4 Six characteristics of bhakti – Bhakti-karma relationship QA

Hare Krishna. Thank you for coming today. And we continue our discussion on the topic of the interaction between karma and bhakti. So we’ll take some questions today, and then after that, we’ll move towards the discussion on the remaining characteristics depending on how the questions go. So at the first two set of questions were about Vaishnavaparad and Vaishnav blessings.

How do they affect our karma? Say, if we commit some offence, even if it is unintentional, see. Then, is it that that adds to our karma? Does that cause suffering? So, first thing to understand, like I said, is that Krishna is on our side.

Krishna is a loving God. Now Krishna as God is merciful. He is not vengeful. Vengeful means it’s like a revengeful. He’s not a person you did this so you had to punish you for this.

And you did this and I’m going to punish you for this. So Krishna is a merciful God. He’s not a vengeful God. And that includes, even when we are dealing with devotees, Krishna cares for everyone. And we could say that if, say, Krishna is at the center, then there are different circles of love around him.

Say, for example, in innermost circle of love, maybe the gopis of Vrindavan. They are the topmost devotees. But then every single soul is loved by Krishna. These circles can keep extending extending till it includes not just all of us, but even people who are in health. In some traditions, the idea is that if you don’t believe in God, God will punish you and send you to health forever.

In the Vedic tradition, the idea is not that God sends us to hell. Actually, God goes with us to hell. That even when somebody goes to hell, Krishna is the Paramatma is there in the heart. Wherever we go. So of so what sends somebody to hell is their own karma.

So the point is Krishna’s love is unfailing. And when we start practicing bhakti it shouldn’t lead to us living in constant fear oh what if I offend this devotee what if I offend that devotee The important thing is that, normally, when there is love See, where there is love, is there fear? No. Actually, there is fear. But the fear is not so much of being punished as it is of displeasing the other person.

You know? So, in the case of law, if I break the law, then the police may if I go above the speed limit, then the police may catch me, the police may fine me, the police may arrest me, police may take away my license. So that fear is there. So, there is a fear of being punished. And especially if we think that person doesn’t care for us, then there may be great fear of punishment.

Now, when there is love, when we love and respect someone and when that person loves and respects us, that loves and cares for us, then there is fear. But the fear is of a different dynamic. It is, I don’t want to hurt this person. I don’t want to displease this person. I don’t want to disappoint this person.

It is not so much what this person will do to me if I do something wrong. As it is what this person will feel if I do something wrong. Now, yes, they may punish us. They may do some disciplinary action. But when there is love, there is careful consideration of actions.

Not so much because of the fear of the punishment. It is more because of the fear of displeasing the other ones. So, the impetus is very different. When there are 2 people, say, there is authority figure. So one fear is, what will they do to me?

If I do this, what will they do to Me? On the other hand, the other fear so here there is, when there is no love. But when there is love, it is how this will affect them. They will feel hurt, they will feel disappointed and this is a very different dynamic. So for us, the fear is also meant to be healthy.

In this case, not wanting to hurt someone whom we care for and who cares for us is meant to inspire us to not do the hurtful activity. So for us, we need to see the whole point of Vaishnavaprad as something wherein out of love for Krishna and out of love for those who love Krishna and those whom Krishna loves, we become more careful about our actions. So there are some extreme situations. So wherein somebody commits some severe offense and then that person may get some disease or that person may get some severe karmic reaction. Those are described in the Vedic tradition.

In the not the Vedic tradition, but in the Bhakti tradition. But those are generally meant to illustrate a particular point. They are not the normal way Krishna operates. Generally, whenever scripture scripture, when it teaches, it teaches quite often through extremes. What do I mean by extremes?

That one of my friends is a novel writer. He’s a published novel writer, and he says that he often takes, inspiration by observing the lives of people around him. And they can get some ideas for the characters that he wants to write about. But, generally, no one person’s life is usually interesting enough to make an interesting character. So most interesting characters are a composite of 3, 4 different people, and the most interesting parts of their lives are taken.

