part in to Arjuna asked that. That is the meaning of the word dharma over there. And fixing the larger whole is what Krishna talks about. And he said, So Dharma Seglani can be corrected in both ways.
Now in terms of the system of the spiritual master, the guru that is there, the the here the individual will be the disciple and the spiritual master is is the larger collector. That’s the guru system that is there. So the individual contributes. So if you apply this to the this particular model, if you apply to the guru system, then we have the disciple. And I’m putting the Guru here as a representative of the Guru system.
So the so the disciple, they is expected to offer respect and, obedience and worship. And the Guru is meant to give guidance, inspiration, mercy. And the Guru is expected to set an example of pure bhakti. And when both these are working together, then that’s where balance is there. That’s where the disciple also grows.
So now in the history of our movement, when Srila Prabhupada went to America, Srila Prabhupada was a exemplary guru and he was the only guru at that time. And what he did is extraordinary. Now after he departed, there were succ successor gurus who took up the role of guru ship following Prabhupada. How in the first decade, especially from ’77 to ’87, there was a lot of Dharmasya Gnaani. And as I said, Dharmasya Ghlani can happen in this context in both ways.
The disciple may not follow or the the disciple is not following, then disciple has to follow the standards, do the sadhana properly. But what can also happen is that sometimes the spiritual master may have some problems. So several of the spiritual leaders at that time, for various reasons, they had some moral challenges, they had some falls. And that shook and even shattered the faith of many devotees. Now when this happened, there was a lot of soul searching about what is to be done in such a situation.
So till then the idea was devotees have to follow, individuals have to be strict in their sadhana. But then those who were supposed to be representing Prabhupada and Krishna when they had false, then at that time there was a the Dharmasheglani at the level of the Guru. So there was an internal Guru reform in ISKCON. So what did Buddhist Guru reform do? Basically, post Prabhupada, if we consider 1977, ’80 ‘4 was probably the worst year in our movement’s history.
We had three big, spiritual masters having problems in falling and leaving. So at that time, basically after Srila Prabhupada’s departure, there had become in place something called a zoonal acharya system. Srila Prabhupada had appointed certain teachers, sir, some of his 11 some of his disciples as gurus. And when he appointed those disciples, basically, they became acharyas for particular zones. And everybody in that particular zone was expected to take initiation from that particular spiritual master only.
And International Society for Krishna Consciousness became divided into many zonal societies for Krishna consciousness. And these devotees became like super gurus. They became like a super GBC who had a widow power over the entire GBC, even above their own god brothers. So the guru reform that happened at that time, one of the main changes that happened is that the gurus may be gurus for their disciples, but the gurus are not gurus for their god brothers. So the gurus should not be sitting on a higher asana than their god brothers.
So the vote of the g b the GBC of the gurus and the non gurus both became equivalent. And basically, the understanding that after that, there are many other devotees who also took up the service of the gurus. So the Guru reform, what it did was, it the Guru’s position in relationship with the disciples of that particular Guru and relationship with others, That differentiation was made. And even for the disciples also, it is encouraged that it is not that you take guidance only from one guru. You take guidance from we are joining a tradition.
We take guidance from various people. And while this did significantly stop major problems, but still problems kept happening. Even after that, there was other spiritual masters who had issues. And then the second way to reform this that came was the rittvik moment. So when we talk about Dharmasya Ghlani, we could say that one is the disciple needs to fix themselves.
The other is the gurus need to fix themselves. So there was attempt made to fix the gurus, that the gurus were also accountable to the GBC. They so that certain amount of fixing of the guru system was done. But some devotees felt that this fixing is not working. And therefore, generally, whenever there is Dharmas Seglani, there are three things which we can do.
We can tolerate it. Okay. Things will change and improve on their own. We can mitigate it. Or we can emigrate from it.
We can just leave that system and go somewhere else. So the what the ritwik basically did was, they tried to emigrate out. So emigrate means that this thing, whole thing cannot be fixed itself. We’ll go out and we will create something new. So now when we create something new, what they said is that the problem is the object of faith and service, the spiritual master.
If that spiritual master has some problem and has some faults, then it can be very devastating for the disciple. So try to shift the object of faith to a place where that faith will never be disappointed or betrayed. So basically, they started saying that the rhetoric system was that Srila Prabhupada is the only guru And we serve Srila Prabhupada and Srila Prabhupada will deliver us. And everyone else is, representative of Srila Prabhupada. That’s the word, Srila Prabhupada.
They’re simply initiating on behalf of Srila Prabhupada. Now in our tradition, whenever there is Dharma Seglani, there are resources within the tradition to fix a situation. And there is Guru, Sadhu, and Shastra. So Guru, Sadhu, and Shastra are there. And all three need to be considered to decide what are the right measures to fix things.
And if we consider the broader tradition in Shastra, there is practically very little, no basis to the idea of a ritwik system being there continuously for a tradition. There are some occasions of some examples of some ritwik initiation here where the spiritual master may not be there and some through some is some mystical means some initiation can happen. But the the cornerstone of the tradition has always been a living guru training a living disciple. So basically, what happened is this is the normal system. So the ritwik said the guru alone is all that matters.
And sadhu and shastra are all also to be, seen through the guru, so guru is the supreme. And the Prabhupada’s words are made into the supreme words. Now based on sadhu and shastra, such system is very difficult to substantiate. It’s almost impossible. Now based on Prabhupada’s words, there is some attempt to substantiate the system and there has been a crossfire of, courts from this side and that side.
There I won’t get into that particular, battle of courts. But the broad point is that there is a emigration from the traditional system, which is the cornerstone of the Vedic tradition. It’s a personal relationship where the guru trains the disciple. And so when this is this didn’t happen, so the Ritwik’s, won a court case recently in Bangalore. And now, the current situation is that, is that this is being seen as not just a victory at a legal level, but also at a moral and spiritual level that the ritwik philosophy is right.
So, while it’s important to recognize that from a perspective Guru Sadhu Shastra, it’s it’s almost impossible to substantiate the ritwik system as an absolute system for all time in our tradition. At the same time, it’s not healthy to demonize the ritwik. Those who are following that, they are also following Shlapa Prabhupada, they are also worshipping Krishna. So this is where Dharmas Seglani, how is it to be addressed. And so that’s where I’ll go to the psychological level.
At a psychological level, when faith is there. Faith is a very precious, at the same time a very, fragile thing. So we always want to protect our faith. So what is happening is that currently that those who those who are ritwikks, at one level, there is a philosophical argument made for that. But along with that, to discredit the current guru system that is there in the moment, there is often a demonization of the present gurus.
Now demonizing the Gurus in the moment. And sometimes the past scandals are being brought about and, oh this happened, that happened. Some of them are true, some of them are exaggerated, some of them are distorted, some of them are concocted. But there’s a lot of, demonizing of the Gurus happening. Now it I would like to use here a military metaphor over here that why military metaphor?
Because Slapropad also said that it’s a war against Maya. And in the war, there are some people who may become generals, commanders, leaders. And sometimes even the leaders can get wounded. Sometimes the leaders may make strategic some of the military leaders can make strategic mistakes. And not if they get wounded, others get wounded by that.
And based on that, if somebody starts condemning, the leaders themselves and questioning their loyalty to the country, that would be horrendous. They were trying to serve the country, but maybe they got wounded. Maybe they made some decisions which turned out to be counterproductive. So saying that none of the Gurus have any standing because they have usurped Prabhupada’s position or that they have taken for themselves the credit that was meant only you know, that only meant for Prabhupada. And then highlighting their moral flaws or just concocting certain things.
This is, is a serious disservice to the broader tradition. Now at the same time, we can go to the other extreme, and we may demonize there can be demonizing the critics. The critics of the gurus or the critics of the guru system. Where he starts saying that those who are doing like this, they are all guru apradis and they are going to go to hell. Now when this happens, again, the problem is that there is a philosophical level of argumentation, but underlying that, there is a wounded heart.
There’s a insecure heart. That what is a safe and worthy object of faith for us. And unless that issue is addressed, the we will just be arguing at a surface level. The intelligence that we have been given, the human intelligence is powerful enough that it can go both ways. That we can we all have in our mind, there are certain conceptions.
The mind’s conceptions, we can use our intelligence to rectify those conceptions or to justify those conceptions. Now it’s up to us which one we are going to do. But when the mind has certain conceptions, those conceptions come not just at a rational level. They also come at an emotional level. So even now that if we are to correct the Dharma Seglani, there needs to be a deeper soul searching about how, the the system of Guru Shishya Parampara, which is a cornerstone of the Vedic tradition, can apply in today’s world.
Even now, is everything, hunky dory in the guru system right now? Not necessarily. That there are many devotees who feel that they never get guidance of their association with their spiritual master. There are times when the spiritual masters may give certain guidance which, which turns out to be, somewhat, unproductive or counterproductive also. Even if there are no moral flaws.
So the the point of the good disciple relationship is is a personal connection. So what would this imply? Unless we consider the faith faith cannot be legislated. Faith cannot be simply argued at a philosophical level based on court mining. That when there is vulnerability and insecurity of the faith, how can that faith be secured?
So there needs to be some deep deep soul searching about this. And that’s why rather than a philosophical level, we also need to look at a psychological level. We are not talking about psychoanalysing the motives of people because we can ascribe the worst motives to each side. And we can also consider that both sides may have noble motives. And both of the both sides are trying to search the Prabhupada, but there are serious differences.
So generally, at a psychological level, even there are differences of opinion, we may not be able to There are different levels. There is sometimes you may question someone’s judgement. That means you made a decision that was wrong. Sometimes you may question somebody’s ability. So for example, judgement means that, in a war, a general says let’s attack on that front.
And somebody says no, that is a mistake. So now the judge that the general may be a competent general, but there they made a judgement error. There’s judgement error, it’s bad. It’ll have consequences. But we can assume that, okay, this will learn from it.
Sometimes we question the ability of a person. I mean, you should not be the general self. You just don’t have the competence for that. That can be little more damaging. But if we go further and cons question the integrity of the person itself, then there is no chance for reconciliation.
So let us pray that neither side assumes the worst about the other side. Is it possible that there may be some people with those motives possible? But is it likely that everybody here is having those lowest motives in their side? Unlikely. So if you can give benefit of the doubt, Upanishu Nam Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, aversion to fault finding.
Then there’s a greater chance that, a solution to the Dharmasiglani can happen in a way that addresses the current needs while also is faithful to the tradition. So I have no magic wand by which I can use such a solution. But Srila Prabhupada himself says that when we are preaching, when we are sharing scriptural knowledge, there is scripture on one side and there is there are the interests of the audience on the other side. So he says realization means to present scripture in a way that is interesting for the audience. This intersection zone is the realization.
So we have the tradition of the Guru Sushya Parampara. We have the current concern about the audience concern, interest is what that either the there are some issues with the guru system. How is that to be addressed? So a lot of prayer and deliberation and soul searching is required. And it can be that the parent situation can become a deliberation for that to see how maybe the guru system can be more decentralized so that gurus and disciples can interact with each other more on regular basis.
Maybe Shiksha gurus need to be elevated more so that the Shiksha gurus can provide guidance. There are various ways in which this can be addressed, but that’s the point of a psychological level. Now from a historical level, something similar happened in the history of Christianity. We consider Christians, originally, they were the Catholic church, but the Catholic church split into Catholics and Protestants. And that is called the Christian Reformation.
And when this happened, there are many reasons for that, but one of them was primarily many people many, church leaders, Martin Luther, who was the leader of the Protestants, he lost faith in the ecclesiastical authority of the church, especially church leaders. There were popes who were supposed to be the highest risk authority. There were popes who were quite immoral. There were popes who had illicit affairs. They had children to the fear affairs, and the popes had the church would provide endowment for taking care of those children.
And the church was selling indulgences. But the idea is you pay some donation for building a church. And just by that donation, your relatives and friends who have passed through who are currently in hell will get transferred to heaven. So there’s a lot of corruption and there’s a loss of faith and authority. So what the protestants said is they had a sola scriptura.
Sola scriptura means, scripture alone is the authority. We don’t need the church to understand the scripture. We don’t need the church leaders. So by that, they started focusing on we everyone will read the Bible, everyone will understand the Bible on their own way. Now the result of that eventually was that the protestants broke away from the Catholics.
But then if everybody can read the Bible and everybody can understand their own way, now there are almost 55,000 denominations of protesters. Because different protesters started interpreting, you know, this is the interpretation. This is the interpretation. This is the interpretation. It led to a lot of fragmentation.
And it became quite vicious. There’s a hundred years of wars because Europe became divided. Say, Spain and Portugal and Italy mostly were protestants. France and Germany and England became sorry. The other Spain, Portugal actually were Catholics.
And France, Germany, England became Protestants. And there is a hundred year war between them. And each side started ascribing the worst motives. So post reformation when the when the Islamic invaders attack Europe. So there are countries that were they are ruled by a Catholic king and they are protestants in that country.
The protestants were also there as soldiers. So Martin Luther told the soldiers, this attack by the Muslims is actually God’s punishment for the Catholics. And therefore, you should not fight against them. And the soldiers many soldiers refused to fight and those kingdoms were overrun, churches were destroyed. And then eventually, when the Muslim innovators started coming and attacking the protestant countries, at that time, Martin Luther King stood.
And he said that, oh, no, no. Actually, these are not agents of God’s God’s retribution. These are agents of Satan to destroy our church. They fight against them. The point is that this infighting led not only to mutual violence and fighting can also lead to further other external enemies attacking and we becoming vulnerable and destroying ourselves.
So we do not have sola scriptura, but we can say what the ritwikks are doing is sola prabhupada. That prabhupada alone. And we don’t have anything else. So in our own tradition, there is Guru Sadhu Shastra. So historically, this infighting goes on.
Sanatana Dharma has many far bigger threats. And we are already spend huge amount of energy, a financial level time, and now emotional energy. This will only lead to further fragmentation. Now there are some attempts after hundreds of years to try to bring the two churches together, Protestant and Catholics. But it’s it’s a lot of historical wounds are there.
So hopefully, we can pray that this is the last says, Dhruva Maharaj in the fifth canto, he prays that, Sastirastu, may all living beings become peaceful. So that a cooler head prevails and we don’t repeat the the tragedies of history, wherein fighting leads to vicious animosity. And the last part I’ll talk about is at a individual level. So what can we as individuals do? Each one of us, those of us who are trying to practice Bhakti, those who come to the Krishna consciousness movement, we may think who is right, who is wrong.
Now more than that question of who is right and who is wrong, let’s focus on the question of what is right for me and what is wrong for me. So what is right for me is that I came here for Krishna consciousness. So how can I best cultivate Krishna consciousness? So is there some Dharma Seglani? It is there.
Is there something I can do to fix it right now? It’s unlikely just by getting caught in the crossfire of the argument. This person is saying this, this person is saying this. No. We will only get more distracted.
And our it is if not our faith, our convictions, our intelligence, they will all get, confused. So let us focus on individually cultivating Krishna consciousness, and we can pray if we have the responsibility of the role, if we have the interest. Then if some of us want to be involved in bringing about some resolution, there are some kind of understanding. Those of us who have that the position or the disposition, the guna and karma, we may be able to do something. But for most of us, it is best to focus on our Krishna consciousness.
This is the international society for Krishna consciousness. So it is for Krishna consciousness. It is not of Krishna consciousness. What What that means is it’s not that intrinsically there is Krishna consciousness over here. It is a place for cultivating Krishna consciousness.
So I’ll conclude with the last metaphor, the metaphor of mining. This comes in the seventh canto in Prahlad’s teachings. That just as under the ground there is gold, we have to dig to get to the gold. So similar the soul exists deep below at the core of our self, but we have to excavate it. So like that.
Now if somebody has come for mining gold. Now at the gold mining place, many other things might be happening. Some peep miners may fight fighting with each other. Some other things might be happening. If we have come there for mining gold, we focus on mining gold.
If we have the capacity to fix other fight, we can fix it. Otherwise, we get caught, we don’t get the gold over there. So, yes, Krishna consciousness is very much accessible and relishable for everyone even now. And that’s what we focus on. And if we do this, then we are playing our part in fulfilling the purpose of Srila Prabhupada to cultivate Krishna consciousness.
Now the exact way in the when we say larger system is meant to function, that is not something we can fix. But getting caught in that will unfix us, will distract us from our Krishna consciousness. So Srila Prabhupada says in seventh canto purport that one should keep, one’s intelligence in mind. One should always be steady, healthy and stout in mind and intelligence to differentiate the goal of life from a life full of problems. In life, there are many many problems and we can’t deal with all problems.
So what which dealing with which problem will help us to pursue the goal of life? Let us focus on that. And that is cultivating our individual cons Krishna consciousness. So I’ll summarize. I talked about four broad things.
That at a philosophical level, there is Dharmasya Gnaani. That means that the individual is not contributing, the whole is not contributing. In the case of the guru system, the there has been a attempt to fix things at a collective level. There was the guru reform in ISKCON, and it was successful to a significant degree. But some people not satisfied with that, and there is emigration to a new system that is a rhythmic system where essentially, Dharma Selana is being addressed by shifting the faith, the object of faith, to a safe level where there is no danger of disappointment or betrayal.
So at a psychological level, there is a wounded heart and there is a fragile faith. That is what needs to be addressed. So, now, when we are trying to address this, if we go out of the system of the Vedic scriptures, rejecting the idea of Guru Sadhu Shastra, which is the Gushi Shapanampara, that is not a health sustainable scripture solution. But we need to find out what is the solution that is faithful to scripture and addresses the concerns of the audience. That is where realization will come in.
And then I talk about it from historical perspective, how this kind of insecurity has been there in other traditions also the Christians. They split into Catholics and Protestants because the faith in the authority was eroded. And that led to vicious infighting and it led to disastrous vulnerability to external attacks also. So let us pray that we don’t go in that direction. Learn from history that the different in fighting can lead to far greater casualties and dangers for Sanatana Dharma.
And lastly, at individual level, we focus on what is it that we can do. We focus on our Krishna consciousness. We have come here to mind our own heart that we can reach Krishna. We focus on that and we pray that Swastirastu that the larger whole become fixed in a way that everybody can pursue Krishna consciousness in a more peaceful and fruitful way. Thank you very much.
Zoom. How okay. How many of you okay. How many of you are not there yesterday? Two.
Okay. Thank you. How many of you are not there today? Okay. So, I will just do a quick recap of what I have been discussing yesterday then we will move forward from there.
So broadly, they’ve been discussing on the topic of Gita wisdom for hard times. How can the Gita’s wisdom help us face difficulties in life? And we discussing this using an acronym. Does anyone remember the acronym? FACT.
So F A C D F was what? Futility. Futility we discussed how that life is tough for everyone. We may powerful, we may popular, we may prosperous but life is tough for everyone. And no matter what we do whatever world view we have somebody may want to be atheistic.
I don’t have anything to do with God. I don’t care for God. I don’t believe in God. Atheism does not remove life’s problems. It only removes the whole, the possibility that life’s problems may have some purpose.
That there may be something higher happening in our life through the whatever is going on. So basically when we look at Gita wisdom, what is it trying to do? It tells us that our life is not just about what we are doing and what is done to us. There is a bigger picture. There is God above us and God has a plan for all of us.
So some in some way whatever we do is is a part of a higher plan and similarly whatever is done to us is also part of a higher plan and this vision that is there is more going on in life than what we can pursue. That is the basic teaching of the Gita. Now what is that more that is going on? That we discussed one aspect of this. What was a?
Analyze. Analyze what? Analyze how Karma is working in our life. We discussed how the principle of Karma means that action leads to some result, some reaction. However, it is not just the present action that leads to a reaction That could be present action plus plus past action that leads to the result.
So now how much the present action contributes and how much the past action contributes That can vary from situation to situation. Present Karma and past Karma. So sometimes you might be doing lot of good things. You might be hundred positive, but if the past Karma is 90 negative, then we might get only a result of 10. So because of this, there’s a bigger picture and we understand that if we are polite to someone right now, but we were rude to that person before.
Then our politeness may not be reciprocated immediately. And then we discuss this graphical analysis on quadrants of how our present actions can be positive. Present karma can be positive or it can be negative. And similarly, our past karma can be positive or it can be negative. Mhmm.
So, if you consider these four quadrants one, two, three, four that it’s best if our present karma is positive and our past is also positive. This is the best situation. Here will be super effective whatever we are doing we’ll get a lot of good results from it like the Midas touch or the Midas touch depending on which part of the world we are how it pronounced, but that whatever we do turns out into gold. Now, at least we don’t want to be in this either of these quadrants that we don’t want our present karma to be negative, because we are creating a darker future. So, we will try to now understand how to move forward and face life’s challenges.
First is okay, I would analyze and accept. Although life does not make sense, maybe there is some higher sense over here. I can’t. So now today, I I although I can’t make sense of it immediately. So one thing we discussed is that our vision of life is finite vision is not the final vision.
So finite vision is not equal to the final vision. So with this understanding, now let us move to the second part. So today I’ll talk about c and t. Those of you who have the book from yesterday, you can use that book. Otherwise, you’ll read from here.
So you can repeat after me. My dear lord. My dear lord. Let me remember. Let me remember.
Let me remember. That my life story. That my life story. Is a part of your story. Is a part of your story.
So let’s recite the words for those of you comfortable. Then Krishna and Arjuna standing tall on their chariots white seeds and all, blew their conscious loud and bright. A sound that shook the field with might. This Bhagavad Gita 1.14. So would you even like to read one of the paragraphs?
Yeah. Okay. Yes. Thank you. So the Gita is not just because of describing a historical truth.
It’s also describing a timeless truth. Our body is like a chariot and so we as souls are in this body chariot and right next to the soul is the supreme soul is Paramatma. So Atma and Paramatma together just as Krishna and Arjuna were together on the chariot. So the world is our Kurukshetra. We will not have to shoot arrows, but we all have to face challenges in life.
We have to fight battles in life and the understanding is that we are not alone over here. So let’s look at this. Now once we understand that okay the situation I am in right now is because of a combination of my present and past actions. So then how do I deal with it? What do I do about it?
So I said I’ll talk about three broad principles from the Gita. One was Karma, the other is Dharma and the fourth is Bhakti. So in ACT, a was associated karma analyze to understand how karma is working. Now c is commit to doing your Dharma and then t, I’ll talk about t is associated with bhakti tap the power of God through bhakti. So yes let’s look at commit.
Now the principle of karma has to be very carefully understood because sometimes some people think that okay whatever problems are coming in our life it’s because of our past karma. So therefore what should we do? Just suffer them. Well that’s an oversimplification. Why oversimplification?
Because success in life or life’s progress or success does not come simply by exhausting past karma. I’ll explain what I mean by exhausting past karma. Yes, we have a certain stockpile of past karma that we have to deal with. So it’s like if say we have spent a lot of money in the past, now we have debt. Now the debt has to be repaid, but the purpose of life is not simply to repay the debt.
Isn’t it? There’s so much more we don’t want to want to do in life. So the life success does not come simply by exhausting past Karma. It comes by executing present Dharma. What we are expected to do, it is when we do that, that is when we grow in life.
So the Vedic teachings in general are not so much karma centered as Dharma centered. So I’ll give you a few examples to illustrate this point. In the Ramayan when Rama is exiled to the forest, At that time, one person becomes very angry about this. Everybody shocked. Everybody is shattered, could see, but one person is enraged.
Can you guess who is that? Lakshman. Lakshman, and there’s a fascinating conversation between Lakshman and Ram at that point. Lakshman says, he’s so angry. He says, he’s so angry with Dashrath that he is not even ready to call on his father.
He said the king has become blinded by lust for his youngest queen, and that’s why he has lost his good sense. There is no need for you to obey such a king. So, at that time, Ram is very great, he says, oh Lakshman, I was there with my father and I saw his condition. It was not infatuation, it was obligation that he was obliged by his word, promise. So now when we are angry we want to direct our anger somewhere.
So then Lakshman directs his anger toward Kaikeyi, he says you have never harmed Kaikeyi anyway, you always respected her like a mother, how could she have done something like this to you? So Ram says that don’t be angry, don’t criticize you know her love for me was just like the flow of the Ganga pure and unceasing. Lakshman is still not yet done so he says that’s what I can’t understand. How did the Ganga dry up overnight? So at that time Lord Ram says that’s why when I heard these words coming from her, I understood that this is the will of destiny.
This is just not something normal the interaction between two people. When when what do we mean by destiny over here? That in general most people turn toward philosophy as a regular small talk when they meet each other on the train or a car or a bus or a plane. Is that right? Is this first thing we ask people so what is your philosophy?
We don’t ask such questions. Most people turn toward philosophy at times when life does not make sense. In fact, the simple definition of philosophy is or the purpose of philosophy is to make sense of things. To make sense of things when things don’t make sense. To make sense of things when things don’t make sense.
Normally if we are able to make sense of things, okay. I work and I get some results, and if I don’t get results okay this person is to blame, or this happened, or that happened. But when life just doesn’t make sense that’s when we turn to a philosophy. Now some people may have a philosophy itself that nothing makes sense. That is not really philosophy, but so one concept that is very commonly there in the in the Indian tradition, but it’s almost there everywhere.
The idea the idea of the evil, the evil or destiny is there. Now, in the Islamic tradition, there is the idea of Kismet, in the Egyptian tradition, the Japanese tradition, the Chinese tradition, there are equivalent concepts. Shakespeare also said that there is a tide of fortune. When we sail our boat at that particular time, we go a long distance, but otherwise we don’t go forward. So interestingly what Rama is saying is, when something bad has happened it just makes no sense.
That is destiny. Lakshman is still not done he said. He says, only cowards accept injustice as destiny. He says heroes fight against injustice. His rise against Dashrath, and I will be by your side.
The throne will be yours. At that time Lord Ram says that, oh Lakshman, it was as a duty to my father that I was going to ascend the throne. And now as a duty to my father for honoring his words, I will go to the forest. So he says my concern is not what is destiny. My concern is what is my duty?
What is my Dharma over here? So later on for example when Sita is abducted, Lord Ram doesn’t say oh you know it is probably destiny that Sita was abducted. If she is abducted later we abducted, I can’t do anything about it. No, the idea of destiny, now what is destiny? Destiny is basically like our baggage of past karma.
When we come into a lifetime, our life does not begin with birth. We have lived before, and when we come into this life, above us is a karma baggage from the past life. It is the karma baggage means, all the unprocessed karma from our previous lives is stored like a stockpile, and this karma baggage is essentially what is called as destiny. Sanskrit word is Daiva. Now, this past karma baggage is something which we all have.
Now some people have a carry on bag, some people have a check-in bag. So people have many check-in bags. We all have this karma baggage that we carry with us, and a major installment of the karma baggage comes right at our birth itself. A lot about us is determined at our birth. Now our ethnicity or nationality, our complexion, maybe our basic starting financial level based on the financial level of our family, maybe our IQ to a large extent, our it’s largely driven by birth.
We can improve it no doubt. Somebody can find one twenty can go to one thirty, one 30 five. But a person one twenty is not going to likely go to one sixty or one seventy, no matter how much they try. But a certain level of things are fixed. And like that, this past karma baggage keeps coming in our life intermittently.
Now sometimes it may give us something positive, sometimes it may give us something negative. But the karma baggage keeps coming in our life. So it keeps unloading at different times. So that’s how the past karma and present karma combined to give us the results. So the point I’m making is that the purpose of life is not simply exhausting past karma.
And okay, whatever may have happened was Sita’s abduction because of past karma? Maybe. But the was Rams exile because of past karma? Maybe. The point is not what am I supposed to do is determined by whether it is past karma or not.
The consideration of past karma is to help us to come to peace with what is happening. We analyze to accept. Like yesterday I discussed that life may feel unfair, and in the big picture what happens is, life is fairly unfair. Fairly unfair. What this means is that sometimes what we get is worse than what we deserve or what we have worked for, and sometimes what we get is better than what we deserve.
That’s because the past karma baggage is also unloading at that particular time. So but when we decide to accept something that is happening which seems unfair, we can say okay, this may be my past karma, let me let me come to peace with what is happening, but how to respond to what is happening? That’s a completely different ballgame. That is to be decided based on what is my Dharma right now? What is the right thing for me to do?
And this can have different approaches. So we commit to doing our Dharma. So I’ll explain this in two with two three different examples of what committing to Dharma means. So Dharma basically means doing the right thing. Let me always ask the question what is the right thing to do?
So to understand that I’ll have to become a little more conceptual, but I’ll take world conceptually then I’ll become a little more practical. The word Dharma has many different meanings. Now one of the most inclusive meaning is harmonious belonging. That each one of us when we say it’s duty. The word duty doesn’t really convey the full import of the Dharma.
What it means is harmonious belonging is say each one of us is a part of a larger whole. So when we belong to a larger whole that larger whole uses something and we have to give something to the larger one. So for example, now, right now, you have come for this talk. So then, if you are going to come for this talk, there is a dharma of how to belong to this talk properly. That would be if your phone is there, keep your phone in silent mode.
If you need to talk with someone urgently, don’t talk talk right now over here. If you’re going to sit for this talk, it’s not that you turn your back to the speaker and sit. You know that each one there’s a harmonious way to belong. Now that is from your side, but if I am representing the larger whole over here, then for me if you are giving your attention, then I also need to give something meaningful, something valuable. If you come for a spiritual talk, and I go on a political rant against a particular party or a particular community, then you may say I don’t want to be here.
I didn’t come here for this. So Dharma is both individual and collective. So the individual Dharma is whatever larger unit we are a part of we need to belong to that larger unit properly. So that is what Arjuna asked Krishna about. That I need to, I want to know what is the right thing to do.
Now, there is another meaning of Dharma which comes in say 4.8. Well Krishna tells Arjuna, That, I come here to establish Dharma, and that is referring to social order. The larger whole, has to sometimes be fixed. Sometimes the individual has to fix themselves so that things work out properly. Sometimes the larger whole has to be fixed, and both involve Dharma.
So it’s not just, so harmonious belonging means, the individual should do their part in the larger whole, and the larger whole should also be doing their part for the individual. So if we go on, if we drive on the road, then going on the road means we should be following the rules of traffic. That is we do our Dharma. We pay taxes, whatever taxes are required for using the road transport system. But then the larger whole that will be the government or the authorities, they should be keeping the roads proper, and they should not be pulling over people or fining people, based on discrimination of some kind, or people of a particular ethnicity they are pulled over more.
People of a particular group even if they do something wrong they are not pushed, they are not pulled over. So Dharma has both these aspects that there is the individual and the collective. Now, now in in politics there is the right and there is the left. These words are very common, but sometimes they’re not so easy to understand what they mean. So the right a simple way to understand this is that, the right is concerned with what is right in the existing system.
So the right is often focused on individual responsibility. That the system is right, it is working right, you need to work harder. You need to raise yourself up here by your bootstraps. You need to fix yourself. So in general, many religious organizations, religious traditions tend to be on the right.
Because this is something which has worked in the past, this is ancient, this is time honored, and it is you who need to fit into this. So the right is concerned about the individual contributing to the whole. So the right is concerned about what is right with the existing system. The left is concerned with those who are left out by the existing system. Every system will leave out some people.
So the left says, the system needs to change. So left is all about social change, social justice. Now who is right? Does the individual need to change or the system need to change? It depends.
It depends, isn’t it? That sometimes the individual needs to change to fit into the system. Sometimes the system is unfair, and the system needs to be changed. So Dharma can be both ways. It is not only one thing.
So what is the when we are facing a difficult situation, this this might seem to be tangent, but I’ll bring it back to what we are trying to say. The what we are trying to discuss over here. That, Dharma is not a very simple concept that, okay, you know, these are your elders, respect them. This is your this is the way society does function, this is the way you are to function always. That’s not necessarily Dharma.
Dharma involves harmonious belonging. Harmonious belonging means, that the individual and the whole, both need to reciprocate. Individual contributes to the whole, the whole contributes to the individual. So now, what does this mean? Let me give you some examples to illustrate this point.
Yesterday, I told about how I got polio because I was given a faulty vaccine. So I have a uncle in America, he’s one of the early persons, as this was nineteen seventies, ‘1 of the early people who came to America from India and he he had already imbibed the American spirit. So he told, he told my father, the first thing is that you should sue the doctor. The doctor who give the vaccine. Now, my father is one of the most peaceful persons I know.
His favorite was from the Bhagavad Gita is Sitapragya. This stay peaceful. He said the Indian legal system is such that even if we sue probably the court case will come for hearing by the time we have grown old. And he said already the polio has happened what can we do about it? He said let me focus on taking care of my son.
And they work very hard to try to help me recover, to do some exercises, so I am functional to some extent at least, but that is what he decided. So okay, this is the system, it fit into the system. But, I have a friend in Florida and, even he was, his wife was expecting a child. Some complication happened, so she was taken to the NICU. And then there was some medical negligence because of which when the baby was born, the baby had cerebral palsy and several other issues.
So he is my, he is my god brother. We have the same spiritual master. So he wrote Radhanath Maharaj, my spiritual master and asked him, Maharaj what has happened? Should I accept it as my past karma? Or should I sue the doctors, sue the hospital for what has happened?
So Maharaj told him that, yes, what has happened, you have to accept that. At the same time, you also need to accept the responsibility of taking care of your daughter now. And if you can get some support for taking care of your daughter, you should seek that support. So he sued the hospital and because it was a clear case of medical, not malpractice, but negligence, the hospital itself settled outside court and he has got a a fairly good financial arrangement for the care of his daughter lifelong. Now, of course, that does not undo the fact that she is she will have a very limited, ability to function in this life.
But the point is that in America, the legal system is slightly different. So where we can if the larger whole has done something wrong to us, it’s not just fair to tolerate it. We can fix it. America is probably among the most litigious countries in the world. I was in LA and I saw a big holding with only three words in it.
Who hurt you? Only three letters over there. So now that means that Dharma is it, the Dharma means okay whatever matter happened accept it. Dharma means whatever matter happened fight against it. Well it depends.
It depends on what the larger whole is and how we belong to the whole. So Dharma is that way, Dharma se tatvam nhitam govayam. It’s complex and it depends on many factors. But the important thing is that whatever larger unit we decide to belong to, we need to belong harmonious. So if say many of you are Indians over here, you may have felt that okay in India there’s not that much possibility for financial growth or other kinds of prospects are not, so career prospects are not that good.
So, you decided to come abroad. You came to Canada over here. So, you are a part of a one whole, now you come to another whole and whichever larger whole we are a part of we need to belong harmoniously to that. We do our part there in a larger whole does something for us. So Dharma is in that sense reciprocity.
So, the key point in this is that when the right says it is individual responsibility. So this this broadly aligns with two schools of thought in the Vedic tradition. What Lakshman and Ram were discussing. So, there are two schools of thought that one is Daiva vad, and the other is Karma vad. So, Daiva vad holds that you know we all have our destiny and everything is this time.
People sometimes say that everything is written in the finger in your palms. Well, that’s not completely true. We have a destiny no doubt, and that past Karma baggage is fixed. However, what happens in our life is not determined only by our past karma. It is also determined by our present karma.
So now the other extreme is Karma wad. Karma wad is everything is determined by our actions. By actions means our present actions. So you work hard and you will succeed. So now to a large extent in the Western world has more or less aligned with the idea of Karma Vad.
You work and you will succeed. And to a large extent the Eastern world was aligned with the idea of the Imbavad. Okay. What is the strand will happen? Now both of them are partly right.
See what happens is with Karma Wadh we can make a lot of physical change and physical progress. Right. Nothing is the stand you work hard you will succeed. That’s how we developed technology. We had made so many astonishing advancements, but the problem is if you adhere to Karma bath too much, then if somebody works hard and does not succeed, then it is your problem.
You are wrong. No, I did everything right, but still not succeeding. Then what happens is when we don’t get success, then we start beating ourselves up mentally quite a bit, But there is physical progress, but quite often there is mental regress. Regress means there is agitation. Because why if everything or success is determined by my own work, and if I’m working, I’m not getting success, then what does it mean?
So there’s something wrong with the world or something wrong with me, and both of them are very difficult to live with. So we see this paradox that although there’s a lot of progress in the world now at a physical level stress, anxiety, depression all these are increasing. But because when something doesn’t work we overreact. We think, oh, life is ruined. I am ruined.
Things are jinxed. Just come to the other extreme. That’s how people get into depression. Yesterday, I talked about remember, situations are reversible. Situations lead to emotions.
Emotions also reversal, but sometimes we may take decisions and the decisions can be irreversible. So we don’t want that. So for example, everybody will face loss in their life. Now loss, we may lose a job. We may lose a limb in an accident, we may lose a loud one, we may lose a relationship.
It’s painful, but we can process a loss in many different ways. I have lost. This is the most objective in the Gita’s philosophy Gita’s analysis will be satua. I am lost. This is much more disorienting.
Somebody invests their whole life in a particular career, a particular job, then just lose that, not just that particular job, but lose that career itself. What am I going to do? So this is much more damaging. This is Rajas. But what what am I talking about here?
How do we interpret loss? How do we emotionally process loss? Now the most damaging is, I am a loser. Now this is Tamas. Now when somebody starts interpreting things like this, now I am a loser.
That can be devastating. If we were in a relationship with someone who we thought was a loser, then we would want to break, break up and that relationship as quickly as possible. But if we think we are a loser, then can we break up with ourselves? We can’t, or can we? In many ways, suicide is a tragic attempt to break up with oneself.
And I often speak in, colleges and universities. So it’s tragic sometimes students because of too much pressure in their lives. Now while this whole phenomena is very this whole it’s a tragic thing, but broadly what I’ve seen in India, it is more because of academic pressure. That in that students may end their life. And as parents, we want our children to do well.
But at the same time, we have to make sure that we don’t let our children’s self worth become equated with only their marks. Because if they don’t do well, it’s it’s a problem, but it is not the end of the world. So we have to see how they are processing loss. So I am a loser in a very toxic way of processing. In the West, I have not seen Western student ending their lives because of academic pressure so much.
I think job and career are don’t seem to be that important. When I came to America, I’ve been coming here for ten years. It is I noticed that in India, if Indians lose a job, it has a huge problem. I don’t even want to tell my family I lost my job. But many many westerners, it’s like, they don’t even say I’m jobless.
I’m between jobs. Like, you know, okay, I’m here, I’m here, I’m between jobs. So it’s that, it’s important. And now there is a reason for it. Historically, India has had much more population, much more financial struggles.
In the West, there is generally some kind of social security or social agreement people are taken care of. It’s curious in America that the unemployed people are the most obese. Now, I don’t know how it is in Canada. There are many reasons, but one of them is that the food that they get is not a very healthy food. Through soup kitchens they get food and that’s quite fatty.
But anyway the point is that people can so in the West, if young people end their lives, it’s not so much because of academic pressure, it’s often because of romantic loss. They identify their self worth the relationship and if they are rejected if they are they say ghosted or something, I am a loser. So this is something sometimes what happens to us is not about us. We could say it’s our own past karma, but that’s a different thing. There’s nothing that we could have done right now to fix the situation.
So this is the extreme that Dharma if it goes towards extreme, oh everything is written by your present actions only. Sometimes, no. The system is such that you can’t do anything about it, and things just don’t work despite our best efforts. I need to accept that. On the other hand, Daibwaa, what it leads to is, it leads to physical regress or stagnation.
So India for many centuries did not really progress. There has never been in the history of the world anything like the British and British rule of India. What do I mean by that? So few people ruling so many people for so long. India had become used to being ruled by foreigners because of the prolonged Islamic rule, and when the British came, the British had even at the height of the British Empire there are only very few thousand British’s were there in India.
And these were millions. So what it is to a large is the Daigwad. Okay. This is what meant to happen. It happened.
But what happens with Daigwad is there is certain level of mental peace. Because we are not filled with resentment. Why did this happen to why this happen to me? Okay. It’s destiny it’s happened.
Now the ideal situation is that we understand it’s both. So what has happened to me? That is because of Daiva, that is because of destiny. So we accept that Daiva is also there, but karma is also there. So accepting Daiva will give us a certain level of peace.
What has happened it was because of destiny I accept it, but accepting karma will help us progress. It is not just because something has happened that I had to leave it. I have to let it stay like that all the time. No. We have a responsibility to do our Dharma.
So what does doing our Dharma mean? It means that we use our God given intelligence to decide how best we can face this situation. So I’ll make two more points about Dharma before we move ahead. That quite often the idea of tolerance is there in philosophical circles. Now tolerate, yeah, it’s in effect of your past karma tolerated.
Now tolerance is no doubt important. If you consider 2.14, Krishna says tolerate. But it’s important what to tolerate. It’s Krishna sorry. It’s Krishna telling Arjuna, oh, tolerate the Kauravas atrocities.
You know, they they dishonored your wife, they stole your kingdom. Just it’s all your past karma. Tolerate it. Is that what Krishna is telling Arjuna? No.
It is what he is telling is tolerate the pain of fighting Bhishma and Drona. I know you don’t want to do it, but this is what you need to do as of Kshatriya. So before we decide to tolerate we need to know what to tolerate. Because see just as we are imperfect whichever larger whole we are a part of can we say that we always do our part perfectly in the larger whole? No, we cannot.
And similarly whichever larger whole we are a part of that larger whole also has problems and that larger whole also, so we will all have to tolerate something. Like you say you came from India to America, now you Canada here now. Now, yes, maybe there is more financial prosperity, maybe there is more physical comfort, but then maybe then what the nowadays sociologist call us or cycle is called social capital. Maybe we don’t have an extended family with us. We don’t have a larger like minded community.
That’s why if you come to temples like this, then you get a sense of belonging to a larger community. Right? So maybe in India, we are tolerate the traffic, we are tolerate the logistical limitations, and here we may have tolerate a bit of loneliness, we might tolerate a little bit of social social distance that term came in, the pandemic, but even before that there is a certain level of social distance that is there. When I came to America for the first time, I realized that how are you, it’s not a question, it’s a greeting. It like people ask how are you, they don’t expect you to tell how are you.
Okay. How are you? So how are you? And then move on also. So it is people are polite, but it’s not that our relationships are very close and personal.
