Vedic Adventures in Russia
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · 2021
Главы
Introduction and purpose of lecture
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Hare Hare... da tam de So
I am very happy to be with all of you this evening for this program. I don't know how adventurous it will be But I will try to share with you some of my experience and the reasons why I practice Krishna consciousness and what it gives to me.
And also maybe tell something about how Russian people perceive Vedic culture, Indian culture, and ultimately how Vedic culture is the answer to all our questions As the solution, or gives the solution, has the solution for so many problems which we face.
Actually, we are in a very critical time of human history, especially within the last years, uh maybe last twenty, thirty years, that human history takes a very um drastic development.
Whether it's development or degradation remains to be seen, but the situation is very, very tense everywhere. Politically, economically and ecologically. Honestly speaking, the whole humanity is in a crisis.
Because because the solutions which modern civilization gives to people actually only complicate things.
Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientists of the last century, he said that you cannot really solve the problem from the same level of consciousness which created the problem.
And unfortunately, this is exactly what people are trying to do. The exact same thing was written 5,000 years ago in Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Prahlāda Mahārāja says this, that people give solutions to their problems, they try to solve the problems, but the solutions are worse than the problem itself. And that's what we see.
You know, to any problem which we have, modern people try to find solutions, but oftentimes, or practically all the time uh solution is worse than the problem itself.
I will not quote contemporary situation to be politically correct, but if we impartially look at what is going on in the world we will be able to see that this is going on
and the whole um the whole development of this race trying to find solutions to all the problems and complicating the situation more and more and more has become over the last few dozens of years very very you know very dramatical. New and new solutions are coming but it creates so many new problems and that's like a snowball.
Of course in India you don't know what is snowball.
Snowball is the ball is rolling, rolling, rolling, and it's becoming more and more and more because the it uh it accumulates more and more snow and ultimately uh the whole thing collapses.
So let's go a little back into history.
Science functioning as a modern religion
I joined as is what said the Krishna consciousness movement in 1980, many many years back, 40 plus years back. And at that time I was scientist and I was firmly living in science.
I was programmed from my childhood that science will give all the solutions to all our problems, as practically all the people in the modern world, or majority of people in the modern world.
Honestly speaking, science now is a religion and scientists are priests of this religion. They are the you know the the the people who keep this cult scientism. This is the religion of scientism.
And keeping this religion intact and trying to you know promote this religion, promising that whatever you need we will give you solution.
Now you have this virus problem we will make some vaccine to this virus problem and so on so forth. So So that's that's a religion uh which we have
now and the traditional forms of religion are becoming less and less popular, especially in the West. And in some countries, people they try to declare boldly that there is no God and God is not necessary.
In the 19th century, at the end of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th century, Friedrich Nietzsche in Germany, he said, God is dead. Of course, now Nietzsche is dead, God is still there.
But he declared very boldly: God is dead. It means basically we don't need Him anymore.
Before people were weak and they were trying to find some shelter in their beliefs in God, we don't, but now we are strong and we don't need God.
So basically that was the history of Russia, Russia in the beginning of the 19th century, of 20th century declared that there is no God and that was the official belief.
Of course, curiously enough, even with this belief they couldn't live with somebody to worship and therefore they worshiped Lenin.
They put the dead body of Lenin into a mausoleum and they would come and would have a darśana of that body of Lenin. Whether it would give them some benefit or not, I don't know. I doubt it.
But still, that quasi or uh some sort of religious practice was still going on because that's the human nature.
You know, for 70 years, at least was the official religion of this country and you cannot really you were not allowed to say that there is God or profess that there is God, preach that there is God.
You know, if you would do this, you would be put in prison. Many, many people throughout this seventy years of history of Russia were put in prison just because of the fact that they believed in God.
Many people were killed, many people were murdered. You know, Russia was before revolution, before socialist revolution or communist revolution, Russia was quite a religious country.
So to eliminate this religious belief in the beginning, immediately after revolution, around hundred thousand priests were killed. Tens of thousands of priests were killed just to eradicate the very notion of God.
Stalin, the ruler of Russia, dictator in Russia, he declared that by 1930, there will be not a single man who believes in God. Interestingly enough, Stalin himself had a religious education.
He graduated from the seminary and he became a very avowed atheist and he didn't believe in God. So he wanted to completely wipe out the religion.
Revival of Vedic culture in Russia
And but despite of all these endeavors, amazingly enough, the religion is still very much there, and now there is a revival of religion. And partially it's because in 1971 Śrīla Prabhupāda came to Russia.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, the great emissary of Vedic culture, the person who spread Vedic culture in a very amazing way, within a very short span of time, of 11 years, he came once to Russia and he wanted to preach but he couldn't preach.
But still, he met one person who was interested in Vedic culture and in yoga, and he was preaching to him.
And from this one person now as we were told uh at least 50,000 practicing people seriously practice very cultured seriously follow, very strictly follow vegetarianism, live very pure life and chant Hare Krishna mantra.
So let's ask us the question. Let's ask the question, what is the secret behind this?
Why people from a completely different background, completely different cultural background, completely different upbringing. All of a sudden take thousands of people take this culture. If we examine this very minutely and very carefully, we will be able to appreciate the glory of Vedic culture in a better way.
Sometimes when we are too familiar with something, we are not really capable of appreciating it properly. It needs to be little going to a little distance to appreciate it. It's always like this.
You know, if something is too familiar to us, it becomes little it's taken for granted.
You know, of course now it's a very good period in Indian history and many people are re-establishing this Vedic culture, the glory of Vedic culture. But let's again look from a completely impartial point of view
what is Vedic culture, what it can give to you, why people all over the world take to Vedic culture and practice Vedic culture so seriously. Again, I'll take my history, my life history as an example.
As I said, I was a scientist and I was believing in science and I was doing my PhD degree at that time in molecular biology.
But the very fundamental questions which every human being has in his heart remained unanswered by science. You know, science has a very peculiar way of explaining things.
They say we already explained this much and the rest we will explain in the future. Don't worry. Look how much we have already done. This is we already know and that we already know.
But you know, there are some few things which are still unknown. But in the future, for sure, we will explain. But these little things which are still not explained, what is the nature of consciousness?