So similarly, so why is that? Normal life is not very interesting. So if we decided to do a 24 hour recording of everything that we did during the day, And the next day we sit down and watch that for for 24 hours that recording. Within 10 minutes we’ll get bored. We want to watch some some part, but 24 hours we’ll want to watch that.

Even if it’s our own life and our own activity. So the thing is that, generally, whenever something is to be made memorable, ordinary events are not memorable. It’s extraordinary. It is the extreme that is memorable. So that’s why if you scripture teaches, we can see negative extremes, positive extremes.

So a negative extreme could be, say, Bharat Maharaj. One small mistake, wherein what happens? He gets attached to a deer, and then he has to take an entire next life from that. But on the other hand, if you look at Ajahn, just one chanting of the holy name of the Lord, and that too incidentally, indirectly he was chanting, addressing his son. Still he’s doing good.

So the point is, scriptures give extreme examples, and the purpose of extreme examples is not to standardize the extreme. It is not to say that this is what is what always happens. It is to emphasize the standard. Now what do I mean by this difference? Emphasize so consider this.

When we need to push you, creating creating itself, it’s what activities are common in karma of losing the mind. Anybody from anywhere can take a bhakti. Not just take a bhakti. They can attain the supreme destination. So in that sense, our past karma does not, interfere with our present capacity to practice mukti.

So, in this sense, you can say, they are completely unrelated. But another way of looking at it is that somebody who has passed positive karma, they are more likely to be exposed to bhakti. That means somebody who has, say, been born in a if not a Brahminical family, but a pious family. They’re more likely to go to a temple. They’re more likely to respect sadhus.

They’re more likely to hear Shastra. And in that sense, past karma can make one more favorable to the practice only. Favorable in the sense of they’re more likely to get the opportunity. But it doesn’t always work like that. Sometimes, some people who have passed positive karma may become proud of that.

And because of that, they may think, you know, I already know these things. Like many people say, Bhagwan kana chawvis gante rudhame chalte ruddhame chalte ruddhame. I am chanting 24 hours the name of Krishna. Chawvis gante ruddhame chalte ruddhame. Is it?

It’s while if something is constantly in the heart, how will it not manifest externally? So it’s that can make one proud. And if it makes one proud, then that can be unfavorable also. Vipra vishadamuriyatadarvindanama padarvindvibukhat shwapajammarishtam. Prahlad in his prayers says that Brahmana might have all the wonderful qualities.

Vishuddha Purna Yudha. There are 12 traditional qualities which are said to glorify a Brahmana. They may have that but if that person is adverse to the Lord, thinks that I don’t need the Lord. I’m so pure already. And contrasted with that, even a no born person, Ashwapacha, will be considered exalted.

So so in that sense so this is with respect to taking of bhakti. Now, when we are practicing Bhakti, can our past karma affect our faith? Well, it depends. Say, if we are going through our life and this is the time when we start Bhakti. So, during our life journey so, now we can say that we have certain karma which we are going to get.

Some positive karma, some negative karma. So now, after we start bhakti also, we might get some positive karma. We might get some negative karma. So, when this comes, how does it affect our devotion? So this is where the primacy of free will comes in.

Normally, we might think that if somebody starts Bhakti, and then after starting bhakti, they, say, at that time, get a positive karma. That means, say, if they have some family issue, it gets resolved. They have some health issue, it gets resolved. Their faith in Krishna may increase. That is possible.

But it’s also possible that they may think, Oh, you know, because I had this problem, so I was practicing Bhakti. Now, the problem is gone and we don’t need to practice Bhakti. Isn’t it? So, it’s like distraction from Bhakti can come because of adversity. Adversity is some problems come in your mind.

It can also come because of prosperity. Both can be distractions. And that’s why, say, for us for some people it may happen that they start practicing bhakti and they face some problems and then that can make them go away from Krishna but that can also make them think that, you know, this problem is so difficult. If I had not been practicing bhakti, I would have been completely crushed by this. Thank God I have this practice of bhakti.