It’s not a criticism, it’s just observation. My point is whichever larger whole we belong to there is some things we’ll all have to tolerate. But the important thing is what to tolerate. So that’s where before Krishna talks about tolerance he gives intelligence. Intelligence in that context is what?
Arjuna you are the soul you are not the body he knows he talks about it. So, intelligence broadly means that we need to understand what are the big things in our life and what are the small things in our life. So this is intelligence And once we have intelligence then we have tolerance. So what is tolerance? Tolerance is to keep big things big.
Keep big things big. And keep small things small. So in one sense tolerance enables us to do our Dharma. So in Australia and I go, once a year I go there. So there’s one at one particular place is one young man who is quite analytical intellectual.
So after my talks, we have nice discussions that he gives me some, candid feedback of which points he found understandable, which he found not persuasive, whatever. So once he came for my talk, but he came a little late, so he’s sitting way behind. Then my talk at that time was on tolerance. So after my talk he came to meet me and says so what, how did you find the talk today? He said normally your talks are quite intellectually stimulating, but today I had an opportunity to practically apply your toggles.
Now I started thinking so my talk was on tolerance. I said do you mean you had to tolerate my talk? So he saw my expression and he said no, no actually what happened I came late I was sitting behind and when I was sitting behind there’s a person sitting next to me was constantly busy on the phone. The phone was sometimes beeping and the phone was sometimes ringing and this person was talking on the phone. Initially I got very annoyed and I wanted to speak something strongly to that person but I thought the class was on tolerance.
So let me tolerate, but because I tolerated I couldn’t hear any of the class. So I told him with all due respect, Normally anyone starts a sentence with all due respect what is going to follow is not going to be very respectful. So I told him with all due respect that is not tolerance that is importance. That is importance. Why?
That, because if you are coming for a talk, what is the big thing over there? You want to listen to the talk. Isn’t it? If you are not able to do the big thing, then that is that is we are not exercising, we are not able to do our Dharma. So what happens is, if you want to understand about tolerance, that tolerance is it can go off in two districts, two extremes.
One is when the big things become small. That means we are not able to do big things. This is importance. On the other hand, if small things become big, now that is intolerance. So for most of us, the problem would be say now right now you come here for a talk and maybe you are not habituated sitting on the floor and you might feel a little uncomfortable and you may think okay this talk probably will go on for half an hour, one hour more at the most twenty, thirty minutes more whatever.
So I can I can deal with it, I can sit on the floor for that visit? It’s a small thing. So if something is small, tolerance should be able to help us keep it small. But if suppose somebody feels so much discomfort in their back or their legs because sitting on the floor then find a chair, or request a chair, and there is a facility for chairs also. The point is, that if somebody just tolerates and their whole body is in pain and they’re sitting on the floor, And they say, I sat on the floor, but nothing went into my head, because all my consciousness was in my legs or my back.
Then that small thing has become a big thing. So tolerance is basically these two dimensions, that we keep the big things big, and we keep the small things small. And that’s why the concept of Dharma is important. The concept of Dharma is, what is the big thing for me, and what is the small thing for me? So if we are at a job, and maybe the work culture is not very good over there.
Maybe the boss is a little exploitative or abusive. See, I I would rather not be in this job, But then maybe we need the money from that job. So maybe that job is good for our career. So then we may decide that is the big thing for me. And because that is a big thing, this I’ll make it a small thing.
I’ll live with it. So now what happens is, if we do not do this mental mental prioritization of what is a big thing or a small thing, then we may keep complaining about the small thing in life. Oh, this is so bad. This is so bad. This is so bad.
Well complaining about that is so bad. Don’t do that. So there is, in life, there are small things, and there are big things. Let’s suppose somebody has decided, okay, I have experience of twenty third, twenty third, twenty years, and I don’t have to take this kind of work culture, but I’ll I’ll find some other job. That’s also fair enough.
It’s a moment that I don’t want to belong to this large whole because what it is giving me is not worth it. So in general we need to recognize that Dharma can take many different forms. Dharma means that we want to do the, we want the right way to belong, but sometimes what is that right way? For two different people it might be different. So, the in this context in mind that you know we all belong to some larger wholes.
So Dharma is commit to doing our Dharma. So we commit to doing our Dharma. Dharma can be done in three different ways. I like to use the acronym MET for that, m e t. What is it?
Sometimes we may decide to mitigate. This is wrong and I have to fix it. So we fight to fix the situation. Sometimes we may decide to immigrate. I don’t want to be here at all.
I don’t want to get involved in this and just leave this. Sometimes you may decide I’ll tolerate. Let’s look at the example of the Pandavas for example. Say initially when the Pandavas came from the they were born in the forest, from there they came to the kingdom. When they came to the kingdom, they now became a they were always a part of the family, but they’re not physically a part of the kingdom and the family.
And then, Duryodhan tried to kill Bhima. And then, at that time, when Bhima survived somehow miraculously by Krishna’s arrangement, he came back, he wanted to beat Duryodhan. How dare you do this to me? At that time the registrar told him, you know, we don’t have any clear evidence. It’ll just be your word against his word.
And we are new over here. We don’t know who will support us right now in the family. We don’t want to split our family. So it’s just, maybe he’s just insecure. Let’s be careful.
But let’s not do anything like this. Now Bhima did not want to do that. If you think of siblings, sometimes you know we have different difficulties in getting along with our siblings. You know you cannot think of a pair of siblings who are as different as Yudhishthir and Bhima. Now if you say Yudhishthir and Bhima, Yudhishthir was like a, both of them are Kshatriyas, but Yudhishthir was more like a Brahman Kshatriya.
You know, what does that mean? That he was more interested in philosophy, and then he bend backwards to try to avoid war. Now, Yudhishthira was like a Kshatriya Kshatriya. You can say it was a Kshatriya square. Itching for a fight.
Now, now who is right at that particular time? Was Yudhishthira right in that particular situation? Well time would prove that, that Duryodhan continued his own things. But then, then next time they did a bigger conspiracy. They had to burn all of them alive.
Then they decided that okay, this must be a bigger conspiracy. We will not evolve the part of it. So they decided to emigrate. They said to emigrate. Let’s leave it.
Now in fact they adopted the policy of emigrate repeatedly. Even after they married Draupadi and came back, Duryodhana pressured his father and they were given a wilderness, the half of the kingdom, but a wasteland like that. A forested part can’t have as their half, but they accepted that. Let’s not fight. So they immigrated.
Even when they were through a fraudulent gambling match they were exiled. They accepted. But after the thirteen years of exile, when Krishna came as the peace messenger, and they rejected Krishna’s peace proposal and they tried to arrest Krishna, then the Pandavas decided enough is enough. That is at the same place where Draupadi had been dishonored, the same place now Krishna was dishonored. This Duryodhana is never going to learn.
So this is where we have to fix the system itself. So now they fought the war and that was also Dharmayuntha. So if you consider in terms of our metaphor, so what happens is tolerate means that we are doing our part but the whole is not giving us good enough. We say, I want to tolerate. Mhmm.
Emigrate means that okay, I will just leave this and I will go to some other larger whole where what I give is properly rewarded for me. Let’s integrate. Now, mitigate is where while we are here, in one sense, we go over here so that what is returned over here is also proper. We fix the system. So now, which of this is the right thing?
That depends. So the focus should be on how can I do my part right now properly? And Dharma is. Dharma is not a simple thing, but the important point is that we need to accept that each of these will have its consequences. Thus, not tolerating is not suffocating.
To tolerate is not to suffocate. To emigrate is not to run away. And to mitigate is not to retaliate. When we what does it mean? Suffocate means, you know, sometimes, somebody tolerate something, but they’re constantly complaining, complaining, complaining, complaining, complaining, and they’re filled with bitterness.
Now, if if you’re going to be filled with so much bitterness, then don’t just do something about it. Tolerate means, you should feel that there is a greater gain over here, and that the big thing is good for me, and I need to focus on the big thing. And that’s what will help me to deal keep this thing small. So similarly, emigrate is not runaway. It’s not that we are in tariff in terror.
Oh, that we were that is so terrible. That is so terrible. No. I could deal with this, but I don’t want to get involved in this. I just want to go to some other place.
That’s immigrate. And mitigate is we want to fix the problem. It is not that we want to get even with someone. When the Pandavas fought a war, that was not so much for revenge, it was for justice. And that’s why the Pandavas, after Duryodhana and his brothers were killed, they did not, they did not retaliate against the Trastha, because Trashta was not a threat to them.
The system was more or less fixed. So in psychology, these terms are called as these are unhealthy responses, fight, flight, freeze. So these are not healthy. The idea is Dharma is that which enables us to grow in our life. So Dharma is in this situation, what is the best way ahead for me?
And especially if we learn to practice bhakti, we learn to pray to Krishna, then we’ll get greater clarity about what is the big thing for me, what is the small thing for me. Krishna says, And that brings me to the last part. What is the acronym we are discussing? Fact. So c was commit to doing our dharma, but then c was associated with dharma.
Now, t is associated with bhakti. So t is tap, God’s God’s power through bhakti. It’s not just that we are all alone trying to bear our karma. We are not all alone struggling to do our dharma. Actually, Krishna is with us.
We are not alone. So about bhakti, I’ll make two quick points and I’ll end end the session. So now what does bhakti mean? You say Bhakti may mean okay I come to the temple, I do some puja, I do some prata, I do some japa. It’s all these are important.
However, Bhakti has some very important meaning to it. That when we grow on the path of bhakti initially for us the world is very big and God is small. But as we grow on the path of bhakti the world becomes small and Krishna becomes big for us. So, the world becomes small and Krishna becomes big. So to the extent this is happening to that extent actually we are growing in.
Now, what does this mean? That the world becomes small? The world is always filled with ups and downs and like we discussed earlier sometimes if our mind is not stable the ups and downs become much bigger. This is, this is the situation and this is the emotion coming from the situation. So when the world is very big, we are subjected to the ups and downs very much.
But in the world itself becomes small, then it’s ups and downs also becomes small for us. So these are the two results of bhakti. What is it? When the world becomes small, we become externally or materially peaceful. Yeah.
This is bad, but it’s not the end of the world. This is important, but it’s not the most important thing. Say the relationship issues are there, some job issues there, some health issues there. Yeah. It’s it’s a concern.
I have to deal with it, but it’s not the end of the world. The material becomes smaller for us. And along with that what happens is, that our connect Krishna becomes bigger for us. We understand that Krishna through whatever is happening, there is a plan for me. So we become internally or spiritually purposeful.
What is the purpose? I want to connect with Krishna. I want to serve Krishna. So this is what happens as we grow spiritually. If you look at Srila Prabhupada’s life, Srila Prabhupada was given an instruction by his spiritual master that you travel and share Krishna Bhakti all over the world.
And that’s what Prabhupada tried to do. Now if you consider what Srila Prabhupada did, that was he wanted to share Krishna’s message. And he also did those three things, you know, and MET what I talked about. If you look at Srila Prabhupada’s life, that initially when he was trying to share Krishna bhakti in India from 1922 from 1922 to almost 1965. He was trying to share Krishna Bhakti in India, and it just didn’t work for various reasons then Prabhupada decided to immigrate.
He said that, okay. People in India are very infatuated by the West, so let me go to the West and let me try to share Krishna Bhakti in the West. Now when he came to America, he was staying at the house of Anasali Agarwal. Now, they had sponsored his visit, but they were not interested in becoming devotees. They had just done this as a courtesy to their father-in-law.
So Gopal Agarwal’s father and there’s a inter religious marriage or inter, cross cultural marriage. So Prabhupada saw that and when he was staying in their home at that time, he would keep this bhoga in this their fridge. At that time there’s a great protein myth in American history that unless you feed your children beef they’ll not get enough proteins. So, they had small children and they would give them liquefied beef. So Prabhupada had to keep his bhoga what he was cooking for Krishna in the same fridge in which the, meat beef was there.
Now, Sally Agarwal had some sensibility. She says, Swami, I’m sorry. We have only one fridge here. And Prabhupa’s reply was think nothing. Now, do you think if say twenty thirty years long down the line if ISKCON had been established, and Prabhupada came to know that there’s beef in the fridge, would Prabhupada think nothing about it?
He said, think nothing except this. How did this happen? Who allowed it to happen? Who did this? So thing is at that particular time, I’m not going to stay in this house forever.
I’m here as a guest, and I have a larger mission. So right now while I’m here, I’m tolerate it. Now later on, specifically, Prabhupada just emigrated from India. If you consider, he had tried to build a temple in Jharsi. The but he started a league of devotees.
When people didn’t support over there, he just left over there. But then, if you consider, so from Jhansi he immigrated. When he was in Butler, Pennsylvania, he tolerated. But later on when he was building a temple in Juhu, Mumbai, the the owner of that land was a double dealing person. He want to take the money and not give the land deed also, and Prabhupada wrote to one of his supporters.
If he wants to steal Krishna’s land, he will have to walk over my dead body, and Prabhupada fought, not just metaphorically, but even literally. There are thugs who attacked the devotees, and to fight, and finally, the temple was built. So even for the service of Krishna, Prabhupada had the bigger picture. So for Prabhupada, it was not that oh, you know everything that is happening is Krishna’s plan. Yes.
It’s Krishna’s plan, but Krishna’s plan means I should also be doing something, and what should I be doing? That is determined by our service attitude. So when we chant Hare Krishna, it’s not just a ritual that we have to meet a certain number of quota. The mood, please engage me in your service. What does that mean Krishna?
You are the ultimate large whole and how can I contribute to the large whole? How do I see how you are reciprocating with me? So for Prabhupada, he was he was internally or spiritually he was purposeful. He was always purposeful. Even when he was in 1965 he came to America, he had nothing to show for his forty years of attempts.
He did not have any money, he did not have any followers, he did not have institutional support. But generally if a person tries a lot and does not succeed the person often becomes bitter. Oh this person didn’t help me, this didn’t work out, that didn’t work out. But even if Prabhupada is unknown Swami working on the streets of New York, who had met him saw that he was so happy. He was happy speaking about Krishna, writing about Krishna, cooking for Krishna, singing about Krishna because for him always Krishna was the bigger reality.
And this is seen most dramatically in the large chapter of Srila Prabhupada’s life. As I said Prabhupada fought to build the Juhu Temple and does anyone know when the Juhu Temple was inaugurated? It was 1978, Jan ’14. That is Sankranti. Now when did Srila Prabhupada depart from the world?
’19 ’70 ‘7. November ’14. So just two lousy months. Now Prabhupada fought to build this temple and Prabhupada could have said to Krishna, Krishna please let me be here to see this temple.
But when one of his life one of his supporter asked him Swamiji do you have a last desires? Prabhupada replied, kuch ichani. I have no desires. How is that possible? Would you not have desire to see Krishna to to see the temple built for Krishna?
Of course, you are desired. But you know devotion means that we can and we should have desires, but the desires never become demands. And the desire certainly does not become an ultimatum. Krishna, if you don’t do this, I’ll stop worshiping you. That is not the mood of devotion.
So Prabhupada knew that this is not just his mission, this is Krishna’s mission. And Krishna had a particular role for him to play, and Krishna was calling his back Prabhupada accepted it. He had the confidence that Krishna would empower others to carry on the mission and that is what happened. So, by our practice of bhakti it is Krishna’s that it is not just that we do our dharma. Yeah.
We have to do our dharma, but slowly our worldview shifts. What we do in the world is important, but how we connect with Krishna is the most important. Because ultimately, no even if we do our dharma very well in this world, the world is temporary. Now we may be the best parents, we may be the best professionals, we may be the best citizens, still at the end we have to die. And what is going to be with us is our relationship with Krishna, or bhakti for Krishna.
So when we tap Krishna’s power through bhakti that means Krishna uses the higher sense of purpose. Krishna gives us that divine connection. Krishna uses inner happiness irrespective of life’s ups and downs. And finally, add when we depart from the world at the time of death of a devotee, a devotee does not leave home. And normally, when we die, we leave home.
But a devotee does not leave home a devotee goes home because for a devotee the home is where Krishna is So, in this way we all can make our life meaningful and successful through the dedication to Dharma and ultimately dedication to Krishna through bhakti. I’ll summarize what I discussed today. I discussed the last two parts of the acronym fact. It was, c was what? Commit.
C was commit. So commit, I spent a lot of time in commit to doing our Dharma. So now in this, I talked about four main points that we talked about how whenever action comes in our life, whatever is happening the two philosophies are, there could be Daivavad, where everything is determined by past karma and Karmaavad, where everything is determined by present karma. The actual reality is both. And both helps us.
If you understand both, we can have peace. And whatever is happening, I come to peace with it by understanding my past karma. But we also have a sense of progress and purpose, because we’re also doing our present karma. So we discuss stories from the Ramayana to illustrate this. Incidents from the Ramayana to illustrate this.
And then the idea of Daeva was what? That when we go through life, there is a baggage of karma that will come on us. That is Daiva, but our present actions also matter. So when we understand this, then I talk about what is the concept of Dharma. Dharma is that we belong to a larger whole.
And when we belong to the larger whole, we do something for that whole, and that whole does something for us. So it’s dharma is harmonious belonging. And when the belonging is not harmonious, then we need to decide how to move ahead in our life. So tolerance needs to be grounded in intelligence. The essence of tolerance is not we discuss how it is not we don’t let the big become small.
That would become importance. And we don’t let small become big. That would be intolerance. What we want is, we want to keep the big, big and the small, small as tolerance and that connection I discussed how do we practice Dharma. I discussed about these four things met.
That is sometimes we tolerate. That okay, even if the larger whole is giving me something less right now, But I am also getting something, so I will continue to contribute. So even if this feels a little less right now, that’s okay. I will deal with it because I am getting something else. Now, emigrate is where I decide this larger hole is not reciprocating with me.
So I will just go to some other larger hole, where I will be rewarded properly. And the mitigate is where we try to shift, so that we can fix the larger hole and what it contributes. So, all of these can be dharma and I discussed from the Pandavas lives how they did all of these in different times. And then lastly was tap through bhakti, what do you tap tap into tap into God’s plan, into God’s purpose, God’s power So, through Bhakti and in that I discussed that for us it by the practice of Bhakti is not just a set of rituals, and what happens is the world becomes smaller and God becomes greater. So, by our sadhana when this happens then we will become materially peaceful.
Materially peaceful is not materially passive. We will accept the ups and downs will come and they will go and we’ll become spiritually purposeful. That through the ups and downs, whatever I want to do, I will do whatever I’m meant to do, I’ll try to do for Krishna. And the other aspect of bhakti is that our desire for Krishna becomes greater than our desire for the world. Even our desire for serving Krishna in a particular way in the world.
So that was what we discussed with the example of Shruti Prabhupada that when he served diligently, but at the end he was ready to let go of even the Juhu project. So through salibhakti, death does not mean we leave home, but what happens? It means we go home. That is the this is how even through tough times, the Gita’s wisdom can help us to be a part of Krishna’s plan and achieve the ultimate perfection of life. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Is there any one or there any one or two questions which anyone has? We don’t want to go too much over time. Yeah.
Yeah. It’s a tough thing. In general, our enthusiasm goes down with time. So there are two ways to deal with that. One is that make the enthusiasm very specific.
Now you could hear a lot of things, but try to take one or two points. So how to sustain the enthusiasm? Make it one is specific. That means this is one point I’ll apply in my life. And then revisit that regularly.
Then maybe once a maybe once a week or once in once a day or once in two, three days, whatever. We okay. How did I for example, if you found the point of tolerance and intelligence important. Keep small things small, not big things small. So think of how you could apply that.
Make it specific. And then what happens? Once we apply one thing and we say it benefits me, then we may decide, okay, now this has become a bit of a part of my system. I do it for one week, I do it for one month or something, then I can move to apply some other point. Thus, if we try to, it’s good.
If we can remember a lot of point that’s fine, But when it come to applying, we can’t apply everything at the same time. We try to we just get overwhelmed and we’ll end up applying nothing. So try to be make it specific. And the second part is that try to see what is relevant for us. Relevant means, you know, which is the area where I feel the need to change, where I will be benefited for changing.
So in general, when we talk about improvement, there are many areas in which we could improve. But improvement centers broadly on two factors that it is the on one side is the reward. The reward of change. How much is it? If that is high, that is good.
And the second is the cost of change. If that is low, that is also good. Now, sometime the cost of change feels very high. So okay, I’ll do this later. But is there we could say rather put let’s put another way over here.
Yeah. The okay. Let’s see. The cost of change only. So basically, we’ll have to see for each one of us which is the area where change will help me in a tangible way.
So say if we tend to tend to oversleep, then okay, then making a certain amount of regulation or if I don’t study Shastra so much, but then I also have to share scripture with others. Maybe I have to do some classes. Oh. And if I study scripture regularly, then what will happen is it’ll help me over here. So let me make a plan accordingly.
So try to see where ideally speaking both are there, where the cost is cost can be high, or the cost can be low, and the reward can be high or the reward can be low. So, in this case this is the best situation to be in. You know, this is where we are most likely to start a change and sustain a change. And then gradually from there as a confidence increases, as we see start the results, then we see we start seeing the results, then we can make changes in other areas also. Okay.
Thank you. Yes, bro. So do problems serve a purpose? It depends. I use this when we have pain or problems in our life, we can get a IAS degree in the problems.
Or the IAS, there are three kinds of problems. One is some problems are just inevitable. They are a part of life, and we just need to learn to live with them. So for example, if you come to a place like Canada it’s going to be cold, and if you go to some place in Central India it’s going to be hot, or you go to some, sir, there are some things you are just associated larger place. They are a part of life.
They are inevitable. So everybody has to grow old. Everybody has to get disease. Everybody has to die. So inevitable problems.
Now Krishna talks about these inevitable problems in thirteen point nine. But then there are certain problems that are avoidable. So many problems in our life are created by our own behavior. So for example, Krishna talks about this in 5.22. When we indulge in pleasures excessively, that causes pain to us.
And nobody has to if somebody start drinking alcohol and becomes addicted and has severe health problems, Those are not inevitable problems, those are self created problems. So, inevitable problems we need to we need to accept or we need to tolerate, we need to live with them. Now, avoidable problems we need to eliminate them. If not eliminate at least reduce them eventually to eliminate. But there are certain problems that are strengthening.
Strengthening means this Krishna talked about in 18.37 in the Gita. That he says, That which tastes like poison in the beginning will taste like nectar in the end. So if somebody wants to become healthier, develop a regular health, develop a regular health exercise routine or regular diet routine, that’s difficult. But if you go through it, we’ll come to a better place. Similarly, we want to learn to do our chant mantra chanting attentively.
Habit of studying Shastra, initially it’s difficult, but if you do it will come to a better place. So is it that all pain has a purpose? Well, you could say at one level yes, But some pain has a purpose that learn to live with it. Some pain has a purpose, don’t do it. And some pain has a purpose that through this pain you will grow and become better.
So this is something which you should actually commit to or cultivate. So now I’ve given these examples from a day to day to day to perspective irrespective of theism or atheism, but at a bigger per bigger level. At the end of our life, is there something more? Even during the course of our life, when we go through very dark phases in our life, is there something going on over there? Is there some higher purpose?
So we may not always know the exact purpose of every single pain. Although Krishna is with Arjuna, no Krishna does not tell Arjuna specifically, why does he have to fight against Bhishma and Drona? Now he does not tell, at all, Bhishma was so and so in the previous life and Drona was so and so in this life and you were so and so, and he did this, and you did this, and that’s why now two of you are fighting here. There’s no like a esoteric, karma flashback revelation. So in that sense, when we say there is a purpose, it is not so much important what is the purpose.
That there is a purpose. And sometimes we get a sense of that purpose as we move through our life. Now all of you maybe after you go back you could just spend a few minutes doing this exercise. Look back at something terrible that happened in your life. That time you felt it terrible, but then look ahead from that, did something good come out of it?
You can’t say everything terrible that happened good came out of it. But many things that seemed said that seemed terrible at that time, they brought some good out of it. So we all can see that there may be a pattern, there may be a plan, there may be a purpose which may not see at that time, but it will be revealed eventually. Okay? Thank you.
Okay. So, it is a very important question. I am going from here to Phoenix after this from here I am going to Calgary to Phoenix and there I am going to two part series on this whole topic. So, I cannot do that but I will just explain two principles mainly. See the idea is a common metaphor in the scripture is that of a river flowing toward the ocean.
So the river organ is high up in the mountain like a Ganga and in the river goes towards the ocean. So each one of us is like a river and the ocean is Krishna. Now of course the Advaitins hold that the river merges in the ocean. The Vaishnavas understand that the river keeps flowing toward the ocean. Like that our consciousness keeps flowing toward Krishna all the time.
But the key point here is that each river has to find its own path toward the ocean. So there is a there is a common universal purpose for all rivers but there is also a distinct individual path for each river And while the river is going towards the ocean, the river provides life sustaining water for hundreds, thousands, millions of life forms. Like that each one of us while we are going toward Krishna, which is the ultimate purpose of life, we have to carve our path. Your life is different from my life. Your life is different from his life or her life.
So we are each a river and that’s why there’s a very individual element in bhakti because it’s a personal relationship with Krishna and each of us has to find our path toward Krishna. Now how do we do that? That’s where our buddhi comes in. So how do we balance? Srila Prabhupada himself said that if I had met my spiritual master two years before, he met in 1922.
He said if I had met him one and a half two years before, I had not been married at that time. I had joined as a full time devotee over there. But he said now that I’m married, he said it would be unfair to my wife and my child if I leave them now. And Prabhupad focused on his brother, my build is business. He tried to build his business.
His hope was that he will contribute financially to his spiritual master’s mission. So we should not see all our dharmas as separate from bhakti. It is that is second point I will make with the challenges is that see each one of us has every part of many larger roles. We are part of a family, we are part of a community, we are part of a country. So now all such larger wholes, the ultimate whole which contains all other wholes is Krishna.
God is aham sarvasse prabhamo That he is the source of all holes, and he is the sustainer of all other holes. So now, ultimately when Krishna says Sarva Dharmana Prat Jama Meikam Sharla Nvaja. What he means is, you serve me and I’ll take care of you. But that does not mean we don’t care for all the other roles. So the idea is for a devotee, Dharma and Bhakti, they go together because we understand that dharma and bhakti how do they go together because each of the units that I am part of is also arranged by Krishna There’s a beautiful prayer.
Now what does this mean? Now it does not literally mean the mother is God or the father is God. If it meant literally that then if the mother and father argue about something, which God is the child supposed to follow. Isn’t it? It’s not that literally their God, but that when the mother takes care of the child, the mother is embodying God’s love for the child.
The mother it is mother’s love of course but it’s not just the mother’s love. When the mother offers her breast milk to her newborn baby, that is one of the most intimate acts of love. It is certainly the mother’s love, but is it only her love? She doesn’t do anything special to manufacture milk in her breasts at that time. The same God who send a child through her womb into this world also arranges for milk and herbivests.
So it is the mother’s love and it is also God’s love. So Dharma and bhakti should not be separated. We see both are connected. So like that as we grow sometimes our Dharma is too our father does a lot for us, our friends do a lot for us, our siblings do a lot for us, our wealth also does a lot for us. So all these are important.
So the idea is that Dharma is associated with Artha. Artha means meaning value. Bhakti is associated with Paramartha. Paramartha is the ultimate value. So the ideal situation is, extremist only artha.
Oh, I’ll only care for my family. I’ll not care for my God, for a God at all. Or it is only paramarth. That I’ll care for my family, I’ll care for my job, I’ll care for health, but I don’t care for God. Actually, what we see is artha for per month.
What that means is that I care for my family, I care for my body because this body is actually gift given by Krishna. I care for my family because this family is all the family members are not just my family members, they are parts of Krishna. These are not just my children, they are Krishna’s children interested in my care. So artha for paramartha. So we don’t have to have fragmented that way.
And depending on time, place, circumstance suppose somebody is sick then at that time they may have to spend more time on their body but what he care. Suppose sometimes somebody’s financially in a very difficult situation, they might have to spend more time with the financial arrangement. Sometimes there’s a big festival in March at that time, I’ll spend more time on my service to Krishna. So we we have to do a balancing act, but we don’t have to divorce that the material in the spiritual. Actually, all of it is meant to take us closer toward Krishna.
And we use our intelligence to see when I say this what keep the big things big and keep the small things small. Now what is a big thing and what is a small thing that can also change a call time place circumstance. At a particular time, one thing may become very big at that time and we have to give it that attention. Okay? So thank you very much for your you have question?
Thank you very much for your thoughtful participation. Let’s quickly conclude with this prayer. Already started. My dear Lord, let me remember that my life story is a part of your story. Thank you very much.
My dear Lord, please guide us all, so that we can understand the deep wisdom in your words and texts, and can align our lives accordingly. Hare Krishna. So today morning, we are discussing one of the most evocative sections from the Bhagavatam, which reflects a theme common in the Bhagavatam that is death. So, and I was speaking on a verse from the Bhagavatam, I try to use a three point framework. I call it chit.
Chit means consciousness. So we can look at the context of the words, and we can look at the implication, what all is going on over there. What does it mean? What is happening? And then take away.
What does it how does it apply to all of us? What can we learn from it? So I’ll use that same framework today. And now the context of the Bhagavatam here is that this is the drama after the drama, drama after the drama, or you could put it actually another way, it is the trauma after the trauma. What do I mean by this?
That the war has got over, and we could say the war is the real action, like in a, you know, if it is a typical movie, and there’s a climactic confrontation between the hero and the villain, and finally after a great fight, the hero defeats and destroys the villain, and then we expect the hero to be victorious, and now that we are victorious to celebrate, and to have joy, and there is a happy ending. But here, after the war is over, the drama of the war is over, but then suddenly there’s a new drama. Instead of a happy conclusion, here the king for whom the war was fought that King Yudhishthir is saying I cannot be the king. I I can’t I just can’t. He is burdened by guilt.
So, sometimes people, some people who make a lot of, issues about small things, like some people like, somebody that drama queen. You see, you know, they make a big issue out of small things. Now is Yudhishthir Maharaj ruling that? Not at all. He’s a virtuous king, but for him he just, this is an unexpected twist.
He doesn’t want to be the king. Now if you look at it from his experiential perspective, there is a trauma. What has happened for him? That the war took a very, very heavy toll for Yudhishthir. Now he always had second thought, should I fight or not fight?
He went along with the fight because he realized that Duryodhan was never going to learn. When they tried to arrest Krishna, they had tried to dishonor Draupadi first then they tried to dishonor Krishna. That is when the Pandavad decided. This far and no further, they had to draw a hard line over there, and they fought. But unfortunately the war took a heavy toll.
Now what was the trauma of the war? There is a term called a Pyrrhic victory. Pyrrhic victories where the victory costs more than what you gain from the victory, And the Pandavas felt like that. Why? Because all their sons killed.
And the whole war was fought at one level to resolve a succession struggle, And we succeeded, but there was no successor left to succeed after them. What why did we fight it all? What did we fight it all for? And among all the sons that were killed, Anushtira especially felt guilty about the death of Abhimanyu, because it was he who had requested Abhimanyu to go into the enemy formation. Drona had formed a chakra view to kill to at least arrest Yudhishthir.
And Abhimanyu had said you go in and bring the chakra view we will follow and will destroy from inside. But Abhimanyu went in and was trapped and he was killed. And then, what was the last blow for Adi? Abhimanyu was Karana’s identity. When his mother revealed that Karana was her first born son, Yudhishthir was shattered completely.
Now, he had always thought of Karana as a mortal enemy, and he said I celebrated my brother’s death. I danced in joy when he was killed. He said that, and my brother he had an opportunity to kill me, and yet because he knew I was his brother because he had promised my mother. He didn’t kill me. So for a for a virtuous person to do a bad thing, even unknowingly is bad, but for a virtuous person to discover that a person who they thought that was bad was actually good, and not only good, but better than them.
That is devastating. That is just completely shattering for the very identity of who I am, and who I am meant to be. Like there is a moral hierarchy where we are here, and say somebody else is over here. So, Indesh was not proud, he was always humble, but still, He thought that Karana was a bad person, and Karana had chosen to be the side of, of the Kauravas, and he was a virtuous person, but this was his conception. This is how the moral hierarchy was, but what he realized was that actually he at least this is how he felt.
I am down here, and Karna is somewhere up here. And Yudhishthir, his, his revelation or what he felt was the reality was like this, and he felt how can I possibly be the king? I just can’t, and nobody could make him see sense at that time. Nobody could make him change his mind, and finally Krishna got him to come to Bhishma. At one level, this seems to be the worst thing to do for him, because if he is racked by guilt already, then to bring him in the presence of a person who has been killed because of what he thought is his lust for war.
His, this is a blood lust or property lust or whatever. To bring him in the presence of that person seems completely counterintuitive and on top of that, Bhishma is not in dead. He is lying in pain and the pain Yudhisht would naturally feel that it’s because of me. So now Yudhishthir and Krishna, sorry Krishna understood Bhishma’s heart, and Bhishma understood Yudhishthir’s heart. So the first word that Bhishma speaks when he sees Yudhishthir is amazing.
This every single words in this conversation is just a gem of not just wisdom, but it’s also a revelation of the character of Bhishma. So normally if you go to a hospital, where somebody is having a terminal cancer, and they are in great pain. Normally our first question would be, how are you? We would have concern for them. Oh, it is so sad something like this happened, but you know, we will try to encourage them, but first we think they are in distress, but the first words that Bhishma speaks is.
He says, he is just seeing all you see what a bad situation I am in. He says to you this year, how many adversities and atrocities did you have to face? And then he basically talks about the the complexity of morality in the world. He says, he gives a list, you lost your son and your grandmother became a widow. Now you this still may think that, oh, no.
Actually I’m not suffering, you are suffering. So Bhishma notices that, and immediately he shifts his focus from when he says you, I’m not referring to you, I’m referring to your mother. Now, Bhishma is also trying to soften Yudhishthir’s heart towards his mother, because Yudhishthir feels extremely angry with Kunti, because of the etiquette of respecting one’s mother. He doesn’t blast out at her. But this is one place where he does still curse, that women will never be able to keep secrets, he says.
It’s more expression of anger from his part, but he feels, how could you have not told me that the person I was fighting against, the person I was plotting to kill, the person whose death I celebrated that person was my brother. How could you never tell that to me? He says, wasn’t I a stakeholder in this? So, he’s also trying to help Udish to soften his heart towards Kunti. She has suffered a lot, and in many ways, actually her suffering was more than the Pandava’s suffering.
As a parent, you know, we would be ready to do anything to prevent any suffering from coming on our children, and if there is we will be ready to do anything to protect our children from suffering, and if we are in a position where we can do nothing to protect our children who are suffering. That is most painful and that was the plight of Kunti. And in all the political intrigues that were happening, her sons were being targeted, and there is practically nothing that she could do at that time. So, so Bhishma is highlighting to Yudhishthir that actually everybody is being Yudhishthir over here. That, even if you think she made a mistake, even if you think you made a mistake, the life is messy.
And, in many ways, the Bhagavatam is spoken in the shadow of the Mahabharata. Whether in the shadow of the Mahabharata, shadow of the war that has happened. And in general, there can be many kinds of sufferings in life. But among the various kinds of sufferings, we could say there are different degrees. There is adversity, aho kashtamatasis, then there is atrocity.
So, the adversity is more natural. So, if our power supply goes off that’s adversity. Atrocity is more intentional done by someone. So if a power supply goes on, that’s adversity. If you come to know our neighbor cut off our power supply, that’s atrocity.
But for a responsible person, probably the greatest suffering is agony. Agony means not just bad things happen to us, or bad things are done to us. It is bad things have to be done by us. Sometimes life leaves us with just no good option. Now, one of my close friends is in HR, and he told me that the word, the part of his job that he just does not like is firing people, and especially when the pandemic came, they had to release a lot of people, and he’s just detested.
But it’s like, if I, we don’t let those people go, and the whole company will go under, and nobody will have a job. So what do I do? Sometimes life brings us into positions, where there is no good choice. And that is what burden the responsible person the most. So Krishna, a Bhishma is telling, you this day, he goes to various reasons.
Why do you think this happened? Then such suffering on you who is a virtuous person. Not only were you wise, but you also took guidance from the wise. You always try to follow Dharma. You always were sheltered in Krishna, and still such things happen to you.
So he goes on to say that, whatever happens, it is ultimately within the plan of the Lord. So we can visualize the scene. Bhishma is on a bed of arrows. When we use the word bed of arrows, that’s a euphemism which conveys the idea of something that is completely opposite to what you would think is a bed. On our bed, even if there is some small lump, we will move here and there to try to get that bump away.
If there’s small bump or lump, if there is something sharp, we will say I’ll sleep somewhere else. But he’s in a bed of arrows. So he’s in the middle of the battlefield, where all the drama and the trauma has happened. And now Yudhishthir is talking with Bhishma, he’s lying there, and Bhishma is speaking, and Bhishma says everything is the plan of the Lord, and he tells him that okay, now Yudhishthir’s problem is he’s feeling guilt right now. That I caused the death of everyone.
Now, Bhishma does not go into the specifics of the ethics. Okay. Was there to seem to fight right? Was there to seem to fight wrong? Because in many ways, right and wrong is very difficult to do.
And we all have certain frames of reference by which we decide what is right and what is right. So the implication over here is that how do you free a person from guilt who is who’s wracked by that right now, overwhelmed by that. So there is, so what he’s telling, there is a there is a divine plan. That everything is happening within the divine plan and that divine is not somewhere far away. This is here only.
He He said that is the worst we have come to be, then that Krishna whom you thought was your friend, was your relative, that Krishna is actually God. So he is telling, yes the divine plan is operational, sometimes you may say does God care? Is God even in charge? Is God not only cares, God cares so much that He is right. He says the divine plan is going on in your life.
Is going on in your life right now. And how does he persuade Yudhishthir? As I said, he does not go into an elaborate analysis of the ethics of war, because everybody else has tried that approach. If you look at the discussion before this, you know, Vyas Devas tried it, Krishna himself has tried it, Arjuna, and the Pandavas, and everybody has tried it. So he talks about dharma and bhakti.
So basically, because dharma is moral virtue, is morality. Or you can say ethics. Morality and ethics are similar, but ethics is more like a system of morality. But either way what he said is That ethics, and bhakti is, of course, devotion. So broadly speaking, the way the analysis is done over here is that if we consider, Dharma is the right thing to do, and Bhakti is the right mood in which we do the thing.
We do it for pleasing Krishna. So now sometimes there can be Adharma that can happen. And there then somebody can be Abhakti. Now Abhakti is not something that Abhakti is the word, but Abhakti is that no something is done without emotion. So if we consider these four quadrants in a clockwise sense, now which is the best place to be situated?
Fourth. Fourth quadrant that we do things to please Krishna out of love for Krishna, and we do the right thing. We are moral and we are devoted. In fact, this is what Krishna talks about in 12.12 to 19 in the Bhagavad Gita. He talks about, 12.13 to 19.
He talks about characteristics that embody that attract a devotee to him. And here devotees dear to Jesus. It’s interesting in those qualities, Krishna does not say a devotee who chants 16 rounds everyday, or a devotee who wakes up for Mangalarati, or a devotee who fasts in Jalani kadashi, a devotee who visits Vindavan. Krishna is not talking anything about devotional qualities. They’re important.
But there Krishna is focusing on behavioral qualities. That somebody who is compassionate and kind to others, somebody who is not agitated other, somebody who is who is who is calm, who is self satisfied, who is basically qualities that anyone can appreciate. There’s one time when Prabhupada was asked by a newspaper journalist, how can we know your followers? And Prabhupada said, they are perfect gentlemen ladies. They’re perfect gentlemen.
So the idea is, that this is the best quadrant to be in, where the dharma, and there is brukti. However, sometimes life is so complex that sometimes one may not be able to decide what is Dharma or sometimes one may do something which one considers as Dharma, but later on find out it is a Dharma. But as long as the heart is in the right place, he says that eventually Krishna will take care. So, now we could say, there is dharma and there is bhakti both are important, but dharma cannot be neglected for the sake of bhakti. So dharma means the morally or the materially right thing to do.
So dharma has both a moral meaning to it, as well as a functional meaning to it. I’ll talk more today about the concept of dharma, but the point is that dharma is that when we function in the material world, there is a right way to function in the material. If we’re driving, driving in the road, we have to follow the right side of the road. If we don’t, we may think I’m serving Krishna. I mean, we’re going the wrong side of the road.
Still we will pulled over, or we may be with an accident. So Dharma is the materially, the legally, the morally, the functionally right thing to do. Somebody may have bhakti, but if they don’t have dharma, then say suppose somebody is cooking for a big festival, and they don’t know any cooking at all. Then they may cook with great devotion, whenever the every cooking, everything they do is listen to cooking, they have a nice kirtan going on, they offer prayers to Krishna. They do everything right, and they but they just have no knowledge of cooking.
So what will happen is, Krishna will be pleased by their cooking, and only Krishna will be pleased. At material level things won’t work. So in the material world for functioning, Dharma and Bhakti both are important. Somebody has Bhakti, that’s wonderful. For pleasing Krishna, that’s wonderful.
Like in the Ramayana, in the story of the squirrel also bring some dust, some for building the bridge. Lord Ram said to the great monkeys that what you are doing and what that squirrel is doing. I am pleased with both of you, because both of you are doing your best. So from the Lord’s perspective, the Lord is Bhavagrahi, the Lord looks at the heart. However, from the practical perspective, the squirrel did not help in building the bridge much.
There were the giant monkeys who brought giant boulders, and that’s how the build bridge was built. So the point I’m making is, the material world is a harsh place. The material world does not care for our fine sentiments. The material world works based on some rigid realities. And if somebody is, does not have the right judgment, even if their heart is right, it doesn’t work.
That, so sometimes when good people can make bad choices, good people I mean, people whose heart is in the right place, whose heart is in the right place, they may also make some wrong decisions. So so now, if you consider among these four quadrants, that we could say this is there is no Dharma and there is no bhakti, that is the worst. That means that person is not doing anything material right, nor they are doing devotionally right. That means say if you consider this could be complete Tamas. Say there are parents, the parents have no spiritual conception themselves, they have no interest in raising their children spiritually, but the parents are not taking care of the children material roles.
