Chanakya Pandita says to deal with others as.. | 30 Apr 2022 | Juhu | Gopāl Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī

Costing more? Is food costing more? Yes or no?

Yes.

Mm-hmm. I was reading an article the other day, and after 27 years, it's very hard to get in meditation. And Prabhupāda said, as the world situation gets worse, we will run short of food. As you know, there's a very big war going on right now. You know that? Yes. Between whom and whom?

Russia and Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine.

Right.

ISKCON has nearly 50 temples in Ukraine, more than 20,000 devotees. And unfortunately, we're all shattered at the moment. And most of the temples have closed because of the war. In Ukraine, all male, the ages of 21 to 61, have to serve in the army. They just catch every man on the road, he's 21 to 61, give him a gun and say, "Go and shoot." And they gave him a 5-minute training program. So this war is unbelievable. It's unbelievable because I've been working in these countries since 1981. It's unbelievable because they have the same culture, the same religion. Why do I want all this to be taped? I see a lot of cameras here. I don't want to change my lecture. So, so they're fighting. And usually fighting, what's happening? The world is running short of now grains. Ukraine and Russia were the biggest exporters of wheat in the world. No, there's no meat. This year you'll have to pay more for your Bhagavad Gita. And you will complain, "Oh, the prices are so high!" They're so high because we are paying high prices for the paper. And why are we paying high prices for the paper? Because the pulp comes from Russia. Ukraine is not available, so you will pay a higher price. You can see that in the material world, things are really getting from bad to worse. And if anybody thinks that he has an alternative, that's simply illusion. Krishna says, 'Bhakalāmaśrayaḥ' which is all means misery. Everything is misery. All of you sitting here are very fortunate in that you came in contact with Prabhupāda's movement. And Prabhupāda gave us the simple truth that is there in the Vedas. And if we see this knowledge, this is for entire humanity. Yesterday, I was giving a lecture to Ramjas College in Delhi. Which is one of the— Ramjas College is the most sophisticated commerce college in India. And they do the lecture on business and Business and— what's the word for— business ethics, I'm sorry. It was actually on business ethics. What does business ethics mean? I participated in a series of lectures on business ethics in China 4 years ago. So they have a lot of these conferences. It's very fashionable to use the word ethics. So people talk about ethics. Ethics essentially means certain etiquette, certain principles of morality that we should follow. In reality, no one follows. So the ethics should be there in our day-to-day life. You heard of Chinaka Pandit?

Yes, ma'am.

She said, who was he? Who was Chinaka Pandit? Chinaka Pandit was the Prime Minister of a pious Hindu king, and the king was very magnanimous. Chinaka Pandit was the Prime Minister. Would live in a small hut next to the palace. And he, Chanakya Pandit, was a man of great wisdom. The king would say, Chanakya, you are such a knowledgeable man and you're living in a small hut. I'll give you a palace, a big house for you. He said, no, sir, I'm happy here. Because if I take your obligation, I have to say yes to everything you say. I want to keep my independence. Sri Aurobindo gave us very nice quotes. One thing he said, "Deal with others the way you want others to deal with you." So how do you like others to deal with you? Nicely? Rudely?

Nice.

Chapal maayega? You don't say that, do you? So deal with others the way you want others to deal with you. So we would like others to deal with us nicely, isn't it? Am I right? You want others to speak to you in a very gentlemanly way. Deal with others nicely also. If you deal with others nicely, what happens? When you deal with others nicely, then the other person develops little respect for you. Why? He says, "Oh, he's a gentleman. He knows how to talk." If you are, for example, rude, shouting, insulting people, talking behind their backs. And what do people say? This man is not a gentleman. So deal with others the way you want others to deal with you. So we naturally like to deal with others— we naturally expect everyone else to deal with us nicely, isn't it? So you should also deal with them in a better way. Then he said, look at everyone's assets as nothing but garbage. You know, you see a nice car on the road, the mind says, take that car. But if you look at garbage, that this is garbage, then you don't have, you're not attracted. So we get nasty desires when we see something. But if you see that it is garbage, then you won't feel like stealing. In our scriptures we have so many nice quotes. And Kṛṣṇa says, "Lust, anger, and greed," The three highways, they take you where? Take you to hell. That's what it means. Actually, these days, you don't have to experience much about going to hell. The environment we live in is as good as hell. Is that right?

