Nama Retreat. Session 4
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · Govardhan · 2024
Chapters
Mangalacharana and introductory prayers
Om ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā | cakṣunmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ || śrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale | svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam || vande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuga-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca | śrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-ragunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sajīvam || sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ | śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca || namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te | kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ || he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sīndho dīna-bandho jagat-pate | gopeśa gopikākānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te || tapta-kāñcana-gauṅgīrāṁ rādhā-vṛndāvaneśvari | vṛsabhānu-sutā-devī praṇamāmi hari-priye || vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca | patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ ||
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda | śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda ||
hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare | hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare || hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare | hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare || hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare | hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare ||
yāṁ taṁ praviśya mama vācam imāṁ prasuptāṁ saṁjīvayaty akhila-śakti-dharaḥ svadhāmnā | anyāṁś ca hasta-caraṇa-śravaṇa-tvag-ādīn prāṇān namo bhagavate puruṣāya tubhyam ||
apācāṁ viśālaḥ prasīdatāṁ dayantu bhūtāni śivaṁ midotaye | manas ca bhadraṁ bhajatāt akṣa-javeśat no matir abhyāniatukī ||
ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeśa-sutayas tad-dhāma vṛndāvanam | ramyā kācid upāsanā vraja-vadhū-vargenā yā kalpitā | śrīmad-bhāgavatam pramāṇam amalaṁ premā pum-arthō mahān | śrī-caitanya-mahāprabhor matam idaṁ tatrādaraḥ na paraḥ ||
Recap on body and emotions
Hare Krishna. Pranna M, Bagawate. Spaça, Vishalah, Prasidatam Deyantu Bhutani Shivam Mitodia Manascha Badram Bajatata Doksha Javesat no Mati Rabya Aituki Aradi Bhagavan Brajay Satanayastama Vrindavam, Ramyaka Chidupassanavraja Vadu Vargenia Calpitam, Srimad Bhagavatam, Rama Malam, Premapumartamahan, Sri Chaitanya Mahabrabhur Matamidam tatradaruna parahan. Hare Krishna.
So again, thank you very much for coming for these lectures, where we are trying to understand how turn our body from the instrument of bondage into the instrument of devotion.
The human body is given to the soul specifically for this purpose. To help the soul to develop bhakti and in this way get free from the enslavement of matter.
The soul belongs to the higher energy of the Lord, but somehow or other it has become weakened by the intimate contact with māyā. And this humiliating condition in which we are all in is painful.
So we spoke a little bit yesterday about this how the bondage, material bondage, what is the mechanism of material bondage, how the material emotions, which is the purpose of our existence, we exist here to experience some emotions, some emotional states.
And it's equally true in case of material existence and spiritual existence. In both cases, the goal is to experience some emotions. Spiritual emotions or material emotions. Emotions are emotions.
But if these emotions are the instrument of our ego or the byproduct of our ego, the product of our false identity. And then these emotions are called material.
And if the same emotions are the product of spiritual ego, spiritual understanding of my identity, spiritual relationship in which I want to enter, then this is spiritual emotions.
Somebody asked this question in the big stack of questions which I have. You know, if I cry being separated with my guru, is it material? Is it sentimental as somebody says, or is it really spiritual? No, it's spiritual.
Because where these tears are coming from, these tears are coming from this understanding.
I'm spiritual living entity, and I want to realize my relationship with Krishna, and the only way for me to realize this relationship with Krishna is to enter into relationship with guru.
Because this ego, this formal figure, this structural figure is there, then whatever is produced by this ego is spiritual. Of course there is serotonin and dopamine in the background, but it doesn't matter.
The chemical mechanism may be similar. Of course it may be different in some cases too.
But the emotion itself, the movement, the energy which is produced in the heart, which pushes us in certain direction in life, pushes us to act in a certain way, is actually spiritual.
So don't be fooled by wise advices of some you know philosophically minded devotees. You're sentimental. No, you're spiritual. Because your understanding of who you are is spiritual. Your structure of your ego is spiritual.
I am the spirit soul, and I am entering into the it may be, you know uh slightly material to a certain extent, but still the the very basis of it, the very spine of our ego is uh is spiritual.
So we were talking about this and we were talking how the material emotions are uh in most cases uh the emotions of stress.
And the cause of stress is this understanding that I want the world to be the way I want it to be, and the world somehow or other is always behaves differently. And therefore it creates righteous indignation in myself.
How dare he is, how dare it is to behave not the way I want it to behave. You know, we basically all want to make the world rotate around us. And it's a pretty difficult job, you know. But still we try.
And as a result, we become frustrated, and this frustration is called stress, you know, this is what it is. We are trying to make everything my way, and ultimately we're hitting a high way and high way of saṁsāra, high way of this punarjanma.
So that's what is going on.
So this is what we were discussing uh yesterday, and we were also trying to understand how emotional mechanism within our body works and how it produces certain chemical reactions and how these chemical reactions in turn also influence our mind.
How they're interconnected, and this interconnection actually helps us to break through this vicious circle. So this is more or less the little recap of what we uh did yesterday.
And of course, we also saw how the uh soul uh is looking into the mirror of false ego and by looking into the mirror of false ego, mind the mirror of the mind, adopts the qualities of the mind.
The stable and very pure soul looking in the mirror of the mind adopts the quality of dirty mind or imitates the quality of dirty mind.
Ego's role in human emotions
Thinks that he is the same. So today we'll speak.
It's very important what we are going to do today because it will give us the key, very important understandings and keys of what our spiritual practice should be in reality.
So we will look at the role of ego in the emotions.
I spoke about the structure of emotions, how they enslave us. Now, today we will look how the ego is the switchboard. How it switches on and off different emotions, and how it ultimately can produce spiritual emotions.
And how to get rid of the false identity, false ego. So that we will all speak about today. And the most, the best news of today's presentation will be that to get rid of ego is very easy.
Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, I will quote this verse in the presentation. He quotes Yoga Vāsiṣṭha and he says some authorities like Vāsiṣṭha say that to get rid of ego is as easy as to pluck a flower or to blink an eye.
So within a blink of an eye we will get rid of our ego, no problem. So that's that's the hope for today. So let's uh begin with this. So this ego is a switchboard. Yeah I will I will show you how it works physiologically.
So there's little plan, we first speak about the tenth offense, which is exactly speaking against the holy name.
And this tenth offense is speaking about the pernicious effects of false ego, how the false ego precludes us from experiencing the real holy name.
