Don't solve problems, transcend them

From the lecture:
1994-126 Don't Solve Problems - Transcend Them Lecture Mumbai - Radhanath Swami 1994-09-02 IDesireTree

When are efforts appear to be successful then we become attached and dependent on those material endeavors and facilities- and that attachment to that facility is a greeater bondage than what that facility was meant to relieve you from. 
This is the law of nature- dukhalayam ashasvatam.

Therefore Prahalada Maharaj has said - if you want to be happy in this world you have to stop trying to be happy in this world. In other words- if you want toa void suffering in this world you have to stop making material arrangements in this world to stop suffering, because those arrangements are really the cause of your suffering. 

The ahankar is the cause of endless suffering. Bec we think we are the doer of our acivities but they are carried out by nature. We are trying to solve problems of our life- but if we solve the problems on the basis of thinking that I am the doer. e.g Medicine is trying to get cures for diseases - but the diseases are getting worse........
It is not that the technology is bad- it is the ahankar that is bad. Science has made how much leaps and bounds. Through computers what man can do is unbelievable. Yet there is more durg addiction, alcoholism,crime, wars, water pollution, air pollution, heart pollution. Despite so much advancement in civilization and all our efforts are meant to solve these very problems and we have very excellent trained politicians in the united nations and every capital building. Yet every country is suffering wars, sectarianism, hatred. Why? Without understanding what Krishna is teaching in the BG- all of our efforts to solve the problems only increase the problems of the world.

There is nothing worn with science- technology, higher education- but as long as these endeavors to solve the miseries of material life-through these processes are under the misconception that I am the doer- as long as we are trying to solve the problems on the level of material attachment and material misconception that I am this body and everything in reln to this body is mine- we only make things worse. 

Therefore Krishna gives this simple solution- daivi hyeshi.... This material nature is difficult and impossible to overcome, but one who surenders s to Me can easily cross beyond it. And what does it mean to surrender to Krishna.- man mana bhava mad bhakto... that always think of me, become my devotee, worship me and offer homage unto me and in this was you will come to me without fail- it is said in SB- fear personified is fearful of Krishna. CC says that Krishna is like the sun and all the darkness of illusion that is the cause of so much suffering, strife and disharmony - in the presece of son darkness cannot exist. When we remember Krishna with love, with devotion, with sincere attention then all the miseries of material existnce cease to exist. Bec the miseries of material existence are illusory. Because Krishna says that the soul cannot be killed, cannot be cut by any weapon or made wet by rain. It is transcendental, when we realize our eternal identity as jivatma then all the material miseries cease to exist. Then para dukha dukhi- we see the misery in others and want to help them- give them reliefTo give a straving man food it gives him reliefe but to give him the food of Xcendental knowedlge and harinaam you can mitigate his hunger for bliss for knoweldge and joy for etrnity. We approve giving temporary relief but CM has the medicine that will cue the very source of all disease and end all suffering and that is the Holy Name of Krishna and if we take this medicine regularly acc to th prescription of the doctor who comes in the form og Gurudev, Sashtra and sadhus-they are giving us the proper prescription of how to take the chanting og the Holy Name it must be taken regularly everyday. Within our movement we chant 16 malas- but it must also be done with great attention, concentration and feeling- what is the feeling- Krishna your HN is my only shelter. BVT has prayed- I have seen and considered everything in all the 14 worlds and my conclusion is only the name of God can save me. Due to the false ego we are under the ullusion that we can save ourselves- through our money, influence, high education. But so many people have everything but their lives are a mess - time is consuming their lives and they are doing nothing about it. And their near and dear ones- go against them, are diesseased , they die- but we cannot do anything to control it. The more we think we can control in this world- the more we are controlled by Maya. whoever we are rish, poor, educated or poor- we understand that I simply live in harmonyby Gods will, purify my heart and become a Good servant of God then by Gods grace all the problems of existence are solver- that doesnt mean you will not grow old, disease and die- you cannot solve the pblm on the level of the pblm but you Xcend that. If you associate with lotus feet of Krishna then are consciousness becomes lotus like- it becomes pure- Om apvaitra pavitra va. Even if He walks on this world where everyone is suffering material existence - He is aloof , Xcendental and above it- if we fix our consciousness and focus on it we can be of this world but not of this world.