How did life appear on the earth? You know, these little things, you know, they're not answered. Where this universe is coming from, why does it exist?
Why the laws of nature, the laws of physics are so precisely accurate and so precisely adjusted that the whole universe exists. You know.
If we impartially again study this we will see the very intelligent design behind everything which we see. But the science says no, this is not a scientific question. Why it is not a scientific question?
Simply because science doesn't have an answer to this question. Therefore, it's not scientific. But this is the most important question which everyone has to search, answer for.
And the particular question which I was interested, and that's exactly why I was studying molecular biology. I was trying by studying molecular biology to find the answer.
You know, how this human body and ultimately, what is the meaning of life? But to understand what is the meaning of life, you have to understand what is the origin of life.
So I was hoping that by studying molecular biology, by studying how the you know chemistry, the chemical basis or foundation of life, I will be able to understand what is life.
But in my scientific journey, in my scientific exploration, I stumbled upon a very paradoxical phenomenon. What was this paradoxical phenomenon?
Yes, uh, I was studying life, but how I can study life? I was studying life by killing life. You know, to study life, uh you have to kill something. You cannot really study a living organism.
To study you have to cut it, you have to smash it, you have to extract something. So they were killing and killing and killing, and I was killing and killing and killing, I was killing poor rats.
Once Śrīla Prabhupāda was introduced to one scientist. One scientist was brought to Śrīla Prabhupāda for some conversation. And one devotee told Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīla Prabhupāda, this is a scientist, such and such PhD.
Śrīla Prabhupāda looked at him and said, poor frogs. That was his reaction on this introduction. But that's that's a fact. That's what scientists, biologists, or whatever do. They kill. They kill.
You know, of course, there is a noble cause behind it, you know, we kill to save life in the future, but in the meantime we kill it. So this whole enterprise, the whole idea behind it is very, very destructive.
Very destructive. So anyway, I was pondering over this paradoxical phenomenon,
Limits of chemical explanations for life
and in the meantime, I was trying to really understand is it possible to uh to to explain the phenomenon of life through purely chemical laws, through the purely chemical explanations. Are we just a bunch of chemicals?
Or there is something more behind this? And while reading, and I was reading all these you know theories or all these articles uh scientific papers how uh the chemical evolution ultimately bring about life?
And I found out that they don't know the answer to this question. There is no answer to this question. Because life is so complicated.
And how you know and the notion behind this whole idea that the life comes from chemicals is that you know chemicals by uh combining with each other ultimately will bring about this extremely complicated structure.
But that's totally against the second law of thermodynamics.
The second law of thermodynamics says that you cannot really, you know, the this is against the second law of thermodynamics that uh uh the the simple thing will create more complex thing.
The Vedic approach is exactly opposite.
Vedas say yes, all these things which science is speaking about exist, but in the Vedic process of understanding how the world is coming about, it's coming about from more complex things into more simple things.
And that's very natural. We are very complex being. And we can create something which is more simple than us.
But something which is less complicated, less complex, you know it cannot by the process of evolution become more and more complex. It's it's impossible. It's just against the the natural uh law of thermodynamics.
You know we can take we can take a fruit. It's a nice fruit, fresh mango. And we can put this fresh mango somewhere and wait when it will evolve into something more complex. No, what will happen with mango? It will rot.
It will decompose. The process of decomposition is natural. The process of creating more and more complex structure is completely unnatural. It doesn't happen in nature.
And you know if we see how complex our body is, it's it's unbelievably complex. I was studying a little uh bacteria which is called Escherihia coli. It's a bacteria which lives in human intestine and create some disease.
And you know, scientists, it's a very favorite object of study for scientists. Thousands of scientists study this little bacteria, it's the most simple bacteria ever.
Thousands of scientists study this bacteria for uh for at least 100 years and still they cannot say that they know everything which is going on in this bacteria. But then they say that this bacteria appeared by chance.
How is that possible? You know, this little bacteria, one cell organism, living organism, is more complicated than the most complicated computer which which we have now. And can a computer appear by itself? You know?
Can we open a computer factory which will be called uh computer evolution? And there will be nothing there, just natural process will create new and new models of computers. Will it happen? Will this company flourish?
Will it be a new brand of computers? No. Something which is more complicated can create something which is less complicated, but something which is less complicated cannot really evolve into something more complicated.
So I was completely totally dissatisfied with the pseudo-scientific answers which were given to very specific questions which were in my mind.
How the specific mechanism, I was minutely studying the mechanism of genes and DNA and uh proteins and how proteins and DNA interact with each other.
So I was wondering how this whole thing appeared and there is no answer to this question. Besides very vague promise that in the future we will figure it out. But the the very initial promise uh is false.
And if we examine very minutely the whole science as an enterprise we will understand that there is a mistake in the very first first in the very beginning there is a mistake. There is a foundational mistake in the whole science.
And the whole science is basically, you know, that there is no God and everything is just by the natural process of evolution takes place.
And if we take now, which is very important, I will come to Vedic adventure a little later in Russia, but it's connected.
Examining the origin of human consciousness
I'm telling my own story. So after being frustrated in finding the question of the origin of life, I started examining bigger question, which is even more important question.
Universal question which is important for every one of us to answer. You know, what is the nature of our consciousness? This is the foundational question which everyone has to have an answer.
And the standard answer to this consciousness is epiphenomenon, is a result of development of matter. Matter by developing, developing, developing ultimately comes to a stage where it becomes conscious.
And ultimately consciousness is a product of the brain. That's an accepted scientific theory. Although there are many scientists who don't believe in this theory. But nevertheless, it's a standard scientific theory.
So the standard scientific theory, if we examine it even superficially, it just is very strange. You know, that scientists, what they say that consciousness is the product of the brain.
Okay, let's say forget about this question: how the brain appeared. Let's say brain appeared. Complex brain. And now brain we have 80 billion cells.
Every neuron in our brain, every one of these 80 billion uh cells, neurons, uh has a capacity to connect with two thousand uh make two thousand connections with some other cells.
So you can imagine 80 billion and uh 2000 connection, you know can you imagine how complex this whole structure is? Okay, it appeared by chance. By the natural evolution. Okay. Okay. Let's suggest it.