Where the parents are high on drugs, and they don’t even know their child exists. So there’s no material responsibility, there is no devotional, attachment or connection that we could say is the worst. Now, somebody might have Dharma, but no bhakti. Like say we may say that there might be some parents who may not, care at all about Bhakti, but they care for the material well-being of the child. If the child is sick in a hospital, they will be ready to sell everything to save the child’s life.
Then we’re ready to move heaven and earth to take care of the child. So such so caring for dharma and not caring for bhakti. That is better than not caring for either. You at least you are trying to do the right thing, even if our heart may not have the right attitude. This is that our we are not really thinking of serving Krishna, being understood to Krishna.
Now on the other hand, if there is bhakti, but there is no dharma, that means material one does not consider what is the right thing, one does not use good judgment, one does not make proper analysis of things, then there will be material consequences. Now can Krishna intervene and protect from material consequences? Yes. Of course, he can, and sometimes Krishna does, But a devotee does not demand that. A devotee does not expect that.
There is suppose we have to catch a flight, and before we are we are having a program, and there is some very spiritually curious person. We spend a lot of time talking with that person, and we get late for the flight. I say Krishna please, Krishna please arrange for some problem with the technical details of the flight so that the flight gets delayed, and I reach on time. Now if it happens, wonderful. But we can’t make that as a pattern and expect Krishna, I won’t care for what is material right thing to do, and Krishna you take care of everything.
Now so a, now adharma can also refer to immorality. Now, when I am using the word Adharma over here, I am using it both in the functional sense and in the moral sense. Later on after this verse, Bhishma will make a remarkable statement. He says, So he says, just, and Prabhupada translates, because I’m a pure devotee. Because I’m a pure devotee, just see.
Okay. Krishna has come to rescue me. Okay. The mercy that the Lord has bestowed upon me, that he has come to free me from this material, as Prabhupada used the word tabernacle, from the material entanglement. He has come at my last noon, and I am about to leave my body.
Krishna has come to give So what is he saying? He’s saying that, even if I did something which is wrong, I fought against Krishna. I shot arrows at Krishna, and in spite of that my heart was in the right place. My heart was in the right place, and just see how Krishna has rewarded me right now. So now, you will see how Krishna has rewarded me.
You could say, Krishna didn’t reward you. You are lying on a arrow bed. You are in pain. You suffered. The only defeat in your life, you suffered.
Like somebody has a spotless record in their in their entire life. So sometimes players never lost a single match, and the final match they lose. So that’s a, it is, it is, it is at the very least it is a stain on their record. Now we could say Bheeshma lost before that at Virat also, But it was more of a, it is not, it’s not a war with lethal consequences. Arjuna did not want to kill Bheeshma, Bheeshma did not want to kill Arjuna.
He just wanted to come to a detent at that time. This was a war with serious consequences. So practically, this was the only time he lost in a major battle with major consequences, and he is saying that what how would Krishna protect? So the principle over here is twofold, that there is the spiritual, and there is the material. Now, the material will operate according to material principles, and there will be material consequences.
So if we are careless about material things, there will be material consequences. If somebody has diabetes, and they are given, say, Doctor has told them no damage sugar. They say this is not sugar, this is Maha Prasad, and they take the entire laddoo. Well, at a spiritual level, there’ll be spiritual consequences. At a spiritual level, they will be purified by eating that blood.
But at a material level, the sugar level will spike up. They may have to be admitted in the hospital. Even if you take it with a very prayerful attitude, doesn’t make any difference, because there are material principles over here. So what is he saying that Dharma and bhakti both have to go together. So at one level is to understand this point, and conclude with this point, and then go to last part take away that at one level is only bhakti, at another level is only dharma.
So dharma at the level of bhakti, or dharma at the cost of bhakti, or bhakti at the cost of dharma. Both of these are unsustained. What we need is in between is both. So only bhakti So now, Bhishma’s decision to stick to the side of the cover was turned out to be wrong. So, but still his heart was in the right place.
So, when there is only bhakti we will have spiritual good, but not material good. If you Srila Prabhupada what did he say? The last instructions about how will Krishna consciousness spread Prabhupada said it will through organization and intelligence. Prabhupada didn’t say just for chanting Hare Krishna or, worshiping the deities, yes all those are important, but we also need organized intelligence because we are in the material good. There is only dharma there may be material good by that, but not spiritual good.
So we need both. So in many ways, Bhishma is over here. Bhishma chose the wrong side, and a material level there are consequences, but Krishna did not overlook his bhakti. Krishna still rewarded him. And now what is he saying?
To you this year, is he saying you also come on this side, he said no. He’s saying, going back to this quadrant, so basically if you look at these four patterns, Bhishma’s life was more or less on this side. Now he’s telling Yudhishthir that even if Yudhishthir in war, he is telling him even if you are in this side, since now you have the opportunity to come here post war. Why? He says that there is the whole kingdom that is devastated, and for restoring the kingdom, for taking care of all the widows, taking care of all the orphans, is you are the best person.
That there are many people who are unarmed, people who are shelterless and you have to be the shelter for them, and for war, Bhima could have been a better, might have been a better commander, better king, but for peace, for restoration, Yudhishthaya was the best person. So he’s telling, don’t let your past guilt about whatever you did stop you from doing the right thing now. He says now, now it is not only your dharma as a king, but it is also what Krishna wants you to do. So just because in the past you might have been in the wrong place, does not mean you have to stay in the wrong place now. So he is not arguing with you this year whether in the past he was in the wrong place, because that argument is not going to work for Yudhishthir.
That an argument can be made that even the war was a virtuous war, and it was dharma and bhakti, but even granting that it was not Dharma. He says right now, what is the Dharma? He says, it is for you to take the responsibility of the king, to restore the kingdom to its glory, to bring peace and prosperity among the citizens, to set all of them on the path to spiritual growth. For all this, you are the right person, and this is the argument that Udishta accepts, and then after that, Udishta asked Vishma many questions. It’s and about how to room.
Raja Dharma is a discussion in the Shanti Parva and Namushasana Parva. Elaborate discussion. In fact, those that discussion is actually bigger than the entire Mahabharata itself. It’s a huge So the thing is here, what has happened is, Bhishma succeeds in consoling the dish, and that So this is the All this is the implication, and implicit in that is a takeaway for us. What is the takeaway?
Two main things I will say that. As devotees we try as much as possible to be in quadrant four. A is as much as possible is our top priority, or top preference we can say. That means we try to do the materially right thing also, or the morally right thing also, not just the spiritually right thing. That for us, we want to do we want to serve Krishna, we want to serve Krishna in a way that is also materially morally right.
We need good intelligence. Now, basically good intention is not the substitute for good intelligence. They are not the same thing. We all need good judgment in what we do. So a, there is no good intelligent, there’s good intention.
That does not mean that we will be protected. Yeah, we will be protected eventually by Krishna, but we will face consequences of the material itself. So once I was in Chicago Airport, 1 day I landed at the airport a friend and one day what he called me, and the day what he was going through some very difficult phase. You know, his child had been diagnosed with cancer. And I was talking on phone trying to console him, and then I got off the airport.
The wheelchair assistant took me along, and the devotee came to pick me up. And I said, I’m talking on phone, and I hung up my devotee, and then went along. When we got into the car, I asked the devotee, can I have my laptop? He says, what laptop? So what had happened was I had I had the laptop bag with me, and when the devotee came, I got up.
I put the laptop bag right in front of me. I put the right laptop right next to the devotee. But the there was a was suitcase which I was carrying. So that devotee picked up the suitcase, but he did not the suitcase was given by the wheelchair assistant to him. But I didn’t I kept the laptop bag right in front of him, but I was busy talking on phone.
I didn’t initially point to him. This laptop is here. And what happened was he forgot. We rushed back, and the laptop bag had disappeared. And that day, normally I keep my passport always in my pocket, but somehow that day I had kept my while talking with the devotee on phone, I kept my passport right in the bag.
And so now to be traveling in a foreign country without laptop is a big loss, but without a passport is a disaster completely. So I was feeling you know, I was feeling angry with myself, I was feeling angry with that devotee, I was feeling angry with everyone. I was thinking I was trying to serve this devotee. I was extending myself. I was extending myself.
I was talking with this devotee who was in great distress, trying to calm and console that devotee. And why did this have to happen to me? Now fortunately, I thought, you know, I do have to cancel all my America tour because I cannot go from one city to another without a passport. We’re thinking, should should I even go by car? But then you’re, arranging for a car and driving from one city to another city.
It’s all very complicated. So fortunately for me so, actually, I was in Chicago. Adhanath Nhanag also in Chicago. So he came to know my passport and told me what happened. He said that, you know, whenever you travel, keep your passport in a bag around your waist.
Don’t let go of that bag ever. He says, you know, if you whatever be the reason, I told Maharaj, I says, Maharaj, then whatever the reason, said you should not do this. And and fortunately, we have devotees in somewhat influential places, so and getting a new passport takes a long time, but some devotees, he found some contacts. We wrote to the Chicago embassy, and he wrote the document. It was three four days, three days in Chicago.
By the time I was supposed to leave just a few hours before that I got the new passport. So, by Krishna’s mercy the problem was solved, but the problem was still there. So my point is that as devotees, we can’t expect or insist that Krishna will protect us if we our intentions will be right. But good intention is not a substitute for good judgment. We have to use proper intelligence also in making decisions, otherwise there will be consequences.
So best is to be in the quadrant four, where we try to do the right thing, and we try to use the right we we try we you try to have a mood of service to Krishna, but also do the right thing. But if not, then the second point would be, don’t never don’t lose hope. It is not that because we make a long wrong decision, Krishna is going to abandon us and reject us and do us. No. Sometimes even the best of us may make errors in judgment.
After all we are finite beings. We are fallible beings, and no mistake should be considered fatal. That don’t think that some mistake, because of this mistake, I’m permanently ruined. Don’t let if we think my guilt is so great that I’m permanently doomed, And because of doing some having done something bad, we stop doing anything good right now, and that is only going to make things worse. So don’t lose hope means that don’t let past mistake discourage us so much, with so much discouragement that we end up making a present mistake.
The present mistake may be present negligence. So don’t let this happen. No matter how many mistakes you have made, still Krishna can bring some good out of it. This point, or how Krishna can bring good out of our mistakes, I will discuss more in today evenings class. But this is what Bhishma is assuring you this that Krishna still has a plan, and you be a part of his plan.
So, I will summarize what I discussed today. Today we discussed about the broad theme of how Bhishma guides, and that was the context, but our theme was broadly decision making. How do we decide what is right and wrong? How do we move forward in our life based on the decision making? So, I talked about three main points.
I took the framework of CHIT context implication and take away. So, the context was that here the is in agony, I talk about adversity, adversity atrocity and agony bad things happening to us is adversity that is itself bad enough, bad things being done to us that is far worse its atrocity, and a bad thing that we need to do. We just have no option, we just have to do that bad thing. That itself is agony, and Yudhishthir is in this situation. He he feels that I did something terrible when I fought a war, and because of that, he’s thinking that I will not fight.
So the implication of this as the Mahabharata described is that life is terribly complex, And we need to do dharma in the sense of the morally of Krishna right thing to do, and bhakti is our heart needs to be in the right right place. We want to be serving Krishna. So now it’s best to be in the fourth quadrant, but sometimes life can be so messy that even if our heart in the right place, we may do something wrong. Now here, there’ll be spiritual good will result, but at a material level some bad might result about this. Now, in dharma is there, but no bhakti material good might result, but they will not spiritual good won’t come that spiritual bad.
Here really what if there is no dharma and no bhakti, then what will happen there is materially and spiritually both will be bad. Best means here really materially and spiritually both will be good. So we discussed how, you Bhishma himself lived most of his life in this quadrant, and yet he is assuring that when he is saying I am a pure devotee he is not bragging over there. But he is saying that Yudhishta even if you think that in the war you are in this decision this quadrant. Now, what is the right thing for you to do?
You need to fight. You need to actually take up the kingdom and restore the kingdom. That is what Krishna wants to do, you to do that is bhakti, and that is what the responsibility right thing to do is for you. And the takeaway for us is that no that good intention is no substitute for good judgment, Good intention is to compliment it with good intelligence both are required, otherwise there will be material consequences for us. So, best is that we try to stay in stay in quadrant four as much as possible, but if we can’t then do never lose hope.
We should not become hopeless that no mistake is fatal that our past mistake should not be our make us so discourage that that leads us to a present mistake, that even through our past mistakes Krishna’s plan can work, and Krishna can take us to a better place. Thank you very much. Rene Krishna. Any questions or comments? Yeah.
Thank you. So, firstly, about Indeshya itself, I would like to clarify a little bit. See broadly the sacred texts can be approached at four different levels. One is the literal level, this is where this is what happened at entertaining story enjoy the story. So, at a kids tale popular retellings, movies there at that level.
And the second is the ethical level, this is where we consider what is right, what is wrong, we deliberate on the ethics of the situation. Then the third is the allegorical level. Now, not everything is an allegory, but Prabhupada sometimes says that, never be discouraged if you are practicing bhakti, because you have handed over the reins of your chariot to Krishna, and Krishna will take care. So allegorical, the scripture itself is not a allegory, but some aspects of scripture can be understood at allegorical level, and then there is the devotional level. So for example, in the Bhagavad Gita itself, Prabhupada sometimes says Arjuna’s illusion is Krishna’s arrangement so that the Bhagavad can be spoken.
So Prabhupada is speaking at a devotional level, but then Prabhupada also says, see Arjuna is a thoughtful person. Arjuna is thinking about the consequences of his actions before deciding, and this thoughtfulness shows that Arjuna is ready to receive the Bhagavad Gita, But Prabhupada is talking at an ethical level. This is in the first chapter. And the second chapter immediately Prabhupada seems to change mood, and he says, Arjuna is in tears. Tears are sign of ignorance and attachment in the skin disease, and everybody suffering from such ignorance attachment in the skin disease, and Krishna is speaking the Bhagavata to remove such universal ignorance attachment in skin disease.
So is Arjuna thoughtful or is Arjuna ignorant? So that’s that’s why when we talk at the ethical level, our focus, especially when you’re talking about sacred characters, or any exalted characters, the focus is not on who is right, or more importantly who is wrong. Our focus is more on what is right. It is we are not in a position here to judge these characters and say that they are wrong. Yes, you can say at the level of Leela, everything is a plan of the Lord, and everybody is like a puppet in the Lord’s hands.
But if you focus only on the devotional level, then there’s nothing for us to learn. And in this situation this kind of action is good, this kind of action is bad. So, Prabhupada himself does not always comment on the devotional level, although Prabhupada doesn’t ensure that we do not forget the devotional level that is all the nila of the Lord. But the same time Prabhupada also says this character did like this is not good, this is good. So, there are multiple levels at which we approach scripture.
So, that is the first point of the that when we are saying the additional actions or bhisma’s actions at the ethical level were questionable, that does not mean that at a devotion level also that they are whatever they are doing is a part of the lord’s plan. Both can be true at the same time Now, having said that now is it that we are not of never a part of the lord’s plan No. That doesn’t happen. And we will always be a part of the Lord’s plan. But we may be cooperating with the Lord’s plan, or we may be obstruct not obstructing.
We may be we may be delaying the Lord’s plan. So this is so even if somebody is in quadrant three or quadrant four, when there are nothing to do with the Lord, it is not when Krishna abandons anyone anytime. So we are certainly not at the level of the dish chair. We are not done that level of ethical deliberation also. Based on which we think that, oh, I did something wrong and therefore I am doomed because of this.
See what happens? This is a important concept. Let me see how much I can explain this quickly. In the Vedic sense, then this conception of artha. Artha is value, and there could be many artha’s.
Our parents are arth, talent is arth, wealth is arth, arth, but when any arth is made into a param arth, param arth means it is made into the supreme arth. When any artha is made into the paramartha that means to an artha. So an artha does not literally mean no value. An artha it can mean that also, but an artha means that when something of lesser value is made of supreme value. So for example if money is made into paramartha, then that leads to the anartha of greed.
That the male female attraction is a natural principle in this world. It is through that principle that, the human race continues. But when that attraction becomes the sole basis for all decision making, when Tartha becomes the Paramartha, then that leads to an earth of lust, and the lust can be destructive. So similarly, ethical deliberation is very important, but when ethical deliberation becomes the supreme, that when I want to do the right thing, I pride myself on my ability to do the right thing, and then that become the supreme, then sometimes what happens is, our adherence to ethics can become more important than even our devotion to God. So then that can lead to an earth.
For Yudhishthira, the Artha that has become the Paramartha is his ethical rightness, or righteousness you could say. That he always wants to do the right thing, and that’s important, but if that becomes a paramartha, then that can also take one away from Krishna. So ideally speaking, Artha and, all that morality. So we could say Paramartha is ultimately bhakti and Krishna. It is bhakti that will take us to Krishna, Now dharma is an artha.
So dharma should not be made more important than, bhakti. But the same time, that is not dharma is unimportant. Dharma is an artha. But dharma itself does not lead to Krishna. Dharma when used in the service of Krishna will in a mood of bhakti will take us to Krishna.
So have I confused or have I made this clear? Okay. Thank you. So any other comments or questions? Of course, see what I am saying is two different things over here.
Yeah, like I took that, I had saw had the pendulum over here that we don’t, we don’t neglect dharma for bhakti, nor do neglect bhakti for dharma. Now in extreme situations, if you have to choose between the two, we need to choose bhakti. Like the gopis when Krishna called them, the for a woman to leave her family and go away to be with an with a man who is not a relative at night, that is not right, but because it is Krishna calling, the gopis did that. That is sarva dharmaan parite jama me kam sharva namraj. So in extreme situation, dharma can be given up for bhakti, but Krishna takes care that actually they don’t give dharma.
What Krishna does is that he arranges as if there are that the shadow gopis are there, like chaya gopis are there, and the family members think that they didn’t the gopis didn’t go only. So in that way Krishna protects them. So I am talking only of extreme situations, but in general as devotees, we should have dharma and bhakti going together as much as possible. Okay. Not in this book.
I have another book called Relishing Bhagavad Gita. In that I talk about it. See, Arjuna’s question is, Arjuna is overwhelmed. Arjuna has suffered a lot previously, but never has he got overwhelmed like this. You know, even when his wife was being dishonored, he’s angry, but he was not overwhelmed.
Even when they lost the entire funeral, it’s not overwhelmed. Why? Because that’s a sign of a responsible person. Bad things happen that’s bad, but when I had to do a bad thing, I would rather die than do something. That’s what life puts us in.
So agony is very, very difficult. See sometimes in India, with respect to the Bhagavad Gita, they say Gita sa, summary of Gita. Whatever happened was good, whatever is happening is good, whatever will happen is also good. They They They They They This is summary of the Gita. There’s no words in the Gita which actually says this directly, and more importantly, that is not the emphasis of the Gita.
The Gita’s emphasis is not what is happening to you. It is what you are doing. Arjuna’s question is, what is the right thing for me to put? What is the right thing for me to do? So in that sense, Arjuna’s whole pay is because he feels that he is put in a situation where he has to do a bad thing, and he doesn’t want to.
Yeah. Definitely. Will you be there for today evening’s class? Sorry. Will you be there for today evening’s class?
Sorry. Will you be there for today evening’s class? So I’m talking more about this. You know, when should suffering that happens be accepted, like, as past karma? Or when should be suffering suffering be embraced or now we may do something to call suffering to others.
When do you do that? So yes, sometimes if it’s going to lead to a greater good, then that is required, and that can see the part of bhakti. But then we have to do it as carefully as possible. Like, sometimes the truth is bitter. We have to speak the bitter truth, because otherwise the person will stay in ignorance and illusion.
But just because the truth is bitter does not mean that the truth has to be spoken bitterly. That time also we can try to speak as sensitively as possible. So, sometimes pain may have to be caused to others, but we should not make causing pain into a virtue, Sometimes out of necessity pain may have to be caused to others, but we should not make causing pain as a worth trying of our virtue. Okay? Thank you very much.
Thank you very much for coming. So this is basically the second part of the class which I had yesterday but it can be understood separately also. But I’ll do a quick recap of what we discussed yesterday and then we’ll move on to what we find yesterday. Can all of you see this projector here? Service TV?
Yep. So you’re writing and doing something good. Yes. I see something. It’s coming?
Yes. Your skin is here. Okay. Good. Do we have copies of that, prayers book available with us?
One copy only. Only one copy? Yes. Okay. Sure.
That’s to be gotten. This is a book inspired by So this is a book where I’ve taken the verses as inspiration for prayers and some key verses from the Gita. So each of these articles is a each of these there’s one spiritual affirmation which is like a prayer. Can you see it from there? Yeah.
Otherwise, you may move a little bit this side. Okay. So we’ve taken words, the poetic rendition of the words, and there’s a prayer reflection based on that. We have a second mic by chance? Yes.
You can read it out. Let’s begin with some prayers. Let my plans not blind me to your plan. So those of you are comfortable you can recite the verse after me. Our forces vast beyond all escape, guarded by Bhishma will not fail.
Theirs guarded by Bhima remains confined for failure. They are surely destined. So Bhagavad Gita, 1.1. So would you like to read the first paragraph? Yes.
You have mic by chance? I can use mic. It’s okay. I haven’t been mic. Okay.
Sure. My dear lord, it is so easy to be meticulous in not missing a single thing at the material level while simultaneously missing the most important thing at the spiritual level, which is you all over. Thank you. So here, this verse is spoken by Duryodhan just before the war is about to begin and he is assessing the forces on both sides and he’s naming who are the primary warriors on the opposite side and the primary warriors on his side but while giving this assessment he completely misses out on one name. Who is that?
Krishna. He mentioned the Bhishma of course here is Bhishma is my commander and so he misses out Krishna completely. Now we could say that the material reason for this, he thinks that Krishna is not going to fight a war, Krishna is a non combatant so therefore Krishna is a non entity but that’s just one level of issue, he does not realize Krishna’s position at war So the theme that we’ll be discussing today is how when we make our plans, yesterday I talked about hold our plans, how was it? Lightly. Hold our plans.
Light. Lightly. And there’s something we should hold tightly. What is that? Krishna.
Yes. Hold our Lord tightly. So hold our plans lightly. Hold our Lord tightly so Just a very quick recap of what was discussed yesterday that you know, if we go through life, we may reduce our entire life to just two set of things that what is done by me and what is done to me and if what is done by me is very good I think life is very great if what is done by me is not so good we become insecure and what is done by to me is bad then we feel resentful, we become victims or we look for villains to blame for our life. Now spiritual life or devotional life is not just adding one component okay once a week I’ll go to temple or in the day I spend some time for doing some mantra chanting or doing some worship, yes those are activities which we add but bhakti is not meant to be another to do in our life, we have so many to do’s, on our to do list we add one more element okay I do some mantra chanting, I do some poocha, I do some poocha, I do go to temple that’s one way to look at it but that’s a very deficient even ignorant way of looking at it.
Bhakti is actually another way to do it is another way to do all things in our life it’s with another vision and what is that bigger vision that Bhakti gives us is that our life is not just about what we do or what is done to us, our that above us is Krishna and the things that are done to us there is some way Krishna’s hand in them and even the things that are done by us there is Krishna’s role in that and that says we are not just all struggling in this big bad world trying to survive or thrive that is our life is a part of a bigger picture. So that’s the theme which I discussed yesterday so today we’ll try to understand this further and we’ll explore it using an acronym ACT. The Gita’s message is a message to act. Krishna is at the end of the Gita, Arjuna acts. Arjuna is not a person who turns away from the world and renounces the world.
He acts. So how does he act? That’s what we will discuss. It is the vision that he gets to act that is what we will try to understand. So the first part is a is appreciate so appreciate that everything that happens is a part of God’s plan.
At the same time, you have a gallery view there. Okay. Next thing I expect somebody is there’s a with a transparent ceiling over here. Somebody looking for a box. I was giving one class where was it?
Silicon Valley. So their whole ceiling was open. So it was like a glass ceiling and people were sitting on top and looking through the glass ceiling. Literally like you felt as if somebody’s supervising you from above. So people there were not able to just they’re not able to see the TV, but they were directly seeing my tablet.
They had to rotate 180 degrees to its size of all that. So now when we say that everything is within God’s plan, this has to be very carefully understood that this raises two major questions. That in general in philosophy or specifically in theology, the study of God, there is what is called the problem of evil. Problem of evil is that if there is a good God then why do bad things happen and there are two aspects to it. I won’t go too much into the philosophy that theology I’m just trying to understand how to I gotta be careful when we say everything is a part of God’s plan that first is people do bad things, say if we are here in the world our problems are brought here three times, now some problems we create in our own lives by our actions, let’s say we give into negative emotions, we give into some destructive habits for example you can say addiction is that negative is created by us then there are people around us and people create some problem for us and then beyond that there is nature, Nature also creates some negatives for us so for example if we live in Canada in winter it becomes freezing cold over here so nature creates some problems for do you know the Sanskrit names for these three kind of problems?
Adi Daivik, which is that one? Adi Daivik is which one? The environmental problems, that’s Adi Bailik, they come from the broader environment through nature and the problem that come through people Adi Bailik, these are all kind of social problems, so there are mosquitoes if you bite us, there is Mujahideen it’s extremist who betrotanas so there are mosquitoes there are Mujahideen and there is mother-in-law and that may seem a little bit trivial problem but for people who are going through it it doesn’t seem like a trivial problem so there are social problems and then there are self created problems these So a simple classification, you know, my point is that some problems come from people and some problems come from our own actions. Now we could go to problems that come from nature also and we could discuss that. But generally when problems come, at that time how exactly are the problems a part of God’s plan?
Say how many of you think that all people are good or how many of you think that all people are bad? So how many of you think all people are good? Okay. How many of you think all people are bad? Okay.
Let me don’t worry. Okay. Okay. I’ll I’ll let’s soften the question. How many of you think that all people are sometimes bad?
Okay. In all human, we make mistakes. How do you think that some people are always bad? No? Okay.
It’s true. I was talking with I was trying to do mediation between two devotees, and I was trying to tell one devotee, and, actually, the other person was not there. I was telling. You know, you know, deep down he’s a very good person. So the subject person said, you know, it’s not what is deep down I’m concerned.
It’s what I’m concerned all around it. That’s terrible. So sometimes it happens then. Okay. I mean, I mean, it’s very difficult for us as human beings to even reconcile the idea that somebody might be in nature bad.
So we would like to believe that people are basically bad. And we would like to believe that even if people do bad things, there’s some reason why they do bad things. But the fact is that people do bad things. The fact is that we ourselves do bad things at times. Now when such bad things happen, are those bad things also God’s plan?
But did God want those bad people to do bad things? What do you think? It’s our karma. Okay. It’s a it’s our karma.
Coming back. And it’s a okay. That’s a serious statement. Let’s come back to that statement right now. We’ll come back to it, but let’s focus on that those people are.
Here. Let’s see there are three factors over here. Say I am here, the other person is here and Krishna is up here somewhere. So now when some people are hurting me, so is there hurting me? Does God want them to hurt me?
No. Okay. Yes. And how many of you feel yes? How many of you feel no?
Okay. So is it this is for yes or no? Okay. How many feel that is that God wanted them to do those things? Okay.
That’s fine. How many feel no? Okay. How many feel you don’t know? Yeah, it’s a difficult question.
But broadly speaking, we could say that. See if you say that if we say that God gets people to do bad things then that would make God a bad person. Now we could say okay we might have deserved it because of our pastor but are those people hurting us because we did some PASCAR? No? Maybe we say I never did anything bad to you why are you treating me like this?
Isn’t it? So are those people using unwitting instruments by God to level the karmic score but then is that person responsible or not to give it a little more provocative spin to it? So say consider the Mahabharata Draupadi is dishonored or attempted to be dishonored and even attempt is a dishonor in itself. She was attempted to be sorrowed. Now who tried to disrobe her?
Dushyas. Dushyas. Dushyas was a vile creature and he tried to horrendously, abuse and violate her. Now did do you think Krishna wanted Dushasana to do that? Yes.
Krishna wanted Dushasana to do that. So in one sense, Krishna only got Dushyasan to do that and then Krishna only came to Telpur. Is it? Yeah. I mean I am not mocking this answer.
I’m just questioning is that what we are implying? So in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says the way karma works is very difficult to understand and what the scripture says that whatever action happens in the world that whatever action happens in the world whether it is say something which somebody else does, let’s focus on that right now. Now what people do it is God filtered, It goes through the filter of God’s sanction. Krishna and the Bhagavad Gita says, I am the overseer and the parameter. So it’s like we filter something.
You know, some things we let out of the filter, something we don’t let out of the filter. Now is it that everything that is out of the filter is something that we want? We may want water to be completely 100% pure. But getting 100 pure water might be next to impossible. We might use some kind of filter that may purify maybe 98% most of the really toxic things are purified.
Some things remain. So whatever happens it goes through the filter of God’s permission But that does not mean that that is God’s intention There are two different things over here that whatever happens whatever happens in life it could be God’s intention that is the most positive that Krishna wanted it to happen but it could also be God’s permission. Permission means that I don’t want you to do it but you want to do it then I’ll let you do it so if we consider when Krishna went as a peace messenger to Duryodhan before the Kurukshetra war to try to prevent the war now was it Krishna’s plan that Duryodhan not listen to him? Krishna tried his best if you read the negotiation that Krishna did, Krishna used every possible strategy and the negotiation failed not because Krishna lacked skin the negotiation failed because Duryodhan lacked conscience. Duryodhan just had no sense of not against a fool.
He was in his own way a perverted intelligent person but he had no sense of right or wrong and he has completely believed that this cause was right. That’s what he rejected Krishna. So now there are some things that God allows to happen And now Krishna is so expert that something might not be what he wanted us to do, but or wanted us to do or wanted someone else to do to us. But Krishna is so expert that he can use those events also in his plan. So now in one sense, let’s take the example of I’ll come back to Bhushasana later.
Let’s take the example of Krishna himself going as a peace messenger. Krishna went to pursue peace and he failed. Now is it God failed? God is supposed to be all powerful. How can God fail?
One of the names of the Lord in the scriptures is ‘Satya Sankalpa’ means whatever He resolves he makes it happen. His resolve turns true. So how could Krishna fail? In his mission to seek peace how could we fail? So that’s where when we talk about God’s plan if you consider Krishna’s plan, it is not one narrow lane that things have to go along this way only and if things don’t go in this way then everything is lost.
It is a broad direction. So Krishna is expert enough that he can make his things move in that direction through plan a or he can have plan b, and he can have z and he can go further also. So Krishna is expert enough to include our use or misuse of free will within this plan. So what does this mean? Before the night when Krishna went for peace negotiations at that time Vidura talked with him and Vidura said, Krishna was staying in Vidura’s house which is not a very opulent house.
Although he was born to royalty, he was a stepson. So he was not exactly given the royal facility. So So I was sitting with Krishna. I just, keshima, why have you come here? You know also you that is not a person to you.
He says, I want a rumors that he’s even planning to arrest you. I have seen one humiliation and dishonor in that assembly. It torments me till this day. If I have to see another humiliation over there, I will not be able to relive. Whose humiliation are you talking about?
Crocodiles. The most traumatic event over there. And now he’s he’s saying, Krishna, why have you come here? So what does Krishna rely? Krishna says, oh, I know that the youth is not universal.
But but while I would like the war to be avoided and things to be settled peacefully, but I also want the world to know that this war is caused not by the Pandavas but by the Kauravas. So Krishna’s plan a was have peace, but if the Kauravas don’t listen, see Krishna’s plan does not necessarily require every single living entity to comply with because he has given us free will and based on our free will we can act in particular ways So when we act in particular ways, sometimes we may a plan a may not work, so the union may not listen to Krishna. What is Krishna’s plan b? Plan b is that I make sure who is responsible for the war becomes very clear. And that is what exactly happened.
When Duryodhan said, I will not give enough land to put even the tip of a needle through. If that had been your social media that would have become a viral insta deal. What a dialogue, isn’t it? Now if you want to understand the contextual impact of the dialogue, then there are different ways of saying no. Say if as, we invite someone to or someone invites us to their home for some ceremony, now we don’t want to go, so we make some excuse.
Now we make an excuse, they know we are making an excuse and we know that they know we are making an excuse. But at least for courtesy, we try to make an excuse. But suppose let’s downward this situation. We invite somebody for a program and we know that they’re making an excuse. But instead of making an excuse, they say, even if I die, my dead body will never talk to your cell.
Now that is not just a note of the invitation. That is a kick in the face of the invite. This is what Duryodhana does. And then on top of that, when Duryodhana tries to anest Krishna, that is against all codes of how these messengers are treated. So by that he makes it clear.
So from Krishna’s perspective Duryodhan’s defiance, his arrogance plays perfectly to Krishna’s plan. And his attempt his rejection of Krishna’s proposal and his attempt to arrest Krishna, Krishna couldn’t have not provided the world better evidence of who is causing this war. Isn’t it? So in that sense, Krishna’s plan does not necessarily depend on each living being acting in a particular way. Krishna is resourceful and Krishna can have a plan a if b thinks well if b act in a particular way.
Krishna can have a plan b if we act in a different way. We means not just you or I. There are no human beings. So that’s why now the Duryodhana did something did Krishna want that to happen? No, Krishna didn’t want Duryodhana to do like that but it was God filtered it was not God intended God filtered means nothing can happen to me which God is not aware of, which Krishna has not allowed to happen.
But Krishna allowing something to happen is different from Krishna wanting something to happen. These are two significantly different things. Now why are we talking about this at this particular point that when we say that this is a part of God’s plan that does not necessarily mean that exactly things are happening the way they are and that’s how we should let them happen faster. There is a part that we also need to play, so I’ll give an example to illustrate this concept. Have any of you heard of this thing?
GPS. I was giving a talk to a youth. Hey, in America, One girl said, have you heard of anyone who has not heard of GPS? So I’m talking here about God’s positioning system. That the God’s positioning system is just like our global GPS but it’s much better.
Now a manager say you wanted to come for this program. And say you this is the first time you’re coming here, the GPS says turn right and you turn left. You know what happens? Does the GPS say you did away me get lost? No GPS doesn’t say that it re rounds and suppose GPS is telling us something when we are not sure so we ask someone and that person had a deliberate intention to mislead us and so we turned in the wrong direction and even then what does GPS do?
They still leave house so whether it is our mistake or somebody else’s mistake or somebody else’s malicious intention whatever it is. So we there is no turn that we may take that will throw us out of the GPS itself. Then Google said now we may lose the connection but GPS has got all the territory mapped out. Now maybe there’ll be something in the Sahara Desert or somewhere maybe the territory is not mapped out with GPS but in God’s positioning system everything is mapped out. So even if we take a wrong turn, Krishna can reroute and can get us to the destination.
So even if somebody does something bad to us, even that Krishna can reroute and get a Sutra destination that’s what I mean by plan A, plan B, plan C now if we are at this place and if we are at place C I want to go to Place B now you could say there is a straight route to go there now there could be some critical detour and come back and we go there now somebody might take many detours and that journey might be a side view and they might come there. Now somebody might just take U turns and they may take many U turns and may take a little more time for them to come there. But no matter what kind of turns they take they can still get there that the whole territory is mapped out and in that sense no one is ever outside of God’s plan neither our own mistakes nor others mistakes or misdeals when they use these two words mistakes and misdeeds, what are the difference? Mistakes and misdeeds, is there any difference? Mistake is a wrong doing done deliberately, misdeed just happens.
Oh sorry. So you could say mistake is often accidental. And a misdeed is intentionally, somebody wanted to hurt us. Now whether it is a mistake or a misdeed, either way Krishna’s plan can still accommodate that. Now this does not mean that the mistakes or misdeeds don’t matter.
This does not mean that we should not learn and try to avoid mistakes and mistakes. This does not mean that if bad people are doing people are doing mistakes or people are doing mistakes we should not try to stop or correct them there is a there is both contention and I’ll talk about that also but my point is whatever mistake or mistake may be done by us or be done to us we are not thrown out of God’s plan, now every mistake on this day will come with a cost, each long turn we take will mean that we may take longer for us to reach the destination, not more time, more price, any more complexity, the route is not that easy so it’s not that mistakes and these things don’t matter, So they matter but they are never fatal. They are consequential but they are not fatal. The consequence is there. So mistakes and misdeeds both of them, they are consequential.
There is some consequence of that. It’s not that whatever mistake I make, I say oh it’s all a part of God’s plan. No, it could be our foolishness. Krishna is so expert that even if it is our foolishness, even if it is our maliciousness whatever it is, Krishna can still keep and make sure that His plan works through it. So the mistakes are never fatal.
They could be they are consequential but never fatal. So this is what we need to appreciate that everything that happens is a part of Krishna’s plan that does not mean so when we talk about God’s plan I’ll conclude this point and we’ll get in the next part God’s plan it is everything that happens everything that happens there are two ways of looking at it. One is that everything that happens, looking is God’s plan. Is within God’s plan which of these you think is more precise? Second one.
When Bhishma is guiding Yudhisthira and that Yudhisthira has got a severe attack of guilt He feels that, so what happened because of me to make me a king? And in that war, he lost so much. He lost all his sons who were brutally killed in the batch of Tamil. He lost Abhimanyu before that and he felt mortally responsible for that because the Chakravyu was made to trap him and he said Abhimanyu, Abhimanyu what trap he said. And then finally when his mother told him that Karna was actually your brother, that was the final blow for him.
He said that my brother had an opportunity to kill me and he didn’t kill me and I longed to kill him and Arjuna came to him I celebrated his death. What kind of person am I? So he gets such we don’t know if everything is God’s plan but everything is within God’s plan so I’ll give another example to complete this point let’s say if in a school so this is there’s a plan and purpose. A slight difference. If you’re not confused then I’ll just make this more confusing now.
But I hope this will clarify. See what is the purpose of a school? The school’s purpose is that students study, students learn, students graduate from one class to next from one class to next class, they graduate from the school. That is the purpose. Now if some students don’t study, if some students don’t become good enough for and get good enough master in the subject they don’t pass the exams then what happens?
Students fail. Now if they fail the school has a plan for those students. Okay, if you fail one subject then you go to the next class, then you do this particular subject again. If you failed a lot of subjects then maybe you will do the same year again. If you are failing repeatedly then maybe you need to go to some other school.
But the education system has a plan so the purpose is that the students we consider the plan and the purpose they are not exactly the same thing the purpose is always positive that is the students make the right choice to study and students go to the next class. So students pass. That is the purpose of the school. But there is a plan for students who fail. Now this does not mean that the school wants the students to fail.
The purpose of the school is not that students fail. The purpose is the students pass, but for students who fail, there is a plan. So like that, Krishna’s purpose is not that we do mistakes or misdeeds or others do mistakes and misdeeds. Krishna’s purpose is that we act wisely, others act wisely. But if we act unwisely or others act unwisely, Krishna still has a plan.
I hope this difference is clear that you will appreciate that everything is God built up. Nothing can happen to us that is not allowed by God realm. But that does not mean that it is intended by Godel. Okay. So can we go ahead and read the next paragraph here?
Yeah. Would like to read? Someone else, if someone the wish list would like to read. Yeah. Either give me the mic then.
Yes. Second paragraph? Yes, please. Can you do the mic then? When I make plans, even if those plans are for your service, I often get so caught up in analyzing strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, and threats at the material level that I forget or overlook one factor that overrides all others, your supreme will.
Yes. So it is that what does Krishna want me to do? There’s one thing is, whatever has happened to us when we look at the past we need to get a sense of calmness and closure that Krishna had some plan only whether it was I who made a mistake it was others who made a mistake so what is the acronym we are discussing? A was what? Appreciate.
So now three is contribute. Contribute means that each one of us has to play our part in Krishna’s plan. Krishna’s plan is not just about things that happen to us. Krishna also wants us to do things. God’s plan can be about things that happen to us but Krishna’s plan can also be about what happens through us what happens to us and what happens through us and in fact the Gita’s focus is this second part what happens through us.
Sometimes in many shops there is this Gita Sai in Hindi, sometimes I see English translation also whatever happened was good whatever is happening is good whatever will happen will also be good Well I have read the Gita dozens of times I have recited the Gita many many times I have not found a single verse in the Gita which comes close to this. It’s a nice sounding thought but it is not the message of the Gita because the Gita’s emphasis is not on what happens to us. It’s more about what happens to us because Arjuna is undecided and Arjuna has to make a decision of what I’m going to do. So to tell somebody from something brutal has happened, that whatever happens is good. No.
Life is terrible. No. Horrible things can happen without it. So the focus is, okay, there is some plan of God in this. Then the question comes, what do I do now?
So maybe I took a long turn and I need to reroute. But how do I how do I lead up? How how does from here, how do I move towards Krishna? So that is the key part. This is contribute.
Now many of you know that, I have polio. I need crutches for walking. So when I was about one I think I mentioned this yesterday. Did I mention this? No?
Okay. So when I was one, my mother took me I’m just seeing a small town in Maharashtra in India. My mother took me to a nearby clinic to get the polio vaccine and among all the vaccine, the polio vaccine is considered the safest most effective, polio is almost eradicated now but the clinic where the where my mother had taken me because it’s small down to the power supply outage and the fridge in which the vaccine had been kept had its temperature raised because there’s no power supply and because of the rising of the temperature the germs in the vaccine multiplied and neither the attendant nor the doctor noticed that and when that vaccine was given to me because the dosage of the germ was too high instead of preventing polio and ended up causing polio. Now I don’t remember any of this. I was about one and I just learned to walk and I found out I could not walk normally thereafter.
But my first memory of this is I was about two and a half or three And at that time, my distant relative had come to meet us, and she was consoling my mother saying, oh, so sad. Your son got polio. And I remember my mother’s voice, Very calm, clear, confident. She said, whatever he lacks physically, God will provide him with the truth. I don’t know why she said that.