Chant the Holy Name iwith feeling- Krishna Your Holy Name is truly my shelter in life- we must chant th eHN in the mood of seeking shelter if teh HN.

Cure of Souls in Vaishnava Communities - HG Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu

Part - 01 a

The course is "Cure of Souls ......"
The phrase Cure of souls is an old English expression when a preist would take a parish it was said he was given the cure of souls in that area. Curate- refers to the old use of the word cure.

the word means care- care of souls but I also like the modern sense of cure- making well.
In one sens theis course is what iskcon is supposed to be about- curing souls of the comtanination of material existence and returning them o the association of Krishna.
I am going to use the work of a Chirsitian preacher -
Boisen is 1876-1965 an American lived a long life is actually because he was a strict brahmacari all his life.

Why I am going to use Boisen I will explain in the course of discussion.

First book- "Exploration of the inner world- a study of mental disorder and religious experience" reprinted a couple times.This is regarded as a classic in the psychology of religion. Second book- Religion in crisis and custom". this is his autobiographjical study of mental disorder and religion. Then I found " a manual for pastors"

Boisen is regarded as the founder of Clinical Pastoral Education that is to do with the pastoral care of mentally ill people and there is an association that carries this.

this course is not about the pastoral care of mentally ill people. What happened to Boisen he had a schizophrenic episode put in mental hospital  When he came out of the hospital could not convince anyone he was doing good. He was put again for a year. He came to the conclusion that what he was diagnosed as schizophrenia was actually a spiritual crisis  St Paul,maybe even Jesus, George Fox went through similar crisis- breaking up of the inner world and putting it back together on a new foundation that's what was happening to him. When the crisis is resolved successfully then you have a siant or religious leader. When it is unsuccesful you have someone who is maybe crazy and spends the rest of life in the mental hospital or he can be stabilized in an unsatisfactory way.

Anton Boisen was discharged from the mental hospital- he was already an ordained minister of the Presbyterian church.- very strict Presbyterian upbringing. He went back to study the psychology of religion and was able to work as a chaplain in a mental hospital to verify what he had thought he had discivered. Certain insights into what he calls the laws of spiritual life. Then he went and applied the same ideas to a normal parish- he had students who had the Cure of Souls and they decide to look at what was going on with all the people in their congregation to apply it normal life and discovered the same things apply there- this is in the first book Exploration of the inner world. In the second book he tried to apply the same ideas a religious groups as  wholes.

Boisen uses a lot of insights form social psychology- the book has an appendix of terms. It is the notion that the internal structure of the individual mirrors his social structure- that we are fundamentally social beings and we have internalized things that are happening in the society at large.

e.g - for Boisen salvation means to be accepted in the company of those you esteem most highly -pure devotees. Sin from a psychological point of view is isolation from the association of those people from whom you want to be accepted.

It turns out social psychology is very important for ISKCON bec our personalistic phil . As far as I am concerned the idea that God is a person is tied to the idea

Be Fixed in your Aim BG 8-27

BG 8.27: Although the devotees know these two paths, O Arjuna, they are never bewildered. Therefore be always fixed in devotion.

Lecture:

1990-087 Be Fixed In Your Aim BG 08-27 - Radhanath Swami Mumbai 1990-10-06 IDesireTree

During the time the pandavas were training under teh great Dronacarya - they were being taught in very very tremendous discipline how to properly perform their duties as ksatriyas.

Some people ask when I am going to school- it appears that I am not doing any service for the Lord- I am just studying studying and these books do not say anything about Krishna- only engineering, business, commerce or human anatomy , diseases. Recelntly one of our devotees was studying some medical book and I happened to look intot he medical booth- could not understand more than three words on that page- very technical medical terms, pictures of horrible diseases. She asked me how am I supposed to think about Krishna when I am supposed to study 8-10 hrs a day. Sometimes we may think "I am wasting my time" But if it is the desire of Guru and Krishna then you must know that in the end whatever you learn will be used in service to the Lord. This is the preparation- which itself is devotional service- it is service to the Lord if your consciousness is  that in the end is whatsver I learn in the end it will be offered to Krishna.

Therefore if you are in this consciousness while you are engaging in your studies you are engaging in DS. It is not so much what you do but your consiouness the spirit in whic you do it.