But at least I have some shelter, some strength. Tohuasakshatkar binamakthike kaysa karta inipar. That when we get dangers, we realize that without bhakti, I would have been crushed. So bhakti is bliss. So similarly, for somebody when prosperity comes in their life, now they may think that, oh, you know, now Krishna is because I’m making good choices in my life, Krishna is making my life more comfortable so that I can make good choices more easily.

Say, if somebody has a lot of financial anxiety and they’re still they’re practicing bhavni, the financial anxiety goes away. Then that person will think, okay. Now that anxiety won’t distract me so much, so I can practice Bhakti more. So that can happen. And if it happens, it’s very good.

But it can happen the other way also. Now I don’t have anxiety. Why should I practice Bhakti? So, it’s not that our past karma ever forces a present choice. Our past karma does not determine our present karma.

Our past karma may create certain situations where we may make some choices or where the opportunity to make some choices comes, the tendency to have that choice will be greater. But that does not mean that the past karma so, past karma. Karma in the sense of reaction. Now, how much does the past karma determine our present karma? Present karma in terms of action.

So now, if it were fully determined, so we could look at if we consider, if you say fully, it fully determines. Then basically, what it means is we have no free will at all. Isn’t it? So we have done some things bad in the past and that’s what we are going to keep doing throughout our life. Because that past karma is controlling us completely.

Now, that is wrong. We all have free will. See, if if we were just like some people say we’ll talk about astrology a little later. Some people say that’s, sab kuch Bhagwan ka keel hai. Yeah.

You’ve seen this, you’ve seen this Gita saar? Johua This is a nice thought. You know, I have read the Gita many, many times. I have had friends who have written the Gita. I have read the Gita several hundred times.

But, you know, none of us have ever been able to find any words which says this. So, because the focus of the Gita is not on kya orahay. The focus of the Gita is on kya kar rahe ho. Kya karhe ho. It is not on what is happening, but on what we are doing.

See, Arjuna’s starting question itself is, pruchhamitwam dharmasamudajitaha. Dharma is the right thing to do. Because I am confused about what is the right thing to do and you please guide me about what is the right thing to do. There’s nowhere in the Gita which Krishna says that oh, that you are having to fight against Bhishma Yachaya Yohra. You know, actually, in this world, bad things do happen and to say that everything that happens is good is actually very it can be very dehumanizing for people.

When Sita is being abducted, jata urzan tell her johoraya chaworaya. That would be horrendous. Isn’t it? So, actually, there’s a difference between everything that happens is good and everything that happens is for good. Is good means, intrinsically, automatically it is good.

But is for good. So, is good may not be true because there are bad people and bad people do bad things. Sometimes, even good people can do bad things. So, bad things happen in this life. But is for good means what?

Even when somebody does something bad, Krishna is expert enough to bring something good out of it. So, the point I’m making over here is that for Krishna to bring out something good, we also have to make good choices. Isn’t it? So, it’s not that our past determines our present completely. So one extreme is to say that our past karma fully determines our present karma.

The other is to say, not at all. Now, this is unrealistic because, say, if somebody is extremely poor and they have so no money at all and then the only way they get some food is by robbing. Now, is robbing wrong? Yes, it is wrong. But at the same time, when they do that, it is understandable that can our past situation, our past karma, put us in situations when we do something wrong.

Well, it can. But here, there is a significant difference. I’ll come to that. So, the balance is partly. So, what our past karma does is, it pushes, but it does not it does not forces.

What is the difference between pushing us to do certain actions and forcing us to do certain actions? Pushing means that certain actions may become easy. Say, for example, somebody is very hungry and they they rob some food. That may be necessary. But after that, they become a regular robber and they rob not just food, they start robbing many other things and they start killing people for robbing things.

But that is not something Japa’s Karma made them. That is what they chose. This is a later question about Ajamil. So, you know, how if Ajamil was also a devotee, how did He fall? Most of you know the story of Ajamil?

