Prerequisites for Introspection | Crawley, UK | Vraja Bihari Das

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[Music] Nam [Music] har Krishna kishna thank you everyone for coming can you increase the volume I to little difficulty with my throat H har Krishna H har Krishna this is good thank so thank you very much I U this is the third time I’m coming to cwy and I I remember all the three times what I spoke and my interactions with with all of you and today I have been asked to speak on the topic um introspection introspection uh the tips practical ways to introspect right introspection how we can do manam manam is introspection now there are six three principles and three practical uh tools that many of us follow that helps us introspect and I may not be able to cover all the six but I’ll briefly mention what the six are and then maybe we can dive into a couple of them the three principles for introspection are the principles are very important see when we do introspection just like that we just think sit and think what is good for me or what should I do introspection without the principles can lead to disaster because when we are introspecting we associating with [Music] whom mind and mind is very slippery and very nasty so we may think I’m doing introspection but instead of connecting to our higher self we may end up engaging with the mind and the mind has its mind is amazing you know sometimes I’ve seen somebody say oh PR my mind is troubling me so much my mind is so bad I’m suffering so much my mind is so pathetic but even as you’re complaining about your mind it’s not you it’s the mind which has come through the back door and mind is now lenting about its own State mind is very slippery so introspection we have to use our mind definitely but before that we need three principles in place once those principles are in place then the three practical techniques will help the three principles are first is satwa satwa means what is the meaning of satwa satwa means goodness we need to have a lifestyle which is slow peaceful meaningful relaxed there is kindness there is heart-to- heart conversations you know you could sit with a friend and just stare into the space and share some silence there’s not always an agenda if there is no satwa then introspection won’t work if you’re leading a fastpaced life and then you sit down to introspect you can’t there will be a traffic jam you know you just you won’t get you won’t get Clarity by simply switching Clarity is not some you know switch on switch off button you need a overall lifestyle of satuna that is first principle second very very important is s assoc the right kind of Association and after we discuss the six points briefly I will I want to spend some time on this topic about Association so without Association uh we can’t really introspect because you know we introspect we figure out many things but if you have a good assoc sometimes I’ve seen in good Association what takes weeks of speculation gets resolved in just a minute of good Association good friends sometimes you just reflect back and they just say something and you and they may not directly address your issue but just by being being with them you get an answer for something so this is glorified in all our scriptures good Association extremely important now when I said S I meant San also when we come together and do Kiran and when we come together and do sa all of that is included in the principle of s so this is the second principle what is the first SATA second s and third is shastra shastra is scriptural knowledge because that is higher intelligence if I use my intelligence to introspect you know what there’s very big problem with our intelligence our intelligence is many times contaminated our intelligence is simply a servant of the [Music] mind you know in our inner World there are three bundas three Deco staying the mafia Dawn the boss of this gang is called the ego the false ego he issues a dictat I am the enjoyer that’s it that’s all he does I the enjoyer that’s the false ‘s dictat and the false has two bodyguards protecting the false eego the first one is called Mind mind’s job is accept and reject so the false OS dictat is what I’m an enjoyer I am an enjoyer and then you come and tell me PR you give such good classes so so what has happened my my ego feels ah good because I’m enjoyable so what does the Mind do accept he’s a good person the mind is immediately accepted and what does intelligence do intelligence supplies arguments logic rational for the mind’s acceptance and rejection the intelligence says yes he’s a very good person because he’s so educated he’s from a good family all the intelligence is saying why because the mind has accepted him tomorrow the same person says prau you you gave a good class yesterday but you are very proud so when he says that my ego gets offended and the mind Rejects and when the Mind rejects the intelligence says oh he’s actually not a good person the same intelligence now will give justification on how this person is bad so our intelligence is a slave of the Mind in the long run so whenever scriptures say intelligence is more powerful than mind that intelligence refers to higher intelligence or scriptural intelligence not this material intelligence so shastra is that higher intelligence shastra is Transcendental coming from the spiritual real so when we read scriptures or when we hear scriptures in association good Association then if these three things are in place then introspection can happen an introspection how we can do practically how we can get into satwa I I call this as uh BJP formula for those of you are from India or you know you think in India I cannot give I cannot say BJP people think there is some political b b stands for breathing breathing is extremely important for introspection J for journaling I write journals every day however busy I am I need to just like you need to spend time with your family every day you need to spend time with your spouse your children however busy you are even if you’re traveling will’ll call your children you need to stay connected to your family right so for me journaling is that family journaling is that companion journaling helps me introspect recalibrate feel loved forgiven a validation everything happens in the journal so journaling breathing journaling and P is for praying so BJP and satwa sa and shra shastra and of all the six I feel the most important is Association s the kind of Association we have and I personally strongly feel crawly see I I don’t want to boast but I get a lot of invitations I go to many places but I’ve come to UK and I’ve got such strong Impressions and memories of C I feel this this place has immense potential and I’ve have known some very wonderful devotees here and they have deeply touched my heart and I feel if you simply get if you work on creating the right kind of atmosphere and EnV environment for good Association then we’ll be able to introspect we’ll be able to come closer to Krishna and experience Krishna in our life and good Association is basically at three levels you ask yourself how are you associating with each other at the lowest level s means socializing har Krishna har how are you let’s go you know we go for a party we go for a movie we go and watch a football match we all good we are good friends and Association generally means socializing that’s very low level of Association little higher than that is Association for hearing and chanting and serving together this is when actually Association starts working magic in our life because we are allowing Krishna to enter this s when we hear and chant in association and there is a much deeper level of Association and that is so powerful that even if you separated from the devotees and you are thousand miles away still you can associate with them like I’m so far away from my temple CH Temple where I would do DT worship every day so I miss and that is what the Third type of Association is first is what first first level of Association socializing second hearing chanting and serving together and third is when we actually