Yes, yes.

The pollution that you have in the Indian cities may be only 1% less than hell. Almost as good as hell. So we are experiencing living. The one time we were in Bombay, it wasn't so packed, wasn't so polluted. Now it's so polluted. So what should we do? We should take advantage of the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna says, nāśaṅga-gṛḥ, a three-time wise being is hell. Greed. Can greed ever be satisfied? Take for example, you have the kings of India, Mukesh Ambani and Adani, and all these big multi-millionaires. You think they are satisfied? Every day they start some new enterprise. They feel that they don't have enough. When you read in the papers, "Nayana is starting a new factory," you feel they don't have enough. They want more, more, more. But the more, ever stop. They stop. In the Bhagavatam, There's a story of Vāmandaiva. The Lord incarnates in various ways. One of them is Vāmandaiva, where he appeared as a young Brahmin. So he went to the palace of the king. The king received him very warmly and said, "What can I do for you?" I say, when you see a saintly person, you should be inquiring, "What can I do for you?" So the beggar Brahmin boy said, "You want to do something for me? Just give me enough land I can keep 3 feet." And the king was surprised. He's come to such a big man, and that's all he wants? I'll give you much more. I can give you a whole planet. He said, "No." He said, "A man who hasn't controlled his mind and senses will not be satisfied even if he gets the whole world." That's a fact, isn't it? No one is really satisfied with what he has. I meet so many millionaires, they are not satisfied also. So, whereas if you take to the chanting, you know, Hare Krishna, you are satisfied. Prabhupada used to give us an example. Can you hear me? Am I loud enough?

Yes, Prabhupada.

Okay, so Prabhupada used to give an example. The Gosvāmīs of Vrindāvana, they were very aristocratic. They were running a huge kingdom. They had so much money that when they retired, they had a whole ship boat full of coins. But when they went to Vṛndāvana, they were living by doing madhukari. You know what is madhukari? Yes, take enough to keep your belly together. So they were satisfied. So if you have Kṛṣṇa's holy name, it releases us from any condition. We should take this chanting process seriously. Hare Kṛṣṇa. I thought I'd leave some time to answer questions. Okay?

Yes, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am.

Prasad is asking questions. Is sign of intelligence. So they tell me that this is the group with the highest IQ. You have any question?

If you have any question, please raise your hand.

Yeah, because you know the philosophy. Yeah, quickly.

Thank you, Maharaj, for your Maharaj, I have a question that we all know that association of devotees is of prime importance. We have all been advised that association is the main thing, but sometimes when we associate with devotees, we take it for granted. We feel that why this devotee is getting so much involved in my life. So how can we develop that more of appreciation and move that there is a value which has been coming and I'm getting that value. So how to have that move?

So your question is, how do we appreciate what we are getting? Is that it?

Yes.

How we appreciate association of devotees in our life?

We appreciate association of devotees you must have at least some basic knowledge. And if you are on the spiritual path, then you want to associate with somebody who is giving you spiritual knowledge. Now, as Ammuni explains in the fourth canto, that there are three levels of association that you can experience. One is you associate with those who are less advanced than you. Then what do you do with them? You display compassion, give them knowledge. Then you meet those who are equally advanced. How do you associate with them? By making friendship. Then you meet somebody who is more advanced than you. Then what do you do in such a situation? Become joyful. And there's a very nice example in the Vedas of peacocks. Peacocks, when they see clouds for the first time in the rainy season, they dance in ecstasy. Don't tell me why, but I think that— so when you meet somebody more advanced, you're joyful because you will get some knowledge. When they help you achieve the goal of life. That's like if you're suffering from a major disease, you meet a doctor who can cure it, you feel happy, isn't it? You think, "He may save my life." Yeah? Any more?

Any other questions?

Yeah? Visit.

Yeah.

So in life, when we are trying something for, any task or anything, repeatedly, if we are getting disappointments, so for the same thing again and again.

When you're trying to do something and it's not succeeding.

Yes.

Is that what you mean?

Yes.

We should not get discouraged. We should understand Everything is controlled by the Lord, and we all have our quota of happiness and distress predestined. You may have seen, sometimes there's an accident and a healthy man dies. And sometimes you see there's an accident, a bigger accident, and they survive. Sometimes you see a man with a minor disease dies, and a man with a worse disease survives. You see that?

