Vedanta Psychology - part 5

Maharaja:  So now discussion on what’s behind the attraction that’s there generated from the mode of passion. So then here is a quote from the Bhagavatam 11.28.22:

Although thus not existing in reality, this manifestation of transformations created from the mode of passion appears real because the self-manifested, self-luminous Absolute Truth exhibits Himself in the form of the material variety of the senses, the sense objects, the mind and the elements of physical nature.

So here it’s mentioning, now we are getting into, we always have to understand when we are discussing real and non-real what it means here. When we are discussing real and non-real, because real means it’s connected to the Lord, it’s in knowledge, it’s not in ignorance. So ignorance is considered not real. But it’s not that the ignorance itself is not real. The ignorance is a reality, it exists. Then there is the consciousness or the perception of the individual that is in ignorance, that’s the non-reality. That’s why it’s called ignorance. Because ignorance is just, means it’s uneducated, you don’t know what you are looking at.

Just like the child in ignorance thinks the diamond is just something to play with like a marble, it’s a little more sparkly, but that’s about it. So that’s ignorance, that’s illusion. That’s what’s not real. The idea that this diamond has no value that is illusion. But the diamond exists, the child exists, the floor on which he is playing with it exists. It’s very important to understand that this real and…, there is no such thing as nothing. This is a voidist understanding which will come up very shortly.

So the idea is here when it says it’s these transformations, they are created from the mode of passion, it says, these transformations, so something is transforming, it exists, but it’s not real, what’s not real about it, the non-reality is not understanding that it’s the Lord. Everything that you are dealing with is Krsna. So the illusion is to think that it’s not.

But in this, of course, that has to be, because here we are dealing with the intellectual understanding, so we are taking it from the principle that someone is trying to find Krsna, please Krsna, and get to the platform of prema. We are not looking from the platform of somebody is looking for an excuse for their nonsense. That’s not what we are looking at. Because if you want excuses, plenty of excuses.

Oh, it’s Krsna, oh, then it’s ok for my nonsense. No, that’s why Rupa Goswami then in Nectar of Devotion says means activities in connection with Krsna that are favorable to Krsna, only that is devotional service. Otherwise we can have so many activities where there is a connection with Krsna, but it’s not favorable to Krsna, it’s not devotional service.

Devotee (1): Only activities that are actually decreasing our attachment and desire to satisfy our senses of this material world and ones that are increasing our attachment are then unfavorable, even though that is the big grey area.

Maharaja:  Yes, you could say that, those that decrease our attachment to the material world and increase our attachment to Krsna, but it’s two different kinds. So right now we are dealing with the element of detachment from the material world, because you have always remember Krsna and never forget. So always remember then, He is very nice, very attractive, very sweet, very beautiful, all these very nice qualities. From that we are attracted to Him. But what gets in the way of our being attracted like that is our attraction for the material world, we get distracted. Krsna may be very nice, but there is something else that comes up.

You are in temple, you are absorbed in thinking of the deity and everything is going nice, and then your friend comes up to you and says, hey, did you know that that girl is looking at you, or that boy is looking at you? Bang. What happened to all the nice, the deity and all the things, and I am your servant, it’s gone, wow, what’s that? So it’s gone. Why? Because it just takes precedence, because that’s what we have always done.

Like I remember seeing these two, one of these local they are a variety of these miners, making an unlimited amount of sound. So two of them came down and they sit on the ground right next to each other with their beaks about this much apart and then they start making so much noise, and they swing back and forth while they do this. And their beaks are going, and they are having a whole conversation. And suddenly the conversation stops, because somebody saw a bug. And basically, bang, run off and eat the bug, and the other one gets the bug, and they go that for a couple of seconds, and then they come back and start the same thing. They say, hey, how are you, I haven’t seen you so long. Get over, eat something like that, and then finish it, oh yeah, great, so nice to see you. So we have our priorities.

So that’s the thing, from habit, from being here for so long these priorities are so strong. That’s why there are so many rules to control that. We think, oh, it’s controlling me, it’s not me, it’s not allowing my freedom, it’s not my expression. All it’s doing it’s trying to control all those things. Because otherwise the tendency is we’ll get so absorbed in our little freedoms and our little expressions of ourself of I and mine that we forget the reality of Krsna. That’s the point.

