Spiritual conversations at Google Headquarters

Nets in terms of nature

Google started small - not so long ago. However, it has achieved such amazing success that it affects almost every aspect of every human life on Earth. So much your company affects so many lives around the world.

To begin, I would like to talk about the network in terms of nature. Just a few days ago I was walking in a mahogany forest with a very dear friend to me. Some trees stand there for hundreds or even thousands of years. We came to one of the largest trees in the forest. There was a group of Chinese tourists who were standing around the park ranger. He was going to tell the secret of red trees, which is hidden under the ground. And he began to tell how these trees in this forest stood for hundreds and thousands of years - despite the massive snowstorms, hurricanes and devastating earthquakes. Most trees need very deep roots to have power. But the roots of red trees do not grow very deep, besides, these trees grow on very loose soil. How do they weather these storms and earthquakes while continuing to grow ?! At these words, the park ranger paused so that we could think.

While I was thinking, I was thinking about all the storms that come into our lives: whether individually or collectively. At the social, national, international level (see “The Psychology of Resentment” ). Then the park ranger revealed the secret. Mahogany roots grow out of the ground and reach towards the roots of other red trees. And as soon as they come into contact with each other, they intertwine and form a permanent link between them. They are blocked by each other. This means that one tree blocks another tree in its root system on one side and is blocked by other trees on the other. And those trees in turn are blocked by other trees. Therefore, the roots of small trees, which have just begun to grow, are under the protection of the giant roots of giant trees. So almost every tree in the forest is connected to another. Therefore, even through storms and earthquakes, they hold each other and continue to grow.
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This is a nature lesson about networking. Together we stand, and separately - lose. In our lives, our hearts are like our roots. And when the roots of our help, our care, our love, are actually connected with each other, we can develop a truly incredible power. This power will help us to withstand even when storms come to our lives: storms of temptation, storms of fear, storms of depression and problems. This power will allow us to hold tightly to each other - and this is largely a matter of spirituality (see “The Alphabet of Team Building” ).

Human life is special. Because we have a huge potential for freedom of choice. You will never see a cow jumping on rabbits and devouring them. And you will never see a tiger chewing grass. Because they are programmed - and you, as the best programmer in the whole world, will understand this better than I do (see “Code # of code” ). This is a specific consciousness. But the human being, unlike the lower animals, has a greater freedom of choice. We can be holy, or serial killers. We can be jealous, or wish everyone happiness. We can be respected and highly organized, or completely unbridled and ignorant. Our freedom of choice is so great. But along with the freedom of choice, we also have a great responsibility ( “Degradation and development” ).

Fateful Providence Falcon

Once, I was sitting on the banks of the Ganges. It was summer. It was really hot. I was the only person there in the area. Falcon circled over my head. The falcon descended lower and lower - until it was just a few meters above me. I looked up at him. He had golden brown feathers — that were visible when he opened his wings — and very sharp claws. And his beak was bent down and sharply sharpened. The falcon's yellow eyes seemed to stare at me with an unblinking gaze. And he went down lower and lower. Naturally, I thought: "Probably he is hungry, probably I am his food." Suddenly he dived straight into the water and disappeared for a while under water. And it was clear that there was a fight under the water. About 30 seconds later, a falcon emerged from the water with fish that beat in its claws. The fish was about 30 cm long. She was completely confused. She was only a few meters away from me, and I looked into the eyes of this fish. The fish seemed so disoriented and confused! I thought, “Perhaps, as always, she began her day, like any other. Swam up and downstream, possibly with her family, friends. In search of food, she played. She did not expect that at the moment when she least expected it, she would be torn out of her cloudless reality by a fateful falcon. ”

I thought: how many people I know, how many people I heard about - just like this fish. They were going to spend their day as usual, but they were given a fatal diagnosis, or a loved one betrayed them. Either they got into a car accident, or an earthquake happened that destroyed everything around. It happens every day — no one expects it. The fateful falcon is something that flies over everyone's head and can sink to pick us up (see “Scientific and religious view on the phenomenon of predestination of fate” ).

