​How can we avoid getting sucked into local temple politics while practicing bhakti?

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question how can we avoid getting sucked into the local temple politics and other issues and focus simply on practicing Bhakti because sometimes even against our knowledge we are drawn into some issues 18.47 I think which says that all endeavors are covered by fault just as fire is covered by smoke that means that whatever activity we try to do in this world it just, there are some problems associated with it sahajam karma kaunteya sahajam means from the birth itself karma kaunteya sadosham that from its very birth there is fault in this work api natya je, still don’t give it up so of course from the specific context Krishna is talking about varanashram dharma and Krishna is specifically addressing Arjuna that you are thinking that warrior’s duty should be given up because you have to fight against your relatives but don’t do that because every duty has its difficulty Ramana’s duty also has violence and killing animals when they have to do fire sacrifices so every position in this world has some problems, in principle bhakti is transcendental, bhakti is beyond this world but in practice we have to work to practice bhakti we have to work in this world and our own consciousness is material people around whom we work their consciousness is also material so sometimes we just cannot avoid avoid the inevitable contaminations of the material world, even when we want to practice bhakti and even when we are in a spiritual movement that is founded explicitly for the purpose of practicing bhakti so there is avoidance, there is acceptance and there is aggravation that means there are some people who aggravate the inevitable complexities of the world for example, they are themselves politically minded because they want power, they want position and they form groups so we should certainly not be among the aggravators at the same time if we are completely avoiding things then we may find ourselves totally sidelined because ultimately in this world somebody will have power somebody will be moved out of power we may say I want to stay neutral but even to stay neutral I have to be aware sometimes some positions may not be seen as neutral although we were doing it simply out of an intention to serve so to be aware of the dynamics of a place is essential just to completely avoid or neglect political issues can blow in our face and again the word politics itself today has a very negative connotation you are doing politics with me when I say like that but actually in its original sense the political world does not have a non-judgmental sense also basically politics is the art of science or the branch of knowledge or the branch of action which deals with administration which deals with administering the world or administrating the state or whatever body is involved over there so because ISKCON is also an organization it requires administration and the whole structure and system that brings about an administration that could be said to be ISKCON’s political system that whole aspect could be called ISKCON’s political aspect so in principle we are in a temple we are under a certain management structure so we cannot avoid the political aspect of the movement entirely but so one meaning of political is simply connected with the administration but another meaning of the word political which is much more common is that okay he is a political person that means in that person forms groups does backbiting and does all the unscrupulous things that people do quite often for grabbing power so now political in the first sense of administration that is unavoidable but political in the second sense we may not be ourselves actively involved in it and we should not be but we may need to be aware of what is happening so that we can protect ourselves so that we don’t get implicated in some things now as devotees it is not that we want to consciously try to curry favour with someone try to flatter someone that’s not our goal our goal is primarily to serve Krishna and sometimes by force of circumstances by our lack of discretion we may end up doing things that are less than healthy but then as soon as we realise it we do course correction okay I went off track now let me come back on track actually all of the world and the Krishna conscious movement is also existing in this world all of the world is affected by politics so we can’t avoid that effect to expect that there will be no politics at all that is like expecting that there will be no heat in an oasis in oasis water is there but still the oasis is also usually in a desert so the heat is there but somehow by nature’s arrangement or human endeavour in oasis water is also provided whereas in a desert there is only heat and there is thirst in oasis also there is heat but there is water and there are other facilities where one can get relief from the heat but as long as the oasis is in the desert some amount of the effect of heat is going to be felt there also so like that the bhakti movement is like oasis in the desert of material existence if we focus on Krishna and focus on trying to serve Krishna then by that focus we will learn how to move on steady and we may go off track but we will come back on track here I went too much into the situation here let me come back into the situation and over a period of time the most important thing for us is we should find a service that we can continue to do diligently it may take some years for us to find out what that kind of service may be but for us to go on steadily in our bhakti we have to do our bhakti but we also should be able to find some service that we can do lifelong and if we can find that service then our spiritual growth will become much steadier because then even if this issue happens that issue happens, I have to come back to my service and then whatever it requires for protecting our service we may do that if someone is against our will pulling us into some political issues then we can use our intelligence first of all to understand what the issue is as much as we can and if we feel that this is not something we choose to get involved in that’s also perfectly fine then we can politely but firmly tell those people that I respect you as a devotee but I find this kind of things very agitating and if we are younger devotee and those who are getting involved in this are senior devotees then we may not be in a position to instruct them, so we shouldn’t say that you are doing politics and I don’t want to be involved in politics that will come off as very very disrespectful and that may aggravate the person but if we tell them in a humble mood that these are complex issues and I am too small to be able to take decision on these issues I have come here simply to practice bhakti and please excuse me for being involved in this and they may not be pleased they may want us to support but at least we have made our stand clear in a firm rate in a respectful way and then if again we are pulled in then we have to decide how to deal with that situation practically but honest communication of our concerns is important and ultimately sometimes the force of circumstances is such that by the will of destiny we get caught in some situations just like in circumstance in our life also we may do exercise, we may take proper diet and yet we may sometimes get a disease then what do we do? you know we understand ok this is some karmic complication because of which I got this disease so let me take the treatment and try to make the best out of this situation try to cure myself similarly if we focus on if we realize that now we are got entangled in some situation then I have to accept that maybe some karma was there by which I got entangled so let me try to cure myself let me try to see how best I can cope with the situation and gradually I try to cure myself so while practicing bhakti we shouldn’t let our focus shift from focusing on connecting with Krishna to avoiding politics if we become if we make avoiding politics our focus that is a very negative focus and that is not necessarily Krishna conscious and in that process are we also focusing on the negative to avoid the negative but still we are focusing on the negative only so if we keep our focus on Krishna and try to turn towards Krishna whenever we find ourselves getting distracted from him then gradually either we will be able to avoid politics or we will be able to minimize politics or at least if we somehow get ourselves involved in it find ourselves entangled in it then we will be able to keep the politicalization of our consciousness to the minimum by its focus on Krishna