Vedanta Psychology - Suhotra Maharaja Archives

So in the same way this sincerity to perform an activity, that the result is forKrsna, you are trying to do it to please Krsna without the false ego, then thatcombination works very nice. But if we become proud, then the process is lost.Because then we are identifying again with the material energy, we are going backinto material energy. Just because you go back into material energy from a verysophisticated platform doesn’t make it any less material energy.Prabhupada give the example, if you are bound by an iron chain or you are boundby a gold chain, you are still bound, you are still in the material world, though youcan show off your gold bling. Yeah, check out the gold bling here. Your iron ball onlyweighs 50 kilos, but this is gold so it weighs 150 kilos, check it out how much gold.But that means you are three times more immobile, but whatever it is, it works. Imean now they put the chain from the loop into the pocket, there it’s from the ankleto the ball. So it’s just another, just give us some time it will become popular.So there is these fine points of just identification. So the idea is this is to get itwhere we can appreciate this and understand this. Then Maharaja will go into thedifferent points of very finely how to identify the difference between the identifyingwith the material energy and not, or how to do that. But as we said, without the faiththen that mood of sincerity that it’s being done to please Krsna and the focus ontrying to develop that and make it.So Brahma was appreciated for his sincerity, not for his expertise, and that’sBrahma. So there is basically nothing that we can do in the way of expertise that weconsider good. So it’s always going to be sincerity. That’s what Krsna looks for.Expertise is nice, but the point is the expertise comes with practice. So moreimportant is the mood. But the problem is when practice is there and expertisecomes, then pride can also come. And as soon as pride comes it’s ruined.Krsna is not proud of being God. It comes natural to Him. He doesn’t have toprove it to anybody. He was God before anybody else existed, or at least in themanifest state, and He was quite satisfied, He was atma-rama. So He didn’t have toget anybody’s attention and He says, hey, check that…I am a great God… He says,what do you think? Mother Yasoda comes running in, mother Yasoda, oh, you aresuch a nice little God. Don’t worry when You grow up everybody will worship You. Hedoesn’t have to do all that. He is very satisfied.So the faith then means the sincerity can be there. If there is no faith, all youhave is expertise, and if all you have is expertise, you have to identify withsomething. Faith means you identify as servant of Krsna, therefore through sincerityyou will become expert. But if you don’t have the faith, you will become expert butthrough material identity. So even though it’s very sophisticated, it’s still you are inthe material world. It’s a problem. So sophistication isn’t the symptom ofadvancement. Sincerity is.Devotee (3): …this identification…do some service and think we are very sincerewith that, but still we have so many material desires and then identifies so much with