The Glory of Vedic Culture
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Дубаи · 2016
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Opening prayers and introductory remarks
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Bhagavate vāsudevāya, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.
Namāḥ praviśya mama vācimimāṁ prasuptāṁ sañjīvayākhila-śakti-dharaḥ svadhāmnā anyāṁś cāhasta-caraṇa-śravaṇa-tvagādīn prāṇān namo bhagavate puruṣāya tubhyam. Ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā cakṣunmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ.
So good evening to everyone. It's a great honor for me to speak in front of you. And I will try to speak something and I was thinking to speak in front of you about the glories and significance
of Vedic culture and how Vedic culture is designed in a very special way to help human beings to develop to their best capacity. It's
in a sense ironic that I'm from Russian background speaking about Vedic culture to you who are from Indian background. But perhaps it's a hallmark of Kali Yuga. Kali Yuga is a melting pot.
All the cultures are being melted into something. And in one sense I have I am in a better position to appreciate Vedic culture because I am from a completely different cultural background.
Usually we don't really appreciate something which is too close to us. We know, as the saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt. And oftentimes to appreciate something you have to be on a certain distance from it.
And my distance was definitely a very significant distance because I am from the Soviet Union. I was born in a very atheistic country.
And my family was atheistic, my father was an atheist, my mother was an atheist, my grandfather was an atheist, my grandma was an atheist, and I was an atheist in the third generation. It was a family tradition.
But despite this fact, despite being from this completely atheistic background. I somehow or other got in contact some 36 years back
with on the top of this, not only I'm from this atheistic background, I'm a scientist by upbringing also in the third generation. culture. culture.
So, in one sense, it's a very peculiar story because as I said, I am in a better position to appreciate what Vedic culture can do to people.
Some 36 years back in 1980, I got involved with this Hare Krishna movement and I started chanting this Hare Krishna mantra. And for me it was a pure scientific experiment. I didn't believe in God.
I didn't know who Krishna is. I didn't know that Krishna is. I was just told: chant this Hare Krishna mantra and see what's going to happen. And here I am, 36 years later, and you can see what happened.
So this is a little introduction, but basically, what I want to say is that Vedic culture is a very special culture. This is a unique culture in the world.
And I think the world is coming more and more closer to appreciate this culture all over the world.
In America, I think it's around 40 or 30 percent of people there doing some yoga or some meditation or some other spiritual practice. In Russia, where I am coming from, it's also a huge fashion.
Many people are doing yoga, many people are engaged in meditation, many people are involved in the Hare Krishna movement, many people are chanting mantras, many people are becoming vegetarians.
It's only in India where the Vedic culture is coming on the background. Everywhere else it's coming on the forefront. And why? Because people again they can very clearly see the benefits of this very culture.
And I will speak about the main benefit of the very culture because vedic culture is special in a very special way. The vedic culture is the culture about people.
The modern culture, which we see, it's not about people, it's about things. It's about development of material entourage around us. You know, modern people they really perfected the material side of our life.
So many amenities, so many facilities, such beautiful things. It's fine. Especially here in Emirats, you see the highest buildings, you see this beautiful, everything is beautiful.
But at the same time, it sometimes feels very empty inside. And it's a fact all over the world people becoming more and more empty. It's a paradox. Materially they're becoming very opulent and very progressive in one sense.
But still, this emptiness in the heart pushes people to commit crazy things. The amount of crazy things, crimes which are being committed now is just unbelievable.
The cruelty is there, the greed is there, the lust is there. Why? Because people in the modern culture they again more concerned with developing the external part of our life.
And the internal part of our life, the internal development, is well forgotten. So the vedic culture, it's all about internal development of human being, and this internal development is actually the source of happiness.
Happiness is not outside of us, happiness is the state which is inside. And you can have very beautiful external surroundings, but if you are empty inside, you will not be happy. Happiness is a feeling.
And this feeling has a very special origin. So I will speak about this: how Vedic culture is helping people to develop internally.
Gita cycles and Arjuna's key question
And what are the special gifts of Vedic culture for us to develop internally. While explaining this very interesting subject matter, I wanted to first quote Bhagavad-gītā.
Because in Bhagavad-gītā, there is an interesting dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna. Krishna is explaining to him spirituality.
He is explaining, as in any religion, what you should do, what you shouldn't do, how you should behave.
And specifically in the third chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, Krishna is explaining this topic: how we should live in this world.
Krishna is explaining how the world is beautifully designed that everyone can be happy in this world and at the same time gradually, gradually develop spiritually.
There is a special cycle which is being explained in the third chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, and Krishna says, I myself created this cycle.
If you respect this cycle, this laws of nature, if you follow this cycle of yagya, of sacrifice.
And if you are engaged in sacrifice, not just trying to enjoy, but also give. Not just trying to get out of the nature, but also give within the cycle. Then you will live very happily in this life.
