Lecture Transcription

It is truly my honour and I’m so grateful and pleased to be with all of you today. Thank you so very much Surinder for somehow other dragging me virtually across the world to be with you and thank you Suresh and Dilip for this wonderful program. A very special gratitude to everyone connected to IBPC. Suresh has explained some of the objectives in the spirit of the IBPC and this is so hope giving and uplifting to my heart, to hear that gifted people from various walks of life are coming together with the purpose of uplifting our brothers and sisters of humanity.

We are not proprietors but caretakers

The introduction that I was given, I was asked to speak on the idea of social responsibility. This is very much at the heart of the future of the world, how we take responsibility. There are universal, moral and ethical principles that are finding their origin in universal spiritual truths. I would like to very briefly shed some light on these ideas. In the Bhagavad-gita, it is said sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bg 5.29] that everything that exists is divine property; everything that exists is a gift of God. We are not proprietors of anything in a true sense, because proprietorship means control and we have a very limited amount of control over what we have. By the changes of this world, it can be taken away or through the power of time, everything is taken away, through death. So really, we are not the proprietors of anything. But in the short duration, that we have a lifetime within this world, we are caretakers of divine property.

Krishna tells in Bhagavad-gita, ‘I’m the intelligence of the intelligence. I’m the ability within people; I’m the very living force within everyone.’ So whatever we have, whether it be our bodies, or the gifts of our intelligence, or the facilities that we may have acquired in life. To use them in harmony with the very spirit of truth and the very spirit of the soul is where we can find the greatest happiness and wherein, we can be most empowered to be instruments to give other people happiness. The idea of the environment, it is something that people are debating about and arguing about. But universally, from a spiritual perspective, it is just common sense that this whole creation is a gift of God and Mother Nature we call, because each of us, whatever we have, whoever we may be, we’re all like little babies in the lap of Mother Nature. We cannot survive without the sunshine and without the air and without the water and the food that grows and it’s something that we all have in common.

So, to do the best we can, to not pollute the environment, but rather to whatever we receive, whatever we take, we try to replenish, that is a responsibility not only to nature, but to all living beings, because all living beings are dependent on that nature. It also said in Gita, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā [Bg 14.4] that every living thing is a child of the one supreme truth, who we call Krishna or Allah or Bhagavan. There are many names of God, but that one supreme truth, janmādy asya yatah [SB 1.1.1] is the father and the mother of everyone, wherever there’s life.

Real Knowledge

There’s a beautiful verse in the Gita, which goes to the heart of all spiritual practices, of what is real knowledge:

vidyā-vinaya-sampanne
brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
śuni caiva śva-pāke ca
paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ

[Bg 5.18]

[The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].]

The capacity to see the equality within all beings, to be an instrument of compassion for all beings is actual knowledge. Why is it knowledge? Because it’s in harmony with our own true self. Whether one is a billionaire, or a person who is homeless, whether one has a PhD, or has no education at all, whether one is a priest, or a prisoner, whether one is of the Christian faith or the Jewish faith, or the Hindu faith, or Muslim faith or Buddhist faith or Sikh faith, or Jain faith or Parsi faith, or whether one is Baha’i faith or even if one is an agnostic or an atheist, whether one is from the east or the west, black in complexion, or white, or red, or yellow, or male or female and the Gita extends this, whether one is a human being or an elephant, a cow or a dog or a cat, life is sacred. When we recognize that our own life is sacred, when we recognize our own potential, as a part of God, a child of God, an instrument of God’s grace and love, when we recognize that, then we will appreciate that same essence is within everyone. This is a principle which is foundational to all morality that life is sacred.

Everyone is looking for happiness

In the United States of America, the very basis of how the society was formed was life that all beings are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and interesting, the Brahma sutra says, ānanda-mayo ’bhyāsāt [Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12] something we all have in common is the pursuit of happiness. Even little insect is looking for happiness. The birds in the sky are looking for happiness, the fish in the sea are looking for happiness, and all humanity with all of its incredible diversity is looking for happiness. A part of the process of looking for happiness is to avoid pain, because it interferes with happiness. When we understand this idea of equality, it goes deeper and deeper as we connect to our own true self, of all things that are lacking in this world, the most is compassion. Where does compassion come from? Compassion is an expression of love.