So Ajamil was a brahmana who had gone out to collect firewood for his, father and while he had gone out he saw, a woman, a prostitute, and a man hugging each other and, doing other things. So he got agitated by that. So now, if we consider the situation carefully, Ajamil had not deliberately gone to some place where such things happen. So, we could say, his seeing that was unfortunate. And you can say, maybe his seeing that sight was a result of some past negative karma.

So, by past karma, he chanced upon that sight. And that was telling me that, whatever he saw that triggered such desires in his mind that he just he tried to control himself, he could not. Now see, when somebody does something wrong so what we are exploring over here is there is wrongdoing. That means the question I’m exploring is whether past karma leads to present karma. That is the question we are discussing.

So whenever some wrongdoing happens see, initially, the wrongdoing can be circumstantial. That means somebody is put in a circumstance and in that circumstance, they do that thing. So maybe he saw that and that created such a desire within him that he he just couldn’t control the desire. Okay. It’s it’s possible.

Maybe he felt it or I have to be with her. Then he went went with her and he fulfilled his desire. Now, we could say, okay, the mind getting agitated is one thing, but indulging in it is quite another thing. Okay. We can say the mind was so agitated that He did that.

But it’s one thing to go and do something one time. But eventually, what He decided was that I want to be with Her constantly. So, he abandoned his parents. He drew away his chaste wife. He gave up his Brahminical duties because if somebody is living like this, who would want that person to be a Brahman who performs priestly duties for them?

So, what happened was, then he had to start robbing and, attacking people, stealing from them. So, we could say, the first sight or even the first fall, that was circumstantial. But rejecting parents, rejecting wife, rejecting job, rejecting society. You know, these cannot be said to be circumstantial. Even by circumstance, some desire comes.

The desire stays for some time. It may be very, very strong and we may succumb at that time. But afterwards, our desire goes down, the intelligence comes back. So by this time, it is an intentional action. It is not a circumstantial action.

So, yes, circumstantially, it can happen for a devotee that sometimes such difficulties come that a devotee is just not able to practice bhakti. A devotee loses faith or gives a practice of bhakti. But once that situation subsides, the devotee will come back to Krishna. And, if the devotee continues on, then that cannot be blamed on past karma. That is the present karma.

That is the present choice. And that is why so, I’ll conclude this particular answer with 2 points. First point is that if somebody who is a respectable person, somebody is a senior devotee and they do something terrible That shouldn’t lead us to immediately condemning them. Oh, you are a hypocrite. You talk and show such big things and now let’s see what you have done.

No. Everybody goes through difficulties in life. And sometimes, even the best of us can be tested and when those tests come, even the worst can come even out of the best. Ideally, it should not but it can happen. And for all of us, we may have experienced that some person is very polite and nice and sweet and sometimes they just snap and they hear.

Now, that’s very different from the way they behave. But, we don’t say, Oh, all the sweetness and niceness are not just a shoe. Rather, what we will consider is, was something going on in their life? Because of which they snapped like that? We will try.

We will give them the benefit of the doubt. The benefit of the doubt. So, if there is if there’s, like, a occasional wrong, then what we need to do is there’s a benefit of the doubt that, okay. I don’t know what is going on. Maybe this person is going through some difficult situations, so let them go.

And similarly for ourselves also, we don’t have to be too hard on ourselves. But then, the question comes as how far? If somebody is repeatedly doing something wrong, so, Ajam is first mistake can be overlooked. But, we all have certain boundaries in our life. No.

And for all of us, say, you know, if we have anger, now maybe our boundary is that okay, I don’t yell at anyone. But maybe we get a little angry, we yell. But then we use swear words. We start speaking foul words, start using dalia. Then, somebody raises their fists.

Then, somebody takes a knife. Then, somebody takes a gun. Now, see, all of us, there are certain things which we will never do no matter how angry we become. Isn’t it? We all have certain boundaries in our life and every society, every culture brings certain boundaries.

