Change What You Remember To Change Yourself – Chaitanya Charan
Hare Krishna. So today morning we are discussing from the Srimad Bhagavatam, one of its most moving sections. So the Srimad Bhagavatam has remembrance of Krishna in the 10th canto especially where there are 90 chapters continuously describing his pastimes. Now before that 10th canto with his 90 chapters there are 2 sections where there is a direct focus on the remembrance of Krishna. And that is from 1.7 to 1.14 or 13 we can say.
We can call 15, Krishna is not there but there’s a direct focus on Krishna so this is like a preview. Just like before a movie there’s a trailer so in the first canto there’s a trailer given of the sweet pastimes of Krishna that are described and then here in the 3rd canto chapters 1, 2, 3, it goes on a little bit to 4, there is again a quick recap of the pastimes of Krishna. And in these different contexts, there is a contextual point over there. That here, Udhava is meeting Vidura, and both of them are great devotees. It’s interesting after this very devotional meeting, Vidura meets Maitreya.
And Maitreya is also a great saint, but he is not a devotee of that level of intensity. So with him, he has a more analytical discussion. But here, there’s just a shower of memories of Krishna being described. And here it is, two aspects of Krishna described. Who can forget him if we just experience Krishna?
And here it is said that if you just smell the fragrance of his lotus feet, there are, in literature, there are always, insider references. That means, let’s say, if in India movies are very popular. In a normal conversation somebody might make a statement which could seem to be a normal statement, but it’s exactly identical to a dialogue in a movie. Then what happens is those who know that, they immediately know what is being referred to. Those who don’t know, okay, that’s just a normal dialogue.
So there is this in this particular verse which we are discussing, there is this insider reference. What is that? That who can forget the lotus feet? The once they have once they have smelled the fragrance of the lotus feet of the Lord, who can forget it? So this is like a nod to the insider.
What is being referred to over here? The pastime of the Kumaras. That they remember they were situated in personal liberation, but they were attracted. They became completely absorbed in the Lord. So there’s a reference to that over here.
And then so there are 2 parts to this. The insider reference to the power of fragrance. Fragrance of the Lord, Lotus, feed. And the second is, so in one sense, one is a devotional potency that has been talked about. That is the capacity to attract the devotees.
And the other is more like a Kshatriya potency, almost. You could say a martial potency. That the Lord, just by lifting his eyebrows, he he brought the end of the Kshatriyas. Now I have read in English a little bit extensively. And in English nobody reads leaves of the eyebrows.
That is a that is an unusual reference. So this is where Srila Prabhupada’s Bengali background comes in. In Bengali poetry, actually, the eyebrows, especially if a person has long eyebrows, the eyebrows are considered to be like leaves. So the leaves of the eyebrows. So Prabhupada is translating the Bengali vernacular into English over here.
So, of course, sometimes the leaves of the eyebrows are referred to in English also, but it’s very rare. So the other is that here also it’s like a it’s a devotional commercial. Because it’s not saying that Krishna uses the solar chakra to kill. Just by raising his eyebrows, he killed the demons. And now there is a repeated reference to the power of the eyebrows throughout the Bhagavatam.
There is a reference that when Krishna but those who meditate on the eyebrows of the Lord, you know, their hearts get captivated. This will come in the 3rd canto, later in Kapila’s teachings. Later in the 7th canto, when he said, when Hiranyakashipura raises eyebrows, the demons would tremble. So, the eyebrows are often used in the Bhagavatam as a reference to indicate not just emotion. If somebody raises the eyebrow, they are surprised.
They are alarmed. Whatever. They’re concerned. But Bhagavatam uses it. Raising eyebrows is like a indicators seen as a gesture of power.
That how much can a person accomplish by just moving their eyebrows? Now most of us move our eyebrows. Nobody even notices it, isn’t it? So there is 2 very sweet references. Normally, when we talk about a person also, how we talk about the person tells our emotional bond with the person.
Now if we’re just talking about someone we don’t know very well, we say, okay. This person had come. But if you really love someone, then when you talk about that person, our eyes light up, our face lights up. And then, you know, affection is also seen through small details. When somebody says that, okay, you know, the sweet way in which this person speaks, the way they do this, the way they do that.
So here, the personal aspect of that relationship is emphasized through the very personal attributes described. The fragrance of the lotus feet and the power of the eyebrows. So the theme mentioned over here is, who will forget such a Lord? Now for the question being asked, it’s a lit it’s a rhetorical question. The same question is rhetorical.