The pandavas were learning how to organize armies, combat, ride on the chariot- but because it was their service to be Ksatriyas their traning was an activity f bhakti.

In any training there is test- nobody likes to be tested but it is nbecessary- but the purpose of the test is you are forced to digest, assimilate what you have been learning. You can sit in class all day long and pretend that you are learning.At the time of the test you are forced to show how much you have absorbed the subject matter.

In Kc Krsna tests us first through the sadhus, gurus they give us so much theroretical knowledge what will inspire us to absorb this knowledge. Many persons can quote so many slokas but they do not have any realization of Krishna. You cannot attAIN kc by scholarship, by any amount of memorzation of the sastra. you can only attain KC in the spirit of utter humility by applying these teachings to your life and assimilating them.

Thefore Krishna puts us in testing conditions from time to time just so that we are forced to understand the urgency.

It is an emergency situation that I must poracicae KC from the bottom of my heart now.

One devotee, back in early 70's very sincere. Ktug of war- Krsna is all attractive and pulling your mind this way- but Maya is very strong presenting herself very attractively and pulling you this side.Krsna is pulling you away from the illusory energy and The illusory energy is pulling you away from Krishna.You are the marginal eneregy in between forced all the time to make one choice or another- every moment you have that choice and you must make that surrendered choice at every moment that Will I surrender to the illusion of the senses and their objects or will I surrender to the SPG . So this devotee- we should not criticize someone if they are weak- we should sympathize with them.So this devotee had ocome to Maya- he would never criticzie devotees he was always respectful in that sense- he always accepted that this was the highest philosophy and the highest path. This is really what he wants to do- but he was too weak- could not get up to perform his morning sadhana could not chant acc to vow to SM and not following the 4 regulative principles and he gradually drifted away- His heart was always thinking that what I really wanted is Krishna Consicousness. Once he was talking to one devotee- who asked him "when are you going to become serious?" He began to cry said I cannot do it, I think the only think that will make me serious is if I get cancer As you know Krsna is in your heart seeing everything you do-, tasting everything you eat, hearing everything you say, witnessing every thought through our senses Krsna is fully cognizant. So he gave Krsna the info what would make him serious- not that He needed it.

One year later he came down with a terrible case of cancer. It was a sudden, abrupt, intense attack on his body that as soon as it mainfested the doctors, specialists said- if you 6 weeks you will be lucky to live, but we can try these chemotherapy and all these methods- tried natual methods but nothing was working.

He realized this was hopeless and he was about to die. He moved to new vrindavan and was chanting and crying out to Krsna all day long. He was praying to Krsna "thank you very much, this is just what I need. Who knows if I would have gone on for 100 years living a nice life the way I have die of old age  I do not where I would have gone, if I would have diesd all of sudden in an auto accident I dont where I would have gone. You have given this little time to me, I must make this my life's goial and take this very urgently, whatever I have heard years ago- I must apply sincerely and realize it" He was practically an instant paramhamsa and was inspiring all the devotees.

Thanking God with such gratiutude" Now I am serious., thank you for giving me this gift, now I don not care for anythign but you Lotus feet. He eneded up living up 6 months- but he lived those 6 months in such way that there was this whole assembly was that when he was eaving his body there were many devotees chanting .,
His only regert was "That I could have done so much more for my SM in my life. No otehr regrets"

And one devotee he was trying to make him comfortable physically. He said why are you making me comfortablke with all these things. if you want to make me comfortable then have kirtan with me. That is the only thing that will comfort mys oul.

This is a test, final exam. Before the final exam of death- a good teacher will give you many pre- exams to inspire you to become serious to make LKrsn athe object of your life.

Drona decided to test the pandavas- how much they were learning.
---------story of seeing only the eye ball of the world.---------

In spiritual life if we actually want to achieve the goal- we have to one pointed focus on Krsna- dovetail all of our activities in His loving service. This is what BG teaches- yat karosi- All that you do, eat, offer and give away should be done as a n offering to Me.

padam padam yat vipadam... the great souls do not make any goal around the temporary - Their only goal is the Lotuss feet of Mukunda- bec they know in this material world there is danger at every step and we are investing our valuable energy and we do not know whether there will ne any return- infact in the end we will lose everything.