And if some boundaries are crossed, then that can be understandable. But, like I said, here, a person rejecting their parents, rejecting their wife, rejecting their society, rejecting their job, this is something which is being knowingly done. It is these boundaries are meant to protect us. So the difference so what when can we know that what is due to past karma and what is due to present karma? See, there are this is a whole big subject, but if something is being repeatedly done, and not only repeatedly done, it is increasingly done.

And the person is doing the same thing and the person is becoming worse and worse at doing it. Then it is present karma. We cannot say it is because of past karma. So now what about so Ajamal’s actions, they were we always have free will. Just because somebody is a devotee does not mean Krishna takes away their free will.

Krishna will give them facility to use the free will nicely, but they have to use that free will eventually. So it is described that Krishna did not forget Ajamal just because he had done so many wrong things. And that’s how eventually a saint came to his house and the saint suggested that you should name your child Narayan. And name the child Narayan. And then, when at his time of his death, he called out that child.

So there was a plan even for him to be delivered. But it took a long, long time, caused a lot of trouble. So past karma does not it can temporarily divert us from bhakti, but it will not permanently drive away. Drive away from permanently drive us away from bhakti. So we can differentiate between fall down and fall away.

The 2 are not the same thing. Fall down means, we are following a particular standard and we are unable to follow the standard. But fall away means, we give up the practice itself. So, fall down may happen because of past karma, But falling away is due to present karma. The 2 are not the same.

So fall down means, okay, you do that. Now, we go to a particular place where no food is available and we have to eat some kind of food which normally we don’t take when we are practicing bhakti. Now, what kind of food that is also important? That, that may be a fall down. But falling away means, even when they have food that is devotionally compatible available, still they keep eating other kinds of food.

So, that is something which is a conscious choice. Somebody might get a job in a particular place where they just don’t have any vegetarian food available. What do you do at that time? When then when Prabhupada wanted devotees to go and preach in Soviet Russia, behind what they call as the iron curtain. So the devotees said, Prabhupada, there.

There is practically no vegetarian food available. So Prabhupada said, Eat meat but preach. Now, the point of that is not that Prabhupada is recommending eat meat. Prabhupada is saying that if that is what is required, you know, we want everybody to be delivered. That a devotee going there A devotee may eat meat occasionally.

But there, there are people who are eating meat regularly and their future is very dark. If a devotee goes with a mood of compassion and helps those people over there, that is a glorious service. But that does not mean that devotees would regularly start eating meat. Obviously not. And that never happened.

So, again, the point is that past karma can temporarily divert us. But not permanently. Now, this related with past karma, the question comes up is about astrology. So, through astrology or through Vastu, it is said that if some difficulties are there in our life, we can do certain practices by which those difficulties will go away. So, yes.

So, generally, whenever like, whenever there is some material problem, now if there is a material problem, we need a material solution to that problem. Say, for example, earlier, right, when the sound system was not working. Now, when the sound system was not working, I said, let’s chant Hare Krishna. We also had to chant Hare Krishna. That is a spiritual activity.

But is that the solution? You can say, it is the ultimate solution, but it is not the immediate solution. Isn’t it? B, if the sound system is not working, the sound system needs to be fixed. So, there is spiritual consciousness that can help us to get the ultimate solution.

And spiritual consciousness can also help us calm down, so that we can find the immediate solution. But, there, if there is a material problem, there’s a material solution required. So, yes, there are spiritual solutions in the sense that spiritual solution uses the calmness and the clarity to find the right material solution. So if I am feeling very if I’m feeling a lot of pain and if I chant Hare Krishna. It is not if there is some disease inside the body, chanting Hare Krishna will not remove the disease.

But, if I have got pain and I start thinking, you know, I should feel a lot of pain, so I take a lot of pain killers. And somebody takes such a heavy dose of pain killer, then that becomes fatal for them. Now, that’s a terrible thing to do. So, okay. I’m having pain.

