Balance From The Inside Out | Success Sadhana | HG Vaisesika Dasa | 24 Apr 2026

In our lives, the phenomenon is there that when we don't have a clear idea, a clear goal, then we tend to tip over. Somebody will come along with an idea; we’ll run off in one, or another direction. What's more, there's this feeling of urgency for all kinds of things—they all fall in the same category. You just have one little bowl, and you throw everything in there, and the marking on the side of the bowl says 'Urgent.' Every little thing can wake you up in the middle of the night saying, 'Urgent!' You forgot to write an email to such-and-such, and you think, "Well, they must hate me by now," and that becomes a burning cinder in your mind. We have to deal with the issue of balance in our life by becoming introspective and also working on our clarity of purpose, vision, and goals. This is a great time of year for it because we're in the first quarter. That means we've got three quarters left; that's exciting! I took this phrase from Seven Habits: 'Start with the end in mind.' What do you want it to do? Where do you want whatever you're doing to end up? What will it look like when you get there? Once you have that in mind, then set your goals. It's an antidote to the sense of disturbance. If we don't have a clear idea, then whatever comes up will be very disturbing. But you may notice that if you're intensely focused on doing something or going somewhere, even if there are disturbances, you might barely even notice them. There's an example given about this in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, great literature on Bhakti Yoga. There was once an arrow maker who was sitting in his shop. He would hone the tips of the arrows and then use some special instruments to make sure they were perfectly straight. He was famous for his arrows; people used to purchase from him all the time because they were so perfectly balanced. One day, while he was in his shop, the King came through the city and passed by the arrow maker's shop. When a King goes by, there is fanfare: there were dancers, jugglers, flame-swallowers, music, bands. He went by in a palanquin carried by ornately dressed bearers; there were elephants—what a tumult! It took an hour to pass. Soon afterwards, the son of the arrow maker came running through the shop and said, "Did you see the King? Did you see the King?" The arrow maker said, "What King?" The son said, "He just passed by, right in front of your own shop!" He said, "I was unaware." Why was he unaware? Because he had one single-minded purpose, which was sharpening his arrows and doing his work. Therefore, he wasn't concerned—or wasn't even aware—that the King had passed through the town. So this is what's called in the Bhagavad-gītā 'The one-pointed attention': vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ. The intelligence is fixed, going in one direction to achieve the ultimate goal. Bhakti Yoga shows us how, if we're clear about the ultimate goal of life—what we are trying to get out of life, ultimately. I'm not talking just about some financial thing or a health goal we are working on—but why are we here in the first place? What does the end look like? Is there a purpose at the end for us to be focused on? If we have that in mind, we don't even note the disturbances that come to us when we're absorbed in the ultimate purpose of life. (0:28:18) ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025 https://vaisesikadasayatra.blogspot.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdom literature collection: https://iskconsv.com/book-store/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025 https://www.bbtacademic.com/books/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025 https://thefourquestionsbook.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025