How do we balance hunting for the rhino in our services with being realistic?

Anwser Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, Prabhupada often wanted to shoot, wanted his disciples to shoot the rhino, to do things which are almost impossible.
So, how do we balance that with, say, being rational or realistic, using our intelligence about doing things? My understanding is that, Prabhupada, he had extraordinary vision. Still, his steps were always very tangible and concrete. What he did, Nilamruta said that, Swami’s head was in the clouds, but his feet were firmly on the ground.
So, Prabhupada actually took years in thinking of going to America for preaching. It was a big dream. But then Prabhupada was doing very practical things, asking for some funds, asking for some support.
Went to America, he started small. Prabhupada also said, in like a needle, out like a flow. See, Prabhupada said something like that.
So, now, in like a needle, no, I am beginning small. So, yes, it is good to have a big vision. But then, the vision, vision should be a spur for action, not a substitute for action.
Sometimes you just dream, I’ll do this, I’ll do that, I’ll do that, but then you actually do nothing. That becomes a problem. So, if we have clear, I’ll do this, this, this, this, it’s a spur for action.
And we take steps forward, if Krishna wants something, spectacular will happen. Krishna doesn’t, that’s not Krishna’s will. Still, we will have done our service.
So, we have to have practical steps about what we are going to do. It’s all in the head alone. It’s important to have a vision, but also we need to have some practical steps about how we are going to do it.
And we have to also see that Prabhupada was also very pragmatic. He was very visionary, but then he was quite pragmatic in terms of how he was going to implement the vision. So, as you rightly said, that Prabhupada tried so many different things.
He tried the League of Devotees in India, he tried working with his Godbrothers, he tried streaming back to Godhead. So, anything that he did, when they didn’t work, so Prabhupada stopped them and tried something else. So, there is, there is the principle of service and there is a form of service.
The principle that I am a servant of Krishna and I am meant to serve Krishna. The principle that was in Prabhupada’s instruction that he should preach. Prabhupada stuck to the principle, but with respect to the form, Prabhupada was quite flexible.
This didn’t work out, try this. This one didn’t work out, try that. So, Prabhupada, he came to America, he, he, he focused on making people into devotees who go into the temples.
But when he went to India, he didn’t use that strategy at all. Not many people actually took up the strategy. So, Prabhupada actually went to a lot of devotees’ houses, lot of Hindu, pious Hindu houses and encouraged them to provide funds and encouraged them to become life members.
Now, in one sense, life members was actually, they had no commitment to practice it. Prabhupada wanted them eventually to come to that level. But, so, whereas, here in America, Prabhupada had to come inside and become an insider member of ISKCON.
There it was, you can be wherever you are, but contribute in something. So, in manifesting that vision of preaching, Prabhupada was actually quite pragmatic in how to implement it. So, with respect to us, since we don’t have any particular instruction about what we are to do in our life, so, we may have to take something from, some instruction from Prabhupada’s words, from our spiritual guide’s words, and then we have to see how well we can work it.
So, sometimes, we become too attached to service in a particular form. Say, I am preaching here, but then things are not working out here, I may go somewhere else and preach. And when to persevere in the same thing, and when to change over to something else, that’s not an easy decision to do.
Which form to persevere in, or when to focus on the principle, but change the form of what service I am doing. That we may have to consult others, introspect, pray, and then decide. But, certainly vision is important.
At the same time, practical steps for execution are also required. So, when both are there, then gradually, take one step forward, one step forward, eventually, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, it is said. So, like that, Prabhupada did wonderful things, and with respect to intelligence, we could say, specifically, the ultimate goal may seem to be impossible as per the intelligence, but the practical steps are very much within the intelligence.
Okay, right now I am here, Prabhupada is in India, okay, let me go and meet this devotee, let me go and meet that person, let me do this, let me do that. So, our understanding is, going back to the story of that sparrow and the Garuda, the sparrow whose eggs had been taken by the ocean. So, the sparrow was doing what was in her capacity.
And then eventually, Garuda came and did what was beyond her capacity, beyond the sparrow’s capacity. So, if we are to do something wonderful for Krishna, we may need help from sources which are not within our capacity. But first, we have to also do what is in our capacity.
So, our intelligence, the role of our intelligence would be in taking the steps which are in our capacity and doing them consistently. And our faith in something which is beyond our intelligence, that is that Krishna will help when things don’t work out for me. So, if we depend only on Krishna and we don’t do anything practical, ourselves, then that will become passive.
On the other hand, if we only are caught in the practical and don’t think about the hand of Krishna, then you feel there are so many problems, I just can’t do this, let me give it up. So, there is both the practical and the transcendental which work together. But when the transcendental will intervene, we can’t say.
So, we may have to provide that to keep doing the practical small, small, small things which many of them did work for almost 30-40 years. And then Krishna executed his miraculous intervention. And then wonderful things happened.