Because it’s like, let us say in a jail, you are in a prison and there is so many restrictions and you think this is cramping my style, and you think that by being able to move around more freely in the prison that you are actually expressing your identity as opposed to not being in the prison, being outside in the free world and being able to move around that according to your needs. So it’s much greater, so therefore then these things will be given.

Just like a child sometimes doesn’t understand the restrictions of the parents, because they want to be free and do whatever they like. But the parent knows better that you are going to grow up one day. So therefore that’s addressed that. So the idea is going back to Godhead is this prominent thing.

So what we are dealing with is the mind doesn’t understand this. Why would we be getting into this? Because they say this is psychology. Why would we be going into this? Because the basic principle, the underlying, if you take it that definition of insanity is not being able to see things as they are. So taking the material world as real, your illusion is real and the spiritual nature not, that means you are crazy. So we are starting from the principle, I guess you could say it’s a Freudian principle, that everybody is basically crazy. So maybe that’s why he only studied crazy people. He is not known for studying normal people. You never hear of any survey that he did where he studied normal people. He only studied crazy people. So you could get a reflection of that, maybe he was right, because everyone in the material world is crazy. So that’s one thing.

And the other thing is that craziness or that illusion then the difference between being workable crazy and clinical crazy is one’s attachment. That’s actually you increase the attachment to the point of unworkableness that is called clinical. So we can understand that these two things, one’s illusion about one’s position, you think you are Napoleon Bonaparte or something like that, that’s the popular one, or you are attached to something to the point of insanity. So you correct these two, you are not in illusion, you are not attached in the way that’s not workable, then you are not crazy. So that’s why then so much detail is put into this.

Because this is basically what they are dealing with, your psychologist is dealing with how to make somebody be able to function normally in what they call normal society. But basically they are just trying to get you to be workable crazy. But the Vedic is to get you to be not crazy, you are actually cured of your insanity. Means what is it, from clinical insane to eccentric, I guess that’s the modern. But the Vedic is to get to the point of actual being situated properly.

That’s why there is not really any difference between Vedic psychology and the Vedic philosophy or the Vedic culture, because they are all trying to do the same thing. Ayurveda is trying to do the same thing, astronomy is trying to do the same thing, they are all doing that, so they are all working, so it will sound very familiar. But technically in this then we get into things that we may not always look at.

Because most of the time, means if it’s always remember Krsna, it’s obvious this it’s Krsna consciousness. But if it’s how to get out of the material energy, to some degree we know, oh, if you are attached it’s maya, and don’t get absorbed in your senses that’s maya and all these different things like that.

Like I just heard a good one yesterday, some devotees were going to do some special thing cook for the deities. And then someone came up with the idea, so maybe we should book the maha plate, so afterwards we can taste and just see if the cooking went nice and this and that. And then one of the group said, don’t be attached, don’t be lusty, this is nonsense, you can’t book the plate. It’s just like ok, but the point is you are cooking for Krsna, it’s also service check afterwards. But no, if it’s anything to do with the senses it’s got to be maya.

So this very simplistic idea of Krsna consciousness works very nicely if it’s always remember Krsna. But if it’s used in the place of never forget Krsna, it becomes a social disaster. Because if you complicate always remember Krsna, then that’s a difficult. But the never forget Krsna, that’s the place where you get distracted. So that’s really where you have to know exactly what’s wrong.

It’s not that the senses are there, you are not going to function…, means you are sitting in this class hearing this knowledge using your eyes and your ears, so using senses and the mind, you are not using something else. So it’s a matter of distinguishing.

So here it’s pointing out, these transformations created from the mode of passion. What does that mean? These transformations are coming because the living entity desires them. The living entity wants to be the controller and enjoyer. But the facility for that is not available in the spiritual world. So it’s created in the material world. Now Krsna has created everything according to His interest. So basically it’s non-different from Him, and so He will function very nicely in moving through this. Because He is the controller and enjoyer, in other words, He is the support of everything created. Then within that what’s created, then the created has variety, it does things. Because being conscious its nature is to always be adjusting, moving, doing something. So then that interaction then Krsna gets pleasure from.

So we are seeing that point of pleasure. What we are not seeing is the basis of that pleasure. Krsna is enjoying with His devotees in the spiritual realm, He is the center of attention. So we see that, so that’s what we like. He is the controller, He is enjoying. We like that, that’s the part we take. What we don’t see is all of that is created by Him and maintained by Him. And that in His control, His control is being under the control. By being under the control of His devotees that’s how you control it. Means mother Yasoda and them they tell Him to dance, He dances for them, that’s how He controls them.