Rhetorical means the answer is included in the question. Somebody say, oh, if you have an opportunity to invest money where you’re guaranteed to get 5 times returns and not upon Z scheme. No. Who will not invest money? That means who will not?
Nobody will. So, the question there is rhetorical, but for most of us it is literal. Who will not who will forget the Lord? Well, almost everyone in the material world forgets the Lord, unfortunately. So the rhetorical question has literal applications for us.
So I’ll talk about 3 things over here in today’s session. I’ll talk about first memories and how why memories are so important, The importance of memories. Then I will talk about how are memories formed? Formation of memories. And then, how we can form devotional memories.
That is the last part we’ll talk about. Now, in one sense, the greatest asset that we have in our life, which will be always with us, is our memories. We can say it’s our consciousness. That is true, of course. Prabhupada started the International Society For Krishna Consciousness.
But consciousness is based on memories. Isn’t it? What we are conscious of depends on what our memories are. We have to have remembrances to be able to remember. So the in one sense, you could say one of the purpose of life, one of the purposes of life, it is to form joyful memories.
Because that is what will be there with us. Maybe when we are old and we are in a hospital bed all alone, maybe caregivers will come and go, even if we have affectionate caregivers. But still, what we are going to be is, we are going to be alone with our thoughts. And even now, throughout our lives, we may be surrounded by people, we may be busy doing things, but it is our thoughts that are there always with us. Our thoughts, our consciousness is based on our memories.
And in many ways, the infatuation with technology is because most people have such hauntingly empty memories. Their memory bank is so either empty or so painful, That when you say everybody’s glued to their smartphones. Now, we all may have work to do and life keeps us busy, so that’s fair enough. But whether we are using, our phone and the screen to get things done or to get away from the world. Now that is a question that everyone needs to ask themselves.
And for many times, what happens is that people either have our memory bank at present. We all have a memory bank, whether we have thought about it or not. Either it is empty, hauntingly empty, or it is painful. When we the memory bank is empty, then there is nothing to think about. This is a zone when you are spaced out.
You have nothing to think about. If you have nothing to do, then people just go mad. But worse than that, nowadays so many people have traumas from their childhood. Now the word trauma 20, 30 years ago signified some very horrendous happening. But now it is used very commonly.
And, well, trauma is definitely a terrible thing to go through. But what is trauma? It’s basically a terrible memory. And that terrible memory is ruling our life and maybe even ruining our life. It is running our life and it is ruining our life.
So painful memories are a serious problem. It can be ruling our life. It can be running our life. It can be ruining our life. Ruling our life means, it’s like, you know, there may be head of state in a country who is ruling the law, But they are not literally in control of everything and everyone.
Sometimes our memories are not only ruling, they are the most they are the memory they can’t be challenged. But they are running every aspect of our life. Some people are just running away from their past all the time. And sometimes it’s ruining. Now, of course, this could be the memories could be in terms of emotions.
Some pain or fear or anger or betrayal we may have experienced. It may be in terms of desires. Desires mean somebody has given into addictive habits. Now, of course, these 2 are related. It’s often when people have painful emotions, then they give in to or they rush into unhealthy habits as a means to escape from them.
So, either way, the point is that everybody has certain memories. And our memory can be an asset or it can be a burden. And for many people nowadays, because we all are concerned about making memories, so we click photos. Nowadays, with smartphone photos are so easy to click. But it’s often more about showing others our experiences than remembering those experiences ourselves.
Like, how much of a impression our experiences create inside us is not as important as how much impressive those experiences seem to others. So we are more concerned about creating outer impressions than inner impressions. And that’s why, that’s one reason, among many reasons, that our experiences, you know, don’t lead to memories. To have memories that can sustain us, that can uplift us. So so the point I’m I’m not going to I’m not going to go into whole the sphere of trauma.
But the point is we often go through experiences. But while going through experiences, are we trying to create inner impressions through those experiences? Or are we trying to create outer impressions? Somebody goes to a beautiful, say, Kanyakumari and sees the beautiful sunset. Now and so looking at the sunset, we’re eager to click the photo and put it on social media and say, I went here and I saw this.
So immerse oneself in the experience. So that’s how we form memories. So our memories are what are going to be with us, ultimately. Nothing else is going to be with us. So memories are very important for us to create.
Now that brings us to the point of what creates memories? Now, broadly speaking, there are three factors. That at one level, it’s our intentions. Ultimately, we choose what to dwell on. It is we decide what we are going to focus on, but our intentions don’t act in isolation.
