Your Powers Are Revoked!

[ancient_paztriot]

Hridy: So obviously, if you drive like that then your right to drive is revoked or suspended. Now you can drive in the sense that you have the ability to drive, but you're not allowed to drive because you misused that ability. Similarly as souls, we have certain powers or abilities - as living beings. But because we misuse them… exploit the creation of God instead to serve God, those powers of the soul are revoked. That's the situation.

 

And here Krsna says frankly that I kick these people in their stubborn… You know what. That's more or less the mood here in this verse.

 

(Sanskrit)

 

Now the word I just sung is interesting. Krsna says perpetually… always. That doesn't mean that some people can never be liberated, but it means the law is always in effect. (Spanish). That means that as long as you want to be stubborn and rebellious against the will of God, you'll get a swift kick in your uh… back pocket. The law will always function. It doesn't mean that some people can never get God's mercy. Any soul - at any moment - can get God's mercy if he wants it, but the rule will always be there. Don't think that you're going to wait it out or simply keep trying till finally you do it.

 

You'll never do it. If you oppose the will of God, you'll be defeated… now and forever. That's the idea here.

 

So we should not oppose God's will, but we should cooperate. Then we'll be saved.

[ancient_paztriot]

So any questions on these points? Yes?

Guest: My biggest problem is that I can't remember when I'm suffering… and then something…

Hridy: How you suffered?

Guest: Yes. When I'm suffering, I know…

Hridy: Yes, I know. But…

Guest: But I can't always remember. Sometimes I just forget.

Hridy: Suffering?

Guest: Yes.

Hridy: Well, we have to practice remembering. Fortunately, Krsna is very king and He won't let you forget. Unfortunately, that means you'll go on suffering. So we have to become very determined not to forget.

 

Guest: … Hridyananda, the spiritual world is beyond time, how can we explain that at a certain moment the spirit soul falls from the spiritual world?

Hridy: Beyond time does not mean that there is not… there are not events that take place as a sequence through a time medium. Yes, there is time in that sense… in the sense that there is a medium through which a sequence of events takes place. But there's no time in the sense that there is no loss and there is no gain. For example in this world… when we say… let us say that something happened ten years ago. Now let's say ten years ago something happened in this very spot where we're sitting now. Now what does it meant that it's ten years ago? What do we actually mean by that? And how do we get our sense of past time?

 

I we think about it, our sense that something happened ten years ago… our sense of that is based on change… that so many things have changed. For example I've grown ten years older. The trees have grown ten years. Some of them have died. Things have changed. My relatives have died. The government has changed.

 

So actually, if you think about it I have lost so many things, I have gained so many things, the body has changed, my concept of so many things is now differnt… I see the world in a differnt way. So it is actuallyt he change… all the different changes… which give us a sense that in fact time is past. Isn't it?

 

Now image if nothing had changed at all; you hadn't grown one bit or hadn't aged any younger or older. All the trees are exactly the same. No one died. Nothing changed. Everything is just as it always was. If everything was just as it was your sense of past would not really be there.

 

And similarly, what is the future? What is it that gives us a strong sense of the future? That there are many things we are waiting for or we are hoping for. Isn't it? And in the future I'll get this or I'll get that, or I'll do this or I'll do that. Isn't it? I'll go to this place, I'll go to that place. Or in the futue I'll fear this will happen: I'm going to grow old. This may happen and that may happen. Again change. New things happening. Old things being lost.

 

So imagine if in the future you had nothing to gain because you had everything you could possibly desire… you had all at once all in one place… in a realm in which whatever else there may be in other places is also places is also here… because other places are also here. And this place is also in other places. Then… And there was no fear of any loss… Then our sense of future would not be… There would be very little sense of future. It wouldn't be a very meaningful idea… other than just waiting for Krsna to come.

[ancient_paztriot]

So, in fact, what the Bhagavatam says is that the material time is absent in the spiritual world. Cause what is material time? Material time that which destroys everything… ultimately.

 

Just like in the Bhagavad-gita… Arjuna saw the Universal Form. He was shocked and he said uh…

 

(Sanskrit)

 

He said, "I'm loosing my sense of direction."

 

In other words, he couldn't understand what was up, what was down, forward or backward. He was loosing his whole orientation. He couldn't understand anymore… anything. His whole sense of direction was lost.

 

"I can't find any stable existence!" Everything was simply terrifying as Krsna showed his rather horrible feature.

 

Later:

 

Arjuna saw all the worlds practically. First the demigods were so powerful… all the soldiers at Kuruksetra. They were rushing into the blazing mouths of this form. Image if you actually saw millions of people rushing into a blazing fire emanating from the mouth of a terrible giant. If you were actually seeing all that…

 

Arjuna was a very powerful ksatriya. He wasn't a sissy. He wasn't a uh… He wasn't a weak minded person. He was actually a very powerful ksatria that could literally go to hell for Krsna. And yet when he saw this form he was completely overwhelmed.

[theist]

So can we conditioned souls expect to go through a similar disorientaion as Arjuna experienced on our way to full Krsna realization?

[ancient_paztriot]

Hi Theist. I think so in many subtle ways. Certainly can't be compared to Arjuna's experience.

 

I assume other experiences to be similar to mine. I was blown away by the concepts in the gita… started me chanting before I finished the book. Now that pronunciation you don't want to know!

 

Anyway, the knowledge and later the devotees completely devastated my material life - in one sense. I guess I couldn't help but see the truth in Prabhupada's words. His knowledge base then became mine.

 

Christians have the concept of baptism. Guru intiates disciple. All these are concepts of rebirth, light and dark.

 

I suspect you might be referring to something deeper…

 

Yes, I see a relation between sincerity and devastation in my mind. Part of the problem is getting serious and sincere about someone who's not around. Obviously, we have to struggle through alot of person demons before we become purified through religous choices… maybe over many lifetimes.

 

How do you decide Krsna is more real than the world that pulls you the other way? It's a heavy burden when you're not in a culture that even recognizes your ideas.