Maybe she saw some intellectual bleeding in that time when it was at home. But somehow the statement statement, not the god part, the intellectual part of the shimmy. And as I grew up, I couldn’t play outdoor game that other kids would play. So I could say that life is unfair. And that’s true.
Mhmm. Life is unfair. But then as I started reading and studying, I noticed that I could read quite fast, I could remember well, I could articulate clearly. So somewhere at the back of my mind, I said that, okay, I didn’t do anything to deserve this physical disability, but I didn’t do anything to deserve this intellectual ability either. So life is unfair.
That is true. But in the big picture, life is fairly unfair. Fairly unfair means that sometimes we get worse than what we deserve and sometimes we do get better than what we deserve. We all say that sometimes we have good luck, good fortune. Sometimes things just work out.
So now it is important that we learn to focus. Now if we focus on how life is unfair, basically we are saying life is unfair and if exceeding on that that means either God is unfair or there is no God and life is chaotic. Life is just like a cosmic lottery and we got the bad end of the deal. So is life unfair? Yes.
From this life’s perspective, life is unfair. But is life fair? Yes, both are. If you exceed on how life is unfair, we will be filled with negative emotions, we will become resentful. If you focus on how life is fair, we can become resourceful.
Okay. What is good in my life? What can I make the best out of the situation I am in right now? So when we talk about contributing, how do we contribute? So I don’t know if you mentioned this point that, you know, that if somebody does something bad to us, it is our own karma coming back to us.
And, yes, there is some proof to that. But the Gita’s focus is not so much on karma in the sense of past karma what happened why something happened that is not so much the focus as what we should the Gita’s focus is not so much on karma. By karma I refer to past karma. The Gita’s focus is on dharma. Dharma means what is the right thing for me to do right now?
It’s my present Dharma. Okay, now that this has happened, the philosophy of Karma can be used to come to peace with what has happened but what I am to do right now that requires careful deliberation so I have a maternal uncle in America among the very early Indians who immigrated to America and settled. So when he came to know that I had got polio, he was very angry. And he told my parents, he told my father, you should sue the doctor. My father is a very peaceful person.
His favorite was from the Bhagavad Gita is Titha Prankyo. Like, he’s a very stoic person. He said that the Indian legal system is such that before the court case comes for hearing, probably we’ll have white hair. Now that the pool is already there, what can you do about it? We just accept it.
So, I have a friend in Florida. He’s also a godbrother. I mean, he’s also a disciple of my spiritual master, Radhanath Maharaj. He told me, quite a sad story, but I see my instructive story. Even his wife was pregnant and there’s some complications or things were handled in ICU and the doctors, the the caregivers basically, they made some mess and it’s not malpractice but definite delusions and when the daughter was born, she had cerebral palsy palsy and several other complications.
So then he wrote to the spiritual master and he asked he asked, madam, madam, madam, should I accept this as my karma or should I sue the hospital for what has happened? So Maharaj replied that now, you know, what has happened, you cannot change it. It is your responsibility to take care of your daughter now. At the same time, for discharging this responsibility, if you can get any help, you should seek that help. So America is probably among the most litigious countries in the world.
Canada, as I do some extent, I do not know. But I was in Los Angeles and I saw a big advertisement. And then it typed just three words in that letter. Who hurt you? And then he was hacked up.
You tell us who hurt you and we will sue you. We will get settlement. So he he he sued the hospital and they settled out of court because clearly the day wasn’t their part. And he’s got a fairly good financial arrangement for the lifelong care of his daughter. That doesn’t, of course, change the fact that she will have challenges lifelong and they will have challenges.
But the fact is that even if something is our past karma, maybe we don’t we don’t know what it is, but the focus is not on what is whose past karma. The focus is on what is our present karma and how can we best do that dharma. So thinking that something is past karma does not mean passivity. Oh, you know, everything is past karma. So just like bad people are doing bad things, we’ll just accept it.
No. We have to consider what is my dharma and how can I best do my dharma? So now, dharma can also be context tube. Again, America, the legal systems like that you can easily sue. In India, it could have been very, very difficult.
So that’s why one of the principle that the karma, like, Dharma is not so easy to understand. That when I am, doing something something has happened to me, okay, I can accept I can come to peace with what has happened by understanding this is still a part of Krishna’s plan. No matter how bad something has happened, it’s not gonna throw me off of Krishna’s plan. It’s not that I am all alone abandoned because this person did this to me or because I did this to myself. Whatever it is.
Right? My life is still on Krishna’s plan. But then what am I meant to do? For that, we need to use our God given intelligence. One point I was making yesterday was that when we are trying to respond to life, there is our own buddhi, our intelligence with our intelligence by intelligence I mean not just analytical intelligence but any kind of expertise we may have with our intelligence we get some Shakti and we have our faith that arises from our bhakti so if you consider four quadrants this is the best quadrant to be situated in.
We understand that whatever has happened there is God’s plan, I have that faith but to be within that God’s plan, what am I meant to do? For that, I need to use my intentions, I need to use what abilities I have, so that’s why first part is appreciate then is contribute. So how do I contribute over here? Now when you say how do I contribute what does that mean? Okay.
In this situation, how can I move ahead? How can I make a positive difference? Krishna is our ultimate well wisher. Krishna wants things to be better and what can I do to make things better? So with the principle of determining dharma now how do we as I said the philosophy of the Gita is focused on dharma so we look at karma past karma to come to peace with what has happened but we that doesn’t necessarily mean that we passively accept whatever is happening maybe something need to be fixed and there is a well known verse in the Bhagavad Gita which talks about tolerance that is Krishna is telling you tolerate but what is he telling tolerate?
Is he telling that oh the Kauravas performed so many atrocities towards you and all your past karma is tolerated and don’t fight is that the implication over there? No. His implication, what is he to tolerate? Tolerate the pain of fighting against Bhishma and Drona. This was no small pain for Arjuna because Bhishma and Rona were not just his some elders these were the people from whom he had lured our children These were the people for whose pleasure he had learned archery.
And now he had to use those archery skills against them and not just against them for exhibition or entertainment. There’s a fight till death. They just didn’t want to do that. But Krishna said, it’s a hard decision. You have to do it because they have chosen the wrong side.
And so tolerance, when you say tolerate, okay, what to tolerate, what not to tolerate? That is a decision which requires intelligence. As I said, before Krishna says, in 02/30, he gives intelligence that is dehinos mignata dehin that words essentially what it means is intelligence tells us Shivarupat explains intelligence in a very simple way says to see things in their proper perspective, what that is proper perspective? Perspectives we have a particular vision of creating things, so we understand what are the big things in our life and what are the small things in our life, so intelligence helps us to understand what are the big things and what are the small things and then what does tolerance do? Tolerance helps us to keep big things big and tolerance helps us to keep small things small.
So you wanna keep big things big and keep small things small. Say now you come for this talk, and you prefer to maybe sit on the chair. Maybe it’s a little uncomfortable for you to sit on the floor. Now you might be a little uncomfortable but you think that okay this class is only going to over six hours more. Hello.
You can go up an hour, one hour more. That’s all. I can hear that. This is a small thing. I come here.
I wanna learn something useful. I wanna be part of a spiritual community. So okay, tolerating the discomfort of sitting on the floor is a small thing, I can deal with it. I was in Australia and, basically after my class, I asked the audience what did you like? Anything you are interested?
So there’s some people who give any thoughtful replies. So there’s one person, one young man in Australia, he used thoughtful insights. So he came and he was sitting behind. So that my class was also on tolerance. So I asked him, how would you find the class?
He said, normally your class gives me a lot of intellectual workout. You just gotta think a lot. You need a lot of intellectual simulations. But today, the class gave me an opportunity for practical application also. How?
I started thinking, what do you mean? My class was a tolerance so are you meaning that you had to tolerate my class? So in the Jewish tradition there was a saying have your ears heard what your mouth has said? Sometimes we will not think about what we are saying before we say it. See some people think before they talk and some people talk to think, by talking their thinking starts and that’s why they may change their opinion but anyway when someone feels special expression.
I said oh actually what happened was I came a little late so I was sitting behind and when I was sitting behind at that time the person leading next to me was constantly talking on his phone. And initially, I was very annoyed. I was about to tell that person to if you wanna talk on the phone, please go out and talk. But then I thought, this is a class of tolerance. So I feel tolerant.
And therefore I tolerated. But because I was already in constant, phone call was coming, messages were coming, and the ping was coming, the ring was coming, so I I couldn’t really hear much of the class. So I told him with all due respect, whenever somebody started to send it with all due respect, what is going to come after that is not gonna be very respectful. So I said with all you respect, that is not tolerance. That is importance.
If now if you come for a talk, come to hear a talk, hearing the talk is the big thing. And if somebody’s obstructing you in doing that, then what is the point of coming for the talk? Either you point it somewhere else. Either tell them to go away. There are some things which need to be changed.
So, if we let in the name of tolerance, let small things become big and big things become small, That is not tolerance. That is impotence. So now tolerance is required because sometimes we may overreact. So that will make us intolerant. Small issue, big problem.
It’s not like somebody is, say, say, some a class is going on and some some parents have a young small baby and the baby is crying. If the baby cries, it’s a disturbance for everyone. But even the baby is crying, I yell at the mother control your baby or get out of here now what will happen is even though baby goes away at the end of the class the only thing that the people will remember is the way I yelled at the mother. So obviously it’s a small thing I need to be able to talk to it. Now ideally the mother doesn’t take the baby to another room or whatever.
If she doesn’t then I need to tell gently. Can you take care of your baby? Maybe you need to go to chapter two. I need to be polite. It’s a small thing.
If it’s becoming a big thing, we need to address it. But sometimes in addressing the small thing, we make it a big thing. That is a problem so here we can go to explain that what is not tolerance in tolerance if we make a small thing big that is a problem. Making a small thing big is INTOLENCE. And this is the general problem most of us have life is difficult life is annoying and there are some problems which come and go don’t make a small thing a big thing that’s tolerance but on the other hand if we let a big thing become small then that is not intolerance or tolerance that is impotence so if in the name of tolerance I let a baby cry throughout the class and neither I do anything nor the organizers do anything then the only thing the audience hears throughout the class is the baby cry and something has to be done about it, if I don’t do anything that’s important so in between these two is we act in such a way that we keep the big things big and we keep the small things small.
So this is tolerance. So now what does this mean for how we contribute to Krishna’s plan? See, Krishna’s plan is not one narrow direction. We have free will, and we are meant to use our free will appropriately. So when initially Duryodhana tried to poison Bhima, at that time Bhima survived miraculously came back and he wanted to teach Duryodhana lesson and beat him to pieces.
Now Yudhishthir told him that come down. He said that we are new over here. We don’t know who will believe you or who will not believe you. It’ll just be your word against his word. And if the whole larger family or community goes against us we’ll be spreading the family.
Let’s not do that. Let’s maybe he just feel insecure. Maybe he may be cautious. Maybe this will pass. Now if you look at the Pandavas actually it’s difficult to imagine a set of brothers who are as different as Yudhishthira and Nima.
Yudhishthira both of them were Kshatriyas but but Yudhishthira was more like a Brahman Kshatriya. Brahman Kshatriya means what? He was very pacific. He bent backwards to avoid conflict. On the other hand, when you wish Bhima was Akshatriya Akshatriya.
You could call him Akshatriya squared. So he was itching for fighting to show his prowess. So now who is right? Who is Roog? Now he could, as they say, hindsight is always twenty twenty.
Maybe we could say at that time if Bhima had done with Duryodhan, Duryodhan might not have done all the further atrocity that he did but who knows if Bhima had beaten up Duryodhan, Duryodhan might have done greater atrocity faster so we don’t know in life how do we deal with particular situations so life is complex and we are finite beings we are fallible beings so we can’t always know what is the right thing to do but we use our God given intelligence and we make certain decisions. Even when Krishna was with Arjuna in the Kurukshetra war, it is not that Krishna was microcontouring everything that Arjuna was doing. It is not that before shooting every arrow, Arjuna asked, Krishna, do I have your permission to shoot this arrow? No. It’s not like that.
He was using his intelligence and he was doing the best that he could. Now there are certain major decision points that started in Triveda died. But in general, while being a part of Krishna’s plan, Arjuna was his own person. Yudhishthira was his own person. Viva was his own person.
So we need to use our intelligence to contribute. So when we face a difficult situation, how do we contribute? In general, for all of us, we need to we have a certain set where we belong to. See? Now the word dharma has many different meanings.
I said we focus on Dharma. Dharma one of the meanings of Dharma is harmonious belonging. Harmonious belonging means that each one of us belongs to a larger unit so when we belong to a larger unit each one of us needs to belong properly That means we do our part in the larger unit and the larger unit needs to do its part for us. So for example, you’re sitting for this class right now your dharma in this class is to sit and be attentive as good as possible or at least not be a distraction for others. See every one of you has come for this class.
Do you know your neighbors? The person sitting next to you, you may not know. Yeah. But every one of you is quite confident and the person sitting next to you is not going to turn on you and slap you in the face. Don’t get any ideas.
Now is it possible? Well, anything can be said to be possible. But is it probable? Very unlikely. If somebody has come for a spiritual talk, like this, they we expect that they have that level of impulse control, that they have that level of culture, that they know how to belong to a class like this.
So you as individuals are a part of a larger pole. You need to play your part by belonging harmoniously, but dharuba is not just individual, like I, if I am a part of a larger role, I am representing a tradition and you want to be a part of the tradition, you only learn some wisdom from the tradition, then I have to play my part and I should speak something meaningful, but if you are investing your time in coming here then you are doing your part and I should also be doing my part, so in that sense Dharma is harmonious belonging where the part contributes to the whole and the whole reciprocates by giving something to the part. Like, if you drive on the road, then we are being a part of the road transport system and Aandharma is to follow the rules of traffic so we drive in Canada you drive on this side of the road So America it is also right. Right. Right.
India it is? Left. Left. To the left is right in America. Okay.
But say, now in in India, so left is right in India. Sorry. Mhmm. But, so now whichever what is the road transport system? We need to follow the rules of that.
That is our dharma. Now when we do our dharma, at that time, the larger unit also should be able to reciprocate. If for example, people from certain communities are pulled over more than others that, you know, okay, the they look at the ethnicity and in small crime, they could be a large punishment. Or somebody from particular ethnicity, you commit a big crime also no punishment. Then there will be discrimination.
So dharma means harmonious belonging and Krishna uses the dharma in both senses. In 2.7 the Bhagavad Gita, I will then ask you I want to know what is the right way to belong but then in 4.8 when Krishna says there he is talking about and I come to establish Dharma that means that I come to fix the system that the system itself is wrong where wicked people have grabbed power and Krishna says I come to fix the system. So dharma is both what the individual does for the system and what the system the larger whole does for the individual. So both are parts of dharma. You know, in politics there is right and left.
So in general the political right is more conservative and their focus is individual you take responsibility, you fit into the system and you grow through the system. The left is more liberal, it’s more radical. If a system is a problem, you need to pick the system so that is more about social justice and social change. So the right is more if a person is under crime you are responsible you go to jail, the left is more look at the background with the person, maybe that person didn’t have any good options and that’s why the person became a criminal. Now who is right?
Well, it depends. Sometimes an individual needs to be changed, change himself and sometimes the system needs to change. So this is so why am I talking about this? This is to make a point about how we are to contribute. So if something bad has happened to us, so for example, going back to the example of going back to the incident of what my father did whereas what this devotee did.
Now in that case, in the case of India, the system is such that there’s no chance to fix the system. So, okay, we just put it to it in the best of what I can do. But in the West, when individuals can sue the doctor, sue the hospital, then we can assist in to pay the price. So it depends. So dharma is not one took.
Dharma can mean different things at different times. So now I’ll make a little more subtle point, but it’s not too difficult. This is still is there my problem over here? Yeah. This computer seems to be okay.
So I talked about first is appreciate. Appreciate that nothing that happens is outside Krishna’s plan. And then we talk about how we can contribute that’s what we are talking about right now when we contribute there are different ways we may decide to contribute so broadly there are three ways this is not sequential but this is just analysis, I use the acronym MET, when we meet the situation properly, when you contemplate the situation, we can decide what we want to do it. We can mitigate the situation. Mitigate means like going back to the earlier example, we fix the system.
We fix the system. The second is we may integrate. I don’t want to be a part of the system at all. I just leave it. So the third can be tolerate.
So mitigate and degrade tolerate. All three are possible. So for example if you consider the Pandavas initially when did something to them you initially what was the response? I don’t know it, I don’t know it and yeah sometimes bad things happen they decided you know we still want to be a part of this family we don’t want to make a mess we make a big thing out of it so then the next time unfortunately what happened Turun did something bigger, initially tried to kill Bhima then he tried to kill their entire family, Turun did their mother also, the warriors sometimes fight against warriors, of course warriors are not meant to kill other warriors, they backstab them or kill them in the dark, it’s a fair fight but generally warriors are not meant to kill women or children. So increasingly he was sacked, some of the Pandavas survived over there but they decided it’s a bigger conspiracy.
He could not have done this without his father’s consent so therefore this battle lets leave from here. So they emigrated. What did immigration means? That they had incorporated the Sunbelt until they were able to get the handle Draupadi in Swayambar and now Draupadi was no ordinary girl, she was the sole daughter of a powerful rival king Tripadha and that meant that the But then also there’s unfairness, he give them like a wasteland of overgrown forest. And like a parent has two companies, but they argue one company to each child.
But one company is flourishing, the other is going to go to bankruptcy. They argue one company to both of you. Is that fair? Well, to call that fair is an insult to the world fair. Captured.
So the matter was, okay, we you know, I don’t want to mess with the system. I don’t want to get a big issue. I’ll go somewhere else. But then after that man in the gambling match, they tried to steal away their union. They tried to dishonor Draupadi.
And even after going for exile, when they tried to disarm Krishna also, the pandemas realized enough is enough that these people are not going to change. That’s when they decided to mutilate. So they decided to fight. Now each of these can be done positively or it can be negation. Now mitigate is not the same as retaliate.
In mitigating, the focus is on fixing the issue. In retaliating is it’s getting back at the person. So the Pandavas did not take out their anger of the thrashed afterwards or the thrashed of the panther what Duryodhan did but they understood the thrashed was weak and because the attachment to Duryodhan did something they still respect him as an elder so they didn’t retaliate they didn’t develop a vengeful mentality. Now emigrate is also not run away. When we are running away, the focus is just going away from here somewhere else.
When we emigrate, we have decided I’m going to get involved in this. I have something better to do in my life. If this system doesn’t work for me but I’m not running away from the system I want to go to a better place, I want to lose up the value of my life and maybe I can do it at another place, so immigrate is not running away and tolerate is also not suffocate suffocate means that we are not able to do anything, suppose we are in a job where the work culture is miraculously, maybe the boss is a little over demanding and rude. Now we may decide that, okay, all that is not not good. My mind is staying well.
That actually I can get, I can it is gonna be a good addition to my CV over here. And maybe after a few years after I have worked in this job I will go to another job so we will decide to tolerate it because I will decide that we will decide that time that the fact that I’m working in this company and getting this kind of pay is the big thing for me and the work environment is a small thing for me. But in the work and work culture, the work environment is just leading to stripping away our peace of mind completely and, you know, it’s having peace of mind. Our mind is in pieces And then when we come back home, all those pieces are thrown at everyone else at home. Then maybe it’s not worth it.
Maybe you need to imagine it. Now if somebody wants to say, okay. I’m gonna complain against this. I’m gonna escalate this issue that’s if you want to do it that can also be the option so it is done with a purpose in a purposeful way since psychology there are three terms I use fight flight and freeze. So we don’t want either of these in any of these three.
We are not simply fighting for the sake of fighting. We are not freezing. We are not fleeing. What are we doing is when we appreciate and then contribute There is a greater focus over here Okay, what is the best way? I can do my Dharma in this situation.
What is the best way? I can contribute to make things better What is the best way I can be a part of Krishna’s plan? I can pursue Krishna’s plan over here. Say if we put our child in a top school and the child is repeatedly doing very poorly over there. Now you may decide you push our children on work hard, study, and discipline yourself.
Why does it maybe it is that a child’s IQ level is say one twenty and that is a school for a student’s IQ level 160. It’s like a special school, not a special school, a special school. Then we may decide that pushing our child so much is just not going to work. The child is trying their best but it’s just overwhelming. Then maybe the child is in a more normal school.
So sometimes we need to push our child to be more disciplined and then we tell our child no, we’ll take it to another school where the demand is not so much. So things can be so there’s no one path predictable for dharma. The focus of dharma is that that whatever the situation, I want to make things better. And more importantly, I want to make my consciousness better. And how that can be done?
The dharma can vary from person to person. If you look at Srila Prabhupada’s life, we’ll see the same thing in Srila Prabhupada’s life also. Initially, when he started the he started his outreach, he built an organization called the League of Devotees in a place called Jhansi in India. And he put a lot of efforts in that. And he had a I think the the chief officer of Chasi, with the governor of that particular state, he came for the inauguration of the institution.
So it was quite a grand organization. But somehow, the people who supported him turned against him. They said we want this for some other place. We don’t want this for a temple. Now Ropala would have fought against, Ropala decided he’s not worth it.
See, two reasons, he said that Jhansi is not a very big place and his guru mother wanted him to build centers in big places. And he felt that the people here also not very committed. They have more of a biased sentiment to respect than sadhus, but they’re not least spiritually interested or committed. So he can be created from that place. So when he came to America, he was sponsored by Agarwal family and the cross cultural marriage.
So Sadri Agarwal was American, Gopal Agarwal was Indian. He stayed at their home for a few days. And then they used to eat meat, but they used to eat beef also. And the same fridge that Prabhupada would keep his bhoga, which he would cook and offer to Krishna. Prabhupada has his own if there is the Interactive Socratic Occupational Consciousness established and Prabhupada came to know that in a fridge, in a temple, there was meat, Prabhupada said nothing of it!
Prabhupada said nothing except of it! He looked and he saw he soon saw that these people who are hosting him were not really interested in becoming devotees. They, they hosted him as a courtesy to their father-in-law. And so Prabhupada saw that, okay, I’m gonna be here for some time and let me split it. So he tolerated it.
But later on, when he was building the temple, at that time the owner of the land on which the temple was built was a double BB political anchor person. So he wanted to take the money and not give the land deals And at that time, Shirdropupad wrote to one of his life life supporters, life member. He said, if he wants to steal Krishna’s land, he’ll have to go over my tech body. And if you read the history of the Jira temples, what? Continue with it all.
So Prabhupada thought about this. So then what was he doing? Among these three? Meaning it. Meaning it.
But then also Propa did not retaliate. There was this friend who passed away and then his wife tried to take it further and she sent hugs. But then she realized the whole thing not working. She came and signed the land deed to transfer Propa, give the money, And then she fell at our first speed and says, please forgive me, sir. For whatever reason.
And Prabhupada was so freaking nervous. He says, don’t worry. You’re just like mad off. I’ll take care of you. So Prabhupada was not revengeful.
He was not vindictive. He was not revengeful. So it was more mitigating rather than retaliating. So for all of us, when we deal with situations, dharma is not necessarily a stereotype for everyone. Each one of us in our particular situation, we need to decide how best can I move here?
So it would as I said, Krishna is planning, plan b, plan c. So if somebody decides to mitigate from particulars, mitigate adversity, is that Krishna’s plan? Well, we can’t do for sure. You know, it’s like in when we are working in in choosing to contribute, our contribute contributing should be based on curiosity. Curiosity means with my intelligence, this is what I’m trying out.
You can tell to Krishna. Krishna, this is my understanding over here. And this is understanding. This is what I think I should be doing. We can talk with if we have devotee guides, we can talk with them.
But we are open. This is what I this is my best my best experience is what I’m doing. If it works, well, I’m good. If it not, I am ready to change that also. A devotee does not operate based on certainty.
Some of the worst things in the human history have been done by people who have hurt them bewitched with God’s There are extremists who just kill ruthlessly and they think we are in God’s will. There are people who become very intolerant, maybe not at that extreme level, but sometimes people think that they’re God’s will, and they may become a fool with others. If somebody comes to a temple and, you know, say, sometimes people not even wanna take selfies. So they wanna take selfies with Krishna. And, we normally say don’t don’t turn your back towards Krishna.
You can take a picture of Krishna, but don’t turn your back towards Krishna. So we ask this to in temple and, if people don’t take selfie, what should we do? So he said that, you know, it’s not good that people turn their back, but he said if we tell them don’t take a selfie, you know, we can put a note over there that and we can either know that this is gonna be prominent. But once we start telling people, we can’t control who will tell people how. Some people get a lot of joy in catching people who are not following loose.
Isn’t it? And then telling them in such a way. Right. So that many somehow in India, among Indians outside India also, there’s a resurgence in, spiritual interest among the youth. Young people boys and girls may they may be in a relationship but they also come together to temple they wanna spend some time there so now these people when they come it’s good that they are coming now it’s not good that they turn their back towards the Lord but which is more important and that they come to a temple and they keep coming to a temple or that they come to a temple they get a bad experience and they say I’ll never come to a temple again.
I go from here then I’ll come back. We don’t want that to happen also. So the thing is sometimes if I’m convinced that this is the rule and you are violating the rule, I become certain that I am doing God’s will in telling you go do this. I can become very very self righteous. So to think that I am doing God’s will that can lead to a lot of righteous arrogance.
Mhmm. A person becomes arrogant but become very self righteous. I was in Texas and I was going for a program. I saw a scar ahead of me, it had a bumper sticker and said, oh, god. Please save me from your creatures.
Now in the Christian tradition, the idea is God saves us through his preachers. But if the preachers are very condescending, very ulterior than thou, very judgmental, Helen Brown, very stone speaking kind of preacher, then I don’t want to interrupt you to do with these people. So as devotees, it’s not that we try to operate in the platform of certainty. A devotee has certainty that there is some plan of Krishna. So certainty at the level of appreciating.
Nothing is outside of Krishna’s plan. At the level of appreciating, whatever is happening, it is not just by chance, it is not just by this person did this, but at the level of contributing. We need to have curiosity so when Shlopropathy was writing back to Gordon magazine and distributing in India in 1940s ‘1 postman told him that Swamiji if you write magazine people just throw it away You write books? Now this was an unknown postman. When our devotees were writing a biography of Shivrahupada they tried to find out who this postman was and 25 people clicked I was that postman.
So everybody want that right of association with that celebrity person. I heard is No. I’m a pure devotee. I’m following the instruction of my spiritual master. I know what I’m doing.
Who do you think you’re telling me? I am doing Krishna’s work. Oh, Prapa is open. Yeah. What you’re saying makes sense.
He has curiosity and he can’t. So that’s why when you contribute, it is with curiosity. In this working, it’s working we move forward, if not working then you may have change strategies. And that brings me to the last part of the acronym, what is the acronym? Actually appreciate.
Appreciate, contribute and last is? Transcend. It’s already already over. We talked about being great and already over. Transcend means that this is where that when we make our plans that means okay there is some plan of Krishna and within that plan of Krishna so this is what we understand is that it’s like a this is a bigger Krishna’s plan and we are always within Krishna’s plan.
But now within Krishna’s plan, say if I’m here and say it’s a general direction, the action is that we are from material consciousness, we are from self self centered consciousness or material consciousness, from there we want to develop love for Krishna. We want to go towards spiritual consciousness, we want to develop love for Krishna that’s a broad plan of Krishna. So Krishna wants us to be happy and Krishna wants us to help others to be happy It’s a broader plan of Krishna. Now when we are moving upwards, on this lane, one lane might be mitigate, another lane might be immigrate, another lane might be power cord. So Krishna’s plan can have many meanings and two devotees may choose different lanes also and that’s fair enough.
So when we work in this way, it is important that when we make our plan that ultimately our attachment to Krishna should be more than to our plan. Krishna, I have a plan and I want things to work out in this way but if those things don’t work out then it’s not that we become bitter it’s not that we reject Krishna I worked so hard why didn’t this work out? So actually this is the last visual I can prove with that there is our plan and there is Krishna’s plan. So now if our plan is working and when I say our Krishna’s plan, Krishna’s plan is always working but if we are not aware of Krishna’s plan, we are not Krishna conscious. Let’s put it this way that this is we are Krishna conscious.
If we are not Krishna conscious, our plan works but if we are not Krishna conscious then we will become prideful. Oh, I am so good. I am so great. So you see some people who are very successful, they are they are such arrogance to them sometimes. So now a since Krishna’s plan is awareness of Krishna’s plan.
No? Because even our failure or success are part of Krishna’s plan but are we aware of Krishna’s plan? That’s the question. So now if our plan is not working and we don’t get in the way of God’s plan then we just become frustrated this is where we become resentful. You’ll become very bitter.
Now suppose our plan is working and Krishna’s plan also works that is you plan something it works out wonderfully That’s where we can be grateful. Grateful that things are working out nicely. And if our plan doesn’t work, we know that Krishna’s plan is still working. That’s where we can be graceful. Graceful means yes the external world results are not coming but Krishna I know you are with me and I’m grateful to be with you I know your mercy is with me so we can be graceful.
So if you look at Srila Prabhupada’s life when did he meet his spiritual master? You announced which year? Nineteen twenty two he met his spiritual master and that time his spiritual master told him you are good at English you should share the bhakti wisdom and English language all over the world especially in the Western world since then Rupa started trying in various ways, he tried to build a business by which he would financial support his Micheal Master, he tried to start an organization, he started a magazine, he tried to work with existing institution his God brothers but nothing seemed to work even when he came to America from ’65 nothing worked, ’66 for me already is unfollowed but then also success was very minimal so 1962 to ’68 almost ’68 had a severe health crisis and he had to go back to India and that time everything would have fallen apart but somehow the devotees at that time they they became more serious and when they came back that’s when things really took off and since sixty eight to seventy seven things were quite spectacular here 108 temples were built 70 books were written, Prabhupada traveled 14 times across the world and thousands and thousands of people became devotes and millions became attracted to Krishna Oh, but you say transcend means what?
That our focus needs to be on Krishna’s plan even if Krishna’s plan goes against our plan. So now towards the end, I will recognized this just about five six months ago since then whenever I see Srila Prabhupada this this demise it I’m shaken by this remembrance so do you know when Srila Prabhupada departed from the world? Yes November 14 ’19 ’70 ‘7. Now there is one temple for which the Roopa struggled and endeavored much more than anything else which was that? The Mumbai, the Juhu Temple.
Does anyone know when that temple was inaugurated? That was actually on Sarkranti nineteen thousand four hundred and seventy eight. So just two months after Srila Prabhupada departed this was the project for which Pramupada fought tirelessly. And Pramupada said to Krishna, Krishna, just let me see this group being inaugurated. If Rupa had made a personal promise to Krishna, Krishna, you come and stay in this any gender of the tent.
You come and stay in this tent, and I’ll build a temple for you. But when Rupa saw that his body was falling apart, Rupa felt that Krishna is calling me back. Prabhupada gracefully accepted. There was, one one of his well wishers, he asked his Swamiji, we have any last desires? And Prabhupada replied, Prabhupada replied, ‘Kuch kuchani’ did Prabhupada not desire?
We are not a desire to see the dreamt of course you have but his desire was subordinate to Krishna’s plan Prabhupada had his plan and he tried vigorously to fulfill his plans but Prabhupada never held his plans so tightly that he would let go of his hold on Krishna. He did not become bitter. Why is this happening? Why am I not in the same temple? Pragupa held his plans lightly and he held Krishna tightly.
That means we transcend our own plans. We do our best sometimes whether we choose to mitigate or immigrate or tolerate. Sometimes despite our doing our best, sometimes things may not work out. But if we have an attitude of serving Krishna, then even in the plan in terms of the external results will not work out, but the plan in terms of the internal results, the plan in terms of our attachment to Krishna increasing will surely work out and that is the greatness of Krishna consciousness. Ultimately when Krishna’s plan has an external dimension to it and an internal dimension to it.
The external dimension is that our circumstances improve. Now we all would like to improve our circumstances, we all would like to leave the world a better place than what we were born into or at least we would like to leave our family in a better place we would like to leave our corner of the world better we can try to improve our circumstances we should but more important is our own consciousness Sometimes we may get so many attached, more important, this is important but this is much more important. So we transcend means we transcend our efforts to make our plan work and change our circumstances. We focus on changing our consciousness sometimes some devotees work very hard to try to serve Krishna and when they feel that other devotees are not cooperating temple management is not cooperating or this person not cooperating, they become very bitter. And now it’s understandable, we wanna do something for Krishna and others are not coming in the way other not to understand what you are doing.
Then then some negative feelings will be there, but that should not occupy our consumer consciousness. Yes. It is Krishna’s plan. I will do my service. If I want to mitigate, I can try to mitigate.
If I’m tolerant, I can tolerate. If I wanna immigrate, I can immigrate. But don’t let the situation or circumstance become so big that it consumes our consciousness. In our consciousness, Krishna needs to be the most prominent reality. The circumstances are important and we try to change them, but they don’t become bigger.
So this is our consciousness. In our consciousness, it is Krishna who needs to be the most prominent reality. And even when Srila Prabhupada was the unknown Swami walking in The States of America, you could see his lifetime there’s no noteworthy success for him. Sometimes when you look back at your life and then you’re 50 or 60 and you start going to the second half what did I really achieve in my life? Prabhupada had nothing to show.
He didn’t have a business, he did not have financial security, his family had not been supported in his bhakti, he did not have any disciples. What did he have to show? Was there nothing? But that did not make him better. His circumstances were a small part in his consciousness so he remained happy in serving Krishna.
Sometimes the circumstances can become better that’s wonderful. Sometimes circumstances can become worse but a devotee doesn’t become bitter because of that. So in that way, whatever happens, each one of us can always stay a part of Krishna’s plan. I’ll summarize what I discussed today. Now how to be a part of Krishna’s plan, how to hold our plan tightly, and how to hold Krishna tightly.
So I discussed three points over here. For the first point, you remember this? What are the acronym? Appreciate. Act.
A was Appreciate. Appreciate. Appreciate that Krishna’s plan is always acting. That everything is within Krishna’s plan. Everything means what is done by me and what is done through me to me.
What is done by what is by me and what is done to me. Both are everything is Krishna’s plan maybe we may not but everything is within Krishna’s plan so that nothing happens everything within Krishna’s plan means everything that happens is God filtered it has gone through the filter of God’s if not His intention then His permission is we discussed how Duryodhan’s defiance of Krishna was also incorporated in Krishna’s plan. So his intention could be said plan a. But his permission okay. That’s what he want to do.
That could be plan b, plan c, plan b. Krishna has many ways to make his plan move forward. Let’s have discussed the difference between plan and purpose. Like a school, we are looking at the example of a school. School’s purpose is that students be educated and promoted.
School has a plan for those students to go and study also. Other example, it goes on GPS. That is always a possibility to reroute. So our there is never a possibility that rerouting will never happen. Reducing is always possible and that’s why whatever now whatever we do we are never thrown out of the GPS.
The GPS here is God’s positioning system. So our wrong turns we discussed another icon what was that? Math. Math. When we really come up with the situation we may decide to tolerate it.
Okay. So the tolerance is based on the principle is we keep big things big and and we keep small things small. So now we need to be able to decide what is a small thing and what is the big thing. So tolerance is not the only way to be part of Krishna’s plan. So we could go one extreme is intolerance where we make small things big and the other is impotence when we let a big thing become small but in between is tolerance So sometimes you may tolerate a situation because we’ll okay there’s some bigger good that can come from over here.
So this is called Pandava tolerated initially when Beema was attempted to be kid. The next is immigrate. So we may get so tolerate means okay the system is not really doing good for me but there’s some other usual good so I’ll keep be a part of the system but immigrate we decide I just want to get out of the system I don’t want to be here at all. I want but we are immigrating. We’re not running away.
We’re tolerating. We’re not suffocating. Or we may decide the third thing Mitigate. Mitigate. That I want to be a part of the system and I’ll fix the system.
I’ll do what I can to fit the system. And all these three if you consider Krishna’s plan, you consider in that these three all three could be lanes on Krishna’s plan. So each person based on their particular position, their disposition may decide differently and that’s fair enough. The last part was transcend means that even with our best use of intelligence to make a plan our attachment to Krishna needs to be greater than Krishna needs to be greater than our plan even if it is what? Krishna’s service and that’s how we discuss that how this four quadrants that our that our execution of our plan our plan execution either it works and our awareness of Krishna’s plan.
So sometimes our execution of our plan execution okay. I think my execution of my plan of writing is not quite right. So our execution of our plan may work, may not work. If it works, you’re not aware of Krishna’s plan, then you’ll become prideful. Right.
You’ll become very arrogant. If either our plan is working or our Krishna’s plan, then we become Resent. Resentful. If our plan is working and we are also aware of Krishna’s plan, then what happens is Grateful. We’re grateful.
So if our plan is not working, we are aware of Krishna’s plan then we can be? Graceful. Graceful. Excellent. So discussion of profile is like how twenty two to ’60 ‘8 was graceful even when no results were coming.
Sixty eight to ’70 ‘7, he was grateful but towards the end again in ’77 at the end Krishna, had him his most invested project in network but Prabhupada has not picked that Prabhupada accepted it. Even if this doesn’t work, Krishna’s plan has an external dimension and an internal dimension. External dimension is we want to improve our circumstance and the internal dimension is we want to improve our consciousness. So ultimately so improve our circumstance means that we want to make our conqueror of the world better. Consciousness means we want to make our whole consciousness in the heart more attracted towards Krishna.
So both are important but I mean, you probably want to see this is much more important. That’s how we can hold our plan lightly. Even if my plan is not working, if we consider open we stay open to Krishna’s plan, we’ll find that our heart will be drawn towards Krishna. Krishna will take us to a better place. So life may be unfair, but in the big picture, life will be fairly unfair.
So in this way, we can hold our plans lightly and hold Krishna tightly. Thank you very much. So let us conclude with this prayer, Krishna. My dear lord, My dear lord. Let my plans.
Let my plans. Not blind me. Not blind me. To your plan. So are there any questions?
Or do we have time for questions? Yeah. So in the room, one maybe one of the questions we’ll take. I was doing a youth meeting, and there’s a question. And then the question?
So what you said, okay. The question is when the class were to end. Mind always. Please pardon me if I say something earlier. Though I feel like you connected to, the answer with like Matt and but still if you throw light that would be great.
In our day to day life, what measures would you suggest to a domestic working professional individual on how to tackle the unknown fear of losing one’s spirituality when he ends up being surrounded with people, circumstances, obligations that might push him to jump to the lane of pleasure whether materialistic or physical. Okay. Thank you. It’s a very honest question. I would say that we are all precious individuals and we do need pleasure.
And it is not that, say, our pleasure and Krishna’s pleasure, they are two completely non intersecting circles that we have to give up our pleasure to get Krishna’s pleasure. It’s not like that you know. As in Australia and the one place I go there’s one young man who comes and sits right in front and throughout the class he’s glaring at me not even staring glaring and the only way I can give a class is by looking at everyone except the person. So then I asked the local leader over there is something matter with him? Even if there is some some humor in the class, laughter cannot dare to touch his lips also.
Not even his mind. I asked him, what is the issue? Is that the issue? He said, no. No.
It’s not just with you. It’s always like this only. That increased my curiosity. And then I asked him, so so, is there any reason why you’re so serious in the class? He said, I’m very scared.
Really scared of what? I heard that if we if we seek any pleasure independent of Krishna, that will bind us to the material world. So he said, in the class, I’m afraid to laugh because I will be laughing for my own pleasure and not for Krishna’s pleasure. I told him you don’t have to. Like this is paralysis by analysis.
It’s not that it’s not that you’re watching some vulgar comedy show or something like that. It’s in a spiritual talk in that context there’s something you would love. Krishna wants us to be happy but Krishna doesn’t want us to be bought us to seek our present happiness at the cost of our future happiness. If somebody is dying drink and smoking I enjoy. Well you enjoy now but there’ll be heavy price to pay off tons.
So it’s not that bhakti and principal bhakti are against pleasure. They are against pleasure that comes with a usable cost in the future. So it’s like in with their life is always a negotiation. There is the present me and there is the there is the present me and there is the potential me. This is a very important principle which we can use in guiding our children also especially when infants are growing older that, you know, when we use them some rules, they will not like those rules.
But if we focus on a point that you want to enjoy it that’s fine but imagine say if there were if you were trapped in some storm and we have enough food for ten days. Now we could have a feast on the first day and after six day we’ll have no food for ourselves. So our present enjoyment should not come at the cost of the future. But if you say okay you know we won’t have food in the future so we won’t eat any food at all now then we’ll have food for the future but then we know me in the future to happen. Isn’t it?
So what happens is it is if we seek only the present we then we will degrade or at least we’ll stagnate. So for example, we want to have fun in life. Kids want to have fun for example. They have a party, I want to do this, I want to do that. But if they neglect their studies, they neglect their health, they neglect building good habits, then that will be a problem for the future.
But on the other hand, if you focus only on the future and don’t care for the present at all then what will happen is the person will suffocate. That is not very healthy. I was being driven by one American. I am American driven by an American kid born a devoted family. Children should not feel like that.
So if you care only for the present not for the present for the few if you care only for the future not for the present it will also not work. So each one of us has to find a balance. So try to see within bhakti which are the activities that give us some higher pleasure, which are the activities that give us some calming pleasure. And make sure that we do spend some time doing those activities. And then what will happen is we will be able to resist the temptations.
When there are pleasures other pleasures that come up and other places also not the same. There are some prasadvic pleasures are there. If you want to go for some hiking or somewhere to some place, that’s not necessarily hiking to nature. It’s not necessarily bad thing but by hiking people are going to drink and smoke. That’s not a good thing.
So we can say even pleasures outside Bhakti that will be sattvic, rajasik, tamasik. So we would avoid tamasik pleasures because they will be anti devotional. Sattvic pleasure is not a problem if everyone’s going okay. I’m curious I want to go and see this place or see that place. Entertainment is a part of a human life.
