Q&A session

0:00Ale Krishna Maharaj, sorry for waiting. Uh didn't expect I didn't uh expect uh to talk first. So please uh accept my humble obeisances. Yes. First of all, uh just wanna say a few thanks.

0:15Uh first thanks is to Nikola Botchka and Prabhu for uh telling me for this pranam course. Uh second thanks is to Amritanand Prabhu for being host every Sunday in our Zoom calls. And third, thanks is for all devotees and devotees from my Pranam Bhaj Group 13.

Meaning of downfall in devotional service

0:38So I have one question. So the question is about downfall in bhakti-yoga. So what I want to ask is: what is downfall in bhakti-yoga?

0:50And if I'm struggling with let's say two or four regulatory principles and still trying to do my job, I'm still trying to serve and still trying to be with the devotees and still trying to read devotional literature.

1:08So that's my question, what is downfall and if I'm like struggling with principles and still trying to serve, what is the like the results and the goal? Downfall is only when you turn away from God.

1:33If you are still trying to approach God, to come closer to Him, He appreciates your endeavors. Ultimately, success is not in our hands. The you know the forces which we are facing are very strong.

1:57So Srila Prabhupada appreciated struggle of his followers. He said, see how he's struggling for Krishna. So please don't worry.

2:13It's not easy with our background, with our history, with our karma, with the culture which we are brought in, to follow all the regulative principles.

2:29It will take some time and mostly, you know, if we have good association and encouraging association, it will come. It will definitely come. Gradually, gradually, it will come. So the result is glorious.

2:50You're fighting for Krishna, you're struggling for Krishna, you're trying to follow the principles. And even though sometimes you fall, you deviate uh it's not a problem in itself.

3:06The main thing is that we should not give up. And we should always remember that Krishna has a lot of patience. It's not that he counts okay, one mistake, two mistakes, three mistakes, four, mistakes, enough.

3:29I don't want to deal with this person anymore. No, no. He's always there. He's always there. So just, you know, the fall down, the real fall down is when we become offensive and when we make philosophy out of our offenses.

3:55Even offenses may not be so bad if we don't create a philosophy around these offenses and justify our offenses. If we regret that we committed some offenses and sincerely beg forgiveness, that's okay.

4:14But the real downfall, as you said, is when we commit mistake and make the whole philosophy from our weaknesses, to justify our weaknesses, to say that this is okay to be weak, and this is actually good, this is actually proper, and everything else is just fanatical Hare Krishna inventions or something like this.

4:45So just keep on trying. And please remember that Krishna will compensate for all your weaknesses. He is there in your heart. And he appreciates your sincerity. Thank you, Maharaj. I forget to do one thing.

5:06I forget to chant some maṅgalācaraṇa, so let me chant this.

Neophyte understanding of the spiritual world

5:13Namaḥ oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine Namaste sarasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe nirviśeṣa śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe. āveśataṁ namati rati te ki.

5:52Okay, so there is, okay, so let's let's ask Smriti and then we will ask somebody else.

6:04Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaj, please accept my humble obeisances. Uh, how glorious to have your association for two days in a row. Um, my question is about uh the spiritual world.

6:19So in order to understand the spiritual world you need to be in an elevated state. Uh, but what does the spiritual world mean for a neophyte devotee with less faith?

6:30How does it add to a bhakta's sādhana in early spiritual life? What does spiritual world means for neophyte so much faith? It's hard for a neophyte to understand. How does it add to our sadhana?

6:53See, Śrīla Vyāsadeva in his samādhi he get the direct darshan of Krishna in the spiritual world and spiritual reality. He received this Purusham Purnam vision of Krishna in his complete form.

7:20And he described it in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So spiritual reality, which was reflected directly in the heart of Vyāsadeva, his heart was completely pure, especially after meeting with Nārada Muni.

7:37So the spiritual reality reflected in his heart. He saw this reality and he expressed this in the transcendental world of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

7:48And when we read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and when we hear the descriptions of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, when we hear how other people explain Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the little glimpse of this spiritual reality comes to us.