Our intentions are shaped by our inclinations. Inclinations are our more judgmental word for them is conditionings. We all have certain conditionings. Our mind tends to go in certain directions. So our intentions are shaped by our our memories are shaped by these three factors broadly.
1st is what we want to remember. 2nd is what we tend to remember. So what I want to remember and what I tend to remember may be quite different. Tend to remember means that is where our thoughts go. One way to understand our inclinations is to think, where do my thoughts go when they have nowhere to go?
So that’s our inclination. Does it go towards sports? Does it go towards politics? Does it go towards food? Does it go towards sensuality?
Does it go towards gossip? So so that’s our inclinations. And then the last part is our situations. Our circumstances. So, basically, what we want to remember, what we tend to remember, and what is memorable.
There is no such word as it. What is memorable in our situations. So generally, if we go to a social event, if we come to a temple or if we go to a party, we go to some workplace, there are certain things which stand out. There are certain people who are impressive, Certain places that are attractive. So what is memorable in our situations?
So broadly, these three factors, they shape our memories. And in many ways for us, when our memories are formed, we when we are going through life, we may not even realize that a particular event is especially going to be forming a big memory within us. It can happen both ways. Sometimes we expect something to be memorable and that turns out to be mediocre. It becomes like an anticlimax.
You think, oh, I’m going to go to this place, and I’m going to see that. I’m going to do that. So our experiences, when we have them, we have the expectation. And ultimately, we have the impression that is created, the memory that is created. So the expectation is that this will be extraordinary and turns out to be ordinary.
But on the other hand, there can be the expectation is negligible. It’s it’s not even noticeable. Sometimes, the small acts of courtesy, the small words of affection, that become memorable. If we look in the Gopi Geeth, the gopis do talk about how Krishna lifts Govardhan Hill. But if you see the memories, So all the special memories the gopis are talking about is not about the dramatic things Krishna has done.
It is about the gentle smile, the side long glance, the the the sweet words that are spoken. That in private, the sweet words of affection that you spoke. Those they’re deeply touching our hearts. So basically, for us, the things that will become memories, it’s it’s not always according to our expectations. And that’s why when we are trying to form memories, say for example, when we come and have darshan of the Lord, when we come and do our sadhana, when we hear Krishna katha.
So all of these are opportunities to form memories. That, yes, when we hear a class, we want to remember some points. And, yes, that’s important to remember the points. But at the same time, the the point is not to remember the points. The point is to remember Krishna.
The point is to give fuel for our remembrance work of Krishna. Now that remembrance of Krishna can happen from both ways. In the Bhagavad Gita throughout, the Gita talks about. So when we’re talking about remembrance of Krishna, the remembrance happens through our mind and our intelligence. Our mind and our intelligence.
So our mind’s desires are attracted. And our intelligence convictions. Both are important. So if you see in the progress in the hierarchy which Krishna talks about in 3.42, So he says that the soul, there’s the intelligence, there’s the mind. Then below there are the senses.
And then there are the sense objects. So there is a gravity pull. The gravity pull of attachments by which we are all attracted toward the particular kind of sense objects that we may have habituated ourselves to. So this is the conditioned soul, the conditioned self. Now in this conditioned self, what happens is there’s a gravity pull.
Now interestingly, Krishna says this gravity pull of karma is present in senses, mind and intelligence. All of these places it is present. And from there, It sabotages our intelligence. It sabotages our way of functioning. Our wisdom.
Not intelligence, but the wisdom. So it sabotages that. So it’s there in all these places. If you see among these, the the way the Gita says we need to work. It’s like the mind is intermediate, but it’s very difficult to attack the mind.
So Krishna says there’s a two way to attack. 1 is at the level of the senses. The other is at the level of the intelligence. So 341, there was Braly says he says, what should you do? Regulate the senses.
And second 343 says, That with your intelligence, situate yourself on the spiritual platform. So the mind is almost like an enemy that is or the conditionings within the mind, not the mind itself. The conditionings within the mind are like an enemy that is almost inaccessible. Like in this, war between Israel and, Hezbollah or wherever. No.
Some of the terrorists, they are hidden in places where it’s just not accessible, deep underground or here or there. So they’re hiding. Even the enemy comes and attacks, it’s very difficult to reach that place. So like that, the main core of our memories is situated in our mind. And it’s very difficult to reach the mind.
So Krishna says that instead of trying to attack the enemy who is at an unreachable position, start with what is more accessible. So the regulation of the senses and the conviction of the intelligence. It’s easier to regulate our senses. Say, for example, somebody’s an alcoholic. We’ll talk about alcoholism example and then we’ll move towards in the last part about bhakti.