Then we will discuss a very difficult question: who experienced emotions? Is it soul or ego?
Because in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam itself, there are two completely contradictory statements. In one statement, it is said that the experiencer is the soul, in another statement, it is said, no, it is ego experiencing this. So we will resolve this apparent contradiction.
Then we will look in the nature of chitta of our mind or heart, which has reflective abilities. And then last three points of our plan for today, we will go little bit in depth about the three aspects of false ego.
We will see the three distortions and three illusions created by ego. And ultimately we will try to understand the three steps, how to purify our ego, how to get rid of the false ego. So that's the plan for today.
So as I'm trying to connect these things together because Śaraṇāgati means to get rid of the false ego, Śaraṇāgati means to surrender, Śaraṇāgati ultimately means Ātma-nikṣepa. And Ātma-nikṣepa means I am throwing myself to the Lord, I am giving myself completely to the Lord.
The tenth offense against holy name
So that's ego. And uh as I said, the bhakti starts only after Śaraṇāgati, only after Śaraṇāgati is completed.
And therefore, in the descriptions of the ten offenses of the holy name in Padma Purāṇa, the verse is Śrutepi nāma-māhātmye yaḥ prīti-rahito naraḥ, adhamaḥ paramo nāma-niḥsōpy aparādha-kṛt.
Hamma Madi Paramo nam ni sopya parada kriet. This is the last offense to the holy name, the last but not the least. It's actually the most important offense.
It's the most subtle offense, but from this offense all other offences grow. It's the seed of all offences. And I will prove this by quoting Srila Jiva Goswami commentary on this particular offense.
So, Shrutepi Namo Mahatmyeya priti rahitonaraha. Literally it is said, if somebody is devoid of love, pretty, pretty rahitaha, uh to the holy name, uh, even though he shrute heard Nama Mahatmiya,
the glory of Nam, and still he doesn't develop any pretty love to the holy name. Aham Mahmadi Paramo, he's still Paramaha, he still considers himself and whatever is connected with him the most important.
Paramaha means the most important. Nam ni sopya paradha ghrit. So this is he is also a paradigh. He is also such a person is also an offender. So, first question is of course how we can have pretty?
You know it's a little strange to expect that we have pretty to the holy name from the very beginning. So therefore, Srila Jiva Goswami explains, priti rahita Namni priti, Shradha Bhakti Rva.
So the word priti here doesn't mean love. The word priti here means Shraddha. The faith in the Holy Name or devotion to the Holy Name. Basically, when we hear the glory of the Holy Name, this faith
should appear and enthusiasm should appear. Yes. I will chant the Holy Name, I will serve the Holy Name, no matter what. So that's what it means. In the beginning, we should have faith after hearing this.
We hear it again and again and again, and the faith should develop. If faith doesn't develop, the deep faith, real faith doesn't develop, that will create aparadhas. That will create aparadhas.
And Srila Jiva Goswami explains this particular offense in the following manner: Ya tacham haham mamma adi paramaha, a hamta mamata adi ekat paryena tasmin anadarat naadaravan ityata.
So what it means that despite hearing the glory of the holy name, you still ahanta mamata adi eka Tatparyena. Tatparya means context. Literally the word tatparya means context or the meaning.
So basically what Srila Jiva Goswami here says is that even though you hear about the importance of the holy name, you still bring everything into your own context. You still remain self-centered.
You know, because this is our usual way of seeing the world. We're bringing it into our context. If something is contextual to us, if something is related to us, then we are interested in it.
And if something is not really within our context, we are neglectful to it. So that's a very important process which we have to be careful about. Actually, the Holy Name is not within our context.
We are in the context of the Holy Name. It's vice versa. We are a part of the Holy Name. We are a part of reality of the Holy Name. We are a tiny little part of reality of the Holy name.
But instead, we are trying to bring it under us. We are trying to make it serve us.
And the most important word here is, uh, anādara-vat. Uhar means other means what, like you all have other cart. Ādar means respect. Ādar means, uh, respect.
Kintvādara-vān-mala-śuddhaye juṣṭaḥ. If you do it with other, with respect, uh, with due respect, then the Holy Name will open Himself to you.
But because you are still the center, you didn't really remove yourself from the center. Your ego is still in the center. You're still trying to bring everything into the context of yourself, then
you remain anādara-vān, means this suffix pratyaya, vat-pratyaya. Anādara-vān. This vat-pratyaya in Sanskrit means that something is inherent to you. Please listen, it's a very important idea which I want to say.
Unless we remove ourselves from the center, we will remain inherently disrespectful. The disrespect will remain our nature. Externally we may behave, and that's good, we may behave respectfully.
But if we are still in the center of our existence, then this respect will remain our nature. That's the most important thing.
This is the idea behind this anādara-vān, ity-arthaḥ. So yeah. So yeah, this is what I wanted to say. So that's why it's very important to understand what is the structure of our ego,
where it is, and how it works, how it produces different illusions, how to get rid of this illusion. So that will be the topic of today.
And in fact, because we remain anadhara, because we remain disrespectful, in particular to the Holy Name, so this last offense becomes the seed of all other offenses and ultimately it will give a big tree with a lot of juicy fruits of offences to the holy name.
So it's very subtle, very little, you know, seed. You know, aham mameti paramam. I am in the center. I am the most important. Everything else is not so important.
So from that to satam-ninda it's actually very short way because it's a fast growing tree. Very soon you will be offending left and right uh everyone trying to prove that you're the best devotee.
And everyone should respect you, otherwise he will commit an offense of the against the holy name. So that's that's how it works.
So therefore, this tense offense we have to understand very clearly, and basically to get rid of the tense offense means Sharanagati.
And as I explained yesterday, also, it's very important that this period of our devotional service from Shradha to Nishta is the period of planting the seed of devotion.
The bhakti-latā-bīja is not planted when you have Shraddha. It just thrown into your heart. Whether it will grow or not remains to be seen. Yeah, little seed is there, but it only really
planted and rooted within your heart when you reach niṣṭhā. In between, this is the painful planting period. We have a little project to which we will all go tomorrow.
And we're you know, the land there is not very good. So we know how difficult it is. We are planting something.
And before planting something, we have- to dig the hole and put some cow urine and cow dung and you know so many other things before this seed or seedling can be really planted.
So that's the process and basically this is the process of removing this tenth offense or adopting the process of śaraṇāgati or adopting the elevated emotions of Sharanagati.
So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura explains this offense, the tenth offense in Harinama Chintamani. Anyone who does not surrender in these six ways is the lowest of persons. Making the mistake of thinking in terms I and mine, he is worthless like a pile of ashes.
