3. How to Use the
Experiences of Life
• Bitter or better
• Difference is the
letter ‘I.’ Up to you.

4. 1. Examine your past
2. Extract the lessons you learned
3. Exploit the experiences of
others
4. Employ your experiences to
encourage and Help others.

5. 1. Examine
• Don’t just live your life, think about it
• That job was a good experience
• I really enjoyed that class
• Look behind the good and the bad
• Unexamined experience is wasted

6. Failures Important
Why didn't it work?
What went wrong?
Look for a pattern.
Don't waste the hurt
Don’t waste the pain.

7. Failure to Inquire
“Out of so many human beings who are
suffering, there are a few who are actually
inquiring about their position, as to what
they are, why they are put into this
awkward position. Unless one is
awakened to this position of questioning
his suffering, unless he realizes that he
doesn't want suffering but rather wants to
make a solution to all suffering, then one
is not to be considered a perfect human
being.”
Intro Bhagavad Gita

8. “Athato brahma jijnasa.
Every activity of the
human being is to be
considered a failure
unless he inquires about
the nature of the
Absolute. Therefore
those who begin to
question why they are
suffering or where they
came from and where
they shall go after death
are proper students for
understanding
Bhagavad-gita.”

9. All living
entities within
the material
creation are
conditioned by
material nature
because of
their
forgetfulness
of their
relationship to
Krishna, the
Supreme
Personality of
Godhead.

11. Repeated History
The fool never learns from
mistakes. Why? He's not
teachable. Experience does
not teach everybody.
Experience only teaches
the teachable. Experience
only helps those people who
stop and examine the experiences they've
had.

13. 2. Extract the Lessons You
Learned
HARIBOLOOOO
• Insights, principles, truths
• Not ‘why’ but ‘what.’
• Experience is an educator
• Grow up & mature & see lessons in
everyday life.

14. yajnarthat karmano 'nyatra
loko 'yan karma-bandhanah
tad-artha karma kaunteya
mukta-sanga samacara
Work done as a sacrifice for Krishna has to be
performed; otherwise work causes bondage in
this material world. Gita 4/9

15. Two Rules in the School of
Experience
1. If you flunk the test the first time
you just keep taking the test until you
pass it. If you flunk it Krishna will give
you another chance.
2. Just about the time you think you've
graduated Krishna makes up a new
course. Just about the time you think,
"I've matured and I've got it all
together" Krishna says, "No, you've got
a whole lot more to go."

16. We experience
happiness and
distress according to
the moral and spiritual
quality of our
activities. We are
responsible for what
we do. Dhrtarastra
was falsely and
obsessively attached
to his evil-minded
sons, forgetting that
he alone would have
to suffer for his
imprudent behavior.

17. 3. Exploit the
Experiences
of Others
Get yourself into a network and learn from
other people. The average person in life
learns from experience. The wise person
learns from the experiences of others. The
fools learn from neither.

18. Ask the right questions
• Krishna brings people into your life
to pull wisdom out of them
• From some we learn what to do and
others what not to do

19. tasyaiva me 'nuraktasya
prasritasya hetainasaù
sraddadhanasya bälasya
dantasyanucarasya ca
“I was very much attached to those sages. I was
gentle in behavior, and all my sins were eradicated
in their service. In my heart I had strong faith in
them. I had subjugated the senses, and I was strictly
following them with body and mind. SB 1.5.30”

20. These are the necessary qualifications of a
prospective candidate who can elevate to the
position of a pure devotee. Such a candidate must
always seek the association of pure devotees. He
himself must be plain and gentle to receive the
instructions of such a pure devotee. A pure
devotee knows the Personality of Godhead as the
supreme proprietor and all others as His servitors.
By the association of pure devotees, one can get
rid of all sins accumulated by mundane
association. A neophyte devotee must faithfully
serve the pure devotee, and he should be very
much obedient and strictly follow the instructions.
These are the signs of a devotee who is
determined to achieve success even in the
existing duration of life.

