How can we connect our IT job with Krishna?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, if somebody is in IT field, how can we connect Krishna with our day to day job? Actually, I was in Seattle, I gave a series of talks on what your phone can teach you about your mind. So, the idea is that once we become philosophically informed, we can connect various things to Krishna.
So, one is, I’ll just give some metaphors from IT field, but then later I’ll talk about general principles. So, basically, just like in a computer system, there is a hardware, software in the user. So, like that, there is the body, the mind and the soul.
And just as the software can get corrupted by viruses, they just can’t work. You have a perfectly good looking, attractive new computer, but if it is corrupted with viruses, it becomes dysfunctional. Like that, you know, there are young, good looking, healthy people, but depression, negativity, frustration, addiction, even suicidal urges, it’s all in the mind.
And Manas Trayateti Mantra. So, the chanting of the holy names is like the antivirus program. It protects the mind from infection by negative things.
So, it’s like in a computer, you have a whole set of around 21 comparisons between a computer or a phone and the way our mind functions. Just like our mind, just like a computer can have default settings. So, those default settings means, even if we don’t choose something, it automatically gets chosen.
I use a text-to-speech reader whenever I write articles to proofread it. I have a user text-to-speech reader, so that it reads it out, so that I can proofread it. The and them look similar to the I, but when you read it out, they sound very different.
So, I use it. So, once I wrote an article in which I said, the soul is Sat Chit Anand. And the computer read it as, soul is Saturday Chit Anand.
So, what happened is, the auto-correct made it incorrect. So, sometimes, you know, we start off our day thinking, you know, I’m going to do this. And see, we start off the day thinking, today I’m going to eat healthy.
And then suddenly, suddenly, we find out, what am I eating? So, what happens, we all have some default settings. And sometimes the default settings are there, if they are set wrong, even when we want to do right, the wrong thing happens. So, then I have typed Sat Chit Anand, but it has become Saturday Chit Anand.
So, I have to go back and correct it. So, like that, our default settings are such that, by default, we will do wrong. So, then we have to conscientiously go back and set the things right.
So, basically, technology can offer us many rich metaphors to illustrate the workings of the mind and how spirituality works to purify us. That’s specifically with respect to IT. But more importantly, in any work that we do, the specifics of the work can vary.
But the principles underlying are the same. What is the intention of the work? If I’m intending to do it, if my life is devoted to Krishna and my profession is a part of my life, then that intention will gradually permeate the profession itself. So, this intention is not just a matter of thinking, it’s a matter of our overall life.
If we are devoting adequate time to practicing spirituality, if we are doing devotional activities, then that regular sadhana, if we are doing it daily, that sadhana creates a foundation for our consciousness, by which the spiritual intention will permeate whatever we do. So, even if you are in the IT field, we will say, okay, I may be writing code, I may be debugging code, whatever it is. Ultimately, I’m doing all this for Krishna because my life is meant for Krishna.
And I was in a university and one student asked me, he was a devotee, he said, how can I inspire my friends to become devotees? So, he said, you know, I told him, by studying nicely. If you study nicely, there is no guarantee that your friends will become devotees. If you study poorly, there is guarantee they will never become devotees.
Actually, people want to see. In today’s world, there is so much confusion, so much chaos, that if anything works, people are interested in it. But if they feel that, you know, this person, whatever they are doing, this bhakti business, that is actually making them more negligent, more responsible, I don’t want to do this stuff.
But if they see that, oh, you know, you do your studies well, you are diligent. By doing studies well doesn’t mean that everyone has to be a topper. But if we are just doing our work competently, they are doing it responsibly, diligently, people notice that.
And then they come to know also, you are also doing this bhakti, what is this about? And if you are doing it well, then people become interested. It is my Krishna Consciousness that keeps my mind focused, that enables me to do this. So actually, the IIT field is probably among the most glamorized field in today’s world.
It is very popular, many many people are there in it, but it is also very prized. So if those who are in the IIT field become spiritually minded, many other people are attracted by that. Because people want to become like them.
So the IIT professionals are in the sreshthas of today’s world. Krishna said, yad yad aacharati sreshthas tattva devetarojana. As the great people do, everyone else does.
So if in this field we are doing our work well, so we do that work, not just in the service to Krishna in the sense that, okay, my life is meant to serve Krishna and I have to have a livelihood and this is my livelihood. But along with that, doing that work well, we also create positive impressions about Krishna Bhakti by the way we act, by our actions, by our example. And that also attracts people to Krishna.
And ultimately the fruits that we get, a portion of those fruits we give in charity to Krishna. Charity is not just an activity. Charity is actually a mentality.
So the idea is that whatever Krishna has given me, I want to give my heart to Krishna. But my heart is filled with so many things right now. So I can’t give my heart to Krishna.
So I will give what is in my heart to Krishna. So one thing that is there in my heart is money. So when I give money to Krishna, what happens is Krishna comes in my heart.
So the amount is not as important as the regularity. Because it’s a habit. We want to cultivate a mentality that I want to give a portion of my heart to Krishna.
So if we are giving the fruits of our work to Krishna, if we are doing the work with the intention of serving him, if we are sharing Krishna Bhakti through the position, the respectability that we get through our work, then all these are very valuable ways in which we can spiritualize our work. Does that answer your question?