It’s just like in the Vedic marriage ceremony by Gopala Bhatta Goswami, then in there, one of the blessings that the husband gives is, he is talking about his own family, be the controller of my father, be the controller of my mother, be the controller of my sisters and other relatives. But that doesn’t mean she comes in there with her whip and all that and says, alright, we are here. It’s by her affection, by her nice qualities and service you control. So this part is missed by the living entity there. They don’t understand, because they are not male. So there is a projection of what is male, but it doesn’t really work very good.

Like it’s very interesting, you see little girls playing, and then they become the king or the ministers and all that. Therefore they play a male role. But when they play that male role it’s really overemphasized, it’s really melodramatic. They get up there, and yes and this, and do all kinds of things like that. So that’s what we do, because it’s not.

So here that’s why if we talk about always remember Krsna. Krsna is nice, He is sweet, He is out dancing with the gopis, He plays His fruit, flute… He plays His fruit, picks up a tala fruit. Mangoes they really make great sound. That or maybe it’s the old guys, the old fruit… So that part makes a lot of sense to us, very directly. So direct devotional service, bang, immediately we understand. That’s very easy to catch.

But this other part of actually pointing out how we are not God that part bewilders us. Because one, we don’t know what God is anyway, and then we got our own false idea of what it means. So then when we get into this, this starts to get really funny for us. Because we are working on this, it works very nicely, it’s common thing and it’s used in the Vedic culture, but there is a lot more going on, so it doesn’t become the prominent element of the evil element in the society. But in the West, or your world religions, non-Vedic, then the evil element becomes very prominent, the devil and all this kind of thing like that.

So this thing of maya being the one that is doing everything. No, she is not doing anything. Our mess is created by ourself. So we want to enjoy this material energy, we want to enjoy, control and enjoy, so material energy is given to us. So then we then within this try different things. Why the variety? The feminine nature needs the variety, so we have to have that. So then here but it’s generated by someone else. This is still the part we are missing. This is the illusion that even the material manifestation that we are picking and choosing from to control and enjoy is still being generated by the purusa, by the male.

The spiritual realm everything is generated by Krsna. Within that then the devotees make all the decisions, they want to do this, they want to do that, and then Krsna responds with them. The cowherd boys want to play leap frog, He does that with them. They want to play some other game, He does that with them. But He has created that ground on which they are running, He has created the bael fruits that they are playing with, He has created the wells that they are shouting into and saying all kinds of funny names.

So in the same way, even though we are claiming to be the controller and enjoyer the material energy and the options that we can control and enjoy are still created by Krsna. This is where the illusion comes, we don’t recognize that. So therefore it says here, Although thus not existing in reality, means the illusion of not understanding the connection, this manifestation of transformations created from the mode of passion appears real because the self-manifested, self-luminous Absolute Truth exhibits Himself in the form of the material variety of the senses, the sense objects, the mind and the elements of physical nature. So anything that you see here that you want to control and enjoy the only reason it seems real is because it’s Krsna. The dead matter is dead matter. But Krsna as the universal form from the primary creation has entered it. That’s why the first hymn in each of the four Vedas is Purusa-sukta, because everything else is based on that. And the Purusa-sukta is about the primary creation, how Krsna has entered into everything.

Because the point is in the beginning there is nothing. There is nothing to sacrifice. All these primordial sages get together before the creation to have the yajna, but there is nothing to sacrifice, so they take the Lord to sacrifice Him. Because He is substance, so when they bring Him to the sacrificial arena then He expands into everything in the universe.

So everything you see both on the mental plane, the physical thing, the sense, the sense object, the experience of that sense, it’s all Krsna. That’s why it seems real. That’s why when you eat something that that taste you get you feel it’s real. But that apply you ate is just dead matter. But it’s because Krsna has entered it as that taste then that’s why you think it’s real. You smell something, it’s because Krsna is in there, that’s why it’s real. That’s the whole point.

There isn’t anything else other than Krsna. To think anything other than that, that’s illusion. This is the hard part. Because we just want to go, maya – Krsna, we take Krsna, we don’t bother with maya. But at the same time, we don’t get all fanatic about at other place, and we can get also involved in it and everything and be Krsna conscious. But while we are involved we are not thinking about Krsna at all.