What we can see, we can see in this situation, in a modern situation, that people are trying to get and get and get. That they are not respecting this natural cycle about which Krishna is speaking in Bhagavad-gītā.
You know, every sane businessman knows that to run the business you have to respect the special cycle which is there in the business. You have to invest something in this cycle.
If you only uh take out from this cycle from your business, what will happen with the business? Please tell me. It will collapse. You cannot just take and take and take. You have to invest to develop it.
In the same way, the whole world is designed. The whole world is designed that if you invest in the cycle, you will get what you need. But now people are trying to get and get and get.
Pull out. Pull out oil, pull out everything. And ultimately the imbalance is there. Krishna is speaking that if you respect this cycle, you can live in a very balanced and happy life in this world.
And at the same time, you will progress gradually, gradually, progress spiritually. That's as I said very culture, very culture which teaches us to give back.
Not only to take, but to give back, to show the gratitude to God who created this beautiful world. But I was not going to speak about this, this is a side topic.
What I'm going to speak is when Arjuna hears this explanation: How you should behave, how you should live. And this explanation is more or less common to all religions.
All religions are more or less teaching the same thing that you should be grateful, that you should respect people, that you should give something. You know, Muslim religion teaches this.
Any religion teaches more or less this balanced way of life. Arjuna asks a very important question, important for all of us.
He says: What is this force which pushes me to act against this natural law, even though I know that it's not good. So he asks a very important question because we all know this situation.
Sometimes we act even against our will. We know it's not good. We know we should not behave in this way or that way.
But still there is very strong force from inside of us which pushes us in the wrong direction. And later we regret, or sometimes we don't regret, but specifically Arjuna says, even if we know, we cannot do anything against it.
So I specifically wanted to deal with this particular question because what we see around us is not coincidental, it's not just something which happens. It happens because of this very phenomenon.
People are not really free to act as they should act. They know it's not good, but still they're pushed to do it. Like, for example, any religion says you shouldn't, at least you should not drink too much.
Christian religion, they say drink a little bit. Other religions say don't drink. But still people drink.
Today somebody told me that people in Saudi Arabia where everything is very strict, and they still go for vacation some other state where it is a little more free. Just for this purpose. Why? They know it's not good.
Religion says this it's not good. All the saintly people say it's not good. We ourselves experience that it's not good. Everyone who was drunk, I I I was never drunk in my life, but I've seen drunk people.
I mean, really drunk. Russian drunk people. That's something. You know. If they are drunk, they're really drunk. They know it's not good.
It's not good for health, it's not good for family relationship, it's not good for anything. Still, they cannot do anything about it.
Karma samskaras and mental programming
So, uh, this sort of situation is familiar for all of us, and Vedic culture is very beautifully dealing with this situation in a very gentle and in a very soft way.
What we have in our life, if we examine scientifically our human mind and human body and our human life, we will understand that we are being programmed. Why do we behave in a certain way, sometimes even against our will,
because certain programs are there in our mind. And this program in Vedic language, in Sanskrit, is called karma. We are programmed by our previous actions. And we are constantly being programmed.
It's not that we uh were programmed sometime in a previous life and that we came with the program. Yes, we came with a certain program, but we're upgrading this program all the time.
And as we know, in a computer, like in a computer, there are some programs, software. And there is hardware and there is software. And human behavior is according to the programs which is there inside.
In Sanskrit, this program is called saṁskāra. Saṁskāra means deep impression within our consciousness, which pushes us in a certain direction.
So we're being programmed by people around us, we're being programmed by advertisement. What is advertisement? Advertisement is nothing but programming. To create certain desire within our heart.
We don't want to buy something, but if the advertisement is really good, you know, we feel like, yo, I really want it. Why do you want it? Not because you want it, because somebody wanted you to want it.
So that's the programming which is going on, and we have to be very clear that the programming is going on. Sometimes people say, I want to be free. That's fine. Everyone wants to be free. But what does it mean to be free?
Really to be free means to be free from this programming which is there. So, Vedic culture is actually very scientifically dealing with this issue of programming.
And Vedic sages who created this culture, they knew very well, perfectly well, how the human mind works and what is the psychology behind it, what is this force, and how to help people to get rid of the bad programs.
Every one of us has good programs and bad programs. Sometimes we know, we manifest our best. Like in this sort of gathering, everyone is so nice. You come here and you think you know all these people are from heaven.
You know, but in some other situation, the same person who is from heaven can show some other nature, some other side of his nature. And you wonder, you know, where is this heavenly person? Where is he now?
You know, we know that with different people we behave differently. Like, for example, there may be a very cruel criminal.
And this cruel criminal, you know, for everyone, he is bad. But at least there is a couple of people in this world who think that he is the best person in the world.
His little children, they think he's the most kind person. For everyone else, he is cruel. For them, he is very kind and very protective and very nice. Why? Because these programs are there inside of us?
The good programs are there and the bad programs are there. And unfortunately, every one of us has the good programs and the bad programs. There is not a single one who only have good programs. It just doesn't exist.
