How can we practically understand that shaking an apple tree may lead to the falling of mangoes?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
yesterday I mentioned that sometimes we may shake an apple tree and go may fall so what does this mean practically and how can we see this in our own lives yeah maybe I’ll speak from my life first so that I can explain so I was attracted to Krishna Consciousness because Krishna Consciousness answered my questions the first devotee that I met, he came to my room for a program the program was from 8 to 9 from 7.30 to 8.30 and after that from 8.30 to 2.30 in the morning I was asking him questions so question asking was attracting me to Krishna but then after I started practicing after I became a brahmachari then I was asking a lot of questions to him and some devotees started labeling me as a gyani too intellectual so and now there are some devotees when I would travel to India and I would preach I would find that there are some devotees who would appreciate my class but others they would just put off one devotee told me your class means ek ghante ka dimaag ka kasad karna hai one hour you have to do intellectual hard work so I felt that this is the way I can serve Krishna but still I was also noticing that there were devotees who were not so appreciative there were quite a few number of devotees exactly so then I was traveling and preaching I did that for almost 10-15 years and then I was hoping that I knew that there are devotees who are interested in who are intellectually oriented who need this kind of presentation I had to search and ask many many senior devotees for answers to my questions so I felt that if devotees had questions like this if they could be answered, they would be alive and well but I had no idea how I could do this so I was praying to Krishna and I was hoping that some way it could work out but nothing seemed to be working out so in 2011 once I was I had gone to Juhu temple for some programs and in the morning japa I was just chanting very intensely and suddenly there was a water I had spilled over so I just fell on that water and my whole leg was fractured very badly it was the same leg which I had polio it was fractured very badly and then immediately I was rushed to the hospital and the operation was done and then the doctor told me you cannot travel anymore at least the way you were traveling earlier you cannot travel I was so miserable I felt that if I don’t travel how will I reach but then I was connected with some devotees so I was in the hospital, I was there for 1.5-2 months so I was given some plastic on Skype to some devotees so once I was giving a class to some devotees in Bangalore and I was speaking about the opulences of Lord Chaitanya 6 opulences of Lord Chaitanya and I just closed my eyes and continued speaking and suddenly the internet connection went off and I didn’t realize it and somehow they also called back but they couldn’t connect so I was speaking for 15 minutes and nothing there was nobody there but I didn’t realize because my eyes were closed and after 15 minutes my phone rang so I had to call from home and then firstly I said I wasted 15 minutes but then the next moment it struck me that actually when I was speaking about Krishna I was happy, I was absorbed in Krishna so it struck me that for speaking about Krishna I don’t need an audience so that gave me the idea that I can I knew that there are many questions which people have and need answers so at that time I thought that I can start a question answer forum on my website and that’s how I started the question answer forum so when I started and there are many devotees in different parts of the world who are nourished by the questions and I also feel nourished because people ask thoughtful questions people are not just even if you ask a question sometimes people ask basic questions how can I improve my charity how can I become more humble they are standard questions there are many deeper questions also which people don’t ask so from this question answer forum I myself nourished and I feel that I have served the devotee completely also now almost 3000 questions are answered so it all began in a way, I was praying to Krishna that give me some forum but I got a fractured wrist but through it all Krishna worked it out so you know Yudhishthira Maharaj is told by Vyasudev that the inscrutable will of the lord is surely for the good of all living beings the inscrutable will of the lord is surely for the good of all living beings is surely for the good of all living beings if you do his will you will realize it in due course of time since Krishna’s will is inscrutable so how exactly he works we can’t understand but with faith we understand that it is for the good of everyone and how it is good that you may not understand immediately if you do his will, you will understand it in due course of time so if we in our life there is our desire our intention, our action that’s in our control and the circumstances that we are in the problem that we are facing, the solutions that we get all these, those are not really in our control but if we keep doing our part consistently Krishna will work in his own way and he will provide us opportunities for serving him in a way that is inspiring for us and beneficial for the whole community so it’s like the we don’t know in advance what the manual is going to be but what we do know is that Krishna is always our religion and if we can maintain that faith then wherever the opportunity comes Krishna will get the whole attention, this is what I feel so quite often as devotees there are two aspects that one is we try to do our service well whatever services we have we try to do it well another aspect is that we are also looking you know what are the things which other things I have been doing so just like Dev Amrit Maharaj once gave this example to me, I love that