depend on the blessings of other devotees when I depend internally I depend on your blessings and in that mod I associate or connect with you knowing that I need blessings that’s very deep Association and then we experience Krishna in our life it’s amazing because Dev is are very dear to Krishna so when we internally depend like if I depend okay I’ve come to shu’s house K is there and if I’m thinking okay if I please them they’ll pray for me I need Their Blessings if I think like that even if they don’t bless me but my mood is sincere then I’m going to experience Krishna of course they will bless me very nice people and just say Give an example our mood is very important because Krishna see who said that I heard it many times this time in the manner I think an gopal pru and brahmachari manner has said this that when I pray for myself Krishna listens to my prayer but when I pray for others Krishna acts on that prayer so if we all praying for each other and we actually seek blessings from other devotees then we are associating with them very deeply sh pra’s vasja was being celebrated in 1974 in Germany Hamburg I think so during the vas Puja everybody appreciated him so after the appreciation sh pra said he had to give a class so he said I want to thank all of you you have been so nice and I’m feeling very bad that I’m unable to reciprocate with you you are doing so much for me I’m unable to reciprocate with you the only thing I can do for all of you is I can pray for you and then sh prad became very quiet and he was he closed his eyes so devotees knew that he’s introspecting he’s gone deep into meditation he’s actually praying for the devotees and then said Thank you and he got up and as he was leaving he saw one devote shivanand he he caught his hand he said shivanand please please I request you please pray for me I need your blessings what did he say just now few minutes before what did say few minutes before this and I’m going to the only thing I can do is I can pray for you and now Shad is asking him to pray for him so then Shan immediately said no no sh prad how can I pray for you you are the one who’s praying for us he was saying humbly that how can my prayers mean anything because I nobody in that mood he said no prad I can’t pray for you you are the one who’s praying for all of us and Sh prad imately said no your prayers have lot of power because you are a VN you are a devote please pray for me sh prad taught by his own example that how we need to depend on blessings of other devotees when devotees pray magic happens magic and you know something amazing I discovered I went through my own now all of us go through our problems in life so I don’t want to bore you with my problems so but Essence was I went through some real difficult times in my life and few years ago I think three or four years ago it was the biggest crisis I had ever faced and nor many look back I feel wow how did I survive that and it is as if I gone you know it’s as if I walk through fire and I have no Burns no scars left how can that happen how how can I be so safe [Music] now and then I realize oh this is because definitely some devotes are praying for me otherwise it’s not possible somebody has blessed me somebody’s praying for me otherwise it’s not possible that I can be so effective safe happy sheltered somebody is definitely out there praying so I started a practice 2 years ago this incident happened around 4 years ago so when I came out of it and I was like I can’t I couldn’t believe my fortune and then I realized how things are happening so 2 years ago I started a practice I said well some Dev have prayed for me so I’m so effective and happy so how can I reciprocate maybe I can pray for them now I’m nobody important that you know like I’m going to pray for you guys I’m not somebody like that but I thought my feeble attemp to show my gratitude so I I have anywhere I write journals every day morning so one column I added called a blessing Journal so I would write five names every day I would write a name and then I would write against that name two words would be common for every name it would begin like this Krishna please and then I would write a small prayer one sentence two sentence and the next name then again Krishna please then I would write a prayer I started doing that for five devotees every day and within 3 four days I realized the [Music] difference I don’t know about others but in my own Consciousness I saw Envy making way for appreciation I saw I could feel you know just like you know sometimes when in India when you dry your clothes in summer when I dry my doti in the hot sun I can actually see it get dry I can see the sun take away the water from the do you can feel it you can see it so I remember as I started praying for others I could see my Envy going away you know I suddenly started feeling this world is a good place and you know there’s lot of abundance it made uh place in my heart and it’s not a big deal it’s nothing you know it’s not I’m sure we can we can at least pray for five people every day we all know at least what I’m sure all of us know at least 10 50 people in our lives and because I’m a preacher I always hear some problem somebody’s having like I know I know one very close friend of mine in Delhi who’s going who went through 12 rounds of chemotherapy and cancer so every few days I pray for him and then uh you know there are other somebody’s lost a job somebody’s going through a divorce everybody’s going through not we may not be praying for Pure devotional service but even praying for just praying for somebody else I feel that’s the way I am showing my gratitude to devotees and Krishna for having helped me through the most difficult period of my life and I got this cour of prad who himself wanted devotees to pray for so want this world would this world become a beautiful place if we all prayed for each other we would not be envious at all and when Envy goes away then this community will appear to be a spiritual world we will feel wow there is Krishna here we can feel krishna’s presence every time and naturally when we pray for others and when we take Association when we practice Association at this third level where we depend on blessings this is the level at which we are practicing Association then you know what the best thing that will happen we will always be looking at serving each other how can I serve how can I serve generally we think we generally think of ourselves right I remember when I joined the as my Guru Maharaj he was giving a brahmachari class and we were around 45 brahmacharis I remember this is one of the first classes I attended and it had such a profound impact on my Consciousness he looked at the class and he said how many of you are here so one day you said M we are 45 brahmacharis H said each one of you takes care of yourself how many people are taking care of you so we were like what is he saying then he repeated his question if each one only takes care of himself how many people are taking care of you so we said one then Mar said what if instead of taking care of ourselves we only think of the welfare of all the others in the asham if everyone is thinking of others welfare in the ash then M so logically how many people are taking care of you now how many 44 so even logically it helps to think and care and serve others therefore it’s extremely powerful sh prad actually when he started his it was founded on this principle of service and care if you read initial letters of sh prad he wrote to sarup M there is a book called I am not displeased with any member this is a book written by sarup goami mahaj is a collection of his purports to sh pra’s letters and in that book you know sh written a letter to SAR mahaj and Jani M they were at Boston serving and then sarup mahaj writes a per each of those letters and you see those letters are so endearing full of warmth and fatherly affection like he’s asking about know such personal details of both of them about what they’re eating how they’re taking care of their health small small minute details like a father would ask his children that’s