Gita key verses course 5 – What is Spirituality? Is it a state of mind? – Gita 02.29

Hare Krishna, so today we continue our discussion on the Bhagavad Gita. Today I’ll be discussing the topic of how we can understand the nature of spirituality. I’ll be sharing a PowerPoint now, and if at any time the PowerPoint is not visible while I’m speaking, please let me know through a message, and I will change it immediately. Today, I’ll be speaking on 2.29 of the Bhagavad Gita. We’ll be discussing these three questions: What is spirituality? Is it a state of mind? And why are so few people spiritually minded? What I’ll be discussing primarily is clarifying our conceptions of spirituality. We are moving more or less sequentially in terms of the Bhagavad Gita.

While going through sequentially, selecting the key verses, we are also trying to develop the concepts that are taught in the Bhagavad Gita. In the first session, we discussed what is the right thing to do. That is the defining, driving question of the Bhagavad Gita. The second session was about how the question of activity rests on the question of identity. I need to understand who I am, by which we’ll be able to move forward and decide what to do. Then I discussed the nature of the soul in transmigration and reincarnation, the scientific rationale for that, and what determines our next life. In the last session, I discussed how this applies in terms of the departure of a loved one and how we deal with grief. So today, we will talk about moving forward—how, once we decide, “Okay, there’s a soul and there is a spiritual side of life,” we can proceed. So today, also, in the world, there’s a lot that goes on in the name of spirituality. What exactly is spirituality based on logic, as well as the Bhagavad Gita?

The verse we’ll be discussing today is 2.29: “Ashcharyam, ashrayam, Anya, Isha, Chaitanyam.” Some people see the soul as astonishing, amazing. Others speak about it as amazing, and still others hear about it as amazing but still don’t understand it. This means that different people perceive the soul differently because some consider the idea of the soul illuminating, while others consider it befuddling. So, we won’t go into the specific, broad aspects of the four categories. The four categories basically talk about people with different levels of spiritual orientation. Those who have directly realized and are perceiving the soul with spiritual vision find it marvelous—they find it amazing. Then there are others who have understood it and who are speaking about it to gain greater awareness and share that awareness with others.

We look at how the soul is seen: the soul is awareness spread, the soul is understood, and the soul is not understood. All of this is amazing because the relationship people have with their own spiritual side varies from person to person. Let’s go back to the slide here, and we look at the word “spirituality” as it is used today. Based on the Bhagavad Gita, we can say that it can have three distinct meanings: one, it is a state of mind; two, it is a level of reality; and three, it is a process for attaining the state of mind and the level of reality.

Now, let’s look at this. The first meaning of spirituality is as a state of mind. Some people feel that if they go to a particular place, it makes them feel calm, joyful, self-accepting, and grateful. All this, they consider spiritual. So, anything that makes them feel this way, they call it spiritual. Now, it can be spiritual, but it is not automatically spiritual. I was talking about spirituality as a state of mind. Most people who practice or consider themselves spiritual, or who explore spirituality, are basically looking for this state of mind. Nowadays, we have had enormous technological progress, which has brought about a lot of physical comforts in the world outside. But somehow, there is still a lot of psychological discomfort. People are disturbed and distressed and need some relief. Anything that helps them feel calm and composed, they call spiritual, and they try in various ways to achieve that calmness of mind.

Well, if I’ve received a message that you can’t hear, I’m not sure whether others can. Okay, thank you. Now, why is it that this idea of spirituality has become a little confusing? What do we mean by spiritual? I would like to explain based on a diagram. So here, I hope this figure is visible to everyone. The Bhagavad Gita explains that there are three levels of reality: the physical, the mental, and the spiritual—so the body, the mind, and the soul. Among these, if we consider the Bhagavata, it holds that both the physical and the mental are actually material. The body is like the hardware, and the mind is like the software. The soul is the user. So basically, the soul, or the spiritual level of reality, is different from the mind. The mind is subtle and cannot be easily perceived, and that’s why it’s often considered to be something higher.