Because many days since the the Chitancher tamrut, love of God, love of Krishna is also compared to intoxication. So it’s a divine madness. It’s like the intoxication. So if somebody is an alcoholic, at that time, for them to get rid of the desire for alcohol is very difficult. It’s very difficult to control.
You can’t reach in our mind reach inside our mind and get it out. But what is possible is regulation. Now, don’t keep alcohol in your home. If you’re serious about recovering from alcoholism suppose there’s a recovering alcoholic and their house is right next to a bar. Then there’ll be no bar for them to go to the bar.
Everybody has weak moments. So in those weak moments, we’ll succumb. So making sure that we don’t have the alcohol the regulation, the sensory level is easy. Similarly, reading about and understanding the harms of alcoholism, that is also relatively easy. It’s there’s one alcoholic he said, you know.
Yes. He told one of his friends, yesterday I read a very I read a very powerful, like, act, article about the dangers of alcoholism. It drew me to immediate action. Now this person was, was an alcoholic who would never give up alcohol. So his friend had been trying to get him off alcohol for a long time.
He says, I’m very happy. So what action did you take? I immediately stopped reading the article. That is the action I took. So now, the point is that, relatively speaking, convincing the intelligence is not that difficult.
Sometimes we may not want to look at the evidence that’s right in front of us because it is against our mind’s desires. But it is relate changing the intelligence conviction is relatively easier than changing the mind’s inclination. So this, it’s almost like the mind is like a renegade soldier, a soldier who has gone mad. And the soldier wants to attack the enemy even if there is some kind of peace agreement that has been done. So all that you can do is you can’t control that soldier.
You don’t know where he is, where he has gone, what he is doing. So make sure that the soldier doesn’t reach the border. Seal the border and make sure that the higher ups in the army don’t support the soldiers. So it’s like that our mind is like a renegade soldier. It’s very difficult to manage the mind in itself.
And again, when I am saying the mind, the mind itself is not our enemy. It is the conditionings within the mind that are the enemy. Krishna never says, destroy the mind. He says, transform the mind. So but the point is that to reach the mind to reach the mind, there is a outside in approach and there is a inside out approach.
You could say it’s it’s it’s inside in approach only. It’s inside out approach. But you can say from inwards, it is outward. That means the intelligence, conviction. And the senses, regulation.
Sensory regulation. So to the extent we do these two things, to the extent what is inside in the mind can be regulated. And ultimately, it can be changed. It can be reformed. So there’s so how are memories formed?
You know, there is this interesting word, reform. Now reform generally refers to positive change. Somebody’s a reformed criminal. But now to re to reform someone literally, we have to reform. Form again the impressions, the memories, the desires.
So reform. New impressions have to be formed inside. So how are our memories formed? That was the second section that it’s based on the inclinations that we have, based on the what is our intention? What are inclinations?
And what are our situations? So when I talk about these three things, now in our intentions, our intentions can be boosted by intelligence. That is where our intell intentions can be shared by our convictions. Our situations can be guarded by regulation. And by that, gradually, we can hope to change the inclinations.
The inclinations, it is going to be gradual. It doesn’t happen overnight. It isn’t it may take a long, long time. But if we are able to do these two things, we are on the progressive path. How long that path will take will depend on how strong the inclinations of the mind are, either positively or negatively.
So that brings us to the last part. So the first was importance of memory. 2nd is how are memories formed? And now, how do we form devotional memories? So for this, at one level, studying Shastra, hearing philosophy is important.
That is, So we need the conviction of the intelligence. The intellectual conviction, what it does is, it reminds us that Krishna is important. That forming memories about Krishna is vitally important. The problem for spiritual seekers in the material world is that Krishna is invisible. And Maya is ultra visible.
Maya is made visible everywhere in the world. So that’s why the Indian’s conviction is so important because we want to turn toward the invisible Lord from the ultra visible Maya. When it is said the Lord is. Now, can be used to refer at one level to the glory of the Lord, that the Lord is beyond the senses. But other level, adhokshaja is also talking about to indicate the rarity of loving someone who is inaccessible to the senses.
So to love uninterrupted somebody who is whom we have no access to our senses, That is very difficult. Although we don’t have any access to Him through our senses, fortunately, the process of bhakti gives Him access, gives His access to us. Gives access for us to Him, whichever way you want to look to it. I’ll talk about the difference between the two shortly. But the point is that without intellectual conviction, there is no possibility of sustaining the practice of bhakti for those who do not have a natural inclination.