Because our karma is there, and karma means that we brought something not so good, and we brought something good with us, definitely. If you look in the chart, you will see beneficence, which signifies your good side.
What are the planets? The planets is basically the energy within your mind. The karma is nothing but certain pattern of energy within your mind which you brought from your past life.
And what are the bad planets? The cruel planets, krura. They're called krura, Mars. Mongol.
You know, he's called Mongol because he's so a Mongol that people are forced to do Mongol things when he is acting. That's why he's called Mongol. He's so cruel.
You know, this anger which is there within us. It's programmed by Mars. And if the Mars is not nicely situated according to our karma, according to our previous deeds. People become crazy.
People completely lose themselves in anger. In anger, when they are overwhelmed by anger, they can kill even those people whom they love the most. Being totally, completely bewildered by this powerful force inside.
And Saturn, Saturn is also a very bad program, Shani is there, Rahu is there, Keto is there. Actually most of the planets are bad. Oh Jupiter, Venus, they're sometimes good. Everything else is bad. You know.
Mercury is sometimes good, sometimes bad. Moon most of the time bad. Sun is bad. Everything is bad. So, but good is there too.
But what I want to say is that we have these programs, and uh basically uh vediculture teaches us how to deal with these programs in the best way, how to neutralize the best programs, and how to bring about the best programs. How to make you the best possible person and how to you know put aside your bad programming and not to get more bad programs within yourself.
So that's what I'm going to tell. And I think there will be some interesting points and practical points. I don't want to be just theoretical.
I just want to say something which you may use every day of your life because Vedic culture is extremely practical. It's scientific and it is practical. So, as I said, all these programs which are there inside.
Three factors forming human personality
And Parashra Muni, the greatest astrologer and the greatest sage in his treatise on astrology. He says that karma basically has three origins: that there are three things which very much influence us in this life.
I was not correct when I said karma has three origins. What I want to say is that there are three very great influences in our life which form our personality.
And he said: stars or karma from previous life is only one factor. Sometimes people become overdependent of this notion of karma. You know, I'm bad because I have this karma, what can I do?
Sometimes people they become fatalistic. But the concept of karma is not fatalistic. Therefore, Parāśara Muni says karma is only one factor.
And I will explain a little bit how to deal with karma, how to neutralize bad karma and how to bring about the best possible energy which is there within us, the best possible sites which we have, the best possible character.
But he says there is a second very important aspect of the influences upon us. It's not only karma. For example, if you take little child, the child is there with his karma.
But But it's not enough, you know, if you don't -> But it's not enough, you know, if you don't care about this child, he will not even manifest properly his karma.
What is very important for human being, uh the second most important factor which forms the human being, the personality, the human personality which we have is the early influences, the early childhood influences.
Even the person with not a very good karma, who had a very good childhood, very caring and loving parents. He will be a good person.
Sometimes he will manifest his innate nature, sometimes if he is very irritable, he will manifest this. But still he will be very much protected. Why? Because in this early childhood he was in a protected environment.
Parāśara Muni says that's a very important and very great influence for forming a good human being. But then he says there is a third factor. And the third factor is perhaps the most important.
If we're dealing with this problem of programming, that we are programmed, and yes, we are programmed by our previous behavior from the previous life, our karma, that's true.
We are programmed from our childhood. That's also true.
All the psychologists which try to help people when they investigate their problems, they sometimes go deep into their childhood memories to find out the origins of their problems in their childhood and this is the way to help people.
Yes, that's another factor, very important. But then there is the third factor, which is perhaps most important for us adults.
Because there is not much we can do about our previous karma. Something we can do, but not much. There is hardly anything we can do about our childhood upbringing. Whatever was there was there.
Of course, you can go to psychoanalysis and he will find out what are the problems, what are the fears which you had before. But then there is a third factor which is the most influential and the most practical factor.
And I will speak about this at the end. First, let me speak about these two factors and how to deal with it.
Vedic methods for planning progeny
And uh what is this uh uh how the Vedic culture is trying to protect people from the bad influences from this karma. So, first thing is, of course, our karma, which we brought with us.
And we all know that in Vedic culture there are many things which are kind of remedies from our karma. And first and foremost, what I wanted to say is that in Vedic
culture it's unique in a sense that in no other culture there is a science of how beget good people. Unfortunately, this science is forgotten.
But in Vedic scriptures, there is a detailed description of the process of how to attract good soul into your family. It's amazing that people are, you know, they're producing cars.
And when they produce cars, there is so much precautions to make good cars. Because they know if the car is not good, what's going to happen? Accident. You know, they have so many different things.
You know, before the car goes to the shop, you know, they check it so thoroughly that it's perfectly okay and there is no mistakes there.
They take so much care about producing good cars, but they don't care about producing good children. If the car has some mistakes, some some problem inside, the consequences will be very bad, right?