So here, if we consider the physical, mental, and spiritual, in a non-physical realm, beyond the physical level, there are two levels: the mental and the spiritual. For most people, the normal comforts of life address the physical level of reality, and anything that does not address the physical level of reality is considered spiritual. This is how the mental and the spiritual get conflated together. The mental and the spiritual are both considered more or less spiritual because both are non-perceivable by physical means. And because they are non-perceivable by physical means, we think, “Okay, whatever is higher, whatever is unknown, whatever is non-perceivable, that must be spiritual.” So, essentially, the mental and the spiritual are conflated together and considered to be spiritual. That’s why, when people talk about spirituality as a state of mind, they are actually not being spiritual—they are being mental.

Now, if we go to a quiet place in nature, and we feel calm, composed, and at ease with ourselves, more at peace with ourselves, that’s good, but at the same time, that is not necessarily spiritual. It could be, but it depends on what we are thinking about and what we are not thinking about. So, to go back to the slide, basically, I’ve talked about three things now. What is spirituality as a state of mind? Spirituality is a level of reality. Spirituality is the level of reality, meaning there is a material level and there is a spiritual level. Krishna has talked about this earlier in the Bhagavad Gita in 2.16, “Na sato vidyate bhavo, na bhavo vidyate satah.” He says that the material has no endurance, but the spiritual has no change. And this is further elaborated in 2.25, where those who have seen reality to its end understand these two categories—material and spiritual—and they are the seers of truth. So, there is a material level of reality and a spiritual level of reality.

We could say that if you consider a mountain, the bottom of the mountain represents material consciousness, and the top of the mountain represents spiritual consciousness. If we move from the material level to the spiritual level, whatever enables us to rise from material consciousness to spiritual consciousness is called spirituality. So, spirituality essentially has three distinct meanings: One, it is a state of mind; two, it is a level of reality; and three, it is a process for rising to a higher level of consciousness.

The Bhagavad Gita is very clear that the spiritual is another level of reality and that the soul is a concrete entity. The soul is not physical, but that doesn’t mean it is abstract. The soul is a concrete thing; it’s not a physical thing. It is something present in the region of the heart, and from there, the soul radiates out consciousness. The soul’s consciousness comes out through the mind to the body and to the outer world. At the physical level, there are many objects that agitate the consciousness. They may agitate us because they threaten us, or they may agitate us because they tempt us. Either way, when they agitate us, it makes us peaceless and restless, and we need some relief from this agitation.

Although modern society and its progress have made the physical level more comfortable in terms of providing the basic needs of life today (such as drinking water or reasonably comfortable temperatures), the physical level also brings more agitation. It is through technology that we get news of distress all over the world. Through technology, we are exposed to temptations from all over the world. This is not to blame technology; it’s simply an analysis of the consciousness of what is happening today. When it comes to the physical level, our consciousness gets agitated, and it needs some relief.

When anybody can elevate their consciousness to the level of the mind and calm it down, those people are considered to be spiritual. Now, that is fine. We all want peace of mind, but there are different ways of achieving this peace of mind. When we reduce spirituality to exploring only the mental level, essentially, what are we doing? We are still caught at the material level of consciousness. Krishna says that rising to genuine spirituality is very rare because we have material attachments. “Manushyanam sahasreshu” (Bhagavad Gita 7.3) says that thousands of people endeavor to know the spiritual reality, but very few can perceive anything beyond the material.

So now, we consider that the non-physical level has two components: the mental and the spiritual. Most of what goes on in the name of spirituality is like a painkiller—it pacifies us. Whereas when we address the spiritual level, when we practice processes that raise our consciousness to the spiritual level, that is like curative medicine. It’s not just a painkiller or an analgesic; it’s antiseptic, and it purifies us.