If somebody has Now some people are just born with a devotional inclination. Maybe they had a cultural upbringing also, which is very devotional. They may not know much philosophy, but their heart’s inclination is actually directed toward Krishna. So they’ll cook for Krishna, sing for Krishna, worship Krishna, the deity. And Krishna will be the center of their life.
If the inclinations are toward Krishna, naturally toward Krishna, then the conviction is not that important. In one sense, it’s not that I would say it’s not that the conviction is not important. Cultivating the conviction is not important at an intellectual level. Because that’s already the inclination is there. So the purpose of the conviction is to change the inclination.
But for those who do not have cultivating that intellectual conviction is very important. Repeatedly reminding us that Krishna is the There are so many arthas in this world. That, we all need wealth, we need to take care of our health, we need to take care of our relationships. There are so many arthas in this world. But Krishna alone is the.
So what happens is it is buddhi. It is intelligence that help that helps us to separate from anartha. So anartha, the word we generally use it to refer to lustanger, greed. That is true. But anartha, if you look at etymologically or more functionally, what it means is that to consider something to be of greater artha than its actual artha.
That when somebody has greed, then money becomes the most important thing in their life. Now money is an important thing, but it is not the most important thing. So means that even something which may have artha, its value becomes way way too much more. So for us, we need buddhi to put artha down and to put up. So that buddhi is vitally important.
Now after that, that’s why when we regularly hear, study, contemplate, we remind ourselves of the importance of Krishna. And then, so then after that we try to create our situations as much as possible so that they are favorable to our bhakti. Now how do we do that? I’ll conclude that with 4 broad ways in which we can cast our situation so that we can move toward Krishna. So that our externals can be made more favorable.
So these are 4 ways in which we can both bring bonds in our life, and we can create boundaries in our life. So one is a category. That sometimes we can start a new category of activities in our life. Say, for example, when you start practicing bhakti and sadhana. Now many people may have bhakti as an emotion or in their hearts.
But they are they may bhaktas, but they are not sadhakas. They’re not really practicing sadhana. So sadhana means we start a new category of activity. Maybe we fast every kadush. Maybe wake up in the morning and do our chanting.
So we start a category of activity. Maybe for the month of Kartik, we may decide that I’m going to do x y z. So for all of us, sometimes the mind looks for something new. And starting something new within bhakti, a new category of activity, can help us to create better impressions, create stronger impressions. So for in the process of bhakti, there are many specific activities.
Say, for example, we learn d t worship. We learn singing. Now we learn sloka recitation. Now we learn to give classes. So each of these is a new category of activity.
Now the book distribution marathon is going on. Now we want to distribute a lot of books. But for many people, going out on the streets and talking with strangers, that might itself be a new category of activity. Now that might be a little uncomfortable, but through it, new fresh impressions can be created in our mind. So sometimes we may start a new category of activity as a means to stimulate our remembrance of Krishna.
So here, what I’m talking about is not so much regulation. Yes. Regulation is important, but we went behind. Now how to create devotional memories? Start some new category of activity.
And as we go to a holy place now we go to a holy place and we spend time over there and then we spend time over there. It creates a new category of activities. So it is sometimes when we all of us, depending on our particular nature, we may have a desire for doing something new. So we can dovetail that within the practice of bhakti and see what is the category of activity that I can do in the service of Krishna. Then the next is accountability.
When we’re talking about changing our situations so that we have more exposure to Krishna, so that we have more opportunity to focus on Krishna. Then it is important to create some accountability. So we come to satsang regularly. Or we could be somebody else can hold us accountable, we hold us as accountable. Because the nature of the if the mind’s inclination is in some other direction, then it is that we make we may make a resolution.
Last year I remember one devotee came to me, Bro, this is going to be the best year of my life. I said, wonderful. How is that? He said, I have made 1,008 resolutions for this year. So I told him, bro, with all due respect and normally, somebody uses the phrase with all due respect, that means what is going to be spoken is not going to be very respectful.
So I said, with all due respect, 1,008, that is not not a resolution. That is a wish list or a dream list, isn’t it? We can add the most 3 or 5 or 6 or 8 resolutions, and more than 5 is difficult to keep. Maybe we can make many resolutions throughout our life. But at one time, to focus on too many is very difficult.
So the thing is that unless we have accountability, not only do we forget our resolutions, we forget that we haven’t forgotten our resolutions. So we need to have some system of accountability. Like, then after that is last word, more logistical, space and time. That means it is very helpful if you want to create impressions. To have some sacred space or some sacred time in our life.