The problem is not with entertainment. Entertainment can be a break from life. But nowadays some people are so infatuated with entertainment that life is a break from entertainment. They work there on your phone, that video game, that TV show watching that’s the most important thing in their life. And real life with all the responsibility and challenges that’s just a break from that.
We don’t want to get that level. Okay? Thank you. So have this in a negotiation so that the present me is not suffocated but the present me’s enjoyment is not at the cost of the future. So Dhruva Maharaj Dhruva Maharaj and Praland Maharaj.
So can we say that Dhruva Maharaj immigrated and Praland Maharaj tolerated? Good. I would say Dhruva Maharaj immigrated because he wanted to mitigate. But he didn’t really want, he didn’t immigrate. He did not mitigate.
Because he didn’t really want his father’s kingdom. He said, I want a kingdom bigger than my father’s kingdom. Yes. He immigrated. And brother Paul.
Yes. I I always wonder, I think I pretty much know what’s right and what’s wrong. But it’s always a struggle because it’s easier to do the not so right things and difficult to do the right things. And and you instead of knowing that, because it’s easy, because it’s more pleasureful, We Yeah. Tend to do the not so right things.
And trying not to do that sometimes becomes a burden. And Okay. You won’t want to suffocate, so you might as well indulge, you know. So that’s why we can have a range. Range is that it’s every area where you want to improve in life.
There can be an aspirational level and there can be a non negotiable level. So for example my aspirational level might be that no matter how anyone provokes me I will not get angry, I will not yell at anyone. That is what I aspire to be. And it’s good to try to go to the aspirational level but we all have different conditionings within us and sometimes it just feels it gets very provoked. So then okay even if I get angry a non negotiable level would be that you know I’m not going to use foul words.
I’m not going to use swear words or but how angry I get I’m I don’t want to physically hit someone. So there is some boundary. So so it doesn’t have to be one zero, then there is success or failure. It has to be sometimes women, okay, I want to go I want to I don’t want to eat so much. I eat this kind of food.
But then I have a craving to eat. Okay. Then if I want to eat that food, let me have some boundaries. Maybe it contains a quantity. Yeah.
I want to eat some food. Okay. I want to eat meat. If you’re serious devotees for that, that’s not negotiable. But suppose somebody likes the taste of something very weak.
Maybe you have some soya bean, soya bean or food or something which has that same feel maybe some same taste. There is some something which is within the non negotiable we can do that. So each one of us can find out. We don’t have to be hard on ourselves and try to stick to the aspirational level all the time. Right?
So again if you can consider the pendulum, if we constantly seek to be at the aspirational level, only aspirational then we will suffocate. This. As our confidence increases our strength increases we can choose the bigger battles also. In the past Pakistan attacked India nearly nothing but now India has dealt with Pakistan more than a couple of times. India has not dealt with China.
We’re not strong enough for that. That doesn’t mean that China will all over us. But you’re not taking the battle to China. Right? So we choose our battles.
So let them go to choose our battles. Okay? Thank you very much.
That truth which everybody from any part of the world will agree with can be summarized in three words. That is life is tough. Whatever we do, whoever we will be, life is not evil. Life is difficult. And when we face the difficulties of life, if we are of a theistic bent of mind, if we accept the idea of God, then that actually raises the question.
So when I’m going through difficulties, when my life is tough, what is God doing? Does God care? Will God help me? The question will naturally come, and this is the question that Arjuna also has at the start of the Bhagavad Gita. The book here to hold is a book of prayers inspired by the Bhagavad Gita.
So there was one young man, he was born in a devotee family and he grew up and he was telling me that I don’t like to go to the temple. Is this better now? Can you hear me? So this boy, he told me he had grown up in the devotee family, and his parents used to go to temple. He said, I don’t like to go to the temple.
That happens to many people as they go into teenage, they become a little rebellious, they wanna explore the world. So I asked immediately, what is the reason you don’t like to go to the temple? So he said, I have so many troubles in my life, but when I go to the temple, Krishna is always smiling. He says, does Krishna even care for me? So I feel as if Krishna lives in a different world, I live in a different world.
So the world of bhakti has got nothing to do with my real world. And that’s why I don’t feel it is relevant at all. So I gave an answer to him at that time, but then, later on when I was writing this book, so I was reading at this particular verse and it struck me that here, Arjuna is crying. Arjuna is in tears. He’s so confused, overwhelmed.
Now Arjuna is in tears. Krishna is smiling. So this book is basically taken the verses of the Gita and we can see them as sources of wisdom, but we can also see them as the words of Krishna which are inspired devotion and devotional prayers within our hearts. So because some of us, some of you to read the prayer, we’ll read aloud. If you have a second mic, we can use that otherwise.
Those of you who have a mic inside your throat, you can use that to speak loudly. But let us begin. I’m also you have the book there but you also have it displayed over here. So you can repeat after me. My dear lord, let your smiling amid my suffering strengthen my faith not weaken it.
So here, those of you comfortably can recite the words after me. So here to give a more devotional connect with the Gita as the song of God, I have tried to translate the Gita’s verses into English poetry. The Lord of the senses spoke with a gentle grace, a knowing smile playing upon his divine face. Between the armies standing calm and bright, he saw his Darjuna who was lamenting his plight. So let us who would like to read it?
Me, these lines? Yes, ma’am. Oh, my lord. Many are the times when I feel lost and lonely, confronted with the perplexities of life. At those times when nothing I do seems to be working, I cannot help but wonder, do you, oh lord, know my plight?
Stinky, yes I’m right back. So now for most of us when we go through life, I use this a little bit writing and drawing a few things, so if we are facing life, normally if we are here and our focus is on the world in front of us, we do certain things here and certain things happen to us and that’s what life is primarily about or so we think. Now when either what we are doing is not good enough, I’ll just put it not good or what happens to us is not good, At that time we start getting questions, what is going on over here? That is the time we may look upward, beyond this world we may look upward toward Krishna. Can you arrange this in such a way that the team is also seeing?
Then we may start looking upward. And normally when we turn to someone for help, if we are sick and we go to a doctor. Mhmm. Now one thing we want to know, say if we are if our heart is broken because of something, we have great emotional pain, and you go to talk with some therapist or talk with some friend or talk with some relative, talk at that time, one thing we naturally look for is is that person actually concerned? So similarly, when we come to Krishna, that question will actually come that, is Krishna concerned about it?
So when we look upwards, in general, in life, to be with difficulties, Krishna, according to the conclusion of the Gita, calls for faith, but he also calls for intelligence. He tells Arjuna in 1863, use your intelligence. Use your intelligence. Intelligence refers to whatever ability we have, whatever skill we have, use that. But then Krishna also says, So broadly speaking, everything I speak today will be centered on this four quadrant diagram that on one side is intelligence.
By intelligence, I’m referring not just to say IQ, I’m referring to the use of whatever resources we have. So it could be each of us’s particular abilities, maybe software, maybe medicine, maybe music. So we use our intelligence. And then there is faith. The Gita’s message is that we actually need to have oath.
So intelligence is about the human effort. This is we play our part And faith is about the divine plan. That whatever is happening in my life, there is some higher plan over here. So the human effort and the divine plan. Mhmm.
So if you consider these four quadrants over here, first there is if you consider these four quadrants moving from the right bottom, so we go clockwise upward. So which is the best quadrant here to be situated in, you think? Both faith. There’s human there is there’s faith that there is a divine plan, that there’s something happening according to divine plan, and there is endeavor. We are using our intelligence to put in our effort.
So which is the best place to be situated in? Faith. Top right. Which quadrant among these? First quadrant.
First quadrant. Which one? Four. Fourth quadrant. Okay.
Now this is the we could say best. Displayed. Why the best? It’s clear. It’s not displayed properly?
It’s not the writing is not clear? No. It’s not. Okay. So now if you consider the end of the Bhagavad Gita, there is an image.
Then he says that where there is Krishna, the supreme mystic, and where there is Arjuna, the great archer, there there will be victory, there will be glory, there will be morality, there will be opulence. So now it’s interesting what the Bhagavad Gita’s conclusion is. At one level we can say wherever there is God, there is victory. Isn’t it? Krishna, God is considered to be Lakshmi Pati.
So wherever he is there, the goddess of fortune will be there. So why does the Gita have to mention Arjuna over there? The Gita will say, where there is Krishna, there will be victory. But it says, where there is Krishna and where there is Arjuna, there will be victory. Because the point is, the Gita’s focus is not just to glorify God.
The Gita’s focus is not just to proclaim that God is great. It is not just to proclaim God’s position but it is also to transform man’s disposition. That yes, God is great, God’s plan is there, God will work, therefore we should work with God. That’s why Krishna and Arjuna are together. So that’s why the end of the Gita is describing last source of the Gita is describing this level.
Where there is Arjuna who has raised his bow in readiness to fight. That means he is ready to do his endeavor. At the start of the Gita, he had put aside his bow saying I will not fight. By the end of the Gita, he has lifted up his bow in readiness to fight. And Krishna is there also.
So therefore, at the end of the Gita, both these points are there. Arjuna is ready to endeavor and Krishna has a plan. Krishna is described as Yogeshwara. He’s he’s a mysterious lord. He will work in ways that we can’t figure out.
So that’s why the Yogeshwara is the lord of mysticism. Lord who can do miraculous things. That lord is also there. So we’ll come back to this particular part of it. Would anyone else like to read?
We’re gonna have the tools and we have a mother reading. Yes. We’d like to read here. If you don’t know my suffering, then why do you not step forward to stop it? If instead of stepping forward to help me, I came to know that in those moments, you were smiling when I was suffering.
Oh, lord. How would I be able to maintain my devotion to you? Yes. So now the question comes that This boy was asking his question. We had it in the beginning.
That if we are going through trouble, we are going through some devastating problems in life. And if you come to the question, he’s smiling at that. And if you come to the Krishna, he’s smiling at that. Questions come, what kind of person is he? What kind of God is he?
Actually, that’s what Krishna is doing over here. Arjuna is in tears, this is if you consider, this is 2.1 in the Bhagavad Gita. And this is where Arjuna is, Krishna is smiling. But if you look at the verses before, the first verse 2.1 is Arjuna is in tears. Arjuna is crying.
So and there is no description that Arjuna has become calm and composed. Arjuna is still speaking. I mean his tears he is still speaking. He is trying to make his point but Arjuna has definitely broken down. It is not that suddenly his mood has changed.
So while Arjuna is in tears, how is it that Krishna is smiling? So sometimes life is tough but what makes it more difficult? There is distress, there is pain in life but some the distress often has degrees to it. No. Any kind of pain is a problem.
But if the pain is unfair pain, that means that we haven’t done anything wrong and still we are suffering. That becomes very difficult to hear. On top of that, if there is unfair pain that we alone are suffering. Now that feels most unbearable. So the nature of the mind is that whatever problems we face, the problems, we can’t remove them from our end.
They are going to come to everyone. However, based on how our mind perceives the problems, The Gita explains that the mind is like a screen inside us. This is the soul, the mind is in between and then we have the body. The body, the mind and the soul. So this is like a computer system in which we have the hardware that is the body, the software that is the mind and the soul is the user.
So now whatever happens in the outer world that is experienced through the body, but eventually it is experienced at the level of the mind. And sometimes an event may be tiny over you but when it reaches the mind it can become huge, it will completely occupy our mind And conversely, sometimes an event may be huge in the outer world, but when it comes here, it can become tiny. What does that mean? That life determines our problems, but our mind determines the size of the problems. Life determines our problems.
We we don’t control the size of the events out there. But now we all have probably noticed that sometimes if we are in a good mood and if somebody does something a little annoying, If we are in a cheerful mood, we feel annoyed, but okay. It’s okay. We say, hey. You know, we we’re supposed to meet somebody at a particular time, and we had a good day.
And that person has come, they got a little late. A little annoyed, but okay. These things happen. But suppose we have had a hard day, and our mind is already disturbed, our mind is already irritated. And then somebody is supposed to come on, and they come late.
So what happens? You know, when we finally see when that person is coming late, we feel as if that person has committed a crime called capital punishment. Because the mind can make something small very big. One friend, one person who gave a video was telling me once, how he got the realization that his mind was his enemy. That’s what made him start searching for spirituality.
So he said that whenever he will go to a restaurant, eat food. You know, if it is a restaurant, it would say hundred seats. He said he could not select the seat without having checked out all the hundred seats. He said, I don’t know one thing. I’m just thorough.
But there is thoroughness and there is just, you can be thorough about pretty, about, pretty small things also which can be big and petty. But then he realized that at one time he went to a restaurant and the previous time he had sat in a particular seat and he couldn’t sit on that seat because somebody was occupying that. And he’s very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, Wondering why is cooked again? Why is it going some other day? How will it taste and say it’s good?
It’s great. Then he said that small thing that I’m going to sit on a particular seat that can make a person extremely angry. The mind is such that it can just make small things very big. When I was in Australia One day, one one young man came to me and he said that he was complaining about another person constantly. And then I told him with all due respect, which, generally, if anybody starts a sentence, with all due respect, that means whatever they want to speak afterward is not going to be very respectable.
So I said, with all due respect, it sounds like you’re jealous of that person. Yeah, of course not, I’m not jealous. I’m just extremely unhappy that bad things are happening to me and good things are happening to him and sometimes the people are so spectacularly self unaware that in the textbook there is no jealousy. So sometimes something bad has happened to me, that is a problem, but good has happened to that person, that’s a bigger problem. So the point is that the mind can make small things big and big things small.
So for all of us, if we are very much controlled by our mind, then problems can be small problems can be made very, very big. And this is especially in relationships. If we start feeling that the other person is not taking serious stuff then what happens we can get irritated. Let’s say if we are disturbed or something and we go and tell someone and that person just says calm, we’ll be, why are you so disturbed about it? And first we are disturbed about what happened and now we are disturbed that the other person is not disturbed.
Isn’t it? So quite often it is other people’s reactions that can make small things big and big things small. And now how does this why am I talking about all this right now? How does this play in our bhakti, in our relationship with Krishna? So something is a big thing for us and if in our relationship with Krishna we feel Krishna does he care also for this also?
If whatever is a big thing for us is not a big thing at all for Krishna. Now that can be a question. Krishna doesn’t care for this thing. Krishna doesn’t care for me. Krishna doesn’t care for me.
Why do I care for him? That can be a that can be a question. I was when I was introduced to Bhakti about thirty years ago, I started talking about it to all my friends, relatives, and one uncle of mine, he said to me that God and I, we have very good relationship. I said, really? I never heard him do anything connected with God, you know, talk about God with me.
He says, what is the nature of this good relationship? He said, mutual non interference. He said, he’s happy there, I am happy here. Now the problem is that okay, Whether God is happy there or not, we do not know. Yes.
He’s happy there, but we won’t always stay happy. We will have difficulties. And then at that time, we will want God to intervene. And God doesn’t seem to care what am I doing over here? Why am I even practicing Bhakti?
So this is when Krishna is smiling at Arjuna while Arjuna is crying naturally Arjuna will have questions Can you continue? Yes, please. Bless me to remember, oh, Lord. Just wait a moment. Bless me to remember, oh, Lord, that you are never smiling because I am suffering.
It is through my suffering that I’m becoming more open to your calling. You know my pain, you feel my pain, and you want to heal my pain. Indeed, you stand ready and eager to free me from all pain. Yes. So Krishna being all let me move on that.
I can just pass it on. So now Krishna is all knowing. That means Krishna also knows our pain. We’ll three descendants together third third line. You know my pain.
My dear lord, you know my pain, you heal my pain, and you want to heal my pain. So Krishna is within our hearts. He’s closer than the closest person to us can be even if that person holds in the rightest of us. Krishna is inside us. He’s close to us.
And when we are going through suffering, it is not that Krishna is somewhere out there sending that suffering our life. Now Krishna is with us to give us strength to deal with that suffering, to go through that suffering, to go through that suffering, and to grow through that suffering. So Krishna wants to heal our pain. Now there are many different metaphors we may use to understand various concepts. So if we consider our relationship with God, what is the prominent metaphor in terms of how do we compare or conceive that relationship?
So if we consider relationship with God, so in the for example, you consider Christian tradition. What is the primary way God is addressed? Father, Lord. Father. Lord.
Father. So our father, thou art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Give us our daily bread. So the metaphor of a parent, there is one metaphor. Now generally, when you consider the metaphor of a parent, what is the each each metaphor that we have, it sets up a certain conception and certain expectations.
So in our relationship with Krishna, with God, not tradition is not God as Krishna. So one could be that as a father child, the parent child. You could say, now this what does it what does the parent child relationship primarily convey? What is the when when you think of a parent and a child, what is the dynamic of the relationship that comes in? Love, care, care, care, Unconditional law.
It’s interesting, dependence. I mean, if you have if your parents have loved you unconditionally, you are very fortunate. You know? If you have I was talking to one boy. He was a young adult, actually.
So he was telling me that I was staying at their place. He was driving me to various programs here in America A Few Years ago. I was still So he said to me, I said, I feel as if my parents don’t love me at all. I said, I’ve I’ve been with your parents. I’ve seen them interact with you.
They talk about you with me. I take care of you. I love you. He says, yeah. Yeah.
He says, they they love a future version of me. And they are simply tolerating me till that future version comes. Sir, that’s a very astute observation. And if it is true to the sad reality, sometimes we may also think that our relationship with God is like that. That God will love a future version of me who is a pure devote.
And till then, the way I am conditioned, God has built authority. Well, it’s not like that. God loves who we are and God loves who we can be. It’s unconditional love. That is yes.
In parenting, should it be there? Yes. It should be there. But you can say parenting contains protection, two things. When your parent child relationship is there, one is protection, the other is provision.
Isn’t it? The parents are supposed to protect the person and the protect the child and the parents are expected to provide for the child. Protection and provision are the primary expectations in a relationship. Each relationship will bring a different image. But broadly speaking that’s what if you see the prayer it says father give us our daily bread so it’s a protection and provision.
So any other metaphors have you heard about for our relationship with God? Best friend. Best friend. Okay. So now what does the idea of a best friend convey?
The the metaphor of a of friendship with God, what does it convey? Support. Support. Support. Okay.
Equality. Equality. Okay. Are we equal to God? No.
Are we not? Openness. Openness. Yes. You could say proximity.
You could say intimacy. Intimacy is not by the body goes to the sexual or physical senses, but it’s a very close proximity. Isn’t it? Like a heart to heart relationship. So is there any reference to this kind of relationship in our tradition also?
Subrudam Sarvabhutaana. Subrudam Sarvabhutaana. That idea that God is our friend, this brings us a resonance of support and is a proximity or intimacy. And sometimes we may train our children, like how Krishna is a cowherd boy, Krishna goes and plays, and children may think of Krishna also as a how Krishna is that friend. And there’s a very there’s a great sweetness in the right.
So we don’t necessarily expect our friend to solve our problems, but we expect our friend to be with us, to be with us as we deal with challenges. So friendship is one metaphor. Let’s we’ll come back to these metaphors again. Any other metaphors? Servant.
Servant. So Krishna is our servant. Yeah. Krishna is our lord, our master. Now what does this this convey?
Obedience. Obedience. Yes. So whatever Krishna tells us, we need to obey this. So now this is not the most pleasant metaphor for most of us to conceive that, you know, why should I obey God?
That of okay. That God is the supreme authority. Yes. So that’s the same as master or lord. That means we have to obey him.
Now this metaphor, it can convey some resentment, especially if we have not encountered authorities who are very pleasant in our life. So the idea is that I experienced authority figures will not be very cordial. Then if, you know, it’s why so much being demanded from me? Do this, do this, do this, do this. So now that may not convey, some special emotion.
Let me come back to this metaphor. It’s an important metaphor. So because the first two metaphors, they are they are positive metaphors. And the third may be functionally right, philosophical is also right, but it’s maybe not the most pleasant metaphor. Krishna is our master, Krishna is our lord, Krishna is our authority.
Anything else? Guru and disciple. Guru and disciple. Yes. Krishna is the ultimate guru.
So we could use the word guru or guru also means guide. So what do we expect in this relationship? Yeah. I already hear that answer. So guidance.
So for example, we may want to hear, and if I want to do make some decisions in my life, what should I be doing at this time? So sometimes people may look for some signals, you know, or this indicate that I should do this, this indicate I should not do this. So we experience wisdom, we expect wisdom and guidance. Now we don’t expect the guru to necessarily be a magician who solves all problems. What do we expect is k.
So any other Okay. Forgiveness. So then what would be metaphor over there for that? What kind of relationship is it? Is it a judge?
A judge who does not judgment but use pardon. Yes. Something like that? Yes. Yes.
So we we may have done many wrong things. It’s a judge, but it’s like a pardoning or a forgiving judge. So then with that, the expectation is forgiveness actually. That, okay, I made some mistakes, but my dear lord, I beg forgiveness from you. Sometimes you may we may do some atonement.
We may do some extra practice, switching practices, something that, okay, I want to I want to express my my regret for what I did. But the idea is here, we expect forgiveness. It’s a good metaphor. Any other exam any other ideas of Like, bring your freedom, like, beloved, the way we look at your own creation. Yes.
That’s it. So that is there’s a lover and there’s the beloved lord. So it may be more in terms of the, see the most intense human relationship is the male female relationship. So that relationship is also seen as a metaphor for the relationship with God. And especially with Krishna, the highest love of Krishna is with whom?
With gopis. With gopis. Radha, I knew that of most gopis. The gopis, there is that relationship based on the principle of divine romance. So now in that relationship, because there’s a lot we have beloved, what do we expect?
Everything. Perfect. Everything? Okay. True.
That’s there. It’s, I mean, we come to the philosophical aspect even later. But from an experiential perspective, then normally when everything about romance, there was a romantic movie might be there. So essentially, what happens when there is a novel and a beloved? Stay together, spend time together.
Basically, it’s a okay. That’s after you get married. You expect that? I’m talking more at the romantic level. Love.
Love means but how is that love seen? It’s it’s selflessness. Objection. All of you in the right direction. Full of Basically, if you see lovers, what happens with them?
They’re lost in each other. Isn’t it? If you consider Mirabaya as a saint, it is absorption. When a person is absorbed in the other person, take loss to the world almost. We we are lost in the object of love.
That’s why the example of the gopis is whatever they are doing, actually the gopis don’t really expect a lot from Krishna. They whatever they do, they’re completely absorbed. Even when they churn butter and they have to go and sell butter, they are going to say butter. What is it? Butter, curd, but they saw also Krishna.
They are showing their way. They say Krishna, Krishna, go in the Madhaviti. So at the level of this, it’s we a person lost in the Lord. And that’s the example of the great saints. They may or may not be in the Madhaviras necessarily, but that’s also best metaphor where there is a person lost in the lord.
And this is one of the key differences between, say, a friendly relationship, a relationship of friendship, and a relationship of romance. And the the key difference is that the two friends, the friends face the world together hand in hand. But in a romantic relationship, the two people are looking at each other and the world is forgotten. So that’s a difference. Of course, eventually they have to face the world also.
But generally, in a romantic relationship, the focus is on they are lost to the world. The world becomes just fades into oblivion. That’s also one metaphor. And we could say that is that is a very elevated state of love. Now for us, we we as we may aspire to be at that level, but it is that we don’t get lost in the Lord.
Even that we are the where the Lord will get lost in the world. We will come to the temple and still we may remember, oh, you know, this politics has happened. This one has said like this to me, and that thing happened over there. Getting lost in the Lord, we we want that, but it’s a little far away from us. Okay.
Thank you. These are all very good metaphors. We’ll continue this discussion as we move forward. But any other metaphors before we move ahead? Surrender.
Sorry? Surrender. Surrender. Okay. So what would be the metaphor for that?
Is it same as parent and child, or you’re having some other metaphor? Yeah. I’m talking about your surrender is surrender is what we will do. So it’s like I’m talking about a relationship and the result of the relationship in terms of what we expect or what we do. So surrender is you’re talking about the second part of the relationship.
The surrender will be the end of the relationship, but then what would it be? What would the metaphor over this? Master. Ruler. Ruler.
Ruler. Master. Master. So then you could say obedience here can serve to surrender. Is that right?
Yeah. Now you could use that. There’s another metaphor which we may not use so often. It is like it is very much drawn from the vision of the Bhagavad Gita is that life is like a war, and Krishna is the commander. Krishna is the commander.
And what do we need to do? We need to surrender. So Krish now surrender to Krishna is not attacking us and we are raising our hand in surrender. That is not the point of surrender. Okay?
Surrender is we obey the order. There’s a higher plan over there. There’s a higher purpose over there. There is some especially if a war is going on, the war war is a serious business. There’s a lot at stake in the war.
And it’s important that the person that the that the the general is competent. Then the soldiers need to cooperate. Soldiers need to surrender. So now there’s one thing about this particular metaphor. This conveys a sense of shared mission.
Isn’t it? That the shared mission is a commander and a gen a soldier. They’re both working together. There’s a shared mission over there. Mhmm.
Any other metaphors? Krishna as ultimate goal and we are achiever. Krishna as the goal. Well, okay. That’s, it’s not a relational metaphor.
But it’s not it’s not that Krishna is only there at the end of the journey for us, isn’t it? The idea is we have a relationship with Krishna right now also. So later with this, I’ll just add one moment of her. That Krishna is like the doctors and then we are like the patient. Now what does the patient have to do?
Be patient. Well, yes and no. Patient has to be patient. What the patient is doing? If you talk with the doctor, we have to have cooperation.
The doctor is telling us do this kind of exercise, eat this kind of food, do this kind of activities. We need to cooperate. So the idea is different metaphors may inspire us or guide us or shelter us at different times. And here when Krishna is smiling and Arjuna is suffering, so why is Krishna smiling? Let’s look at the expanded up over here.
Who would like to read this? Who has the mic? You know the person who lectured or is the mic nice? Yes, please. Okay.
I was reading. Yes. Let me remember your smile amid my suffering as a sign of your confidence and confidence that you can tackle any and every problem no matter how gigantic it seems to me. Yes. Thank you.
That suppose, you know, person is, rushed to doctor. They got a swelling in their body and they think this is cancer. They’re scared to death because of that. They go to a doctor, and the doctor leaves reads the report, doctor talks, looks at them, doctor smiles. Now the smile of the doctor can mean the doctor doesn’t care, or the smile can also mean that the doctor is confident that this can be cured.
The doctor may stay calm and composed so to assure the patient that this is curable. And that is what the next verse in the Gita begins with. So Jiyogaswami in his commentary to the he’s not in the commentary, but in his comments on the Bhagavad Gita. So Dharwati says that the first word that Krishna speaks in the Gita, the first instructive word is in the second chapter eleventh verse and that is Oshochan. Oshochan is not worth lamenting, not worth worrying, not worth getting worded about.
And the last instructive word that Krishna speaks in the Bhagavad Gita is ma shu jaha. Ma shu jaha is do not dwell. This is actually Krishna giving assurance that I have it. I can handle this. That this is not beyond my control.
I know how to handle this. So Krishna is assuring us, like, a doctor in the beginning may say that, oh, this is not worth worrying. The doctor makes me could heal the disease. This is the problem. This is how it has grown.
This is how it may grow in the future. This is how we plan to tackle this. These are treatments available and these treatments is how they will lead to recovery. And at the end, the doctor says, go to hell. So Krishna is that king of doctor.
So Ashok chan, not worth worrying. Not worth worrying, not worth getting worked up about. Finally finally it is, don’t worry. So in between Krishna will explain why not worth worrying, how not to worry or what to do about it So basically, how to deal with it. Those are the two main things that Krishna will explain in the Gita That whatever predicament we are facing facing, that it is not ultimately something which is devastating and not something to the end of the world.
Krishna is in control. Krishna can handle it. And that assurance now if you consider in, the metaphor of a doctor, there is the doctor’s competence. There’s a doctor’s confidence. It’s all important.
But even the best doctor cannot work without the cooperation of the patient. When the patient the doctor if the patient has got sick because of, say, alcoholism, they got liver problems, And the doctor says you will stop drinking. The patient says, oh, no. I can’t stop drinking. But you will die.
The patient says, right, you say, I die happy. Well, then the doctor will not be very happy with that answer. So the patient has to cooperate. But in this case, the cooperation is not simply that the doctor is the boss and you are doing it. The cooperation is for the good of the patient.
So similarly for us, when we are trying to develop our relationship with Krishna, there is this principle that we actually are also active. We also have to play our part. That’s why when I went back to this metaphor, this this other diagram, let you know that in these four quadrants, faith is that Krishna is a competent doctor. And intelligence is, I have a part to play. Let me play my part.
So when we understand these two things that Krishna is in charge, Krishna has a plan for my life. I’m not just all alone struggling in this world. But along with that, I have to play my part. So to play my part, I need to play it as well as I can. If I’m a parent, I need to be the best friend that I can be.
If I’m a professional, I need to be the best professional that I can be. Arjuna was an archangel, and Arjuna had to use all the archari expertise that he had acquired throughout his life in the final war that he fought for the service of Krishna. So our intelligence, our ability, even our individuality is not sub is not rejected. It is not suppressed. It all is meant to be utilized.
So that, the human endeavor and the learning plan, they both work together. So now if we look at this particular metaphor, not this particular diagram, let’s look at the other quadrants. So if we have neither we are neither using our intelligence nor do we have faith in the divine plan, What will happen? Yeah. Actually, we’ll not be stuck.
We’ll be stuck definitely. We’ll be stuck and we’ll be stuck. We’ll see. Problems will keep worsening in our life. Say somebody is somebody is addicted.
Oh, there’s there’s no God, no no meaning to life, ultimately. Many of these big atheistic philosophers were there. Most of them couldn’t function without drinking heavily. You know life was so unbearably empty for them. They were brilliant at an intellectual level but life was empty for them.
So here it’s like we are in a dark place and we are going to go in a darker place. So this is this is among the four patterns you could say, this is the worst situation to be in. In. Why the worst situation over here? Here we will become practically hopeless.
Mhmm. We’ll become that. Okay. Sooner or later we’ll become hopeless. Because there’s no higher plan, there’s no purpose to my life, and why should I care?
I also don’t care. I also act like this. We all have probably known people who have, by their own actions, made their life worse. Maybe they got into unhealthy habits. Maybe they get into unnecessary fights.
Maybe they just, get into negativity unnecessarily. Now sometimes we may ask ourselves have lived in this quadrant also. But the point is, this is the worst situation to be in. And a person like, sometimes we ask me, what are you thinking? And they do something rash, and somebody has a good amount of money, where they need some money, and they invest in Ponzi some Ponzi scheme.
You double your money in six months. Their money doesn’t get doubled in six months. Their money disappears in half a in in three months. So what were you thinking when you invested your money like this? So the point is we are asking that question is electronically.
That is you’re not thinking. So we all have experience of people who will break their own laws. So this is a quadrant we don’t want to be in. Now what if the first quadrant, what would be our situation over there? If we’re using our intelligence, but we don’t have faith any faith that there’s a divine plan.
What do you think will happen? Pride. You will risk the falling out. Yes. So on one side, as long as things are going positive for us, we will become prideful.
Isn’t it? That we will, yeah, I am doing so much. I have achieved so much. But it’s not that life will always be good. When life starts going down, we will become very resentful.
I worked so much, I did so much, why are things not working out for me? Why did everything go wrong? So this is extreme positive, I am so great, My life is so terrible. That’s why we’ll have this wild, wild oscillation. So now if we have if we have only faith that is a divine plan, but we are not using our intelligence, we are not making our endeavor, then what will happen?
We will not succeed. We will not succeed. Yes. That is true. We may become reckless.
In the name of bhakti, in the name of faith, we will become careless. We will become reckless. Now this is not healthy. Now when there are very great saints who do not care for the world, but they actually do not care for the world because they care so much for God. In our case, it’s not that we care so much for God.
It’s just that we don’t want to take trouble of dealing with the world. Then if you’re not putting an eye on the river, if you say Shri La Prabhupada, and then you’re 70, he traveled all alone to come to America. And the amount of endeavor he put in, every single day he would be he barely sleeps two, three hours, he would be writing his books, talking with people, he would be extremely hard. So this certainly, it’s not it’s not that only Bhakti means no endeavor. We it is best that we have our endeavor and we have God’s plan.
So what will happen by this is we will be faithful, actually because there is faith, and we will also be using our intelligence. So this is what the place where we will be purposeful. That my life always has a purpose. My life always even if my particular plan is not working, Krishna, but you have a plan, And your plan is working even when my plan is not working. So with our intelligence, we will make our plans, and we’ll try to do the best we can.
But we understand that even when my plan doesn’t work, Krishna’s plan will be working. So we will be hopeful. We will go to school. We will never become resentful. We will not become prideful.
So we play our part, and we know that Krishna will be playing his part. So this purposeful, what does it mean over here? Then we understand that, okay, there’s a doctor who is treating me. The doctor is competent. I have confidence.
Then, okay, this is the kind of food I want to eat. This is the this is the kind of things I will not do. We will also be playing our part. We will be purposeful. And being purposeful in this way, what does this mean?
We’ll talk about this more in tomorrow’s session. I’ll make one last point over here about what is the nature of the state when we are purposeful in Krishna’s service. What it means is that we use our intelligence, and we work diligently. We make our plans. We we observe ourselves.
You see, what are what are the gifts that I have? What are the talents that I have? What are the place I have? And we’ll talk about all this more tomorrow. But in this situation, what will happen to us is that we will have our plans.
We’ll hold our plans. But do you understand that there is Krishna and he has plans? We hold our plans lightly, and we hold our Lord tightly. Unfortunately, sometimes even when we practice bhakti, we may come to a temple, we may practice bhakti, we may chant the holy names, but what happens is we hold our plans tightly. And because we hold our plans tightly and the plan don’t work, then what happens is, I hold our light we hold our light lightly.
That we don’t want these two things to happen. That we hold our plans lightly. We hold our lord tightly. And hold our plan lightly means we make we do our endeavor. We we plan and try to the best of our capacity.
At the same time, if my plan is not working, that does not mean nothing is working. Even when my plan is not working, Krishna’s plan is working. And with that understanding, we can go through the most difficult of situations in life. Where our intelligence is work can work, we use our intelligence to make things work. But where our intelligence is at work, we don’t lose hope.
We keep we keep moving forward. We keep how to move forward, how to how to hold our plans, and how to hold out all, that will be the topic of the discussion tomorrow. Let’s look at the last sentence, last paragraph over here. Who would like to read this? Yes, please.
You’re ready once, is it? You’re ready once? Yes, please. May your smiling face, oh lord, never reduce my faith in your magnanimity. Let it always reinforce my faith in your capability.
Yeah. So the Lord is smiling, and the Lord is dancing, and the Lord seems to be happy. That is not that the Lord doesn’t care. It’s not that he’s not magnanimous. It is that he is con he’s capable, and he’s confident of his capability.
That Krishna has things under control. Even when things seem to be widely veering out of control for us, Krishna has things in control. Krishna’s plan is still working. That understanding can give us faith in all situations even when our intelligence and our plan doesn’t work. So I’ll summarize what I discussed today.
The topic was finding strength in hard times. So when we talk about this theme of finding strength in hard times, today was the first part. We continue the second part tomorrow, But the first part, I discussed about how normally we turn towards when do we turn towards God? It is when life becomes tough. Normally, we are caught in the world.
What I do in the world and what the world does to me. But when these both of them seems to be not good, that’s when we turn towards God. So we turn generally, we turn towards God in times of need. So in these times of need, when we turn towards God, we turn with a certain expectation, and expectation is based on the metaphor. The metaphor for our relationship or rather metaphor for our conception of our relationship with God.
So we discussed many metaphors. Right. Can you remember the metaphors? One was the parent, then authority, then friend. Here are the metaphors.
Yeah. Last metaphor. Doctor. Judge. Judge.
Judge. Commander. Lover. Master. Master of probably friend.
Teacher. Teacher, guide. And the last metaphor we discussed was? Doctor. Doctor.
Now each of these metaphors has their value. Each of these metaphors is important in their own being. And the the the each metaphor will set a particular expectation from God. The vision of the Bhagavad Gita is that at the end we discussed how Krishna is actually asking Arjuna to raise his weapons and fight. So the Gita’s conclusion so the Gita’s mood or the Gita’s metaphor is is actually that both come together.
That there is the human endeavor that is our intelligence. I mean, the intelligence, we are ability. We humans are meant to make an endeavor. And it’s also that there is faith. Faith that there is a divine plan that I am not lost in life.
It’s not just I alone trying to struggle in face life. So the Gita’s this fourth quadrant is where the Gita wants us to be. Eighteen seventeen doctor, which is where we can be purposeful in our life. And now if we have neither, we’re not using our ability nor we’ve held faith, then we’ll be hopeless. We’ll be in that situation, we’ll be darker.
If we are having a an intelligence and doing our endeavor, but not we don’t have faith and higher time, what will happen? Do you remember this? Right. Yes. You either become prideful or yes.
If things don’t work out, we’ll become resentful. If we have only faith, but we’re not doing our part, then we’ll be Scratchless. Yes. We’ll be careless. We’ll be careless.
In the name of faith, we’ll maybe become negligent of our part. So we want to be purposeful. And this purposefulness what is the basis of this purposefulness? There’s one sentence that conveyed that. Hold our plans.
Yes. We make our plans. We do our endeavor. We hold our plan lightly. We hold our Lord tightly.
So this is the essence of Mahdi that in many ways you wanna put in this way, our sadhana, that is how we hold our Lord tightly. And the rest of our life, everything that we do, we we may have some seva in the temple, we have responsibilities, we have a professional responsibilities. We do our part diligent. When I say lightly, that doesn’t mean careless. We’re still holding on to that.
But lightly means it’s more in comparison. We don’t hold on to our plans in the world more tightly than we hold on to the Lord. So if we have this vision, our intelligence is important, but faith in Krishna is just as important, in fact, very important. So we hold on to our Lord tightly while we hold our make our plans, we hold our plans tightly. So how to do that, that we’ll discuss in tomorrow’s session.
Let’s conclude by offering this prayer once again. This last or the starting place you offered. My dear Lord. My dear Lord. Let your smiling amid my suffering strengthen my faith not weaken it.
Thank you very much. Do you have time for questions? Are there any questions or comments? Thank you so much for, you know, this enlightening class. I have a question, take for this topic, today’s topic.
You know, most of the work is present here in this congregation, from, from India and India’s economy. Now, you know, the the the the recent events have made us all very uneasy in the sense that, you know, there there is this feeling that, as if the whole world is turned against us. You know, how do we tackle this stuff like this? The feeling that the whole world has turned against us. I think the only reason is India knows geopolitically rising now.
India is, if nobody considers us to be a threat, then is that a good thing? Maybe it is but maybe it is that nobody considers us a human. Yogi. Yes. So that’s also a possibility.
In general, for each one of us, then the Gita talks about our swadharma. Each one of us has a part to play. In the swadharma in the loka sandhara. Loka sandhara is the maintenance of the world. So our each one of us plays a role.
Now some of us some rules may become more prominent at certain times. So for example, if somebody is in disaster prevention and normal times, okay, that’s just one department. But when a disaster strikes, their role will become the most important. Somebody, the doctor, yeah, their role is normally important, but if there’s a pandemic, their role becomes even more important. So soldiers, their role is very important.
But when there is a war, their role becomes even more important. So sometimes in the in the way the world moves, the importance of certain roles becomes very evident. But in a normal course of life, you know, we all have a tendency to devalue the rules that we are playing. So it’s important for us that to recognize that every one of us has a part to play. And whatever be our whatever be our sphere of influence, Each one of us around us has a Kshetra.
Kshetra is our sphere of influence. Some people may have a huge Kshetra. Say somebody is a billionaire who who funds political parties, they have much bigger. Somebody who’s the head of state of a country, they have much bigger. Our will be small.
But a small kshetra does not mean it’s worthless. That does not mean it’s insignificant. So we do our best in the kshetra that we are in. So generally speaking, in the world, as I said, there is so another way of putting these two things, there is intelligence and there is faith. So another way of understanding this is there is Shakti and there is Bhakti.
So Hanuman ji, he has hands that are folded. That indicates his Bhakti. But in those folded hands, he has a mace. That is Shakti. So both these are required in life.
So for every one of us, whatever be the role we are playing right now, if we learn to play it more competently, we become more responsible, we become more diligent, we become more successful, then our kshatriya will increase. Now rather than worrying about too much about what is happening in somebody else’s kshatriya, we need to focus on our kshatriya. Now, of course, if you can contribute to somebody who is in the Akshaytra where a lot of things are happening, we should contribute. So, for example, you know, one way, Indians outside India can contribute is that Indians, certainly outside India, are respected as successful, responsible citizens. So there are various ways in which the advocacy groups can be formed.
We can basically like, when you say the world has turned against us. You know? Okay. Maybe the world has turned against us, but are we telling our side of the story? Is it simply because somebody is telling our story and we’re not telling our story at all?
So it’s our responsibility that we also share our side of the story. Not in an aggressive way, not in a judgmental way. So in general, in Tamoguna and there are three I’ll just go to answer one last point that whenever there is a problem, there are there are three gunas. There is satua, there is Rajas, and there is Tamas. So in Tamas, whenever there’s a problem, we focus that I’m a victim.
Oh, life is so bad to me. Things are so so many bad things are happening to me. In Tamas, the focus goes on on being a victim. In Rajas, the focus goes on finding a villain. That it’s not not just I’m a victim.
Right. Who is the person who is who is messed up with my life? Who has ruled my life? I will redeem this person. So Rajas and Tamas are very related.
Because if the villain is too powerful, then again we go down to the victim. Mhmm. But it is the mind gets caught induced to this. Somebody out there is hurting me. Oh, I’m so I’m in so much pain.
I’m hurt so much. Is it possible that we could be a victim? Of course. Sometimes life victimizes us. Sometimes people victimizes us.
Is it possible that there could be villains out there? Of course. It’s possible. But the point is, it is when we fixate on those things, that’s when life becomes unnecessarily dark. We we cannot afford to fixate on those things.