Let me talk a little more about these two differences: pacification and purification. Pacification means that when there is some kind of agitation within us—whether it’s anger, envy, or anxiety—we are in an uncomfortable situation. Gradually, that agitating emotion subsides, and we feel peaceful. That’s pacification. However, purification means that it’s not just about how we feel, but about what makes us feel the way we feel. We may say that the world is what makes us feel a certain way. If people speak harshly to us, we get angry, or if we see a tempting object, we start developing a craving for it.

But it’s not that simple. We consider that. Say there are two people, one of whom lives here and works here, and they pass by a road to go to work. On the road, there’s a bar. Now, one of them is a regular alcoholic, and the other is a TITO teller who’s never drunk alcohol. So, now, the alcoholic person, when they pass by, immediately the desire arises: “Oh, I want to drink. I want to drink. I want to drink.” For the other person, there is no desire. So now, the agitation hasn’t come just because there’s a bar outside. The agitation has come because there are impressions inside, because of the repeated choices of that person in the past. That desire, the craving for alcohol, is already present, and then it pops up.

So, pacification means the desire is not manifest. The cause of agitation is no longer there, and that’s why the agitation is not there—the external cause. But as soon as the external cause comes up, the agitation returns. So pacification simply means that presently the agitating emotions are not there. Purification means that the inner impurities, the inner impressions that make us vulnerable to being agitated, are removed. Much of what goes on in the name of spirituality is pacification of the mind, and it is helpful in its own way. When the mind is agitated, if we can calm it down, then that can help us function better. But that alone is not all that we need or seek, because the situations around us change. If our emotions depend on our situations—usually they do—then we will always be at the mercy of our situations. We will live very vulnerable lives, tossed about like tiny twigs in a stormy ocean. Every wave that comes will agitate us.

So, there are many agitative forces in the world today, which is why our minds are agitated. But the solution is not just trying to change what we perceive and calm ourselves down. Most of what goes on in the name of spirituality changes the object of perception. For example, some people might go to a natural retreat place and feel peaceful. Some others might just close their eyes and try to visualize a nice, natural scene. Some people offer guided meditations where individuals are told to imagine a particular place. Actually, more than 25 years ago, before I was introduced to the Bhagavad Gita and bhakti practices, I was also exploring spirituality in various ways. I attended a workshop where I was led on a guided meditation, and the teacher told us: “Relax, take deep breaths.

Sense your breath coming in and out. Slow it down. Now, imagine that you are sitting on the banks of a river. The river water is flowing in front of you. On the opposite side, you can see a giant mountain. Clouds are touching the peak of that mountain, and mist is forming around the top. A cooling breeze is blowing from that mountain across the river to you, and you can feel the breeze whistling by your ears. You can feel the freshness of the air as it touches your face. You are feeling calm. You are feeling relaxed. You are at peace with yourself.”

Now, as this was going on, we were all feeling peaceful. Suddenly, there was a loud explosion—apparently, there had been a car crash outside the meditation place, and chaos ensued. So, what happened? We were feeling peaceful, but the next moment, we started feeling agitated. At that time, I started thinking: “This is good. I was feeling peaceful.” But what was being done primarily was that when the objects of perception were agitating, through what was considered to be spiritual, the objects of perception were changed. And when we started to change them, the agitation stopped, and peace followed. Objects of perception can be what we physically see or what we visualize. By changing the objects of perception, we brought some peace.

Now, there are other methods where people are told, “Look at a candle in front of you,” or “Keep some kind of enigmatic picture or puzzle or whatever.” People can focus on different objects, and as long as that object is no longer agitating, we feel peaceful. That is pacification of the mind.

Now, why is pacification of the mind compared to a painkiller? As I mentioned here, it’s like a painkiller. Why? Because suppose somebody has an illness and is in pain. If they are given a painkiller, they feel relief—immediate relief. In fact, if they are given a curative medicine, say an antibiotic, they may not feel the same relief. The painkiller works faster, but it also works for a shorter period. And even its effect is not so much curing, but covering. The pain is still there; it’s just that the painkiller interferes with or impedes our perception of the pain, so we don’t sense it.