You know, it's like after cremating the body, there is a pile of ashes. So such a person is like a pile of ashes. He thinks, I am the doer, this family is mine.
I experience happiness and suffering as a result of my own efforts. I am the protector. I give shelter. This is my wife. And this is my brother. These are my daughters. These are my sons. I earn money because of my efforts.
All I do turns out well. In this way all becomes good.
Persons who have turned their faces from the Lord, from Lord Krishna, persons who think in terms of I and mine, speak in this way, they are very proud of what they think they know. They may have elaborate knowledge of various skills and crafts, but because of their impious deeds, they do not know that the Supreme Lord controls everything.
So that's the explanation of this offense by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura.
Experiencing emotions through the ego
So by establishing how important it is to get rid of the false ego. We have to really understand what this false ego is. And before this, we will yeah, we will see the role of ego in the experience of emotions.
So, as I promised to you, there are two verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which speak completely different things.
In the third canto, Lord Kapila says, Karia Kara Nakartritve Karanam prakriti m viduhu a Bokritve Sukka dukhanam pur sham prakritehparam.
The cause of the conditions soul, material body, senses, and the senses presiding deity is the demigods is the material nature. This is understood by learned man, Vidhu.
The feelings of happiness and distress of the soul, who is transcendental by nature, are caused by the spirit soul himself.
So, bhoktritve, the bhaktra, the experiencer, the sufferer or the enjoyer of sukha and Dukkha of this material world is Purusha, the soul, which is beyond prakriti.
Purusham prakriti ehparam. This is what Lord Kapila says. And Lord Krishna says, exactly the opposite thing. So in the spiritual world there are some disagreements as well. It's not only in the material world.
Shoka Harsha Bayakrodha Lobha Moha Sprihadayaha Ahankarasya Drishante Janmum Ritius Cha Natmanaha.
Lamentation, elation, fear, anger, greed, confusion, and hankering, as well as births and deaths, are experiences of false ego and not the pure soul. So this is again a very obvious contradiction
Here it is said that this is false ego and the soul doesn't experience this. There it is said that no, actually uh soul is the bhokteri. He is the experiencer.
So here how Vishwanachakravati Thakur reconciles this apparent contradiction in the commentary to the last verse.
He says, fear and lamentation are not qualities of Atman, since one does not see these qualities during deep sleep. Very important observation. You know, when you go to deep sleep, do you have a fear in a deep sleep?
Do you lament about something? No. You just happily sleep. You may have fourth stage of cancer. But if you happen to go to the deep sleep, you're very happy in this condition.
You're not affected by all these turmoils which are taking place in your mind. You are peaceful there in a deep sleep.
And therefore, this uh uh shoka, moha, bha Baya and everything else which is listed in the previous verse, Shoka Harsha, the jubilation, Baya, Kroda, Moha, Loba, Spriha, Spriha means desire.
So this, are not part of the soul because when the soul is free from the Supadis of gross and subtle bodies, then the soul is basically peaceful and happy by its own happiness. So and why?
Because at that point Ahankara also goes to sleep. It would be nice to go into deep sleep and start chanting there. It would be very pure chanting. Totally offenseless. But unfortunately we don't know how to do it.
But then he reconciles so explains what Krishna means by stating that this is all the qualities of Ahankara. Though Hankara is responsible for lamentation and fear, for all these emotions, very important.
Ahankara is responsible for all these negative stressful emotions, which we talked about yesterday. Ahankara does not experience them since it is unconscious.
Jadatva, jadatvat. Because it's jada, jada, it's unconscious, it's just mentor, it doesn't experience it. It doesn't have this Anubawa of this experience of this. Thus saṁsāra does not belong to ahaṅkāra either.
So basically, what is saying, what Lord Krishna is saying here, the same thing which we spoke yesterday is that ahaṅkāra produces these emotions.
But the soul looking in the mirror of citta of ahaṅkāra on distorted image thinks I am experiencing this. This is my experience.
Three brain sections and ego functions
So we will go deeper into this thing. But first, I wanted to show you a very interesting thing: how the ego becomes the switchboard of emotions, and how it is very clearly could be seen from the structure of our brain.
The scientists who study the structure of the brain, they discovered three distinct portions of the brain.
Neocortex, the most developed part of our brain, which regulates our higher activities like speech and so many other things, thinking and everything else. So this is neocortex.
And this is rational or thinking brain, and basically this is the abode of buddhi. This is the instrument of buddhi.
Buddhi is a subtle element, but it uses the gross machine of the brain and the part of the brain which the buddhi operates is this neocortex very developed ration conscious part of our conditioned consciousness.
Down the neocortex there is limbic brain or emotional brain, the feeling brain. It's actually manas. Manas is the feeling mind which says, I like this and I don't like this and I very much like this and I hate this.
So, this limbic brain, our emotional system. And then down there, in the very bottom of the brain, there is reptilian brain.
They say that this is, you know, development, evolutionary development, whatever they think, it's okay with us as long as it agrees with our philosophies. So, this reptilian brain actually is the instrument of ego.
Neocortex is the instrument of the body, limbic system, emotional system, is the instrument of mind. And actually, when you study carefully this limbic system, you will see this dual nature of limbic system.
There will be amygdala, left amygdala, right amygdala, amygdala positive thinking amygdala and negative thinking amygdala. You know, some optimistic amygdala and pessimistic amygdala. You know, all this kind of emotion encoded into the mechanism of the brain.
But the most important and hidden portion of it is ahaṅkāra. And it uses the stem area as its you know it's a board. So ahaṅkāra is there. Ahaṅkāra is actually in the spine.
And therefore, when people uh when their uh ego uh becomes damaged or loosened, uh what happens with them?
It's actually the damage of this area uh and when they are very you know when when their ego is very healthy, how they sit like? You know, just look around and see who is healthy, who is not.
So uh so this uh reptile brand is the area which regulates ego, but how it works? This is where I'm taking the title of this lecture from
actually: everything starts in the ego. All the basic instincts, especially the survival instinct, is there in the STEM area. Actually, that's why when you have and uh hemorrhage uh in the brain.
If it's in the neocortex uh you know you may become a little impaired in your speech, but actually you're okay. If it's in the limbic system, it's more But uh if the
hemorrhage, if the insult, uh if this uh how you call this stroke uh takes place in the stem area, it's in practically hundred percent cases, fatal or one becomes total vegetable.