So sacred space could mean that, you know, in our home, we have one corner, which is an altar. Now, we could have our prayer room. We create some space where it helps us to focus. It helps us, we get into that place, the external environment is conducive for remembering Krishna. The temple is meant to be such a place.
Srila Prabhupada in the Queen Kuntipar port says that the temple should be made in such a way that everybody’s mind is agitated when they come and take darshan of the deities. Their mind becomes peaceful. So creating a sacred space. We could visit a sacred space. We go to the uttayatras.
We go to temples. That’s important. But if we want to create devotional memories, we need to have some sacred space. Of course, in our home, we can have temple, Krishna’s pictures. All that is wonderful.
Whatever way we specifically do it, we create a sacred space for ourselves. And that way, we are giving an external stimulus for the inner remembrance. And similarly, in terms of time. So we if we devote a certain amount of time, that this is the time that is going to be exclusive focus on Krishna. Exclusive focus on Krishna.
When we do that, what happens by that is, actually the person, when we know this is the time for Krishna, then our slowly our mind starts accepting that. Okay. This time I’m meant to focus on Krishna. I was just yesterday night only I came back from Dubai. So we’re traveling there and, you know, actually if you see people when the time of prayers comes, you know, in the namaz just people put everything aside.
So on the streets people are doing namaz. So now whatever be the consciousness, we don’t know. But there is a time and the time prayer is offering. And I was going there and seeing them doing Namadhi. I was thinking I’m not that strict about my Gayathri also.
Isn’t it? So we sometimes try to forget it. Yes. We do our morning sadhana. But having the time sometimes it can be just ritualistic.
But the point is Bhakti Natakur says that, you know, we can take inspiration from everywhere. So having the time for prayers. But for that, we need the inclination. If that inclination is not there, Isn’t it that we are lacking in that emotion? So that’s why this space that is devoted to Krishna and time that is exclusive for Krishna, when we create this, then forming memories will become easier.
It’s it’s never easy, but it can become easier. And as this starts happening, we’ll find that our mind will start gravitating toward Krishna. As the inclinations within us change, when we have nothing to do, we’ll start thinking about Krishna. We’ll start thinking about things related with Krishna. Our thought, our memory will start becoming more and more of our friend.
So right now, I’ll conclude this point. Now, Krishna consciousness is can be done in 2 ways. And we are mostly, like like, forcing Krishna into our mind. Now, like, when they’re chanting, they’re almost forcing Krishna into our mind. So that is sometimes required.
But the problem with trying to do this is that it’s like we are trying to control Krishna, isn’t it? We are trying to use the controlling mentality on Krishna. Come on. Come in, I am conscious. Remember me.
Now that is our way of so you are serious, that is fine. But as we move forward, it will become like opening ourselves to Krishna. Krishna is present in every moment. When Prabhupada was at Vishakha Patnam, they went the devotees went swimming and some of the devotees were thinking, actually, this swimming is such a mundane activity. We are not doing any kirtan.
There is Krishna consciousness over here. And they asked Prabhupada. Prabhupada said, Krishna says I am the taste of water. Krishna says I am the light of the sun. Krishna says I am the fragrance of the earth.
He said you are surrounded by Krishna. What is the question of forgetting Krishna? So now, there is a I had not thought of any of these things. So sometimes we have to create devotional stimuli all around us to remember Krishna. And that is required.
But after some time, it is not that we have to force some Krishna stimuli so that we can remember Krishna. Krishna is present in the present. And as we open ourselves to his presence, then we’ll find that Krishna is everywhere. That is the state which Prabhupada was in. Wherever he went, you know, he was with Krishna.
And he brought that Krishna from within out throughout the world for us to all remember for generations and hopefully millennia to come. So I’ll summarize. I discuss broadly the topic of remembering Krishna, especially through especially we talk about topic of forming memories of Krishna. So I started by talking firstly in this verse itself. How there’s a very personal remembrance of Krishna in terms of his attributes, the power of his fragrance of his lotus feet, and the power of his glance, his eyebrows moving upwards.
And then they talked about the memories and how they are important. The importance is that they are our only lasting asset. When we are alone, when we are isolated, as there will be times when we are old and sick, our memory is the only thing that is going to be with us. So nowadays, for many people, their memory bank, their bank account may be full. But their memory bank is either empty or it is traumatized.
And that is a very sad situation. That’s why there is like a frenzy for technology. Now technology can be used to get things done, but technology can also be used to get away from things, including things in our mind. And that is happening. That’s unhealthy.