So how are you going to deal with your material attachments unless you understand Krsna is in it? Because the only way to elevate yourself is connecting something to Krsna. So unless you can connect your senses and your mind and your needs and desires to Krsna, there is no way, shape, or form you are going to progress in the realm of never forget Krsna.

That’s why, the question comes up, well, how can somebody be advanced, at the same time do so much nonsense? That verse is also coming up here. Because they are many times advancing in always remember Krsna, but not necessarily in never forget Krsna, or they are progressing in a certain area of never forget Krsna, but not in another. They may work on their attachment to the family, but their attachment to position remains, or they are working on the attachment to position, attachment to family remains. But something is going, but progress is there. So we get into this nice black and white. There is good and there is evil, there is God there is the devil, and so therefore you are fully Krsna conscious or you are a complete write-off bozo, and we are being nice about it. So these are problems.

So this is what mataji was saying, that grey area that’s when now we are addressing, and that’s the part that’s painful. Because then if what I am attached to, I am attached to, let’s say, my child, ok, but that means that child is made out of dead matter, what’s there to be attached to? The soul leaves, you are not attached. So the point is that experience you are getting, that perception of childness, that experience that you get of the interaction between parent and child, that’s all Krsna, not the dead matter. The illusion is to think, it’s my child is giving me so much pleasure. But it’s not. It’s Krsna in the form of the energy of this child that gives me pleasure.

So as soon as that’s brought in now we are not dealing with illusion. Now being in a state of not in illusion, now what are you going to do with it? So that means basically then you have to look at, if the childness here is Krsna, then I have to deal with the child as Krsna wants to be dealt with as a child. So what are the rules of that? And therefore since you have taken responsibility of dealing with this particular dead matter in the form of a child, it’s Krsna’s dead matter, He can take care of it very nicely, but you have taken responsibility, so therefore you have duties.

So you perform your duty. That’s what Krsna says first in the Gita. Then with knowledge, you understand what you are dealing with. Then for Krsna, that you are doing this to please Krsna. Remembering Krsna, then it brings it back to Krsna as a person. So this is more internal working of those things. Otherwise, yeah, we have heard it before, do your duty this that bla bla bla, yeah, we have heard that. But this is what it means. This is not something for new bhaktas. New bhaktas don’t see that the experience they get from being with their child, or with their husband, their wife, or going on a vacation, is Krsna. That’s meant for as we become more developed, more advanced. So that’s what Krsna keeps coming back to, because these are the common things.

In the beginning, ok, we just perform the duty. Ok, I take care of my family. But here we are talking about the interaction. The part that everybody wants, but everybody is afraid of. That’s also the best part, the part that we want that’s what we are afraid of. You want to deal with the child, then deal with it right, fully deal with it. No, I only want to deal when I want to deal. That’s cheating. You want to deal with the child, you take the full responsibility. You don’t want to deal with the child, don’t get married, don’t have kids. Very easy.

So even the element that we are saying we need the relationships and you sannyasis don’t understand and all these kind of things. No, the grhastha is the one who doesn’t understand. The sannyasis may also not understand, that’s also. But the point is nobody is understanding. Because if it’s Krsna then how you are only dealing with it part time? How is it you are only dealing on your terms when you want? No, so what are the duties? You can’t make them up, you are dealing with Krsna, you can’t make up your own religion. I mean you can try, some people do, very popular these days. But it’s not going to get you love of Godhead. So that’s why Krsna says, favorable. That service must be favorable. So it’s natural steps you are going through. In this way anything that you have in your world, everything is actually Krsna and can be connected to Krsna. There is nothing that can’t. This idea that only these things can be connected, these things can’t be connected, that is illusion, that is maya, that is atheism.

Devotee (2): Apparently you approach the whole as you really elaborated from the positive, let’s say from the always remember Krsna. But let’s say in this other formula behind to never forget Krsna in the conditioned state. In this other state, in the perfect state, I see the matter and… So that’s its illusion…But from the standpoint of view of the Mayavadi of the impersonalist, he also says that he rejects matter as not real. Could you elaborate please how this matter from the Vaisnava point of view is real because we don’t reject in the sense of the material world as being real.

Maharaja:  We started in the beginning with this element of real and not real. As we mentioned before, you have this parinamavada and vivartavada. Parinama, that’s us? Yes. So parinama means transformation. That’s why this word transformation is always used. Because one aspect of energy is transforming into the next into the next into the next, but it’s all real. The transformation exists, it’s actually there. This table is actually here. Now what I think about this table, my values about this table, if it’s in connection to Krsna, it’s real, if it’s not in connection to Krsna, it’s illusion.