how this devotees got Krishna through that care in initial days know sh is giving a lecture in New York and sha said New York I come Shad came from India vavan and he’s in New York he says New York is such a bad City and all New Yorkers sitting and there a month of May and sha says New York smells like dog [Music] stoon and this is the month of May in India at this time we get mangoes New York there is no mango so one of the boys in the class who was sitting was Steve guino Steve was 26 year old then all the other young boys and girls were like 18 19 so they already looked at Steve as like you know an old man okay he like the senior most in our group he was like a man we all kids and he’s like a man and Steve thought Steve always wanted to please this Swami G she he was thinking how can I please this you know elderly Swami has come from India he’s cooking for us every day he’s doing so much for us I wish I can please him so in this class as sh pra very nonch just mentioned about in India we get a mango at this time so Steve inferred that oh maybe this Swami G likes mangoes I I’ll get a mango for him so he went out looking for a mango after the class and as sh pra rightly said there were no shop selling mangoes and he couldn’t find Indian mangoes anywhere and he walked and walked and walked and after maybe I think 2 hours in one store he found a few mangoes and he immediately purchased them and next day sh prad was giving a class after the class Shila prad the looking at everyone and Steve got up and he came close and he said Swami G and he offered mangoes and sha saw the mangoes and his eyes became big mangoes and then sha took his hand and Steve was like yet knelt down sh put his hand on his head hair and said very good boy very good boy and when he said that everybody laughed because they found it a little funny because they thought Steve was a man and a grownup man and Sh prad is saying very good boy you brought mango for me very good boy mangoes so when everybody laughed sh prop got a little confused he looked at everyone and said why are you laughing so Shila propad thought they are joking at him or they’re making fun of him sh immediately said no why are you laughing he brought mangoes This is [Music] Love so Steve said oh I brought mangoes because I wanted to please Swami G and Swami G thinks I love him he recognizes that you know I love him and I’m I’m having a loving exchange so he noted it down but sh prad all of you know he was a Swami then and then he started preaching and then he went to San Francisco then devotees went to Montreal and then Boston and slowly London and then what happened iscon spread like wild fire we had 100 plus temples and we had thousands of devotes and Steve guino went on to become s Das go Swami Maharaj the big sasi G and all the young boys and girls who came they all went on to become big leaders CH became aananda Swami Kei was managing the kitchen he became Kanda Swami Greg became gargamuni Bruce became brahmananda W became umapati all of them were like big leaders and time passed sh prad was glob trotting going to different temples opening centers giving initiations and 1976 now we have past 10 years 10th anniversary of iscon is being celebrated in New York all the big sases with their Dundas thousands of devotees are standing and there a big cake has been made and written 10 and so many candles and Sh propad has his knife and you have to cut the cake and everybody saying 10 years of Ison har sh and each of the sasis you know gami brahmananda K they’re all managing not small temple they’re managing a continent they like very big leaders and sha prad is saying and Sh PR is a global achara he’s featured on Time Magazine he’s featured on so many news channels and Sh prad is looking at all of them and saying so today is 10th anniversary celebration and I’m remembering with deep gratitude all the devotees and our s mahaj used to get me mango so when SAR mahaj heard this he was like shocked he said I brought him mangoes in 1966 and he remembered that 10 years later and had not forgotten that what he had offered with love so she taught by his own example that if you have loving exchanges with devotees we may not remember we may not have great memory but the point is that energy of love if we share and if we give genuinely wanting to give then Krishna in the 10 chapter of says I will guide you 10 Krishna say he’ll guide us if we are the right Association the right mood Krishna will save us from the most terrible unimaginable problem that we land ourselves in because of our own false so Krishna protects devotees who humbly take shelter of other devotes and Sh prad there are many past time you know unfortunately when we glorify sh prad we love to glorify those past time where sh prad smashed someone as you know somebody as Rascal and you fool and you know all those debates of sh prad they glorify but there are many Past Times of prad where which we don’t speak so much but you know where he showed the tenderness and was consensuous and very sensitive to the needs of devotees you know I I remember there are a few ma JIS who would come sh prad disciples as a young brahmachari I would see they would say some Past Times of sh prad and I would think I hear sh pra’s class every day and I have this red box I think B Swami mahaj disciple made that it’s amazing there are 3,000 de of sh pra so I play one lecture it’s very nourishing so for us sha Association is through his lectures his warning so I us to think we should hear only propa classes and have you know all that philosophical point we should be sharp then the ma propa disciples would come and they would speak Pas times of sh prad which had never heard of like they would say like One MA came liati M she said sh prad came to the temple where I was staying and he saw that I was not there in the temple so he asked the temple president gurug ganga in Zurich where is the so he said pra she’s very sick she admitted in the hospital oh our devotees taking care of her so thenur aranga said sh PR you know one devote goes and gives prad to her but then you know we are busy managing the temple lot of sa here sh pra said all of you stop all services all of you right now go to the hospital and be with her so all of them they dropped everything and they all went to the hospital and she was overwhelmed to see everybody else come and when they heard prad sent all of them she became more emotional now she has had so many classes of sh prad for the last 45 50 years but she remembers this the most where Personal Care was shown by sh [Music] PR there is another M SAR M she was in the kitchen doing sa Shad visited the temple and after the lecture after talking to devotees went to his room and his servant nandakumar Was preparing his bed and mosquito net and she propad entered the room and suddenly he saw sesar is coming out of the room and Shad she had made milk she had boil the milk for sh pra night and she had kept the milk on his table and she was going out and Sh pra said sureswari you are pregnant because she she was pregnant 8 months and her stomach was like this so it was obvious that she’s pregnant sh pra said you are pregnant she yes sh prad oh and then sh pra sat there and started talking to her about her pregnancy what is she doing how is she taking care of her health and she started discussing so sha said you should eat regularly what are you eating what is your diet like a father was taking care of his daughter he’s asking all the details and then he said you should take milk at night every night she sha wait sha picked up that cup of milk which she had brought for sh pra and kept in the table and he gave it to her she no sh this is for you there is milk in the kitchen sha said no no drink this I want to see where you drink sit drink she was she start fling because she didn’t expect that milk was for sh prad and Sh prad is giving that cup to her and she’s like drink drink this cup of milk so then she drinking milk and Sh prad looking at her now after she finished sh PR satisfied then he called nuk Kumar said I’m going after tomorrow because was