How can we be materially successful while practicing bhakti?

Transcript

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So How to be How to be materially successful While following Krishna Consciousness By following Krishna Consciousness As it is And not by following Krishna Consciousness As our mind says it is What that means Many times In India I used to go to colleges And do programs and Give some mentoring to students Many students Just before The exams They fall in love with Ramayana and Mahabharata Throughout the semester Sometimes they will come for programs Sometimes they will not come for programs But when the preparatory leave is going on They tell you know Studies They are all mundane They are all temporary I am a soul I just want to love Krishna So why should I study these books I will just study Ramayana and Mahabharata So What has happened here is The mind is looking for The path of least resistance And then Our Krishna Bhakti Seems to be the path of Lesser resistance than our Academic studies So the mind chooses that But then the same students will tell Read some philosophical books Afterwards So Krishna Consciousness Is a path where We want to offer our entire Being to Krishna And that means even our Material talents, even our material abilities It is said that What we have Is Krishna’s gift to us What we become Is our gift to Krishna So the talents that we have The abilities that we have The interests that we have They are given to us by Krishna We are meant to use them in ourselves So if we Think of Krishna Consciousness Only in terms that Oh I have to do my I come to the temple, I associate with devotees I chant, I dance All that is good But Krishna Consciousness is not only that Krishna Consciousness These activities are meant to infuse Krishna Consciousness Within us And that Consciousness Is meant to be carried To all the aspects Of our life So when a devotee Does studies, when a devotee does one’s job A devotee wants to do it In the best possible way But not for one’s own ego I want to be the number one No, a devotee wants to do it for the service of Krishna I was in a university in India So one student asked me How can I help my How can I make my friends into devotees I told him By studying nicely If you study well, there is no guarantee That your friends will become devotees But if you study poorly There is guarantee your friends will never become devotees Why? Because We have to understand That our spiritual life and our material life are not separated Entirely Both are meant for the service of Krishna So first is In terms of attitude That even in the material world I want to do my best And I do the best for the sake of Krishna For pleasing Krishna, for serving Krishna For attracting others to Krishna For creating Sustainable material future for myself Where I can serve Krishna more By having financial security By having social security, whatever it is So we re-envision our whole life As a service to Krishna Now as I said earlier Sometimes it may appear that Krishna Consciousness Takes so much time That I don’t have time to pursue my material life And material career That is not exactly true Because as I said Krishna Consciousness Saves the time which is otherwise Taken away by our mind That’s one point. Second point is That with respect to The practice of Krishna Consciousness We need to learn the art of Dynamic balance Dynamic balance means That there are times in our life When we will need to focus More attention on our On our material life When we have project deadline, we have an exam We have a Urgent family meeting, we should focus that time Wholeheartedly And when we know, when there is some Opportunity for more spiritual association There is some festival, at that time we spend More time on Krishna So we If we use our Intelligence properly, we will be Able to know where to Focus when. Shri Prabhupada writes In the 10th chapter Bhagavad Gita Parpod That intelligence means To see things In their proper perspective So Our nature, the mind is That it sees things Out of perspective The mind says this is important means this only is Important and everything else Send it into the trash bin And after sometime Why did I send it into the trash bin, it is very important Then what I consider very important Send that into the trash bin And take this up So we, if we have Overall perspective of things Then we will be able to adjust When I should Focus more on my material life, when I should Focus more on my spiritual life That intelligence balance we can get And we adjust, if I am travelling somewhere Then If there is traffic I will go slowly, if traffic clears I will go fast.
Sometimes When we want to do something Traffic may become more, so we go slowly at that time In our life I am talking about traffic In terms of activities, later on we go faster So that balance It is very important To get that and often As I said, started by saying this answer That if you understand and practice Krishna Consciousness as it is Not as our mind imagines it to be Then we can actually Be focused and Successful both material and Spiritually, so for that we Need some guidance often from Some seniors, if we get that then that Balance will come