How can we make a plan that is effective even if Krishna’s plan turns out to be different?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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Yes. How can we make a plan that will be effective despite Krishna’s plan? Or in accordance with Krishna’s plan.
In accordance with Krishna’s plan, even when Krishna’s plan is different from ours. Actually, planning is an indication of seriousness. No.
If I am just giving a casual talk with some people, I am just doing a casual talk, I am not planning it. If I am going to give a class which I consider very important, I will sit and prepare for it. That preparation is also a form of planning.
So, planning basically indicates that we take things seriously. So, in that sense, planning is a way we can show Krishna that I am serious about serving and beyond that, if we So, showing Krishna that I am serious about serving you is vital for our bhakti. But from that, if we shift to the idea that you know, this is the only way I am going to serve Krishna.
Then, we are shifting from the mode of service to the mode of controllership. Say, most people like to serve God as advisors. As advisors.
God, you didn’t do this right. You do it like this. You didn’t do it like this.
You should have done it like that. So, even atheists like to advise God. You know, they say, if God had existed, he would not have designed it like this.
He would have designed it like this. So, their non-existent God pops into existence just to receive their advice and then pops back out of existence. So, actually, serving Krishna, we make a plan based on the understanding that actually, Krishna is… I want to show Krishna that I am serious about serving you.
At the same time, service means that we do it according to the way Krishna wants. And sometimes, you know, the way Krishna works is through the upheavals of life. So, generally, if instead of sticking to one particular specific plan, if you understand this is the direction I need to go in my life.
So then, say, for example, from here, I am going to the Detroit airport. Now, this is one way. This is the way I plan to go.
But if there is too much traffic in this way, I might go by another way. Sometimes I might go a longer way because in that particular situation, that is shorter way. So, there is a path and there is a purpose.
So, if our planning is focusing on the purpose, this is what I want to achieve. This is what I need to do. For example, in the next one month, I want to read one canto of Bhagavatam.
So, if I read one hour every day, I should be able to complete one canto. Now, so, reading one canto is a purpose. Reading one hour per day is the plan.
Some days may be so busy that we can’t even touch the Bhagavatam. So, we may get frustrated. Oh, my plans never work.
But, you know, some days may be free, more free and then some days I can make myself free. And say, I may not be able to read for five days, then one day I read five, six hours. So, if my purpose is clear, then even if one path doesn’t work out, that purpose is there in my mind and I’ll find another path.
So, if all that I know is that to go to the airport, this is the way. If I’m not knowledgeable enough, if I’m not open-minded enough, what is the other way? Is there any other way? Then what happens? If there’s a traffic jam, I think, oh, I can’t get there. So, planning, if it gives us a sense of direction, then the planning is very helpful even when there’s an obstacle in a particular path.
But if planning makes us attach to a particular path, then that planning can become counterproductive. So, Krishna’s plan means, so in bhakti, there is two dynamics. One is, we understand that we are not the controllers.
We are not the doers. The Bhagavad Gita says, that one of the things that I am the doer, prakriti kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasah, ahankara vimudhatma kartahamiti manyate. One of the things I am the doer is deluded by arrogance.
But yet, at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna, now, do as you desire. Kuru means do. And at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, that is 18.6-3, 18.7-3, Arjuna speaks, karishe vachinamta hua, I will do your will.
Arjuna is being a doer. So, the illusion, to think of ourselves as doers is not the illusion. The illusion is to think of ourselves as the soul doers.
tatraivam sati kartaram atmanam kevalam tuya pashyatya akruta buddhitva nasa pashyati durmati. In 18.16, Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that those who think, that one who thinks that I alone am the doer of everything, that person is an illusion. So, we definitely are doers, but we are not the soul doers.
That means that we alone don’t bring about the results of our actions. So, if I decide to go by a particular path, I may not be able to go. But that doesn’t mean I just give up and don’t do anything.
I find some other path. See, if our planning helps us to, it drives the purpose deep into our mind, then we can be flexible about the path. But if our planning reverts us to a particular path, then we could get frustrated when that particular path gets blocked.
So, if we have the purpose, I want to serve Krishna and I want to do some Krishna service, how can I do it? Then we will be open to whatever door Krishna opens, whatever Krishna’s plan is. So, that way, our plan and Krishna’s plan can be harmonized together.