Can you imagine what are the bad consequences if a person has some problems inside? You know, he will destroy his own life and the life of people around him. So many bad people are being born.
So vedic culture has a unique system of planning good progeny.
It is said, you know, under which star the conception should take place, so that the good people would come to your family, which food you should eat and so on and so forth. And this science works. I wanted to give you a little example.
In Mumbai, in IIT, there is the youngest professor. He has become professor when he was 16 years old. His name is Tathagat Tulisi Prasad or something like this.
And I read a very interesting interview with him and he said, I was programmed to become genius.
His father knew this science and he was following this science and all his acquaintance and friends, they were laughing at him.
He said, They would say it doesn't work, it's just all ridiculous, it's all superstition. But he said, no, no, I will show you.
All his children, he has three or four children, they're programmed. Programmed by him, they're planned.
It's not just by accident, you know, somebody somebody came and you don't know what to do with it now. You're stuck with him for the rest of your life, basically. But you know, he was very carefully following it.
And this particular son, he said, I wanted him to become genius, and he's a genius. He graduated from school when he was 12 years old. He was reading quantum mechanics books when he was six years old.
He said, I was so happy, you know, quantum mechanic books was my favorite readings. Can you imagine this?
This is the person who is living now because he was uh you know begotten in a in a proper way so to speak, in a planned way, in a in a uh how shall I say this? In a responsible way to uh to become a good human being.
So, this is one thing which is of course a little perhaps not relevant so much because again, this science is not so prominent nowadays. But still, it's there. It exists.
If you read Charaka Samhita, the all information is there. In Charaka Samhita, there is the whole detailed description of how this process should take place so that the best possible child will come to you.
But even if this is so, if even if this is not so, there is another provision, as I said, even somebody with the bad karma would come to you still, if his childhood is good, then still he will be a good person.
And to make sure that he is protected from his karma.
In the vedik culture there is this institute which is called Samskara. And samskara basically means purification. As I said, we all have problems in our mind. Bad programs in our mind.
Like if you have a computer, sometimes there are good programs in the computer which do proper things which you want them to do. But sometimes there are viruses, right?
And viruses are very dangerous because virus can completely destroy your hard drive. And somehow or other you get this virus you don't know where from. So what you do if you have virus? You should run what?
Antivirus program, right? Kaspersky or whatever. Whatever program you have. So Vedic culture knew perfectly well that there are viruses within our mind. And there is provision for antivirus programs.
As much as the bad virus can destroy all information, all data on your hard drive, can destroy your hard drive completely. The same way if we get bad programs within our mind, the whole data can be destroyed.
I already gave this example of anger. If you get this anger, if you are angry by nature, if this force of anger is very strong, can it destroy all your programs? It can.
Antivirus samskaras for purifying mind
Krishna himself confirms this. Krishna says, saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ, kāmāt krodho 'bhιjāyate. Krodhād bhavati sammohaḥ. He says, krodhād bhavati sammohaḥ. From krodha, from anger, some moha, complete bewilderment comes.
And anger comes from kama. Kama means lust. And when the lust is not fulfilled, you develop anger. You want you have very strong desire, and if very strong desire is there, and if desire is not fulfilled, you feel angry.
I recently spoke with one Ayurvedic doctor. And he uh he told me a very interesting thing. He said, sometimes old people they have this disease, Parkinson disease, when they just, you know, tremble and tremble and tremble.
He said, do you know what is the origin of this disease? He told me the origin of this disease in the old age is suppressed anger.
If you were very angry but you couldn't really manifest it, and sometimes due to social limitation or whatever, we cannot express our anger.
We want to smash something, but we cannot smash something but it feels like smashing. So the anger is inside and the suppressed anger being accumulated
inside, inside your mind, ultimately brings about this disease because you know when people are angry they they start trembling. Right? Did you experience this sometimes? Because of this very strong force, you become angry.
So if the force is there, the energy is still there. You suppress it. You cannot manifest it. Anyway, in the old age it will manifest.
Because the control is not there anywhere anymore and therefore you are uncontrollably shaking, you know, all this anger which you couldn't shake during your lifetime, you will shake in the old age.
So that's how it works. What I want to say is that these programs, we have very bad programs in us. Lust. You know, we know how many, how much problems in the modern society are coming from lust, all these rapes.
In America, believe it or not, 20% of women are being raped. And this is the society, the most affluent country in the world. Still, because lust is there, it brings about horrible crimes. And people they can't control it.
Because lust doesn't care. You know, if you are American, it doesn't mean that the lust is not there. And it will manifest uh in a horrible way. So this is a virus. Anger is a virus. Greed is a virus.
It is said that when your there are some impediments, the anger is there. It turns into anger. When the lust is fulfilled, it turns into greed. You become greedy.
And you can destroy your life and the life of other people due to these bad programs. You can destroy if the lust is there, so many problems, family problems are there.
You know, somebody becomes, you know, let's not go into it. But we all know how it can destroy your own life and the life of other people. And as I said, I gave this example of viruses.