I mean, it’s a pain killer. But let me go to doctor to find out what is causing so much pain. So, material problems do require material solutions. And, like, when I say material solution, there are multiple level. Yesterday, like, was also revising.

At first, we start from the drushta and then we move toward the drushta. So, if we are facing problems in our life and we have tried the normal reasonable ways for solving the problem and it is not getting solved. They suppose somebody has a disease and they’re taking a medicine and they’ve tried taking various medicines and they’re not working. Then some people may explore. Maybe, is there something astrologically I can find out what I need to do?

Somebody may do this, do that. See, there is, if you see, where should you put it? There is a spiritual level of reality, then there is our present physical level of reality. But apart from that, there is also a subtle level of reality. Now, physical is material, subtle is also material.

So most of modern science focuses on the physical level of reality to find solutions. Oh, okay. You know, if your blood pressure is very high, if your heartbeat is very high. Okay. Take some medication.

Put some chemicals in the body by which the heart will stop beating so fast. Now, that is one way of solving the problem. But, if that person has a lot of stress in their life, then just taking medication to slow the heartbeat is not going to help. Isn’t it? It is okay.

How do you deal with the stress? Maybe if you have too much work to do, share the workload with someone else. Try to manage your lifestyle. That’s also required. So that then subtle domain is something which we understand from our common sense also.

So within the subtle domain, there are many things. Now, when we talk about astrology, it is not that, sometimes it’s like, your Mangal is bad or Shani is bad and that’s why you’re facing problems. So now, it is not that Mangal or Shani is causing those problems. It is that Mangal or Shani being bad means that, those astrological arrangements are indications that because of our past karma, right now, we are going through a negative phase. So the planets the planets are not causes.

The planets are like signs. So, for example, if you are going on a road, and on the road it said, bumpy road ahead. Now, that sign is not making the road bumpy. Isn’t it? That sign is telling us that the road is bumpy.

So, like that, astrology can sometimes give us some indications of what may be wrong. And then, we might want to take the appropriate measures to fix it. But, the problem with that is 3 fold. First is, you know, astrology itself is complex. It is it is not a very precise way of looking at things.

It’s more interpretive than predictive. Like, if we consider weather forecast, see, as to a horoscope is basically meant to be like a weather forecast. But the factors are actually far more complicated and far more subtle. Like the weather forecast may say, today morning it is going to rain. And, we go, there is no rain at all.

So even with the most sophisticated devices, weather forecast may not be always accurate. So like that, it is complex and it is primarily meant to be interpretive. It is it is interpretive. Interpretation that you made is not predictive. Although, most people use it for prediction, the predictive aspect is very is only one part of astrology.

So first of all, it is complex. Secondly, it depends on the competence of the astrologer. That, how competitive is astrologer to read and understand the parameters. And, like, if you go to 10 different astrologers, 10 different then, 10 people may send 10 different things. And, like, how many astrologers are there in this world?

Well, there are as many astrologers as there are options for people. The whatever you want to do, if some 2 people want to get married. 1 astrologer will say, no. No. Yours is not compatible.

2nd astrologer will say, you’re not compatible. You can keep going to astrologer till they find when astrologer will say, you can get married. 2 people want to get separated. Most astrologers said, no, no, you should not separate. But they can keep finding an astrologer till one astrologer says, hey, you should get separated immediately.

So, what happens is, the biggest danger in astrology is the outsourcing of decision making. That should never happen. See, astrology, if it should be a resource, not something which we outsource. What do I mean by resource and outsource? Outsource means, you know, you take the decision for me.

Whatever you tell, I will do. No. Astrology, we can use it as one resource for decision making. Ultimately, it is our responsibility. It is our decision to make.

Like, say, the weather forecast may say, there is a big storm out there. But, say, if our child is in school and child is alone. So, no matter how storm is there, I want to go out there. This is important for me. Now, if we’re just going for some casual shopping which cannot be done later, we say, I don’t want to go now.