traveling to different temples you should ensure talk to the temple president every night she should get milk whatever she needs to be comfortable everything should be arranged for her will you do that yes she approve okay good then he looked at sari and he said okay now you can go now this exchange must have lasted few minutes but this left a lifelong impression in our heart so when I joined the temple now this is don’t get me wrong I was a young brahmachari 25y old enthusiastic to serve and read scriptures and analyze it from different angles and I started thinking oh this ma speak all these past times you they all like all sentiments and emotions but we should be like into scriptures I thought like that and next day was B CL of J Swami Maharaj J Swami mahaj he is like No Nonsense sasi he will very grave and he will cut and he All Pure philosophy he knows bhagat Gita in and out and he’ll only speak philosophy cut cut cut and he was giving a class and he said yeah Ison has many sasis managers many [Music] preachers I think what Ison needs the most now is grandmothers what grandmothers we need grandmothers more then he clarified he said in Indian family grandmothers have lot of time for their children and they give lot of affection and unconditional love and grandparents give more love than the parents right that’s how it is right grandparents are more pampering and more loving than the the parents then M said so we need devotees who have lot of time for each other who can give time to other devotees who can give empathy affection and love and coming from J Swami who I thought was strictly philosophical and you know no I I thought we had to be to bury our emotions and affection and just be focused on scriptures coming from him was interesting and last year I asked him again many many years ago you said this do you still subscribe to that said of course we need grandmothers he was emphatic so Krishna Consciousness is very personal and to the extent we can give ourselves genuinely to others we will have a moment filled with of course I know there’s a limitation to this know sometimes devotees become very sentimental also because there is no end to how much affection a person can expect and know we become very mental about this thing therefore that’s why I said shastra is also important because human beings have inherent limitations in pleasing others because we’re all conditioned Souls with four defects we can’t really please each other all the time therefore we need shastra to sharpen our intelligence and connect to Krishna at the same time we can’t become mayavadi Hard Hearted and ignore because this it is this devote Association and blessings of devotees which actually helps us experience Krishna do you you know the one of the greatest devotees in his Krishna Consciousness is Dua Dua mahaj have you heard the story of Dua the four-year-old boy and this is very important past time Dua is so ambitious he wants a kingdom greater than his great-grandfather and he does in person he he’s in a problem that even his mother can’t solve can you imagine his mother has to tell him go to the forest I was heing on class of sh prad recently he says there Comes A Time in life when even your most loved one cannot solve your problem like dua’s mother could not solve his problem so he had to go to the forest so we’ll all be put in situations where Krishna has to only only Krishna can help us nobody else can help you and then the interesting twist in this story is Dua realizes that only Krishna can help [Music] him there are two twists here first twist in the story is Dua is convinced only Krishna can help him only Krishna can give me the kingdom I’m looking for and when Krishna appears before him after his meditation and and Krishna ask him what do you want and what does D say [Music] [Music] my dear Lord I wanted a kingdom greater than my great grandfather I did tapasia for that austerities for that but what did I get in exchange I got you getting you is more difficult than getting you know this what I’m getting now that is you great deas demig Gods yogis cannot get that now I realize that what I wanted was like I was looking for a broken piece of glass and I got a Priceless Diamond what I was asking for was a broken piece of glass and what I got is a Priceless diamond and now I’m ashamed that I came to you asking for a kingdom I don’t want anything else myar Lord I just want you now look at the second twist so you may think okay Dua has got this he wanted a kingdom very passionately but when he got Krishna he said I don’t want anything else he’s happy so you might think he’s satisfied now Lord Vishnu says no ask for a benediction I want to give you blessing and now comes the most interesting part and Dua is asking for a prayer he’s asking for a benediction and what does he ask the fourth can of the sh batam describes through us prayer he [Music] [Music] says he says my dear Lord if you really want to give me a blessing give me this let my towards you increase rapidly more and more buto in the association of your devotees not just devotees prang I want intimate Association of your devotees here is a person who has got the Lord we are in the association why for that can get Krishna we are in association for that you can get Krishna here is somebody who has got Krishna and what does he want what you already have you have something with which you want to get Krishna somebody who has got Krishna and he wants what you have so do you realize what offence you living in living with and what do I want to do that Association that’s important I don’t want to go just for parties and you know socialize I just want to hear your glories in the association of and I want to serve them why because this material world is nasty my dear lord it’s nasty know all the same different adjectives for the same phenomenon he’s saying this material world is terrible instead of saying terrible he says means horrible horrifying you know it’s a different it’s like we say know it’s amazing excellent like that horrible crazy bizarre it’s maddening so what I want to do instead I want to become mad hearing about your glories anyway this world is making me mad instead of that let me be in the association of devotees and let me hear your glories that’s the point I’m making for us devote Association is a ladder which we climb to get Krishna here somebody has got Krishna and he says I want the devotees so don’t underestimate the wealth you have and when you don’t have it you lament see I lived I stayed away from Association of devotees in 2020 during covid 8 months and every day I was crying remembering oh because I had to it’s a long story again but 8 months I had no association I had to stay because of covid India was in lockdown I was staying with my mother and I was managing so many things I was happy grateful that I’m serving her but I was missing the association of devotees I taken it for granted for 22 years and now I realized what an opulence I was living in nobody could come to meet me and I was like it was intense so this is an amazing opulence we have there are many examples just one example I given one of our greatest greatest devotees in Krishna Consciousness movement is a personality called narut takur he’s such a special devote that before his birth Lord mahu looks at the direction of keturi the place where narut is going to take birth and Lord looks in that the direction standing on the Padma River and he shouts Nar Nar Nar this is years naram is bornn so devotees asking my dear Lord what are you doing says one of my great stward devote naram is going to appear in that direction this is a prediction makes and that devote Nar takes birth years later and he goes on to become one of the most legendary devotees and what does he pray in his Krishna is asking for blessings of of everyone and the last stanza is asking for blessings of prayers and Association ofra he wants ass of ramachandra ramachandra is disciple of Shas Shas is is god brother means he’s actually taking seeking blessings of his disciple he’s not simply wanting Association of his close friends