8:07And we may not feel it all the time, we may only feel it little bit here and there sometimes.

8:15That yes, this very beautiful, very amazing, very uh Blissful spiritual reality is there, and actually the world which we are in is the reflection of this spiritual reality.

8:33So sometimes this glimpse of this realization is coming because of us hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So spiritual reality is descending upon us.

8:47And of course, when we are in a stage of sadhana, it does descend in its full glory.

8:55It's not that all of a sudden we will see how Krishna is playing the flute and jumping around imitating frogs with his friends and sometimes mimicking monkeys or something like this.

9:16No, it will take some time, but still uh

9:25I didn't hear it so much about Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but I hear it again and again and again from people who read Bhagavad-gītā. They uh sometimes have very pronounced and very clear feeling. Yes, it is true. Yes, it is true.

9:48This very loud yes resounds within our heart when we hear the description of spiritual world or when we hear the words of Krishna in Bhagavad-gītā. So that's our experience of spiritual reality.

10:06Yes, it's true. I don't understand how it is true. I don't really understand all the details.

Manifestations of internal spiritual energy

10:12But you know, at one point you will meet Krishna face by face. He is waiting for this moment. Thank you very much. That's very convincing. Thank you. Yes, Ramananda Prabhu. Thank you very much, Maharaj.

10:35I have some more complicated questions if you don't mind. No, I'm happy. Because I have complicated minds, so I like complicated questions. Okay so if uh you meet a wealthy person you may think that

10:54this guy is made of money, so Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in uh commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra he uses this word Mayamayam, which means that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, he's made of Maya.

11:09So is uh is the Lord's uh yogamāyā potency, uh it's usually referred to as his svarūpa-śakti, but often it's uh referred to as his cit-śakti.

11:24So are not the sandhinī, the saṁvit, and the hlādinī potencies simply different aspects of the yogamāyā or the svarūpa śakti?

11:36And is not yogamāyā the svarūpa-śakti when it's called cit-śakti, is it because it refers to Kṛṣṇa, Krishna's consciousness, his consciousness. That's why it's called Chit Shakti. Yeah.

11:55So yeah, see, Krishna only has one energy, and this energy is called Chit Shakti, it's spiritual energy. He has only one śakti. This shakti manifests in multifarious ways. It manifests as Maya for us

12:21conditioned living entities, it manifests as yogamāyā for those people who are free from it, it manifests the hlādinī śakti or saṁvit śakti, it's all aspects of the same one energy.

12:40Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he explains this in great detail in Jaiva-dharma.

12:51He says that this cit-śakti has uh three prabhavas, three vaibhavas, and three anubhāvas. Three anubhāvas of cit-śakti, if I'm not mistaken, is yeah, three anubhāvas is saṁvit, sandhinī and hlādinī.

13:18Anubhāva basically means experience. So this is this is three aspects of one energy

13:27of the Lord as anubhāva. So we experience the existence, we experience the consciousness, we experience that we are existing and we are conscious of ourselves and conscious of the reality.

13:46And we experience bliss of course. So this is three Anubhavs. Three vai bhavs of the same energy is Antaranga Shakti, Bahiranga Shakti and Tatasta Shakti. So this is Vaib, this is a special manifestation.

14:05Vaibhav is coming from Bibh. Bhav means existence or manifestation and vibh is special manifestation. So the same chit shakti manifests as internal energy, as external energy, and as marginal energy.

14:24So this is three vaibhs of the same chitchakti. And it has three prabhavs or three influences or three powers so to speak, which is Balagnana Kriya or Ichashakti

14:47and Kriya Shakti and so I you know I I don't want to create more confusion. We're already confused as uh conditioned living entities. Uh but basically, you're right, there is only one energy.

15:06And this energy is commonly called chit Shakti, but it has so many different manifestations. So it has three realms to manifest itself, Antaranga Shakti, Bahiranga Shakti and Tatastashakti.