There is one glaring example, exception of this case is Jayapatākā Mahārāja. He had huge, huge damage of his stem area. And he's, I mean, he's as clear as usual.
It's a miracle. From the medical point of view, it's a miracle. But what I want to say is that this is the most important part. And this part, ego, switches the emotional system.
An emotional system uh modifies our thinking process. This is how it works.
Impulse is coming from ego, then the emotional system is being switched on in a certain way by our ego, and then this emotional system modifies our thinking process.
That's how it is in reality, and therefore I say that ego is the switchboard of emotions. This is where the bottom emotional bottom are in our ego portion.
So, and therefore in the next verse, uh we just read the 15th verse of the 28th chapter of 11th Kanto. In the next verse, Krishna says, the ahaṅkāra, which is the covering of jīva.
So this is the most subtle or gross, I don't know. It's the deepest covering. There are many layers on our conscious atom of the soul. But ahaṅkāra is this deepest layer which assumes the form
by the guṇas and karma which is called by many names. Sutra, Sutra means prana, Mahatva, Body, Senses, Life and Mind, and which is dependent on the Lord, made jiva, accept its quality for continuation of saṁsāra.
So we're going in the most deeper region of our conditioned consciousness, which is ahaṅkāra and which takes many shapes and forms. Sutra, mahatva, body, senses, life here. This is where we will go.
And it will be a very dangerous journey. So let's be prepared for it. Yeah. So the soul uh uh uh having nightmares uh in connection with ahaṅkāra. And actually, you know, we all uh nightmare of the soul.
You know, when you come in front of the mirror, look in the mirror, and tell this is the nightmare of my soul. Such a horrible nightmare.
Nature and qualities of pure chitta
Don't look at yourself and say, oh such a nice, you know that's what some No, just say this is nightmare which I see now.
So uh So the mirror in which we see uh Lord Chaitanya says Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, this darpana. And actually, this uh Sanskrit word darpana is very interesting because Darpa means what? Pride. Darpa means pride.
And na means uh yeah. All Russian speaking divorces know, what does it mean? Nah. Na means na. To give. Dartana means the giver of the pride.
When we look in the mirror, uh, you know, we are receiving the pride which the mirror is giving to us. We are looking in the mirror. So Krishna gave us this dharpana.
He gave to every one of us this darpana in which we can look. And this darpana is called chitta or the heart or mind.
And you know, and you can see, you know, you probably if you come to the mirror uh you know imperceptibly for yourself uh the expression on your face will change, you know, you will just. So
this is the mirrored darpana, uh ceto-darpana. So we will first see the nature of Chitta. Very important. Originally the Chitta is very pure. Śrīla Prabhupāda will explain it in the purport of this verse.
Svācchatvām avikāritvām śāntatvam iti cetasaḥ. Cetasa Chitta is svācchatvam, it has the quality of svācchatva, purity. Avikāritvam, it's unchanged, it's not changeable. I mean it's actually very sweet.
And śāntatvam, it's very peaceful.
So the original citta, which we all have, luckily, the original piece of mirror which is given to every one of us has a very amazing qualities, uh purity, uh the undistorted and uh very uh peaceful.
So, uh vṛttibhir vilakṣaṇaḥ proktaḥ yathāpam Prakritihpara. Kapiladeva is comparing the original citta, which we all have with Apam. Apam means water.
And in the original uncontaminated state, water before it contacts the earth. Even though it's not mentioned here, the earth, but Śrīla Prabhupāda translates it in this way.
So when the water, before touching the earth, it's clear, it's sweet, and it's unruffled. This is the three qualities of pure water. And this is the three qualities of pure citta, which we all have.
The characteristic traits of pure consciousness are complete serenity, clarity, and freedom from distractions.
So that's it is, and Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in the purport, very importantly, small, short purport, the pure consciousness one can perceive in the pure, in pure consciousness, one can perceive a slight reflection of the supreme personality of Godhead.
So when now consciousness becomes pure, the dim reflection, some reflection of God is there. It may be visible form of God, it may be just feeling He is there. Just very clear feeling, yes, he is there.
Somebody is watching me. I'm not alone. I'm never alone. So that's the characteristic of pure consciousness. As in clear unagitated water, free from impurities,
one can see everything clearly, so in pure consciousness or Krishna consciousness, one can see things as they are. Therefore, Prabhupada very proudly called his Bhagavad-gītā, Bhagavad- Gītā As It Is.
So, because it's as it is, you know. The scientists will never say it's as it is. They say, you know, I think it is maybe like this.
And then of course they're sure that it's like this, but uh for the sake of courtesy and etiquette they will say, oh, maybe like this.
And somebody says, No, no, uh you are actually wrong. Uh I think it's like this, but I may be mistaken, but you are wrong, that's for sure. This is how they talk.
Nowadays I listen to many scientists and they always say, yeah, I may be mistaken, but you're wrong for sure. So one can see the reflection of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and one can see his own existence as well.
When the consciousness becomes clear, when the citta becomes clear, we can see our real nature, the real nature of our soul. This state of consciousness is very pleasing, transparent, and sober.
In the beginning, the consciousness, consciousness is pure. So, originally we have this ability, this apparatus, this instrument given to us by God.
And actually the purpose of spiritual practice is ceto-darpaṇa- mārjanam, to reinstate our heart or our mind into its original pure condition.
As you can see, if the water is very still, then you can see very accurately the reflection in the water. So that's what we want to achieve ultimately.
So Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains the same thing because Śrīla Prabhupāda closely follows him. But to make to emphasize certain things, I
will give the original Sanskrit for these three qualities. Svācchatam, what is svācchatam? Svācchatam, you all know svācchatā. Svācchatam means purity, cleanliness.
When citta is clean, then bhagavad-bimba-grāhītvam. It takes the reflection of Bhagavan. Bhagavad-bimba. The bimba, the reflection of God is reflected. Grāhītvam, it reflects, it obtains the form of God.
Avikaritvam, what is avikaritvam? The next quality avikāritvam laya-vikṣepa-rahityam. Avikaritvam means that the pure consciousness free from the influence of lower guṇas. It's very sāttvik by nature.
Citta is sāttvik itself, and when it's pure, then there is no manifestation of tamo-guṇa and rajo-guṇa. Tamo-guṇa is manifest as how? What is the most important manifestation of tamo-guṇa? Laya. What is laya?
Laya means destruction. Laya means destruction—not destruction, laya means complete, complete covering of the consciousness. Sleep. Laya means dullness.
You know, sometimes you may not be sleeping, but it probably would be better if you slept, because you're so dull. You're apparently awake, but still you're so dull.