he also wants he become close friends with his own disciple and he wants his blessings and another he says my only desire is I want to stay with the association of devotees but he clarifies birth after birth I want this Association not that this life I will tolerate this devotees next life was then I’ll get Krishna no I want every life I want devotees because devotees in that Association you can actually experience Krishna devot will help us remember Krishna when we get bewildered they’ll come and tell us prau this is not good for you many times we don’t want devotees we prefer Krishna because Krishna doesn’t do anything to our false externally it appears you know like Krishna will be standing with this flute smiling if you don’t come to Temple many times or if you do something wrong you still see grey of Krishna smiling with the fruit other devotees you know they pull your ear where are you it’s painful but if you can someone initially tolerate and slowly learn to depend on their blessings and love them then we’ll experience Krishna and this loving exchanges will leave leave a lifelong impression and it will help us I’ll tell you life story and I’ll end with this then we can ask some question answers this story if I tell you in fact you may not believe that you know I said this kind of story can happen but I I I assure you that I’m speaking the [Music] truth I’ll take a it’s a very very incredible story but I personally witnessed it so I can speak it with conviction the story of a boy whom we were preaching to in Mumbai his name is uh chinman chinai Kaka Gujarati boy so I was preaching so we preaching to him and you know in India a little context I have to give you when young boys come to the temple and they show a lot of interest yesu har Krishna thank you we tell them go slow don’t tell your parents that you’re coming to Temp because you get scared because we get scared that they tell their parents and in India parents are very possessive about the children they think har Krishna will you know take my son away so I told him don’t tell your parents come to Temple don’t tell them that you know we gave you beads and not now said yes yes yes yes so I thought uh I thought you will listen to me you’ll understand but what happened the day after that 2 days later he came to Temple very for LA and I said what happened said I told my father I said I told you not to tell him he said pru but you know my father was out of town and I called him and you had gone on a business trip and I called him and I and then I asked him what did you tell him I said Papa I went to iscon today and then my father there was Silence from the other end he didn’t say anything after a long pause he said son I’m scheduled to come next week after my business trip but I’m coming back tomorrow I want to talk to something very important okay something very important and then you hung up so pruj you told me not to tell but I told my father and now he’s going to come back tomorrow so I thought I lost this boy because you know his father must be upset and he told him and his father is coming back so I said okay and then as I expected this boy didn’t come the next day so I thought his father must have grounded him but then something amazing happened after 3 days is this boy chin kanak he comes to and says you won’t believe but what happened then he showed me from his bag he took out a bhagat Gita and a bead bag that bead bag was so dirty so old it was a beatback of 1978 and that Krishna book of 1978 Edition what is this he said pru my father came back he held my hand took me to the Attic he opened a trunk and he showed this bhagat Gita and beat back and he said son I’m proud of you you’re going to Ison I went to iscon when I was a 18yearold when I was your age I used to go to iscon Temple in Boston and what a brahmachari what a devote was there he was so loving so beautiful so cute so caring his name is nanan Das brahmachari oh and he was so kind to me he was a tall fellow and he was so loving he would go on his bicycle he would come to my university he would get me cakes cookies and he would feed me so much Prasad he gave me so much love and just to please him I started chanting 16 rounds of har Krishna every day and he was so kind to me I felt Krishna in my life because of him he’s such a nice boy Nan Das and now when you said you went to iscon I remembered my child my my teenage years so I’m very happy with you son go to his and then and who’s speaking the story to whom the boy chinma is telling me about his father telling him don’t get lost in the story it is very interesting now it’s like it’s like chma is telling me what his father is telling him his father’s name is Chan so then CH tells me ruji I asked my father then what happened you were chanting 16 rounds you go to Temple and my father said son I was so happy as a devotee but then there was a family emergency I had to come back to India but I kept remembering Nan Das then I wanted to go back to him and then and then I couldn’t chant because I got married to your mother and I got into my I gave up Krishna Consciousness and I forgot about everything and I would clean my house once in a few years and I would see this Krishna book and this beat bag and I would throw off all other things but I didn’t have the heart to throw this away I gave up all practices but I didn’t give up this bhagat Gita and this Krishna book and this bat bag and now you’re going to Ison I’m so happy so then chinai tells me prui my father is so happy he was just pufy the Nan Das brahmachari and I was amazed because at that time when chinma was telling me all of this story I was laughing because that nanan Das brahmachari is now what his n Swami mahaj he’s a guru sasi leader in his and he was in our Temple staying for a few days and he was scheduled to give the next day uh talk for the Youth of Mumbai thousand young boys would be gathering for the monthly Youth Festival called PR who going to give that talk his Holiness Shila nanjan Swami Maharaj who 40 years ago was Nan Das brahmachari so now I I told chinman chin listen to this very carefully this nanjan Das brahmachari your father is very fond of is now nanan Swami mahaj but don’t tell your father anything invite him as a special guest for tomorrow’s pra festival and don’t tell him who is this speaker don’t tell him anything just call him and let’s have fun so so he said okay and then we agre agree to keep it a secret so he told his father there a special Youth Festival and you are called a special guest guest say his father and agreed to come and he was sitting like this in the chair and all the youth were sitting and I was one of the coordinators I was organizing running around and mahaj is going to enter from the door and he’s going to come and sit on the vasas and as mahaj is going to come I’m constantly looking atan kanak conly looking at him and looking at the door Maraj is going to come and let’s see what happens and then mahaj entered and I looked at him and Chan kanak he saw m he’s seeing him after 40 years he seeing mahaj and know I can’t describe you know the whole he went through so much of emotions he’s recognizing but not sure then and then on the started doing K and then thisan figured out and then a big smile and the whole class one and a half hour class house this Mr kanaka is only he just looking atami Maharaj like as if he knows him for many many lifetimes and mahaj give a normal Class K after rousing Kon then everybody sitting down announcements and then mahaj got up now in India we have a tradition after the class The Speaker gets up and he leaving everybody surrounds the speaker and they all talk then Mar is talking to everyone and now I see Mr Chan kanak he starts running towards the vasas just like in the IND old Indie movies they show the hero he’s running and then a lot of young boys Maraj is looking at everyone and thanking everyone okay Krishna and a circle of three four circles of boys and that is this elderly not elderly man middle-aged man is he like he know he’s trying to push through the boys and he’s saying Swami G Swami G Swami G he’s trying