Knowledge of the Self

In the Bible, there is a beautiful verse that says, ‘What profiteth the person if they get the whole world, but they lose their own eternal soul.’ The Gita echoes that same idea, na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin [Bg 2.20] that this body is a temporary residence and the mind is a facility, a machine within this residence. But the actual resident is the Atma, the living force, who’s seeing through the body, who’s hearing through the ears, who’s tasting through the tongue, who’s thinking through the brain, we are that spirit.

Overcoming false ego

That spirit is part of the Supreme Spirit, mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke [Bg 15.7] that supreme spirit is who we call Bhagavan, or God or who has many names, who have assumed many forms throughout history in this world, to teach us Dharma, the same eternal spiritual principles of how to live and the nature of the soul is to be an instrument of the light of Divine Love, of God’s love. All spiritual practices and all spiritual purifications in their original state are meant to awaken that love within us, had nothing to do with sectarianism, or the arrogance that we’re better than you or my Gods better than yours or any I have rights over you. These are all man made expressions of the false ego. But actually, the purpose of spirituality or all true religion is to transcend to overcome the false ego, and to allow the light of compassion and love to shine from our very souls. When our hearts are cleaned, then the soul’s true compassionate natures can shine through us in whatever we do. The Bhagavad Purana tells:

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
ahaituky apratihatā
yayātmā suprasīdati

[SB 1.2.6]

[The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.]

The Supreme Dharma

The Supreme Dharma, sometimes Dharma is translated as religion, sometimes its duty, occupation, nature. The Supreme Dharma is that which awakens love, unmotivated, uninterrupted love for God that is expressed through compassion to all beings, to actually really care and when we, we may realize this, and feel that ecstasy of divine love and express it, or we may just understand it and through that understanding, we take responsibility. In whatever we’re doing in this world, we have responsibility. The more we have, the more we have responsibility and the joy of life really is in giving because things can give some amount of pleasure to the mind and to the body, but things can never give satisfaction to the heart.

In giving we receive

The heart longs to love and to be loved and that is why in giving we receive, because when we actually care for others, we become an instrument of love and by practicing that, sincerely, we actually awaken deeper and deeper the potential to love, to make a difference. What we have belongs to God and God loves all children of every variety, may not be pleased with some of the things that we do, but a loving father or mother, whatever the child does, they may be pleased with the child’s activities, or they may be totally disgusted with the child’s activities. But a good parent still loves the child unconditionally. A good parent, whether that parent is punishing or rewarding, it’s always with love. So we are all children of the same supreme source and whatever we have the greatest joy to our own heart, and the greatest way we can actually spiritually progress as well as help the society around us is to see every aspect of our life through the lens of seva, how can I serve, how can I make a difference in people’s lives.

Purpose of Spiritual knowledge

In the Vedas, there’s a beautiful line that I heard from my guru Srila Prabhupada, and it’s so deeply affected me, I’m so far away from it, but it gives me a compass, a North Star to travel toward in my life and that is an actual enlightened person is para dukha dukhi, an enlightened person is not simply someone who knows a lot of verses from scriptures, although that could help. It’s not a person who’s famous. It’s not a person who’s given up eating or sleeping, an enlightened person is a person who feels pain when they see others suffering and feels happiness when they see others happy. sarve sukhino bhavantu the purpose of all Vedic knowledge; the purpose of all spiritual knowledge that has really been revealed to humanity throughout all geographical or throughout time is this, sarve sukhino bhavantu. It means let everyone be happy. If that is our motivation, if that becomes the standard of our happiness, then our lives will be transformed. It’s about me in the sense that the more I could be, the more I could serve. The more knowledge I have, the more wealth I have, the more abilities I have, the more education I have, the more I’m equipped to serve.