So that's tamo-guṇa, and vikṣepa means—vikṣepa means distraction. Complete loss—completely lost of concentration.
You're not concentrated at all, you're just clicking, you know, all these pages in the browser, and you're distracted.
So that's the nature of pure citta, pure mind, no influence of lower guṇas—laya-vikṣepa rahityam, and śāntatvam rāgādi rahityam.
And the third quality of the pure consciousness is śāntatva, peacefulness, and it basically means that there is no lower emotions. Rāga, bhaya, krodha, etc.
The stressful emotions which we talked about yesterday will be completely absent in the pure mind. You will be totally, completely happy and peaceful. So, that's the quality, original quality of our chitta.
But when the false ego covers the citta, it's like a very dark cloud covering the citta, and the consciousness is hardly coming through this dark cloud as you see in this picture, like sun rays can hardly penetrate these dark clouds of consciousness.
So, that's what ahaṅkāra is. That's how the mirror of our mind looks now.
How false ego obscures the soul
Congratulations to all of you. So, you know, some dim light is coming through, but we don't really know, and there is a lot of dirt in it. And that's why we have to really clean it every day.
So the false ego is the transformation of citta in tamo-guṇa. First mahattva, when mahattva is transformed into tamas, uh then uh uh ahaṅkāra uh appears, and then when uh tāmasa-ahaṅkāra is contacting with uh rajas, and then uh senses and uh uh yeah, senses develop.
So sometimes we say that senses are rājasika. No, they are rājasika transformation of tāmasika ego. They are basically tāmasika.
Everything which is coming after false ego is tāmasika, it's under the mode of tamas. So everything which we see is tāmasika.
We perceive through this lens of tamas, and this tamas is very thick, the layer of tamas is very thick. So before we surrender, we are tāmasika. And therefore, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that, you know, I'm adhama.
When the false ego is intact, when it's not really uh removed, then we're lowest of the men. And as soon as the false ego is removed by the process of surrender, we become who? Yeah. That's that's what it is.
That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to become uttama. And see, just imagine this is the soul, the little tiny soul which emanates consciousness.
It's covered by the layer of sāttvika citta, conditioned consciousness, the first mirror which we have. And then on the top of this, we have this thick layer of ahaṅkāra, which is dirty and dark.
And the little soul is inside it. And then something is coming from outside, and before it reaches the soul, it goes through this layer of ahaṅkāra.
And what can reach to the soul when it's filtered through this layer of ahaṅkāra? Only matter. This is the filter, material filter which we have. Only matter can—when we have ego, everything which we perceive is matter.
We cannot really perceive anything spiritual because of this—of this ahaṅkārika consciousness.
And therefore, when we chant holy name through ahaṅkāra, when ahanta ahaṅkāra enthusiastically chants the holy name, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma, it's not the holy name.
It's material simulation of the holy name. As Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura calls it, it's nāmākṣara. It's not nāma. It's not the name, it's akshara. It's the syllables of the name. It's material sound because the ego is still there.
And therefore, there is this very famous verse from Brahma Vivarta. Asatsaṅgī bhāi, oh my brothers and sisters. When we have asat-saṅga, when we are in the association with asādhu, kṛṣṇa-nāma na haya!
Unless we know till the period when we still associate with something which is asat or a sadhu, then we will not be able to produce the sound of the holy name. Nāmākṣara bāhirāya. What we will produce, nāmākṣara.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Rama. Tabehu nāma kabhu na haya. Never. Never you will be able to produce the name.
It's this famous story about Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura travelling with Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, who was still a child, in somewhere in Bengal, and you know, sleeping in some dilapidated uh hut.
And then in the morning, you know, the villagers come and say, How you survive this? There is a huge ghost which is living in this building.
And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, Yes, it used to live before. I chanted Hare Krishna and it doesn't leave anymore because it's liberated.
So the villagers became very bewildered and they say, you know, dear sir, but this is the ghost of one priest, and this priest always chants Hare Krishna. How you could liberate the priest who is chanting Hare Krishna by chanting Hare Krishna?
He himself chants Hare Krishna. You know, what does your Hare Krishna do to him who is who already knows Hare Krishna?
And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says he didn't chant Hare Krishna. He just chanted nāmākṣara. He just chanted the syllables of the Holy Name, not the Holy Name itself, because of the false ego.
When the false ego is there, you can only get the syllables because anything which can go through the false ego will become material. The perception will become material. And false ego is like this distorting mirror.
You know, you stand in in front of distorting mirror and you imagine, you know, I am like this.
So instead of clear mirror in which we can see our real self and the reflection of God, we only see distorted image which we imagined. That's how the false ego works.
And it's the totality of all the deep saṁskāras and all vāsanās which we brought from the past life. So this is this is our little soul, you know, living in this material world, having this heavy
burden of the false ego with all the vāsanās, all the saṁskāras, all the childhood traumas all the bad experiences all the you know everything else and therefore you know this is And Ahankara becomes the anchor.
And we may be chanting for many, many lifetimes, but we remain in the same place. You know, there is this famous story which Prabhupada told how the marriage party wanted to travel from one village to another village.
Because it was late, they they boarded the boat and they started drawing, and the whole night they were rowing and rowing and rowing and rowing.
And then in the morning they looked and they saw that they're in the same place in the same village. The whole night they were working hard. And then they figured out that the anchor was still there.
So you may be changing many rounds, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna Krishna, Krishna. But you're still in the same place. You know, you started it and 50 years later you are in the same place, like in this beautiful picture.
This is, you know, you started some sometime when you were new bhakta and then fifty years later you are you're still chanting the same Namaksara still.
So we have to very clearly understand this point that i if the ego is there, it's like anchor. And we're not really moving instead in spite of rowing so hard.
Three aspects of false ego
You know so let's see more closely what this false ego is. According to Kapiladev, false ahaṅkāra has three aspects. Usually we say two aspects: aham-ma. But Kapiladev he analyzes it a little more carefully
and he says, Kartritvam. Kartritvam means aham. Kartritvam means I am the doer. Karanatvam means the senses, it's included into Aham.
I am the doer, and I have the senses, I know what is going on around me through the senses. And the third aspect is kariatvam, is the product of my work, which is mama. So basically it's the same.
Aham Mama is the structure of figure, but aham is divided into this analysis, into two. Who I am, I am the doer and I have this body. I am this body. And kartritva is the products of uh my work.
So this is the three uh three elements of our false ego. And this is the first element, kartritva, I am the doer. And there is another aspect of this kartritva. Kartritva has two forms.