But still, nevertheless, this is the most complex computer which every one of us has, which everyone didn't pay a penny for this computer. We pay thousands of dollars to have very ridiculously primitive computers.
This computer we got for free. We didn't do much for this. It's just given as a bonus. You know, but still, you know how how this computer creates consciousness?
The scientists say you y you know, it's so complex that it somehow or other it creates consciousness. You know that the idea is that you have this uh brain and this brain works exactly like the computer.
Computer works uh according to this uh you know, system 01, So the cells in the brain, they sometimes they activate it, sometimes they disactivate it, and through this 0, 1 thing, the very complex thing can appear.
But you know, the and and they say that as a result of this very complex system, the consciousness appears.
But you know computer uh it's quite complex but it doesn't have any consciousness they say you know the computer can show you video right so in the same way brain can show you video. Right?
You see all the pictures in the brain and you see. But uh does the computer itself say, I want to see this video now.
Does she have this capacity to decide I want to see this video or that video, I don't want to, I want to run this program, I don't want to run this other program. You know.
And they say, you know, that uh somehow or other uh consciousness appear uh each and every cell uh neuron which is there in the brain is not conscious, but when they come together, they somehow or other uh become conscious.
Consciousness appears. It's the same as to say, you know, you have one blind person, and one blind person cannot see, right? You have two blind people, they cannot see.
But then you get twenty million blind people, and all of a sudden they can see. No No, there's 20 million or 80 billion blind people. They will not be able to see. Each of them is blind. How they will see?
How it will appear, it's a completely it's a completely different uh quality, it's a completely different uh phenomena. Consciousness is not a matter of brain.
And then, okay, let's say 20 billion people came together, they were blind, all of a sudden they could see. Yeah, but then you know which one of them says I am? You know, which of these neurons uh claims that he is you?
Consciousness means you are, Consciousness means I am. You're conscious that you exist. You're conscious that somebody else exists. Which one of these 20 or 80 billion neurons is you. Can you show?
The scientists they study brain very meticulously. They know which area of the brain is responsible for vision, they know which area of the brain is responsible for speaking.
They know which area of the brain is responsible for uh you know for the smell and for all other functions, but they still don't know which area of the brain is responsible for saying I am. Because I am is not physical.
And this is where Vedic science starts.
Discovering Bhagavad-gita and spiritual identity
And this is where my journey to Vedic culture or my adventure with Vedic culture started. Because in 1980, for the first time I read Bhagavad-gītā.
And the initial idea of Bhagavad-gītā, initial thought or initial concept of Bhagavad-gītā is that you, the person, you, the consciousness, you who says I am is different from the body. This is where Bhagavad-gītā starts.
And this was said or established or practiced thousands of years back. And Krishna says this. He says, this is the simple mistake which you do. He's saying this to Arjuna in the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā.
And he says, all your problems because you confuse yourself with this body. And when I heard this, when I understood or realized this, I thought that's an interesting idea. Let's explore it. There is something to it.
There is something which can make a difference. Because you know all other ideas they obviously don't work. I I I was not convinced about the material uh origin of life.
I was totally not convinced about the material origin of the consciousness. And all of a sudden, like a flash of lightning, this idea, you're not this body, has come from this little book. Bhagavad-gītā is an amazing book.
Bhagavad-gītā is a very short book, only 700 verses, but within this short book in a very beautiful and komprehensiv way the completely new world view is described new for me as an atheist.
And I'm sure new for many of you if you try to read Bhagavad-gītā in an impartial way. The problem of Indian people is that they think they know what is Indian culture. That's the biggest problem.
Because when you think you know, it deprives you the chance to know it. If your knowledge is not complete, if your knowledge is not really comprehensive, it's difficult to know. I had an advantage.
I didn't think I knew what it is all about.
So I read Bhagavad-gītā impartially and I was completely amazed. I was completely amazed how from this idea from this basic foundational idea that you're not this body, the whole complex but very harmonious and very interrelated and comprehensive picture of the world was developed.
Of course, at one point Krishna introduced not only non-material origin of human consciousness, but he also introduced himself as the origin of life. But that was also very logical.
So, what I want to say is that Vedic culture gives the solution to all our problems by discovering the initial mistake which we all do.
And this initial mistake which we all do, the mistake in which is very unnoticable mistake, very natural mistake. Because to think I am this body, nothing is more natural, isn't it? It's a very natural idea. Right?
Born with the natural idea. We don't question this idea. So, in the time of crisis, we have to question this foundational idea of the whole modern civilization. I started with this. Now it's a very dramatic time.
It's a critical time. It's a time of crisis. It's the time of crisis. We have to really go back to the basics and understand what is the basic idea behind this culture which is collapsing now?
This whole culture which we have, as you know, glowing as it may seem, as strong as it may think. You know, and now unfortunately India follows the footsteps of the West.
You know, this whole idea of materialistic culture is developed and perfected in the West, but India unfortunately follows very speedily and thinks that this is the solution to all the questions.
They think that this is the solution, this is the way, but no, this is not. So this culture, as you know, as convincing as it may look from outside, is actually very rotten internally.
Because it has the foundational mistake and it creates a completely wrong consciousness in people.
The problem of our civilization is that by developing this idea, which initially seemed to be very promising, you know, the scientific idea.
It started in sometime in the 18th century in Europe where they rejected God and started exploring science. This idea initially promised that it will make everyone happy.
But this is this is a very tragic mistake. It will not make anyone happy.
Vedic wisdom as a global solution
And the sooner we realize this, the better life we will conduct.
Because the life of materialistic people ultimately bring about immense anxiety in his life, brings about immense worries, brings about total dissatisfaction, frustration of everything.
So what I'm telling now that I took this Vedic culture because I thought that this is a good idea to try to find the solution for my problems.
But the more I practice, the more I see the world around, the more I study the environment, the more I study the situation of the world, the more I am convinced that this is the solution not only for my personal problem, not only for every one of yours personal problems.
It's the solution for the problem of the whole humanity.
There was a great historian, British historian, Arnold Toynbee, and he was a very big fan of India. He wrote this book, India as It Was, lamenting about the demise of glorious Vedic culture.