Making a real difference within this world

But even if we hardly have any of those things, the real joy of life, and the real difference we’re making in this world is that we have this intention, ‘How I could best serve, how I could best be an instrument to bring happiness to others.’ We can pray, pray that we can feel for those who are suffering, not just be charitable in a ritualistic way, but to actually care. Because it’s that type of charity that will really, truly endure and make a difference in this world. The idea of karuna or compassion is thoughtful, determined, action based on really caring. We care about our family and therefore we’re willing to go through so many difficulties to provide for our family. Whether it’s a mother or a father, everyone is dedicated to providing for the family, providing love and care and medical attention and encouragement and material facilities of shelter and food, entertainment and the more we connect to the love within our heart, and the more we intend to do that, we extend our family beyond just who’s living within our house. We see humanity and gradually we see all living beings, as our family and we want to make a difference.

Quality of life matters not quantity

Sometimes it seems there’s so much problems in this world. There is diseases and there’s prejudices, and there’s racism, and there’s poverty, and there’s so many problems in this world, so many upheavals. What can a little person like me or you do to make a difference? The joy of life is not based on quantity. It’s based on quality. If we can help one person, if all we have a capacity to do is smile at someone and light up their day for a second and make them smile, then that’s a great thing. If we have spiritual liberation in our heart, and we could liberate people from suffering forever, that’s a great thing. If we’re just struggling in our income, and we really sincerely tried to help those who are in need, according to our capacity, that is a great thing and if we have much intelligence, much wealth, and we can actually help so many people in so many ways, that’s a great thing.

Positive intention

My beloved teacher Prabhupada, he wrote that ‘God does not see what we do or give. God sees our intention.’ If our intention is because we care, then we will be motivated more dynamically than somebody who’s just detached. Real detachment from a spiritual perspective is not giving up our duties or giving up our jobs or giving up our families, real detachment, because I have seen Yogis in caves who are really attached to their persona as a Yogi. I’ve seen Yogis who are truly detached. I’ve seen people who are CEOs of international corporations who are truly detached because they see that and they appreciate that God has given me this opportunity to do something wonderful, to serve others because I care.

Having a grateful heart

A grateful heart is a happy heart and gratitude is not just a feeling, but it’s a way of life. Where we’re grateful for what we receive and we reciprocate by sharing it. Social Responsibility, it is said that ‘The greatness of a person is to be estimated by how that person responds to challenging situations.’ There are so many challenges that happen within our own minds, selfishness and greed and arrogance, and all these things come to us and then there’s challenges that come from other people and from nature. At this particular time during this Covid 19 Coronavirus, so much of the world is locked down. In fact, if it wasn’t for COVID-19, I may have been physically in Dubai with all of you, I, probably speaking the same thing, but somehow or other, you know, in this lockdown in the pandemic, which is causing so much fear, confusion, uncertainty, economic instability, sorrow, of knowing people who are dying or getting sick, and just the claustrophobia of not being able to travel and interact with people the way we are accustomed to, there’s every reason to really develop a negative attitude. But actual greatness is something we all have potential for and that is, in whatever situation, to see a light, to see a possibility to make ourselves better, to feel more compassion for others, to re-evaluate our own priorities. Because the nature of life in the times that we live is we become caught up, habituated in certain ways of living and thinking and even if we know that I want something spiritual, I want to be an instrument of goodness in my life, still, there’s so many demands, and so many stresses, and so many wants and needs that occupy our minds and distract us from the actual calling of our very hearts.

Connecting to higher spiritual values

It’s like nature has pressed the reset button where we have some time to really think about what is really valuable in life. What really is the purpose I want to live for? What are the spiritual values I want to cultivate? Who are the people that could help me cultivate and what is the practice I can do to actually excavate that peace, that love that all the great souls have all told, is within myself and to the degree, we actually make that connection to those values to that character, then for the rest of our lives in whatever situation, we’ll be working for truth, we’ll be working for peace, we’ll be working for love, we’ll be working for the most meaningful thing.

It is our responsibility and the more we recognize this responsibility to value the character of service to others, the more there’s greatness in our life. Please, understand this is a true legacy, to leave our children and our grandchildren and our great grandchildren and all generations after, a legacy of compassion, a legacy of spiritual connection, a legacy of passing through great challenges, and preserving the spirit of service and compassion. It is the greatest need in the world and it is the greatest wealth that we can pass on to the future generations of our families and it is this compassion that is the greatest wealth we can share with the world and it’s this wealth that will actually make our hearts truly rich. I thank you so very, very much.