Similarly, what is mostly called spirituality is that the object of perception is being changed, and we feel peaceful. However, what needs to change are the impressions within us that make us tend to perceive certain objects in particular ways. So, an alcoholic may feel peaceful by staying away from a bar, and that’s fine as far as it goes. It’s not advisable for an alcoholic to live near a bar, especially if they want to become free from alcohol. But you cannot live in a world that is free from temptations. We mostly lose our peace of mind because of two things: temptation and tribulation. One is the promise of pleasure, and the other is the fear of trouble. The world is filled with both promises of pleasure and fears of trouble. If we simply change the objects of perception and think that this will make us peaceful, it may—temporarily. But what we really need is for the impressions within us, which direct our consciousness in certain ways, to change.

There is physical reality, mental reality, and spiritual reality. Purification means that we don’t just change the object of perception. When purification happens, the object goes here and there, and when that happens, normally we are perceiving material objects. But when we become spiritually minded, we start perceiving different objects, various spiritual objects, and ultimately we become attracted to them. Once we understand that the soul is not just the source of consciousness but also the object of consciousness, we start to perceive the spiritual reality. Spirituality means that our consciousness, by default, gets sheltered at the spiritual level. This is when we are truly becoming spiritual.

To repeat, becoming spiritual means that the default home of our consciousness is the spiritual level of reality. What do we mean by the home of our consciousness? Just like when we have no work to do, we return to our home, where we feel comfortable, peaceful, and safe. So, similarly, our consciousness has a home. To know where that home is, we can simply check what we think of when we have nothing to think of. As we learn to become spiritual, the default object of our thoughts becomes spiritual. Spiritual means we focus on our essential identity as souls. In future sessions, we’ll talk about how the soul is a part of God, and then we focus on the Divine and service to the Divine.

It’s important for each one of us to recognize that spirituality is not just a state of mind where we feel peaceful. It is a level of reality where our consciousness resides. There is a spiritual level of reality, and when our consciousness resides there, we are spiritual. Just as we may go out from our home for various purposes, we live in the material world and must perceive various material objects. That’s fine, but as long as our consciousness is sheltered at home in the spiritual level, that is when we are spiritual.

Spirituality is not just a state of mind; it’s a level of reality and a process by which our consciousness rises from the material level to the spiritual level. The Bhagavad Gita will outline various processes of spirituality, such as Karma Yoga, Gyan Yoga, and Bhakti Yoga. There’s also meditation, prayer, and mindfulness. In future sessions, we’ll talk about these.

But the essential point is that the metaphor of the mountain is key. If you consider this mountain, there are different ways one may go up: from the left, from the right, from the front, or from the back. Different religions, spiritual practices, and traditions are like different ways up the mountain. The important thing is not just what path we are affiliated with; the important thing is whether we are rising up. In a future session, we’ll talk about the difference between spirituality and religion. But right now, suffice it to say that any process that helps us raise our consciousness toward the spiritual level is spirituality.

So now, this brings us to the question: Why are so few people spiritually minded?

So the idea is that, as I said, most people are not interested in anything apart from the immediate. We are all innately pleasure-seeking, and if pleasure is available at the physical level, then we get consumed by that desire, and we don’t think of anything higher. And even somebody who thinks of something higher, most people who want to be spiritual basically want it as a painkiller so that they can continue to be materialistic. The pursuit of worldly pleasures often leads to anxiety and agitation, and we need relief from that. So what they consider as spirituality is often relief so that they can continue pursuing material life, and that is not a very sustainable way to practice spirituality, because what is happening over there is that our conception of life is not changing, and the level of reality where our consciousness resides is not changing. We are simply using spirituality, or what we consider as spirituality, in double quotes to continue our materialistic way of living while pacifying ourselves. Because most people are materialistic, they don’t even consider anything higher. And now, because simply the materialistic pursuit of pleasures is causing agitation, there are a lot of people who are seeking relief from that agitation, and then they practice something which they call spiritual, but that is simply some painkiller relief that will help them continue pursuing this material life again.