Yes, Prasad Raaval.

That is the law of karma. Law of karma says you will get your quota of happiness and distress. Only as your quota is, not a drop more. So if you don't succeed, Let's say you say, I want to overtake Ambani. So, then you try. If you don't succeed, then at least you know it's not your karma. So, you may say, you may say, I want to get a good Mercedes car. And then the karma says, you are not entitled to a car. A car, you can just get a beaten-up taxi. That's in your quota. So sometimes you may try and try and try and not succeed. Don't get discouraged. You've done your best. The Lord doesn't want you to have it. So be satisfied. Be content. One of the problems of material life is nobody's ever content. Everybody wants more, more, more. Is that right? Any more questions?

Yeah. I have one question.

Is it louder?

Yeah, I have one question about distress, what we see in this society, and many times we get disturbed. So is the distress outside us or it is within us which makes a dilemma what we should do?

You mean you get disturbed by what? By things? Like let's say you see a bad accident, you get disturbed by seeing that, ugly scene. Is that what you mean?

Yeah, I mean when you move around you see lot of people in trouble, Frankly, we would like to believe that I can be happy in life.

But I hate to give you bad news. And the bad news is, doesn't matter how hard you try, happiness will be short-lived. And what happens today becomes a cause of pain tomorrow. Dukhāṇayam asāyatanaṁ. Kṛṣṇa says in the Gītā, two characteristics: one is misery, and the other is that it is temporary. Everything is temporary. Even if you become a big multimillionaire, you know it's short-term business. So when you see this misery, it's good. Just like this COVID. COVID came for 2 years, and in the second year of COVID our book distribution was very good. You may say, why? Well, people were realizing there's nothing but misery in life. Now here's a Gita that has some solution. So our book distribution on a one-to-one basis was the highest last Yah. So people were seeing misery and they wanted a relief. So there is misery in life. Doesn't matter how much you try to hide it. You know, like now you have these beauty salons. Any of you own those beauty salons?

No?

We have many devotees having beauty salons. One of them has one in Surat. He has 20 chairs, but he plays Prabhupāda's music all along. He tells me that the marriage season business is really good. Because everyone wants to look. You do it for a few days. What was I saying? You were saying beauty salons, people go to. Yeah, we try to beautify ourselves. Even if we try, it's temporary. Like in the West, they have the anti-aging shops. Anti-aging in English means something that avoids getting old. You can do all the makeup you want, gradually it will catch up. So there is, must recognize there is misery, and the only solution is spiritual solution. Was this your question?

Yes, we see distress everywhere, so how to deal with it?

When you see distress everywhere, you can see that one day it can happen to you also. Like when you go to a funeral home, you're going with a funeral party, you're very grave and sober. You know, one day this may happen to you. But then you forget it. So the reality is that misery will come to you also, it's just a matter of time. Any more questions? Yeah.

Hare Krishna, Maharaj. So I understand that God is one and there are various forms and manifestations of God, but for some of us who have anchored since our childhood and grew up on worshiping various other forms of God, so for someone A person who is doing Kṛṣṇa-bhakti, should he also continue worshipping other forms of God?

I don't think—

You see, in India we are brought up in the culture, "All gods are one." Take any path, you'll reach the same destination. In our day-to-day life, Is that true? If you want to go from here to church, you can't. Can you go to bhilāpāle? So we should know that even in spiritual life, the scriptures explain the one Supreme Lord, all others are subordinate. Īśvā-parama-kṛṣṇa. In India, we are all born in this. He's saying all gods are one. When you come to ISKCON, you start reading the books, you discover, "Oh, it's not that all gods are not one." There's one Supreme Lord and the others are subordinate, part and parcel. So then we change. In Bhagavatam it is said, just like when you water the root of the tree, All the branches are nourished. Similarly, when you worship Supreme Lord, you worship all the demigods also. 33 crore. In India, most people don't get a proper exposure to religion at a young age. They just start, "Abhagwaneka." All those, all those are not the same. You read the Bhagavad-gītā, it is specifically written there, Śrī Bhāgavānabhūma-cā. Isn't it? One thing you'll notice in ISKCON publications, everything Prabhupāda gave us is 100% based on śāstra. Not 1%, 100%. He did not deviate from the truth. That's what the Bhagavad-gītā is called. I will give that as it is. Chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, that's also the real thing.