example, he says that suppose you are working in a company you are doing the job which your boss tells you to but at the same time you are also thinking how you can grow your career, now maybe I can learn this skill also, maybe I can learn this application also, maybe I can learn this particular job also, so when we are working in a company at that time we understand that my growth in my career is my responsibility it is not that I do whatever the boss tells me to do that we have to do, but along with that we are also proactive in thinking how we can grow in our career similarly as devotees we should always be thinking how I can become a better instrument for Krishna’s service we do what we are told to do but at the same time our senior devotees our spiritual master they may not be knowing so much about us so we may have certain talents which they may not know about so we should be observing that just as we create it in our career we take it as our responsibility to grow become more multifaceted have more knowledge and to become a better better performer in our life similarly in our spiritual life we should be thinking how I can become a better instrument for Krishna better servant for Krishna doesn’t just mean becoming more surrendered to whatever instructions we get it also can mean finding out ourselves how we can serve so we look at our talents and we look at what opportunities for serving are there and we find that some other opportunity for serving which is more suited according to our talents then we try to develop the process accordingly when we are working in a company it’s not that we don’t do what the process is but we don’t limit ourselves if we want to really grow in the career we don’t limit ourselves to only what the process is we also take responsibility for our growth so like that if we take responsibility for our growth then we will find a way by which we can move on so Bhakti is about following instructions but there is a standing instruction that we are meant to practice Bhakti lifelong we have practiced Bhakti lifelong to go back to Krishna and our spiritual master or spiritual guide they are not going to be there by our side lifelong and tell do this, don’t do this so one part of following the instruction of Srila Prabhupada or following the instruction of our spiritual master is also finding out how we can practice Bhakti lifelong so if we can find a service which will feel inspired to do lifelong then that is a very important way in which we are following our spiritual master’s basic standing instructions so that means taking inventory, understanding our talents understanding what opportunities are there and finding the service accordingly so so we don’t know what the IOs are but we do know what we are good at if we explore we can come to know what we are good at or what we can do well or what we like to do whichever you want to put it and we try to create focus so basically we mean that resolve that I want to practice, I want to practice Bhakti lifelong and if I want to practice Bhakti lifelong what all do I need to do for that so we get the inspiration from senior devotees but also if we can find something which inspires us for example preaching is a service now if we can become a preacher wherever we go in the world there are always people to be preached to so we will have lifelong service similarly there are other services also which you can do lifelong the point is not just following instructions the point is becoming a lifelong servant of Krishna and that means we should be able to practice Bhakti even when we don’t have access to instruction there is a disciple of Shri Prabhupada Ishan Prabhu, last year I was in Alachua Alachua is like a community of retired devotees, retired Prabhupada disciples they are living in retreat over there so I met him over there so he tells one story in Prabhupada memories when he was in London at that time Prabhupada was asking all the devotees London was the rest, European headquarters so what is happening in France how is the preaching in Germany how is the preaching in London so Ishan Prabhu came to Prabhupada and he asked him Prabhupada, everyone has something to do for you what should I what can I do for you so Prabhupada said please give me something to do for you Prabhupada said what do you want to do for Krishna so Prabhupada said no Prabhupada whatever you tell me what do you want to do for Krishna he said I don’t know I never thought like this so Prabhupada said what should I do for Krishna Prabhupada said understand our philosophy our philosophy is to find out what we want to do and do it for Krishna then he went and he thought then Ishan Prabhupada said he would like to do some work with with clay and shaping things so he said no Prabhupada we have these mudangas from India those mudangas they always get spoiled they crack and they break so he said I am thinking I can use some material from here or some material locally and I can make mudangas which won’t break so easily so Prabhupada smiled he said yes your god brothers are very passionate so make mudangas make such mudangas that even if they throw it down they will not break so from that instruction he got a whole lifetime of service and he did that service making various not just mudangas he got a whole service for Krishna so it’s bhakti is about following instructions bhakti is also about following instructions to stay lifelong in the service of Krishna that means finding out how we can serve Krishna so in that context you know looking for a vishika apatory that means we have a specific problem and we look for a specific solution but we can do that and we should do that but along with that we also consider that okay how can I settle lifelong and that when we find that’s like the mango falling off and that’s how we can be open to Krishna’s plan and whichever way he comes we will be able to receive that