If you were to counsel someone- this stock you have to put huge amount of money then at the end you will get nothing- will you put your money into it- when 99% f the world is buying that stock.., Canakya pandit said- that if a man loses a crore still has a chance of getting it back but if he loses one moment then he cannot get it- every moment of life is more valuable that the entire creation- that which has the costly value our time in human life- we are investing in the stocks of the world where you are convinced you are losing everything- everything you invest in this world is gone forever.

If you try to consider this matter realistically this world is crazy bec we are so much blinded by illusion- we are guaranteed our investments will all be,losyt.

Therefore Krsna says nehabhrikamana sosti- that in spiritual life there is no loss- whatever you invest will be in the process of appreciation it is growing even if you die . Therefore this is the one pointed vision of one who is seriuous about solving the problems of thes world- fixed purpose- vyasayatmika. Those who are on this path Krsna said they are resolute in this purpose others are many branched..........


Maya is presenting an alternatve to Krsna 24 hours a day.
aham sarva prabhava- the wise worship me with all their hearts- but Maya is alywas trying to take our hearts somewhere at every moment. Those who are not on the path o yoga are simply imprisoned by the illusion that I am the enjoyed- slaves of Maya- their mind senses are being dragged from one goal of life to the next- from one aspiration to another.

Those who are too much attached to material anjoyment and opulence of this world the resolute determination to DS does not take place.

tani sarvani samyam ya...Krsna says that one who restrains your senses- means to be willing to say no when Maya presents an alternative- but how long can you say no to everything- saying no to everything has no pleaure- is just avoiding pain it does not have pleasure.But we are anandamayo bhyasat- pleasure seeking by nature we cannot go on saying all day and all night we have to say Yes to something and find pleasure in that- say Yes to Krsna therefore Krishna says one who restrains his senses and  fixes hois mind on Me he is a man of steady intelligence.

Yama and niyama- accept things favorable to KC and reject things unfavorable. SO Kc is two things no to Maya and Yes to Krishna.The only way we can constantly say no to Maya is when our minds and senses are saying Yes to Krishna That must be our goal and priorty in life.

In Bible Jesus Christ was also saying like this. All acaryas talk about this one pointed fixed goal in life w/o that you cannot attain KC>

Bible- road to kingdom of GOd is very narro- road to ulliusuon os very wide- He also saiud "Be ye hot or cold, but if you are lukewarm I will spit you out" Guru speaking on behalf of God.

Hearing this someone maybe thinking Oh God this is very difficult, I have a wife and a family.I have to fix my mind on Krsna and negelect them That is not what Krsna is saying. Krnsa is explaing to Arjuna

Karamany evya - Right to and must do your duty- it is sinful to give up your duty but the goal of your duty must be to offer teh fruits to Me. that means your duty must be seva for Me. Bhakti- whatvser we do is an act of devotion to the Lotus feet of Radha Govinda- that is our goal- hope to attain in what we say- , do or think. Enrich our Kc and life with deeper realizations of love of God.

The propaganda of this world is tearing is away from the goal we need counter propaganda- the temple of the world which is meant for this against the influence of Kali.

Bring the two elements in you together by taking shelter of Yoga

Excerpt From the lecture by HH Sacinananda Maharaj

Victory on the inner Battlefield 7

My dear devotees, Lord will also do something to save you. You just have to learn to turn to Him. We will hear now how a person in great inner conflict turned to the Lord and how the Lord saved him from his inner conflict.

First of all - What is inner conflict? What does it mean when you are a divided soul? What does it mean to be in this stage of spirituality that you cannot act full heartedly. When you cannot act properly on the spiritual platform you have the inability to act. You just don't know what to do.
I was doing an experiment with 20 devotees during the Summer camp. Few times I mentioned about my two neighbors - dogs - who were also crying in front of our dog.I mentioned we have to help these dogs they are dying. There are some animals who give them great pain.I remember we stood with 15-20 devotees before these crying dogs who really searched for our shelter and help. Mother had run away- didnt care for her children. Now we have to take care. But know one felt in the heart the impulse to help them although they had heard many lectures about compassion. Today two devotees found in their heart the impulse to help and bathed them- so that the dogs can be healthy and free from these terrible animals.Aren't we often like the devotees who did'nt do anything. We know we should act but we just cannot.

This is a symptom of the Divided self.