to make his presence SP and waving his hand M looking at all the suddenly M realiz there is a middle-aged Man In This Crowd Mah looks at him and looks at him sharply and you know there is like time froze for those few seconds Mar keeps looking at him and Mara smile and he say SW SW and then Mara says Boston he was shocked and then his eyes became moist and you remember you remember he started saying and then n m said wait wait Maraj kept you know searching his probing eyes Chan when M said Chan this man just he started wailing I’ve never seen a man cry like I saw that day he was not crying he was bailing how crazy and his son is there you know his son he was uncontrollable and you know he all this no is also leaking and all that all that doing Swami SW and then he fell at Mah’s feet he put his head on Mah’s feet mahaj picked him up embraced him held his hand walked with him for a few meters like showed him few paintings asked about his wellbeing and then mahaj came back thanked him see mahaj sasi sasi has no [Music] attachments Krishna guiding me but in that exchange this Chan kanak was and I was managing a base base is where young boys with the age group of 15 to 25 stay unmarried young boys and we give them training in bti next day registered and he wanted to stay in that base said you can’t stay he said no for a few months I want to go training and then one day CH comes and says my father is now you know he was not chanting for so many years he started chanting again so I said oh he started chanting he said yes now he CH every day 32 rounds what I said he CH we struggled with ch 16 he no he wants to make up for all the Lost Years so this is one 5 minute exchange at impact you know when you give genuine love so mahaj must have met so many people so many know see everybody may not remember names everybody has unique memory power I remember I took Nan mahaj for a walk to the Garden after during that period the first time he was going to that Garden but he still KN where to go how to go some people have certain kind of memory intelligence so Maharaj has that plus he has his heart also some people other kinds of memory everybody has different kind of intelligence the idea is not external it’s the heart Maraj has a heart to serve and that was that is what deeply touched kanaka’s heart so if we have a genuine desire to serve and Care look at how this how the time after 40 years he came back so Krishna Consciousness is very very powerful and we just have to be kind and not come in between Krishna and that person krishna’s plan for that devote we just have to facilitate and be kind sorry I went on and on and on it’s a long story I’ll stop here har Krishna to summarize there are six ways six three principles and three practical ways to develop introspection skills what are the three principles first satwa means Moree of good second s third shastra and then the three practical things are Brea breathing journaling and and praying and we focused on one quality of right kind of Association we discuss three levels of Association what is the first level of associational socializing second level of Association hearing serving and chanting together or san third level of Association is depending on the blessings of other devotees Krishna any comments or questions yes um because of our condition Natures sometimes it’s difficult to get along with everybody over time devotees friends whatever how can we overcome that see past that and still practice what you there two things here one is you know it’s not always possible to have good intimate relationship with everyone birds of the same feather flock together everybody you know you’ll find your own what is that called Sanskrit world for it there is that’s like-minded Association we always need that but as long as we’re not AE to Association as long as we’re not inimical or as long as we are not we understand he’s a vnav you or she is a VN and we respect and we are respectful we may not be having intimate close Association and friendship with everyone it’s not it’s not possible and it can become very artificial also that is the first point but having said that I must also clarify that in Krishna kous a lot of magic happens if you can simply learn to overlook the external differences and someone see how this person is coming closer to Krishna you’ll be amazed by what you discover like I I stay in a like you may think oh you you know you’re staying in a monastery what experience do you have social life see in your family you may have two people five people maximum six people in a family and more more or less all of you have the same kind of cultural or social factors but I live in a house where we are more than 100 brahmacharis 100 monks living together and all of us are from different cultural backgrounds somebody’s from South India somebody’s from Assam somebody’s from North somebody’s a Sardar background imagine all of them living together look at the cultural incompatibility that can happen and the way we have discovered the joy in the relationships when we learn to overlook the external differences it’s amazing amazing because each devote has a different language of love everybody speaks different you know for somebody love means just keep doing sa for some love means giving gifts for some love means talking for some love means you know touch embracing you know they need some physical touch so everybody has different language so in our I remember I was the mentor for some brahmacharis so one one brahmachari is from Punjab Punjab you know punjabis are very expressive Punjab and then they you know they dance at every occasion and they are like very expressive people because they have seen a lot of struggle in Northern India during 18th century 17th century a lot of invasions challenges so they learned to live and celebrate every day because they don’t know tomorrow what’s going to happen so they lived every day with gratitude and celebration so they are used to having festivals and celebration and dancing at every occasion so punjabis there’s another brahmachari who also my Mente he is from South India traditional Brahman family were very conservative and very sober and unexpressive people har Krishna all the reading scripture they not like to dance and all that for this South Indian devote tells me that that devote Punjabi devote he’s a snob he’s so snobbish he’s so mean he’s so arrogant and he makes fun of me in public he humiliates me and that Punjabi devot when I confronted him he said prau I I told him is it true that in the middle of the K this this South Indian brahmachari was standing behind you went in front of everyone you pulled him in the circle and you hit him hard on the back and you made fun of him in public is it true he said yes brother that’s true but I did that because I love him I explain this to him he did that because that’s how he shows love and front of everyone I want to make fun of and this fellow is thinking I’m so unloved here because they’re making fun of me in front of so he has everybody has different cultural background and you know thinking so it’s it’s amazing how so I learned many things in the asham that so when we Overlook these differences then we can have intimate friendships with Beyond age gender culture genuine love can be exchanged genuine love like I did your classic example when I joined there was one brahmachari I was very scared of he always had a mean look angry you know we used to call him the Angry Young Man very strong arms because he used to take care of he used to at one time handle four big buffalo in his village there so much strength that he could push four buos very hardw working in the fields and he joined the as at the age of 17 or something and he was 12 years senior to me in the asham 12 years senior when I’m a kid in front of him I joined the Asam and he’s like going around and he’s not sophisticated educated and I had a lot of degrees with me you know like I I had two postgraduate degrees and two Master’s major degree and all that so I had this pride of being educated and here he is working hard in the Asam and I joined