One is: I'm the doer, I'm the hero, and another one, I am the victim. But it's all kartritva. It's two sides of the same coin. I'm the doer, and you know, usually when I'm young uh
I'm uh I'm going to be the hero, when I am old, I'm going to be the victim, no problem. So uh the frustration is there. And this is, I'm this body in my senses, you know. I'm I'm this. This is uh kāraṇatva. I'm this body.
And bhaktritva, I enjoy everything that belongs to me. So very graphic thing. So please listen very carefully. Original consciousness, citta, when it's clear, has three qualities. And when the false ego is lumped over it,
then the original consciousness becomes distorted and this distortion takes three forms. Because of this first quality of false ego, kartritva, I'm the doer.
When this kartritva is very strong in us, we cannot really understand that God's hand is also there. They cannot really perceive the presence of the Lord.
It's very difficult for people who you know they just they just say, you know, there's no God. What is the point? What is the need of God? We have no need of God. Everything can be explained without God.
Why do you need God for this? Because of this Kartritva, I'm the doer, they cannot see how God is doing. They cannot see God's hand in the world. And for them, there's no need to have God.
There's this famous story of Napoleon and Laplace. Laplace was the famous astronomer and mathematician.
And he brought the whole book which he wrote: huge book about the structure of the universe. This is how the universe works. And he presented it to Napoleon and said, Your Majesty, here is my present to you.
I figured it out how the world works. And Napoleon asked, you know, what is the. What part does God play in your picture of the universe? And the proud answer was, Sir, I don't need this hypothesis.
There's no need of this hypothesis. God is just hypothesis and what is the need? I can figure out without him. Why do we need to assume that there is God? This is the result of this distortion.
We're talking about the three distortions which false ego brings And uh for them, there's no God, you know, you you you talk with Atheist and you you can talk as many uh as long as you want, nothing will happen. No God.
Subjectively there's no God. Subjectively they don't feel that there's God. And for them it's just a hypothesis and why do you need this strange hypothesis? I can explain without him.
So this is the first distortion which false ego brings to the consciousness.
And that's why Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, he says that the most traditional and the main predominant religion in the world is always atheism.
It's not Christianity, it's not Judaism, it's not Hinduism, it's atheism. Atheism is the traditional religion. And everyone has this sort of notion. There's no God. Karanatva, the second aspect of ego. I am this body.
What it does to us? It makes us sleepy and distracted. So sometimes you are sleepy during Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class? So Ātmā-tattva Prabhu, he, uh, used to joke.
He says that, uh, in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that, uh, naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu, you know, when you listen to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, then, uh, everything which is disturbing to
You know, when you listen to Shimad Bhagavatam, then uh everything which is disturbing to your mind uh becomes destroyed. And then everything which is disturbing to your mind becomes disturbed. You sleep.
That's why it's bona fide to sleep on the lectures of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It's the proof that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam works. No disturbance anymore in your mind, therefore you can peacefully go to sleep.
But actually, what uh what I want to say is that the second distortion, the first distortion, you don't see God. There is no place for God uh in your picture of the world.
The second distortion uh which uh is there is, that you become distracted or you become lazy, you become dull, you become bored. And because you become bored, you know, this bored consciousness. Somebody you become bored.
You're just bored. Of course, for devotees, it's not so often actually. But most normal people, they're always bored. So because of this laya-vikṣepa, we don't feel the natural joy. We're bored.
There is no this natural spontaneous joy which is there in a normal consciousness. That's the manifestation of false ego. So if sometimes you feel uh dull and distracted,
it means that your false ego is still there, and it means that you know very quickly you should uh grab your chanting beats and start chanting with the emotions of śaraṇāgati. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare Hare. So distracted consciousness is a sign of unhappiness.
And when it comes to a very acute degree like depression, it's actually a manifestation of false ego. Depression is the result of false identity. And the result of that we are separated from the natural state of our mind.
This is the distracted mind, as you can see. And um yeah looks familiar. So many thoughts running through it and then the third aspect of of uh ego the first aspect I'm the doer and therefore I don't see I don't need God.
It's a high hypothesis. The second aspect, you know, I'm this senses and the senses tend to become very dull and influence me and I'm distracted. And the third influence, I'm the experiencer.
What do I experience when I have false ego? I experience raga, attachment, dveṣa, hatred, bias. And I become completely agitated and, as Lord Krishna says, aśāntasya kutaḥ sukham.
Whereas there is a question of happiness when there is no peace. So this is the three distortions of the false ego on the soul.
The clear consciousness, original cetaḥ is happy. It can give you idea who you are in relationship with God, and it's uh it's very, very still and peaceful. But when the false ego is there, it becomes agitated, it becomes unhappy, bored, and it becomes completely free
from notion of reality. So, this is the criteria of the purity of the mind. Somebody can ask, you know, Chetadharpana Marjanam. How do we know if our uh consciousness has been purified by chanting,
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare Hare.
If the feeling of presence of God becomes more clear that He he is participating in my life. He is there. He's hiding. I may not see him very clearly, but you know, here he is. Here he smiled to me. Or here he, you know made some face to me, you know, or showed me, put me into some awkward condition where I could understand where I am.
When you feel that God is present, Krishna is present in my life, He is guiding myself, then it's the sign of clarity. The more pronounced the presence of God in our life is the more clear our mind is.
When our mind is concentrated, light and free from dullness, it's also the sign of purity of the mind. When we are distracted, when we are dull, this is the sign of impurity.
And when we feel peaceful, this is another sign. So we will tonight we will practice something, we will have some exercises to to see how it works with the chanting.
Today in the morning when you're still not dull and not so lazy. I just wanted to finish it. We we have to finish when okay. J just few more slides. You know if if you are tired you can go to sleep, no problem.
So interesting. We have pure mind, pure cheetah with three qualities. When the false ego is added to this pure mind, there are three distortions which take place.
Three illusions created by ego
The three original qualities of the mind become somewhat distorted, and according to the purity of the mind, we are either remote from this original state or we are coming closer when we chant the holy name.
Now there is very also interesting statement by Lord Krishna in 11th Kanto where it is said that also the false ego gives us three illusions. Three kinds of illusions.
So Lord Krishna says, or descendant of Dasharha, this is of course Uddhava, he is the descendant of Dasharha. Just like the tree appears to move when on a boat moving in water.
The position the imposition affects our vision of the world. Like the earth's appearance of spinning due to one spinning his eyes around. The imposition affects our own mentality.