15:22And it has uh and it gives three experiences, experience of existence, experience of consciousness of knowledge and experience of bliss. And it manifests as different desires, spiritual desires. So that's what it is.

15:43Did I answer your complicated question? That was absolutely amazing. Thank you so much. I have studying to do. Okay. Do you have time for one more, even more complicated question? Uh no, let's ask some other people. Okay. Yes.

Proper mood for worshipping Giriraj Govardhan

16:04Shiv. Shiv is there is the next one. Hi Rakishna. Can you hear me all right, Madam? Yes, I can hear you.

16:16Yeah, Maharaj, uh Krishna for the gig Raj Bur open. Um How to perceive Guru Gurthan and uh what's the right mood of worship for the Kira Guru?

16:27Because he's sometimes I feel like okay, he's the expansion of Krishna, because he's taking care of the house and the rest of us is the court Krishna. Or I also heard his Hari Dasavarya. Or also had um Radharani had a prerequisite condition that for the Baumadila, the Yamuna and Kiraj must be there on the before taking to the company. So what should be how should we perceive when we are worshiping worship of Kira?

17:00The mode of worship very much depends on the worshiper. And Giriraj accepts different modes of worship.

17:10Sometimes, oftentimes we see Giri Raj is being worshipped as Krishna himself, and he himself said during Govardhan Leela that I am no different from Giriraj. So, this is definitely an authorized mode of worship, Giriraj.

17:35There are different opinions in this regard, but this is definitely an existing and authorized bona fide mode of worship, Giriraj as Krishna himself.

17:47And you can see it in many places in Giriraj Govardhan, Krishna people worship him as Krishna. And there is basically another worship of Giriraj as Haridasavarya, as the best of the servant of Krishna.

18:11Which is actually the words of Srimati Radhika herself. This is what Ragunat Das Goswami explains in his prayers that these words are coming from the lotus mouths of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī when she says, what is it?

18:34Hantavam Hantavam Adriya Balam Haridasa Varya. When she says Yadrama Krishna Cheranas Parasapramoda. So there is no argument about this. It's just different modes of worship.

18:56And sometimes people think that if you worship Giri Rajas Krishna himself, it's the highest. But in my humble opinion, how Shimati Radharani sees Giriraj this is the highest possible uh way of worshipping Giriraj.

19:17So but again they all bona fide ways of worship. Actually you know when when it comes to worship, it's a question of guru to give you the mood how to worship. It's the fifth stage of initiation.

19:47is tapa saṁskāra and then Urdva Pundra is tapa samskara and then Urdva Pundra Pundra and then Nama, and then mantra, and then Yaga. Yaga is the fifth saṁskāra of initiation,

20:08and when you are properly initiated, it means that you received a particular mode of worship of your Ishtadevata or your worshipable deity from your guru. It's not that I sit somewhere in a corner and I scratch my head and I think let me worship Krishna in this way or that way, in this form or that form.

20:37If you want to be bona fide you have to receive this mode of worship from your spiritual master who will give you the deity to worship and explain in which mood you should approach this deity.

21:02Thank you, Marat. Thank you very much. Thank you. It's clear.

Maintaining spiritual enthusiasm through preaching

21:05Yes. Yes, prayagraj. So it's more a generic question in context with the instructions I received from you.

21:23How to maintain optimism and keep sharpening our intentions in this bhakti, when reversals and challenges around us keep testing us constantly with more and more as time progresses.

21:38This is especially to draw the encouragement from Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and progressive scriptures of our Lord, Viṣṇu, Śaṅkara.

21:47So that's what my I would like to get more instructions and how to sharpen or uh how to sharpen your intentions uh in bhakti.

22:00Yeah, objectives and then maintain that pessimism in the in the path of preaching. Because well, I see more profound experience than you have in this entire um journey in other words the best way to maintain enthusiasm and purity is actually to preach.

