How can we work for Krishna and avoid contaminating association in our workplaces?

From Pandurang Charan P:
From the below purport from Srila Prabhupada. Could you please explain how can one work in office where one is absorbed in work and with people around him to at the same time not associate with work and the workers.
Text from the purport.
“A man working in Kṛṣṇa consciousness in a factory does not associate himself with the work of the factory, nor with the workers of the factory. He simply works for Kṛṣṇa.”

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. Great, Krishna. Question from Pandu Ganga Charan Prabhu.
Sri Prabhupada says in the 18th chapter, and it was purported that a man working in Krishna consciousness in a factory does not associate with the workers of the factory or the work of factory, but simply works to please Krishna. So, I want to know how can we work in our offices where there is no devotee association and where we have to work on material projects and work with materialistic people. How can we work for the satisfaction of Krishna there? Answer.
Devotion is as much a matter of intention as it is a matter of action. So, all our actions may not always be directly devotional, even for that matter. Even when we will go to a temple and we want to do some service.
Now, some of the activities may, to our vision, seem directly devotional. For example, if we want to cook for the Lord, make a garland for the Lord, or we do worship, we do deity worship, or when we speak about Krishna, we are asked to give some classes or distribute some books, or whatever, there are some activities where the Krishna connection may be directly visible. But even when we are doing services in the temple, sometimes the Krishna connection may not be so easily visible.
If, for example, a temple is being built and we have to go to, say, either raise funds or get government permission or get other sort of legalities or technicalities done, then that may just seem to be directly a material activity. There is no direct Krishna connection. But the connection is an intention.
So, the point is that, although we may be, if we go for book distribution also, then at that time we may be surrounded by people who are non-devotees. Certainly, we are trying to serve Krishna over there, but the fact is that we are associating with non-devotees. So, what makes that into devotional service is our devotional intention and the fact that we are trying to share Krishna’s message.
Or we are trying to do something for Krishna, whatever the specific form of the service may be. So, the intention is as important as the action, if not more important, in fact. Krishna is Bhavagrahi.
So, in that sense, we could say that the intention is even more important than the action. But for this particular discussion, we need to know that certain actions also are important, otherwise the intention will not be preserved. If somebody says that, Oh, my intention is always to serve Krishna and I am so busy serving Krishna that I never have time to go to the temple.
I never have time to chant the holy names. I never have time to study scripture. But my intention is completely to serve Krishna.
So, actually, we need to do devotional actions externally also. Externally also, we need to have direct connections with Krishna so that our internal devotional intentions will be preserved and strengthened. But once we have those intentions strong, then even if we go in non-devotee association, we can actually, by that intention, keep ourselves Krishna conscious.
So, yes, if we are working in office, there are projects and deadlines and most if not all the colleagues may be non-devotees. There we have to use our intelligence to see how best we can preserve our Krishna consciousness and if possible, share our Krishna consciousness with others. So, it will depend on time and circumstance.
What all we can do. We can try to spiritualize our environment as much as possible. If we have a computer, then maybe we can put some devotional desktops if it’s possible for us.
If we have to do some mechanical, non-intellectual work, then we can maybe, and if we are allowed to use earphones, we can put some Krishna kirtans or something like that while we are doing that work. If we have even one or two devotee colleagues over there, then we can try to take lunch with them or try to meet with them as frequently as possible so that there is some devotional association. And if there are, within the company environment also, if we are focused on primarily doing our work, then we are associating with the work and because our intention is to serve Krishna, so we actually will be rendering service to Krishna.
And further, if we are in a work which involves working with several team members and also doing a lot of interaction, then we can try to see among those colleagues who are somewhat spiritually minded or at least who are pious and by their contact, and we can try to focus on their contact. So if they are spiritually minded, then if we get an opportunity to share Krishna with them, that can actually not only protect our Krishna consciousness, but can also increase our Krishna consciousness to some extent. And if they are not immediately devotionally interested, but still they are relatively pious, then that also at least protects us from the contaminating association that is there.
So this, the specifics of how we can spiritualize our consciousness will vary substantially depending on individual to individual and individual situation to individual situation. Even for the same individual, in different situations, different things may be required. So what we should focus on is that we try to strengthen our devotional intention by sadhana and satsanga and directly devotional activities.
And thereafter, we pray to Krishna that whatever situation we are put in, Krishna, please give me the intelligence, how best I can serve you. And Krishna says, dadami buddhi yogam tam yena mam upayanti te dadami buddhi yogam tam that I will give you intelligence by which you can come to me. So Krishna will give us intelligence for that.
So rather than seeing this as a very difficult or unclear or unpredictable or very vague challenge of how will I spiritualize my Krishna consciousness, my profession, we can see this as an opportunity for individual, individuality and creativity within our bhakti. Okay, in this particular situation, while I am doing my work, how can I connect with Krishna? Certainly when we are doing our work, if we keep our first focus primarily, we should certainly do the work competently and it’s not that in trying to spiritualize it, we become incompetent. No, we focus on doing it competently and in the Bhagavatam, there is an example also of absorption in the 11th canto in the Uddhava Gita within that in the 24 Guru section.
The Avadhut Brahmana gives the example of an arrow maker who was so absorbed in making arrows that a king’s procession went by and the arrow maker did not even notice. And this Avadhut Brahmana, who is detached from the world, whose ultimate conclusion is to devote oneself to the Lord and become indifferent from the world. So Avadhut Brahmana appreciates this arrow maker’s absorption.
So we can, at one level, the Bhagavatam directly is teaching that absorption is, we should similarly be absorbed in Krishna. But at another level, it is Bhagavatam also appreciating that arrow maker’s absorption in the profession. So we can, that way, draw the principle of absorption and if our heart is devoted to serving Krishna and even if we are absorbed in our profession, because our heart is meant for Krishna, our profession is meant for Krishna, that absorption will also protect us from material distraction and material contamination.
So as much as possible, we try to spiritualize our environment and our connections. But most importantly, if we have spiritualized our intentions by sadhana and then we absorb ourselves in our profession, even if there is no explicit Krishna connection, because there is overall devotional intention for our life, that will ensure that our profession also becomes devotionally oriented in its essential purpose. And it will also, absorption in trying to do our job competently while leading a life of devotion, will also protect us from any unnecessary distraction and contamination because of the bad association.
So when Srila Prabhupada says that devotee doesn’t associate with the factory or the other factory workers, that simply means that one does not take their desires as one’s own desires. So association essentially happens when there is transfer of desires. So if somebody is mad about watching a particular movie of a particular film star, and if that person is our colleague, then only if we let that person talk about that movie and the movie star and we think, Oh, I also want to watch this movie.
If we take that desire from that person and make that desire our own desire, when there is transfer of desire, that’s when association actually happens. And that principle applies to devotee association also. If we associate with devotees, it’s not just physically going and sitting and attending a class, but it is actually associating in such a way that there is transfer of desire, that whatever the devotee’s desire to love and serve Krishna, that desire becomes our desire.
So similarly, if we recommend, if we are fixed in our devotional desires and we don’t associate with others, not that we keep them all at a distance, but that we don’t accept their desires as our desires, then we too will be able to safely and steadily stay uncontaminated and protect and preserve our Krishna consciousness, even that association by our devotional intention. Thank you. Hare Krishna.