To genuinely want to know the spiritual level and to realize the spiritual level is tough; that requires effort, because just like climbing up a mountain, it requires effort. Similarly, not many people are interested in authentic spirituality, in understanding the soul and the spiritual level of reality, because they are more concerned with material pleasures and relief while they are pursuing material pleasures so that they can continue those pleasures. The Bhagavad Gita, by categorically differentiating between matter and spirit, enables us all to choose intelligently. Do I want to be spiritual, or do I just want some psychological relief that I consider as spiritual?

Now, before I conclude, one last point: is wanting peace of mind bad? Obviously not. We all want peace. We all want joy. We all want a sense of well-being. When we rise to the spiritual level of reality, those emotions also come, just like when somebody is sick and in pain, they want relief from pain. If they become healthy, take curative medicine, and become healthy, they will get relief from pain. So the more we become spiritual, our mind will become calm. We will feel more peaceful with ourselves, more content with life, and more connected with others, especially those who share similar values and purposes as us. But the point is that that is the end result, and what a painkiller tries to do is give relief from the pain without going through the curative process. Similarly, what so-called spirituality does is offer relief without purifying ourselves of our impurities. By impurities, we mean the things that keep our consciousness captivated at the material level, which are impurities from a spiritual perspective. Without purifying ourselves of impurities, if we seek only peace, then what we are getting is shallow spirituality. It is simply a painkiller.

Now, we can take painkillers, and we can take curative medicine also. In the process of bhakti yoga, which Krishna will eventually recommend, we will talk about how we can do things that help us become peaceful and joyful. But we don’t just do those things alone because they can also keep us restless. We focus on rising to the spiritual level of reality, and then peace and joy will automatically follow.

So I’ll summarize what I spoke today. I started by speaking on three topics: What is spirituality? Is it a state of mind? And why are so few people spiritual?

What is spirituality? I discussed three things. It can be a state of mind, a level of reality, and a process for attaining that state of mind and level of reality. I talked today about how, as more people become materially comfortable with progress, they still face anxiety and temptation. The mind is agitated, and we need relief. The constitution that comes from the spiritual soul to the mental and physical levels gets caught in various agitating stimuli. If we withdraw it or direct it toward a more peaceful object, that is what is considered spiritual. So, visualizing a peaceful place is considered a spiritual thought exercise, but it may or may not be. Anything that pacifies the mind is considered spiritual because there is a misunderstanding about the levels of reality.

The Bhagavad Gita says there are three levels of reality: physical, mental, and spiritual. The mental level is also material. So material has two aspects: physical and mental. From the physical perspective, both the mental and the spiritual are non-visible, and that’s why anything non-physical is often conflated and called spiritual. The Gita categorically says that the soul is not just some conception or metaphor. The soul is a concrete reality. There is a spiritual level of reality different from the material level.

If you consider the top and bottom of a mountain, the top is spiritual consciousness, and the bottom is material consciousness. The process that raises our consciousness from the physical to the spiritual level is called spirituality. I talked about how most people are materialistic, which is why they are not interested in spirituality. A few who seem to be interested in spirituality often seek calmness so they can continue their material pursuits, and that is shallow spirituality.

So what is real spirituality? When we understand that the spiritual level of consciousness is our home, and that’s where our consciousness defaults to when we have nothing to do, then that is when we are truly spiritual. How do we get to that spiritual level of consciousness? By purification. Pacification comes when you just change the object of perception. Purification happens when we clean ourselves of impressions that misdirect our consciousness toward agitating objects of perception. So, an ideal program should have a combination of both painkillers and curative medicine. Painkillers act faster but don’t last long, and thus are not sustainable. So, when we recognize what spirituality is based on Gita wisdom, then we can pursue the path seriously. Thank you. Now, I’ll take some questions, one at a time.

