How does the example of sometimes serving and sometimes receiving in a tennis match apply practically in the brahmachari ashram?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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so the example of tennis of serving and receiving how does this apply for devotees who are staying in Brahmachari ashram and trying to practice bhakti whichever ashram we are in we always have certain amount of freedom and certain amount of regulation so even those who are in garastha ashram they have their jobs they have to go for their job they have to earn enough to take care of their family they have freedom to apart from their job and things like that but everybody has certain amount of regulation and certain amount of room for initiative so if you consider that we all have constitutionally like freedom within a framework like a cow who is tied with a rope to a pole as much as is the length of the pole within that length the cow can move to and fro so it has that freedom but beyond the circumference that is drawn by the radius of the rope it cannot move so for us in the brahmachari ashram we may have, we do have certain restrictions of what all activities we can do what we can’t do we are told to do certain services we are expected to do them but within that also say if we are doing a particular service what we focus in that service say if we are preaching so preaching is a service which we have been given so we go and speak so that is in a sense what we have received this is the service which we have to do now within that there is flexibility what topic am I going to speak on sometimes there may be a course which is prescribed to take, sometimes it may not be so structured we speak whatever we feel inspired to do so when we are choosing a topic that we speak on that is where we are exhibiting our freedom our initiative and that means that we are actually we are actually in a sense hitting the ball, we are serving and now after I have decided to speak on a particular topic then people like to ask questions on that topic so if questions come on that topic then I don’t have the flexibility to say that I don’t want to answer these questions so in a sense after I have served the ball in terms of speaking on a particular topic then I have to receive the ball in terms of taking up questions on that topic so say, I was thinking about this example when I was planning my US tour last time so say from here I may plan which places I am going to go to so people may invite from 30 places, I may decide to go to 20 places that’s how much my time allows me so now when I am choosing the 20 places that I am going to that is when I am serving I am deciding this but once I am there they will decide which program I am going to do they say go here for this program speak over here speak on this topic, give the class over here so that is where I have to largely receive so if at a particular place there are not many people in that city if I have decided to go over there then I cannot complain oh there are few people that is the strength of the congregation, then I have to accept that so in that sense we all there is there are some situations when we choose so if we decide for example to we may decide when some people approaches they will say that can you be my counsellor so at that time by deciding that we are serving should I or should I not accept this person as a counsellor but then once we have accepted somebody as a counsellor then if they have some issues we may have to give them time, we may have to address their concerns, so that means that is when we are receiving so say if this is yatra, now if we have been given the freedom, you want to go or you don’t want to go for yatra so now if I decide to go for yatra then you know more or less I am expected to be a part of the yatra attend the classes and go here go there if I decide I don’t want to go to yatra then again there are certain services expected from me then I do those services so basically whatever situation we are in, when there is something which requires a change of that situation and the choice is with us then that is the time when we are serving, we are deciding whether I want this change or not but once we have chosen a particular change then the consequence that comes because of that change that is something which we have to accept and to the extent we accept that that face we are receiving so another example could be that say I am in a program and a lot of questions are coming and I decide whether I want to go late night or not sincere question that I feel that maybe I should answer these questions so if I decide to go late night then that means next morning it will be difficult for me to wake up so then when I was deciding to go late night and I was serving at that time, I was making a decision so after that the consequence of the decision is I will have to accept that so that is a broad way we can when the decisions are not determined by circumstances but the decisions are determined by our choices primarily at that time we are serving and then when the decisions are determined largely by our circumstances and we simply have to respond to those circumstances then that is when we are receiving that is how we can understand it broadly so I have more questions