He wrote this book and he said that you know the 19th the 20th century you know was was the century which was dominated by Western culture. But he says that actually either we will have future or
we will not have future, and the future is to find the solutions in vedic culture. The real history of humanity may start if we really turn to Vedic culture for all the solutions and try to study culture very impartially.
Try to see what is Vedic culture giving to us, and for that we should take a very simple and foundational book, Bhagavad-gītā.
Glory of Śrīla Prabhupāda, who preached this very culture all over the world, is in his ability to explain Bhagavad-gītā in a very simple way, but at the same time in a very logical and convincing way.
So that anyone who can read Bhagavad-gītā as it is written by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, he will be able to appreciate this very culture and how this culture gives the solution to all the problems.
So I started my journey in uh 1980 uh and uh uh 40 years later, I'm still in this journey to find the real solution to this question. Who I am. You know, in Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa first states, it's very important.
First he states that you know this body. But then he gives a very difficult proposition. How to realize that you're not this body. It's not enough to say I'm not this body.
It's not enough to preach that you're not this body. I've been preaching for a long time. I know it's not enough. It's not enough to repeat it as mantra. I am not this body, I am not this body, I am not this body.
You know, you have to really realize you're not this body because at the time of death you either will be able to be completely composed and peaceful knowing that you are just being transferred into some other better destination that you are now, or you will be in complete turmoil and in complete drama, you will be trying to cling for the life.
Śrīla Prabhupāda used to give an example of one of his friends who was dying in a hospital, and he was saying, Doctor, please give me, please give me two more weeks. Please give me two more weeks.
You know, it means that most of the people who live this life of the modern civilization based on the wrong ideas, on the foundationally wrong ideas, that they ultimately are not prepared to leave this body.
Just today I was speaking with one Russian devotee, one Russian person. He is quite old and he's very sick. And he has been sick for many, many years.
You know, there is a pain all over his body, it's so painful, he cannot sleep without painkillers, uh, you know, he can hardly walk before his his hands stopped working, now his legs stopped working because every step is just tremendous pain.
And uh he told me a very interesting thing. He said to me today, he said to me, please tell me whether I'm wrong or right? I'm very sick. I'm suffering too much, but I'm very peaceful. Am I wrong or am I right?
I said, I wish I could say the same about myself. He said it with such a conviction and such a realization, I am very peaceful. I am very happy.
You know, can you imagine the person in such a condition, you know, saying that he is very happy and he is very peaceful. When we have little, little disease, you know, little fever is going on, a little virus is coming.
Are we peaceful? Are we happy? No, we're not happy. We are in complete anxiety. Why is he happy? Why is he peaceful? Because he realized the fact he is not this body.
So Krishna he not only establishes this fact, not only proves that this facts can give you a completely logical understanding of
Detachment from the fruits of work
the world and what is going on, Krishna also explains how we can realize that I'm not this body.
Krishna says that you should, if you want to realize that you're not this body, somebody wants to realize that you're not this body? Who wants to realize that this point? Okay.
So we should stop reinforcing this idea again and again and again on a daily basis.
The problem with this idea that I am this body, and when I will die, everything will die with myself, and this is this will be the worst tragedy in my life, and so on so and forth.
So the problem with this idea is that it's not just an idea, it's something which we reinforce again and again and again many times during the day.
When we interact with this world and when we interact with this world, programming ourselves that through this interaction with the world I will become happy.
In this way, we are more or less again and again reinforcing this idea within our consciousness, within our heart.
The whole idea is that you know that somehow or other by interacting with this matter I, the spirit can be happy, is a completely mistaken idea. Because the spirit cannot be happy by interacting with matter.
People think if I have a lot of matter around myself, I will be happy, right? If I get a lot of rupees at the end of the month, I will be happy. No, you will not be happy.
By this rupees, I will buy this and I will buy that. No, but this is not the way to be happy.
So Krishna says, if you want to realize this idea that you're not this body, if you want to be prepared to the moment of death, if you want to be happy at the moment of death, and smile and say, Yes, I'm prepared. I'm ready to go.
You should start practicing it now. How? By not being attached to the results which your work brings to you. Because we all work like ass, like asses, or sometimes like camels, sometimes like dogs.
Well, of course, dogs, especially in Bangalore they have a very lucrative life. They have plenty to eat and they mostly sleep, so the dogs here are very lazy fellow.
In Vṛndāvana where I live the dogs are much more much more laborious. They they work hard. But anyway so the idea which Krishna gives in the beginning, he says, you know this body.
How to prove scientifically, how to realize this idea, we should try gradually to be detached from the fruits of our work.
And how we can be detached from the fruits of our work, for that we have to understand that it's not the fruits of our work which will make us happy.
We are attached to the fruits of our work because we think that it's the fruits of our work which will make us happy.
I will achieve this result and that result, and I will be promoted to this, and I will get that much in a salary, and I will get this degree and that degree, and all of a sudden I will become happy.
You know, just imagine that you already have all these degrees. Will you be happy or not? You know, just make this experiment, mental experiment. You already have everything. Will you be happy?
I remember I once was speaking with one Indian. He was very scientifically minded Indian. And he I asked him, you know, we were talking about this matter. And I asked him, who is your hero?
He said, Mukesh, what's his name, Mukesh? Ambani. Mukesh Ambani is my hero. This is the one who made this Jio? Jio, yeah, he said. You know, because you know, he made this Jio. He made this Jio.
You know, I said, just imagine that you made this Jio. Just made this, you know, that, you know, okay, uh after initial excitement uh which you get uh does it really change your life? Will it really change your life?
Be honest, he said, probably not. I probably will have the same problems which I have now. Yes, any achievement gives us little initial excitement. Yes, it's good, yes, I'm now, yeah, right, right, right.
But for how long this excitement lasts? You fulfill some of your desire. Let's say you get Mercedes car. I don't know which is the most fashionable car in India. Whatever, Tata Karo. Whatever is your cherished dream.
Yeah it will give you some little excitement in the beginning.
You will drive this car and you will look at others, you know, see how how you know big I am and how great I am. But after some time you will be the same. You will have the same problems as you have.
Achieving happiness through divine connection
It will not solve your problems.