1. We know we should we act but we cannot act
2. ignorance and illusion
3. Depression and Indecision
4. Isolation.

If you want to become a full hearted devotee on the spiritual platform you must know how to act properly , need to become free from ignorance and illusion, you must have feelings of love to overcome your depression and Indecision. Finally you must be able to overcome your isolation from God. Whenever you cannot act on the spiritual platform, depressed, isolated you know you are on the material platform.

Now Krishna personally is dedicated to save His devotees from these 4 symptoms and we will see how. But first I would like to introduce the person who he helped- Arjuna- the hero of our session today.

.................................

On the day of the battle requests his charioteer to take the chariot in the middle of the battle. Maybe Arjuna wanted to see the strength of the enemy. Then he could decide details on strategy. But as he is in the middle of the battlefield, he breaks down. On the other side he sees - he sees his brothers the kauravas, his teachers, etc. He developed all the symptoms of a nervous breakdown. Limbs of the body quivering, my mouth is drying up, my whole body is trembling, hair is standing on end , skin is burning like fore, bow has slipped from his hand, unable to stand here any longer, mind is reeling, I ill go into forest, I will meditate
Keshava I also want to fight- these are rascals they will destroyed the whole kingdom, I am getting crazy, Please help.

It was much worse than what we heard. He had a breakdown- he was the strongest person of his time. He became divided by the minute- one side said- I shall run to the Himalayas and the other side- maybe I should fight. "should I stay or should I go"

Have you ever been in two boats with one foot in one and the other in the other?
I was once with one foot on one piece of ice and the other on the other- finally I fell into the icy cold water and fell sick because the pieces were drifting in opposite directions. It is not healthy for you to have these two sides in you fighting or drifting apart. But for Krishna this was no problem. In the midst of the dilemma he looked at Arjuna and started to smile. No problem. Because He thought, my devotee will soon be in Yoga with Me. He will with my plan then he will be united inside. The whole BG is just instruction manual about yoga- it means to bring yourself together. Each chapter is called something yoga.

Why are we sometimes so divided - like a devotee and a non devotee at the same time? why do we have sometimes difficulties in our spiritual life? We are not practicing yoga with Krishna- we are not in yoga with Krishna. Conflict or the divided self can bring you closer to practice yoga..

Let me now go quickly how Krishna solved Arjuna's first problem-

inability to act properly through Karma Yoga.
Krishna said -- karman yeva adhikaratas te........
Arjuna you have a right to perfomr your dharma but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Do what is right appropriate for your situation even if it i little faulty. Dont be attached to the outcome. This works even for you. The moment you find out what is your dharma- do what is proper- do not be concerned if people like you or do not like you, do not think abt the outcome0- successful or not successful. If you learn to find your dharma and do your activities according to your dharma- the whole universe will run into a gallop to help you.

Arjuna had another problem- I am overcome by illusion- Krishna destroyed it by telling him how he is an eternal soul Arjuna, Many births you and me have taken- I can remember my birth and appearances but you have forgotten- he gave him a new insight. If you want to change a person- you have to give them a way to act properly  and give them a new insight. And you have to save his depression and indecision. How do you cure depression and indecision.

Jaya Gopal what do you do against depression and indecision?
Answers from audience -Prasadam , Chant Hare Krishna - does it work? Think about this.I say to myself that I will not be like this anymore - associate with devotees, pray like anything

Saving his depression and indecision
There is one cure against depression found out by the American scientists- they wanted to find out who are the happy people and they found it - it was those people who help others-Why? because when you have feelings of love in your heart depression runs away. You must somehow develop love in your heart to cure depression. It is said in psychology- that if you want to cure depression and all this- you must have altered feelings of love- and Krishna evoked these feelings in Arjuna. The best is when you serve Krishna with love, your sadness and depression will go. Altered feelings of love are necessary to change indecision also. When we are in Jagannath Puri a year ago, Lord Jagannath would come out of the temple at 7am cool morning. It was 11 o clock- very hot sun, humid and the wet air was boiling the skin. People started to fall down on the ground. People sprayed cold water to revive the people. It was really dramatic, the tar started to melt. I was asking the police when is Lord Jagannath coming- the police chief said " why do you ask, He comes at His won time" Finally Lord Jagannath appeared -on His throne- I saw one devotee praying in the hot sun- another devotee came like this to cool him down- but the praying devotee continued to pray even if it was very hot. Finally he did the essential point of Bhakti yoga - totally upset he took the fan from the otehr devotee- he went to Lord Jagannath with so much love with the fan. I was standing next to the devotee- as then the Lord might see me. If you are far away from the devotee Krishna does not look at you. I saw a stream of mercy coming from Jagannath to the devotee who was fanned by him. Krishna trains Arjuna in this loving service of devotion and in this way he alters his love and brings him out of his depression.