Like the world of a fantasy or dream, imposition is illusory. The imposition is illusory. Enjoyment of objects leads to some saṁsāra for the ātmā. I'm sure you understood everything.
But in case you didn't, I will I will explain a little bit. So basically, what Lord Krishna says here it's very important. He speaks about three illusions which we have when the false ego is still very strong in us.
The first illusion and the illusion is that we attribute or impose qualities to some object uh or to ourselves which don't really exist.
So the first quality which we impose upon ourselves, the three qualities, three illusions are there. The first illusion is that the comparison is there, you know, like more appropriate example for us.
You are riding on a train and you're looking through the window. You're riding on a train, you're looking through the window, and you see strange phenomena. All these trees are running, you know.
You think they are just running, you know. What happens with these trees? Why they're running? They're not running. The train is going, right? You're moving. But you think that the trees are moving.
So in the same way, what happens? The first illusion which is there is that I'm doing. I'm doing. This is the very common illusion which we all have.
I am doing, I am the doer, I am the speaker, I am the speaker of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. No, Śukadeva is the speaker of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He may speak through you, he may not speak through you.
If he is merciful to you, you will say something worthwhile because he will speak through you. I am not a doer. God is doing through us something. But we don't understand this because we think I'm the doer.
You know, this is the first illusion, I'm the doer, and that's why we don't understand how God uses us. How God uses us in all in all circumstances. You know, I remember it really moved me once.
I was with Silradhanat Maharaj. And he just, in passing, he said something which really struck me.
He said, you know, he said, it's very interesting to observe what God can do through you such an insignificant living entity. You know this is the vision of a devotee. He is absorbing what God is doing through you.
And he's amazed. Really? How is it possible? How is it possible that you know we really have to understand God is working through us. You know, whether we are materialist or whatever, God is using us as puppets.
His energy is there, he is moving, his plan is there. You know, and this is the first illusion which False uh gives to us.
We don't understand how God is uh is uh working and we think I I'm I'm that doer. You know, you're not that doer. You cannot do anything, you know. Oftentimes I I c I cannot fall asleep.
This is, you know, the sign of old age. And one of the philosophical questions which I uh think when I cannot fall asleep is that, you know, I'm such a powerful person, but I cannot fall asleep.
I want it so much, but it doesn't work. You know we think I'm in control. But ourselves we cannot really fall asleep. We cannot really we need mercy of God even to fall asleep. So this is the first illusion. I am the doer.
No, no, you are not the doer. Mm. Sleep in peace, you're not the doer. Be peaceful. God is working through you. Just pray to Him and watch the miracles which He will do through you. He can do miracles.
You know, if you remove this notion that I'm the doer and let the perfect puppeteer to use you in his hands. So this is the first illusion which Lord Krishna explains. The second illusion is very interesting.
The second illusion uh Lord Krishna says that you know uh like little child sometimes child starts uh rotating how you how you call this spinning yeah the child starts spinning, spinning, spinning, and then he stops.
And then what he sees? Yeah, the whole world is spinning. And he says, oh amazing, you know. I made it. The whole world is spinning around me. So uh but actually the world is still there. It's the same. World is not spinning.
Uh you know you, attribute the quality of spinning uh into into the world. So this second illusion is very interesting.
It's basically what uh Krishna wants to say to Uddhava is that the second illusion which the false ego gives is the illusion that you, the soul, the spirit soul, pure spirit soul, has certain qualities which in reality you don't have. Like the quality of spinning you attribute to something else.
In the same way, when you have this false conception of yourself. You have so many different ideas of who you are. I'm so intelligent, I'm so humble, I'm this, I'm that. But it's all illusions.
You just attribute these qualities to your soul. And the soul is beautiful servant of God, but you have these ideas.
I am I am bad, I am this, I am that, you know, this is this is what it works, you know, because we are separated from our real self. And the third example which Lord Krishna gives is that
the third illusion is that I experience something which in reality I don't experience. Like somebody who dreams. He thinks he experiences it even though he doesn't experience it.
It's interesting because who are you? You are in reality soul. What is the what is the function of the soul? The function of the soul is to observe. The soul is observing.
Next time when you suffer, just say to yourself: I am not suffering, I am just absorbing the sufferings. And you will immediately notice that the suffering will become less.
Because you add the observer to the sufferings. You're already absorbing the sufferings, but you don't understand that you're observing the sufferings. You think you identify with the sufferings which you have.
So it's a very important technique to always remember. Why Lord Krishna says that What is this dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā?
Because with the consciousness we observe all these changes. Somebody of you had some sufferings in the past. Please raise your hand. Okay. It's good to know that I'm not alone. Misery likes company.
Uh uh but uh where it is now? Is it important now? It's gone. You're the observer. At that time you were observer, and now you're observer. And you're the same.
You know, and whatever suffering will be there, it will be passed. But as observer, you're not the sufferer. You're not the experiencer. So that's the illusion.
When we are going through this acute emotional states, we think we are experiencing it, but in reality we are not experiencing it. It's just something which is happening outside of the soul, really.
So this is the three illusions, three distortions of the false ahaṅkāra and three elements of false ahaṅkāra which actually disturb the pure nature of our even conditioned consciousness when it's sattvik.
Purifying and overcoming false ego
So after having these three illusions, three qualities of the false ahaṅkāras, three distortions, we will have three steps of purification from false ego. And that will be the end.
Uh uh as a result of this lecture you will walk out completely purified from the false ego and uh you will enjoy your lunch like anything. Undisturbed by the false ahaṅkāra. And I know the time is coming.
So, so as I explained to you, Sanātana Gosvāmī says in Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta: Sva-ramaṇa tv ahaṅkāra-tyāga-mātreṇa siddhyati, sukaraḥ, atīva, atīva sukaraḥ, atīva sukaraḥ. Very simple, very easy.
Tat-tyāgaḥ. It's very easy to get rid of tyāga. If one just gives up his false ahaṅkāra, he attains self-satisfaction. Sva-ramaṭā. He will be svarāma or ātmarāma. He will be very joyful.
This abandonment of false ahaṅkāra is quite easy. Actually, not quite easy. Very easy. Sukara, atīva sukara. This has been determined by the knowles of the truth.
Actually, you know, if we understand very clearly these illusions.
Then Tat Tatva Vedi Bih, all the people who went through this path and went through all this experience, they say actually it's not so difficult to get rid of false ego. And as I said in the commentary, Sanātana Gosvāmī says, Bhakti-śāstrī says it's very easy to give up that false ego.