And I thought that we should not relax - we should prioritize our lives. What is really sacred, what is really important. And I remember the speech of Martin Luther King, where he said that if you do not have an ideal for which you are ready to die, then you have nothing to live for. Do we have such an ideal?

Our life is passing, and we are just preoccupied with superficial things. How much time we really invest in understanding what is really important and means a lot to us. And then I thought - if that fish were swimming deeper, then the falcon could not get it. Similarly, if our satisfaction, our pleasure and the meaning of life are deep, then whatever happens in this constantly changing world, it would not affect what we have achieved within ourselves. It could not destroy our integrity and mood in which we live.

The foundation of our life

Googleplex is a beautiful building, but who among us thinks about how beautiful its foundation is? The foundation, like the roots of those red trees, cannot be seen. This is something deeper than our eyes. But the integrity of the building depends entirely on the strength of the foundation. How seriously do we take the construction of the foundation of our life? The foundation of deep inner satisfaction? (see “The USSR - Three Component Outcomes” ) In the 71st year, I lived for some time next to Mother Teresa. I remember how she told me one very wise thing. It was the same as what I heard from the great sages of the Himalayas. The main problem of modern society is the hunger of the heart. Our most urgent need is to love and be loved. If we do not have this, but everything will be - we will not be satisfied. If we have only love and nothing else, there will be satisfaction. True satisfaction is not a passing experience that we experience from the contemplation of beautiful forms and from the palpation of pleasant objects. This is all sensual perception. Even fame and prestige come and go within the mind. Real satisfaction is a feeling inside our heart. Real satisfaction means to love and be loved. The source of such satisfaction, the universal principle of any spiritual path, lies in our heart; this is our natural spiritual nature (see “Reconstruction of Inspiration” ).

When we discover deep satisfaction within ourselves, the ever-changing world and the trials that it presents to us will not affect us. Falcon fate does not penetrate deeply if the fish swims at a safe depth. But if our happiness, goals and the meaning of life is based on ever-changing artificial conditions, at any moment everything can change. Emmerson said: “The reason why our society lacks unity is the loss of a person’s connection with himself.” This is a universal spiritual principle: to reconnect with its essence, which we actually are.

How practical is spirituality

If a person has, for example, a chronic boil, and boils are very painful, then it is necessary to let them go out naturally. But we often treat only the symptoms - we smear it with ointment, we treat it in a certain way. But if the cause of the boil is a blood disease, then until we cure it, everything will continue again and again. We treat one furuncle, it seems to pass, but boils appear again and again.

A few years ago, I was sitting at New Delhi Airport - after the pilgrimage to Vrindavan. Suddenly, someone came up to me and said: "The Allied Minister of the Indian government wants to talk with you." I said, "Good." She approached me and challenged: “What do you, svami and yogis , do to protect the environment ?! Rivers are polluted! Oceans are polluted! The soil is polluted! The air is polluted! And you just sit and sing your mantras , meditate, perform your puja , rituals! What are you doing?! We need action! ” For me it was a challenge. For me it was like a bolt from the blue. Very powerful lady. She stared at me, waiting for an answer. Because she really did care, she really cared about the environment.

I answered her, giving the same example with boils. When we are covered with boils, we often treat the symptoms. But if the cause is a blood disease, we must treat it. What is the cause of these crimes, hostility and hypocrisy in the name of religion? What is the problem of the greed of people on Wall Street, creating a destabilization of the economy? What is the problem of politicians who are ready to compromise for bribes and make people suffer? And what is actually the cause of all environmental pollution? This is the pollution of our heart. When our heart is polluted - through our words and our actions, through the decisions we make - we pollute the world. Because our heart is expressed through what we say and do. Therefore, we must turn to people, we must teach them how to live in harmony with ourselves. How to live in harmony with each other, how to live in harmony with God and how to live in harmony with nature (see “How life begins” ).