So now, in bhakti, we make Krishna our primary object of purification and object of perception to pacify our mind. Now, is that right? Well, yes and no. In bhakti, we do focus on Krishna, and there are verses like savai mana, Krishna pada, meaning we perceive Krishna with our eyes, hear Krishna with our ears, and taste Krishna with our tongue as Prasad. There are all these processes by which we bring Krishna into the tracks of perception. That is true, but that is not the only purpose. The essence of bhakti is that by repeatedly exposing ourselves to Krishna, we become attached to Krishna. Bhakti is not just about changing the objects of perception. It is about changing our attachments.

When Arjuna asks Krishna, in Chapter 7, verse 1, in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that the purpose of the process he is going to tell Arjuna is to make the mind attached. Now, yes, the objects of perception do affect us, and if we could spiritualize the objects of perception, it’s always helpful. So in our workplace, in our homes, if we can have more spiritual stimuli around us, that can help spiritualize our consciousness. But just making our external surroundings filled with spiritual stimuli alone is not going to make us spiritual. It is a powerful first step, but ultimately, the essence of bhakti is to make our mind attached to Krishna, and that attachment will gradually, the more you become attached to Krishna, cleanse us of whatever other attachments might be there within us.

Now, there’s a question from Lekha: How do we know if our pursuit is spiritual or material? If a material pursuit is leading to selfless service, does that counter spirituality?

This is a good question. Three points, I would say, in response to this. In terms of the nature of reality, the material and the spiritual are categorically different levels of reality in terms of mode of functioning. What is spiritual? The beginning of spirituality is lack of self-consciousness. It means I’m not so obsessed with myself—how great I am, how small I am, how powerful I am, or how powerless I am. Our consciousness becomes free from ourselves, and we start living for something bigger than ourselves.

Now, the biggest such reality is God. The Bhagavata says that Surinam sarva-bhuta—Krishna is the well-wisher of everyone. So if we focus on Krishna and strive to serve Him, we become fully spiritual. And that means we are also fully selfless because Krishna is the well-wisher of everyone. When we serve Him, we serve all living beings through Him. In this, we become more compassionate, more considerate, and that is the perfection of selflessness.

In the 12th Chapter, Krishna talks about various levels of spiritual connection. So if we consider our consciousness to be caught in myself—my pleasure, my power, my position—and then our consciousness comes out of ourselves, the one that comes out of ourselves can go up to various levels. The best is if it goes to the level of Krishna. But once it comes out of myself and goes to some cause bigger than myself, depending on what that cause is, we are on the progressive spiritual path.

So Krishna says, from verses 12.8 to 12.12 in the Bhagavad Gita, there are various levels you can connect with. The first and last levels he talks about involve detaching from the fruits of our work and working for a cause higher than yourself. Krishna says this is also a progressive spiritual path. So I would say that it depends on what the particular pursuit is that you are doing, but if it is leading to selfless service, that is auspicious. Now, the more that selfless service is done in spiritual consciousness, meaning with our consciousness aware of the ultimate spiritual reality of Krishna, and with our consciousness focused on service to Krishna, the more it becomes spiritual.

Now, how are the impurities in our mind created in the first place? Is it like the formation of habit? Yes, certainly. Basically, we can say our mind is like software. Suppose, now, you attend this Bhagavad Gita class, and you like it, but say this is the first time you’ve attended, and you feel like you want to know more about it. You go on Google and type Bhagavad Gita. But suppose someone else regularly visits another site, like bollywood.com. As soon as they type B, the browser will suggest Bollywood as autocomplete. Why does that happen? It’s simply their own past choices saved as preferences, and they come up as autocomplete. Similarly, whenever we do actions, they create impressions. It’s not just the actions we create, but their effects on us.