Feeling Isolated
Most of us suffer from this divided self as Arjuna is also showing by feeling isloated- we feel we cant do it- we have no help. Krishna helps also with isolation- He promises His devotee a constant stream of support. tesam satata yuktam bhajatam priti purvakam......yena mam upayanti te. Those who are constantly serving Me with love, I give them full support and understanding by which they can come to Me. The result of Krishna's help in the BG is empowerment. Arjuna at the end of BG was asked by Krishna - what will you do now?
And he exploded with enthusiasm. My dear Krishna infallible one- my illusion  is gone, free from illusion- I have regained my memory by Your mercy- Altered feelings- I am now firm and free from doubt. He feel there is support for him.I have no doubt anymore, I can make it. You are there for Me. And Finally I am prepared to act according to Your instructions. Yoga bring the soul together. When you are in pieces and you can't act determinedly and properly with blissful art in your spiritual life- you need some more Yoga.

What is yoga and how it helps you to come together - is best explained by the English word Yoke- comes form the Sanskrit word Yoga.
 Two Ox are brought together by a piece of wood that holds them together.English dictionary says - overarchingly powerful element that creates union between two entities. So Yoga is a powerful process which creates unity between You and the Powerful Lord. Only in this union with God - feeling His closeness will you be able to be stregthened sufficently to say no to your lower self. Bhakti Yoga creates the union of love. when it comes into your heart then you can cure your divided self.

In the BG is an instruction manual on this yoga. It works. I request you at the end of my seminar to become students of the BG  with one new element to your studies- try to apply what you study- especially one powerful yoga practice from the BG it is from the 15th chapter of Purushottam yoga - it gives you 7 powerful practices that you can learn  in a relatively shrt time- in the asscoation of KRishna because He talks about this.


7 powerful practices from BG chapter 15
nirman moha jita sanga dosha adhyatma........

Sit before your mind and watch it.

1. The next time pride comes up practice freedom from false pride- understanding it is Krishna's Lila's not my ability
2. Next time you fall into illusion- meditate about how you are an eternal soul and part of Krishna.
3. The third point- make it a point to not have association with materialistic people . Some of you may be a businessman or a rock and roll star - it is impractical for you to not associate with material people. BVT says to avoid false association  doesn't mean you do not drive in the same boat with materialists.To practice not having false association means no heart to heart exchange then you start become influenced. 
4. 4th practice- understand the eternal - Today I talked with Bir Krishna Maharaj- very wonderful enlightenment Maharaj gave to me and I explained to him that sometimes I am a little impatient to see the slow advancement of devotees. He said - I also have this- but now I understand that development of KC may take many lifetimes- it is a development for the eternal soul over many stations. And when he spoke I remembered - I agree this is how I often preach- I remember my own spiritual master - with SP on his morning walk there was this one cat that would come and hang there, SP would play with it and remove it but it will hang there. One day a car had driven over teh cat and killed it. The devotees had become attached to the cat because it came everyday for one month waiting for SP and hanging on his Lotus Feet. Finally they decided to ask if there was a special reln going in. One devotee asked SP in private : Who was that cat? And SP said he is a disciple from a previous life- he did not make it, but now I have given him some extra help- that is why the disciple was so happy when hanging over the Lotus feet of the SP. The cat was saved. KC is an eternal process. We should understand this and then hen we see from this perspective that one little problem has happened is not so big in the face of eternity.
5. Those who are interested to practice Purushottam Yoga it is in Bg 15.5. But the last point in this yoga is to surrender unto the Supreme Person and anyone who does this practice will attain the eternal kingdom of God.

Take shelter in Yoga which will bring the two elements in you together and then you will become really determined.
SP said if I had 18 disciples who were together and determined I could do so much. Krishna waits for you to come together. He waits for all of us and by practicing this wonderful process of Krishna Consciousness together it will happen.