Chiang Mai 2018 - Progressive Position in Krishna Consciousness
00:00
Language:
English
Progressive Position in Krishna Consciousness
Q: In one of your last lectures you mentioned the Russian famous novel by Dostoevsky “The Notes from Underground”. The word underground actually comes from a bad translation into English. A better translation is a space under the floor that is not big enough for a human, but where rodents and bugs live. According to Russian folklore it is also a place where evil spirits live. So along the whole story we hear the reflections of main character about suffering and the irrational pleasure of suffering. The narrator mentions that Utopian society removes suffering and pain, but man desires both things and needs them to be happy. According to the narrator, removing pain and suffering in society takes away a man's freedom. So could you, please, expose the falsity of these statements?
What Krishna reveals to one, He may not reveal to another. — Concerning the revealed truth, there should be a unified perspective. With gradation: evolution is a gradual expression. — The pain of separation yields a superior, peculiar sort of happiness greater than that of union. — Any pastimes without suffering? — What is suffering and what is happiness. Pleasure principle. — Convert world of suffering onto world of happiness by a change of perspective. — Illusion has divine backing. Only by surrender to the Lord, can this “curtain” be lifted. — “Lens distortion”: we are not seeing things properly in this world. — Ontological calibration: from ego-centrism (or humanism) to God in the center. — Give up all substitutes — for self and for God. — Freedom from the senses does not mean to be senseless or the absence of sensuality. — Actually, the devotees are true pleasure-seekers. Not the pleasures of this world, but that doesn't mean there is not pleasure in the world in which we seek.— Hrishikesh: the Lord of the senses, the most beautiful Person. — Use of senses in the spiritual world: lila — “it's all good“. — Guru: what is beneficial in a long term? — A seed of devotion. — All great writers describe the shortcomings of this world. And they don't accept theistic answer, thinking it to be a bait.
Q: There is a saying of George Gordon Byron: “They never fail who die in a great cause.” Could you extend this expression of English poet to its extreme through the perspective of teachings of Srila Guru Maharaja?
The ultimate sacrifice: it's a natural tendency to honor devotion. — Sacrifice for the cause of all causes. — Die or live for a cause. — Die as you are to live in the higher plane. — Self-forgetfulness: retaining identity, but have no consciousness of it. — Accept and reject: Krishna consciousness demands that you're in a progressive position. — Jet propulsion principle: dealing with the environment in such a way to enable spiritual progress. — Progressive position means converting non-Krishna into Krishna. — Through self-dissipation the inner form is manifested. — There is only Krishna: from misconception to proper conception. — The depth of negative expression betrays the positive achievement.
Author: Bhakti Sudhir Goswami
Cycle: Chiang Mai 2018
Uploaded by: Priyanana
Created at: 19 March, 2018