So what we fixate on? Now when we are in sattva, we try to cultivate a vision. Vision, we got all over the place. What is actually happening? What is in my control?
What can I do? What can I not do? This is the. Not that we don’t care for the result, but we don’t fix it on the results. What is the vision where I can do some things?
There are certain things which I can do and let me do those things. So the vision that inspires us to action. Action is a concrete action. Now beyond this, of course, there’s the Shuddha Satva. Shrutta Satva is the level of bhakti where we focus on Krishna as the supreme victor.
Krishna is a victor and the message of the Bhagavad Gita is not just that Krishna is the supreme hero. The message of the Gita is that in the service of the supreme hero, each one of us is also meant to become a hero. Krishna wanted Arjuna to fight and get the glory. So Krishna wants us also to do that. So we may or may not get glory in the world’s eyes.
Not everybody can get that. But we all can play our part, and that we consider valuable by Krishna in his service. So see what we can do and focus on doing that. Thank you. Correction, Raul.
You start your class with three words. Life is tough. Yeah. My question is, is life is tough? Is it subjective?
The third part of it is, is it with our intelligence we can pass through these things? Because, yeah, I think I I have completed my question. Okay. Question to you. Yeah.
So is life really tough or is it a matter of subjectivity? Well, as I said, subjectivity is definitely part of it. You remember I talked about how, sometimes the problem might be small, but our mind can make it very big. So our mind is here. My computer is making a small problem big now.
Okay. This is my mind. That could be a big problem that can become small in my mind. And that is a small problem that can become big in my mind. So the idea is that, there is a subjective element to it.
No doubt. But beyond the subjective element, there’s objective reality also. If, for example, the temperature is is very low. One time I was in Washington. I woke up very early.
I wanted to do my mantra chanting. So I woke up, looked at the temperature. It was 14 degrees. Okay. I’ll go out for a walk and I’ll chant.
I’m free of up to 15. But I’ll do I’ll go out for a walk and I’ll chant. So I’ll chant again and I found that within a few minutes, my fingers were freezing, the steam coming from my mouth. I had gone a little distance away from the temple. And I was wrong.
I mean, there’s not 40 degree effect. And I looked at my temple, looked at my phone, somehow I had opened up. I was busy. I had forgot I had forgotten I had not looked at the minus sun. So it is minus 40 degrees.
So the point is that is it a matter of subjectivity? No. It’s objective. The 14 degree experience and minus 14 degree experience is gonna be really different. Neither.
When there is cold, somebody can make their objective reality subject to you also worse. Oh, it’s so cold. It’s so cold. It’s so cold. It’s so cold.
They can keep complaining about it. And then people around them will say, oh, what you’re saying is so old, so old, so old. Get over it now. Learn to live with it. So, yes, there is a sub there’s a subjective element with undoubtedly, and we can try to minimize it.
But but you see, everything is subjective. That is not reality. There is an objective reality. We do grow old. And sometimes in sports, people may say that, oh, age is just a number.
That age is just a number, but that number has our number, basically. So as of now, you may say, naturally today you’re 40. Some tennis player, some cricket player, it’s performed spectacular. We appreciate that because that’s extraordinary. And in that, actually, the 40 might do very well, but that won’t be as actually, it’s not as suitable as when they’re 20 or 25 or 30.
So there is objective reality. So when we’re dealing with the pain problem of pain in life, there are two extremes. One is to consider it entire only objective. I’m suffering so much in life and my life is so objectively somebody who’s living, say, in a very comfortable, comfortable house as compared to somebody who’s living in a maybe in somebody living in a tent. The object there’s a huge difference, but you know, is it only objective?
There were 10 people living in a tent and their states of mind are different. So pain is not only objective, the other is to make it only subject. So in general, the western approach to some extent has been to focus only on the objective side of pain. The idea was through science and technology, we’ll make so much progress. We will we’ll remove all discomforts in life.
And we have succeeded spectacularly. We have got comforts and conveniences now that we can’t imagine at all. Or at least people fifty years ago could not have imagined that that we’re not available even for royalty fifty to a hundred years ago. So the western approach is make all suffering only objective and remove that suffering. But you know, despite having spectacular amount of comforts, what is the result?
No. We are we are comfortably there’s a huge amount of comfort in the western world, but we are comfortably miserable. Why? Because when the objective level has been addressed, the subjective level has been neglected. The subjective level has become far worse.
Now on the other hand, in the eastern thought, especially to some extent, the Indian thought, suffering was all considered subjectivity. And that led to objective level reality deteriorating. And anyway, simplified analysis over here. Yeah. It’s that there are so many invaders who came and conquered India.
And when that happened, often the attitude of all the warriors, but many of them, all this world, ultimately Maya, these things keep happening over here. It will go beyond the world. No. But when Maya, Krishna comes to establish Dharma in the world of Maya. When you consider all suffering to be only subjective, it’s all the state of the mind.
And just live with it, tolerate it, transcend it. No, that can make us subject to unnecessary object to suffering. So what is the understanding? That there is an objective level to suffering and there is a subjective level to suffering. So subjective level of suffering will be by by strengthening our mind, by purifying our mind, and it’s definitely required.
But along with that, Dharmaya is also about making social arrangements, particular arrangements. So the objective level both have to be addressed. When Krishna comes to the world, now for example, Sita has abducted by Rama. Rama doesn’t think, you know, it’s all subjective. Whether he’s with me or he’s with Rama, it doesn’t matter.
Krishna doesn’t tell when he comes signs for executing people. See, you know, it’s all. Everything is a play of the mind. Whether you are in a prison or whether you’re in a palace, it doesn’t make any difference. This is what is a play of the mind.
Krishna comes to fix things in a physical level also. But, of course, we cannot fix things permanently at the physical. They will get unfixed. That’s why for us, the objective when you say objective is the physical level. Subjective is the mental level.
It is for us, we want to fix things at the objective and the subjective levels, but fourth are for for ultimately raising ourselves to spiritual. So as much as we can, we try to fix something at the objective level. As much as we can, we try to fix something at the mental at the subject to mental level. But ultimately, we have to rise to the spiritual. Okay?
What is the root cause of life is tough? That is a tough question. Well, in India, we have this service called IAS. It’s a very tough sir task task exam, the buzz. So basically, the suffering in life falls in three categories.
There is suffering, which is inevitable. It is just the nature of the world. For example, jen mum tu jaravyadhi, the khadoshan darshan, which talks about in 13.8 to 12, that these are just inevitable. Everybody will have to grow old. Everybody will get deceased.
We’re not the same disease, but everybody will have will be deceased sooner or later. There is inevitable suffering, and that is just the nature of the world material. So we are spiritual beings. We are caught in the material world. And because of that, there is some suffering you just have to accept.
Like a patient is sick, you know, whether you are in the hand of a good doctor or a bad doctor, there is some suffering there is unavoidable till the disease is cured. So that’s one level of suffering. The other is avoidable suffering. Avoidable is more self created suffering. Krishna says, for example, five twenty two, So for example, somebody becomes an alcoholic, drinks and becomes an alcoholic, and then they suffer various problems.
That is self created suffering. That is something which we should avoid. That is that cannot be called as a part of life’s toughness. That is our our foolishness and not life’s darkness. Then there is suffering that is strengthening.
There is suffering that helps us become a better person. There is suffering that helps form our character. This is what Krishna talks about in eighteen thirty seven in the Bhagavad Gita. This is That which is in the beginning like poison will eventually become like nature. So this is so for example, if somebody wants to become healthy, they wanna become fit, and they have to do their photogement to work, that is that is suffering, but it’s good.
Somebody wants to learn a new language. It’s difficult. But after that, a whole new universe will open for them. Similarly, when we try to go to school, we try to fix our mind in Krishna, we try to develop our Krishna, sadhana. That’s tough.
But in that toughness, we accept so that we can become we can rise to a better place. We can become better. So it’s like, with this particular disease, you’re sick. Some problems are inevitable. Some pain is inevitable.
But if somebody is diabetic and they eat a lot of sweets and their insulin level spikes away, that is avoidable suffering. That they need to avoid. But if somebody is diabetic and they need to change their taste, so then that is developing a different taste that is strengthening suffering. So there are different kinds of sufferings and depending on what the source of suffering is, what the start of what the suffering is, we need to address it accordingly. K?
Yeah. Yes. And that’s it then. Let’s give her a round of applause. Thank you, David.
Okay. And, actually, tomorrow will be the next program, but it will be home program. And, will give us some details about the home program tomorrow with, Chitanisha. Yeah. Yeah.
So I’ll just talk about two things. First is about tomorrow’s program. So I’ll be talking about two main things there. You know, how do what is needed to make our plans, and how do we make our plans? What does that mean practically?
So I need a question about our somehow and also dharma, our nature, understanding our gifts, and how do we use our gifts in Krishna service. So how do we maximize our Shakti? That will be one part of session. And then how do we maximize our Bhakti? How do we strengthen our faith?
So both these aspects, we’ll be discussing tomorrow’s session. So one is self observation. Look inward. Look inward and look outward to see how we can make our maximum contribution and then look upward to see how we can play a part in Krishna’s plan. So I’ll end it up.
Today was a little more analytical philosophy in the session. But tomorrow, we’ll discuss you something from the Maha from Mahabharata. We’ll look at how the Pandavas, their lives emerged. So that’ll be in tomorrow’s session. I already talked about this book, prayers inspired by the Bhagavad Gita.
So there are 122 prayers over here. Let me have open book. So basically, for me, the Gita’s verses are not just, sources of wisdom that many other years ago, like friends for me, personal friends who we turn to. Like, you wanna know our our friends in different context so that we get to know them better. So through this in the chapter I have in this book, I have broken it down as sources of prayer, and there are 122 prayers with each prayer is like a spiritual accommodation.
So there are prayers when we are feeling lost in directionless. There are prayers when we are in great pain. There are prayers when we are, feeling our cravings arising and becoming unbearable, a pair. There are prayers when we feel lonely or misunderstood. So many devotees have told me that this also helps them in their chanting Because this before they do a mantra chanting, just look at one prayer, whatever Krishna read, one affirmation, and read the prayer.
So this is one book that is available prayers inspired by Bhagavad Gita. And the other is? 7,030 books, but I’ve got two new books this time. This is Gita for the CEO. Nowadays, there is a lot of interest in the corporate world for wisdom from ancient times that can be relevant today.
So from Greek, stoicism is very popular. The daily stoicism is quite widely known. From Japan, IKIGAI is quite becoming well known. Hyperboleth are the biggest publishers in the world. So they asked me to write on the Bhagavad Gita.
So like I was drawing some simple diagrams. So there are many places where there are conceptographics explaining the concepts of the Gita. And I have presented this as a conversation. The Gita originally is a conversation, but this present is a conversation between two people. One who knows the data and one who knows wants to know the data.
Both of them are concrete leaders. And this is not just a book for CEOs. It is book for anyone who has a new leadership role role formal. So it’s also a good book that you may want to give to your friends or colleagues who may not hate to be ready to read the guitar directly or connect with it. So they this might trigger this mutual curiosity.
Both these books are available, and there are 10 principles in this data for CEO. Now how to learn to be more mindful. Today, what much of much of what I discussed, I discussed more on the emotional frame today. But that life determines our problems. We determine their side as a chapter by that title.
So then how our perspective can be changed by spiritual wisdom that’s explained. And then how also if you tap the power of speech, we all feel why don’t people listen to me when I tell them some good things? So how to discipline our speech is the whole chapter on that words, shape words, Watch your words. Rather than 10 practical and empowering principles. So both these books will be here.
Hi, Ananga. How are you? Hi, Gayatri. Nice to see you again. Nice to see you too.
The other day, I was having a conversation with one of the students from a UC university, and he’s a wonderful spiritual practitioner, very disciplined in his regular spiritual practice, has wonderful questions, thinks beyond himself, wants to do a lot for the community and society, and really kind hearted soul. He asked me whether spirituality is can be just left at being personal, like an individual practice, Or is it a necessity that one should join an institution, become a part of a society or a movement or a community? Even though he likes associating with other like minded people. But at the same time, he feels really afraid of becoming getting into the system of bureaucracy and becoming a part of an institution. So I was thinking we can speak with one of our very renowned speakers.
He has been a practitioner of bhakti yoga. In fact, a teacher of bhakti yoga for almost three decade. He speaks at prestigious universities, speaks at the TED and the peace conference. He has authored over 30 books. It is such an honor to have you here, Chaitanya Charan, Prabhu.
Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Prabhu, for joining us. One of your Guided to be here. Thank you for inviting. Great that you have started this podcast.
The podcast space is something which is expanding rapidly, and it’s a very human way to get in touch with people. And we do have some devotees doing podcast, but they’re mainly mails. It’s good that question that we are taking the lead. Hello? All the best and your service.
Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for your encouragement. And I was just sharing that one of the books that I daily refer to is Yogita daily and the inspirational quote. It’s something that I look at every single day and, seek inspiration.
It’s just amazing how you’ve been able to pull out such practicality in such an artistic, I would say, linguistic form from the Bhagavad Gita. It’s truly inspirational. So thank you so much again for joining us. Thank you, Prabhu, for joining us. We were just talking about I think Gayathri was mentioning that one of this one of she goes to one of the UC universities, and one of the students asked this very profound, thought provoking question.
And we just wanted to start from there that people say these days that I’m spiritual, but not religious. I don’t need a system. It’s between me and the supreme or it’s my it’s my personal practice. So it sounds appealing, Prabhu. What’s the right balance?
I wouldn’t say one versus the other. How do we align both individuality and the practice, as an institution in an association together. Yeah. I think that’s a question which comes up in everyone’s mind sooner or later. I’ll answer this from three perspectives.
First is more of a personal journey I’ll talk about. Second, then talk more from a philosophical perspective, and then I’ll talk of it from a cultural perspective. So, personally, I have been always more of a introvert, and I always work alone. Even in college, when I used to do research or write any papers, I was always friendly with people, but I just couldn’t work with people. So friends would call me, tease me, they would call me, you’re a lone wolf.
That’s right. So when I joined the Ashram in Pune, at that time, we had three rooms and the 90 of us staying in three rooms. Oh, we were always 90. For. We couldn’t spend.
The one we were That’s the hardest thing for which one. So I was 12 of us would sleep inside the rooms, and then others would sleep outside in the atrium at various places. So I initially thought this was just a this was just what Krishna consciousness meant. And, of course, in the spiritual life also, there is what I like to call as the honeymoon phase of Krishna consciousness. Very good.
Because everything is so new, and we have a sense of spirit of adventure. So we just can do a lot of things that are not sustainable in the long run. So for the first few years, I just this is what means that there was the initial real law being a part of a mission. But over a over a number of years, I started noticing that it requires you need your own space. Initially, it was almost as if I was made to feel guilty, not that anybody was intentionally doing that.
But It was just it would happen. And one of my services is writing, and writing requires concentration and very difficult to concentrate when there are so many people around. Yes. And So then slowly, I started associating with devotees who were writing. Now almost everybody many devotees are writing books.
We have culture of literary continuation of the tradition is really picking up. But in those times, 02/2003, ‘2 thousand ‘4, hardly anyone was writing. So authors were far and few. So I started connecting with authors, and they said, yes. We need space.
And that’s when, actually, I was introduced to the idea of finding our space according to our nature in Krishna consciousness. So slowly then, I started also seeking my space a little bit, insisting unapologetically doing that. And now so from that perspective, anybody who is a little more on the creative side will need space. That’s just the way artwork, creativity works. I find that within an institution, art, you could say science also has science or something like engineering or something mechanical.
You know, this is the process. Follow the process. There is not much individuality in that. But when we are doing anything artistic, there is definitely individuality. So we are going to record they’ll address the deities.
There are some standard rules to follow in addressing the deities. But if we make everything rule bound, then every day the deity would have exactly the same, and there will no room for individuality. Mhmm. So, like, that room for individuality is very much needed. And we could say, Bhakti is a relationship with Krishna, and a relationship is a personal one to one relationship.
And I’m going for the personal and the philosophical. So from personal perspective, I did recognize the need for it myself, and I’ll come back to the portal towards the end once again. And feel free to interrupt anytime you want to comment or reflect or anything or anything is not clear. I I actually really appreciated how you mentioned. You’re especially giving the example of dressing the deities because I love dressing the deities, and that was one of my primary services when I lived in New Vrindavan.
And it we still look forward to this different flavors, and flavors is the spice of lunch. Even like we’ve hear in the scriptures that Srimati Radharani, she cook for Krishna and not one item is repeated. And naturally, there is variety in personalities, in different kinds of emotions, there is variety. So spirituality includes variety. And if if we don’t facilitate that, then somewhere we’re failing as an society or we’re failing as a community to fan that spark in each and every one of us, maybe intentionally or unintentionally.
So it really resonated with your point. Thank you so much for so simply simplifying the need for diversity. And that’s actually one of our strengths actually within our ISKCON society, the diversity that we have. So now from the philosophical perspective, as I mentioned, it’s a relationship. And relationship is essentially True.
At the same time, within the philosophy, within the tradition, there’s an emphasis on association, and it’s considered almost, impossible thing to try to practice bhakti without association. So the tradition is called not just. Is do it with others. Is such an important part. So, eventually, when a group of individuals who want to the shared purpose and the shared values that are characteristic of those who are the.
And they come together. They may create some infrastructure, some resources for the systematic or smooth the sync of their bank. And those consolidated resources that are created become the what we call as an organization. So, essentially, an organization could say the formalization of the facilities and resources for a community to practice the spiritual life. And within that, philosophically, we could say that while within the Indian tradition again, how do you define an organization and institution itself is a philosophical issue?
Some people may consider even marriage to be an institution. And, yes, it’s an institution, but then it’s required. The most fundamental institution required for society. So school is an institution. The one place is an institution.
So in that sense, institutions are just part of the structuring of life. So some structure is required. Now within the philosophy itself is the fact that there are three modes of material nature, and we will explore that a little bit later. But so when the organization is formed, organization is basically you could say material. But deal in the sense that it is formed in the material world using material resources.
It may be for a spiritual purpose, but it’s formed in the material world. So it’s like the example I like is there’s a trickle of water and the top of mountain which wants to go to the ocean. That trickle of water wanting to go all along to the ocean. It may be very difficult for it to get all the way down to the ocean. Right.
It it combines with other trickles of water. It becomes a tributary, and then it combines to become a river. And the river can flow toward the ocean much more easily. And future drops of water or trickles of water that come in, they will move forward because of the flow of the river. And as the river keeps flowing so the river is like the commune.
River is like the community or the society. Nowadays, the word society has many meanings. Community is a more popular word or a more sweet sounding word, you could say. But when started, he did not start the international organization or institution of Krishna conscious. Started the international society.
So it’s an interesting usage of word. But the river flowing is like the community. Now as the river keeps flowing, it forms a bed. And then that bed is meant to enable the river to keep flowing more smoothly in the future. But once a bed is formed, then it may well happen that people may come and form a dam on the way.
They are not interested in going to the ocean. They are interested in using the water for their own purposes. So So If it were just a river, okay, that’s there. But once the bed is formed, then it becomes predictable. The river is always going to go in this direction.
And that’s when dams are formed. So the dam is like the diversion of spiritual resources for nonspiritual purposes. Mhmm. That’s what can happen, and that’s where people start feeling, oh, this is becoming too ritualistic. This is becoming too materialistic.
This is becoming too calculative. What a fantastic example. Can happen. So I would say, in principle, the institution or some kind of formalization of the structure and the infrastructure necessary. But it comes with inherent dangers, and one needs to be aware of those dangers.
So having said that, we’ll come back to how to address the dangers a little later. We’ll let me complete that. Now from a cultural perspective, I was born and brought up in India. I was introduced to a few also in India. The first almost twenty years of my spiritual life was in India.
Last ten years, I’ve been spending more than only every six or more months outside India. And I have interacted with a lot of non Indian mainly in America, but Europe and Australia, New Zealand also. And, overall, there is also a significant difference in ethos. In India is still a more conservative country. America, any other western world is much more liberal.
And one aspect of how this plays out is in the attitude towards authority. In India, our regional and eastern cultures, where the culture is a little more hierarchical and more conservative, if somebody’s in authority position by default, there is respect for authority. Now, of course, if the authority behaves in inappropriate ways, obnoxious ways, that respect may be lost. Right. By default, there is a spirit for authority.
In the West, this applies in general and all the more super religious authority. By default, there is skepticism and suspicion to all the power. And in general, there’s a long history about it. It’s not that respect is not there, but respect cannot be assumed because of there being a position of authority. Respect has to be owed.
And in that sense, for the western mind to associate spirituality with the institution, with the structures of power, with these hierarchies, and authority figures becomes a bit something which I don’t want. We could go specifically into why this has happened. I think there are three reasons. One is the Catholic church was a very rigid system of authority. I mean, the American the original Americans who came to India, they came with the very came to America, what they or that time, it is the land of what they consider the Indians.
Yes. So they came to break free from the rigid authority structure of the church. So in that sense, America began itself as a statement against any centralized authority. And the second is that, also, within the very nature of how America is how America is politically is a confederation, not a federation. Like, the states come together and the states give power to the center.
India is a penetration where the center use power to the states. Center is much more poor. So that whole idea work historically into the religion, into the politics. And America is more the idea of the rugged individual fighting it alone. The pioneer years are the people who will still inspire Americans.
It’s not being the historic conscious historical memory, but the idea is I want to do my own thing. So because of all these factors, institutionalized spirituality does Come with a red signal. It is as in today’s language, we call it trigger warning. It’s something we do not want. Carries a lot of baggage already from the history.
Prabhu, Adnan, I want to go back to your ocean, the analogy for trickles of water. Like, initially, you said we all have a honeymoon period in our bhakti, which we all did. We overshadowed all the attention. We were we were so enthusiastic to do so much service, and then you mentioned a very profound thing that Bhakti is a relationship. So that means Bhakti is not people think that spirituality can be a presentation.
Outwardly, everything looks good. So spirituality is not a presentation. Spirituality is our relationship with ourself, with the divine. With this analogy, I was thinking, like, trickles of water. So one trickling of water is each trickling of water is the individual part, our individuality.
So some some people might think, okay. The ocean current will come, like, in our institution. We can have program. We can have festivals. We can move from one year to the other celebrating together, but still not advanced.
Like So there are times when we may have to make our decision individually also. And so in life, when we face crisis, it could be a crisis of finances, crisis of health, be a crisis of fee. At that time, we won’t be able to just go along because the river is there. Oh, so in one sense, while we are in the reverse flow may push us along, but life is also flowing along, and life may push us keep pushing us out of the river. And it’s not just something like pushes out of the river.
Within the currents of the river, it’s just sometimes flow push something out of the river also. The river tends to overflow. So we often ask people who come new to what how do you come to Krishna? That’s an important question. But if you really want to get honest with people, the change the question asks is, why did you stay in Krishna?
That’s true. That’s true. And also we’re more interested. And so I think the individual intention is something which is important. Well, is we who are to develop our relationship.
And that’s why when somebody has some issues with the institution, everybody will because that’s just the nature of the world. Often, the way I phrase it is that the institution is not source of our spirituality. It is a resource for our spirituality. Beautiful. It is a resource, and I will consider it invaluable and sometimes even indispensable resource.
But it’s a resource. It’s our responsibility to grow spiritual. In that sense, it’s like like a university. You are still employed lots of facility to study, which we were to study. It’s like a stock exchange that we can earn money over there, but it’s our money, and it’s our responsibility.
Now we may invest the money with some strong broker, and that person may invest somewhere. But ultimately, the loss is going to come to us, not to that person. So in that sense, the individual intention and individual responsibility are never lost. And that is one of years that people have, also some of the unfortunate reality that happens that we may outsource the responsibility of our spiritual growth Yeah. To the institution.
Yeah. In the name of association, we sometimes outsource as well. Like, if I’m going if I’m with devotees, I’ll advance. If I am yeah. If I’m chanting in a group, I’ll chant well.
But what is my individual responsibility? Just so I really like that that but they cannot be outsourced always. That’s so beautiful. I think, what you really have emphasized here is the balance. The balance, and there is that serenity prayer that says that to know the difference or to understand when you actually need the associate to progress and make progress and uplift yourself with encouragement and with association.
At the same time, you need those quiet moments where you are diving deeper. So that balance between being a part of an institution and so you don’t you don’t start outsourcing it completely. But at the same time, you do need that community spirit. At the same time, you do need that pace for internal growth, and how those two can tie in together is what actually makes it really healthy. In fact, his holiness, Radhanath Swami, had once told me in a brief conversation, and I think this was also when I had a little child.
And all of a sudden, I felt everybody was just moving ahead, and my life came to a complete that formal moment when you feel like you’re moving moving out. You’re like you’re you’re tied in within a little child, which you absolutely love. Within a few moments, it’s like you’re communicating with an individual that is not communicating back with you. For a very long period of time till the child actually starts to express and reciprocate and you’re just, like, giving on the giving, giving, giving, giving end night and day. And along with the hormones going up and down, you come to a point in a feeling that everyone is moving ahead, and you your life is just like you’re not making any progress.
And at that time, I think I expressed something to Radhanath Swami, and he said something beautiful. He said, you need to be like an eagle. He said, if you learn the art of balancing have you noticed how an eagle flies? He doesn’t fly. He glides.
And he said, if you wanna fly high and for an extended period of time, then you need to learn the art of balance. So there were moments where you could drop everything and just run and do and take inspiration from every single nook in corner. Now is the time that you use for your internal growth. At read. Develop this wonderful relationship with the soul that Krishna has put onto your care.
And it it was just something so beautiful that the art of balancing is such an important aspect of even our own spiritual journey that you’ve been emphasizing here. Thank you for reminding us that. Thank you for clearing that. And it was in reference to balance. I like to use the acronym one for this.
The one who is thinking that the institution is the only way. And that is the other is never the way. If you are a part of the institution, you can never be spiritual. You just need caught in existence. What is oh, and he is the it’s efficient to me.
Now it’s efficient to me. Come up with this from Yeah. I think he just came up with it. Have the the affect whatever what you want to use for it. But I find that, all the extremes have to be avoided.
And each individual will need to find their way to relate with the institution. How close, how far your example of having a maybe is a very good example, I would say. Institutional conceptions of spiritual growth will not be able to accommodate this at all. Because by its very nature, an institution is a tangible thing. And while it’s a tangible thing, it will always look for tangible things Yes.
As markers or atmospheres of success and growth. True. Yes. So that’s just the way an institution will work. Somebody is a serious practitioner.
What is the parameter? Okay. How often do you come to the temple? How regular is your dentist? How much is the responsibility you are taking in the temple?
Or Mhmm. Would have okay how many rounds are you chanting? Or we have our specific parameters. They are important in their own way. At the same time, there are real life.
It’s not just filled with tangible. When you sing, even with daily life, you cannot use tangibles. People think money is the source of all happiness. Money is a very tangible thing. But then it’s important, but life is much more about things that are not so tangible.
So if we consider Krishna consciousness is the expansion of our consciousness outside of ourselves to take care of someone else, ultimately to care for Krishna. So recently, my brother had a baby and his baby was a COVID baby, so there’s nobody to help. And I’ve seen my brother change in the three years, three, four years since he had a baby, the amount of responsibility and selflessness and maturity that he has developed, it’s remarkable. And in general, if we consider the point of the expansion of consciousness, then caring for other human being, that actually expands our consciousness. And if we are already in a devotional frame of mind, then while we are caring for other human being, we’ll be doing that caring in a devotional way with prayer, with the service attitude.
But this is not something which can be tangibly measured. So within the institutional infrastructure, if we consider one of the limbs of Bhakti, that is. Sharing one’s heart and confidence and hearing others share their heart and confidence. This is not something which can be institutionally mandated or evaluated. The other two parameters, we could say Giving gifts, giving food.
As hospitality, that culture of caring. That’s something too much so tangible. It can be more easily done, and we can also tell you do this. But that’s why I have found that within an institution, there are two kinds of leaders. There are project builders, and there are community builders.
Mhmm. And you require almost a opposite profile for these two things. There are very few leaders who can actually do both. Project builders are those who will build the infrastructure. They will have huge temples.
They will have huge more distribution. They will have huge farm communities. So they will so that is project building, and that’s very important. But community building is more about sitting down with people, connecting with their hearts. So in my understanding, if you look at life, the ten years when he was traveling, that’s more like project building.
And the late in eighteen years when he was in Poree, he was actually community building. He was there, just entering into the hearts of his intimate associates. And even those who are from Vrindavan, they would come and meet him, Rupa Goswami, Swami, all the Goswamis. In one sense, Mahaprabhu, we could have said he could have preached so much by traveling. Could reach so many more people.
He was reaching to the hearts of those whom he had already reached. And so both are required. The problem is community building, it’s the results are become tangible after a long time. It takes a long time for the effort results to crystallize into something which is tangibly measurable or visible. So I think that’s the main danger of the institution that the institution may start devaluing the intangibles because they are not measurable.
And that’s when the if the intangibles are too devalued, then that institution will become more and more materialistic rather than remaining a spiritual institutional purpose. So I was just saying that, yes, I’ve seen greatest leaps made by new parents like you were saying, and we were even we were sharing our experience by parents and new mothers when they have to hit a pause in the institutional phase of their life and go deep. And I think even I have made a lot of personal progress when I couldn’t do any more services. I could only establish a relationship with my daughter and really in the quiet moments of my time, just go deep. Just, introspect where am I heading.
It’s been fifteen years I’ve been chanting. So just measuring my progress, not in the tangible sense, but really internally knowing what is it that I’m heading towards. What’s my goal? Was it what’s what is really that I want between me and the supreme? So I really resonate with that, that institution definitely holds a play.
And I on the flip side, I also wanted to ask you, Prabhu, that, yes, we talk about the the community, the association aspect that an institution provides. But also, like, going back when we started when we just started talking, Gayatri was mentioning that there’s a student and he says, why do I be a part of a movement and not just be a person of my own? But if we also go astray the other end, that just I’m just an individual. I’m just a spiritual person. We can be whimsical.
Right? Like, a spiritual organization helps in preserving the tradition, the I’m passing down the teachings. Isn’t that true, or can that be done in a personal aspect as well? Yeah. One of the things which I have found is that rather than considering a spiritual organization to be one homogeneous unit.
Mhmm. We can see that it is a network of many heterogeneous units with a harmonious purpose. That means that when I travel across the world, I noticed that each temple has its own mood, its own emphasis. The temple the project is made in the image of the leader, whether it’s the president, whether it’s the spiritual master, whether it’s a previous leader whose shadow is still extending over the project. The so the way Hishla Prabhupada made the moment was also quite decentralized.
We have the GBC, but he wanted each temple to have a lot of autonomy by which they could grow based on their initiative. So just as we could have various physical temples, which are autonomous in their own way and which will each of them have their own mood. So I feel similarly, devotees also need to have a network of like minded devotees. And this is not just a psychological, it’s a devotional principle. That we want association, which is of the same category.
Those like minded devote. So Yeah. Why I’m a little more analytical intellectual. So I find that I look forward to the association of people who are similarly intellectual. We get into the technicalities of things, and we delight in those technicality.
And although, generally, my role is answering questions, but even when I’m answering a question on someone, my mind is questioning my answer. And even if the audience doesn’t question the answer, I’m questioning it. Mhmm. See, I need to think about this. Maybe this point needs to be addressed.
So I have a lot of questions, and I voice them with my intellectual friends. And then we see, okay. How will we answer this? Do we have some scriptural references? Do we have some traditional perspectives?
Do we have any contemporary insights? So each one of us will need to find that like minded association also. Say somebody is into music, then they may wanna go deep into music. The general devotee community may not want to go that much deep into music. This year, this couple of days ago, I was talking with one young girl.
Young means young adult now. So she was saying that she’s trained in music. And in the community, it is that everybody should allow to do Kirtan, but everybody can’t do Kirtan. So she’s she was telling me that for me, when I find Kirtan is a tension between the spiritual joy and the musical annoyance. That’s a classic example.
I mean, I totally can relate to that. It’s so beautiful. Actually, there was someone mentioning the other day that it was a Hindi joke, but I’m gonna say it anyway. A very famous singer, he was actually sharing with Gaurang Prabhu. He said that he said, you make the lord.
You torture the lord the most by putting anyone before him to sing. Everyone that comes to your temple, you put him before the lord to sing. That will be resonates. But, yeah, that is definitely so true that devotee is actually feeling. But I think she’ll be able to tolerate what is happening in the temple if she has that support group where she can do a little deep dive into her interests connected to Krishna’s spirituality.
So I would say the same thing would apply to something like a mother also. Those who are young mothers, they they have some sort of community of those who are in the similar phase or gone through a similar phase. From the institution’s perspective, what you are doing at that time may not be very valuable because it’s important. It may not be valued immediately, but there is a lot of depth of immersion of consciousness that can come while doing that particular service. And that’s why like minded association is, I feel, an underemphasized principle.
Let’s talk about association, but we need to talk about like minded association. And when we have that, then the institution will not seem that supplicating for individual. So going back to the answer to the starting question, we just need to find like minded mentors, like minded friends, like minded community. Now it may not be an entire community. Nowadays, it’s social media on WhatsApp and other places.
We can form our own communities also, like minded people. But at least a few friends. The spirituality is definitely about developing our personal relationship with Krishna. At the same time, it is very difficult to two things, I find. One is to maintain the motivation all alone Because Krishna is not visible for us, we cannot directly interact with them.
And anytime the nature of the world is that in this world, Krishna is invisible and my eyes are visible. So because of that, alone to maintain our motivation is difficult. And even if somebody is strong enough, maybe they have done a lot of spirituality in their previous life because of it, they have the motivation. But still, spiritually, growth can become a very lonely thing. If we are serious about growing spiritually, then often the values we live by are different from or even somewhat opposite to the values the mainstream society is going to live by.
So then whom are we going to talk with? Whom are we gonna share our heart? Just saying that spirituality is just a personal thing. I don’t need an institution. Fair enough.
But you may not need an institution. You need what the institution offers. And the institution offers a community to us. It offers a association. So that’s why If one has like minded association, then the individual in the guidance of like minded devotees can decide how strongly they identify with which aspect of this.
But the ins We all have, you could say, a social identity, but we also have a psychological identification. That means, say, now we are all Indians over here. Mhmm. When we were in India, we probably didn’t we’re not so conscious we are Indians. No.
We are just India. That’s that’s that’s identity, but psychologically, we will not think about it. It’s only when the cricket match is going on and Pakistan and that India. That time we think I will. Yes.
But when we come to America, then we are consciously reminded. Yeah. Oh, I’m Indian over here. And we may even become American citizens. But still, we are ethnically Indian.
There is a social identity and a psychological identification. And these two are different things. So Mhmm. The social identity so each of us has different roles. So for example, I’m a monk, and most people see me personally as a monk.
But that’s a very small part of my personal psychological identity. I see myself more as a author, a thinker, a teacher. That I happen to be a monk. Second, it’s a minor thinker. So so we have a social identification.
We have a social identity, and we have a psychological identification. So the social identity may come to some extent because you join an general institution. Or we are a part of the we take a way of the resources provided by the institution. How much psychologically we identify with it and with which aspects of it we identify, that’s something which each individual needs to decide. And they need the space to decide that.
At the same time, they need also the guidance to be able to decide that. That’s why like minded association is very important. Such a beautiful thing and such a simple way you have decoded it, I feel. And the very fact that you said that we don’t have to look at an institution as one huge body. It’s actually support groups, different support groups that have come together.
And even so beautifully, you explained that every temple or every community that you go to when you’ve traveled to different parts within one institution can have different flavors because of who’s leading, what their what their mood of service is. And that is all variety. That is all variety, and we can find our own safe space. And we could have few different you I was listening to one relationship podcast recently, and he was actually mentioning he said that when you have one partner, if you’re going to feel and think that you wanna do everything with just this one person, you’re going to feel incomplete because that one person has his own need and his has his own liking. But at the same time, if there is major portion of shared responsibilities of certain things that you like to do together, and there’s going to be certain things that you like to do with someone else.
Like, you go with a friend if you like to listen to some music, and your partner is really not interested in music. But you want to develop this real deep taste and you’re feeling like, oh, you know what? He’s got different interests and I’ve got different interests. Let’s just end this. No.
Because one person is not competent to fulfill all your needs and similarly for the other person. So when we find our different support groups for our different needs, at the same time, it helps us become loyal in a way that when I say loyal to the practice of spirituality, loyal to continuing with this journey with support from wherever we need it. And I think you really elaborated that so beautifully. Completely decoded it for me. I don’t know how you feel, Ananga, but it was just I am I’m, like, going over with so many things, like community, like, our institution is not the source.
Like, initially, when I started out out as a devoting, I’m like, yeah. It’s everything. And it is everything because it’s giving me all the resources that I need to move forward. So I love that analogy, Prabhu, that I love that the wordplay that you do, that institution is not the source. It’s the resource.
And just one one thing that came up to my mind was on service. Like, when we do our services and, initially, we start out on doing a lot of service, the institution driven services, and we try to measure our growth according to that. But how many services are we doing? Are we going to the temple doing the services? But then when the shift comes to personal growth, purifying the heart, then those services those kind of services, we balance it out with going deeper.
So when someone really asks, like, how do I measure my spiritual progress? How do I measure that I’m really purifying my heart? Institutional Seva might not be just enough equal equal to your spiritual growth. How do we measure our growth? How do we measure our progress?
Really then, like, taking into consideration that we talk talked about tangible plus the intangible. So how does someone in their loan time measure their intangible progress as well? I I’m not sure whether there’s any clear answer. I can always give a scriptural answer that there is the we could say the answer is that how much are we attached to Krishna and how much are we attached from That when we experience Krishna through the practice of, then that experience is so enriching that we no longer feel grieving for other experiences. That would be a broad parameter of spiritual growth that our attraction to Krishna increases.
This is what I want to experience more and more. Other things, they don’t matter so much. So this is more like a philosophical parameters for spiritual advancement. Now beyond the spiritual paradigm we could say now, which is parent doesn’t no long definitely important. But this is quite abstract or rather not abstract.
It is intangible. You can see it in vertical ways, so then there’ll be institutional parameter for spiritual growth. So I generally respect to parameters. I as you may notice, I like acronyms. I think in terms of acronyms.
The acronym I have for this is a simple wisdom. There are spiritual parameters. I mean, then there are institutional parameters. So institutional parameters could be how much service the person is doing, how many rounds somebody is chanting, how often does the person come to the temple, how do they come for the morning program, do they themselves do a morning program, in their community where they are. So there are institutional parameters.
And, generally, the institutional parameters have centered on three things. How many temples are built, how many books are distributed, and how many devotees are made. Now these they are important parameters. I wouldn’t say they are an exhaustive list of parameters, And every institution may also change based on time, place, and candidate. What is their emphasis at that particular time in the growth of the community and the growth of the project over there.
But the institution will have its parameters. And the final is we have to have our personal parameter. The personal does not mean that you’re divorced from the the this will give us some institutional or the spiritual, but each of us has certain challenges we are facing. And sometimes it may happen that, of course, there is this whole phenomena of spiritual bypassing where we use God to stay away from God. That means I feel very angry with some sibling, with a spouse, with some other community member.
And instead of dealing with that anger, I chant 64 round. I chant one twenty eight rounds. So we just come for mediation. I’ll spend this one hour in mediation. I’ll chant eight rounds.
And 10 rounds I’ll chant. That’ll lead to much more spiritual growth. This is a very reductionistic way of con you’re considering spiritual growth. Maybe Krishna is speaking to you something through your anger. Mhmm.
Is it that Krishna is accessible only to the holy name and not to anything else at all? So we have to have personal parameters also. Personal means, what the person takes as important as well as what is specific the person. Others may realize that person may not realize immediately. So personal parameters means if you see when was asked what what how do we know your disciples and apply to all his followers?
He said that they are perfect gentlemen and ladies. Now what that means is person should be well behaved. Person should be cultured. Person should be somebody which others would like to be with. So if we consider the twelfth chapter from text 13 to 20 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna is talking about qualities that endure and devotee to him.
And when he’s talking about these, not one of these qualities is associated with the devotional activity. Krishna does not say somebody who passed on Ekadashi, somebody who chants 16 rounds before taking a sip of water. Somebody every day. None of these. Krishna is talking about.
Talking mostly about behavioral qualities rather than devotional activities. Why? Because these are also important. Mhmm. And sometimes they may get devalued.
And this does not mean devotional activities are not important. Of course, they’re important. But at the same time, this change also needs to be Is the person becoming kinder? Is the person becoming less judgmental? Is the person becoming more are they becoming more resilient in terms of facing criticism or facing reversals?
The quality that I described are very universally appealing. So I think each one of us need to see. We want to become grow spiritually. We wanna become better devotees, but we also need to become better human beings. We’re better I wanna become better person.
And what does that mean for me? And how much is my spirituality helping me to do that? Or how much am I doing that with my spiritual path? That’s why all these three parameters, the spiritual parameters, the parameters, and the personal parameters will need to be considered. I think I have the big sip of wisdom here that you just forget.
Thank you very much. It was enlightening. That is so beautiful. Actually, I was reading in the book, and he talks about he says that spiritual life is all about transformation. So what becomes significant, you once you’re practicing spiritual life, you realize what is really important and what can just be background.
What’s the focus of your spiritual journey, and what is just a painting, a detail in the background. And that could vary for individual to a certain extent. And he really mentioned he gives us example about a good test is when you’re squeezed. You put into some trying situation. You have this wonderful example.
He said, if you squeeze an orange, what are you going to get? You’re gonna get orange juice. You cannot expect the leachie juice or a mango juice. You’re gonna get orange juice. So in trying circumstances, when we are really put into difficult situations, when we are tested, at that time, we kind of realize what we’ve been cultivating within our hearts.
If we’re at a slight provocation, we’re only getting angry. If we’re getting frustrated, we’re getting dejected. If we’re becoming depressed, uninspired, then that’s what we’ve been cultivating throughout. He said, so every time we’re squeezed, we wanna check for the quality of the nectar that’s coming out. If it’s orange juice, if it’s mango juice.
