How can we guide people who find chanting 16 rounds impossible?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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So, Maharashtrian people would have to work 12 hours or something like that.
And it is practically impossible for them to chant 16 rounds. So, is it okay for them to chant four rounds for four days? Okay. So, initiated devotees have difficulty, they struggle to complete their rounds.
So, what to do about, why to tell new people, how to tell? See, there are different levels of connectedness with Krishna. And becoming initiated and following the four editor principles, that is one level of connectedness. It is not that people who cannot come to this level of connectedness are not devotees.
See, there are bhaktas and there are sadhakas. And I am using the word bhakta in a very genderic sense, not in the sense with the bhaktas. So, anyone who has some devotional discretion towards Krishna, they like to hear Krishna katha, they like to practice any limb of bhakti, they have some rituals at home, they do some puja at home, they like to sing the Hare Krishna Mahavatar, to sing Krishna bhajans, they all can be generically classified as bhaktas.
We also use the word bhakta to refer to devotees before they get initiated. So, there are bhaktas and there are sadhakas. Sadhakas are those who are following the sadhana bhakti strictly.
Strictly according to the standards that are there within the Krishna consciousness movement. So, now, even going back to Godhead is a gradual process. It is not necessary that all those who chant 16 rounds and follow the regular principles will surely go back to Godhead.
Prabhupada said that. Prabhupada said that. But we should not think of it as a, it is not like Christians, you know, accept Jesus as a saviour and you are going to go back to Godhead.
Say that we accept Prabhupada as a saviour, we will go back to Godhead. The point is that we follow the 16 rounds and that whole, that sustained practice of bhakti will spiritualize our consciousness. And the spiritual consciousness which we have at the time of death, that is what will take us back to Krishna.
So, this is a process which will develop the spiritual consciousness. And it is, it is like, there is a, say there is a fast train and there are slow trains. So, you know, it is not that if somebody can’t get in a fast train, we say, well, you have to stay here only, you know, let them come in a slow train.
And even if they take many lifetimes, at least if they are practicing dharma, they are de-elevated, they are being elevated. So, broadly speaking, in our outreach, we should focus on encouraging people to practice bhakti. And at what level they practice, we can encourage them to come to higher levels, but we shouldn’t make, make their connection with Krishna dependent on their coming up to a particular standard.
We can imagine they are connected with Krishna. So, last time what I explained is that we can conceive the Krishna consciousness movement as a set of concentric circles of expanding radii. So, it is not that somebody who is forever doing the 16 rounds, they are insiders and everybody else is outside.
Not like that. There can be different levels of connectedness. And people who are connected at different levels and are practicing at different levels, they are all moving towards Krishna.
And that is how the Vedic culture was. We see that, okay, there are Krishna devotees, there are demigod worshippers, there are impersonalists, and they are all included broadly in the Vedic culture, in the Vedic food. So, there is a high standard.
And Krishna also does it 12.8 to 12.12. It is a hierarchy of people able to practice at different levels. So, people shouldn’t be made to feel unwelcome, unwanted or guilty just because they can’t come to particular standards. Sometimes, there are people who may just chant a few rounds, but they may have a great service attitude, they may have great attachment towards Krishna, and they can do a lot for Krishna.
But if we alienate them by insisting that they have to do this, this, this, then they may not do that service. So, we see Prabhupada, one of the things that George Harrison liked about Prabhupada was that Prabhupada never told him to move him. Prabhupada never told him that you have to do this, this, this, encouraging him to practice bhakti.
Now, he was a sweshta. But the point is that Prabhupada gives an example of that. So, we can try to help people to adjust their schedule so that they can find time.
But if they are, if they say it’s very difficult, it’s not possible, then we don’t have to insist on rigid, insist that their connection with Krishna depends only on coming up to a particular standard. In the long run, we may also, our movement is, it’s in discussion. See, in India it’s so difficult for people to chant, in the west it’s even more difficult.
So, most of the times in the west, when western people become devotees, you know, many of them become connected with Krishna without ever becoming initiated throughout their lives. They don’t get initiated. And they are well connected with Krishna, they are well connected with devotee, spiritual master also.
So, maybe in the future in our movement, we will have some kind of official second level of connectedness. It’s not so much as an initiation, we cannot have initiation at a different level of standard, but there can be some other level. Like we have something like, when devotees come together, they are chanting a particular Ramayana, then the Prabhupada ashraya or we say Guru ashraya.
So, there are stages like that. Something like that may come up in future, where it may not be movement-wide everywhere, but it may be there in some places or whatever way it works out. But the point is, we have to encourage people to connect with Krishna.
And whatever level of connectedness that is suitable for them, we should encourage them, not discourage them just because they can’t come to higher level of standard. Does that answer your question?