22:31When you're trying to preach, first of all, you're preaching to yourself. And you're repeating something which you heard, and while repeating what you heard, you're hearing it yourself, and you are also saying yes, it's right, it's correct.

22:54So actually the best way to maintain the purity of intentions is to preach about the purity of intentions. And while preaching to others, you will also You will also be affected by your own preaching.

23:17You will also be moved that this is right, this is correct. This is what we should do, this is how it is. Otherwise, it's just cheating under different pretexts. So that's my experience.

23:36And that's exactly why I'm here in front of you. Uh I could have been sitting here, but I thought it's better for me to preach to you and in this way maintain the purity of intentions and the strength of intentions.

24:02Yes, Damodhara Priya, and then we'll ask Upagupta Prabhu who is sitting in front to ask his question. But his question may be relevant to others. Yes, Damodara Priya, yes.

24:21Uh Guru Maharaj, my question is uh practical about uh balance between sadhana and our personal necessities.

24:31What I find for myself is when I give enough space to my personal demands, like to walk and to clean the house properly, uh to associate with relatives, uh to swim, like like that. Like just uh simple personal demands.

24:52Uh then I f I feel guilty for not giving so much time to Sadhana and kirtan. But when I uh give more time to Sadhana then I feel dissatisfied and anxious because I don't fulfill some of my demands.

25:07So, uh, it seems to me maybe the solution is not about, is, is about being where you are while you are doing it. But maybe there is something else that you could suggest. Call it demands.

25:22Demands, when you call it demand, it sounds a little whimsical. Yes, I demand. It's your requirements.

25:32If you call it requirements, you require to clean your house, you require to associate the devotee with the devotees, you require to do some physical exercises.

25:45It's uh it's a necessity of your life to maintain your life and to maintain sanity and to maintain balance in your life. So you should not feel guilty. It's a part of your, you know, we should not really,

26:10as devotees, to divide our life into this is sadhana and this is my life. My whole life is sadhana.

26:23Ideally, we should consider that whatever I am doing, this is part of my sadhana, of my service to the Lord, or my not service in real sense, by my attempts to serve the Lord.

26:39So don't divide it like this and don't look down, this is my demands. This is not demands, this is just necessity of your life and maintain your sanity.

26:55You know, Krishna doesn't want insane fanatical devotees who, you know, who are completely you know. And it doesn't bring any good to you and to anyone else.

27:15Just maintain your balance, be yourself, and try to do whatever you can. Just yeah preach to others and try to be kind to other people.

27:30I was just in another meeting, and some Mata just said that this is the two rules which she's trying to follow. If she can preach directly to other people, at least you can be kind to other people.

27:46And that's also part of your Krishna-conscious life, to manifest kindness, to manifest good qualities. This is also very essential. Okay. Thank you very much, Dharma Prabhu. Thank you.

Overcoming offensive chanting through humble association

28:03Let us ask Upagupta Prabhu. He's sitting in front. He can ask, and if you don't hear, I will repeat his question. You can ask him. Maharaj is regarding chanting. Many of us start with uh offensive chanting.

28:26And very few move forward to the higher stages, and many of us also go back, and we see the manifestation of the manifestation of the reaction of continuing to chant offensively, like apathy towards śraddhā, and eventually one starts feeling proud about that, he is a very good devotee. And many of us don't move forward.

29:07So what is the single most factor or multiple factors which makes one either to slide down because of offensive chanting or to go forward

29:18starting from offensive chanting eventually to nāma. What is the most important factor which helps us to move forward?

29:34We can very clearly see it from this manifestations of offensive chanting, from these side effects of offensive chanting, first of which is cotelium crookedness. Crookedness basically means that you become internally

29:55proud and you look down at other devotees. And you think you are the best, and you appreciate Krishna, but you don't appreciate other devotees. So this is the scenario which can easily take place if we are not dependent

30:22on the association of devotees, saṅga of devotees. So the single most important quality or factor to progress in our chanting is to remain in the association of sincere devotees as their humble servant.