So I think trying situations are difficult. Circumstances that we had put through actually give us an insight of the growth that we’ve made. That’s the interesting. Well, you’re my contact. Recently, I was standing from one place to another, and I only travel deep fruits.
It is a long flight. So somebody gave me some apple, and then I tried to chew it, and it turned out to be potato. That That’s not true. Genetically change. Oh my god.
So then it took like it happened. I don’t know how that happened. How this happened so hard to to the. So so one food can be put on another fruit, but when you squeeze it and you chew it with content, at that time, actually, what is the real thing comes out? Yeah.
And that’s that’s that that Radha also likes to code operator. One’s greatness is seen, and one’s capacity to all great provoking situations. Mhmm. I’m just also thinking about Yeah. That’s the important thing.
Now within an institutional parameter, this will not be really seen so much. But it’s so important for not just one individual to not just blow off the handle, but also for a community to, not overreact to whatever incidental problem that come inevitably. So that’s a good example of the transformation being in terms of when we are squeezed. Wow. Yeah.
There was another thing that This can be taken to another extreme. I was in one country, and then they had a very strict leader. And that leader would intentionally squeeze people. He said, I want to push you through a hole so small. Only your soul will go, and none of your ego will go through it.
So I don’t think That’s nonsense. I don’t think that’s an approach to an activity. No. So squeezing is something which your life will do. We should not be doing it to each other.
Yeah. Perfect. That is so true. Actually, I was having a conversation with, one of my teenage boys was kinda trying to work out his plan of how prevalent specifically was trying to work out his plan of how he wants to do his medical, what he really wants to do, what classes he needs to take. And I was just reflecting.
I said, if I’m really serious, this boy is trying to get a medical degree, and he’s figuring out what he really needs to do. He needs to do two classes of that, five classes of this, how he can and he’s organizing his life and his brain and his activities to align with his goal. And it just hit me that if I’m really serious about spiritual life, am I really sitting down and chalking out a plan that this is where I want to be five years from now. And what can I really do to facilitate and enhance my experience in in spiritual life to and how many times do we really take the time to sit down and chalk this whole thing out to at least a certain degree? Like, okay.
I’m really intellectually, like, for you, you’re really intellectually involved. You need that mental dynamics and figuring out things. So if it wasn’t for writing books, I’m thinking you’d probably be lost. That’s activity that your mind really needs would not be fulfilled. And similarly, for me, if I’m thinking that I really have deep interest in music and learning music, but just the way my life has been.
I’ve tried to do different things, or I have a need and my skill set for organization. How can I use those talents? Literally sitting down and figuring out and I think that makes a very holistic journey when you try to take all your aspirate favorable aspirations and carve out a path for spirituality for yourself in the support of an institution as a resource. Oh, man. I’ve really enjoyed this conversation, and I’ve learned so much.
Yeah. I’m. I’m just mesmerized by your ability to come up with these acronyms and meaningful acronyms. And, actually, like, what I felt was a question. And I was thinking when Anang was asking this question, how are you going to answer this?
It was okay. And the way you kind of decoded it with the spiritual perspective, the background or the historic perspective, and then your individual take an approach through your realizations. That’s another thing I think a spiritually elevated person is able to do is share his or her realizations. Because when you’re put through situations is when you come up with these wonderful realizations. That’s true.
It touches one’s heart because they’re genuine, and they come for a space of deep realizations, come from a space of experience. So I really enjoyed this conversation. I’m sure our viewers will too. I want to point out that Chetanya Chiran Prabhu has a whole series of question answers that can be found on his channel, his podcast. Spiritualscientist.com.
There’s definitely a link in the chat as well down below. Yeah. We’ll link it in our description. And, thank you so much again for joining us, Chaitanya. Many people were willing to.
I think it was you there. Answered most of my questions. It answered a lot of my questions, so thank you so much for this illuminating talk. Happy to your service. Only at the end of my talks, I do a summary.
Would you like me to do a summary here? Yes, please. Please. So, basically, I think our broad topic was how much or can or should spirituality be institutionalized? Or can we should we need to be a part of the institution to be spiritual?
Today from moment. So then I talk about from my personal perspective how I joined the institution, but after the honeymoon phase, I realized I needed my space. The philosophical perspective, it is that it’s a personal relationship. At the same time, it should be done in association, like a trickle of water flowing toward the ocean. But then that water can be diverted, especially in a very strong.
There has to be vigilance that the now the individual intention is very important to get into the water and stay in the water. And that’s why the institution is more like a resource for the spiritual growth rather than the source of spiritual growth. And when it is relating with the institution, it’s important not to see the institution simply as a one homogeneous entity, but as a set of support groups with each temple or each set of interested people. People with particular interest finding their own community. That that is a philosophical principle of Sanjayati or Sandra.
And then we won’t feel so suffocated. So they could be too extreme in the approach to the institution and talk about electronic one. This is the only way. You cannot be spiritual without institution. In other ways, if you are institutionalized, you get so caught in the power structure that it’s never the way, but rather it’s efficient and effective way.
But how it will be efficient and effective for us, each one of us has to take the responsibility for finding that. And so in institution, in in itself, it needs to be a tangible thing, and that’s why it will have tangible parameters for growth and success. And personal relationship often has intangible parameters. That’s why each individual will have to find the combination of tangible and intangible that works for them according to their nature, their culture, and their particular role in life. And that’s why, again, in like minded association, we find that out.
You know, how much the social identity of being a part of institution translates into psychological identification, their institution. That is something which each individual will need to decide. And for that, we can have the parameters for spiritual growth kept in mind. So, ultimately, that’s on the end of the according to that, spiritual parameter is we we didn’t Krishna and we wanted to feel that so much more that other experiences no longer allure us. So spiritual attachment and material attachment.
And then the institutional parameters will be in terms of how many books distributed, how many people became devotees, how many temples were paid. It will be for individual component, how much funds are raised, how many people cultivated or whatever. Those are important parameters, but each of us needs personal parameters in terms of becoming a better human being, a better person. And we have our issues that we know and others know. And sometimes we may use spiritual bypassing to get away from those issues.
But each one has to individually grow. That’s what 12.132. Rita is not about devotional activities that India went to Krishna. Personal qualities and behavior that India’s went to Krishna. And then finally concluded that the institution is something which we all need for our spiritual growth.
But at the same time, rather than, I mean, mandating, this is the way you have to be in the institution. It’s rather we see we don’t outsource the responsibility of our spiritual advancement to the institution, but rather we take the responsibility. And then from the institution, the association, the support systems, the inspiration, individually, you can grow spiritually, but the motivation may go down. And even if the motivation does not go down, the reciprocation we’re not we are social creatures. The reciprocation may be lost.
So Srila Prabhupad had that in his region when he didn’t call it the international institution of. He wanted to be a society. So there’ll be project builder. There’ll be community builders. And each one of us, according to our particular nature, will find like minded association in a particular ethos, and that’s where we can flourish in our.
Thank you so much. We love your summaries, Fantastic, It’s amazing how you’ve literally summarized everything we spoke about and Yeah. Crucial important points. That’s what happens when you have a brain like that. Yes.
So I only have a good short term memory, not a very good long term memory. That was fantastic. Thank you so much, Prabhu, for your deep Thank you. Gratitude practice. All the very best for your podcast, and Thank you.
I think you we also have a good vibe with each other, and I think we will we’re good if we can continue this podcast, invite more guests, and connect more and more people. I think what talks are more like a vertical way of sharing Krishna consciousness. Podcast become more like a lateral or a horizontal way of yes. It’s osmosis of sharing Krishna consciousness, and we knew that very much. All the very best for your initial.
For the encouragement, Thank you. Thank you so much, Great. Thank you.
Today on the sacred occasion of the Sajid Prathy, I will speak on the topic of Krishna’s or God’s love for us and our love for us. Specifically, I’ll talk about the topic of does God care? There’s so many things that go wrong in the world. So many things go wrong in our own lives. And when such things happen, it’s natural to get this question.
That even if we accept that godliness, does god care? And, lord Nasumvadev, he is god in whatever manifestations, conceptions of god are there across the world. For god, the same are there, you know, the angriest manifestations. So the lord is anger, is actually a demonstration that he cares. So, generally, we get angry about things that we care about.
And his his very anger, the very form that he’s manifesting all of anger, that indicates that he cares, that he cares deeply. So the lord in his form of Nasimadev is half man. He’s half loyal. He’s half man, half loyal, and full god. He’s fully manifesting divinity, especially in the divine man, Matter of divine power and divine, specifically, anger.
So I have recently written a small book on the Bhagavad Gita. It is prayers inspired good. Can all of you see this? Yes. So we will read something from this book and how it relates to the theme of how the Lord gains and what does it mean.
So basically in this book, I have taken verses from the Bhagavad Gita and use them as inspirations for offering prayers to the Lord. The Gita is not just a source of wisdom. The Gita is not different from Krishna. The Gita’s verses are like mantras. They are also like Krishna.
So you can offer prayers inspired on those verses. So I’ll take one such one such verse, and then we talk about the lord’s so basically, in this book, there’s one beautiful picture of deity of Krishna on each page. Then there is one prayer which is like a spiritual or emotional affirmation. Then there’s the Gita words, and then the translation of the Gita words in a poetic form, so that you can feel a more emotional connect with Krishna and with the words of the Gita. After all, the Gita is a song.
But sometimes the philosophy of the Gita, we may forget it is a song. And then there is a prayer offered based on that. So I will talk about this. So let’s so I’ll read something out. Do we have a second mic by any chance?
Second mic for people to ask your lead or something. Can you just set one up? No. That’s okay. No.
That’s okay. So anyway so you can repeat after me. You just repeat. My dear lord, let your smiling amid my suffering strengthen my faith Not weaken it. Not appeal it.
No. This is the context of the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna is just beginning to speak to Arjuna. Krishna starts speaking on two point eleven. This is two point ten.
So those of you comfort with Sanskrit can decide the words after me. The lord of the senses spoke with a gentle grace. A knowing smile played upon his divine face. Between the armies standing calm and bright, he so laced Arjuna was lamenting his bride. So this is Krishna and Arjuna in The Philippines.
And the key point in this verse is that the contrast. Arjuna is crying, Arjuna is in tears, And Krishna is smiling. So, yes, it can appear that we are facing so many challenges in life, and does Krishna care? Now we may have some challenges. If you look at the story of Prahlad and Narasimha, Prahlad faced far more challenges than what he faced.
It was not just challenges, it was threats threats to his life. And if you see, Prahlad could have had the reason to ask this question even more than us in many ways. Because for him, significantly, our problems may come from many sources. Generally, when we face problems in life, the problems are broadly because of three factors. The problem will come because of just the nature of the world.
Nature of the world means that if we live in a place which is very cold, and it complains so cold, it’s so cold, it’s so cold. Rather than say what you’re saying is so old, so old, so old. You get used to it. That’s how it is. Sometimes the problems may come because of the nature or more precisely, it could nature or behavior of people.
That sometimes there are people who trouble us, people who hurt us. So nature of the world that draws broadly in the very context is called as Adi Dalitl. Just the nature of the world. Then there is, nature of people or the behavior of people. So there could be mosquitoes which bite us, and there could be human beings who bite.
There are mosquitoes, there’s and then there’s mother-in-law. So we have problems coming from people around us. The nature of people or the behavior of people. And then, the third source of problem is the nature or behavior of ourselves. This is sometimes a hard thing to swallow.
But many times, if you see the problem that have come in our life, they have come because of our own actions. Sometimes we get angry over trivial things. Sometimes we end up indulging in things we should not be indulging. Sometimes we make some rash moves, and then we get into trouble. So these are broadly, they are are the ethnic.
So now when the sufferings come in life, naturally, we may turn to his god. Please help me. Please help me, oh lord. So when sufferings come because of the nature of the world, that’s one thing. We just have to okay.
I’ll do with it. Now in the case of Prahlad so this boy has talked with him afterwards. I don’t know what it was typical, teenage and all of a sudden is is going through that phase. The hormones are growing. One is trying to lead deal with peer pressure, trying to find one’s place in life.
It’s a difficult phase. I once I did I have done some writing seminars, attended some, I have conducted some also. So many times people say that, I would like to write, but I don’t have ideas. Where do you get ideas to write? Some people have too many ideas, but they don’t have the patience to translate the ideas into reality.
So this is a so one of the answers I give is if you have survived teenage, you have enough stories to tell for a lifetime. Especially if you have survived teenage in a culture that is radically different from our traditional culture, our family culture. This is a very tough period. So there are just a grow pains that are there. But if we consider the situation of Prahlad, his pains, we could say, among these three, which are the category of the pains you say?
Was it because of nature of the world? Nature of people, nature of others, his own behavior? Which was it? People. Sorry.
Second people. Second people. Kill him. And this is about to happen. It is probably for a child who’s growing up.
It’s the most psychological scarring thing that can be imagined. The person who’s supposed to be a protector, now sometimes the parents are just negligent. That itself is a problem. But if the parent is violent, now it is violent maybe because of okay. We drink alcohol, and we have alcohol abuse, these domestic violence, something like that.
That’s terrible. But disease, it is not, like, anger that is causing come from somewhere else, and this was the child gets caught in the crossfire. It is anger directing the child itself. And it’s knowingly, it’s not just like a rush of temper. We’ll talk about why it is not.
It it can be enormously scarring for a person, for a child who is growing up. The very person who’s supposed to be a protector is out to destroy me. So what kind of world is this? What kind of God will be there who would allow such a thing to happen in the world? So he could easily ever ask this question.
And now why was his father angry with him? Because of his devotion. So he could say that Prahlad Purra said that it is not because of the nature of the world that the problem is coming, it my prob the problems are solely because of my devotion to you. Isn’t it? It’s all not all, but the main thing Hiranyakashipu wanted was that, Prahlad, you stop worshiping Vishnu.
He considered the worshiping you to be like a disease. He says, this is a terrible thing. Stop it right away. See, for us, most of the times, we consider the relationship if we are practicing devotion. And our situation in the world.
So whatever situation you are going to do, if we practice devotion, we expect that the devotion should improve our situation. Now that in many ways, we should be expected to improve. We may in the past, it was more of a karma kanda when God, that oh, father, thou art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Give us our daily bread. So people in the past, we look for physical needs, physical improvement, to all in daily rains so that any harvest and bounty.
And now people may turn towards God, not so much for physical needs, but more for psychological needs. Oh, god. Please give me peace of mind. One of the most common reasons that we ask people, why do you come to a temple? It is not many people come because of the love for god.
Nothing wrong with it. It’s to appreciate whatever reason you come. You come for peace of mind. And that’s also improvement. It’s a big improvement.
You know, it’s, it’s very you can’t just buy peace of mind with a pen. So we expect that our devotion should improve our worldly situation. Now in the case of Prahlad, his devotion itself is the cause of the worsening of his worldly situation. Now when this happens, you know, we practice bhakti. You know, Shiva Prabhupada use a very wonderful, definition of Krishna consciousness.
It’s how he says he asked, how will you know that we are Krishna conscious? So he says, if you come in from the temple, come in the temple, come in from the deity. And if you feel that deity is asking us, Krishna is asking us, what are you doing for me? What are you doing for me? We are all meant to be of loving service to the lord.
So, naturally, the lord will ask, what are your self serving doing? So if we have that mood, if we feel that, that Krishna is asking, what are you doing for me? That is Krishna consciousness. Now many times when people come to a temple, their question is God, what are you doing for me? I have this problem, I have this problem, and I did this pooja, and I did this stuff.
It’s time for you. It’s time for you to pay up now. Come on. Do something. So normally, we expect our devotion to improve our situation.
And if even the situation does not improve, we get agitated. We start thinking, should I even be worshiping god? The question will come out, does god will kill you? So problems are coming and problems are coming because of our devotion itself. And shouldn’t the lord be protecting us?
It’s a it’s it’s it’s a obligation of the lord. You should protect me. Why is he not protecting me? Because the question comes, does the lord care? So Prabhala could naturally have asked this question.
And it is natural for any person when they practice in the bhakti to get the question. So let’s look a little bit at the prayer order. So do we have another mic? Nah. It’s gonna take some time.
No. I’m not touching on that. So maybe someone has a mic in their throat. Somebody will hear you loudly. Oh, please.
Can you read the first Python? Oh my lord. Many are the times when I feel lost and lonely, confronted with the perplexities of life. At those times when nothing I do seems to be working, I cannot help but wonder, do you, oh lord, know my plight? Yes.
So now we will theoretically know that Krishna is permissioned. Krishna knows everything. But does Krishna know my situation right now? And Krishna knows that he came for the situation. So Prahlad is being threatened.
He he was practicing his devotion, and he was not even trying to impose his devotion with his father. It was only for his father to ask some questions. That’s the time he would speak. He wanted to learn in your school, and he would speak sublimely sweet points. And those sublimely sweet points would drive his father into a wild rage.
So and his father, it’s like the the story that we undergoes, we will go over the story and especially focusing on the climax and on the simulated audience. So how things evolve at that particular time. So essentially, we see the descent into into depravity, into brutality. Redekishi po is a brutal person, but even everybody, no matter how bad they are, they have some boundaries. That, say, if somebody’s a criminal, they say I want to rob, but, you know, I don’t want to hurt anyone.
Or even somebody’s also robbed, they say, I don’t I don’t wanna kill anyone. You know, somebody’s a killer. Okay? I will kill, but I am not going to be treated. So, everybody has certain boundaries.
So, initially, when Hiranyakrishnan sees that his son is, is talking about bhakti, He Hirad Dinushbo has defined his life by being anti God. He’s not just an atheist, he’s a anti theist. Antitheist. His purpose of life okay, he thinks that Vishnu is so scared of him, Vishnu has disappeared. So I can’t find Vishnu anywhere.
If I find him, I’ll destroy him. But till I can’t destroy him, I will destroy all signs of worship of him. And that’s why he sends his demons to destroy all the sacred releases, all the Yedges Thales. Right? Yedges over here.
So, watching that again, remembering this past in this past, what he said is, destroy all the signs of worship of him. That and, like, eight people he either he has a great ego, and people who have a lot of ego, what happens, the one thing they cannot tolerate is being ignored. You have a person who has a lot of ego, and they come to a particular place, and nobody notices them. They are enraged. So he now he has a lot of ego.
He wants to throw around his weight and dominate people, so he thinks Vishnu is like that. So he thinks that if I stop the worship of Vishnu, if I completely end the worship of Vishnu, then Vishnu, because of his ego, will come out from wherever he is. And then I can catch him and I can kill him. That’s why he stops all the worship. And then, his situation is he stops the worship of Vishnu practically all over the universe, and then he finds that very worship of Vishnu which is stopped all over the universe, that worship is happening in his own home.
So this is infuriating for him. And he thinks that, so, he thinks, okay, my child is a small child. So, so, normally, what we try to do is that if we like someone, then even if they do something bad, we try to give them the benefit of the doubt. And that’s how it should be, that if we like someone and, say, they eat too much food. Maybe we have prepared meal for four people and they eat the meal of three people.
And then one person has to provide the remaining three people have to share one person meal, or maybe they have a special dessert and they eat too much of the dessert. Then if we dislike that person, we’ll say, so put a clatter. No sense control. But if we like that person, we’ll say, oh, maybe maybe he was very hungry. Maybe he didn’t do that there was limited food.
We’ll try to give them the benefit of the doubt. So generally, what happens, we try to find the blade somewhere else. So like that, Viratne Krishna says, okay, my son is nice, but maybe some of these Vaishnavas have somehow come and infected him. So although he has tried to remove all devotion, but he still know that some people still are practicing Bhakti. So he first warns his students, his teachers, you should watch out.
You should not let my children, my child associate with bad people. So for him devotees are bad people. Not associate. Not let them associate. And then he lets them off with the warning.
Second time it happens. Again, Prahlad said the same thing. This time he’s angrier. This knocks Prahlad down. Oh.
And then there is the there is the there is the there is the there is the there is the there is the the the the sequence is described actually differently. This could refer to how different Kalpas things happen. But the point is that slowly, he starts recognizing. First he gets he get he blames the Vaishnav also coming. Then he blames his teachers, his students’ teachers.
You are not taken care of. And then finally, he says, this child this child is the problem. And then, there is a difference between anger and danger. So anger generally is hot headed. When we are angry about something, it arises from the circumstances and it stays for some time.
Anger is hot headed. But what Hiranyakashipu exhibits is not anger. It is hate. Hate is cold blooded. It is not just one moment of anger.
I said, oh, this Palla needs to be killed. We always speak like that. I’ll kill you if you do this. One devotees suddenly showed me, that the child had run run away, and then the child came back. And then I was talking with the child, and it was just a small misunderstanding.
The child had just taken too seriously. The parents so the parent, the father showed me a small clipping, and they were laughing. So there’s a there’s a mother. Her daughter is running away, and she’s a Christian now. She’s praying to God.
Oh, God. Please let her be please let my child be safe, and let her come home safely so that I can kill her. So that idea here is that sometimes you may use the word, I’ll kill you. So that’s it’s a very non literal sense. It’s an expression of anger.
But in this case, it was real. He said that, you know, if a part of the body gets infected, then we need to cut off the part, otherwise everything will get infected. So he said like that, prala deshnik abhikamit. And therefore, I need to kiss him. So see, here, what he’s doing is, sometimes when we do something bad, we might just do it in a rage.
So when anger comes up, anger just sidelines our intelligence. Sidelines means this put pushes aside. But when aid comes, aid doesn’t sideline the intelligence. Aid recruits the intelligence. Recruit the intelligence means we use our intelligence to make a plan how to do it and how to justify it or something.
This is where we rationalize. And if you heard the word rationalize? So when we rationalize, what happens? We tell rational lies. When we rationalize, we get rational lives.
So he’s justifying the killing of his own son by saying this is like a disease, that the disease has to be removed. So then, it tries to kill, I was talking earlier about boundaries. Even bad people have some boundaries. One of my friends is awarded for a jail. So he says, even more prisoners.
If the prisoners come to jail because of some child abuse, even prisoners don’t like children. Then the child those are child abusers are kept in some kept in some they’re kept in seclusion, solid confinement. Otherwise, prisoners will harm the person there. So everybody has boundaries. So even Hirany Kishipu has some boundaries initially.
He thinks this is my son. I cannot kill him. So he tells others to do the dirty work. He says, he has assistance. You kill him.
Now they all try to kill him, but none of them succeed. And often, this is seen as a miracle. And yes, it is. That the miracle is he’s thrown down a mountain and nothing happens to him. He’s kept at a burning fire.
He is bitten by snakes. He’s put in the path of tramp feeding elephants, and none of those efforts, they endure. So that is a miracle. However, if you look at the Vaishnav Achera’s commentaries, we look at the Maghdi tradition’s commentary, That is not the biggest miracle. See, miracles are basically broadly, they could be of two kinds.
One is things that happen to us. Things that happen to us. To us means that something happens. So here, he’s threatened, and he’s he’s no power for lunges, a small five year old boy. And the five year old boy, how can he defend against anyone?
He’s scared. He survives. So that’s a miracle. But if you look at the Bhakti tradition’s commentary, it is the bigger miracle is not his safety. That his safety is definitely miracle.
But the bigger miracle is the things that happen through us. That the bigger miracle is his his purity, his determination, his devotion. The technical word is fidelity. Fidelity is faithfulness. That despite all this happening, his devotion is not cheap.
And that is the bigger miracle. When Srila Prabhupada would sometimes be asked, how many can he perform some miracles? And Prabhupada would often point to his some of his disciples, and he would say, these are my miracles. But what is the miracle over here? The biggest miracle that matters is the change of the human heart.
There can be many miracles that you can have. Somebody can make somebody can make an object disappear, somebody can make an object appear. Many different kind of miracles can happen, and they have some manner. But the biggest miracle is the change of the human heart. The change of the heart means what?
From a person’s heart is directed towards selfishness, towards ego, towards dominating others, and that person becomes selfless, gentle, caring. That’s the change of heart. That’s the miracle which will actually make bring real happiness in our hearts, and and that’s the miracle that will bring happiness in the world. So the miracle from the Bhakti tradition is not just that Prahlad survived all these attacks. That is true.
It’s also that Prahlad’s devotions are vital. Prahlad’s fidelity to the lord, his faithfulness to the lord was unshaken. Not even once did he have second thoughts that I should worship the lord of god. And that is the glory of Shiv Prabhupada also. Shiv Prabhupada came to America.
In many ways, everything that could go wrong went wrong. You know, if some people believe a lot in faith and some people believe in science, you know, okay, this is educated, then God wants me to do this is educated, then God wants to do that. Now, sometimes that science can tell us something, but if you look at the science of what happened, there’s so many signs for Prabhupada. Right on his journey, he got a heart attack. Hey.
This is why God doesn’t want me to do this. And then after that, everywhere he went, he went he went in Pennsylvania. People the host treated him like a curiosity object, not a spiritual teacher. He wanted to hear it from him. And he got to He seemed very interested in becoming a devotee.
And Prabhupada noted to one of his his patrons in India, his Bangladesh in India, saying that he may well, become the first American Vaishnava. And then what happened, this person went on he took he had a he used to take drugs before he had a, drug and relapse, and he went crazy and came to attack robot. And there was no miraculous nazimuddin coming like that teleported robot. Robot is to view the peace. And when left, it was not just a physical threat that he survived.
No. It is much more the amount of demoralization that supported that time. And the person who is supposed to become a devotee, that person flips and becomes crazy and attacks. Naturally, he could have raised the question, could have asked the question, well, is this mission gonna work, ma’am? These people have a change?
No. The fact that Bhopal did not give up his mission, that itself is a miracle. Even if Bhopal had not succeeded, the fact that Bhopal built hundred day temples and owe 70 boats and inspired millions of people to become devotees, that is definitely miraculous. But the fact that Shri Prabhupada’s devotion survived all their deaths, that is also miraculous. So Pradhan’s devotion surviving is a miracle.
And when the threats come in our life, will that question come, does God care? So when the whole world seems to be screaming to us, no, He doesn’t care. Now, if God had been caring, why would Prabhupada subject to such a danger? Why would Prabhupada have his prospector, his pride will turn against him and ready to attack him? So when the world’s is world’s evidence seems to be screaming to us, no one doesn’t care.
At that time, are we ready to turn away from the world? Are we ready to hear a source beyond the world? So that is what Parnell wants to read. Let’s look at the next paragraph. Would anyone else like to read?
Sure. Yes, please. Yeah. If you if you do know is that the one you want me to read it? Yes, please.
Yes. If you do know my suffering, then why do you not step forward to stop it? If instead of stepping forward to help me, I came to know that in those moments, you were smiling while I was suffering. Oh, Lord. How would I be able to maintain my devotion to you?
Thank you. So, basically, here, Arjuna is suffering and Krishna is smiling. So if we come to know that when we are going through something terrible, terrible situation, then the lord is smiling. Can you even get it? How can you be smiling with the situation?
If somebody goes to a therapist and the person is breaking down and the therapist is smiling, you know, probably the client will sue the therapist for emotional wounds, emotional injury. Isn’t it? How do the child smile, mister Chaim? So the so at such times, you know, when the world’s evidence doesn’t seem to support an emotion, there’s a time we need to look beyond the world. We need to look at scriptures.
We look at the times in scriptures when there is an interaction between the peoples and the law. Because Krishna has arranged this world in such a way that the evidence of the world will always be mixed. That sometimes the evidence of the world will strengthen our faith in God. And sometimes the evidence of the world will question our faith in God. Why?
Because this world is made for those souls who do not want to acknowledge anything to do with God. And when I was introduced to Bhakti Yoga thirty years ago, I started, actually, I was introduced to Bhakti my childhood, but I was reintroduced to the philosophical language in Bhakti, to Shiva Prabhupada’s teachings. So I started to get really into this I started sharing about it with all my friends, relatives. So uncles told me, I have a very good relationship with God. I have not seen him ever go to the temple or doing the other person.
What do you mean by good relationship? He says, our relationship is mutual non interference. He’s happy there. I’m happy here. So some people say that I don’t have anything to do with God.
I don’t need God for anything. So for people that, and this God care, I don’t care if God cares or not. This we can be apathetic towards it. But for those who are a bit emotionally minded, so so people may come to such conclusions because the world’s evidence will never be completely unambiguous. So that is saying that believers need no reasons, non believers accept no reasons.
So the word is such that believers, those who have faith, they will have experiences from within their hearts and confirm their devotion for them. And those who are non believers, they will come up with some explanations for somehow that actually just take explanation how the system is going. So that’s how things will work. So that’s why we cannot rely on our hands alone for the evidence of god’s presence, god’s strength, god’s love. But in history, there are some times when this veil of Maya rings, and then the Lord appears.
And the Lord’s love manifests in the world. And those are the times that we need to dwell on. Those are the times which should become the homes for our heart, the homes for our thoughts. And it is by remembering those incidents that we gain strength, we gain perspective. Now, hybrid tradition has such concept of founding stories.
So for example, the Jewish tradition, the journey of the people to the chosen land, That’s the story that it derives straight from. In our tradition, it is a Rama and the Mahabal, it is a Mahabotam. Why? Because in daily history, we may not see God’s hands all the time. But there are some times in history when God’s hand is seen.
And those who are to be devoted, they need to be able to remember those times. And that’s how our beings are staying under nature. So can we go to the next part? Yes. Oh, like, today?
Any other lady? Question, please? Yes, please. What is this? Bless me.
Bless me. Bless me to remember, oh lord, that you are never smiling because I am suffering. It is through my suffering that I’m becoming more open So Krishna is not suffering, smiling because we are suffering. Krishna is smiling because, say, a a if there’s a doctor. And sometimes the doctors, they can they can observe someone, and they can say, oh, you know, you got this corrugates, you got this disease, you got this disease.
But the patient is in denial. I don’t have any disease. So then, the if the disease symptoms are more so slightly, and that’s when the patient comes to doctor. Please, I need your help. So the doctor smiles not because the patient is okay, but because the patient has come to a place where we will get cured.
So it is that when we are going through difficulties, it is not that Krishna doesn’t know our difficulties. We can read this once again. Okay. If we you my lord. You know my pain.
You know my pain. You feel my pain. You feel my pain. And you want to heal my pain. And you want to heal my pain.
And you want to heal my pain. So the lord is dead, not just somewhere up there, high in the sky, far away. The lord is in here with us in our own hearts at the bottom. So he knows what we are doing. And if he’s not intervening, that that there’s a reason for that.
Now what is that reason? We’ll talk about that, and I’ll conclude. So this last part will take two hours. But not really. So basically, now what we’ll talk about is this one graph which is four quadrant diagram which explains this concept.
That is love and then is anger. Now, love and anger, can both of them go together? There are four possibilities, you know. If there is no love at all and there is no anger, then there is simply apathy. You know, I don’t care for you, and because I don’t care for you, I don’t care what you do also.
Once I’ve tried to do mediation between two people, and one of them said, I know you are handling it to other person. No. I’m not handling it. Anger is an expensive emotion, and I have decided you are not worth it. If somebody starts a mediation like that, that mediation is not very likely to be successful.
But, if we don’t care for a person at all, it’s apathy. Now if there is no love and there is anger, then that is envy. So there is love no love at all. There is eight. The opposite of love would be eight.
Especially with anger, then that is n o d. Now as far as Krishna is concerned, Krishna is never in this category. Krishna always loves everything. So we are talking not from our love perspective. We are talking about the lord’s love.
We are talking about the does the lord care? Does the lord care? So this I can tell you your application. I’m the beneficiary of all living beings. We’ll talk shortly about how.
He’s a beneficial, even of inner negation. Otherwise, I didn’t even know. Now now if there is love and there is no hint, no. That is the sweet expressions of love are there. So when we are in someone who cares for us, selling these cool sweet ambiance.
Now we could talk about romantic love, where there’s a lot of, emotions and hormones and all that. But and there is not not those hormonal kind of infatuation, but here, there’s a deep sense of ease that is there. You call it serenity. Wherein there is love, and there is nothing to agitate them on. We’re just being we are happy with being with that person.
So that is serenity. And there are times when there is love and desire, and that actually shows the intensity of the love. So now love can be seen in both ways, through the absence of anger and through the presence of anger. Say for example, somebody has done something which hurts us a lot. But because we care for that person, we don’t yell at the person.
We try to stay calm. That shows love. Normally, we’ll get very angry when we yell at the person, but because that person is very important for us, we try to stay calm. So that’s one aspect. Now suppose somebody is an suppose a child is child is done something Now scolding should never be the only expression of love.
Then what happened when love is not seen at heart? But the thing is that it is only because I care for you that I’m happy. Good. So sometimes you’ll be angry with the child, you say, for I’m gonna have some mischief or if somebody’s hurting our child. You know, we’ll be angry with that person.
That would also be a sign of doubt. The point is that in the world, when Krishna’s love is there, Krishna when a devotee is going to suffer him, it is not that Krishna does not care. So most of the times, that love is seen through the serenity of Krishna. Most of the times what happens is Krishna is serenely. Now now we talk about Krishna is serene, and there are a few times in history Krishna is peaceful.
That does it mean Krishna doesn’t care? Well, not exactly. Krishna cares, and Krishna shows his care by enabling us to also experience serenity even in the middle of the end, even in the middle of the peak. So this is the amazing thing of bhakti that in bhakti, we say, what is God doing for me? Does God care?
By bhakti, it’s not just emotion, it’s not how much we dance in kliptuls. It is not art how much we roll in ecstasy. A bhakti is actually how much is our heart centered How much do our thoughts find their own in Krishna? Our thoughts’ own is in Krishna. What does it mean?
See, we may for various jobs, we may go to various places, but Yeah. You can. Yeah. Various, jobs, we may go to various places, but as soon as the job is done, we come back home. So like that, we may have to think of various things in the world, but as soon as the things are dilated, our thoughts come back to you.
So for us, when we practice bhakti, what happens is almost mystical, there’s an internal effect of bhakti and there’s an external effect of bhakti. The internal effect of bhakti will be that we will find that we are peaceful even in chaos. That if we start practicing Bhakti, how do we know Krishna is carrying the external problems are there? But in the past, those problems would have shaken us, shattered us. Now I start practicing bhakti.
Those problems would seem to affect us so much. And that is Krishna acting from within our heart to calm us. Now Krishna can do that. Krishna will do that, but we need to turn towards him. We need to fix our mind.
We need to remember him. And that’s what I said is the miracle. So was Lord Rasimhadev not helping for Allah till all the time when he was being prosecuted? Yes. Dharana Simadev was there.
And it was because of the Lord’s presence in Prahlad’s heart that Prahlad could stay calm. Prahlad was not affected. So this is something which like, earlier I said, people feel peaceful when they come to the temple. How does that happen? Actually, we’re coming closer to the presence of Krishna.
So essentially, when we grow spiritually, when we habituate ourselves with remembering Krishna, regularly we practice bhakti, we come to temple, we do our mantra jamba, we do our kija, what happens? Initially for us, the world is very big, and Krishna is very small. And in fact, this is what Indra says in his prayers. He says, we used to worship you before, but this Hernikashi was terrorizing us, and that’s why we have to stop worshiping. But now we have removed this terror of Hiranyakashipu, we’ll start worshiping you.
That means since worship was quite condition the conditions are not good, I don’t worship. So the void is very big, the worldly conditions are very big. But as we grow spiritually, as we become advanced devotees, the world becomes small and Krishna becomes big for us. So this was the situation of Indra, and this was the situation of Brah Lad. And so although there was a huge threat for Prahlad, for him the world was small.
Kriya Krishna was pleased with him and he was worshiping Krishna. So if the world is big, then what happens? The world’s ups and downs, they also become very big. Sometimes our mind makes them even more big. But if the world is small, then the world’s ups and downs also become very small.
So that’s how, as devotees, if we practice Bakfi regularly, we’ll find that our resilience will increase, that life will still batter us with problems, but we won’t be that affected by the problems. The problems will not shake and shatter us to that degree because we will have a correction with our lord. And that, the lord is the bigger reality. The lord has a bigger plan. So when we understand Krishna is the bigger reality, Krishna the world is smaller, Krishna will take care of things in the world that he knows.
When a devotee if he has the devotional vision, what happens is, I understand that my vision is a finite vision. And this finite vision is not the final vision. The finite vision is not the final vision. So right now, within my finite experience, I may not be seeing Krishna intervening and helping you. But this is not the final mission.
There are times when Krishna is helping the past. There are times when Krishna will help me in the future. Right now, let me not make my present experience the basis of all my decisions. So Krishna, when he doesn’t seem to be active, he doesn’t seem to be doing anything. He doesn’t seem to be concerned.
He’s still active, and he’s giving us strength and certainty from within. Krishna says, if you become conscious of me, you will pass over the obstacles of the world. What does that mean? The world along with its ob along with its obstacles will become smaller. And by my connection with you, you will come big enough to go over those problems.
So Krishna’s now is seen by the peace that we experience when we go through the difficulties. When you’ve seen that I have both here. So in 2000 I was in 11, I was once really chanting in one of the temples in India. And when I was chanting, I didn’t notice, it was somewhere at those time, I I would not use crutches. I used to wear a brace.
And I had a brace and a walking stick. So I was walking, and I didn’t notice that there was a little water over there somewhere. And my leg went by the water, and I slipped. I slipped, and I completely fell. And this leg was already very limp because of, polio, and I had osteoporosis and other things.
And when I fell, it was a minor fall, but a severe fracture. Yes. Several hours of surgery had to be done. And I have an old friend who’s named Eastwick. He said to me, he wrote the name and said that he was saying, you were in the temple of God.
You were chanting the news of God. And at that time, you had an accident. So what is the use of your worshiping God? So, actually, that was one of the most transformative experiences for me. I I fell at a terrible pain.
I tried to chat, but I just couldn’t focus on the chat. See, Bhakti is not mechanical. So, one month, what the way I connect with Krishna the most is through the Bhagavad Gita. Reciting the Bhagavad Gita as well says, remembering the Bhagavad Gita as well says, contemplating. Bhagavad Gita also, they’re not just then then I stopped chatting again.
The pain just came back. And initially, we thought it was not a very big fall. We thought it was a problem. But, the pain kept persisting. Then we went to, doctor.
The doctor’s immediate So now I was reciting the Vedas verses and experienced so much relief. Now I now I was chanting the Vedas verses, not out of devotion to Krishna, but out of wanting to avoid the pain. I hope one day I’ll chant my devotion. But the point was, and I told him this, see that same same experience which is from an atheistic perspective will be, what’s the point of worshiping God? In the temple of God, while chanting the ring of God, you fell down and you had accident.
But that same experience from an external perspective and internal perspective, is the inner part. Now, that was one of the experiences that convinced me about the reality of Krishna consciousness to elevate oneself, elevate us above our body situation. That doesn’t mean we get ourselves into pain unnecessarily. It’s not that we put ourselves in pain and say, let us see if I can remove it, so I can go walk. We’re not like that.
But the point is that Krishna may not seem to be intervening, but Krishna is intervening. So, Pabrila, the fact that Krishna was there was what enabled him to stay fixed in his devotion. And there are times when Krishna manifests his anger. So finally, when Hiranyakrishiko decided enough is enough, what happened? He sent his son back to school and said, let’s see.
Maybe this is just a phase that he can go through. Some people think maybe practice Bakhtin’s an impatuation. They go away. So maybe this is a space. So but then what happened was his teachers came back and said, k, the oh, his instead of his face going away, all our students are going away.
He has infected all our students. Everyone has become a rego kid. Now his father said, now I will take matters in my own hands. He wanted to not just kill Prahlad himself, he first wanted to kill Prahlad’s spirit. And therefore, he said, where is your Vishnu?
You claim to worship him, Dhanu Gharazi, saying he’s everywhere? Is he here in this pillar? Which the problem with the world is that often the foolish people are super confident. And the bigger problem with the world is that the wise people are super doubtful. So atheists are confident there is no God.
And theists are worried, will God heal the world heal the world? So, Girindika, she was super confident, she slammed the pillar. That form that had never been seen before, that form was seen. Namrogam Namah Anushan, nor animal, nor human beings. I I’m getting away with it.
The Lord’s anger was such that he would have immediately heard Pernani Kishipo part. But he was waiting. He was waiting till it was sunset. And when it was sunset, Hiranyakashiva thought, you know, see, in this particular battle, Hiranyakashiva was smaller. Normally, the odds are against the devotees.
But in the simudhi manifested, he manifested in a giant form. To the place between the inside and outside of the room. And there, just now he was dragging him along and he was just trying to get out. Now Viranya Kashipu had wanted to break the spirit of Pranayama, and the Simadev broke the spirit of Niranayama. Because for Hirany Kashipu, he said, I am so powerful, I can control everyone.
And the Lord came in, but before he came there, he was completely dominated. It’s like, you know, sometimes through boxer, somebody, I’m a champion boxer. And there, one boxer catches the other boxer in one deadly group. Another boxer So Yes. Operation successful.
Patient initiated. So now, lord, but But he was very angry, but that anger was not towards the soul of. And it was Prahlad also, he he saw his father being killed. He did not he did not bring joy. Oh, you tried to kill me.
Now you have been killed. And nor did he feel remorse. Oh, my father has been killed. Dad, what is his emotion? His emotion was concerned.
Because there would be joy. But you try to now you try to challenge me, my devotion. That’s what that will do. Sometimes, some devotees get pleasure in some bad happening to those who are opposed to God. And God is not getting that joy.
And at the same time, his emotion, people will think because of me my father was killed. His emotion are not all self centered. The emotion was centered around his father’s. He said, he did a pray to him, Narsimhadev, And what did the Lord say? That actually that 40 generations of a devotee’s family are all unified because the person becomes a devotee.
So for the Lord, although he was angry with Hiranyakashibu, that anger was not a venom. Hiranyakashibu thought The Lord smiling joyfully on him. The Lord listening profusely. The Lord seeping him on his lap. The Lord putting his hand on his head.
Then the Lord getting up and putting Prahlad on the throne is you who will be the ruler. It still remains small. The Lord will remain big. So there are times in our life when we will see Krishna’s hand in our life. We’ll see things happen in such a way, yeah, this this couldn’t have happened without Krishna.