Q & A Transcription:

[Host:] Your Holiness, first of all, thank you very much for enlightened, enlightening us with things which we all feel we know but we are not conscious. So, you know, that has given us something to think about. There are some questions that we received. One of them I mean, you have all also probably covered you would have covered in some form or the other some of these answers but probably just to be very specific. So in today’s challenging times, you know, people are worried about uncertain future which you mentioned, about the health about their livelihood. Many of them are also feeling low and depressed just because they’re not able to travel meet people and all. What exactly specific two or three things that you can suggest in practical people should follow during these times to feel better and you know, not feel depressed or low?

[Maharaj:] Thank you Dilip.

When I visited that beautiful Gurudwara in Dubai that Surinder so kindly, graciously invited me to visit, I was sharing a remembrance, that some years ago I visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar. When we were approaching the temple, there’s a place where you take your shoes off. I saw, I just wear chappals, some of my friends that I came with actually had shoes and when we came out after going into the beautiful golden temples, such a holy place, and hearing beautiful bhajans with tablas and harmonium and violin was just beautiful, singing of prayers. When we came out, our shoes the shoes of my friends were shining with polish and my chapels, which were kind of dirty, were spotlessly washed and clean and there were hundreds and hundreds, thousands of people coming into the temple and while they were inside, everyone’s shoes were being polished and cleaned. Then I saw other people, everywhere, every few feet, there was somebody sweeping, sweeping around the kunds, the small lakes, sweeping on the steps and sweeping on the floors and the marvels and I talked to some people and one man was a multi-millionaire, who was the CEO of a major corporation International Corporation, he lives in America. He and his family, this is their vacation, more precious to them than going to Disney World or Grand Canyon, more precious to them even is to come there and from sunrise to sunset, do this seva and they looked happy.

I met so many people from all different walks of life, some are simple farmers from Punjab, some were medical doctors, and some were lawyers from London, and they were all just sweeping and shining shoes and they were happier than any tourists I’ve ever seen, because they were doing something meaningful. They were serving and it was just such a beautiful thing. So when we value how we can serve, how we can make a difference in other people’s lives, then our whole dimension of the outlook of what is happiness changes. So during this particular time, Dilip and Suresh, you know, it is a troubled times and we could focus on all the things I want to do, but I can’t do. But there are things that we can really focus on doing and that is awakening the deeper spiritual potential that’s within us. There’s four things that I feel are very sacred and I feel that these four things are at the heart of all true spiritual traditions.

There’s Satsang, to associate with people who give us faith in the potential goodness of life. My own guru, if he would see a spark of goodness in somebody, and just fan it and pretty soon we had faith that there was goodness in us too and soon that little spark became a fire. We just wanted to light the world in fire of doing good for others. So Satsang is very important to be with people who bring out the good in us. There are so many people all over the place, and so many, you know, through the media, there’s so many things that bring out anger and resentment and depression within us, but we need to balance that, we can’t go away from that. But we need to balance that with people who actually give light to our life, remind us of the potential of goodness of who we really are and what we could really do. That’s called Satsang and that could be done by physically being with people who are enlightened. It could be done through zoom or various, you know, internet or media, you know, connections because the Internet is like the rest of the world. There are things that can really enrich us and enlighten us and there’s things that can really degrade us and confuse us and there’s just things that can waste our time.

So they’re all there on the internet. They’re all there in the world itself, to choose to actually would be being with people who bring about this positive spirit, who bring about the value of good character and who bring about, you know, the awakening, the potential to awaken our love for God and our compassion to others. That’s the first thing and the second is Sadhana. To put some quality, priority time aside every day to cultivate our own inner spiritual strength. It may be meditation, it may be prayer, it may be puja. In our tradition, we especially chant the Divine Names of God through mantras. But these practices when they are done sincerely for the right purpose, then it’s like, it’s like tuning in to God’s grace. It’s like tuning in, when you know, when you tuned in you, you actually access that particular frequency. Well, there are so many frequencies in this world, there’s the frequency of collective greed and anger and selfishness and arrogance. But there’s also the frequency of divine love and our Sadhana tunes us into that frequency within us and all around as soon as it enriches us.