Then you talk about how memories are formed, formation of memories. So generally, it’s 3 things. It is our intention, what we want to remember. And so, inclination. What we tend to remember.
And then there is situation. What is memorable in our situation? So now, ultimately, bhakti memories are most strongly situated in the inclinations. So we cannot get to the mind directly. So we use a 2 pronged approach.
Situations is what Krishna says in 341, we bring regulation to our senses. And intention, we try to strengthen through our intellectual conviction. And by that, then both the mind may have memories in terms of emotions and emotional scars, or we may have desires. And those desires can be addictive. But they can be regulated.
However, we don’t want to just want to regulate them. We want to reform them. So reform is about reforming, deforming again our memories. And that connection, I discussed about how, first of all, we need to study scripture so that our intelligence is convinced that we turn toward Krishna, who is invisible, from Maya, who is ultra visible. So without that conviction, it’s very difficult to sustain.
And then, after that, I discussed about the external situations that we are in. How can we make those situations favorable? Anukul to Bhakti. I talk about these four things. We can try to create some new category of activity, a new category of environment for ourselves.
We can have accountability so that we are actually moving in the direction that we want to move. And then we can have some sacred space in our home and we can have some sacred time exclusively devoted to Krishna. And that way, gradually but surely, our memories will change and they will become our friend rather than our an obstacle in our journey toward Krishna. Thank you very much. Hooray Krishna.
Is there any quick question or comment? Yes, Rajiv. Hari, Prabhu. Hari, thank you, Prabhu, for very insightful class as usual. You know, I was realizing when you’re giving class that what takes me one week of daily journaling for half an hour to discover, I discover in one minute of your class.
I wish I will discover that also. No. It’s really, very, very, very you present Krishna consciousness. Thank you. I have one question regarding this, category.
You know, you are speaking about bonding and creating boundaries through caste. Mhmm. So what is your take on, semi spiritual activities as a category? Like, for example, you know, for me, like, I’m reading poetry now. Rudyard Kipling, Robert Frost.
And I find it very you know, I’m able to connect a philosophy sometimes like c s Lewis, you know, for those kind of things. So I’m wondering, eventually, I may use it in Krishna’s service. I don’t know how right now, how. Like, for example, learning phrases. You know, yesterday, I learned a few phrases, not idioms, idioms.
Mhmm. And then, you know, it’s so fascinating and it stimulates me intellectually. And it also keeps me happy and, keeps gives me the strength to stay away from all the, you know, distractions. Like you were saying in the beginning of the class Mhmm. That are we using the phone to get things done, or are we get using the phone to get away from the world?
So it helps me to get away from the world and also get things done when I’m in my own space in the semi spiritual activity category. So I wanted to know your take on that. Yes. Thank you for the question. Thank you for getting me into trouble.
You know, when I started my traditional preaching, I asked his own Mr. Radahnath Maharaj, did he advise Maharaj about preaching? So Maharaj said, watch out for planted questions. Some people may want to get you into trouble and ask questions. So, of course, this is not a planted question.
But, I appreciate how you use the word semi spiritual and not material. I agree with you, but I appreciate how that word used. See, generally, what happens, we just classify things as spiritual and material. And, okay, this is spiritual. This is not spiritual.
That means it’s material. But, you know, in our own tradition, there is another way of classifying. That is, we could say there is spiritual or transcendental. And then within the material, there is, and. And all these 3 are not the same.
So broadly, you can say can be pro devotional in many ways. Rajas is non devotional. Tamas is anti devotional. Now, Bhaktiv Nod Thakur in Chaitanya Krishnamurt says that we should not even equate rajas and tamas. What to speak of?
Sattva, rajas and tamas. All of them. That rajas can be very a person rajas can be very materially productive, materially responsible. And now there are 2 ways of understanding Krishna consciousness. That Krishna is present at this transcendental level.
That’s one way of looking at it. And the other is that Krishna is present everywhere. In fact, everything is in Krishna. So in the Bhagavatam, in the Gita, the material world there are 2 distinct ways of looking at the material world. It’s to see it as filled with Vishay.
Vishay is sense objects. And the second is to see it as filled with vibhuti. Vibhuti is opulences of Krishna. So now, which will be a for someone, and which will be a for someone? Now that depends.
There is both objective and subjective criteria. You know, objective criteria. If somebody drinks liquor and says, okay. I’m remembering Krishna to the taste of liquor. Well, you know, maybe, Prabhupada said that, you know, even if you can do that, one day you’ll become a devotee of Krishna.