The Mayavadis in vivartavada they just say it’s all an illusion, actually nothing exists, and we in our illusion create it. So they have taken trying to be God to another step, they are addressing this element that God has created everything, so they are saying, I am creating everything, but it’s an illusion, it doesn’t exist. That pillar is not actually there, you just think it’s there. It’s amazing how everybody in this room thinks it’s there, even the bugs think it’s there, they go and land on it. So it’s a very strange philosophy, really trying hard to be God.

What you are dealing with, the child exists, the parent exists, the relationship exists, the duties towards each other exist. What’s the illusion is that you don’t see Krsna in it. That’s actually all it is. Krsna consciousness is very simple. It’s connected to Krsna, then it’s real, it’s pious. It’s not connected to Krsna, it’s not real, it’s impious.

Yudhisthira Maharaja’s chariot touched the ground because he wouldn’t lie for Krsna. All moralists standing with their rock at the wall ready to throw it at the person who has made the sin should take heed at this one. Because it’s whether it’s in connection with Krsna or not that makes it real or not, nothing else. It doesn’t matter, you get together 1000 moralists, still they are all in illusion. 1000 people into justice, 1000 people into the form and rituals of varnasrama but not seeing in connection to Krsna, 1000 people that are into liberation but nothing in connection to Krsna, they are still in illusion. And the most difficulty of all, 1000 people into their senses not in connection are still in illusion.

So notice here, of the variety, so that’s senses, sense objects, the mind and the elements of physical nature. We always look at creation, physical nature. But here we are dealing with the senses, sense objects, and the mind. That’s why we are dealing with the psychology, the subtle aspect of it that generally we avoid. Because the difficulty is if my child is Krsna and that experience I am getting from the parental energy interacting with the child energy is Krsna, then what’s wrong with me enjoying it? It’s not a problem. But are you enjoying it in connection with Krsna? So the illusion or the maya is it’s not in connection with Krsna. Even you recognize it’s Krsna, still you try to enjoy it separately from Krsna, that’s an illusion.

So that’s why just having that intellectual understanding and then making a this is a more intellectual way of rationalizing one’s maya. Now it’s just, we are being practical prabhu, or get real prabhu, or you swamis don’t understand. Then you can get into, no, but it’s Krsna. But that’s what we see here the Hindus, you never bumped into the Hindus? Oh, the baby is Krsna, he is God. Like that, so you have to take care. I have seen it so many times. So they are understanding a little bit more. But still they are in illusion. They are in a nicer illusion, because they think the baby is God, so they are taking care of God very nicely. They don’t get out the cigarettes and everything and burn him and stuff. So they take care very nicely. But still they are in illusion. But they are in a little bit nicer illusion, because they have more knowledge.

But we are talking about going beyond illusion to the point of Krsna consciousness. That means through your attachment to whatever you are attached to you can become liberated. This is the real part that no one wants to buy. That means by being attached to his family he can become liberated from the material world, I guarantee, no brahmacari and sannyasi is going to buy this one. Because it’s grhasthas are nonsense, write-offs and all that. But it’s a fact. But it’s not going to get you love of Godhead. That’s where it falls a little short. You can’t say, ok, this is the complete thing, this is my Krsna…, no, this is the never forget Krsna. What are you doing about always remember? That is the direct aspects, the hearing, the chanting, remembering, serving the deities, associating with the devotees, being in the dhama, that is going to get that side. So that’s the prominent. But because we are so distracted and we are not doing that. We come to the temple once a year on Janmastami night for prasada and I am great devotee. So those other 364 days and 22 hours then that is a problem, because that’s the part where we are always forgetting Krsna.

So this system can connect all that, and as we connect it, it becomes purified, there is less problem. Then the aspect of being able to remember Krsna becomes more easy. One is more inspired to chant and associate with devotees and take part in the festivals, because what’s distracting you isn’t taking you away from Krsna.

Devotee (3): I wanted to ask about the consciousness when we are having relationship and dealing with people in a Krsna conscious way. Because they have their own free will and their understanding, so it’s really easy to make mistake.

Maharaja:  That’s the fun. Wouldn’t it be nice if everybody just did what you wanted them to do?

