​How can we avoid doing bhakti for external gains like prestige?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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Great. Sometimes we use the rhetorics of material world to practice bhakti.
But within bhakti, sometimes we start getting attached to the externals, the name, fame, adoration. And thinking that we are getting attached like this, that can discourage our practice of bhakti also. So how do we move on in such a situation? The first thing in bhakti is that we have to know that we cannot become pure devotees without becoming devotees.
That means, if we aspire for too high an ideal, and we keep the ideal so high that we lose the whole itself. So at our level, the important thing is, ye na khe na prakaare na mana krishna divesh. Somehow or the other, fix the mind with Krishna.
It’s a very nice pastime. There’s one devotee who is a very good kirtan singer. And he was doing kirtan in the temple and Prabhupada came to his darshan.
And as Prabhupada was going by, Prabhupada told him, your kirtan is very nice. I thought this was probably the only opportunity for me in my spiritual life to talk to a spiritual master. I said, but Prabhupada, sometimes I become proud.
Sometimes I feel very proud. And Prabhupada looked at him, stabbed him on the shoulder. What’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with that? He said, hey, pride is demoniac.
Pride, you have to give up. What’s wrong? But the point is that sometimes we think, if I do some very good thing, if I give a nice class, if I sing very nicely, if I do some impressive service, I will become proud. But to think that I will become proud, assumes that I am not proud right now.
So it is not that we as souls are free from pride even now. It is just that when we do something extraordinary, that time we get the reason to express our pride. We have pride or anartha right now also within us.
And if we don’t do something constructive in Krishna’s service, we may think that I will not become proud. But what is going to happen is the pride is going to be still there. And later on, if somebody else does something wonderful, we’ll say he’s after name fame glory.
So that same pride which we have, that will come out as envy of that person. So we can’t just wish away the pride that is there. So if anyway we have pride and we can’t wish it away, then better to seek to do something wonderful within devotee circle.
If we don’t get a sense of accomplishment within devotee circle, we will seek that in some non-devotee circle. And then for doing something in a non-devotee circle, we will have to give up our devotional values. So in that sense, in the association of devotees, bhakti is so inclusive that bhakti can also use our false ego in Krishna’s service.
Now I want to be famous. So at least for that, I’ll practice bhakti nicely. So in principle, any way we connect with Krishna, that is good.
At the same time, there is a big danger. The danger is that the performance of devotional service may just only be external. So the ideal situation is that Bhakti Nathapur also said that a devotee is known by how many other people they make into devotees.
That means if a person is a very great Vaishnava, you can see how many other people are attracted towards Krishna. So here, what does it mean? That external success is a result of internal success. The devotee is so happy in Krishna’s service that their happiness, their devotion radiates out from them.
And that’s how they attract others towards Krishna. So there the internal and external go together. But in some cases, the external may become the substitute for the internal.
Instead of the external being the result of the internal, the external will substitute to the internal. That means, when I chant, I just can’t think of Krishna. When I try to worship devotees, I can’t think of Krishna.
But when I speak about Krishna, how people praise me, and then I feel good. So that if we know that and we don’t try to connect that, that means we seek only the external and we don’t do anything to develop internal connection, then it is a problem. But if we are striving to develop an internal connection also, and we get some external identity, some external success, that is fine.
That’s not necessarily undesirable. So for us, as sadhakas, the important thing is to stay connected with Krishna. And the pure motive will come just by staying connected with Krishna, if we are also striving parallel to purify ourselves.
Now, for example, say if we give classes, the first time we give class, we are very self-conscious. Now, what are people thinking? People want to hear me, people are respecting me or not. But if we just keep speaking about Krishna regularly, over a period of time, you will start realizing, for me, this would happen that if I would give a class, you know, after the class, I would think the test of the success of the class is how many people come and appreciate the class after the class.
And one day I gave a very nice class, nice in the sense that I felt I spoke very systematically, I was very absorbed in the class. And then afterwards, not a single person came and appreciated. And initially, I felt very frustrated.
And then it struck me that actually, I was happier when I was giving the class than when now I’m expecting some appreciation. So that meant that the act of engaging in Krishna’s service itself is more satisfying than whatever result we may get from that service. So, over a period of time, we will also start seeing this.
It’s not that we become blind, we observe whether others are reciprocating with our service or not, but our focus shifts. Are we focusing on Krishna? And start realizing if the worldly results come, they do give some pleasure. But after all, that is temporary.
But if through my service to Krishna, I’m connecting with Krishna, that connection with Krishna is going to be eternal. So we as human beings, we are social creatures, and we need appreciation. And Vaishnav culture should be a culture of appreciation.
But that appreciation alone is not the fuel for our bhakti. And appreciation alone is not the test that we are succeeding in bhakti. That can be an indicator that okay, I’m able to do good service in this direction, so I should do some more service in this direction.
But we focus primarily on connecting with Krishna through our service. And if we’re doing that, if in the process, we get fame, that’s fine, we accept that and use it in Krishna’s service. If we don’t get it, we accept that and still connect with Krishna.
So we don’t have to be afraid of practicing bhakti simply for the sake of fame. Any way we practice bhakti, that is good. But while practicing bhakti, we also strive to do those activities directly connected with Krishna.
And if external results come, we see that as an encouragement for us to continue the bhakti. But we don’t let that alone be the motive for our practice. And as our bhakti goes on, gradually our consciousness shifts from the external towards the internal.
The external doesn’t matter as much as the internal in terms of whom we are serving, whom we are glorifying. And as the consciousness shifts, then Harish Aurobindo writes that Prabhupada would be equally enthusiastic in speaking about Krishna whether he was speaking with one person in his room, or whether he’s speaking to hundreds of people in Vyasa. Because he was speaking for Krishna’s pleasure.
And gradually we will also come to that level. So the important thing is don’t give up service. See, our process is devotional service.
Your devotion is the adjective, service is the noun. The service is the primary thing. Because even if devotion is not there, do the service.
Gradually whether there is devotion will come. Of course, if you don’t strive for devotion only, if you strive for pride, but focus on the service and the devotional mood will come gradually. Does that address your question? Thank you.