So to realize that you are not this body, which is crucial, crucial not to commit mistakes. Because if we think we are this body, we will commit one mistake after another. And we will regret about this mistake.
We will do violence. We will somehow or other we will try to establish our domination over the desire which we have lording it over you material nature.
But we will commit one mistake after another, after another, after another. So, but how to be established in this idea I am not this body? For this, we have to very clearly understand that I will not become happy.
I, the soul, will not become happy by all this material advancement, by all this material arrangements.
I individually will not become happy, the whole humanity will not become happy, no matter how much material advancement will be there. You may go to Mars. You know what you will do in Mars?
People they think, you know, if we go to Mars, that is that will be great. You know what you will do in Mars? You will do the same thing in Mars. You will try to enjoy your senses. You will eat and you will sleep in Mars.
So don't go to Mars. Don't save some energy and money. No need to go to Mars. No need to go to Moon. Stay in Bangalore. But try to realize who you are and what will make you happy.
Because if you get the right idea how to become happy, you will not commit mistakes. If you understand that I am the soul and my happiness lies in the connection with God, in relationship with God.
This is the happiness which uh which is there. If you understand this, then the detachment uh to the fruits of your actions will come uh automatically because you will not endeavor so hard for them.
We're endeavoring so hard for the fruits of our action only because we think they they will make me happy. This is the way to live in this world. This is the only way to live in this world.
This is the only right way to live in this world. Yes, you need fruits of your actions, you need all this achievement, but don't be attached to them.
Your attachment, but we cannot be not attached to anything, right? We are attached by nature. If we don't have anything to be attached, we will at we will be attached to a dog or to
a whatever little thing which is there. But you know, the point is that not to be attached to dog, not to be attached to the fruits of your action, the point is to become attached to God.
And if this is the goal, and if you very consistently try to achieve this goal, then you will live a very nice pure life. You will not commit many mistakes.
You will still commit quite a few mistakes, don't worry about this. That's a human nature. But you will not commit two gross mistakes, which you will regret very bitterly.
And gradually, gradually, this understanding or this realization, I'm not this body, will come to you. When this will stop reinforcing this idea by getting more and more attached to the fruits of our actions.
You know this world is full of people who give you advice how to become happy. And I am one of them. So many solutions are there. Everyone is an expert. Everyone is teaching others how to become happy.
Somebody says you drink the carrot juice every day and you become happy. Somebody says no, no, omelet juice is bad. Loki juice or whatever. Or somebody says do this exercise. Or somebody says do this or do that.
But do really people know how to become happy? Do they really prove how to become happy? Śrīla Prabhupāda, he proved he was happy.
At the end of his life, when his body was completely dysfunctional, when he could hardly move his tongue. He was still happy. He was still caring about others. He was still taking care of other people.
And he was still translating Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Vedic literature.
Living and evolving through Vedic practice
That's Vedic culture. That's glorious Vedic culture. Vedic culture teaches you how to live in this world, and Vedic culture teaches you how to prepare for the next life.
How to live this life properly, how to live this life with dignity as a human being, without wasting time, without committing gross mistakes. And at the same time, Vedic culture teaches you how to evolve.
This whole notion of evolution, which is very much foundational to the Western culture and unfortunately now to Indian culture, is also there in Vedic literature. We shouldn't evolve. We have to evolve.
That's the human nature. That's the nature of the spirit. How to evolve? By developing our relationship with God.
Through chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare Hare. So that's Vedic Adventure.
Vedic Adventure is that you uh try to think deeply about the fundamental questions and not to be in a hurry to give the solution to these questions. Bhagavad-gītā really allows to be examined very thoroughly.
Bhagavad-gītā doesn't demand blind faith. If you go to some other religion, you know ultimately you will be told, just believe. Just believe. If you don't believe, you're doomed. If you don't believe, you will go to hell.
And in Bhagavad-gītā Krishna says, no, no, no, no, let's examine this. Let's talk. You know, you will go to hell, don't worry. But let's first let's first examine what the life is all about. Let's examine what is the truth.
Let's examine it very intelligently, intelligible intelligibly and scientifically. And let's see if I can give you solutions to all these questions which you have. So, Bhagavad-gītā is an amazing book.
It teaches us foundational principles of life. It it teaches us how to realize this, not just belief, but how to realize these principles. How to really completely be conscious about these principles,
every moment of life, and it teaches us what is the direction of our life, what is the ultimate goal of our life, what is the goal of human endeavor and human life, which is ultimately to achieve God and go to the kingdom of God. And how to do this, all this is there.
but uh uh let's try to see uh to read this book and to see for ourselves.
Not to become a blind believer but to see it as many many Russian people did. Impartially reading this, they were completely conversed and you know convinced that this is the truth.
I remember one when we started distributing Bhagavad-gītā, one lady wrote to me a letter. She said, thank you very much for these books. Thank you so much for these books.
I am reading Bhagavad-gītā every day. And every day when I read Bhagavad-gītā I start crying. And then she says, why start crying?
I I you know I I cannot read Bhagavad-gītā for too long because at one point I start crying and I couldn't read any longer.
She says, I I start every inevitably, every day when I read Bhagavad-gītā, I cry because at one point this feeling comes to my heart that every word in this book is true.
And by recognizing this truth, by coming in contact with this truth, by being amazed how how simple is the truth, and at the same time, how it is convincing and how it is comprehensive, I cannot stop crying, I just cry.
So, what I wish you, I wish you to read Bhagavad-gītā and cry every day as this lady. As this simple Russian lady. When I read this letter, I thought she's very advanced. I'm not as advanced as her.
I don't cry when I read Bhagavad-gītā. But I'm definitely convinced that every word in this book is true. And not blindly, but because I tried to examine and experiment with this for 40 plus years.
Addressing neurophysiology and brain consciousness
So thank you very much, Hare Krishna. Thank you Maharaj for the enlightening class there's coming from here if it was mind blowing up very question What
is your opinion on anti-material force, its influence on cell biology? Influence in what? Cell biology. Cell biology.
I I'm not so familiar. I I do follow science, but not so uh closely. There is so many complications in the science.
And uh you know I'm I'm mostly interested in neurophysiology, how the connection between the brain and the consciousness, how the consciousness operates the brain. That's my fascination.
