Do engineers have secure future in devotional life?
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Question from Keshav Prabhu Do engineers have a secure future for devotional life? I took electronics and telecommunications engineering due to my keen interest in science and passion to know the mysteries of the universe. But after I came in touch with Prabhupada's books, the aim of life completely changed. Now when I am in my last semester, I think the ultimate reason to study any material book is to earn livelihood.
As you know that engineers mostly devote their life in research and that too for material organizations. It keeps them away from the actual goal of life i.e. Krishna Consciousness. There are many exams like GATE, IES, IS, all require extensive material brainstorming sessions to reach the goal.
Now each of us have in front of us spiritual and material choice. But the material compulsions are so much that they are making us forget our spiritual identity. To make us more inclined towards research and development, we are given allurements like incentives, gadget, name, fame etc.
How can engineers overcome such things? There is so much competition that unless you focus on your goal completely, submerged in it, you can never reach it. To study hard, very hard for long hours. Answer Everyone, whatever be their profession in this world, has the same level of security or insecurity depending on our perspective.
The material world is always a place of danger and everyone throughout history has to struggle for survival. That is the rule. Bhavesmin klishyamananam avidyakamakarmabhi Kunti Maharani in her prayers to Lord Krishna says that bhava asmin, in this material existence, klishyamananam, we are struggling.
Why? avidyakamakarmabhi That because of ignorance there is material desire and then because of that there is fruitive activity, karma. So if one has a pessimistic attitude towards one's material career, that will rub off in one's way of approaching and acting it. So as devotees our attitude is not to romanticize or demonize, it is to utilize.
That means we don't think that our profession is going to, even if we go into something like research and development, is going to give us ecstasies of Eurekas where we will make breakthrough discoveries. We may, but there will be very few ecstasies because the pleasure is fleeting. Nobody will demonize it, thinking that it is all misery.
We utilize it. So yes, at one level, definitely there is struggle and we do our profession for earning a livelihood. But along with earning a livelihood, we can also, especially through professions that are respectable in society, attain a position that can also help us exemplify and share Krishna consciousness with others.
Engineers are in many ways the models for many young people in society because many young people want to become engineers. So if they become devotees and they exemplify devotional life while practicing their engineering profession, then that is a very good model for others. So as far as research is concerned, it is not necessary that one has to reject the propensity for research.
If one is strong enough spiritually to face the contradictions that come up between current scientific findings and scriptural truths, and one can work towards finding a reconciliation for them, then one can go into scientific research in fields that are at the interface of science and spirituality. It can be consciousness studies, even computer studies can be connected with science of consciousness. And then there are various other fields also.
There are many devotee scientists who are working in the field of science and spirituality, and one can take their guidance for choosing a profession. If one doesn't want to go in that kind of profession, then one can use one's studies, one's education and one's professional profession for livelihood and for a position in society for sharing Krishna consciousness. Now as far as working hard and struggle is concerned, that is there in all professions, that is there for everyone.
Certainly one has to work hard and Krishna consciousness is not against working hard, but it is against over-endeavor. So what will be over-endeavor for whom will depend on one's intellectual capacity. So one has to find out what is the best way I can serve Krishna and engage in the service accordingly.
And as one does things, one will find that over a period of time, one will learn what one's strengths are, what one's weaknesses are, and then one can move forward. So overall, the whole principle of spiritual life is not just to withdraw from society for the sake of our spirituality. That is one phase where we withdraw for our own safety, but there is also an important side that we engage with society so that we can elevate society through our engagement and our example.
We don't need to withdraw to some extent so that we protect our principles and our values by our inner connection with Krishna and our outer connection with those who are having that inner connection with Krishna. For that we have meditation, we have scriptural study, we have association with devotees. But the whole principle of Arunashram is that devotees engage according to their worldly talents in various professions.
So we don't have to deny the principle of Arunashram. Arjuna was in the battlefield, he was working hard. It was a matter of life or death.
The tension in that is far greater than whatever tension we might have in any challenging job. Arjuna did not flinch from that work. So we might say that Arjuna's fighting war was directly devotional service, mine is not.
That may be so, but still it's a part of our devotional service. I have talked about how in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna talks about a descending ladder of love from 12.8 to 12. So if we can't work for Krishna then we do whatever work we can and offer the fruits of our work to Krishna.
So that is what we are doing over here. There is no need to be pessimistic about our profession. We can utilize it according to our talents and according to our inclinations.
So talents are what we are good at, inclinations are what we like to do. If the talents and inclinations coincide then that is excellent. Generally there is at least a significant intersection between the two.
When we work in that area where our talents and inclinations coincide or intersect, then that helps us to work productively and happily. Because we have talents we are productive and because we have inclination, so at a material level we are working according to our inclinations, so we get some happiness also materially. And if devotees want to be more brahmanical, then teaching is a very good profession.
If one becomes a professor in an engineering college eventually, then that also is brahmanical in the karma. It may not be brahmanical in the guna. The engineering professors may not have sense control, mind control, but the idea of studying and teaching is brahmanical.
So relatively speaking one can have less passion. Even research jobs also generally have less passion than direct industry jobs. So of course depending on one's needs, one's level of passion, one can decide these things.
But everybody has a bright future once one takes to Krishna. How that future will manifest, that is the discovery of the journey of our life and that is what makes life an adventure. So even the challenges of material life, if they are integrated into the practice of spiritual life, then they can also help us grow spiritually.
If we have a strong spiritual foundation and if we keep our spiritual purpose clear, then even the struggle that we go through in material life, that brings realisation, that brings detachment, that brings conviction. Also realisation says that we understand the truths of scripture, that this world is indeed a place of misery. We see how people who are affected by their lower nature act without salvation as ego and create troubles for ourselves and others.
And we see how the principles of Krishna Consciousness offer us relief. And this all deepens our conviction. So we should see Krishna Consciousness not as divorced from our worldly life, but as permeating into our worldly life if we keep our Krishna connection strong.
Thank you.