Then through that connection, then we live our life with Sadachar, which means character, with sacred, moral principles, of humility and forgiveness and fairness and an honesty, these are all universal principles of character and they automatically naturally decorate the heart of one that finds love, and one who is really compassionate. Then seva, then we may be locked down now, but it’s a wonderful opportunity to actually enrich ourselves internally so that when this lockdown is done, we have more, more to give, we have more, to be the best we could be. So in that sense, it’s actually very auspicious and although there’s a lot of sadness, to see suffering, that sadness also, can be digested in a way that helps us to really care and want to utilize our God given talents and our God given resources to make a difference to people who are suffering. I hope that answers your questions.

[Host:] Yes, it does your Holiness; there is a question, another question from one of our members. So, dear Maharaj, thank you for sharing the divine teachings and the higher perspective, my question is how to overcome dictates of our false ego, so that we live in harmony with others in order to fulfil our social responsibility? So this is one question I think in different ways you have answered it, but if you want to point out anything specific.

[Maharaj:] The false ego is the misconception that I am this body and I am all the things connected to this body and therefore, if I’m happy, that’s all that matters. I me mine. I am this body. This body is me. I’m Indian or I’m American or whatever and whatever is within my control is mine. This arrogance inevitably leads to envy, jealousy, because then when somebody has something that we want, whether it be beauty or fame or wealth or abilities, then it disturbs us, because I want it and this arrogance can make us very depressed. It can also, if we have more than others, then it can make us feel that I am better than you, I have rights over you. Who are you? Look at me. This is all a disease. What people are struggling to achieve is actually a diseased condition. A healthy condition is when we transcend our ego and we understand that not only am I sacred, but everyone is sacred and therefore, we actually can respect other living beings. That’s an expression of a happy heart. A happy heart is one that can respect others and an unhappy heart, disturbed heart is one that’s always just thinking of I, me and mine, and how am I being respected? I’d like to share an example.

There was one lady. She was in London and she was dying of cancer. I was in Mumbai, and her husband who was also a dear friend, he said she’s going to die in five days, and she wants you to be at her bedside before she dies. So, somehow or other, I made it to London. I remember something, her husband told me, she said just before she left. She was an activist woman. She had five children’s he was always struggling to be the best she could be and she was always fighting for the underdogs. That’s just the way she was. But here she was paralyzed. She couldn’t she couldn’t eat without her husband, without food going through tubes. When she responded to nature, her husband, or other nurses had to come and clean her body.

She was completely incapacitated, and she was about to die and she was in terrible pain. She looked and said, you know, compared to what I used to be, what am I now? I seem irrelevant and then she smiled. She smiled so blissfully, lit up the room, her eyes twinkled and she said actually, I have unlimited relevance even now, because God loves me. She used the word Krishna, because Krishna loves me. She said, I have unlimited relevance, and nothing could take that away from me not even death. I’m full and complete right now and then she smiled even brighter, and said, but I cannot think myself better than anyone because God loves everyone. Now here’s a person who’s really in lockdown, about to die, incapacitated, in pain, about to leave the physical proximity of her children and grandchildren and everyone. But she saw light, she saw joy, she saw happiness. So let us move toward that light. That is the greatest opportunity we all have in our life.

[Host:] Right! Thank you, Your Holiness. In the interest of time, of course, we would have liked to ask many questions and all but hopefully, soon, one day, we can have you physically here in good times. But today, it has been really enlightening. So on behalf of IBPC, our chairman, Sureshji all the governing council member and the rest of the members, I would like to wish our express our gratitude, and thanks to you for coming and you know, it’s been a blessing, enriching our lives with your knowledge and words.

I’m sure everybody has, you know, been better, knowledgeable, and more knowledgeable than what we were before the start of this session. So thank you very much Your Holiness.

[Maharaj:] I am truly grateful for this opportunity, Surinder. Thank you for including me. Suresh, thank you for leading such wonderful efforts, that is doing such great things for the world and thank you Dilip, for being such a such a light in today’s event.