So, the weather forecast does not take our decisions. It is one input that we take based on which we make a decision. For us, when we decide whether to go out or not, there are other parameters in our life. So, the big danger in astrology is that people who start consulting astrology, they outsource the decisions to astrology. And then, that actually paralyzes their capacity to make decisions.

See, even when Krishna is with Arjuna look. Krishna does not expect Arjuna to outsource his decision making capacity. See, what happens is, that if you consider, Arjuna says karishya vachnam tawa. But it is not that in the subsequent Kurukshetra war, Arjuna is constantly turning to Krishna. Should I do this?

Should I shoot this arrow? Should I shoot this arrow? Should I shoot this arrow? No. Arjuna is his own person making his decisions.

Major decisions he consults Krishna. And later on, if we see when Ashwatthama does something terrible and Ashwatthama is to be punished. So, Bhima has the opinion, we should kill him. Yudhishma has the opinion, we should not kill him. And, Arjuna has to make a decision.

Krishna is right next to Arjuna, but Krishna does not give the decision to Arjuna. It is Arjuna who uses his buddhi and he makes a decision that Krishna is pleased with. So, actually, the whole purpose of the Bhagavad Gita is to make us better at making decisions. It is not we shouldn’t outsource our decision making even to God than what to speak of to an astrologer. So that is the big danger in astrology.

So, in the chain of causes, to conclude this answer, the same principle applies to astrologer and also to Vastu. And there could be many other things. There are some siddhava and this and that and people pray to that and so there is much in the universe that we can’t understand. And it is possible that for some people doing something may solve their problems. But the thing is that it is when we are facing a problem.

So there is a cause. There is an cause. There’s something we can understand, something which you can’t understand. So it is for us to use our intelligence to evaluate. Okay?

What is causing this and what can I do about this? So, based on that, if we want to consider astrology as one resource, then that is up to us. It is. I know many devotees, especially with astrology in marrying. So, I know one devotee, A very, very sincere, dedicated devotee.

His daughter got married and his dad astrologer said 2, 3 astrologers said that this is such a compatible match. He says like, it’s like once in a 100 years that a astrologer gets to see so much compatibility. And what happened is after 6 months, they just couldn’t live together. They tried everything and they just couldn’t. The marriage just broke down.

Now, I am not saying that astrologers are bad. But the fact is, life is complicated. And we can’t outsource the human beings into astrologers. And there are other cases where astrologers said that, you know, if these 2 get married, the husband will die. They still got married and both of them are alive and healthy.

So, I am not saying reject astrology. All that I am saying is, don’t outsource decision making to astrology. Now, this for example, getting married is a complex. It’s a it’s a one of the biggest decision we make in our lives. So, we could if some people want, they can take that as one input, But don’t let that become the sole basis of the decision making.

Don’t outsource the decision making there. So if we have children, if we want to know, okay, what is the broad nature of my child? That, okay. Now, what are the what are the characteristics? What are the likely interests?

You know, if this child has this particular planet higher, then more likely to be artistic, more likely to be linguistic, more likely to be mathematically interested or whatever. So, that some understanding we can get. But that does not mean if astrologist says, okay. Your child will be artistic. Or a child has no interest in art before the child to practice art.

No. Take that as one resource. Don’t make it the sole source of artistry in making. Okay? So, I think we already gone over time.

Shruti? There’s one last question. Should we take that off? Okay. So there’s a question about when we practice bhakti, what happens to the subtle body?

How can we dissolve the subtle body? So basically, the soul is there. Around the soul is a subtle body. Around that is the gross body. So, for us, when we die, the subtle body goes with the soul.

Here, in the question it is said, the subtle body carries the soul. I don’t think subtle body carries the soul. It is like, the subtle body is basically our mind. Mind endless ego. So, imagine, somebody is watching TV and they are so caught in watching some program on TV that a thief comes in their home.