Viruses can destroy the hard drive in the same way. Bad programs can destroy your mind and your life and the life of other people.
So and as I said, there is an antivirus program. And this antivirus program, which is there in every culture, and again practically nowhere in the world uh this provision is there. Of course something little bit bits and pieces are there, but only in Vedic culture there is a beautiful system of how to protect people from these programs, bad programs.
This is called saṁskāra. Saṁskāra means purificatory ceremony which you perform in a very early childhood.
Most of the saṁskāras are taking place before five years old. And most of the saṁskāras, majority of the saṁskāras is there, you know, when the child is still in the womb. Why is it there?
Because the young children they are very vulnerable. They are very impressible. They are not really protected. We are well protected from we are somewhat protected from the external influences.
But little children they are very, very vulnerable and they can be very easily affected by all these good things. Like for example, uh, you know, th they really they really need protection.
Like for example, the small child, according to Vedic culture, when the small baby is born, for at least three months he should not be taken out. Why? Because he's so sensitive.
And if somebody looks at him with a bad eye, or if somebody has a bad feeling, some envy is there, he will be affected. Because his mind is so unprotected, so vulnerable, so sensitive.
Therefore, it is recommended that at least for three months the child is only with the mother. And he is well protected by mother's love. He's completely sealed by the cocoon of mother's love.
And then when he is already little grown up, then the first impression when you first take out your child, where do you go with the child? In the temple. You should go in the temple. Not in a beach or in a restaurant.
You should go in a place where the vibrations are so good and so protective, and that will bring protection into the child. Because again, these impressions will go deeply inside him.
He will feel this protected, he will have this secure feeling. He will feel that I'm totally secure here.
If you come to the temple, there is good vibration, there is bells ringing, there is nice singing is going on, mantras are going on. And that goes very, very deeply in the child. He may not remember it.
He will not remember it. Although sometimes little children have amazing memories. But still, it will be there. It will be somewhere on the background of his life protecting him. Why?
Because this saṁskāra will neutralize bad saṁskāras.
The beauty of this habit of giving saṁskāras to little children is that this good saṁskāras, good impressions will neutralize bad impressions. The power will be there in the good saṁskāras, not in the bad saṁskāras.
And therefore, like for example, other saṁskāra is jata uh jātakarma. Jāta-karma saṁskāra is the first thing which you should do when the child is born. And it is said you should give him little ghee and little honey on a golden spoon.
This is the first thing which the child should take.
And uh uh Ghee is there to develop the mind, honey is there to develop a good uh health and gold is there to no honey is there to develop good agni, good fire of digestion and gold is also to develop good mind and good health, basically.
So immediately children they get these three golden things, three golden substances. And that protects them.
Just you may say it's something little, something insignificant, it's very significant. Because there is nothing insignificant for small children. And again, this is the beauty of vediculture.
Nowhere else is there from the very beginning, you're taking care of the good health, good mind, good intelligence of a person, and uh good fire of digestion. And what else do you need to have a happy life? You need good intelligence, you get good health and you need good fire of digestion.
You know, even if you have good intelligence like myself, but fire of digestion is very bad, it's not a very happy life.
You know, so it's um so again as I said, uh mm this is all great wisdom is invested into this saṁskāras, into this uh uh into this, how you say, rituals, because it purifies the mind of the person and it prepares the person for his future life.
So, and as I said, these two things, your previous karma and your childhood impressions, which are there in the childhood.
And yes, one more thing I wanted to say is that most of the programming is taking place when the children are very small. It's actually very difficult to change adult person.
You already the program is already there, it's said.
It is said that 90% of the programs take place before children have real tooth teeth. When they have real T's, not the second T's, when the first T's come out, then it basically means they are already formed. The formation takes place before that, and therefore, all this provision is before that to form a beautiful child, to make the child very beautiful, nice, nicely behaved.
So, before I will speak about the third factor. As I said, there are three factors which form our personality. One is our previous karma, another one is our childhood impressions or childhood upbringing.
Knowledge and self-control in behavior
Before I speak about this, I want to ask you one question. To behave properly in this world, what do you need? For example, there are two things which you need to behave properly in this world.
Let's take a very common example. If you have diabetes, you know that you're not supposed to take sweets, right? But still sometimes people take sweets even if they have diabetes.
So the correct way, not harmful way of behavior if you have diabetes, not to take sweets. And harmful way is of course to follow the mind, to follow the desire. Right? The desire for sweets is there.
Whether you have diabetes or not have diabetes. Everyone likes sweets. In fact, I think that those people who have diabetes they like sweets even more than normal people. So, what do you need to behave properly?
There are two things which you need to behave properly. Knowledge. Knowledge. First of, course, you you should have knowledge, right? If you don't have knowledge that this is improper, you will never behave properly.
Because again, as I said, the program is there, the desire is there. What is program? The program is the desire which we have. And we all have desire for sweets, desire for tasty things.