30:48To maintain the humility in the association with other devotees, then you will be moved forward, you will be pushed forward.

31:02Whereas if you become a little separatist, you develop separatist mentality, I'm the best, I am very special. I am you know I have so many special qualities you know yeah

31:17and uh so then uh it's already result of your offenses and you will not recover from the results of the offenses and this spiral will go down, down, down, down to this, to this Daksha-like mentality.

31:36So just maintain good association and try to be as sincere and as straightforward in the association with devotees. It's simple.

31:50Like Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda says that saralatā is the main quality of Vaishnava.

31:57He's straightforward. He's open. If he has some problems, he expresses these problems, he doesn't want to pretend to be something else.

Understanding personal nature and broad varnas

32:07So that's that's and that's what Krishna appreciates and that will safeguard you from uh from the offenses and uh your uh sincerity of your changing will become more and more. Yes Kushi.

32:31Yesterday you wrote a question. You can ask it now. Hare Krishna Guru Maharaj, please accept my humble obeisances, all glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. I'm very happy to see you and that you're doing a bit better.

32:47Um, I changed my question from yesterday, but I'll also ask a new one. So we were in a Sangha and we were discussing Srila Prabhupada's purport

32:57in um 1.2.20 and when he says that a qualified brāhmaṇa actually becomes a vaiṣṇava and then in a state of liberation, he can know what is the personality of Godhead.

33:11And we were discussing if um being a brāhmaṇa is a prerequisite to becoming a vaiṣṇava.

33:18And we were saying that we're all born in a certain varṇa based on our past karma. So does that change throughout our lives as we try to become devotees and Vaishnavas?

33:28Because like the modes that we're in also change, which would also change our varṇa. And then generally there's just a lot of discussion.

33:36I like Mother Urmila will say that the varṇa, you're only in one varṇa, whereas like a lot of people will say, oh no, but I feel like I sit between this varṇa and that varṇa.

33:48And then I guess I'm also asking this question because in uh like the crisis of faith lecture, you talk about how having this healthy state of false ego is also good because it can help us to get to spiritual ego.

34:01So I guess a question is like how do we develop this healthy state of varṇa and does it really change to get this strong spiritual foundation as well?

34:12Sorry, that's a bit convoluted but there is a lot of confusions about this varṇas, uh, things. We have our nature. Whatever we call it. Varṇa literally means color. So we have our color. We have our nature.

34:34It's more or less fixed. Our nature manifests mostly through our motivations. If our predominant motivation is to teach other people and to study ourselves, that manifests the nature of brāhmaṇa.

35:05If our predominant motivation is to protect other people and to give them some shelter and to help them, you know, anyway to give them some sort of protection.

35:22That's the main motivation of somebody who belongs to the second varṇa or kṣatriya varṇa.

35:31If our main motivation is just to enjoy life, enjoy social interactions, and you know, live a happy, uh, wealthy, you know, opulent life, then it's motivation of passion.

35:48And if our motivation is to uh To get protection, to get some security,

35:59if the main motivation which drives us is just to you know to get some more secure position where we have some fixed salary, fix this, fix that, and whatever it is, then it's motivation of a śūdra.

36:18So So this is how we should recognize our general nature. And it should not be confused with when Prabhupada speaks about brāhmaṇa, first we should become brāhmaṇa, then become vaiṣṇava.

36:32He mostly speaks about developing sattva-guṇa.

36:37And you can remain very sāttvik vaiśya, you can remain very sāttvik śūdra, you can remain sāttvik Kṣatriya, or you can be sāttvik brāhmaṇa. It basically means uh it's a different aspect of your life.

37:02Uh, when we're talking about, um, varṇa, uh then we're talking about uh the specific uh driving force which drives you forward, which motivates you to do certain work.