But Prabhupada said it is not drinking alcohol that will make you become a devotee. It’s remembering Krishna. The thing is, do we have to do that to remember Krishna? There are so many other ways to remember Krishna. So for somebody who’s a habitual alcoholic or that kind of indulgence, is more likely to be a vishya than a vibhuti for anyone.
But there are many things which can actually be a vibhuti for someone. So to take a provocative ex example, Ramanand Rai was decorating the dance singles for Jagannath’s pleasure. Now, he saw that their beauty would give pleasure to Jagannath. So he was actually remembering. For him, that was a Vibhuti, the general sense that he was sent his consciousness centered in Krishna.
That that is a bit too provocative for most of us. Too much out of field. But he we can look at the material or at the what is it, non spiritual, whatever, spiritual, at things that are not directly connected with Krishna either as competitors to Krishna or as pointers to Krishna. So now how we how much exactly do they point to? That depends.
So for somebody who has a taste for language, through language, they can actually move toward Krishna quite naturally. So so I’ll talk about it at 3 different levels. So one is that what’s semi spiritual can be a vibhuti. What do you call it? So if it is a, when we are engaging with that, we are remembering Krishna.
And it points us toward Krishna. Yes. What is the power in the words? What is the power in the music? What is the power and the beauty of this place?
And that is a remember. There’s a pointer toward Krishna. The second point could be, it is a vihar for us. Vihar. So now vihar, when you talk about entertainment or recreation, what is the purpose?
The purpose is to give the mind relaxation. So we often talk about controlling the mind. And yes, it is true. Now, in the west, the word mind control is considered a very terrible word to use. Why?
Because for them, when you use the word mind control, it is not about you controlling your mind. It is somebody else controlling your mind, like mind control cults. So there we use the word mind management if you want to use it, not mind control. But, anyway, so the point is that the mind also needs to be relaxed. Like, the body needs to be rested and relaxed.
The mind needs to be relaxed. Now some people can find this relaxation in direct to devotional activities. Some people may want to go for a walk. The one devotee was telling that recently that I was I think the former Mayawadi within me is coming back. I said, okay.
Really? What happened? So they said that, actually, I sometimes feel more sheltered when I go to some walk by nature. I go up a mountain. Then when I come in the temple or in surrounded by devotees.
So I said, we should not give, Mayawadhi’s monopoly on nature. Isn’t it? So somebody may actually feel more relaxed and may even feel more closer to Krishna. The Virata Roopa is in the 10th can is in the sec in the second can’t of Mahagwatam, but it’s also in, I think, Akrura’s prayers also. There is a bit reference to, oh, the Viratrupa.
Some aspects of that are described. He’s seeing Krishna, and he’s actually describing that. So it could be that our mind gets relaxed over there, and our mind also needs relaxation. So different people may find different activities relaxing. And the third is, it’s more like, the whole concept of varna.
What does it mean? See, we have the the material lower taste. And then there is the spiritual higher taste. So the material higher lower taste is basically sense gratification. This will take us away from Krishna.
The spiritual higher taste is just straight love for Krishna. Now, for all of us, we are here. And from here, we wish to go here. But sometimes, this seems to be like the higher taste seems to be too high up. And we try to go up.
And we end up going further down. So there is, we could say, something like a higher material taste. So basically, when we are acting according to our varna, the Brahman, the Kshatriya, there’s nothing spiritual about it. But if one is acting in a responsible way, doing that as a dharma, as a service, then this is something that can sustain us as we move upward. So it’s interesting when Arjuna was asked by Drona, when we had to shoot the bird, what do you see?
What did he reply? I just see the eye of the bird. Now Arjuna did not see, I see Krishna. A devotee is meant to see Krishna everywhere. Now why did Arjun not say, I see Krishna over there?
Because, you know, the point was his service was not Arjun. And at that time, he was focused on that particular thing. Now that archery was for Krishna’s service. But his focus was on archery. So, in many ways, for us, the set what we call what we call a semi spiritual, it can be a vibhuti that points us to Krishna.
It can be a vihar for us, or it can be according to our varna. So either all of these are fine. Now the only test will be that when we do this, does it calm our mind so that we can focus more on Krishna, or does it increase our desire for doing that thing even in the time of our Krishna consciousness? So we want to, in one sense, from here, we want to come here. But we don’t want to stay stuck over here.
From here also, we want to move up over here. So that’s the test that it should it is it is meant to stabilize us till we move toward Krishna, but it should not become an alternative shelter to Krishna for us.
So thank you so much.