How can devotees do their material activities in spiritual consciousness?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
devotees also are living in the material world and have to be active in the material world. So, how can we be active in the material world while still maintaining spiritual consciousness and not getting carried away by the materialistic environment of the world? So, actually, there are two important aspects for a devotee’s life.
One is the inner growth and the second is the outer contribution. So, there are, now sometimes some people have an idea of the world which is very negative. The materialistic people romanticize the world.
Romanticize means, they think, oh, this is the world is the place where all our desires for happiness will be fulfilled. We just have to make some adjustments, earn some money and then we will enjoy. So, they romanticize the world.
Then there are the gyanis, the impersonalists, they demonize the world. Demonize means, they think, oh, this world is a place of bondage, it’s a place of maya and we just have to get out of here somehow or the other. And they think of this world as a very dangerous and deadly place.
But the devotees, they neither romanticize nor demonize, they utilize the world. We understand this world is also the energy of Krishna and it is meant for Krishna’s service. So, the resources of this world, if we use them with this vision that actually they belong to Krishna and I can use them in his service.
So, I have some talents and I can use them in his service. Krishna has given me some resources and they are also meant to be used in Krishna’s service. So, if you have this vision, then we can live in this world without getting entangled.
In 5.10 and 11 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna talks about this. In 5.10 he says, He says, if we offer the fruits of our work to Supreme Lord, if we do that, then what happens? Then, a devotee can be like a lotus leaf which is untouched by water. A devotee can stay untouched.
And how do one do that? How can we offer the fruits of our work to Krishna at our level? So, Krishna says, so the next word describes, He says, with all our faculties we act for purification. So, if we keep this in mind, that this world is not our destination, it is a station. It is one station in our journey ultimately towards Krishna.
So, we live in this world, we act in this world, but our goal is Krishna. So, now for that to happen, now if we want to offer the things of this world to Krishna, we want to use our talents and resources in Krishna’s service, to offer those things to Krishna, our heart has to be offered to Krishna. And for that, we need some time of exclusive devotion.
So, the sadhana that we do, that is meant to offer our heart to Krishna. The chanting, the studying of scriptures, the centrally devotional activities that we do, they help us to offer our heart to Krishna. They give us the intellectual and devotional substance by which we remember the purpose of life and remember the way we are meant to live.
And once our heart is offered to Krishna, then we can offer the things of this world to Krishna, because where our heart is, that’s where whatever we do will be directed towards. So, if our heart is not offered to Krishna, then we take the things of this world, but then instead of offering the things of this world to Krishna, we will offer them to our own ego, and that will cause bondage. So, as devotees, if we give adequate time for sadhana, and sadhana is not just a ritual, or that I have to utter some mantra, or I have to just go to a temple.
No, actually, sadhana means doing those activities which direct and attract us towards our sadhya. Sadhya is the goal, that is Krishna. So, each of us has to take a spiritual inventory and find out what are the things that attract us most to Krishna, and we do those activities specially.
Of course, we have certain standard activities in devotional service, which we do, but along with that, we can all find out what is it that especially attracts me to Krishna. Maybe it is reading some book, maybe it is singing kirtans, maybe it is doing some particular seva. So, whatever it is that attracts us to Krishna, that can become our central, our primary motive force, our prime mover in our spiritual life.
It can take us towards Krishna. So, we do those activities by which our heart gets connected with Krishna, and then we can also offer the things of this world to Krishna. So, while engaging in the material world, as devotees if we can keep this in mind, that I am acting so that I can utilize these resources and our goals in acting in the material world is to glorify Krishna.
The goal is that at one level we can say, I don’t want to get entangled in this world. So, that is fine, but that is just survival mode. We don’t want to survive in the world.
Actually, if you want to bring glory to Krishna, Maharaj Yudhishthir, we see that he was not just surviving. You know, he himself became the emperor of the world and then he did the Rajasuya yajna. Rajasuya yajna means in which it is a sacrifice where all the kings of the world came and there he enthroned Krishna.
He had Krishna declared and anointed as the greatest person in the whole world. So, for him, conquest of the world was not for his own ego. Conquest of the world was for the glorification of the Lord.
Similarly, as devotees, we live in a competitive world and we have to perform if we want to be in that competitive environment. But the intention, the motivation for the performance of a devotee is different. It is not just gratification of one’s ego, but it is glorification of Krishna.
So, whatever devotees do, we understand that we are doing it so that Krishna will be glorified. How will Krishna be glorified if I am working in a software company? You know, how is that going to glorify Krishna? But if we ourselves are competent at what we are doing, we are good human beings, people are always looking around and observing others and if people say that this is a nice person, so competent and so good, so friendly and then they want to know, okay, what makes you tick? And then we tell them it’s Krishna that makes me tick and then they become attracted to Krishna by that. So, that means this is how we will be able to utilize our talents and our resources in Krishna’s service.
So, some talents and resources we can directly use. If we have money, we can do charity. If we have singing ability, we can sing Krishna’s kirtans.
If we have some other direct ability that we can use in Krishna’s service, we can do that definitely. But if there are certain activities which we can’t directly glorify Krishna or they cannot be directly used in Krishna’s service, then whatever occupation we are doing, whatever we are doing, even if it’s a housewife, mother raising the children, then actually by raising the children, Prabhupada said the children are gifts who are given by Krishna to us and by raising those children to become wonderful human beings, all that we can, that is also glorification of Krishna. So, we can either directly engage the talents that we have in Krishna’s service or indirectly we use those talents to perform well and set a good example in society.
The good example we want to set is not just of material competence, yes, material competence is one part of it, but also of being good human beings and then that will also attract people to Krishna. So, this we can do only when we ourselves are attracted to Krishna and our attraction to Krishna is not something which we can assume will be there. Today we will be attracted to Krishna, but if we don’t continue doing the activities which are going to connect us with Krishna, then we will not stay attracted to him and that’s why we need to do both sadhana and our worldly activities in the mood of seva.