There is synchronicity, there is what’s called serendipity. Things don’t happen. And there are things like that have happened in this group. So when those happen, we gain conviction from those witness that actually, Krishna is there and Krishna cares. And because Krishna cares, that is why he is he it’s not that he cared at that time, he doesn’t care now.
He always cares. So let me remember your smile, Hamid, by suffering, as a sign of your confidence and competence that you can tackle in any and every problem no matter how gigantic it seems to you. So last sentence, would I Yes. Not that the Lord doesn’t care. If we are suffering and the Lord seems to be smiling, that doesn’t mean he does not make an animus.
He doesn’t care. It just means the lord is having some plan. He’s taking his time. He is capable. The lord could have been killed in a negative way.
The lord let this time pass so that the world would know the glory of the beloved. Sometimes it is seen through the cheap actions that happen in the world, many times it is seen through the actual changes that happen within our heart. In how our heart stays steady in the love of our Lord. So let’s summarize. I talked about three main points.
I talked about how we understand that lords love as does Krishna care? Does the lord care? That was the topic. When we were discussing this, normally, when we practice bhakti, you know, we have a certain expectation. What is God doing for me?
When we go through life, we practice devotion, and we expect it to improve our worldly situation. And that’s a reasonable expectation. How sometimes, instead of improving the worldly situation, what happens is, our situation may worsen. And at that time, how do we process that? So if we look at the world itself, the world’s evidence can sometimes strengthen our faith, because some things happen which can strengthen our faith.
But many things can happen in the world which can weaken our faith. So that’s why we cannot rely on the world for our faith. Then what what do we do? We turn towards scripture. And there we discuss the divine dynamic that there is a dynamic of love and anger.
So the Lord is never up having apathy there. There’s no love and no anger. The Lord never has enmity towards anyone. So these two are not true at all. And what is true?
That the Lord when his love is there, but there doesn’t seem to be any anger, there doesn’t seem to be any concern, that is where the Lord gives us serenity. The Lord helps us to experience an almost mystical calm, even when the world is a turbulent place. So this is where what happens? We are here and initially the world is big and God is small for us. But eventually what happens?
The as we grow spiritually eventually what happens is that the world becomes for us, the world becomes small, and Krishna becomes big for us. So this is the situation of. This is a a serious devotee. This is the situation of Indra who represents more of a materialistic kind of a devotee. So now this serenity comes because Krishna has become bigger than the world.
And we see the last part. So when there is there are times when Krishna experiences expresses intensity. Intensity is where the Lord’s love becomes manifested in this world. So the lila that is performed over here, this lila and such lila’s will not only lila, these should become the home for our thoughts. It is by remembering these things, these past times that the lord intervened, that the lord protected devotees.
The lord’s protection became manifest at a material level. Like, Billy, he was in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain, is not the final vision. So we, with faith, with patience, we wait. We keep maintaining our devotion to the Lord and that devotion will be vindicated. Yes.
So Prahlad was glorified. The Lord had a bigger plan, but it did not intervene in particular time. So maybe the Lord will intervene in this time. And the miracles that the Lord does, the miracles can sometimes be external where the situation just changes dramatically, where the miracle can also be internal where we can be peaceful even amid the chaos. External miracle is the chaos just disappears, the trouble disappears.
The external miracle is that the trouble may remain, but we don’t really trouble. We may have it with trouble, but, you know, we live with pain rather than pain, rather than envy, because we now live with our Lord. So let us pray, Lord Rasamade, that, my dear Lord, the day you have demonstrated your Prahlaj’s love for you and your love for Daliyah, let this Prahlaj become the home for my heart. Let me remember that this historical evidence of your love for for those who are devoted to you, and let that remembrance sustain in times when I feel the glory. When I feel the problems are overwhelming.
Let me remember you, oh lord, and find serenity and shelter in strength in that remembrance.
By Praghosa Dasa Yes a picture paints a thousands words and all but instantly conveys the message its creator intended. Whereas reading a thousand words takes a little longer! However best of all is when pictures and words are combined together and that is why this year we are enhancing Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa Puja book Read More...
Dear ISKCON Devotees, Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. The ISKCON Governing Body Commission (GBC) has noted the Supreme Court of India’s judgment dated 16 May 2025 in the long-standing property dispute between ISKCON Mumbai and ISKCON Bengaluru. ISKCON Mumbai is the official legal entity registered by ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya His Divine Read More...
It was wonderful to again visit Jagannatha Gauranga temple, which is one of our six major temples in Bali. The devotees have worked hard to worship the deities nicely and build up the facilities for programs and festivals.
Besides the local devotees, there are quite a number of devotees from overseas who come through from Europe, Russia, America, and Australia etc. I gave the Sunday morning Srimad Bhagavatam class and many attended.
A Glorious Departure: A Tribute to His Grace Paradhyeya Prabhu (ACBSP) The Vaishnava community recently witnessed the transcendental departure of His Grace Paradhyeya Prabhu (ACBSP), who left his body yesterday May, 31 at 9:20 PM in Sacramento, California. A beloved and dedicated disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, His Grace Paradhyeya Prabhu’s Read More...
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 21, No. 21 By Krishna Kripa Das (Week 21: May 21–May 27, 2025) New York City and Washington, D.C. (Sent from Baltimore, Maryland, on May 31, 2025)
Where I Went and What I Did
For the twenty-first week of 2025, I spent the first six days at ISKCON NYC in Brooklyn, serving Rama Raya Prabhu’s NYC Harinam program by chanting Hare Krishna and distributing Ratha-yatra flyers for three or four hours each day from Wednesday through Monday, except for Sunday, when I did harinama with a party of congregational devotees from Bhaktivedanta Manor who are touring the United States. On Sunday we chanted from the Bhakti Center to Tompkins Square Park, then through Chinatown, and over the Brooklyn Bridge. Then we chanted on the subway to the Brooklyn temple. On Tuesday, I traveled to Washington, D.C., and I chanted with Sankarsana Prabhu in front of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History there. Many people from all over the country and all over the world visit that museum so it is a great venue to share your message. I saw the new temple in Potomac for the first time, and I was impressed with its cleanliness and its magnitude.
I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s four main books: Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, and The Nectar of Devotion. I share notes on classes by Jayadvaita Swami and Anuttama (the GBC), Arcita, Radhe Shyam, and Aditya Prabhus. I share comments Vasudeva Prabhu made during an initiation talk by Jayadvaita Swami.
Thanks to the Indian couple from Sacramento for their kind donation while visiting ISKCON NYC. Thanks to Ahaituki Prema Prabhu for his videos and photos of NYC Harinam. Thanks to the Potomac devotees for their hospitality.
Itinerary
May 7–June 16: NYC Harinam
– May 31: Baltimore Ratha-yatra
June 17–August 19: Paris
– June 22: Paris Ratha-yatra
– June 28: Antwerp Ratha-yatra
– June 29: Rotterdam Ratha-yatra
– July 11: Amsterdam harinama
– July 12: Amsterdam Ratha-yatra
– July 13: Holland harinama
August 20: London harinama
August 21–22: Liverpool harinamas
August 23: Liverpool Ratha-yatra
August 24: Manchester harinama?
August 25: London harinama and flight to New York
Maha Nrsingha Prabhu from Bhaktivedanta Manor chants Hare Krishna in the Lower East Side of Manhattan (https://youtu.be/YcyafWb6ZNU):
Lila Manjari from Bhaktivedanta Manor chants Hare Krishna on the Brooklyn Bridge (https://youtu.be/a4H8m-K9kXc):
Monday was warm and dry so our NYC Harinam party was back in Washington Square Park. Here I chant Hare Krishna there (https://youtube.com/shorts/dqRTL5sw32k):
Chanting Hare Krishna in Washington, D.C.
Several years ago I promised my godbrother, Sankarsana Prabhu, I would chant with him three days a year in Washington, D.C., across from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.
Sankarsana chants there several days a week when weather permits, usually from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. When he was chanting I would chant the response, play the shakers, and dance. I would also offer shakers to people who seemed to appreciate our music and give “On Chanting Hare Krishna” to people who were more interested. I told several Indians about our Potomac temple.
Here Sankarsana Prabhu plays the keytar and chants Hare Krishna by the Museum of Natural History in Washington (https://youtu.be/Fvvn0BVwZQ4):
A few people played the shakers and accepted “On Chanting Hare Krishna.” Some gave donations and accepted books.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
From Bhagavad-gita 18.75, purport:
“One has to understand Krishna not directly but through the medium of the spiritual master. The spiritual master is the transparent medium, although it is true that the experience is still direct. This is the mystery of the disciplic succession. When the spiritual master is bona fide, then one can hear Bhagavad-gita directly, as Arjuna heard it.”
From Bhagavad-gita 18.76, purport:
“The result of Krishna consciousness is that one becomes increasingly enlightened, and he enjoys life with a thrill, not only for some time, but at every moment.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.8.4:
“Persons who hear Srimad-Bhagavatam regularly and are always taking the matter very seriously will have the Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna manifested in their hearts within a short time.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.8.37, purport:
“That is the nature of a devotee. He may desire material gain, but he accepts it only if Krishna offers it.”
From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 4.30, purport:
“The reason the Lord displays the rasa-lila is essentially to induce all the fallen souls to give up their diseased morality and religiosity, and to attract them to the kingdom of God to enjoy the reality. A person who actually understands what the rasa-lila is will certainly hate to indulge in mundane sex life. For the realized soul, hearing the Lord’s rasa-lila through the proper channel will result in complete abstinence from material sexual pleasure.”
From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 4.147–148:
“The beauty of Krishna has one natural strength: it thrills the hearts of all men and women, beginning with Lord Krishna Himself. All minds are attracted by hearing His sweet voice and flute, or by seeing His beauty. Even Lord Krishna Himself makes efforts to taste that sweetness.”
From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 4.153:
“The gopis saw their beloved Krishna at Kurukshetra after a long separation. They secured and embraced Him in their hearts through their eyes, and they attained a joy so intense that not even perfect yogis can attain it. The gopis cursed the creator for creating eyelids that interfered with their vision.”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 39:
“In the Eleventh Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Third Chapter, verse 32, it is stated that when devotees are engaged in the discharge of bhakti-yoga, sometimes they cry from thinking of Krishna, sometimes they laugh, sometimes they become jubilant, and sometimes they talk in very uncommon ways. Sometimes they dance, sometimes they sing, sometimes they are actually engaged in the service of the Lord, and sometimes they sit down silently as if absorbed in trance.”
“Similarly, in the Seventh Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Chapter Seven, verse 34, Prahlada Maharaja says to his friends, ‘My dear friends, as soon as pure devotees of Lord Krishna hear of the transcendental pastimes of the Lord, who is the eternal reservoir of pastimes, or hear about His transcendental qualities, they become overpowered with jubilation. Ecstatic symptoms are manifested in their bodies. They shed tears, talk falteringly, glorify the Lord in a loud voice and chant and dance in ecstasy. These ecstasies are always there, but sometimes they overcome all limits, and the symptoms become manifest to all.’”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 41:
“The Lord, Hari, whose bodily hue is like the indranila jewel, whose smiling is as beautiful as the kunda flower, whose silk dress is as yellow as golden autumn foliage, whose chest is beautified with garlands of flowers and who is always playing upon His flute—this enemy of the Agha demon is always attracting our hearts by wandering about Vrndavana.”
Jayadvaita Swami:
From a class on Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 4.29:
In a well-run organization, employees do not have to be told “Do this. Do that.” They automatically know what they should do, and they do it. Similarly Krishna’s yogamaya automatically makes arrangements to enhance the loving dealings between Krishna and His devotees.
The great love of the Vaikuntha residents is expressed through their adoration.
The highest stage of love is present in spontaneous dealings. For these to take place, the devotees have to forget that Krishna is supreme and they are subordinate.
In Vrindavan there is no respect, just love.
The loving dealings of the gopis and Krishna are expressions of the gopis affection for Krishna and Krishna’s reciprocation. They have nothing to do with mundane sexuality.
One achieves spontaneous love by following regulative principles not by transgressing regulative principles.
Q: How to go to Vaikuntha? A: Follow the regulative principles. And then to go to Goloka, after perfecting that, and go on to spontaneous love.
If Krishna had to worry about setting the stage and directing the show, He could not just enjoy the relationships, so yogamaya does all that for Him.
Comment by Janmastami Prabhu: When I sell people books, I say, “This book tells how to achieve the highest level of pleasure possible for a human being.”
Srila Prabhupada said we do not have to make up anything. We just have to tell them what is in the books.
From an initiation lecture at the Bhakti Center on May 24, 2025:
Srila Prabhupada said many times that initiation means to begin.
Of course, hearing the holy names and reading the books, are always good.
Bhajana-kriya means we take up the recommended process. This includes accepting a bona fide spiritual master.
He is good to hear the kirtans and lectures, but at a certain point we must become serious about spiritual life, because the human life is meant for spiritual realization.
My career is important for the time being, but it is not eternally important.
If we have missed the spiritual focus of human life, we have missed human life, as most people are doing.
When we want to understand spiritual truth, we need to accept a spiritual master.
People have so many theories, but they remain morose because they do not have that knowledge that satisfies the soul.
One who serious about ultimate benefit should approach a guru and inquire about that ultimate benefit.
The two qualifications of the guru: (1) he has heard from a guru in the succession about spirit and (2) fixed in devotional service.
The bona fide spiritual master repeats the words of Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada said his qualification was that he did not add or subtract anything. He just presented what he heard.
Faith is not just a sentiment but practical activity. That practical activity is engagement in devotional service.
I asked Srila Prabhupada, “How does the spiritual master know if the disciple is making advancement?” Srila Prabhupada replied, “Everyone can know. The face is the index of the mind. If one is happily engaged in devotional service one can see.”
The answers aren’t free. In one sense they are free, anyone can read the books. But to realize the knowledge of the books, you have render service.
Surrender to Krishna does not mean I sign a paper, “Krishna, from now on I am yours.” We actually have to act for Krishna.
How are we going to advance by saying “no” to our spiritual master?
The commitment to the spiritual master beyond all other commitments.
Srila Prabhupada asked a disciple, “What is the position of the disciple?” He replied, “Servant.” Srila Prabhupada corrected him, “Menial servant.”
Srila Prabhupada once indicated that Narada Muni is dragging us back to Godhead through the disciplic succession.
Our business is to carry out the orders we have received, and to depend on Krishna, whether there is success or failure.
Being a spiritual master is not an independent enterprise.
We do not expect to be like Srila Prabhupada, but we can follow.
Srila Prabhupada used to chant on the initiates beads on the spot.
One who is rasananda appreciates all the rasas that Krishna enjoys, whatever his own position is.
From a talk on “Sadhus and Surgeons” at the Bhakti Center on May 25, 2025:
Srila Prabhupada would say strong words are sometimes needed to awaken a sleeping man.
The duty of the spiritual master is to speak the truth not to confirm our illusions.
Mr. Sethi recalls his first meeting with Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada asked him what he was doing. Mr. Sethi said he was working and maintaining his family. Srila Prabhupada said, “What is the difference between you and a pig? A pig is also working and maintaining his family.” Mr. Sethi accepted it and became a staunch follower of Srila Prabhupada.
A man could not understand why Srila Prabhupada called some person a rascal that the man thought was a saint. Srila Prabhupada took a blue book off the shelf and read the translation of Bhagavad-gita 9.34, and he praised the accuracy of the translation. Then he read the purport, “It is not Krishna that you must surrender to, but the unborn, beginningless within Krishna.” Then Srila Prabhupada concluded, “Therefore they are all rascals.”
Surrender means it is all yours. I can take a little just to meet my needs.
We are claiming this is my land, but it is not my land, either individually or corporately.
Do not do business with the Lord – this is for me, this is for you. It is all Krishna’s.
A women who also attended the uptown swamis’ classes said, “Swamiji, isn’t it true that we are all one.”
Srila Prabhupada said, “No. Just like in the body. There are nine holes. Can you put the food into this one or that one? No, you have to put the food in the mouth.”
The Vaishnavas ask the question, “If everything is one as you say, where does the variety come from?” The Mayavadis reply, “The varieties come from maya (illusion). When the illusion is removed, you will see everything is one.” The Vaishnavas respond, “Then you have two, (1) the oneness and (2) the illusion. You no longer only have only one.”
The Republicans and Democrats are mortal enemies, but if America is attacked they band together to defend the country. We have our differences, but we can unite for a common cause. If we understand Krishna is our common center of interest, then we can be united. That’s why the chanting is so important, that it awakens our understanding of our common interest in Krishna.
From a question and answer session with devotees from London at the Bhakti Center on May 24, 2025:
Q: Ideas for the future. A: Pay attention to people. Despite our programs and programs, we can benefit people one person at a time by paying attention to them. Programs with small groups can be helpful. Groups may be according to interest, location, or demographics. You need a separate group for the Western people. In Zurich, they have two Sunday feasts, one for the Tamil people in the morning and for the Swiss in the late afternoon. Kirtan, provacan, and prasadam are the substance of all our programs.
If you chant Hare Krishna, you will live without education. However, if you live without Krishna consciousness, you will never really live.
We may want to keep doing our service until we are 83, but it is a valuable service to teach others. By staying in our position, we are keeping others from gaining the opportunity.
Srila Prabhupada once told me, “Continue your prescribed duties and train others.”
Anuttama Prabhu:
From a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.8.37 at ISKCON NYC on May 25, 2025:
When Dhruva Maharaja was unable to accept the brahminical instruction of Narada Muni, Narada did not abandon the attempt to instruct him, rather Narada instructed him in a different way. We can learn from this example when we are instructing others.
Dhruva Maharaja, like Hiranyakasipu, wanted a kingdom greater than Brahma, but Dhruva Maharaja only wanted to achieve that position by honest means whereas Hiranyakasipu wanted that kingdom by any means honest or dishonest.
We cannot have a super narrow definition of bhakti if we are to engage everyone in the world in it.
We shouldn’t think for someone to be a serious devotee they have to be like us. People have a different natures. We have to encourage the people to engage their talents for Krishna.
We have to help people try to fit into the Krishna movement.
The world is full of people who think they are special, and who are willing to push people out of the way. If we become like that, our movement will not spread, and we ourselves will not be satisfied.
Welcoming everyone in does not mean lowering our standards.
Sometimes people are too fanatical about their own traditions. One young Jewish man said he heard a rabbi say if you are not Jewish there is no difference between you and an inanimate object.
Comment by Arcita Prabhu: Some people think we pushed editing on Srila Prabhupada, but the editing was Srila Prabhupada’s idea. When Prabhupada met Howard Wheeler and learned he was an English professor, he immediately engaged him in editing his books because he wanted his books to be accepted by educated English speakers.
From a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.8.38 at ISKCON NYC on May 26, 2025:
In the Bhagavatam we see how devotees deal with issues very much like the issues that confront us, and how the Lord protects them in different ways.
We wouldn’t be here if we did not have some glimpses of Krishna working in our lives.
Our happiness is not real because it is not lasting.
Seeing the books in a rich Indian family’s library, I realized that rich people have a whole level of anxiety that I do not have.
There was an orphanage where the babies were dying at a greater rate than average although they were fed and clothed, etc. There was an independent investigation, and it turned out the babies were never held, and they were literally dying because of that.
I know many friends in their sixties who are rebuilding their relationships with their children because they did not understand how to give their children both Krishna consciousness and other care they expected.
We should think, “I have been given so much mercy. I should show others some mercy.”
Sudharma Dasi was a great manager who worked well with both women and men. I asked her how she was able to do that. She said, “I ask the women how they feel about things, and I ask the men what they think about things.”
Arcita Prabhu:
Even before their spiritual-master disciple relationship began, Dhruva had a relationship with Narada. Dhruva’s father is Uttanapada Prabhu, whose father was Syamabhuva Manu, whose father was Brahma. Narada is also a son of Brahma, so Narada is the great uncle of Dhruva.
Maya has everyone in her grip, and they do not even know they are in her grip.
In one culture, before constructing a building they would carefully relocate all the earthworms.
We are dependent on Krishna for supplying the sun, the rain, etc.
We want everyone and everything around us to be perfect because we come from a perfect world. But we should understand we are not in a perfect world now, so we have to be tolerant.
We may think that we are a ksatriya because we have isvara-bhava, the desire to control, but actually everyone, even a two-year-old kid has the desire to control.
Srila Prabhupada told Yamuna if she did not teach others how to cook she would become envious.
Krishna consciousness is very simple. Wherever God-given talents you have, engage in God’s service.
If everyone in ISKCON did what they wanted to do, how would things go on?
Radhe Shyam Prabhu:
If you have Krishna, you have everything, but if you have everything, you do not have Krishna.
Just as the parents take care of all their child’s needs, the Lord takes care of all the needs of one who surrenders to Him.
Material life is like a game in which you cannot win and you cannot stop playing.
Srila Prabhupada gave people practical ways they could engage their talents in Krishna’s service in addition to giving them spiritual knowledge. We should also do like this.
Srila Prabhupada engaged Haridas, who was formerly a thief and accustomed to stay awake at night, in chasing away the dogs that barked at night and made his dictation tapes difficult to hear.
Both the Pandavas and Kauravas were eternal associates of the Lord. The Mahabharata Warwas arranged by Krishna to show the different results of pious and impious action.
Vasudeva Prabhu:
Regarding the second offense is considered an offense both to consider the demigods to be completely distinct from the Supreme Lord and also to consider them to be identical with the Supreme Lord. They are His eternal servants.
Inattentiveness is an offense whether dealing with the name, the guru, or the Vaishnavas. We must consider the exalted nature of them all.
Aditya Devi Dasi:
Dhruva telling Narada that he could not follow his instruction to tolerate material dualities like a brahmana would is like Arjuna telling Krishna he could not follow his instructions on astanga-yoga.
Krishna gives us personal instructions in the heart just to inspire us. Although others may not understand their significance, they could be life changing for us.
Some qualities are expected to be attained by all four varnas: Truthfulness, nonviolence, charity, celibacy, absence of malice, to service God, to be a follower the king, to follow the scripture, being equipoised, forbearance, to follow one’s duties, to have faith in God.
We have to be humble to apply ourselves to the process of purification.
Some of the queens of Krishna, who wanted to worship Krishna in the deity form, became sannyasis who worshiped the Krishna deity in Udupi.
In Udupi brahmanas by looking how a boy plays, eats, and sleeps and by analyzing his astrological chart determine which boys are suitable to be trained as sannyasis.
When I was a new devotee in Scotland all the devotees in the center I joined in had been around for twenty years. They were kind to me and engaged me in different services.
The householders in Vrindavan give rotis to the brahmacaris who go begging. They are happy to do so because they consider it is a benefit for them.
In the temple, it is best if the leaders can identify the skills of the devotees so they can be happily engaged.
Everyone was on a book distribution marathon in another part of the country when I joined so at mangala-arati it was just the pujari and me. He said sharply, “I will sing one line, and you repeat.” I did not know the language and had never sung before, but I understood it was important, so I did it. From that the devotees decided I was a singer, and encouraged me to sing and every opporunity, and I became part of a kirtan group that performed in different cities in Scotland.
Training is why we are here and have these brick and mortar buildings.
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The author of Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Krishnadas Kaviraja, eloquently and succinctly defines the difference between lust and love:
atmendriya-priti-vañcha — tare bali ‘kama’
krishnendriya-priti-iccha dhare ‘prema’ nama
“The desire to gratify one’s own senses is kama [lust], but the desire to please the senses of Lord Kṛṣṇa is prema [love].” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 4.165)
In the beginning we desire only to gratify our senses, but at the end we hope to desire only to gratify Lord Krishna’s senses. May we steadily progress from the platform of lust to the platform of loveby the mercy of the Lord and His devotees.
Mayapur, Mumbai-Juhu, and Vrindavan were the top three large temples. London Soho, Ahmedabad and Bhopal were the top three medium temples. Atlanta Krishna Life, Surat and Chandigarh were the top small temples and Baltimore, Kishinev and Porto Alegre were the top maha-small temples this month. Over 465,000 literatures were distributed this month and even Pope Leo XIV got in on the action as shown below! Continue reading "WSN April 2025 – World Sankirtan Newsletter → Dandavats"
From her childhood Princess Sachi devi, the daughter of King Naresh Narayana of Bengal, showed unalloyed devotion to Lord Sri Krishna. She even refused to marry on account of her genuine attachment to Krishna. After her father’s demise she ruled the kingdom. But she soon renounced it to find a bona fide spiritual master.
Princess Sachi devi met Shri Haridasa Pandit, a leading guru in Vrindavana, and began performing devout bhajana to Govindaji. Although she became frail from under-eating, she would always sleep on the Yamuna’s sandy bank, and rise before sunrise to clean Govindaji’s Temple.
Daily she would hear Bhagavata-katha, see Govindaji’s arotika, circumambulate Radha-Shyamasundara’s lila sthanas (pastime places) such as Vamishivata, Seva Kunja, Nidhu vana, Rasa Sthali.
Receiving encouragement from Shri Haridasa Pandit, Sachi devi completely dropped her false ego, put on rags, and went house-to-house in Vraja begging alms. The Vrajavasis were astonished by her severe renunciation. Taking her guru’s suggestion, she went to Radha-Kunda to associate with Shri Lakshmipriya devi dasi, a dear disciple of Shri Haridasa.
Following Thakura Haridasa’s perfect example, Lakshmipriya devi daily chanted 300,000 names (192 rounds) of Krishna. Everyday the two ladies would circumambulate Govardhana Hill and worship Krishna.
On her guru’s order, Sachi devi went to the home of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya in Jagannatha Puri. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya and most of Lord Gauranga-sundara’s eternal associates had already returned to Goloka Vrindavana.
Sachi devi restored Sarvabhauma’s house, and established first-class worship of Shri Shyama Raya, a Deity given to her by a Jaipur brahmana. Everyday she lectured on Shrimad Bhagavatam. Her classes became popular attracting eager listeners from miles around. Many people, including brahmanas and King Mukunda Deva, took initiation from Sachi devi.
On the day of Ganga Sagara Mela, Sachi devi, who was residing in Jagannatha Puri, desired to bathe in the Ganges. That night the Ganges flowed from the lotus feet of Lord Jagannatha and came to Sachi’s ashrama. Entering Ganga Devi’s waters, Sachi floated to the lotus feet of Jagannatha Swami inside the Temple.
After unlocking the doors the next morning the pujaris were surprised to find her inside the temple. Thinking she was a thief, they immeditately put Sachi devi in jail. Seeing this mistake, Lord Jagannatha appeared simultaneously in a dream to both the Puri King and the head pujari. The Lord ordered them to release Sachi devi dasi and take initiation from her.
From then on she became famous as Gangamata Gosvamini:
The ISKCON Los Angeles New Dvaraka Temple stands as one of the most significant spiritual and cultural landmarks in Southern California, representing over five decades of devotional service and community engagement. Established in 1970 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, this temple has served as a cornerstone of the International Society for Read More...
Opening Ceremony & Pranams to HDG Srila Prabhupada. Senior Disciples Discuss Prabhupada’s Letters. Prabhupada’s first disciples on video talk about their personal letters from Prabhupada.Maha HariNam Sankirtan Bus to Santa Monica/Venice Beach. Prabhupada Movies/Memories/Footage View this post on Instagram A post shared by ISKCON LA | New Dvaraka (@iskconla) Read More...
Twelve days before his departure, Srila Prabhupada was asked about ISKCON’s future leadership. Expressing concern, a guest asked if a single successor would lead. Prabhupada clarified that no one person would succeed him—instead, all should become gurus and collectively carry forward the mission, as instructed by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Source: https://vanisource.org/wiki/771102_-_Conversation_B_-_Vrndavana 771102 – Conversation B – Read More...
Apple Records threw a party for Radha Krsna Temple, the day before the release of their debut single Hare Krishna Mantra. The single had been produced by George Harrison, and he played harmonium and bass guitar on the recording. It was released as Apple 15, with Prayer Of The Spiritual Masters as its b-side. Harrison Read More...
“HH Mukunda Swami recounts receiving a letter from an unknown sender in Italy, which contained color negatives of a photo of the London Deities dressed in the red and green outfit that the devotees were eager to use as the cover for the upcoming ‘Radha Krsna Temple’ album release.” Read More...
Is karma caused by the action itself or by the thought behind the action?
Both are important. In the broad analysis of Dharma, the right thing to do, as we see in the Mahabharata, in the various deliberations, three factors are seen to be of relevance. The first is what we do, or the content of the action. The second is why we do it, or the intent of the action. And the third is what results from our action, or the effect of the action. These three can be summarized by the acronym ICE: Intent, Content, and Effect. And just as ICE can stop the flow of water, similarly, these three can be used to stop the impulsiveness of our actions and bring a greater degree of reflectiveness in our actions.
For example, if somebody kills someone, killing is bad, but if somebody kills accidentally while trying to defend themselves, then the intent may completely overshadow the actual content of the action, and that person may not be considered culpable at all. On the other hand, if someone acted to kill someone, then, depending on whether that was an impulsive action or a calculative action, it could be manslaughter or murder. What applies in general in normal law also applies with respect to karma. The principle of karma is logical; it is not diabolical, waiting to catch and trap us for factors that we do not know or are not in our control.
In general, the principle of karma is that we need to be reflective and responsible about our actions. So rather than getting caught too much in this or that, in terms of what will lead to greater culpability with respect to karma, we can focus more on the principle that if we are reflective and responsible, trying to act in the mood of service, to do our part in a larger whole, which ultimately means to do our part in a mode of service to the supreme whole that is Krishna, then we will be best situated to create an auspicious future for ourselves, irrespective of the technicalities of the specific choices that we may make during the course of our life.
Hare Krishna. Join us for our annual "Krishna Mela" celebration at Sri Sri Radha Giridhari temple (ISKCON Auckland) on Sunday 10th August 2025 from 11am - 4pm in anticipation of our upcoming Sri Krishna Janmastami Mahotsav. All are welcome!
Does a soldier who drops a bomb on the enemies during wartime get karma? Is it better for the soldier to drop the bomb on an empty area so that there are no casualties?
Life is tough. One reason it is tough is because bad things happen to us. But another bigger reason is that sometimes bad things have to be done by us. That is what Krishna tells Arjuna in the section from 1846 to 1848, that all endeavours are covered by fault, just as fire is covered by smoke. Sarvaarambhahi doshena dhume naguniribavrata.
That’s why one has to accept the material world in its fullness, as it is, without any illusions that it will be a happy place or even that it will be a place where we will be able to live always happily and virtuously, in terms of the actions that we do. Even good people at times have to do bad actions, at least actions that are going to have some bad consequences, even if those are not the primary consequences which they intend to do when they take up those actions.
So the rightness and wrongness of actions can be decided broadly by three factors: the intent with which we do it, the content of what we are doing, and the effect that it results. So sometimes an action may have an effect that is unfortunate, but if that is not the intended effect, but is a by, or as military terminology puts it, collateral damage, then that should be minimized as much as possible. If it cannot be avoided, that does not mean the duty itself is to be abandoned.
While war is terrible, sometimes war is the only way to prevent something far more terrible from happening. And if someone has chosen the profession of becoming a soldier, then fighting and killing is what they are trained to do, and that is what they are expected to do, and are paid to do, and they can do it better than civilians. If somebody has strong moral reservations about fighting and the violence involved in fighting itself, then they should not be a part of the military profession.
We all have our dharma, and one way of understanding dharma is harmonious belonging, that we belong to a larger whole, and we need to belong harmoniously, in the sense that we need to do our part, that is expected from us, in the whole, and the whole needs to do its part. So if we drive on the road, we need to follow the rules of road traffic, and the authorities overseeing the road transport system should ensure that there are no dangerous potholes or other inordinate dangers that come to us, even when we are driving safely.
Similarly, with respect to military dharma, there will be two parts. That individuals, in terms of the soldiers in the defense forces, have proved their part of fighting, as and when they are called up to do. Now the collective, here the military authorities, and the political authorities who are leading the country, have the responsibility to do their part, which means that they do not send soldiers on unnecessary wars, they carefully try their best to settle disputes by means other than war.
If a soldier feels that a war is being fought for ulterior motives of the political aggrandizement of the particular leaders in charge, and not for the good of the country, or the good of humanity, then a soldier can be a conscientious objector. But those are exceptional situations, and generally, the soldiers need to neither be seen to be abandoning the army in the time of need, nor be actually doing that.
When Arjuna protested about the duty of fighting the war, and claimed to be a conscientious objector to the war, meaning that his conscience did not let him fight the war, Krishna educated him about how the war was for a righteous cause. However, if a soldier has taken the salary from the government during peace time, and then suddenly, during war time, decides not to do what the army strategy requires them to do, because of a desire to avoid causing violence, then the soldier will be failing in their duty.
As far as one will get karma or not, we can get our karma in various ways. We can get karma by doing something that harms others. But we can get karma by failing to do what we are expected to do also. So rather than worrying too much about which activity will cause how much karma, we need to understand the underlying principle that karma, the whole purpose of karma, is accountability, which should lead one to thoughtful, responsible action. All actions will involve some karmic complications.
When doctors give antibiotics to patients, you could say that the doctor is being a systematic, cold-blooded murderer of all the germs that will be killed by the antibiotics. But that is for saving the life of the patient, or improving the quality of life of the patient, and that is considered to be a greater good in that context. The philosophy of karma is meant to encourage thoughtfulness and responsibility and accountability, not paranoia or paralysis or irresponsibility.
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) Dallas temple stands as a remarkable testament to spiritual dedication, community service, and cultural preservation in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. For over five decades, this vibrant community centered around the sacred deities Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji has flourished into a multifaceted organization that seamlessly blends ancient Vedic traditions Read More...
Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana appeared in the 1600’s near Remuna, Orissa. In his youth, he mastered Sanskrit grammar, poetry, and logic. After carefully studying the commentaries of Sankara and Madhva he took initiation in the Tattva-vadi disciplic succession of Sripad Madhvacarya. Baladeva Vidyabhusana became a dig vijaya pandit and began visiting the holy places. Wherever he went he defeated the local sages, scholars, and sannyasis.
In Jagannatha Puri, he learned the super-excellent philosophy of Sri Krishna Chaitanya from Sri Radha-Damodara Goswami and took initiation after converting to Gaudiya Vaishnavism. In Vrndavan, he studied Srimad Bhagavatam under Srila Vishvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and worshiped Radha-Syamasundara.
In 1706 A.D. Vishvanatha Cakravarti Thakura sent him to Gulta (near Jaipur, Rajasthan) to uphold the credibility of Mahaprabhu’s movement. The local Ramanandis (a branch of Sri Vaishnavas) were claiming that the Bengali Vaishnavas had no right to worship Govinda because they had no commentary on the Vedanta-sutra.
Lord Govinda Himself directly revealed the Govinda-bhasya (a Vaishnava commentary on Vedanta) to Baladeva Vidyabhusana. Using it, Baladeva solidly established Gaudiya Vaishnavism as an independent philosophy. He also reinstated the Bengali Vaishnavas in Govinda’s service in Jaipura. Govinda-bhasya is the only bhakti commentary on Vedanta-sutra.
Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana was a niskincana-parama bhagavata, fully-renounced topmost Devotee of Lord Krishna. According to Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakura in Navadvipa-dhama mahatyam, in Chaitanya lila Baladeva Vidyabhusana is Sri Gopinatha Acarya, the brother-in-law of Sri Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. In Vraja he serves as Sri Radha’s eternal maidservant Ratnavali Devi.
**Festival of India: A Traveling Celebration of Culture, Devotion, and Joy** The Festival of India, also known as Harinam Festivals Inc., is a vibrant traveling cultural celebration that has brought the spiritual essence of Vedic India to cities across North America since 1979. Organized with heartfelt devotion, this festival transforms public spaces—parks, city centers, university Read More...
In an era of immense transformation, ISKCON North America is boldly stepping into the future with a dynamic and inspiring vision that blends spiritual depth with organizational excellence. The “Future Forward” initiative, recently re-launched through a compelling long-format broadcast hosted by Braja Bihari Das and featuring Jai Krishna Das, outlines a clear and courageous roadmap Read More...
A grand and vibrant celebration of the Sri Jagannatha Ratha Yatra took place in the heart of Rome, drawing hundreds of devotees and visitors to the iconic Piazza del Popolo. Organized by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), the festival featured a majestic procession of the chariots carrying Lord Jagannatha, Lord Balabhadra, and Subhadra Read More...
Gita Nagari Retreat 2025 – Krsna in Vraja At the heart of the Gita Nagari Retreat 2025 was a powerful, evocative journey through the soul of Bhakti: a meditation on Krsna in Vraja, culminating in an impassioned exploration of the Ras Lila – the sacred dance of divine love between Krsna and the gopis of Read More...
Ekadasi is one of the regular celebrations in the Vaishnava calendar. It is observed eleven days after the full moon and eleven days after the new moon of every month. Even in the thirteenth, or leap, month, called adhika-masa, or purusottama-masa, which comes every three years, during which no other festivals are celebrated, Ekadasi is observed. Ekadasi is known as the day of Lord Hari and is said to be the mother of devotion. Keeping the fast on Ekadasi is one of the sixty-four items of devotional service listed in Srila Rupa Gosvami’s Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu. In fact, it is one of the first ten.
In 1973, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), arranged for several of his disciples to go to Mayapura, West Bengal, to study the traditional art of putul (dollmaking). These unfired clay figures are composed of raw materials gathered from the riverbank of the Ganges, traditionally created for holiday
HE LIVES FOREVER IN FRANCE (and wherever he is present — in his books, followers, Deities, temples, and hearts…) The murti of Srila Prabhupada in these photos was lovingly moulded and produced by devoted members of the Russian yatra, offered as free gifts to every initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada. Thousands have been created so
Nestled within the vibrant spiritual heart of ISKCON Los Angeles, the Bhagavad-gita Museum stands as a unique fusion of art, devotion, and transcendental storytelling. Located adjacent to the New Dwaraka temple, this museum—also known by its creators as the F.A.T.E. Museum (First American Transcendental Exhibition)—has captivated visitors for decades with its life-size dioramas that
By Praghosa Dasa Yes a picture paints a thousands words and all but instantly conveys the message its creator intended. Whereas reading a thousand words takes a little longer! However best of all is when pictures and words are combined together and that is why this year we are enhancing Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa Puja book
Dear ISKCON Devotees, Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. The ISKCON Governing Body Commission (GBC) has noted the Supreme Court of India’s judgment dated 16 May 2025 in the long-standing property dispute between ISKCON Mumbai and ISKCON Bengaluru. ISKCON Mumbai is the official legal entity registered by ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya His Divine
A Glorious Departure: A Tribute to His Grace Paradhyeya Prabhu (ACBSP) The Vaishnava community recently witnessed the transcendental departure of His Grace Paradhyeya Prabhu (ACBSP), who left his body yesterday May, 31 at 9:20 PM in Sacramento, California. A beloved and dedicated disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, His Grace Paradhyeya Prabhu’s
By Vijaya Das
The ISKCON Los Angeles New Dvaraka Temple stands as one of the most significant spiritual and cultural landmarks in Southern California, representing over five decades of devotional service and community engagement. Established in 1970 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, this temple has served as a cornerstone of the International Society for
Opening Ceremony & Pranams to HDG Srila Prabhupada. Senior Disciples Discuss Prabhupada’s Letters. Prabhupada’s first disciples on video talk about their personal letters from Prabhupada.Maha HariNam Sankirtan Bus to Santa Monica/Venice Beach. Prabhupada Movies/Memories/Footage View this post on Instagram A post shared by ISKCON LA | New Dvaraka (@iskconla)
Twelve days before his departure, Srila Prabhupada was asked about ISKCON’s future leadership. Expressing concern, a guest asked if a single successor would lead. Prabhupada clarified that no one person would succeed him—instead, all should become gurus and collectively carry forward the mission, as instructed by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Source: https://vanisource.org/wiki/771102_-_Conversation_B_-_Vrndavana 771102 – Conversation B –
Apple Records threw a party for Radha Krsna Temple, the day before the release of their debut single Hare Krishna Mantra. The single had been produced by George Harrison, and he played harmonium and bass guitar on the recording. It was released as Apple 15, with Prayer Of The Spiritual Masters as its b-side. Harrison
“HH Mukunda Swami recounts receiving a letter from an unknown sender in Italy, which contained color negatives of a photo of the London Deities dressed in the red and green outfit that the devotees were eager to use as the cover for the upcoming ‘Radha Krsna Temple’ album release.”
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) Dallas temple stands as a remarkable testament to spiritual dedication, community service, and cultural preservation in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. For over five decades, this vibrant community centered around the sacred deities Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji has flourished into a multifaceted organization that seamlessly blends ancient Vedic traditions
**Festival of India: A Traveling Celebration of Culture, Devotion, and Joy** The Festival of India, also known as Harinam Festivals Inc., is a vibrant traveling cultural celebration that has brought the spiritual essence of Vedic India to cities across North America since 1979. Organized with heartfelt devotion, this festival transforms public spaces—parks, city centers, university
In an era of immense transformation, ISKCON North America is boldly stepping into the future with a dynamic and inspiring vision that blends spiritual depth with organizational excellence. The “Future Forward” initiative, recently re-launched through a compelling long-format broadcast hosted by Braja Bihari Das and featuring Jai Krishna Das, outlines a clear and courageous roadmap
A grand and vibrant celebration of the Sri Jagannatha Ratha Yatra took place in the heart of Rome, drawing hundreds of devotees and visitors to the iconic Piazza del Popolo. Organized by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), the festival featured a majestic procession of the chariots carrying Lord Jagannatha, Lord Balabhadra, and Subhadra
Gita Nagari Retreat 2025 – Krsna in Vraja At the heart of the Gita Nagari Retreat 2025 was a powerful, evocative journey through the soul of Bhakti: a meditation on Krsna in Vraja, culminating in an impassioned exploration of the Ras Lila – the sacred dance of divine love between Krsna and the gopis of