Does goodness take away the competitive spirit needed for succeeding in today’s world?
So if you practice bhakti We come to goodness and we tend to be satisfied With what we are doing But when we are out of business We tend to be competitive and seek profit We need passion over there See, it is not that passion is necessarily bad Nor is it that goodness is universally a virtue All these three moments Are part of nature And passion has a function Goodness has a function Ignorance also has a function So it is When we are in the mode of ignorance Basically we become inactive At the same time when the body gets rejuvenated We may take rest So all the modes have their function The point is The intention to serve Krishna Is what is most important So the brahmanas serve primarily through goodness The Kshatriyas, Vaishyas They primarily serve Their functional mode is primarily in passion But everybody can Permeate Whatever is the natural action With the mood of devotion So primarily What we should focus on is Permeating our All our activities with the mood of devotion And for that We do need a certain level of Serious sadhana bhakti practice Because then that connects Our heart with Krishna Whatever else we do That can be connected with Krishna Along with doing that Depending on our individual natures Even a brahmana Can go into passion Because somebody may be doing intellectual work But intellectual work they are thinking I can get this much grant by doing this And this can lead to this much prestige This can lead to this much honour Academics can also become very money minded Or very prestige minded So even intellectual work can be done in passion And even business There is a whole Genre of within business Conscious entrepreneurship Conscious leadership Corporate social responsibility So all this is within business also There can be elements of goodness That people pursue business Not so much Profit is a natural motive for business It's a necessary motive for business But profit does not have to be Only motive for business Business can also be done for the purpose of Value creation I am working in this particular field And I work to create value in this particular field in this way And if I do that While I am creating value through what I do Along with that Profit will naturally come It's not that as devotees We have to give up the mode of passion Arjuna was fighting a war In the middle of the war field It was not that he was worrying about cultivating goodness At that time His focus was on fighting So if certain modes of Functioning are required For certain professions We can have those modes But our focus should be on ensuring that We have an attitude of serving Krishna And for that we need to associate with devotees We need to practice sadhana, bhakti directly And eventually Each of us will find What kind of functioning Is comfortable for us We shouldn't go towards An artificial renunciation Which we can't sustain So it's just like Some people can lift 20 kg weight very easily Others can lift 30 kg weight easily Others can lift 10 kg weight easily Whatever weight you can lift you take forward So some people They They can do one activity in a very focused way Some people they need to do 10 activities Now they are doing this also They feel like getting bored And not doing much So we all have different natures So rather than letting how others are functioning Determine how we should function We should focus on I have this kind of drive, I have this kind of inspiration So if some devotees feel More inspired to do direct devotional activities And Others feel more inspired to focus on their business Grow their business and contribute to that business We should always have The intention to serve Krishna But specifically how we serve Krishna At what level we serve Krishna That can vary based on our nature There should not be any artificial repression Of our essential nature That will not be sustainable And as we keep practicing bhakti We learn over a period of time What is the best way we can function Just like when we eat Sometimes we may over eat And nobody can tell us You should eat only this much Or this much rice We learn by our own experience So like that with respect to our profession How much we can function Of that, what is the balance we are functioning Which does not cause too much Agitation of the mind And which does not cause too much dissatisfaction And down the bow I am not doing much I am not doing enough So that balance we learn by our own intelligence and our experience And whatever more Our business requires we cultivate that more We accept that more But we permeate that more With the intention to serve Krishna.