First of all, we have to have knowledge. This is not good for me. The consequences will not be good for me. Right? Is it enough to have knowledge? Self-control. Self-control. Discipline. Exactly. These two things are necessary.
You may have knowledge, but still, you know, yeah, I know it's bad for me. Very nice. Still tastes good. You know, I knew one person. Unfortunately, he's no more. He had very severe case. His liver practically didn't work.
He was he was in a very bad condition. Still, when he saw some, and he he was not supposed to eat something from the... white flower ochre.
But when he saw junk food burgers, he just would eat before he faint. Only when he fainted, he would stop it. He just couldn't do this. I mean, it's not funny; it's really tragic. He knows it's not good.
He knows perfectly well. He cannot control himself. So, this discipline is again a very important factor. We are talking now about karma. Now I'm ready to say about the third factor which forms our personality.
Because I said before that you know there
is not much we can do with our previous karma besides putting some rings which are supposed to neutralize our karma. But I think it's only it only improves karma of the people who sell the rings.
Not those people who bought. You know. It's it's little childish. It doesn't really change much. You know, you have this powerful energy within your mind, uh, which you brought from the previous life. Very powerful energy.
And it's very childish to think that you put some ring, you will really change it. Maybe a little bit modify it or whatever. But in any case we can do something but not much about it.
We definitely can do something to help our children to become beautiful adults. We definitely should do it.
It's our duty as parents to take care of them, to protect them, to make them secure, and to perform all necessary rituals so that they are protected from the bad programs which are there. But what do we do as adults?
Here we are. We have our childhood, whatever it was there, not much we can do. Our karma is there. There is still one thing which is very prominent in the Vedic culture.
Overcoming bad karma through satsanga
What is it? It is Satsangh. It is Sadhu Sangha.
And that's what I want to say that if you look in the Vedic culture from a completely impartial point of view, you will see so many different provisions, so many different devices for people to improve, for people to ultimately overcome karma, to ultimately go beyond karma, and to conquer over karma.
And if you already formed as an adult, if you already have your programs inside, still you can change it. Because of the powerful influence of sādhu with whom you associate.
Because it is said that Lava Matra Sadhu Sangha Sarva Siddhi Hoy, you can obtain all success in life and all the perfections in life just by little association with sadhu. And I will explain how it works.
Again, we shouldn't think that it's something mystical, that it's something really which should happen like a miracle. Yes, definitely miracles are there.
Sometimes people they meet with sadhus and they feel that they're completely transformed in their hearts.
Sometimes, oftentimes I have this experience, you come to a nice pravachan, nice lecture, and you listen, and it truly touches your heart. And you come out from this lecture in a different way, your mood is different.
You associate with sādhu and you all of a sudden you feel like you know embracing everyone, and you know you have such a love in your heart, and you you really you really feel you're good. Why?
Because this good energy is invoked. And uh, as I said, and very cultures so much stress isn't there for satsang. It is said that y you know, so many festivals are there, like Kumbh Mela, the whole Kumbh Mela festival.
What is the uh what is the idea of Kumbh Mela festival? Yes, there is a story that nectar is there, you go, you take a dip in the river, because the nectar is there.
Whether the nectar is there or not, it's not so important.
The main idea, you come to Kumbamela and all the sadhus are come from all over the place and you all of a sudden hear they're speaking about God. You can't avoid it.
Even if you go like this, you will still hear something. Either you will hear kīrtana, the name of God, or you will see some sādhu walking, or you will uh listen something. And that's the main idea.
The main idea is actually to listen, to get people to listen. Yes, people are very much eager to perform rituals. People they have this mystical sort of outlook and they think if I perform ritual it will be good for me.
All people like rituals. They put some candle in a church or they do some fire yagya or whatever. But uh actually the the real idea behind all the rituals is not the ritual itself.
Ritual may or may not work, especially in Kali Yuga, it usually doesn't work. All these big yajñas you know so much ghee is wasted. I I don't think there's any effect. Because nobody can even chant mantras properly.
And it's such a precise science. You cannot get any effect from yajñas in Kali Yuga, it's not possible. But you come on the pretext of ritual. Ritual is a pretext.
Just to listen, sadhu, just to hear something about God. And by the sound vibration, your heart will be changed. Because again, this is something which penetrates very deeply.
You sometimes may hear something, and it reveals you the whole new dimension in life. I have this experience. Sometimes I come and I listen to somebody, and it's amazing how it works.
You listen to something which you have heard at least a thousand times in your life. You heard it so many times. And then you listen to somebody, and all of a sudden, boom, you understand what it means.
You listened before, it didn't have any effect. It didn't change you. But at one point, if you are properly tuned in, if you really try to listen attentively, and if you listen with proper respect,
...then the words of sādhu will go deep in the heart and they will change your karma. They will change your personality. They will help you to break the vicious circle of your karma. Because karma is a very bad thing.
