Should we choose a career based on our nature or on our parents’ expectation?

Anwser Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
chanting into the process of absorbing ourselves in chanting. Do we have a duty to ourselves as compared to the expectations of others? If we want to be artists but others parents want us to be something else.
Certainly we all have our nature. And Krishna says, It is better to do your own duty than to try to do somebody else’s duty. So now the nature is not simply a division of Varanashram.
The nature is actually today there is no Varanashram practically speaking. Nature simply refers to what we feel naturally inspired to do. So what we, so now with respect to a career choice whether we should do something according to what our parents say or what we feel inspired I think that is a major decision and should not be taken just based on feelings.
Either our feelings or other feelings. So as far as Krishna says you just cannot give up your nature. You cannot work on it.
But it is difficult to discern our nature. So what would be the best thing to do in such a situation is that write down write down your thoughts. So write down the pros and cons of each decision.
And then when the thoughts are inside the head, when emotions are inside the head just keep doing round and round. They congest us. They choke us.
They don’t allow us to think clearly. Just getting your thoughts out that creates a certain amount of objectivity. You can look at it more carefully.
You should do this. You should do this. You should do this.
You can evaluate it more objectively. And then after that you can further also process. Say don’t take a major decision immediately and don’t keep thinking about it constantly.
If some thought comes, just note it down and keep it there. Maybe you answer weak because what happens when major decisions are there, the mental energy gets sapped by it. Should I do it? Should I not do it? Should I do it? Should I not do it? So allocate some time say every week.
Maybe half an hour or whatever time you require to reflect on the situation. So at that time just put everything else aside and look at it once again. What you had written.
Maybe you will get some more ideas. This is also a point I didn’t consider. This is a point I didn’t consider.
And then if so basically when we write our thoughts and emotions down, that is like we are getting a snapshot of our mind. And then if you look after 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 1 month, if overall the feelings stay the same, then we understand that this is not just some impulsive feeling that I have. This is like an enduring inspiration that I have.
Sometimes we find after 1 month, I don’t feel like that. So the mind keeps changing. But sometimes it’s not that the mind keeps changing in everything.
Like if somebody has an inspiration for art, they always have it. Sometimes we feel up and down but overall that attraction is there. So I would say that if a major decision like that is there, then we hear our parents’ points, note them down also, incorporate that in our contemplation but after that reflect on it for an adequate amount of time.
Say maybe 3 months, 6 months depending on what has to be decided. And then evaluate our points and then come to a decision. Afterwards what will happen is if you have thought through it, when we are going to communicate to others, then also our communication will be more objective.
They will also see how much you have thought through the subject. Otherwise they just feel you are just being sentimental. So the best thing would be to not make the decision hastily.
So it’s not that certainly in today’s world certain professions are glamorized and many people go in that direction. And parents also have a concern that we be financially well off. So that is their natural concern which is good.
But also we have to live with that career choice throughout. So if we can realistically address their concerns, sometimes it might be best to start off in a small way and then make it full time. That is the practicalities which will evolve.
But I think this whole process of getting your thoughts out and analyzing them objectively for a prescribed period of time. You can decide how much you need to do it. That will bring much more objectivity and maturity to the discipline.
And then what may happen is even afterwards if you choose a particular course of action, then if the mind says, no you should have done that, why did you do this? Then you will have something written down. These are the reasons why I did this. Then that will so we may go along our parents way, we may choose our own way, whatever it is.
We will have some intellectual fuel to keep pushing us when the emotions don’t support us. So that will help not only in making the decision, but also in implementing the decision. They say either we have to do as we desire or we should desire as we do.
So if there is action and desire that will conflict, even if we will do half-heartedly. And what happens even if we like something, we will not do it wholeheartedly, maybe I should have pleased my parents. And then we will not succeed in that.
You should not have done this only, I told you. Otherwise, if our parents want something, that is also good for us. We will do it, but we will do it reluctantly.
And then we will blame them. We will not be able to do it well, because of you I could not succeed. So I would say that by thinking deeply, getting your thoughts out, you can get your emotions and your intelligence in harmony.
And after that when you take a decision, you follow it up with conviction.