How it has been deduced, knowers of the truth, such as Vasiṣṭha, have analyzed the process of abandoning false ego, it is said in Yoga Vasiṣṭha. Api puṣpavadanalatra nimeṣān nimiṣāṇāt.
The same as you pluck the flower or you close the eyes. Such ahaṅkṛti tyāgo matas tattva vedibhiḥ, tattva vedibhiḥ matas tattva vedibhiḥ. So just open your eyes and close your eyes. That's it, no false ego anymore.
Open it again? No problem. Is it easy? I'm the soul, I'm observer, I'm the spirit soul, I don't have all these things. God is there, He is doing through me.
You know, I'm actually very peaceful, and uh I'm not disturbed by this, and uh I I have this clear consciousness. And but listen, this is the real solution.
Of course, this is also a solution uh to blink eyes as much as possible and ultimately achieve the freedom from the false ego. But this is the real solution. What it means? Actually, it is easy. How is it achieved?
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura explains in the purport to the tenth offense, tenth offense of the holy name against the holy name. Turning away from the waves of sense pleasures, one should seek out saintly devotees, associate with them and serve them.
Gradually, gradually, one's thoughts will be fixed in the holy name. One will go beyond māyā, beyond the realm of ego and the mind.
Hearing the glories of the holy name, one will turn away from thoughts of ego and mind, one will become a surrendered devotee. They who surrender to the Holy Name are great souls chanting Lord Krishna's Holy Name, they attain the great treasure of love of God, of love for Lord Krishna.
Brahma Mahadana.
So basically, his advice: what it means, how to change the false ego, how to get rid of false ego. Just be in the saintly association. Just develop the ego within this saintly association. Just develop the ego in entering into relationship with saintly people. And all the problems of false identity will be removed very easily.
Whereas if you remain in Asatsanga, then there is no chance. You will always be reminded, you will always be feeding your false prides and you will never understand the reality.
So the only way to understand reality is to hear how pure devotees chant.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare Hare and chant together with them and serve them, as Bhaktivinoda says.
Then gradually you will understand it's a very natural condition. It's a very joyful condition to serve the devotees, to serve people, to, you know, to take prasāda in their association and to do everything.
And this way you will be able to get rid of this concept of "I" and "Mine".
You know, if you are in this mahat-saṅga, mahat-saṅga, Mahat-sevayā dvāram āhur mukteḥ — you know, it's very easy to become free, as uh it is said in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And uh you know you don't think about yourself.
When you are in really saintly association, you don't think about yourself. No need.
You are completely free from this idea, strange idea, to prove to somebody that you're very special, that you're very you know that you will achieve something. You know, it becomes very insignificant.
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, He experienced his own meeting with his spiritual master, Gaura-kiśora dāsa Bābājī.
He said, I came to him and I'm very educated. I have this, you know, degrees, I am this Siddhanta Shri Romani, I am you know the Jyogy Sacharya, I know Sanskrit, I know English, I know this, I know that.
And I come to this simple illiterate man who is sitting somewhere chanting Hare Krishna and I uh and I look at him and uh I try to uh understand whether he noticed my glories or not.
And to my complete dismay, I understand that he doesn't notice my glories. He couldn't care less about my glories. He just completely neglects it. And all of a sudden I understand my glories are not so important.
I don't need them. I can be happy without them. I can be happy without all these false identities.
I can be happy just sitting with him and chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram Ram Hare Hare. He said, my conception of myself shrank to the impossible degree of smallness.
All of a sudden I became very tiny just by catching his look upon myself. Just by being in his presence, I became real one. And as one devotee says, you know, when you're very big, your problems are also very big.
But when you become very small, there's no room for problems. No rooms there. You know, you just remain who you are. And that's that's what it is.
They who surrender to the holy name, a great souls chanting Lord Krishna's holy name that in the great treasure of love for Lord Krishna, prema Mahadana.
Three steps of ego purification
So I guess that's it. Ah oh yes, three steps of purification, sorry. So following from this, it's very easy to deduce. Just just few minutes, just a couple of minutes.
There are three steps basically according to the three qualities of false ego. First, we have to stop enjoying the fruits of our labor. It's an opposite order.
The last manifestation of false ego is this tendency to enjoy of kartṛtva. This is mine. You know, so we start destroying the false ego from this mind conception. Nothing is mine. I'm not really trying to enjoy what is mine.
Whatever I have, I give to Krishna. That's the first step. The second step, yeah, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains this. In the material world, we are producing so many things. And this is called advancement of civilization.
But factually the advancement of civilization is the manifestation of false ego. Like all the people are very proud, we are modern people, advanced people. It means they have big false ego.
By false ego, all material things are produced as objects of enjoyment. You know, next time when you take your smartphone. Just look at the smartphone and say this is the manifestation of my false ego. And it really is.
Look in your picture gallery and you will see it. One has to see the increasing artificial necessities in the form of material objects.
The step number one, you know, just limit to the bare necessities, you know, the use of all these facilities which we may have. So that's the usual standard practice.
The second one, limit your contact with the senses or purify this. This is, I'm talking about the normal spiritual path, not bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga is much more, uh, tender and much more flexible.
But usually what people do, uh first they limit to the maximum uh the use, they become very poor, like this Mother Theresa which is uh explained.
Then they try to go to monastery and they or do pratyahara and they close their eyes and they close their ears and they hardly eat anything.
And the third step, uh uh the final step of uh destroying the false ahaṅkāra, they give up their pride and they start serving others and uh you know, wash feet and everything else.
So in, in bhakti-yoga it's much more this is what they do in other traditions. In bhakti-yoga it's much more tender, much more flexible. So, first is yukta-vairāgya.
So we understand, you know, I'm using this. I'm using so many facilities, no problem. Even smartphones are okay if they're not misused.
So we are not really uh you know we just uh engage the material energy into the service. Second, we cautiously regulate our interaction uh with the sense objects. And four regulative principles is about this.
You know, so again nothing really special, just caution or precautions when we use our senses.
And the third one is that we follow vaiṣṇava etiquette, we respect people, we pay obeisances, we're not insulting anyone, we're not overusing the social media which is the best instrument of insult and offense. And we use the proper language and we enter into proper relationship with our spiritual master and become humble.
And in this way, this is the three steps to weaken or to completely remove the false identity. And this is the problem which we have, and this means surrender, and we should do it very conscientiously and properly.
And in this way, we finished with the third session, which is called Ego as the switchboard of emotions because we got rid of our ego already thank you very much