Devotee (3): I would like to get some advice on this, how to actually have a good attitude, to remember Krsna in those…

Maharaja:  How to remember Krsna? The thing is to remember Krsna you have to be conscious. So the first thing is being conscious. So the difficulty in relationships much of the time that we run into then is that we are not conscious. We go into a situation in a relationship with an idea of what we want to get out of it, rather than actually what the situation is. So that means we go into a situation in the mode of passion, means we are in the future. We are dealing with the situation already as we have gotten the results we want. So how will you actually have a relationship? Because a relationship is in the present, not in the future or the past, it’s right now. So that means you have to be conscious of the present and what is the other person doing right now, and then respond to that.

Devotee (3): Yes, but sometimes even if we do that, the other person is doing something and it is so easy to…

Maharaja:  But this so easy, the so easy means what? The so easy means 1/11 of a second. That’s what you are supposed to be dealing in. If you are dealing in any bigger time span than 1/11 of second you will make a mistake, it will go wrong. You are not dealing in the moment. A moment is 1/11 of a second, that is the present. The present is the size of 1/11 of a second. That means you are aware of everything, when you are talking and this and that, you are noticing everything, the moods, the aspect, everything about what’s going on, and so therefore you are using the appropriate language, appropriate conversation, tone of voice everything like that, and if you don’t…

That’s the thing, the responsibility. You want it to work that the other person just go, there is some easy trick, there is never an easy trick. It’s all work. So because of the mode of ignorance we are lazy, we don’t want to work. The spiritual world they are people who are not lazy, therefore they are given bodies that don’t get fatigued, don’t get hungry, don’t get thirsty, because they are willing to work 24/7. Because relationship means interaction, there is no such thing as non-interaction. That is a thing.

You have a pair of shoes, you like these shoes, they are special, but they sit in your closet until you want to interact with them. Then you get them out and they are all special, and then you put them back in the closet and don’t wear them again for three months. So it works very nice if it’s dead matter. But even then what you like about it is still Krsna, the experience that you get, the aesthetics of it, the reactions it gets from others, that’s still Krsna, but we are not recognizing that.

So we want to do the same thing with people. They should respond and act just like dead matter. When I want to put in the energy, then they are there and interacting with me when I want on my terms. And when I don’t want, then they should somehow or another be in some kind of neutral state or somewhere else doing something else and keeping themselves busy and I don’t have to give any energy. That’s the problem it’s laziness. We are looking at everything as dead matter, we associate with dead matter so much we become like that. And we expect everyone is going to respond. No, they are a sentient living entity that you have to work. It’s work.

That’s why Arjuna wants to go to the forest to just do nothing, and Krsna is saying, no, you got to work. You are going to do it anyway. You are going to work but it’s going to be on your terms. So you do it on your terms you stay in the material world. You work on Krsna’s terms you get out of the material world, you go back to Godhead.

So that’s the thing, relationship means responsibility. And if you are not willing to take responsibility, you don’t enter relationships. That’s why modern management is so popular, because there is no responsibility. You have authority, but no responsibility. But that means it’s an impersonal forum. The cooperate forum is you have authority, but no responsibility.

So that’s how we deal in the modern in relationships. Means where do you hear things of you have a family, your commitments to the family, the family is the most important thing, the greatest gift in the world is family, and without family you have nothing, and all your identity is family? Where do we hear that? So we hear this in the First World? No. You hear this in the Third World. And they are have more better working relationships, because they take responsibility of relationships. I am in this family, therefore I have a duty to this family. So it’s not just me, it’s the whole family values, what grandpa, grandma, whoever is the head of the family, says. But First World, you are cut free, do whatever you like. Grandma, your old man is in the nursing home, so hey.

So this whole thing of responsibility is not there, even though they claim to be. They are very authoritative the modern culture, but it is totally irresponsible. While these Third World countries are very responsible, but the problem is their control is not very great. But as they have learned the techniques of the modern then you see, this Third World is taking over and after a while, it’s like in California and Los Angeles, those that are from a white cocasion background can actually apply in the schools to create a minority club, and they are still in illusion going on thinking that they are the lords of the world. When it is very obvious that the Asians and others are taking over real fast.

So it’s a very, very inferior culture. Economically it’s very good, it’s a bourgeois culture, that’s what it was. The Bourgeois in France took over, they killed the king. The Bourgeois in Russia took over, they killed the king. And all times the Bourgeois taking over and getting rid of authority, and then taking their own authority. And what’s the basis? Economics. They want to move up, the noble caste and the aristocracy is enjoying, they want that. So then they make politics by going to the mass, because they only have money, they go to the mass, they get the force that they can take over the nobility in that.

