Can superstitions be used in bhakti?
So what exactly is superstition and can something that is like superstition be used in devotional service that means you feel that if I stand here I will be able to distribute more books, if I stand here I won't be able to distribute so many books so can such should such feelings be entertained in bhakti and if not then how can they be avoided? Answer, firstly what we may consider superstition may not necessarily always be superstition so for example shakun or omens are very much a part of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and even the Bhagavatam so one of the understandings of the bhakti worldview is that we live in an interconnected cosmos and because we live in an interconnected cosmos when something inauspicious or something auspicious is going to happen at that time within the there are predictors of that just like when there is going to be hot weather or there is going to be cold weather we may say now it has become hot, now it has become cold but people who live more attuned to nature they can just by sensing oh the wind direction is changing, wind temperature is changing, even before the temperature changes they can predict oh this indicates that now it is going to rain so like that there are omens which are a valid predictors of certain things but what are actual omens and what are just superstitions discerning that is often not so easy and that is why we need to be careful about not giving too much credence to omens so actually Prabhupada according to astrology the way Prabhupada presented it or Prabhupada talked about it, he says say travelling on Thursday is not good one should not travel on Thursday, so Prabhupada would usually avoid travelling on Thursday but if it is necessary for some program and it is unavoidable, Prabhupada would still travel, so in general our principle is more or less Yukta Vairagya, if it can be used in Krishna's service, use it if it comes in the way of Krishna's service avoid it, so we don't want to deliberately go against the principles of astrology at the same time we don't have to curtail our bhakti entirely just because of astrology so now with respect to us suppose say we are going for book distribution and that time a black cat goes in front of us should we decide I'll not go for book distribution today, not necessary we can still go for book distribution maybe we can just be a little more on the watch out not be careless, not be absent minded so it's not that when an omen happens at that time something necessarily bad has to happen also it is something wrong may happen it's more like say some astrologer says that this is a bad period for you, this time Mangal is bad for you so what does it mean it means that say this time you might meet with an accident but if you are driving recklessly at that time the accident will be much worse, if you are driving carefully the accident may still occur but the impact may be much lesser so like that there are omens which may be bona fide and even when the omens are bona fide that doesn't mean that we have to give up bhakti we have given up the practice of bhakti but we may have to do it with more caution more alertness whatever with respect to certain feelings which you may get as gut feelings you may say, maybe I should do like this maybe I should not do like this rather than calling it as superstitions if that does not require much adjustment of things that is perfectly fine so for example even some preachers they may feel that when I want to keep track of my time, I want a clock and the clock should be kept here and if the clock is somewhere else that might distract their focus, I want the clock here itself or somebody may say, you want to record the class I don't want a mike on Mathews, keep it away I don't want it to touch me now is that an omen? I won't call it an omen or a superstition or anything like that it is just a personal inclination and if we get an intuition like that it's fine, we don't have to make a big issue out of it so some things say for example some devotees when they drink water, they drink without touching them out of it, some others touch them out of it, it's different both are ways of drinking water there is no need to make a big deal out of it so like that if we are distributing books and we feel maybe if I am standing here I can distribute better books just try it out, you don't have to think that we are giving into superstition nor should we think that if it is not working out, still I have to stick to this this is just in general Prabhupada's approach with respect to these things is practical, whatever works, do it so practical in the real world when we are acting often strategizing has to be dynamic and sometimes even small changes can bring about a big difference so if you are conducting a program in a college and somehow you find that the boy who is hosting the program in a college hostel, he is an unpopular boy we may have to shift from that boy's hostel to some other room, we may get more people that is a practical thing we don't have to get into a whole complex that because not many people are coming for this program that means it is inauspicious, I should give up the program or whatever rather than going into the zone of what is a superstition what is bona fide just focus on practicality and as much as possible say for example, you have to sleep in a particular direction if it is possible to do that within one's own house or wherever one is sleeping, that is good but if it is not possible, that is also okay it is not a catastrophe if one is not able to sleep like that and in this case there will be different devotees who may have different who may give different degrees of emphasis to this it may also depend on how much one is connected with these other fields so if somebody has got into these fields somebody who is in astrology that person may give much more importance to astrological things that person may not give so much importance so if we find some other devotees giving a lot of importance to this, we don't have to think that I have to do it they are doing wrong just focus on doing whatever works for us there is our essential practices of paravidya paravidya is we want to practice bhakti but while practicing bhakti what should we do at a material level for acting in bhakti that is a matter of strategy and that strategy may vary in different situations, by different people so Arjuna got the principle of that he should serve and fight in devotion but it was not that on all the 18 days Krishna was dictating the strategy all the time to Arjuna go here and fight here at certain times Krishna used some counsel but Arjuna was using his intelligence so in the practical execution in this world, the spiritual and the material joined together and Arjuna did not win the war just because of Krishna's instructions Krishna's instructions gave him the inspiration to fight but Arjuna also had his own archery expertise which enabled him to win so the material situations can vary according to the circumstances and what we in bhakti focus on is the spiritual motivation, the spiritual inspiration the pure intention but the practical implementation that can vary according to the circumstances we don't have to go too much into or against any particular material system, whatever works for us, we can use that and move on how to overcome their minds focus on or obsession with some kind of omens it may just be that we have a particular kind of upbringing, particular kind of mindset because of which we are more prone to think about these things then it may be if it is coming a lot then maybe once in a while consulting with a devotee astrologer, especially for major decisions that is fine and learning our principles, where some devotees also have written some books on astrology now astrology is not just this is a whole big, within astrology there is numerology, there is palmistry there is a whole different field, studying omens also is a field so we can get sucked in it all completely but we can get awareness of some introductory principles if we feel too caught in that then usually as devotees Jiyogoswami explains that above every devata is a particular form of Vishnu who is overseeing that devata for example, instead of worshipping Ganesh devotees may worship Narasimhadev because it is said, Brahma Samhita says that Ganesh trunks his tusks so he has offered his tusks to Lord Narasimhadev Lord Vishnu, Lord Krishna in the form of Narasimhadev so instead of chanting the prayers to Ganesh, devotees when a normal astrology asks us to worship Ganesh, devotees worship the predominating deity of Ganesh, that is Vishnu that is Vishnu in the form of Narasimhadev so like that if one's mind is conditioned towards these things and one feels that maybe I can get things better by doing this, consult a devotee astrologer and do things in a devotional way in that particular situation.