How can we avoid collateral damage while working in our offices?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
In the corporate world, in offices, when we work, we all do collateral damage because of competition. In the 18th chapter, in the 47th verse, Krishna, 47, 48, 49, he is talking about how to work in this world.
And there Krishna says that sahajam karma kaunteya sadosham apinatya jeet, sarva rambhahu doshena dhume naag nirmavta. So he says that sahajam karma kaunteya, whatever is our work, sadosham apinatya jeet, that just because it is faulty, don’t give it up. Sarva rambhahu doshena.
All endeavour in this world, all work in this world is covered by what? How we use the example, dhume naag nirmavta, just as fire is covered by smoke. This means that fire is considered pure, smoke is considered messy. So, but still, when fire is there, smoke will be there.
Similarly, Krishna says all work in this world will be covered by force. So it’s not just in today’s corporate world. In every situation in life, in every age, there is always contamination.
But that has to be practically done to it. Actually Prabhupada gives the example that a businessman may tell a customer, now for you I am taking no profit. Businessman will not be able to live without profit.
So that businessman, when they say like that, it basically, Prabhupada says, it’s a simple untruth. It is just simple untruth. That’s what they do.
So now, that’s just that. So in certain places, certain things may have to be done. So when we live in a competitive world, then some amount of competition is unavoidable.
So we have to see that we are meant to be devotees of Krishna. As devotees of Krishna, our purpose is not primarily to be champions of morality. That doesn’t mean we have to be immoral.
Definitely not. But that simply means that we don’t necessarily have to be campaigners against certain forms of evil that are prominently present in society and that are integral part of society. For example, if I may be very, if I come to the mode of goodness by the practice of bhakti, I may become more environmental conscious.
Now if I start thinking that every time I drive, I ride in a car, the car is causing so much pollution. This pollution is causing so much problems to the ecology. Then that’s true.
But what can I do in today’s world? So some ultra eco-conscious people may say, no, we will not use automobiles. We will use some other kind of vehicles. We will use different things.
Some people may say, oh, we just go and live in a village. OK, that’s how we live in an eco-friendly community. Of course, we can do it.
But if our service requires us to function in today’s world, we have to, as Prabhupada would say, make the best of our environment. So in the competitive world that we live in today, if competition is largely a part of life, then we have to accept it. But we don’t have to necessarily embrace it in an excessive way.
That means, so if we are part of a company, which by its operation itself has caused some collateral damage, then we can’t go against the company. We can’t just quit our job. But within that, if it is possible, we can see if we can take up a role where we can come up with some more eco-friendly opportunities.
Or we can take up a role where things are not that competitive, where if we work with a team, we work in a cooperative way. So it’s like the social current is moving in a particular way and we can’t resist the social current completely. But that doesn’t mean that we have to fuel the social current.
We can, within that social current, be an example of somebody who is sattvic. The overall life is going to be passionate. The overall world is going to be passionate.
But that doesn’t mean that we have to be super passionate. We can relatively be in goodness. So how to do that, that will vary from situation to situation.
So for example, somebody may just have to, say somebody is a doctor. And if that doctor is a part of a hospital, where there is a whole system of kickbacks or commission. You recommend certain tests.
And because of that, the tests, they give you some percentage for the tests. Now for the doctor, a doctor may decide, doctor may not decide, I’ll become a campaigner and I’ll fight against the whole medical system about this. I may not do this.
Or we all, in our particular situation, can decide what lines to draw. So we don’t want to use our devotion to be immoral. By the same time, we have to recognize that we are finite beings.
So we can’t rebel against the whole system. So we try to be an agent of change or difference within the particular situation we are in. And ultimately, the more lasting change is not social change, but spiritual change.
So if in whatever situation we are in, say, if we are living in a city environment, where we are also contributing to the ecological footprint, where we are also using cars, we are also using many things, that’s going to cause some damage. But if our life is for the service of Krishna, and we are helping people raise themselves to spiritual consciousness, then that is going to make a significant difference. If we are practicing bhakti, and we share about bhakti with others, and then somebody becomes a serious devotee, that person also becomes an environmentalist, and that person brings a bigger change in society.
So we have to see, in my situation, what is the best I can do. And if we have sincere desire to serve Krishna, then Krishna will guide us, how we can best function in our situation. So as I said, dadauni buddhi yogam tam yena mama priyanti te.
If we have an intention to serve Krishna, he will give us the intelligence by which we can serve him effectively. I’ll conclude with one example. There was a devotee who was in the US Army.
And he was in the US Army, and then he became a devotee. When he became initiated, his spiritual master gave him the name Bharata Sarathi. So then he was told, when the conflict was happening in Iraq, he was told to go to Iraq.
He told his spiritual master, I don’t want to go, this whole war is political, why should I go? So spiritual master told him, no, you have been working in the army, they paid you, that is your duty, that is your job, you have to go there. So when he went there, he was a squadron leader. And when he would lead his squadron, because even then he would remember Krishna, chant Krishna’s name in the mind.
So what happened was, he stayed very cool. And he led his squadron out of several guerilla attacks, ambush attacks. He saved them by his presence of mind.
And then, one of his troop members, they asked him, how do you stay so cool? So he was about to answer them, he struck him, he says, now I understood why Krishna sent me to Iraq. He said, I have been trying to speak about the soul and bhakti and Krishna to them in America, but when they were living in comfort, they were not interested. But now when they are on the border of life and death, they are seriously interested.
And then he spoke about how we are the souls and we are eternal, remember God. And then afterwards, he, every time when they would go on expedition, they would have their guns, they would have their green uniforms, their helmets. And before they would go, he would give them an inspirational talk.
And just before they would go, they would all come and he would sprinkle some Gangajal on them. Some sacred Ganjalota, they would go to fight. And then, there he, he was a good singer.
So, once a week, he started doing kirtans over there. And they all started singing. And he wrote about his experiences in a journal, he called it Battlefield Bhajans.
And then, eventually, this singing program became so popular, that actually in the American cantonment in Iraq, he organized a yatra. And that was the first, only the yatra in the Islamic world, especially that part of the Islamic world, public. So, you know, Krishna has plan.
Now, in his situation, he can’t say that I will not fight this war at all. He has to fight. That’s the situation which he is in.
But we can all become agents of change within whatever situation we are working.