So I'm I'm not an expert in all this areas, so I honestly speak so I don't have much opinion. coming. This is regarding uh you mentioned about giving of the roots of the working routine attached to that.
Uh doesn't what he's asking. I I have dreamt for getting into defenses, defense force, and currently I am in the middle of the process. But when I think of the day, I will get my joining later and then I'm very happy.
Is it okay to think like this? If not, how do I detach from this either of the dream I have been very good. See when any of our dreams gets fulfilled, we get initial absorption of happiness.
There is some neurotransmitter, dopamine, and this dopamine is being injected in the brain, and dopamine gives us some excitement. So you will get uh dopamine happiness, no problem.
Uh But please don't confuse it with the ultimate happiness which we are hankering for. This excitement which is there in the brain, we need it. When we eat good food, we get a little dopamine injection.
When we you know when we fulfill some long-cherished dream, more dopamine is coming. But this is very insignificant. This doesn't last long. You know, let's say you fulfilled your dream. For how long you will be happy?
Yes, you will be happy. No s no doubt about it. But for how long? For the rest of your life? You know, if you would be happy for the rest of your life, all the military generals would be happy for the rest of their life.
But they're not. You know, look at them. They don't look very happy. They look quite morose. You know.
If all these people who fulfill their dreams would become happy by fulfilling their dreams, you know, for the rest of their lives, they would be eternally happy. But no, there is some excitement there.
So if we are not confused, if we don't confuse this excitement with the happiness which we are hankering for, then this excitement is okay. You know, yes, I need some little excitement here and there, no problem.
But uh don't make too much out of this excitement. Excitement is not a problem. Our excitement about excitement is a problem. If we are excited about excitement, that's the problem.
If we uh if we feel that we're excited and we say okay, yeah, nice, very good. That's good. You know, that's the problem of human life. When we we get some happiness we become overly excited about it.
And when we get some unhappiness, we become overly morose about it.
Instead of understanding that this is life, life is about getting excited and getting morosed, but you know, we have nothing, we have not much to do with this. Be a little detached from this.
So the healthy detachment will make you happy. Actually, it's the detachment which makes you happy, not the attachment which makes you happy. If detachment is there, you will be progressively more and more happy.
So don't invest too much into these dreams. You know, this you know desires should be there, we should do something in this life, but uh we should not uh make too much out of this that's my advice thank
Receptivity to spiritual wisdom in Russia
you another question was my question is we know during Bharat Varsha, during Ramana time, Russia was part of India and Kaisai was from Thaikai, which is in Russia.
Sir, how this Sanatan Dharma, which was so widespread, got restricted to India and what happened in Russia that led to the clan of the Sanatana Dharma over there. As of now, we know Prabhu, Sanatana Dhar place fast going fastest growing Russia.
Well I'm not sure about Kaikai. According to my information, Kikei was from Afghanistan, from Kandagar, from this area, which is closer to Russia.
But definitely Russian culture the culture was spread in Russia. There is very solid scientific proof to this.
Besides linguistic proofs, there is many you know the structure of Russian language is very close to Sanskrit language and there are many roots which are coming from Sanskrit and there is some archaeological uh findings there and you know that there are solid proofs.
But the question is how come Vedic culture shrunk so much and now it is confined to India? It's the way of degradation.
We can see that uh Kali Yuga is progressing and because Kali Yuga is progressing the uh aggressive materialistic culture is uh actually trampling over of any culture.
There is an eternal battle between the principles of spiritual culture, principles of God consciousness, and materialistic ideas, materialistic principles. This battle is still going on.
But at the same time, people are receptive to vedic culture all over the world and especially when they are frustrated in material dreams of happiness.
And one of solutions or one of my uh answers why vedikulture is so fastly growing in Russia is that because Russian people don't have too much hopes for material happiness.
It's a it's a tough country, it's difficult to live. And therefore they're trying to find alternative solutions. And Vedi culture provides alternative solutions.
If you have some hopes for material happiness, you will be less inclined to find alternative solutions because you will still pursue this hope for happiness, for material happiness.
But if you become little materially hopeless, Russian people are famous for being hopeless and therefore they are so receptive to vedic culture because vedic culture gives them some spiritual hope.
And when people have immediate material hopes, it's difficult for them to pursue spiritual hopes.
But when people don't have too much material hopes, when they become little hopeless then they can practice spiritual life very nicely. So I wish you to become little hopeless.
Understanding the psychological process of death
In the healthy way. Vishwujit Dharmatam is asking, as Guruji talk about preparation for death, please talk about death preparation. My question is that uh is death is changing?
Or is does death happen in one moment or is it process? Dying is painful. Death is not painful. But dying is painful.
But the anguish of death, the most important element of the anguish of death is this understanding that we will have to part with all our attachments.
Death is basically you know this means that everything which we are attached to we are leaving behind and this is the most painful psychologically painful. Physically it may be painful, it may not be painful.
Psychologically it's always painful.
Because you are leaving near and dear people, you are leaving something which is unfulfilled, some of your desires unfulfilled, you're leaving some of your uh uh you know achievements behind.
Uh and if people are attached, it's very painful for them psychologically because they know that they they will have to part with everything which they think they are, everything which constitute their personality.
What happens during our lifetime we build up false persona, false personality. I am this and I am that.
I am PhD, I am M D, I am, you know, I'm computer engineer, I'm uh you know, I'm I'm the wife of such and such husband, I'm this you know the son, grandson, this and that.
And uh at the moment of this, all this uh personality uh it becomes completely you know destroyed smashed and because you don't know who you are besides all these designations it's very painful. It's very fearful.
Why it is fearful? Because you don't know what is there? Why darkness is so fearful? Because when it is dark, people don't know what is there and therefore they start You know, imagining something.
So the same thing is uh is um death. When we leave uh we have an illusion that we are controlling everything. Everything within our control. We know how to do this, we know how to deal.
And all of a sudden, you know, uh you don't have any control. It's it's psychologically it's very shocking. You know, all of a sudden there is nothing to control. You cannot control anything. And you cannot really do this.
That's why death is so painful. But physically it may not be painful. Psychologically, it will be painful if you are not prepared for this.
But many people who had near-death experiences uh they explained that it's actually very pleasant.