37:29But then we can arrange our life in a very sāttvik way and, uh, by, you know, arranging our life, uh, life which we live, uh, in a sāttvik way we technically can be called brāhmaṇa because you know Brahman means predominantly sattva-guṇa.

37:54But our motivation for work will be will be still uh little separate. So uh sometimes Prabhupāda uses brāhmaṇa in a sense that it is somebody who is living very sattvic life. And some uh it's more broad sense, so to speak.

38:26And uh when he's saying that first you have to become Brahman, that you become uh Vaishnava,

38:32he basically means that in your life you try to increase uh sattvic aspect, become more and more sattvic, get up early, you know, leave, eat sāttvika food, associate with sāttvika people.

38:48This is brāhmaṇa in a very broad sense, not in a technical sense. When Prabhupāda speaks, and sometimes he speaks about brāhmaṇa in a technical sense, with specific qualities, which which do not necessarily develop in

39:11the people of different nature even if they live sāttvika life. Like, you know, it doesn't mean that if you live sāttvika life, then you will develop inclination to teach other people or to study yourself.

39:28You still may not be so much inclined. Some taste will be there for studying, but still generally your driving force in your activity will be different.

39:42So this when we confuse these two things, then it becomes very difficult. We should be very clear that there is a broad sense of Brahman being somebody who is cultivating the sattva-guṇa.

40:00And there is more technical sense of brāhmaṇa being brāhmaṇa by profession, so to speak, or by inclinations uh and inspiration to work was very much inspired so and did i answer your question Um

40:24yes, I I I just wanted to clarify. So does that mean you were saying our nature is our motivation? So is that something that we're innately born with and is fixed for us?

40:35And that's what we should try to cultivate um throughout this life and turn it into sattva-guṇa. Yes. The predominant motivation is definitely there in our nature. Sometimes we have mixed natures.

40:57We all belong to this varṇa-saṅkara category with mixed motivation. But even with this mixed motivations or mixed natures, still one motivation is more prominent. And yes, we should try to develop the nature.

41:20That's basically what varṇāśrama-dharma is all about. To explain to people what is their nature and try to develop it to the best, you know, to develop it in to the best of their abilities.

41:37And yeah, and in the meantime, we should all cultivate sattva-guṇa definitely in in all aspects of our life. But still motivation will be there and we should follow the motivation, we should follow the heart.

41:57We should not imitate somebody else, because as Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā, that adharma is very dangerous. Bhāvayā. Paradharmaḥ bhayāvahaḥ.

42:12If you try to follow, like Arjuna, he wanted to become, basically, sannyāsī, brāhmaṇa. And Kṛṣṇa said, forget about it. It's not going to work.

42:26Even if you become a beggar, very soon you will have army of beggars under your command and you will become the leader of the beggars and you will start doing something which is not very conducive in the beggar's life.

42:50So don't try, it's not your dharma, it's not your nature. But at the same time, cultivate sattva-guṇa and ultimately cultivate your devotional inclinations.

Role of intelligence in guiding the mind

43:05Thank you so much, Gurubar. Yes, Vṛndāvana-vinodinī. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Mahārāja. Thank you so much and my obeisances. My question was regarding we hear in the Gita of this hierarchy of the senses,

43:25the mind and the intelligence, and that the intelligence is supposed to control the mind. And in some of your lectures you also speak about how this intelligence

43:36is different, that this is not the intelligence that is born out of, as we hear in the third Canto, the mode of passion, but rather this is the intelligence from the mahat-tattva.

43:48And I wanted to understand this more deeply because if I recall correctly, you also said that to access this intelligence of the mahat-tattva, it requires that our false ego completely disappear.

44:02And so then how do we understand this? No, I think there is some confusion here.

44:11The first confusion is that, yes, in Sānkhya mahā-tattva citta is called buddhi, uh, and, uh, uh, this is not the buddhi which is described by Kapiladeva in the Third Canto, which is the, uh, uh, outcome of the or transformation, the kāraṇa of ego in the mode of passion. So, and then, so then there is buddhi in the sense of Sankhya philosophers.

