Call and Response Special Edition Conversations With KD July 18 2020

Taking time to look back and move forward. Conversations With KD episodes are derived from the recordings of KD’s online events from his home during the 2020/ 2021 days of social distancing and quarantine from the onset of COVID and beyond. Call and Response Special Edition Conversations With KD July 18 2020 “The only answers that you need have to come from you. There’s no shortcut there. You have to listen to your own heart about what you want to do and what you need to do, and then you have to have the courage to go do it, if that’s what it takes.” – Krishna Das The bottom line is that no matter what the issue is, no matter what the suffering is, the real pain is in the mind, because that’s how we’re reacting to the physical, if there is physical issues, and if it’s mental issues, it’s also the way we react, and the only way to overcome or transcend or thin out or leave behind those reactions is to be able to invoke a deeper place within us, the presence of the love that lives within us, in whatever form opens your heart to that; counseling, therapy, talking; every other kind of assistance one can get. All they do is, they help us to let go. And the greatest help that we can get is to train ourselves, to release the stuff and move more deeply into our own hearts and into our own being. So, Maharajji always said, “Constant repetition of God’s name, even without feelings of devotion, in anger or lethargy, brings out His grace.” And once this is realized, then there’s no misunderstanding about anything anymore. There’s no… True faith and true understanding arises. But to reach that point, now, this is me, to reach that point where we actually have that experience, it takes some work on our path, on our part. We have to align ourselves, first with the real intention to overcome suffering, the intention to understand where it comes from, and the practice to build up the internal muscles to be able to let go. You can’t let go of something unless you have something else to hold on to. So, we hold on to the repetition of the Name and to, eventually the realization that brings to us directly, to us, ourselves, within us. We hold on to that and then it becomes easier to let go of this stuff. So, I guess that’s the deal. See ya. Q: Hi Krishna Das. How are you doingn? Did Maharajji ever speak to unscrupulous teachers and… well, let me… a little background, I received the teachings of yoga for the last three years from someone that I just found out was abusing their power as a teacher among my friends and other, and colleagues and my sangha, and my work now is to separate the teaching from the teacher, I think. That’s what I’m trying to do, and what you just opened with is definitely something I can do. But I don’t, I’ve heard you speak about it before, but I thought it was never gonna happen to me. So, I didn’t really pay attention. So, your yoga teacher has been abusing his or her position as teacher? Well, regardless of what kind of abuse it is, if it’s something that doesn’t feel right to you, yoga teachers are, there’s like 40 yoga studios on every block. Go somewhere else. Like Starbucks. Yeah. Oh yeah. I’m definitely going to myself. It’s no reflection on you that it hurts, that you were part of that group. What do you want to know? You did the right thing. You left. So, you leave those people to do whatever they have to do. Some people find it hard to recognize abuse and some people find abuse everywhere. So, it’s really up to you, what your experience is with the situation, how you feel about it, and whatever karmas this person has created, they’ll be living through that for a long time. So, there’s no reason for us to be angry, because anger just destroys whatever we have to offer and whatever’s in our own hearts. It’s better to develop compassion. Compassion is not making it okay, saying it was okay for that person to do that. It’s recognizing that people who hurt other people are not only hurting other people, but they’re hurting themselves, and they themselves will suffer terribly because everybody has to live through their karmas. There’s no slippage in that system, apparently. So, but when we see how hard it is for us to get through the day without having negative thoughts and angry thoughts and hurtful thoughts about ourselves and other people, we can begin to expand that understanding to see how hard it is for other people to not hurt themselves and other people, and in doing so, creating more suffering for everybody. So then, you know, then your heart starts to soften a little bit and you don’t, you don’t create more karmas from your reactions. Somebody once said to me, the teaching of betrayal is trust. Wow. Really? Yeah. So, let’s think about that. Yeah. What does that mean? The teaching of betrayal is trust. That’s the thing I don’t want to lose. I’m a trusting person and I trusted this person and I ...