They see their body and they see all these doctors running around the body and they float and they cannot understand what what this commotion is all about and they're happy and you know but
uh uh this there are two types of near death experiences. Some uh near death experiences are extremely painful, extremely miserable. And some near-death experiences are very pleasant.
And people who have this near-death experience, pleasant near-death experience, they come back and they become a completely different person, not attached, not so much attached to this world.
So there are two types of death, painful and pleasant. But pleasant death is only a reward for somebody who lived a very good life. If you lived a good life, then your death will also be good.
If you live the bad life, your death will be very bad.
Importance of reading Srimad-Bhagavatam
So please try to live a good life. Apart from Bhagavad-gītā, which other Vedic literature should one read? And from where to get authentic copies for the Bhagavad-gītā?
Gita is the foundation, but the next book to understand, much more complex, but at the same time extremely scientific and extremely amazing is Bhāgavata Purāna or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhagavatam.
Other Vedic literature, there are many Vedic literatures like Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa, they are very good. They teach very foundational values of life. They teach very important lessons how to live in this world.
But Bhagavad-gītā gives the spiritual foundation to our life. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam enhances our understanding of spiritual life. Gives the very bright and clear picture of the spiritual life in the spiritual world.
So that's the next book, most recommendable book, most important book, because we need some spiritual information to be eager to realize our spiritual identity.
You know this Mahābhārata is very good, but it mostly teaches us how to live in this world. How to live properly, proper life, dharmic life. That's what Dharma is all about.
But Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam teaches something which is more high. How to ultimately realize our spiritual identity and live in the spiritual world. So that's the next book. Thank you very much, Maharaj.
Sameer was asking, Hare Krishna does really enlighten me. We know everything is temporary and perishable. Then why mind tends to get tempted towards material things repeatedly? What will you give us happens?
That's the nature of the mind. The mind is actually a material instrument. And that's another amazing, amazing feature
of uh Bhagavad-gītā because Bhagavad-gītā not only distinguishes between consciousness and matter, Bhagavad-gītā also distinguishes between subtle matter and consciousness. And mind is material.
Most of the scientists, many scientists don't believe that mind is the product of matter. But they still confuse consciousness and mind.
Bhagavad-gītā says, no, there is matter, gross matter, there is subtle matter, which is mind, and there is consciousness, the soul. So, mind is material.
Mind is a material instrument which is given to us by God to help us live in this world. And therefore, mind is an instrument which helps us to live in this world and therefore mind naturally attach to this world.
So the solution is not to try to withdraw the mind from the matter because the mind is uh naturally uh uh in a very natural way attached to the matter. The solution is to get detached from the mind.
So people are trying to do this. This is very hard austerity to try to to detach mind from the matter. But no, this is useless. This is not going to work. We have to detach ourselves from the mind.
Not to be attached to the mind and all the joys and uh you know pleasures which are there in the mind. You know, otherwise, mind is doing its job very perfectly.
It helps us to live in this material world and to live in this material world, we need to be attached.
So mind is helping us how to live in this material world, and therefore it uh it naturally gets attached and you know, to something which is necessary and sometimes to something which is not necessary.
You know, it's a complex mechanism, but it's a necessary mechanism. But the idea of yoga is to understand that I'm not the mind. It's little easy to understand that I'm not this body.
It's much more difficult to understand that I am not this mind because who is thinking? I'm thinking or the mind is thinking? Who is thinking? I'm thinking.
And therefore all the desires which are there, whose desires they are? My desires. And if they are my desires, how I cannot fulfill them?
You know, so uh it's a question of getting uh getting the distinction, getting the understanding that we are distinct from the mind.
And how to understand that we are distinct from the mind, again, Krishna gives the solution.
Matras Pasas Tukantaya Shitasna Supha Dukadhaha. It says you just tolerate all the happiness and distress which is going on in the mind. Don't take it too seriously.
Don't take all the waves which are there in the mind too seriously. Just absorb them.
And then you will be able to understand that you're the absorber. Mind is the actor. And you're the observer of everything which is happening on the scene of the mind.
Combining scriptural study with mantra meditation
Thank you Naraj for this very deep insight from that from the mind.
Then the question by Rajasri, I think the Rakshana Maharash pronounce to you is reading Vedic literature and integrity of Krishna more important than chanting or vice versa?
Reading Vedic literature is more important than chanting Hare Krishna or chanting is more important than reading Hare literature. Both are equally important because you will not be able to chant Hare
Krishna unless you firmly understand the philosophy behind this, the need for this, unless you're always reminded why it is, you know, how you should read a chant.
And also reading Vedic literature gives us the fulfillment when we chant Hare Krishna. If we don't read Vedic literature, then the chanting will be very dry.
And if we only read Vedic literature but don't chant Hare Krishna, then again we will become dry philosophers and we will think that just by knowledge we will realize sublime truths of Vedic literature.
Chanting Hare Krishna is the practice which is logically derived from the Vedic literature. So if we are convinced about Vedic literature, we should chant and at the same time read. So both are important.
Both are uh integral parts of our sadhana of our practice. Rajesh, who is asking the - my question is how do we know that we are in the process of detachment?
And how do we differentiate between superficial detachment and complete detachment? Superficial or artificial detachment is when you pretend or when you think that you are detached.
In artificial detachment or superficial detachment, there is always an element of pride. It's being done as a show for others. See how detached I am. You know, I'm so detached.
And superficial or artificial detachment is not stable because it's material. The artificial detachment or superficial detachment it's a mental product.
And everything which is mental cannot be stable because mind is always flickering. It's accepting and rejecting. So if you're today, if you are detached and tomorrow you are attached, it means that you are attached.
It means that your so-called detachment which you feel, felt temporarily, is just a product of your mind. Srila Prabhupada used to have a phrase: smashana vairagya, the vairagya detachment on the crematorium.
You go to the crematorium, for a couple of days you're detached. But then you're again attached. It's a product of the mind. And the product of the mind, any product of the mind is unstable.
Real detachment, which is coming from the soul, from the realization of knowledge, which is there in the soul is stable.
It cannot be flickering, it cannot be today you are detached, tomorrow you are attached. So, and how to how to know this? It's basically you know you can know this by your reactions to the events of your life, happenings of your life.