21. Golden Advice
• I’ve been there, made the same
mistake
• Recovery groups, 12 steps

22. • The richest source of human experience is the Scripture.
• Biographies slanted for or against
• Scripture truth..thoroughly honest men
• Good, bad, & ugly

23. tad-vag-visargo janatagha-viplavo
yasmin prati-çlokam abaddhavaty api
nämäny anantasya yaso nikitani yat
srinvanti gäyanti ghrnanti sädhavah
"On the other hand, that literature which is full
with descriptions of the transcendental glories of
the name, fame, form and pastimes of the
unlimited Supreme Lord is a transcendental
creation meant to bring about a revolution in the
impious life of a misdirected civilization. Such
transcendental literatures, even though irregularly
composed, are heard, sung and accepted by
purified men who are thoroughly honest."
SB Introduction

24. Only by devotional service
• Arjuna was a great devotee,
impetuous
• Bhima - angry
• Yudhisthir - rigid
• Droupadi - prideful

25. Experience can be misleading
• Magician, beautiful
woman disappear
and lion come
• Elevator joke
• Sadhu, sastra, guru

26. Subjectivity
Experience can be caused by all
different kinds of things -- drugs,
personality, slight of hand. What
you need is a standard rather than
just say, "I felt it, therefore it must
be right." What is that standard?
Krishna's Word. It's always the
truth.

27. Whimsy
"I think Krishna wants me to run
out from my wife and marry this
other woman." "Why?" They say,
"I feel it's the right thing to do.
Krishna wants me to be happy
and therefore it's the right thing
to do." Let's look at what the Gita
says.

28. “He who discards scriptural injunctions and
acts according to his own whims attains
neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the
supreme destination.” Gita 6/27

29. 4. Employ Experiences to Help
Others
• Extended families no longer
• Fragments society, no network

30. New Network
• The temple older men & women
• Critical need today
• Who are you sharing your
experiences with? If you've been
alive more than ten years you've
got some experience.

31. Ther e is an unt apped wealt h of exper ience
sit t ing in t his r oom r ight now t hat is going
unused. Incr edible t alent , incr edible
exper ience. Kr ishna's br ought us t oget her
f r om all dif f er ent kinds of backgr ounds.
He's shaped us all dif f er ent ly. Kr ishna
br ought you t o t his chur ch f am ily because
you have som et hing needf ul t o of f er . God
made you f or a pur pose and He's given you
exper iences f or a pur pose and you have
som et hing t o of f er . You need t o of f er it f or
your own em ot ional healt h, physical
healt h, spir it ual, m ent al healt h.

32. You need t o of f er it and Kr ishna expect s you
t o of f er it . Som e of you have exper ienced
deep hur t in your lives -- t he deat h of a loved
one, a painf ul divor ce t hat r ipped your hear t
out , an illness, cancer , you got laid of f at
wor k, you went t hr ough a bankr upt cy, your
kids f lipped out and went of f on dr ugs, you
had a m aj or cr isis, you exper ienced som e
kind of hur t . Kr ishna expect s you t o use t hat
hur t t o t o encour age and help ot her s who ar e
going t hr ough sim ilar cr ises.

33. Examine, learn,
extract, employ,
• What good is and encourage
holding inside
• Don’t waste hurts

34. For 11 weeks we've looked at how Kr ishna has
m ade you unique and shaped you, how He's given
you spir it ual gif t s and a Hear t and Abilit ies and
Per sonalit y and Exper iences. You ar e unique!
God's shaped you t o be unique, but why? He didn't
put f or t h all t hat ef f or t j ust so you could keep it
t o your self . He did it so you would be shaped f or
signif icance, t hat your lif e would m at t er , t hat you
would m ake an im pact wit h your lif e t hat nobody
else could because your exper iences ar e unique.
He's saying, Use t hem t o help ot her people.

35. “Kr ishna, I give You all t hat I am.
I owe it t o You however gr eat or lit t le;
it belongs t o You. I want t o give You
t he exper iences of my past good and
bad. I want t o give You t he schedule
of my pr esent . And I want t o give You
t he pot ent ial of my t omor r ow. I want
t o be available t o be used f or t he
pur pose you cr eat ed me f or . Help me
t o discover my signif icance f or t he
glor y of God & uplif t ment of mankind”
Om Tat Sat