45:01There is Buddhi in the sense which Kapiladev explains how this is some evolute of ego in the mode of passion. And there is Buddhi which Krishna uses. In Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa uses buddhi in a different way.

45:29So it's all slightly different aspects of the same thing. When Kṛṣṇa speaks about buddhi in Bhagavad-gītā, let's not confuse it with Sankhya philosophy or even Kapila Sankhya.

45:46Let's strictly take what Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā. In Bhagavad-gītā, he more or less follows Kaṭha Upaniṣad. And Kaṭha Upanishad has this allegory that the body is like chariot, the senses,

46:07the five senses are five horses and the manas is the reins and the intelligence buddhi is the charioteer and the soul is just sitting there in this chariot.

46:26And the Buddhi, in this sense, is the higher faculty of our mind. There is emotional mind which is very closely connected with our senses. And it basically, you know, more or less follows the senses.

46:52But then there is Buddhi, and Buddhi in this sense is this higher aspect of our mind, which says this is good, this is not good. This is dharma, this is adharma. This is what you should do, this is what you should not do.

47:11Because if you do this, the consequences will be like this. So he's called Sarathi, the charioteer or the how you call the somebody who is driving the chariot, uh because uh you know horses are blind.

47:38The uh chariot itself is blind. The reins of the horses, they are also blind.

47:51So the only two things that are conscious are the somebody who is sitting in the chariot and he says, I want to come to this destination. And to whom does he say this?

48:04He says this to his, you know, somebody who is driving his chariot, to the buddhi. So buddhi in this sense, it's it's from uh the Sanskrit root bodh uh which means to be awake. Is it's an awakened intelligence.

48:32Intelligence which can foresee the consequences. Intelligence which is, you know, which can drive the chariot and uh you know and uh uh control the horses and everything else. So this is slightly different.

48:55It's a different use of it. Now how it is connected with it's definitely not Mahatattva when we are talking about the Buddha in the sense which Krishna uses.

49:12Krishna says sometimes, Srila Prabhupada, he translates buddhi yoga in Bhagavad-gītā as bhakti yoga. Why?

49:24Because Krishna directly says in the 10th chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, Dadāmi buddhi-yogam taṁ yāmam upayānti te, I am giving you this intelligence.

49:34I, the Supreme Lord, give you intelligence by which—jana by which you will be able to come to me. So this is Krishna's definition, he gives

49:50the intelligence, he gives this faculty, so to speak, to discriminate right from wrong. Because the buddhi uh has this discriminating ability, then we can say that

50:19you know it can be spiritual intelligence and can be material intelligence. Material intelligence uh is discriminating and therefore, it's coming from Rajo-guṇa. Discrimination is connected with Rajo-guṇa.

50:35Rajo-guṇa is saying this is higher, this is lower, this is better, this is worse.

50:41But when we're talking about buddhi in spiritual sense, spiritual intelligence, it's basically means that the intelligence given by Krishna, it also has this element of discriminating, therefore, it's somewhat remotely connected with

50:56Rajoguṇa, but it's still different, different sense in which Krishna uses it. Okay, so this is the discriminating faculty of our mind which

51:13can be trained in spiritual terms, and by this training it will bring us to desired destination and from

51:24what I heard this intelligence is and and maybe this is the um the limitations of the English language, but it's the you were saying it's the higher faculty of the mind. There's the emotional mind, right?

51:37And that is just completely connected to the senses of I want this, I don't like this based in rāga and dveṣa. Yes.

51:43But this higher, but this higher mind, I guess for myself, I've always thought it kind of different that intelligence is different from the mind.

51:52But but again, maybe that's just the limitations of English that this is really that power that we cultivate through śāstra, through hearing, and that can actually for us as spiritual practitioners is is Krishna's words really helping to guide our life.