It's it's it's a circle. If you are in, it's very difficult to get out. You you will always perform the same thing. It's very difficult to change something drastically. ...and this way is associating with sādhu.
Transforming consciousness through holy names
And as I said, there is a science behind it. It's not only mystics. Of course, as I said, sometimes we just hear and it just touches our heart. It influences our heart in some mysterious way. That's also there.
But also sadhus they give us knowledge, right? Sadhu they explain what is good, what is bad. And as I said, to change your karma, first thing you need what? Knowledge.
To change your karma, you really have to know how to behave. Because your karma means you're programmed to behave in a certain way. And you cannot behave differently.
So first thing you have to have knowledge and when you come to such such sounds like this, you know, you will hear this is good, this is not good, this you should do, this you shouldn't do.
Like Svarupa Damodara Prabhu, he was chanting, and before he said, Harer nama, harer nama, harer nama kevalam, kalau nasti eva nasti eva gatir anyatha. This is the verse from Purana.
And in Puranas it is said that in in this age of Kali, other spiritual processes are not so effective. The most effective process in this age of Kali is chanting of the holy name.
And therefore, it spreads so rapidly all over the world.
People in America, in America now, there is a huge movement of kirtan. People who don't believe in God, they just come for kirtan and they chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. And they feel the transformation which takes place in the heart.
There is this, you know, Bhakti Fest in America, which thousands of people gather together just to have kirtan, nothing else. In rich neighborhoods in New York, there is weekly kirtans.
There is at least one place where people gather together to have kirtan. Why? Because this is what works in Kali Yuga. In Kali Yuga, it works.
And when we come to such places, we will hear this. This is good, this is not good, this you should do, this you shouldn't do. And maybe not immediately, but sooner or later, this information will be awakened in you.
When something bad will happen, when the difficult situation will come, you will remember: yes, I should uh I should chant this mantra. Maybe it will help.
In my own case, you know, I I became very convinced in this chanting of Hare Krishna mantra because it helped me to be protected from the KGB.
The KGB, the secret police of Russia got very much interested in this humble personality. And I came to them and they were interrogating me. It was a horrible thing.
And at 12 at one point, I remember, I should chant internally Hare Krishna mantra. And the sound of Hare Krishna mantra—I didn't even remember—the sound descended upon me from some higher plane. It was really sort of a miracle.
All of a sudden, the sound of the mantra became very, very clear inside.
And when I heard internally the sound of the mantra, I felt completely protected, and I started smiling. And the guy who was interrogating me, he was nasty, he was so cruel before, and he was so powerful.
And all of a sudden, he saw, after one hour of this interrogation, I start smiling. Before I was trembling, I was like this, and he was saying, I will put you in prison, you will be rotting in a labor camp. And I was, I didn't want to rot in a labor camp.
But all of a sudden I started smiling and I became very relaxed and I looked at him. You know, I said, yeah, yeah, right, right, yeah, very nice, very nice. And he started trembling.
All of a sudden, he... it's a real story. I just I saw that he became very small and humble and he said, you go, please, you go. He released me. So why?
Because mantra helped me, and uh that's what I mean to say: that when we come to this satsang, we get some knowledge. This is good, this is not good.
This you should do, this you shouldn't do. And this knowledge will be there.
You may not be able to practice it immediately, but at one point you will realize that this is something good, something which is important, something which brings good to your life.
So this is one thing which Satsang does: gives knowledge. What is the second important factor which helps you to behave properly. Discipline, self-control.
So my question to you: why some people are easily controlling themselves and other people are not controlling themselves. What is the difference between the two?
The difference—where, where the difference is? Some people just... they cannot control themselves. Yeah, the difference is in the constitution of their mind.
Sattvic mind is easily controlled. If mind is very passionate, can you control passionate mind? No. Passionate mind will control you. Your little intelligence, your weak intelligence will cry. Don't do this, it's not good.
And your person will say, no, go for it. And let's see what's going to happen. So, uh, and what you will get in the satsangs, it's very important,
you will get the understanding of how to make your mind more sattvic. Just by being in the satsang, you will again you will get more sattvic influences.
Because, as I said, people, when they come for satsang, they behave in a very satvik way. The food is very satvic. The you know it's not from a restaurant, from a bad restaurant with all the bad influences.
So what I want to say again is that it's very important to have a sattvic mind because if the mind is tamasik or rajasik, you cannot control such mind. And in satsang, you will learn how to make your mind satvik.
And there is the third glory of satsang.
Acting without false ego breaks karma
There is the third influence of this sadhu-sanga or this habit or this, you know, ritual, or whatever, how you say it, uh, this system, this custom of satsang, which is very prominent in the Vedic culture.
The third item is that when you behave, and that's the most important, that's the most important to conquer over your karma. And listen very carefully because if you want to really get out
of the vicious circle of your karma, in whatever way it is there, because there are so many bad consequences from our karma. If you want to do this, there is completely —
If you want to break this vicious circle, there is only one way to do it completely. To learn how to act in this world without investing ego in your actions.