Yeah.

Anything else? Okay.

Hare Kṛṣṇa.

We have to really follow Nivāsa-kṛṣṇa.

I'm sorry, can you speak louder?

The question is, do we have to follow Vastu Shastra?

Vastu is a basic science. We have to have the right Vastu Guru. Vastu, sometimes, some people who broke the building, Vastu advice. If you have a good Vastu teacher, We know is the real Vastu, then it's okay. But the problem is, most of the Vastu experts are not so trained. And that's why Vastu is a Vedic science, just like astrology is also a Vedic science. You have to have the right astrologer. Somebody who is trained. You work with an architect?

I work with an architect?

No, no, no. I work in a pharma company, but this I asked because if we are buying a house, so at that time do we have to follow this Bhaskar Prasad Raaval? So for that time, we get—

Make sure you get the right teacher. Okay, yeah. Thank you very much, Guru Maharaj.

So Maharaj, you mentioned about Chanakya Pandey, uh, in terms of dealing, the way we want others to deal, the way we want ourselves to get dealt, we should deal with others the way you want others to deal with you.

Yes.

So the question is, Maharaj, how we deal with those who are not nicer with us?

It may be a devotee, it may be a karmi also.

So it really becomes like we should also react the same with those, or how would we do it?

Very good question. One approach could be tit for tat. You know what is tit for tat? Nēle pedēla. You slap me once, I'll slap you twice. That's one alternative. Lord Chaitanya says become tolerant. More tolerant than a tree. That is, even if somebody is misbehaving or cheating you or abusing you, you become tolerant. And if you don't do tit for tat, the other person will realize, "I'm being foolish," and he may improve. Because even if you retaliate, you're not going to get anything. It's just going to increase your temperature, increase your blood pressure. So if you want to be cool-headed, that's better. But it's not— you read that word, words of Sri Sāṣṭaka, more humble than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree. You know that word. That is the best advice.

Okay.

Okay, I'll just take one more and then go.

Yeah.

Maharaj, Prabhupāda, once he was telling that, "I will take you from the back door if there is some flaws." Back door means back home, back to Vrindavan. "But I will take you from the back door if there is some flaws in you." in practice. So, right, Maharaj, my question is like, you know, now if I'm practicing, you know, not properly, there are so many flaws, so many mistakes are also happening, so not eligible to go back home, back to Godhead. So, but still, Maharaj, is there any chance, you know, one thing which I can do, even though committing so many problems and offenses, but still one thing I can do very nicely, I can go, I can have that chance to go back home, back to Godhead. And also that backdoor, what Prabhupāda is saying.

I never heard of Prabhupāda saying backdoor, but I heard Prabhupāda say if you chant 16 rounds, the 404 regulated principle, then you'll definitely go back to Godhead. He gives you a guarantee. When Amazon gives you a guarantee, you have faith. Why do people buy from Amazon? Mainly because of the guarantee. So, Krishna also says, "If all religions surrender to me, I will then protect you." So we should have faith. Krishna says, "Surrender to me, I will protect you." So you do 16 rounds of the four regulatory principles. Then you go back to Godhead.

Yeah?

Okay.

There is one more question, Maharaj.

Yeah.

Maharaj, just one question.

So what is the practical advice we can give someone who is struggling with a lot of sleeping, basically 10 hours or something like that?

I am sorry, can you repeat your question?

Someone who is out of sleeping 10 hours.

Sleeves a lot, what do we tell them?

Sleeps 10 hours.

Sleeps more than 10 hours. I once read a report on a survey done in England, it was about 10 years ago, and they had analysed how many hours people sleep and how long do they live. And their conclusion was those who slept 6 or 7 hours a day lived longer than those who slept more than 6 or 7 hours a day. So your body energy, if you have a healthy body, you don't need more than 6 hours. If you have a sickly body, as if a Many times people sleep because they're just a bit lazy. Sleep is another aspect of ignorance. So, you know, when you were young you probably heard, "Aram arame." That should be a— this thing is useless. Rest is not going to give you any happiness. We should use Every minute of our time in productive service. That is, the time belongs to the Lord. And don't waste it. Sleep is nothing but going to— going in ignorance.

Okay.

I go, "Any more questions?" They run out of questions. "Okay, thank you." You'll come every week?