How do we know if we are doing a service for our ego or for Krishna?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
When we are doing some service how do we know whether we are doing it for our ego or for Krishna Usually we do it for both It’s very difficult at our age to do something only for Krishna So generally the way we become pure is not by stopping the service till we get purity but by continuing the service with whatever purity we have right now If I think that oh if I do service I am doing this for my ego, so I will not do this service Then what happens? If I can sing nicely for Krishna and No, no, if I sing I will become proud I don’t sing and somebody else sings and then they sing very nicely and others praise them You know, he sings so nicely Do you know how much he eats? What happens? We start subtly minimizing them So that pride comes off as envy Actually it is good to be afraid of our ego but to think that if I do this service then I will become proud That is already being proud How? Because I am thinking I am not yet proud When I think I will become proud that means I am assuming I am not yet proud But we are already having pride within us It is just that right now we don’t have any reason to express that pride We have pride but we have not done anything by which I can show that pride to others So the cure for pride is not suppression of talent The cure for pride is purification of intent It is not suppression of talent but purification of intent That means we just continue doing the service and slowly shift the focus from the ego to Krishna and it happens over a period of time Now if you speak for Krishna We may say I want to prove to the world how clever I am But after sometime while speaking for Krishna One time I prepared very well for a class I was completely absorbed for hours in preparing for a class And I delivered the class also flawless delivery Almost all the points that I remember I wanted to speak, I spoke them as articulately, as effectively as I would have loved to At the end of the class not one person appreciated the class So initially I was a little frustrated But then it struck me that actually while preparing and while delivering, I was absorbed So yes, if somebody appreciates that good But actually, even if somebody appreciates that gives a few moments of pleasure But the absorption is something which can stay with me forever And that way that was a powerful experience for me It reminded me, when I am speaking let me speak for the absorption not for the appreciation If appreciation comes, that helps me also to understand, okay, which points do I want to connect with, which points I can emphasize more which points I need to clarify more So that kind of feedback, positive and negative helps But if I had not spoken about Krishna till I am purely motivated Then I would not have got that realization So basically just do the service And while doing the service, gradually try to increase the Krishna connection Shift the focus from appreciation to absorption