In the past, either in this life or in previous lives, we have had impure desires, and we’ve acted on those desires. Those actions have created impressions. Habit formation works similarly. When we repeatedly do something, it becomes imprinted in our consciousness, and we end up doing it again and again. The stronger the habit, the less we think about whether we should do it or not. It’s like the computer’s autocomplete: the mind gives a suggestion based on past impressions, and we immediately accept it.

So, in a work environment, when everyone tries to pull each other down, I feel agitated. I know I shouldn’t be disturbed, but I’m not very spiritually advanced. What can I do to keep my consciousness at the spiritual level?

Yes, it’s a tough situation. The first thing is to understand that we alone are responsible for our consciousness. Agitating stimuli might be around us, but the responsibility for our consciousness is primarily ours. It is not the world’s responsibility or our surroundings’. Whatever the surroundings, we need to keep our consciousness calm enough to function and gradually orient it toward the spiritual level of reality.

One way to deal with the situation is to take breaks. Even in a competitive work environment, everyone is entitled to breaks. People gossip, go to the cafeteria, eat, and chit-chat. Instead of doing these activities, we could choose something more spiritual. For example, if you’ve attended a class and found some striking points, you can read the wisdom codes or repeat them regularly. We can do this whenever we are agitated.

The idea is first to understand that it’s our responsibility. Second, we need to be resourceful. Find what calms our mind, and do it regularly. When we have the sanity of responsibility and resourcefulness, even if disturbance comes, we won’t be shaken as much, like waves in the ocean. If we have an anchor, we won’t be shaken by the waves.

Finally, regarding the question of getting pleasure in serving the guru, it becomes difficult to do our duty at the material level. Well, that’s understandable, but we need to understand that while in analysis, the material and spiritual are separated, in application, they are integrated. Krishna tells Arjuna to be spiritual, but also to fight a war. In a war, your consciousness needs to be fully engaged, otherwise, you might be defeated.

So, we need to expand our conception of what is spiritual. Just going to the temple or doing some service given by our spiritual authorities is important, but it alone is not spirituality. In fact, it helps us progress on the path, but it is not the full essence of spiritual life. We have times when we withdraw from the world and directly connect with Krishna, and times when we indirectly connect with Krishna through our work. We need to pursue Krishna even in our family responsibilities. Ultimately, Krishna says, work is worship. Why? Because the whole world comes from Him, the situation for work comes from Him, and the abilities to work come from Him. So, if we work in a mood of devotion, we are giving back to the Lord. That’s how we can conceive our work as spiritual.

Sometimes, when we do directly spiritual activities, we may not get as much pleasure. But if we use spirituality as an escape from life’s problems, we will eventually face problems in our spiritual practices as well. At that point, we will have nowhere to go.

Now, how can we stay calm in all situations? Well, it’s not always possible. Some waves are bigger than others. When bigger waves come, it’s difficult to stay calm, but the waves will pass. If we hold onto the anchor, the magnitude of how much we are shaken will be much less.

So was the marriage prayer to Krishna at the material level? Yes, it was at the material level. But gradually, he became purified. This is why the operational principle of bhakti is Yay nakina, prataranan Krishna—whatever we do, as long as it is directed towards Krishna, it purifies us. So when he meditated and pursued the Lord, at that time, he realized that the Lord was so attractive that whatever kingdom he was seeking was no longer attractive. Yes, we can become purified by exposure to the Lord; by exposing ourselves to Him, we can soon become purified and grow spiritually.

Now, should we expect spiritual commitment to bring pleasure only intermittently? Yes, that’s understandable, because you’re not yet fully spiritual. If we are only seeking pleasure in life, we will never be able to sustain ourselves in anything. We need to be purpose-seeking, not pleasure-seeking. There will be a whole session in the future on how to live a purposeful life. When we do something purposeful and meaningful, pleasure becomes a byproduct of that. If we seek enjoyment as the primary purpose, we will not be able to sustain ourselves, even in material life.

