How can an aspiring devotee-precher put one’s heart in a career that increases people’s illusions?
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
Hare Krishna. Question from Aditya Kumar Jha Prabhu. I am studying engineering right now and I am working to get a job in the field of embedded systems.
So when I am in a devotee association and practicing devotional service, I feel very inspired. But when I'm in material situations, I feel distracted and frustrated. I want to prepare myself to become an extensive preacher.
And then I feel that studying and working to get a job is going against this aspiration for preaching. Because in the job I'll be creating wants among people and I'll be a part of the group that is creating the illusion that technology can make people happy. And this is contrary to what I want to teach through my preaching.
So how do I get the impetus to put my heart in these studies and strike a balance between my material and spiritual life? Answer, by getting the right definition of success in our spiritual life. Sometimes many devotees in ISKCON operate with the wrong definition of success. There are many ways, different ways in which one can be successful.
So for example, some devotees think that withdrawing from the world and just living in an insular devotee community and just practicing devotional service and interacting with the world only to give Krishna to that world. That is the way we will be successful. And if more and more people can do that, then that's success.
So, yes, in the early days of our movement, ISKCON was primarily a temple-based movement. And Prabhupada encouraged that model. He wrote about it in his books also.
But Prabhupada came from a culture, a broad Gaudiya-Kaushalya culture. And that was always a family-based, a congregation-based culture. And that's how our movement is spreading now.
So we will have devotees who are not living in temples, who are not working in temples. Most devotees will be grahasthas. And they will be having jobs outside.
And then they will be interacting much more with the world. So when that is happening, and if our outreach is to really expand, then it's not realistic to expect that the whole world will withdraw and join a temple and live in a temple. That is not going to happen.
This is Kali Yuga. So then that means both from the realistic point of view of how devotees are going to live and from the realistic point of view of how our movement is going to spread, we have to have an alternative definition of success. That is, more and more devotees have to penetrate into the material world while maintaining their own standards and inspiring others to raise their standards.
So even in temples where there are many brahmacharis and where there are very strong temples at the center of a community, still the outreach depends to a large extent on the quality of the congregation. Not just on how frequently the congregation come to the temple, but how well they conduct themselves in their material life. So that brings respectability or disrespectability to devotional principles in the eyes of the general society.
Krishna also talks to Arjuna about how it is important to do one's duty responsibly to set an example for others. So as devotees, we shouldn't think of our studies just as something which is a part of maya. Now elsewhere I have talked about, if you just give a search on the spiritual scientist for studies, I'll give an answer how a devotee can see the study itself as devotional service.
But here in this answer, I'll focus more on how a devotee who wants to preach can get the heart to study and pursue a successful career. So we have to see that actually when I am in the material world, if I'm going to be a grahastha or if I have that kind of aspiration at least for some time, then I'm going to have a job, I'm going to study, then I have to know that the definition of success has to be different for me. That by studying well, by doing my job well, I'll gain the respect of people around me.
It's not that I want the respect for myself and it's not that I have to work 16 hours or 18 hours for that. No, because as devotees we have a clearer mind. We don't have habits of chit-chatting and gossiping and doing so many other time-wasting activities.
So we can do more work in less time also. But the point is that materialistic people cannot understand spiritual things immediately. So they will see us from a material perspective.
If they say they are cultured, they are courteous, they are competent, then they will appreciate it. Maybe their definition of culture may not be the same. They may like at an external level people who drink, but at an internal level they will appreciate that this person is a person of principles and gradually will start appreciating that kind of culture also.
So we have to recognize that one definition of success is also how effectively we penetrate in the material world and how effectively we are able to make Krishna and Krishna's devotees or Krishna bhakti respectable in the eyes of materialistic people by our own conduct. And for that culture, courtesy, competence, these are important. And if we are able to exhibit that, then that is a contribution to preaching.
That is also a preaching success. And along with that, we also have to change our attitude towards our worldly profession. Any activity which we are going to do, we always have to approach it with a positive attitude.
So rather than thinking of our service as we are creating wants when none exist, we are creating the illusion that technology will make people happy. Actually there are a good number of materialistic people also or not materialistic people, I would say non-practitioners, non-devotees who may be at varying levels of materialism. They also don't really think that technology alone will make them happy.
They know at some level that it doesn't make us happy, but they have not been shown any alternative way of happiness. That's why they are pursuing it. So if while working in a technology firm, one is also practicing spirituality, one creates some very desirable doubts in the minds of people that this person has so much command over technology and still this person is practicing spirituality.
That means technology alone doesn't lead to happiness. What a nagging feeling I had that is getting confirmed over here. And then those people can also become interested in spirituality.
So in fact if some devotees have degrees from very good colleges, IITs, IIMs, or other good technological institutes or any form of respectable material institute, then that helps a lot. Same with devotees working in big companies. That brings the initial level of respect and then that can be used to attract people to Krishna.
So that is not just a matter of perception. Whatever we are doing, we can always do it with the attitude of service. It's not that all technological products are marketed on the basis of creative wants.
What may be a want for one person may be a need for another person. For a person who is living in a slum, color TV might not be a want. It might not be a need.
It's a want. But for some other person who is living in a comfortable apartment, for that person a TV is a need. So now we can't think that I will deal in things which are only catering to pure devotional service.
That is not going to work. So we can see that through this catering of technology, I am coming in contact with many people and these people are themselves in their own way respectable and influential, at least in the way the world pursues today. And I can contact those people and through them, through me, they can become connected with Krishna over a period of time as much as is possible within the limitations of the job and things like that.
But we can view our activity positively. So it's not that always we are creating needs. Yes, if we are targeting people who, for example, if it's something which involves directly breaking the four regulatory principles, say a campaign for smoking cigarettes among teenagers, then that is anti-devotional and devotees should avoid jobs that involve direct breaking of four regulatory principles.
But apart from that, actually devotees can definitely work in jobs where technology is involved. If that's what they have trained in, that's what their specialization is. And that's where a good career is there.
But then we can bring a service attitude in that also. In fact, whatever situation we have to go in, if that's what is required, we should always go in with a positive attitude. OK, this is how I can improve and this is how I can serve Krishna in it.
And we can be a part of the team that removes the illusion that technology is only going to make people happy. We provide technology and then, in fact, we also try to provide as much as we can spirituality. And while providing technology, there are three things.
While providing technology, we provide spirituality. While providing technology, we set an example of practicing spirituality ourselves. And that attracts people who are using those technology towards spirituality whenever they interact with us at a personal level.
And moreover, we are separately in our separate time also. We are directly presenting the message that spirituality, only pure devotion can make us happy. And when people see that, oh, this person is into such a high-tech firm, and still that person is also directly preaching Krishna Consciousness, then our direct preaching will also have much more effect.
So, our direct preaching will become more effective. Our indirect contact preaching through our contact with those people who are there, that can also become more effective. And we can also see that we are not really always creating wants.
We are also catering to the needs and we are doing it in a cultured and competent way to overall increase the positive perception of devotional service and Krishna among those people with whom we are interacting. So, in this way, we can actually learn that whatever way Krishna puts me for doing service, I am going to do that. And this also can be transformed into a way in which it contributes to preaching success.
Thank you. Hare Krishna.