the Asam and I’m scared of him because he’s going around like this and he’s hard working whole day he doing sa never Smiles never smiled at me only thing you tell me educated people educated people means all nakra nakra means I don’t know what you call in English you know you have your own tantrums and you you are lazy guys you can’t work hard like us you know you’re all educated people you’re are City people you’re useless for Ison just ganis you know you can stay in the temple for some time and you would never smile at me and I would sayna so now I joined the asham and I was I knew I have to stay away from him har Krishna respectfully like you said you know you can’t have intimate relationship with him everyone so I kept a safe distance from him I said he’s a great V serving here for 12 years means he must be dear to Krishna so har Krishna respectfully I stayed away from him but one day I got spondilitis and I was like oh sitting on the top of the locker and I just did this just then I opened my eyes and he was right in front of me what happened I said nothing nothing it’s paining I said uh no it’s okay I told you you guys can’t do say and he walked away he walked away and I thought how mean of him you know I mean he’s not and but then what happened he went there was a cupboard where we used to keep all medicines so he picked up one ointment he came close to me and with that still that FR on his face he sat next to me he opened the door and he took that ointment and started applying it on my shoulder I said no pru he 12 years senior to me in isan we have a culture we don’t take service from Seniors we serve our seniors and somebody 12 years senior to you you like you treat him like Guru you can’t take SAA from him younger devotees Ser senior devotees and here is 12 years senior to me he started applying that ointment and I said no prau and he said CH and he held me firmly and for the next 20 minutes he massaged Me Gently giving up all other whatever Services he had [Music] nicely and then you not you’re not angry you just that’s how he is his face expression is like that Angry Young Man but he’s serving and then after that how are you feeling now I okay I’m okay tomorrow I’ll come again and is that love or not love the language is different if my language is see we all have a screwed up definition of love love means it should be like this you know I have a definition of love if somebody fits into that definition that person is loving if somebody doesn’t fit into my definition of love then he may not be loving but we don’t know he and then now since then now this is we are together in the same as now I SP 25 years you spent 37 years and we are close friends but when I say close friends it’s not that we embracing each other are you both no I remember when I would give a class in the temple sometimes gas would come and say pru very good class thank you it was so important I learned these two points or three points and you would come to me and say very good class you finished on time that standard that standard of a good class and I remember when the father passed away in 2011 I was stuck in badrinath Northern India and I’m from South India so to rush uh you know it was very intense I was totally disoriented and I was lost and we didn’t have smartphones during those days and U we had a landline phone and this fellow he would call me every morning and every evening har Krishna how are you how is your mother she’s fine you need anything no I’m okay okay I’ll call you the evening and then again evening could call me is everything all right your brother has come back H what is happening H he’s not like BR I’m there for you I love you I was thinking so good he’s become a brah if you got married his wife would get into depression you can’t say I love you very sweet devote you and no and the best part you won believe it the best part of the story is the best part of the story is all the kids in our community all the children in our community they love him all the children all the congregation devotees they trust him so much that they’ll keep their child with him I mean it’s not allowed and we have CPO very active but still they trust him so much because he’s the children love him and the children don’t even know his name the children call him as you know he makes sweets for the duties and all the sweets he makes and the mahad he giv to the children for the children call him one child calls him as sweet rice prui the other child calls him as rulu everybody calls him and he’s blissfully serving so many children children just love him so I’m just saying how we don’t know who is see everybody’s carrying Krishna in their heart we may not have intimate relationship that’s okay but we know we need to know that everybody is special whether we have a close relationship or not that there are many other factors for that is’s intervention and our own life challenges and all that okay harna I’m telling a lot of stories today yes we met at GV last how are I’m fine happy to see you I’m to see especially in I didn’t know you were here yeah chandrai mahaj is where is he now he’s in s CTI I was telling his story in the well taking padam about jagra I was telling Shang and he’s dancing so much in the K in the yra he 77 76 76 76 as he getting older getting younger he dances like a mad man you know such taste for holy name and K thank you yes um you mention a little bit about journaling so um when when you’re journaling do you have a a structure and what do you ask yourself oh there are many types of journaling I did a four-hour Workshop before yesterday we have time so I I did a 4-Hour workshop on uh the five five methods of journaling and each method we made them do the exercise and all of that it’s in GRE so we are going to upload it soon on the website all the the entire lecture but I’ll tell you in the essence there are many types of journaling one journaling uh okay I’ll tell you briefly what those few types of journaling one is what I said today about blessing Journal remember write a name and that’s one journaling you can try second type of journaling is very very powerful it’s called Uh free writing free writing means you take a paper and pen and keep an alarm for say 10 minutes or 5 minutes let’s say you don’t have so much time 5 minutes alarm until the alarm goes off you keep writing write what any any damn thing that you want to write anything just keep it and you can’t the rule is you can’t stop till the alarm goes off even if you go blank I’m going blank I don’t I don’t know what to write and pruj has given some stupid exercise but or whatever you write anything you want but don’t stop the pen so there is a big very big science behind this because as you break the shackles of your mind and you start putting it on paper then lot of clutter gets out of your head that’s called free writing so how many you have discussed two third is called this is the most amazing thing this is called awareness journal or now writing or yeah now writing means what is happening now just write what your mind is saying in third [Music] person like you know like you could write like this I now my mind is saying oh the class is going on for a long time or now the mind is asking is there padam after the class today now the mind is saying you know I have to send an email to him mind is saying now check the WhatsApp you know the mind is constantly saying something so you you separate yourself from your mind and see the Mind as a third person and whatever the thoughts you’re getting put it as a the mind is speaking to you so at the end of this exercise you’ll be amazed you’ll realize wow I got somebody next to me you will separate you learn you learn to separate yourself from your mind and and if you want to make it even more exciting you can give a name to your mind instead of saying mind mind like I have given a name I call my mind as chel Chanel is a very sweet sounding feminine name so you know like so I can always I’m a mon but I also have a companion my companion’s name is Chanel and I now Chanel is saying this chel is doing that Chanel is saying