​Are people around us benefited by our being Krishna conscious even when we can’t share our devotion with them?

Answer Podcast

So if we are doing music professionally and doing some classical performance and we have a small part in it which may not be noticed prominently by the audience then is there any spiritual benefit to the audience because we are in spiritual consciousness, even if they are not conscious of us or our contribution in that level see we sometimes have a very gross conception of of sharing spirituality, we think that you know that okay if a person is doing this then they have become spiritual if they are not doing this, they are not spiritual but actually spirituality is a process of gradual growth and often spirituality is more caught than taught taught means do like this do like this, do like this but caught means we see somebody acting spiritually, we see someone devoted even without speaking, without telling us to do anything, just by observing them the spiritual impressions go inside us the inspiration comes to us so if we have a very gross conception of spirituality then we will feel oh that if I am doing a performance and the performance is also not directly spiritual and I am also not very visible then what is going to be the impact, but that is only from a very gross perspective, but from a subtler perspective, our consciousness affects others around us and just if we are a part of a team where we are professional as well as spiritual, we are trying to do our part well and also we are having spiritual consciousness, then we are going to interact with certain people they may ask what do you do, we can share our practices our principles with them and it is more it is a more subtle way of doing outreach and if Krishna has a plan for us then over a period of time Krishna may also reveal to us how through that particular area we can serve him also, it is not that when say Arjuna started practicing archery we know that he was champion archer but he did not become that overnight he practiced for years and years now he did not even know at that time when he was practicing for years that eventually there is going to be dharma yudha where on behalf of Krishna I am going to fight but he was practicing because that was his duty as a Kshatriya so once he chose that as a vocation he did not keep bothering every arrow am I shooting is it going to make me spiritual, is it going to make others spiritual no, spirituality is gradual and he just kept practicing, he excelled and eventually that excellence helped him to serve Krishna so now we have to see that whatever we do if we do it in a mood of service to Krishna, then Krishna will eventually guide us for that service to manifest in a more tangible way towards the end of my class I spoke about how what we have is God’s gift to us what we become is our gift to God so if we have some musical talent, musical interest we see that as Krishna’s gift to us and then we use, develop that skill in Krishna’s service so say, it’s not that anybody who is going to be learning music it’s not that they are going to overnight become the lead performer, they will be a part of a team initially they might be minor performers and they will get a slightly more important performance then they may get a lead performance so this is a gradual gradual rise up and through it all if you are doing it with a mood of service then we are growing spiritually and whoever are coming in contact with us, they are also benefiting, now as far as the audience is concerned they will be benefiting at a subtle level but even if they are not benefited, we shouldn’t always try to quantify the effects of spirituality in very gross terms there are subtle effects also and so right now when we start a particular vocation we can try to focus on the one main point is can I absorb myself and Krishna through this say if I am going to practice a particular instrument then if we just focus on this point that I like this, I like playing this that’s good and I can absorb myself in this can lose myself in this and then I also need to have some level of direct connection with Krishna some sadhana, some associative ability, some studying the scripture by which we will be reminded I am doing this for Krishna otherwise we just keep doing that, doing that and will not remember that I am doing this for Krishna so once we have made we have invested enough time to connect our heart with Krishna then whatever we do that will also become connected with Krishna and how that connection, connectedness will manifest in our service, that is up to Krishna it’s not that every single one or every everything that we do has to have a materially tangible effect for it to be spiritually valuable in Akshita Prabhupada he had not come to America, assume for whatever reason, in 30-35 years almost 40 years he was preaching in India and that did not have much result so was all that preaching a waste? No even if Prabhupada had not come to America even if Prabhupada had not been successful see it was not a waste because he had served Krishna he had pleased Krishna he had carried out instruction of his spiritual master so since you have got guidance, inspiration, encouragement from a spiritually venerable guide to do this for your service to Krishna just go ahead wholeheartedly and how the results will manifest that’s up to Krishna Thank you Hare Krishna.