For example, I like writing, one of my services. But it’s not that I like writing all the time. Sometimes, in the process, I don’t get the right words, my thoughts are unclear, and it’s agony. So if I wrote only for pleasure, I would not be able to write regularly. If we start living our life only for pleasure, even the things that give us pleasure will not be done regularly. So, we need to have a purpose. If our purpose is to raise our consciousness to the spiritual level, then we can pursue the spiritual path, even if at times we don’t get pleasure.

During our routine material life, there are certain things that give us pleasure, but we don’t go out of our way to seek those pleasures. We don’t deliberately avoid those pleasures either. For example, if there’s good food, we can spiritualize it by offering it to Krishna. We don’t avoid good food to become spiritual, but neither do we go out of our way to seek it. We focus on the spiritual path, and in doing so, while being purposeful, we can enjoy the pleasures that come naturally, which help sustain us as we move forward in life.

Let’s take two more questions quickly. Can I serve Krishna by doing my job well or by doing my business? Yes, of course. How can our work be made into worship? That will be a full session later on, but at this stage, broadly speaking, there are two aspects of spirituality: world-transcending and world-transforming.

World-transcending means that we raise our consciousness above the material world and focus on the spiritual. This is important—we need to do this periodically, otherwise, we get too entangled in the world. That’s why we have our spiritual practices: sadhana, Satsang, swadhyaya, meditation, mantra chanting, study of scripture, and attending classes like this. Through these practices, we are transcending the world. But that’s only one aspect of spirituality. Along with that is world-transforming, which means we focus on the spiritual in a way that helps us grow in our lives. We contribute by using the abilities Krishna has given us to make a difference in the world.

When we have this attitude, we dedicate time for spiritual practices and inner connection with Krishna. Then we can re-envision our work as an outer contribution to Krishna. Spirituality thus connects both the transcendent aspect, which involves going beyond the world, and the transforming aspect, which involves doing our part to improve the world.

Now, business can be very consuming and agitating, inundating us with a materialistic consciousness. But anything can do that in this material world. If we are cautious enough to make sure our consciousness doesn’t get too entangled in material distractions, then yes, we can work in a way that helps us grow spiritually.

There are many spiritual teachers in India. So, are they spiritual, or are they offering just peace of mind? Now, it’s difficult to go into specifics about any particular teacher, but what we will focus on is the principle. The principle is: what is the effect? Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, and the Bhagavatam also mentions, that the result of spirituality is inner contentment and outer detachment. Bhakti parishanaya, the process of bhakti, which is a very powerful spiritual process, gives us para Ish Anubhav—the experience of transcendence. It gives us the experience of the Divine, who cannot normally be perceived because He is transcendental.

When there is para Ish Anubhav, what happens is that this experience of the Divine is so enriching, so fulfilling, that one doesn’t crave other experiences. One doesn’t crave, especially, worldly gratifications. So, if you want to know whether a particular teacher is spiritual or not, you can look at their lives and the lives of their followers. Are they becoming more attached to the spiritual reality? Are they becoming detached from worldly indulgences? If they speak a lot of good-sounding ideas but don’t actually focus on detaching from worldly pleasures, and their followers continue with their materialistic lifestyle while hearing or speaking something that sounds spiritual, then it may be questionable whether they are truly spiritual.

Having said that, it’s best for us not to be judgmental. We need to be discerning to understand what will help us and what will not. But we don’t need to condemn anyone. For example, if I am sick, I want to be cured. Am I being given just a painkiller, or am I being given a proper treatment, which may involve a combination of pain-relieving medicine and curative treatments? Similarly, we need to discern for ourselves. Discernment comes from a platform of humility, not arrogance. Judgment, on the other hand, comes from the belief that “I know the truth, and you are wrong.” We don’t want to do that, but we need to be discerning so we can progress on our spiritual journey.

Thank you very much. The remaining questions will be answered over the next week or so, and the answers will be shared in the WhatsApp group. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.