52:10Yeah. And to make decisions. That's the faculty, yes, exactly. But also even normal people, normal quote

52:20unquote, even ordinary people who may not be so much trained in the Shastra but still have some understanding of this is good, this is bad, they still have this faculty which says to them that this is not good, don't do this, it will not have good consequences.

52:43So, devotees they specifically cultivate this faculty by reading shastra, by associating with devotees.

52:50But the faculty is there in our mind given by Krishna, and that's why we belong to this very privileged species of life which is called human because we have this intelligence. Okay, thank you so much, Marj.

53:11Really appreciate it. So our time is coming close. We can still have two questions, three questions, or how many you you want to ask the question in from the chart? No. Smrit you already asked your questions.

Realizing non-difference in the holy name

53:33Maybe Sandy Avatar can ask his question. You probably ask in Russian. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Yar Guru Maharaj, please accept my family basis. Very glad to see you. I try to ask in English.

53:52At what stage of spiritual development does a devotee while chanting Hare Krishna realize that each name is personally rather than Krishna, with whom they have an individual relationship and that they are no different from their names.

54:18You know this identity of Krishna and his name, or Hare Krishna mantra and Krishna, is fully revealed only in the higher stages of realization.

54:39In the beginning stages of realization, we should have theoretical knowledge of it, that the Holy Name is no different from Krishna. And therefore, I should give full respect to the Holy Name.

54:56I should not indulge myself in just wandering with my mind while chanting while while mumbling something. So but the full identity of Krishna and his name can only be revealed in the highest stages.

55:21It's like you know Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, whenever she says Krishna, Krishna manifests. So whenever she looks, Krishna manifests that.

55:33So you know you can have a little glimpse of the identity of Krishna and his name, especially in kīrtana, when you feel the overwhelming power of the holy name, how the holy name is really powerful and how it brings you into another realm of dimension of reality.

56:05But the full realization, before you have Kṛṣṇa-premā, you will not realize it fully. So you still have some time and some some work to do. Thank you. Okay, so we'll we'll come back tomorrow or what?

56:28Yeah Shall we come back tomorrow? We can uh since there are some other questions we can uh tomorrow again have our session. Today's less participants. No, 70 years. Okay. So we can try tomorrow, right? Tomorrow is Saturday.

Cultivating devotion through proper sadhu-sanga

56:57And then let's see. Maybe Amrita Lila can ask her question and then Smriti can keep her question for tomorrow. Hare Krishna please accept my obeisances and says thank you for letting me ask the question.

57:13Um, Prabhuji was asking earlier about how to make progress in spiritual life, and uh I know that sadhu sanga is the answer to most problems that we may have.

57:25But then we hear statements like, oh Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said that in order to have real sādhu-saṅga you need like heaps and heaps of sukṛti, which you accumulate by chanting a lot, and I'm like, well I can't chant a lot unless I have sādhu-saṅga because I'm not so inspired.

57:42I understand that I need to, but um, so I feel a bit stuck in this stuff. Well if you chant a lot and you uh acquire heaps of uh sukṛti by chanting a lot, it will bring you to a very high level of sādhu saṅga.

58:09But it doesn't mean that on your present, in your present conditions, you can't have sādhu-saṅga. It may not be sādhu-saṅga of that sort and quality and perfection.

58:29But still, when I was giving this advice, I was mostly saying that we should remain in the association of devotees because in the association of devotees we can remain humble, we can

58:45remain ourselves, we can remain, you know we don't have to feel that we need to pretend to be something else and whatever.

59:00So if we have association of this kind of sincere people who are sincerely trying to develop uh sādhana and to develop uh devotional qualities, that's also sādhu-saṅga.

59:19And we should be very happy that we have this kind of sādhu saṅga. And then in this kind of sādhu saṅga we will chant more, and by chanting more we may come to a higher sādhu saṅga.

59:39It is a very simple logical answer to this conundrum. All right. Thank you. So I guess we finish for today. Yes. So thank you very much for joining this uh this sessions and uh yeah, I hope it was useful for you.