And that's perhaps the most important thing which we should learn during the satsangs. Because when we act in this world, we always invest ego there. I'm doing this. Look how great I am.
I did this, yes, I am this, and I am that. And till the time this "I" will be there, consequences will also be there. You are doing this?
There is a beautiful story which I will tell and then finish this talk because it's already too late. So the beautiful story is like this: there was one brāhmaṇa and he had a nice garden.
And he was very fond of his garden. He was bringing very rare plants into the garden, and he was really taking care of the garden nicely.
And once a cow, stupid cow, ignorant cow came to this garden and started eating his favorite plants.
And when he saw it, he was so angry with the cow. He took a stone in his hands, and he threw it at the cow. And somehow or other it hit so hard that the cow died on the spot.
And because he was a Brahmin by upbringing, he knew that it was not very good. And he tried to hide this hideous crime which he committed, Gohatya, he killed a cow, but still he was not very happy inside.
And the time came after some time and he was supposed to die. And uh the messengers from uh Yamaraj came to take him to the hell and when they came he realized they came for
him and he said no no uh we're taking you there, and he said, no, no. Uh you kill the cow. He said, No, I didn't kill the cow. They said, How come? You killed the cow? No, he said, No, I didn't kill the cow.
Because it was my hand. My hand took the stone and I'm not responsible, you know. My hand did this, and you know, it's Indra who is responsible for the movement of my hand. Go to Indra. You have nothing to do with me.
And uh, you know, the messengers of Yamaraj, they were a little bewildered. They went back and they said he doesn't want to go. He said it was not him, he knows Bhagavad-gītā too well. You know, he he doesn't want to go.
What shall we do? Yamaraja said, I will take care of it. So Yamaraja he came in the guise of an old Brahmin. And he came to the garden of this Brahmin and he started walking and he started praising this garden.
He said, Oh, such a beautiful garden! And uh oh, such a beautiful rose which is there, rose flower. And who I mean my goodness, who can grow such a beautiful rose? And this Brahmin was there.
He said, that's me, I can grow this rose.
And this tree, oh my goodness, yeah, that's me, I I made this arrangement, this is he said, yes, really, it's you, you did this garden, he said yes, I did this garden, what about the cow? If it's you who did the garden, it means that you who killed the cow.
Because this ego was there. You may know the philosophy that you know, I'm not a doer. But still, the ego is there. You invest the ego in whatever you act.
And until you invest the ego in whatever you act, until you're proud, I'm doing this. Look at me. I'm so big. I'm a sannyasi from Russia. You just look at me. Isn't that nice? Do you appreciate me? Until the ego is there.
If the ego is there, karma will come to you. Because the agency is there. You're doing it with the sense I'm doing it. And therefore, the consequences will come to you, not to anyone else.
And that's the teaching of Bhagavad-gītā. How to act in this world without creating karma. For that, you gradually should withdraw your agency, your false ego, I am doing this, look how great I am. You do.
You do whatever you're supposed to do. You do it in a proper way. But don't be proud that you're doing this. Because it's actually not only you.
God created this world, God gives you facility, God provided this whole thing, so many things other people did. Our parents, their input is there.
Like today, before the Satsang, we were speaking with Rupaji who is our hostess. And somebody was praising her. She is such a sharp lady, such intelligent lady, she knows all the slocus better than anyone else.
And then she said, no, because I have such a good teacher. So she knows how to behave. She knows it's not me. It's not me, it's my teacher. What am I doing? I'm not doing much.
I'm doing what I'm supposed to do, but actually, so many other people they also did something, they contributed something. So that's the most important thing to break karma.
Because if you want to finish your karma completely, then you have to learn this art, how to act without investing ego in your actions. How to do it? Because you're supposed to do it.
From the sense of duty, from Dharma, from all other points of view. Do it not expecting anything in return. And then you will get the most amazing thing in return: grace of God, upon you. And what is more precious?
What is more valuable than the grace of God? And that you can only learn from those people who master the art of being selfless.
And this is what we're supposed to learn when we come to such sanghas: how to behave in a nice way without investing our evils. And that's the difference.
And as I said, that's the thing which can completely eradicate your karma. Even if your childhood was not so good, not so cultural, even if your karma was not so good, it doesn't matter.
You can do it, no matter who you are, in this lifetime, if you learn this little art of acting selflessly in this life, and that brings the greatest joy within your heart.
It really makes your heart light and kind and nice. And you don't want anything else. You just want to continue to live this beautiful life according to the scriptures.
And you are not anymore machine of your karma, programmed machine of your karma. You are a free human being. Manifesting the full capacity of your heart.
Because the fullest capacity of your heart, the fullest development of your heart, is this ability to love.
And by following the Vedic culture, you will ultimately develop this ability, this most important human ability: ability to love, ability to give, ability to serve. That's what I wanted to say. Thank you very much.