If something good happens and you are so elated and you are so happy or if something bad happened and you are so morose, it means that you are still attached. When nothing happens, you can be detached.
But when something really good happens or something really bad happens, then you can. This is a good indicator how you react to this.
If your psychological reaction is very enormously high to all these happenings, it means you're attached. You know, if if nothing happens, you you may have false idea that I must be very detached because nothing happens.
So I'm not detached? So just you know wait when something will happen in your life and you will be able to see whether you're detached or not. Can they know?
Limitations of modern technological solutions
Yeah okay. Krushata, who is asking. How Krishna uh I I I understand that science and technology cannot answer some of the deeper and fundamental questions about life.
But if you see around us, it has provided humanity with a lot of solutions to many practical problems although it has created many problems as well as due to the ways humans have come to use and adaptate this technology.
But for many noble life-saving technologies like ones we see in healthcare sectors and others shouldn't it deserve an appropriate appreciation? Yeah, we definitely should appreciate the real advancement, definitely.
But at the same time, we should understand the limitations of these advancements. Be the important discoveries which are there like you know whatever we should appreciate them no doubt about it.
But the problem is that the notion behind this sometimes that to all the problems we will get solutions.
And as I quoted Albert Einstein, it's a very deep thought that the problem cannot be solved on with the same level of consciousness which created the problem.
If we deeply examine this statement, we will understand what is the problem with the solutions which are given from the same level or from the same mind which created the problem.
You know, it will only complicate the problem. And sometimes we don't notice how the solution immediately, how the solution makes the problem worse because it gives an illusion of solution.
Like for example, a very simple example: paracetamol. I'm sure everyone used paracetamol. I never use paracetamol. So but sometimes it's necessary. But what happens?
Paracetamol uh it's a good simple drug which uh which brings down the fever, the temperature of the body.
And of course it's a problem when you have fever at the temperature of the body and you get a little drug, the temperature immediately goes down. But what happens?
It doesn't solve the problem because the initial problem why the temperature, the why fever is there, it's body is fighting with some viruses or some bacteria. And body needs to kill this bacteria.
And therefore, the fever goes up. So when we bring the fever down, it gives us relief, psychological relief, we feel a little better. But what happens with the disease? Disease remains in the body.
We don't give uh you know if the fever is too high, if it's threatening your life, definitely you have to take paracetamol. Sometimes it happens.
But if it's uh like little fever and you're used to have this technological solution to this problem, you only complicate this because
the problem remains and uh the problem becomes worse. And you don't notice it at the moment. You think that you found a solution. It's a simple solution. But it's not a solution.
Therefore, even some of the good doctors they they say:
like in case of virus: don't if your fever is not too high, don't take this medicines. If it's it's really high then take it, but if it's not too high, tolerate this.
So the problem with the technological advancement is that we may not notice immediately the problem which it creates because the whole world is such a complex system.
And usually the scientific solution quite superficial because it doesn't study deeply the cause and effect chain. It goes to the immediate cause and removes the immediate cause.
It doesn't go to the root cause of the problem. So that's why scientific method is faulty because it usually superficially removes the consequences without going too much to the root.
Because th there is no scientific means to go to the root cause. But otherwise definitely solutions are there, but we also have to see the big picture. What is the big picture?
Uh uh you know honestly speaking, are people nowadays more happy than before? No, that're not. They're more, you know, in America, believe it or not, 51% of people are psychiatric patients.
They're either depressed, they have some sort of psychiatric disease. And in Europe it's around thirty percent. And in India it's now fifteen percent. So it's just it's a progression going from India.
But India is coming in this direction. You know, the modern life makes people crazy. There's so much anxiety, so much tension, so much depression because of the tension and anxiety there.
This is what modern life is all about. And it's just it's it's just no end to this. And no solution. You know, and it's very artificial.
Before that, uh people would go to grocery shop and would get some natural products, some you know, some vegetables and whatever. Now they have to go to special organic shops to get organic vegetables.
And to pay so much price for this. Before that, it was all organic. Now everything is artificial because the solution is there, fertilizers are there.
But now you have you have to go to special shop to get special organic food and you know otherwise you just mm take fertilizers and become chemically advanced by taking too much chemistry every day.
So we have to see the bigger picture. Not just uh single advancement uh you know. Thank you very much.
Gradual process of family renunciation
I will take one more question, last one. If I leave my family and material good for the Lord Shri Hari, how far it is right or wrong He wants to leave.
If I leave my home, family, and maternal for seeing the Lord he is it right or not Well, it really depends.
There is no single and simple answer to this question because it really depends on many, many factors of your life. If this desire to be with God and to serve God is genuine,
it's definitely right, but at the same time the process of detaching from the family also has to be very it has to be gradual. In most cases.
Because sometimes this spirit of detachment comes to us, it's artificial detachment.
Sometimes also, you know, we have obligations. So it's it's better in you know in Vedic tradition, uh Vedic tradition, Sanatana Dharma teaches ultimately renunciation or detachment.
But it's also a gradual process of detachment.
You first are trained as a brahmacārī, then you are a family man, then you gradually detach from the family life and then ultimately you become sannyāsī and completely detached.
So in a normal scenario of life it's a gradual process and in most cases it requires gradual process and even if it is in some cases it can be more rapid because you already passed through all these stages in your previous lives, and in this life you have this calling and feeling.
But even in this case, you need the blessings of all this near and dear. Without that blessings it will be very difficult for you to maintain detachment. In uh in the Vedic culture this tradition was firmly established.
If you wanted to detach, you first have to get the blessings. Even Lord Ramachandra before going to forest, he had the order of his father, Dasharatha and Kaikeyi.
He goes to Kausalya and says, I need your blessings to go to the forest. Without your blessings, I cannot go.
So we should be dependent on the blessings, especially on the blessings of our protectors, those who care about us.
And if they're reluctant to give us blessings, then we have to prove to them that we're serious in this desire and ultimately get their blessings. It's possible. So you know but uh there could be exceptions.
But the general rule is like this. We we we should not be in a hurry and we should try to get blessings of those people who are whom whom we are obliged to Okay. Thank you very much for the time.