So, I told this woman that we are trying to do our part of the work. And you - do your part. And we have to work together. Because if we do not purify the inner state of our consciousness — even if we clean every river, every ocean, all the air, the whole Earth — as long as we have egoistic greed, they will be polluted again and again. The Allied Minister of the Indian Government smiled and said: “Yes, we must work together” ( see “Egoistic Exploitation” ).

Value of cooperation

Such is the potential of the intertwining roots of those reddish trees. We are all different. Some of us work as an accountant, someone as a software developer, someone as a manager, someone as a politician, farmer, scientist, technologist. In the human body, each part of the body performs a specific function, but they do not howl with each other. When we look deeper than the outer - the artificial differences that exist between us - and when we actually understand who we really are inside, recognize ourselves as a divine, eternal, all-loving living creature - then we realize that everything we are interconnected. And we can all respect each other for the contribution that each of us makes.

Maybe I can't do what you can. Perhaps you cannot do what I do, but by cooperating, we complement each other (see “7 Principles of Cooperation” ). I recently gave a speech at the headquarters of HSBC Bank in London. And there were 900 bankers. I had to give a speech to them. I looked at them and started laughing. Even now I find it funny - when I just think about it. I just had to be honest. I said, “I don’t know why you asked me to give a speech for you. You are one of the best bankers in the world. ” There were heads of departments and chairmen of the board. And I said: “Are you asking me to give a speech for you ?! I have never had a bank account. And I have not signed a single check since 1969. ” They looked at me as an alien from a distant galaxy, as if asking, “How did you survive at all ?!”

Now I can not tell you that I have never searched Google for anything, because everyone has to search on Google - even people without a bank account. You see, no matter what weaknesses or strengths we have. Human culture is to honor and respect the contribution of each person, instead of condemning people, according to y, "what I did, and you did not do what I can do, and you cannot, where I come from, where you come from, what religion i profess - and what you don’t confess. ” True love - manifests itself as compassion, the same to all. Of course, sometimes we have to see differences, but we must do it in a selfish way. Love does not mean that it is necessary to rush into his arms at the sight of a tiger - because we are one and the same. This is nonsense - you need to keep your distance, but with respect.

Jungle lesson

Living in the jungles of the Himalayas, I talked with a yogi who taught me a very important lesson: “There are a lot of leopards, snakes, panthers and birds around us. You will sleep under the trees in the middle of the jungle. And it does not matter whether you sleep or not - animals have more power than you. If you feel that you are better than them, or you experience the slightest fear of them, they will kill you. But if you see the sacredness of life and treat it with respect and honor - without rushing to embrace a cobra while leaving the personal space to animals, the animals will respect your personal space. ”

Believe it or not, it really works. However, I found that this jungle lesson is much more difficult to apply to people. Because people have a very difficult ego, whereas animals are easily predictable. However, this is our potential. And this is how we can change something in this world through our actions (see “The Ethics of Empowerment” ).

The real culture, the real humanism is to study art in every situation - even if it is not easy. Feed the good dog inside us and ignore the bad one. By nature we are good. By nature we are divine. The greatest need to satisfy our lives and the greatest need of the whole world is a reorientation towards our true nature. Within our tradition, we chant the mantras , or the beautiful sweet names of God (see “The Principle of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra ” ). So we clean the mirror of our heart from the dust accumulated there. When you look in the mirror, you are supposed to see yourself. But when it is covered with dust, you will see dust. When we clear the mirror of our heart through these beautiful spiritual practices, we begin to see the beauty of our true nature’s love, and we can reflect this love in everything we do (see “Synergy of Trust” ).

I am so happy, so grateful that I have the opportunity to be here with all of you. And to share everything that I learned from my beloved guru , Srila Prabhupada. Thank you very much.

Cuts from the speech of His Holiness Radhanath Swami, at Google headquarters.