How can we organize ourselves to best serve Krishna?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So when I was introduced to bhakti how did I start organizing my days and how do I organize them now? The first thing we learn about organizing is that we are not organizers. Krishna is the organizer.
So we do have to, we make plans but there is a plan making that is in a mood of controllership and there is plan making which is the mood of service. That means sometimes we make plans and we think this is the way things should happen. And if they don’t happen then we just get completely frustrated.
Nothing works and we just give up everything. But the other is we plan in a mood of service to Krishna. Because this is an important thing for me and I will show Krishna my seriousness by planning.
Okay, I do like this, like this, like this. And if we see planning as a service then we will not get too disturbed when our plan doesn’t work. Because we will see that anyway I was serving Krishna.
So I can serve Krishna in a way that I planned or I will serve Krishna in a way that is unplanned. My point is not that my plan has to work. My point is that I have to serve Krishna.
And planning we see as a way to serve Krishna. Not as the indispensable necessity for serving Krishna. That’s first thing.
Second thing is with respect to my life generally when we come initially to spiritual life then we are guided by our seniors. Senior devotees tell us do this service, do that service. And we do whatever they tell us to do.
And while doing the services that we are told to do we keep observing ourselves. Which service? Two things. Do I feel comfortable doing? And which service I am competent in doing.
So Krishna says that the principle of Varanashram is guna karma vibhagas. In Varanashram people were engaged according to their qualities and their activities. So in contemporary language we could say that what we have qualities for that we are comfortable doing it.
And what we have qualities for we are also competent in doing that. So comfort is like gunam and karma is like competence. So while doing whatever services we are told to do we keep observing which service I feel comfortable and competent doing.
So I discovered for myself that writing, editing and speaking. These were the three services which I found that I was I felt comfortable doing and I was, like Krishna said, fairly good at doing that. And while doing whatever services others told me the senior devotees told me to do, I started focusing on this.
And then my seniors also saw that okay I am able to make some contribution in these services. Then they guided me to focus more and more on those services. So essentially we have to find out how we can serve Krishna in a way that will be sustainable for us.
Initially we surrender and do whatever service we are told to do. But it is not that always there will be someone instructing us. Do this, don’t do this.
Even if tomorrow no one is there to tell us what to do still we should have some service that inspires us so much that we will do it even if nobody is there to tell us. So if we can find that service, it’s a matter of great inspiration. It will bring great sustainability to our service.
To our relationship with Krishna. So basically now I prioritize my life around these three services. So writing, speaking, editing.
And as we keep doing services, in one sense life is like entering into a black hole. We don’t know what lies ahead. It’s dark.
But we know that Krishna is our lord and we are his servants. So based on our intelligence, based on our inclinations, we try to serve him. As we keep serving, Krishna reveals plans.
Now okay this door is opening, we have to take that door. If some door closes, then we look for some other door. So basically we keep serving Krishna.
At the same time we keep looking for ways in which we can serve Krishna better. So there is surrender on one side, I will do whatever I am told to do. But there is also vigilance to find out how we can serve best.
And by that gradually we become situated in a way that we can sustainably serve Krishna. Does that answer your question?