How can we integrate in bhakti a profession that is not directly usable in bhakti?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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Thank you very much. If somebody were in a profession that is not easily relatable with bhakti, with spirituality, how can they do that profession and still maintain their bhakti? The relationship is primarily in our intent.
Either from the spiritual perspective, Arjuna was a warrior, he was fighting. Fighting, how many people think of it as spirituality? Arjuna, when he was fighting, he was seriously fighting. It was not that when he was shooting arrows, he was saying Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna.
He was not doing that. He was wholeheartedly fighting the war. So, the connection between our vocation and our spirituality is first and foremost in intention.
If our intention is to serve Krishna, this is where I am gifted or this is where I am situated right now and this is the way I can serve, then that intention itself spiritualizes. Secondly, even in whatever profession we are in, the activity itself may not seem spiritual in the sense that some talents like speaking or singing or decorating, they can be used for direct devotional activities. But there are many other talents which are not necessarily directly devotionally usable.
But still, they also contribute to the upkeep of society. And to the extent society is functional properly materially, spiritual life practice becomes easier. It is not necessary that people will practice spiritual life.
People may become complacent in material life also. But maintaining the order of material life is also important for making it easier for people to practice spirituality. So for example, in India, many times the material needs of people are not so easily available.
And the anxiety for that consumes so much of their mind that they are not able to invest time in practicing bhakti. So in America, the material needs are much more easily available. Then if somebody wants to practice bhakti, they can practice bhakti more easily.
Of course, the problem is that much more than the material needs are available, lot of material fantasies allure and that also distracts. So there is always a balance to be done. But the point is, we as devotees, Krishna tells Arjuna that you are an important member of the social fabric.
And you have to do your role in maintaining the society. So, लोक संग्रहम एवापी संपश्यन करतु मरसी Lok Sangraham means maintenance of the social order. So, that is also a role of the spiritual.
So whatever profession we are in, we can see that it may not be externally spiritual, but we can see that it can contribute to spiritual growth. Thirdly, that ultimately whatever profession we are in, we are associating with people. And if we ourselves are spiritual, in the sense that we are spiritually conscious and that spiritual consciousness helps us to helps us to be more courteous, more sensitive, more gentle, then people see that and people say, oh, such a nice person.
I want to be like this person. When Srila Prabhupada was asked, how do we know how do we know a devotee of Krishna? So Prabhupada could have said, the devotee always chants Hare Krishna. And that is true.
But Prabhupada said, the devotees are perfect gentlemen. Perfect ladies, perfect gentlemen. It means cultural behavior.
People see that, they are attracted by that. So whatever profession we are in, we can see that also as an arena where by our conduct we can connect people with Krishna. And further, if we have the desire to serve, Krishna will create arrangements.
Now how Krishna will create arrangements, we may not know. I met one devotee recently. He was in the US Army before he became a devotee.
And then after he became a devotee, he thought, why should I fight and kill? But his spiritual guides told him, no, this is your job, you continue the job. And he started trying to talk about bhakti with his with his colleagues. None of them were interested.
But then they went on the war fields. They went to first to Iraq, then to Afghanistan. And there, quite often they were subjected to ambush attacks.
And because of that, all the soldiers were very jittery, skittish almost, fearful. And throughout all, by his spiritual practices, he would just chant Krishna, Krishna in his mind and pray to Krishna. And he was quite calm.
And he helped his soldiers, he was like a squadron leader, he helped his soldiers navigate several close encounters very skillfully. After one of them, his soldier, one of his assistants, one of the soldiers asked him, Sir, how do you stay so cool? As he was about to answer, all his assistants were eager to hear. He said, at that time, I understood why Krishna sent me to Iraq.
Because in America, when life was comfortable, these people were not interested in spirituality. But now, when they were on the verge of life and death, now when he told them, actually, I understand that I am a soul, the soul is eternal. And the eternality of the soul, the awareness of the eternality of the soul is the basis of my fearlessness.
They are ready to hear. They are ready to hear and they are ready to learn. So then he started, it’s not that soldiers are fighting all the time.
They also have their time of recreation. So he started doing kirtans in the army barracks. And then he wrote a and he wrote a series of articles, small reflections about his experiences.
He called them as battlefield bhajans. So, you know, we don’t know what Krishna has in store for us. So rather than rejecting something as non-spiritualizable, we can say, let me try to have an attitude of service and Krishna may reveal something wonderful.
Thank you. Any other questions?