They don’t even notice the thief. And a thief comes and picks up the TV. And the thief is taking away the TV and the person follows and keeps watching the TV. So, for the Yamadutas, they cannot actually touch the soul. The soul is.

So the when the yam the yam that it actually catches the subtle body. And the subtle body is pulled. And the soul is so attached to subtle body, subtle body is like the TV. And the soul is like the person watching the TV. So there, Yamaduttas catch the subtle body, they take the subtle body and the soul goes with it.

So our attachment to our subtle body is far greater than our attachment to our gross body also. But, the subtle body, let’s subtle body has many things, but for simplicity, let’s consider it’s the mind. So the mind is a programmed machine. But thankfully for it is programmed, it is also programmable. Programmable means that we can change the samskaras in the mind.

So, when we practice bhakti repeatedly, what happens by that? 2 things. First is that so, bhakti, it changes our mind. What does that mean? The conditioning, the programming changes.

Say, for example, for somebody, initially, whenever I am stressed, I want to watch TV. Okay. That’s my go to way of coping with stress. But, if we come to kirtan, we participate in kirtan regularly, then, slowly, that samskar is created. So, whenever I feel stressed, let me hear some kirtan.

Let me sing some kirtan. So, what has happened is, the mind has changed. Initially, as soon as stress is there, something from within the mind says, come on. Watch something. We go on social media.

Do this. Do that. But then, with habit, abhyasa and vairagya. So the urge to watch TV comes. Vairagya.

Abhyasa. Keep keep doing. Keep hearing kirtan. Gradually, the mind will change. So, that is change our mind is one thing.

The second is it changes our relationship with our mind. That means, initially when we are very attached, we identify very strongly with the mind. But then, changes our relationship with our mind means, we start understanding, I am not my mind. My mind is a part of me and it is different from me. So what happens?

When we change our mind by that, we start making better choices. But, as we change our relationship with our mind, we become more ready to let go of the mind itself. So, going back to the TV example, say, initially, somebody is very attached to the TV. But then, you know, maybe, somebody can change the programming in the TV so that, you know, we don’t get all kind of nasty obscene channels. We get only good channels.

So, that is the first change. So, although I am still watching the TV, but my TV itself is giving me good options. But after that, so we change our TV and then we change our relationship with our TV. Okay. Every time when I am bored, I don’t have to watch TV.

I can do other things also. So, initially, we let go of the mind’s wrong options, mind’s wrong suggestions, mind’s bad suggestions. But eventually, we let go of the mind itself. So first, when the TV gives us unhealthy options, we say no, I look only at healthy options. Good thing only.

But eventually, there’s no need for the TV only. So, when these two things happen, 1st and second, this is the stage where we become ready for the spiritual world. When we are ready to get to let go of the mind itself. So, when the soul no longer desires to enjoy even the good things in this world, that’s when we become ready to go to the spiritual world. And then, as long as we are in the world, we will lead the mind.

Even a pure devotee has the mind. Just as a pure devotee has a physical body, they also have a subtle mind. But just as the physical body is being used for Krishna’s service, the subtle mind is being used for Krishna’s service. And the physical body is left at the time of death, but the subtle body is left when the soul goes through the material existence and it goes through the various layers in material existence. So when the soul goes through the Brahmana, in the Brahmana, there is the Earth layer.

There is the water layer. Like that, the mind layer is there. So our mind our individual mind gets merged with the subtle mind. Our individual intelligence gets merged with the individual ego. Our individual our individual intelligence gets merged with the individual intelligence, with the universal intelligence.

So, it’s like, the soul is here and in the universe there are many different layers. The Brahmananda has many different layers. So if this is the layer of the mind, you can say this is the universal layer of the mind. And as we are going through here, so here we may have the layer of the mind, but when we come here, this layer of the mind gets merged. And the soul goes free to the spiritual world.

That’s how we dissolve the subtle body. So thank you very much for your very thoughtful questions. Hooray, Krishna. So tomorrow, I’ll cover the last four characteristics of Bhakti, and then we’ll conclude this series.