How can we spiritualize our work without disturbing our colleagues?

Anwser Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
life in our workplace so how can we make that work spiritual without offending our neighbor and without affecting our work yes first of all when we talk about making our work spiritual it is primarily in intention it is not necessarily in action that was when Arjuna was fighting the Kurukshetra war it was not at that time, every time he was putting an arrow on his bow Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, it was not like that at that time he was actually fighting he was planning, ok this enemy is going to shoot like this, I will shoot like this he was completely absorbed in the activity of fighting so where was his devotion then the devotion was in the intention, his intention is Krishna wants me to fight this war and I will fight this war now if you see that way Arjuna was, Arjuna won the Kurukshetra war because he was a master archer and how did he become master archer again it was not simply by chanting Hare Krishna, he practiced archery he practiced archery diligently you know how diligently that in the day time he would practice all day and night time also he would practice that’s how he got the name Budhakesh so Arjuna was diligent even in his worldly profession so it is not that bhakti means that we simply consider our profession as worldly and try to neglect it and think this is not spiritual rest of it is spiritual, now whatever we are doing, we are meant to do it well and so if we are in a profession first of all our intention is to serve Krishna how will that intention come, it is not just a sentiment if we are actually practicing bhakti, we are understanding the philosophy of bhakti, then we understand that Krishna is the whole of our life we are doing sadhana nicely then the sadhana strengthens our spiritual desire for Krishna and then so if we have adequate time for a sadhana invest our time and intelligence in studying scripture, in chanting then spiritual intention becomes solidified in our heart and with that spiritual intention when we work, then that work even if it is not explicitly spiritual still it is spiritualized that is the first point with respect to the spiritualization of our work it is primarily in intention secondarily it is not just in intention it is also in result so what comes before what comes after so we are especially if we are earning money we expect it to be charity charity is not just meant to be an activity charity is meant to be a mentality some people say that now I am in a very difficult situation financially so I will not give charity now in the future I will give a huge charity well it is possible and if you can give a huge charity in the future that is good but the point is charity is not just meant to be an activity it is not that Krishna is concerned how much, how big is the charity that you give it is meant to be a mentality that what I have got is by Krishna’s mercy and so out of a part of it I will give to Krishna see it is a small amount, it is a mentality that has been cultivated and mentality is cultivated through habit so if we give a part of the fruits of our work to Krishna that is also spiritualizing the work and additionally while, so this is before and after intention and result we talked about while doing the activity also we focus on doing the activity as well as we can but at the same time wherever it is possible if we can create spiritual stimuli around us that means we may have some wallpapers if we are working on a computer we can have wallpapers of Krishna or if we are doing some non-intellectual work then we can have some kirtans going on if we are doing some mechanical work we can hear some lectures also whatever it is so that practicality can be worked out according to time, place, circumstance we can find out for ourselves what we can do in our situation and so as we keep trying to bring spirituality into our workplace we will find there are newer and newer ways in which we can connect things with Krishna so it is it can be very deep somebody may be a scientist and they are studying science and they are studying the complex equations and all this how is all of nature working so much according to mathematical equations that is actually because God is made like that so we may go deep into the subject also and see the hand of God over there or we are just doing our work it is software coding you can’t see so much Krishna over there but in the environment we can put Krishna over there so that is in the process and then lastly we can also understand that through our work we can glorify Krishna I often go to colleges and do college programs one student asked me how can I preach to my other co-students I told him that by studying well if you study well there is no guarantee that your friends will become devotees but if you don’t study well there is a guarantee your friends will not become devotees it is anti-preaching because people will start thinking if I start becoming a devotee then I become irresponsible in my studies and they don’t want to do that so we should see that actually people are observing us and if we are doing our job well people will say this person is this person is doing the job well also this person is also spiritual what makes them click and they will be attracted by that so just doing our job competently even if there is nothing explicitly spiritual you can see that also as a service because through our job we are setting off vibrations people are forming impressions about who we are and what we are so even if there is nothing external still our doing our job competently that is also a service to Krishna so Krishna says by your work worship me and by worshipping me you will attain me so it is interesting this verse people translate this verse as work is worship now the Gita doesn’t say work is worship it is not karma hi puja hai there is no verse like that in the Gita it is it is by your work worship him if you say work itself is worship then the donkey will be the greatest worshipper thief may say I am robbing some of the bank that is worship does it work like that Krishna is saying not that work is worship but by your work worship me that means the first half of this verse is what it means is from whom everything has come and he who pervades everything that lord you worship through your work so what this verse the preceding part of the verse implies is that God doesn’t just exist in the spiritual world this whole world has come from him and he exists in this world also therefore through our work we can worship him that means we see God’s presence in this world and through our actions we worship him so we say that what we are is God’s gift to us what we become is our gift to God so we all have some talents we all have some positions some education some skills so we are meant to use that to make constructive contribution so our talents are meant to be used in Krishna’s service some talents may be directly usable in Krishna’s service may sing we may speak that’s fine but other talents we may use in our vocation in our profession if we are doing well in that what we become is our gift to Krishna so we don’t have to have this fragmented attitude that my office is not spiritual or that can also be spiritualized and the if we have the right intention and we see our whole life not as fragmented but as integrated so even if we don’t speak directly about Krishna we can speak about Krishna whenever it is appropriate we can invite people to temple but we can let our actions speak if we are competent if we are responsible we don’t have to be super competent we don’t think that in the name of being in the name of preaching at my workplace I just work only I don’t come to the temple no over a period of time as we practice bhakti our mind also becomes calmer we also start getting a sense of things better with the calmer mind and we can actually perform more effectively in even limited time because we don’t waste our time in so many things our thoughts are more in control so even in the finite amount of time we can do substantial amount of work so I talked about four things first is primarily devotion is an intention like Arjuna when he was fighting his purpose was to serve Krishna second is that in our work we give the fruits of the work in charity, charity is not just an activity it’s a mentality and thirdly, while doing the work we can try to create whatever spiritual stimuli is possible but fourthly I said that work itself is a service that if we are not doing the work properly we are doing anti-preaching and the work itself is a way by which we can worship Krishna what we are is Krishna’s gift to us and what we become is our gift to Krishna thank you very much