get up do this whatever but sometimes Chanel’s voice can be very loud and very very demanding she can through terrible Tantrums then I sto calling Chanel as Chanel I sto calling my mind as Chanel I start calling her as golum golum is a character from Lord of the Rings golum is one who is plotting to kill his master and also serving him so mind is terrible so I say golum is now very angry with that devotee who made fun of you in public or golum is now doing saying this golum so I so depending on the situation but basically mind is not me that’s the point this is amazing after this exercise if you do this exercise regularly you will see Mind of a 10 foot tall vicious demon standing next to you and constantly shouting and you are looking at him and you are you’re a mind worshipper you’ll realize that oh I’m just listening to my mind and as you practicing awareness Journal if you also start writing practicing another kind of Journal which is called a prayer Journal which is you start offering prayers to Krishna and when you’re offering prayers if the mind is wondering too much stop the prayer journal and start writing what the mind is saying mind is now saying this mind is saying this and at some point of time mind will keep quiet and will have nothing to say mind will go blank that’s when your real Soul the eye you can then offer prayer that prayer will be very powerful do you get what I’m saying so it’s like this science is like this science of journaling is like this on your right side imagine there is [Music] Krishna waiting for you to turn to him Krishna is waiting but krishna’s voice is soft slow and detached but you can’t hear krishna’s voice because your neck is not turned to your right the neck is turned to your left and who is on your left side M 10 foot tall and his voice is loud fast and attached loud because when you’re chanting the mind will say check your WhatsApp now now now that’s why they would chant they send text because the mind is shouting demanding mind is loud fast attached krishna’s voice is soft slow attached and we are constantly looking at the Mind ah yes yes yes sir yes sir yes sir so what is journaling all about turning your neck from your left side to the right side so that’s prayer Journal so the key is awareness journal the key is don’t judge your mind just write what the mind just like this video camera video camera is not judging me video camera is simply if you have to if you have to see this room like a video camera what would you say this room has I some 15 tube lights and you know a clock on the wall an alar Cor observation there’s a difference between observation and judgment if I say Argentina is a better team than England in football then that’s a judgment not an observation but if I say Argentina defeated England in the in their last five games that means that’s an observation so just observe your what’s happening in the inner world like a video camera observes and just write it down then at the end of this you’ll be amazed you’ll be happy after some months you will realize wow I have a world inside of me there’s a world inside of you yeah just like uh you know like that we have Harry Potter there are two worlds Harry Potter the world of the Muggles and the world of the Wizards so journaling is like entering Platform 9 three quarters and entering that pillar and then going in and then and you see your thoughts your mind your ego what’s happening all that so s a blessing Journal uh writing free writing awareness Journal prayer journal and the last one you can try which is the most powerful it’s called gratitude Journal now gratitude Journal is not like Krishna thank you for everything thank you for everything means thank you for nothing gratitude has to be gratitude Journal should have three criteria only then it becomes gratitude first of all attitude should be specific thank you for giving me good parents or whatever thank you for giving me good Prasad today that is specific gratitude you can’t say gratitude for everything Krishna then there is no energy in that bracket and that specific could be something simple also it doesn’t have to be something [Music] exotic specific second now sometimes specific gratitude can also become very ritualistic and boring and cliche I when I started gratitude Journal I would thank my parents my grandparents every day then after a few days it wasn’t the same thing you know like so then I thought okay then I discovered an amazing tool called Fresh gratitude fresh gratitude is what am I grateful for in the last 24 hours I’m sure something good has happened in the last 24 hours so what happened because of this fresh gratitude practice my ears and eyes were always open always alert to catch something good because I had to enter it in my journal next day morning I’m always like looking out for something good so what happened subconsciously I started catching good things earlier I was catching bad things so automatically my cism made way for positive thinking fresh gratitude is very powerful I’m sure all of us have experienced something good in the last 24 hours or if not 24 hours at least last one week something good has happened you can write something good as happened in the last one week but now for me every day has to begin with I get Sometimes Late for mangari now I made Feast with it initially I would be very guilty sometimes you know I would get late for mangari because of this journal but now I made peace with it because ultimately the goal is to connect with Krishna so I have to write my journal in the morning first thing otherwise I I become Restless it become a habit now and gratitude Journal is so powerful fresh for first of all it should be specific second three criteria of a gratitude Journal first fresh first is specific second fres fresh and the third very very important is when you write the first item let’s say you write uh thank you Krishna for first the evening class today at isan temp yesterday we attended class in the C isan crawling Temple that is that is fresh and specific but it’s not enough you have to write at least one sentence now after that on why you are grateful for that when you answer the question why you are investing energy into that gratitude that gratitude will actually act as gratitude otherwise it will carry no energy when you answer why you are forced to think and when you and then why could be very simple it doesn’t have to be again something very very philosophical you don’t have to give a very profound philosophical answer like you know somebody fed me some sometime some months ago somebody fed me um in South India we get a type of Dosa called n DOA somebody fed me n DOA and I ate that so in my grud next day morning neara you might think pru you are senior you thanking Krishna fora specific and fresh and why because I like good food and I got some nice prad yesterday it doesn’t have to be something you know it was krishna’s prad so I got krishna’s prad so I’m grateful it doesn’t have to be like it doesn’t have to be artificial I like good food and I got good food and I remembered my home and this I wrote a couple of sentences and I could see that that gratitude carried some energy so this is gratitude har Krishna there are more types but then this is and again very important disclaimer this I gave you this five T because you wanted something structured IDE Journal should be free flow just follow your heart but then then the Mind goes here and there so I thought if you give some structure it helps you to at least connect to the process of writing and get some idea on how to write but eventually you need to let you will discover your own types of journaling you will discover your own unique ways of connecting with the Lord these are the ways I connect with the Lord that doesn’t mean you should connect with the Lord only like this trust yourself har Krishna let stop or thank you very much for your kind attention and giving an opportunity to serve all of you at cwy I hope to see you again thank you gra so yeah again like to thank rby har Peru for coming thank n Go per for driving him here um please come back