So it’s a bourgeois culture. It’s only good for economics, bas. It’s not for anything else, it has no concept of relationship. So because of this, no one is trained in it. And no one is trained to take responsibility.

So that means you want the relationship to work, you got to take responsibility to make it work. Don’t say, oh, but what about the other person? Don’t worry about the other person. You can’t control the other, you can control your own mind and senses how you deal in the relationship. It’s their business, it’s their duty to take care of them. But whether they deal nice or not, it’s your…

The child is behaving nicely, the child is being a total brat, the parent has still the responsibility. It can’t say, when my kid’s nice I am the parent, and when they are not, hey, I don’t know him. It’s like child welfare come and knocking on your door if that’s your attitude.

So that’s the whole point, you take this, you’ll find all your relationships improve immediately. You take the responsibility to make it work from your side how you can to the best of your ability, you find all your relationships improve that moment.

Devotee (3): Does that mean that the spontaneous acting has to be… because we have to monitor all our actions and…

Maharaja:  Spontaneity has to be monitored.

Devotee (3): …

Maharaja:  That’s the beginning. See now it’s very important here, how why is this important? This comes up, this is a very, very actually important point of this need of spontaneity.

The masculine it’s not seen so much of spontaneous, it’s just being your own man. In the feminine it comes out as spontaneity. It’s the same thing. So it’s actually a very important element, the need to be able to be spontaneous. Because regulated, restricted then translated as boring. And that’s why basically no one wants to be restricted, because they think it will be boring, and because you are that, your experiences will go down and so you are not what you could do to fulfill yourself, your own needs will not be addressed. And therefore that’s why we stay away from Vedic culture and anything that actually controls us.

But here the point is, Krsna says, act in knowledge. So we see from the Vedic method of study and learning that you hear something, that’s sravanam, that’s the first stage. The second stage is you contemplate it and practice it. So that stage of practicing, yes, it’s controlled by what you know. But with time you become actually good at it. And when you are good at it that’s where spontaneity naturally comes up. If you don’t know what you are doing, where is the spontaneity?

Means the person doesn’t know anything about dancing, or let’s use another one because that doesn’t work so much for us, let’s say music. They don’t know music, you tell them, be spontaneous, make some music. What are they going to do? They are going to do some really stupid. Now then they know some music, then they can only kind of do what they do. So you say, hey, do something, then they’ll do the same thing every time. But now they really know music, then they can improvise and do anything, and it’s perfectly within the parameters of music.

So it’s by knowledge and practice that spontaneity comes. This is what the sahajiyas don’t know. Unfortunately this is also what the Americans don’t know, they think anything that restricts then I won’t be happy. No, you want to be happy, you have to restrict it, bring it in line and practice it until you know the field so well that then you can be spontaneous, then… So the same in devotional service, raganuga-bhakti is based on vaidhi-bhakti. You don’t practice vaidhi, you are not going to get to raganuga. It just doesn’t happen. Raga means that you are so practiced at it, now the spontaneity comes out.

So the point is you have to restrict it, means that you have to restrict it, means you don’t know much about the field, so it means you don’t know the relationships, that’s why it seems it’s a restriction. But if you actually understand the relationship, you understand this is what is going to get that spontaneous interaction I am dying for and everybody around me is dying for, but they refuse to accept the process.

It’s like saying, I want to be able to read this book. Ok, sit down here, a, b, c. No, I don’t want to be restricted, I just want to read the book. That’s what we are hearing. And they say this with real attitude in their 3P suits in their limousines. And then we read their self-help books and do the same thing. So it’s just ignorance. 

So that’s what’s being pointed out here, it’s absolute total ignorance and illusion to think that the thing is not connected to Krsna and that there is not a process given by Krsna that you can follow and attain perfection. And if you think you are going to make it up yourself and it doesn’t come from Krsna you are in illusion, that’s it. It’s that simple.

So here is being given then the process of it. So this one thing if that’s accepted then we can go to this level of understanding the mind. Because you have to understand the mind is dealing with the senses and sense objects, that’s all it does. So unless you actually understand the senses and sense objects in connection to Krsna you can’t actually understand how to bring the mind to Krsna consciousness.