How much can devotees facing emergenices be allowed to relax standards?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. So if some devotees are in a situation that is going to last for a longer time, say they have some major education to do or some long-term research to do, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, then how much freedom can we give because we also become responsible at that time? First thing is that if somebody is a brahmachari, then because in one sense the institution is taking care of the material life, then the number of anxieties that they have are much lesser and so the expectation that we can have from them, the standard that we can expect from them are much higher. Now for somebody who also has to take care of the material life and actually material life is in many ways becoming more and more competitive and difficult.
So in that case there are certain standards which have to be followed say one is going to be initiated or one is initiated and those we cannot adjust. But apart from that, material life is such that there are situations where it may be almost either impossible for the person to say no to those situations or if the person says no or the person tries to avoid those situations also but is internally too concerned over them, then that saying no will itself cause a lot of resentment. And then even when the person is not physically getting in the direction, still the heart will not be there and there will be unnecessary resentment.
So basically, in general, if you see the mode of the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible it is said to be a book of commandments and commandments are there. The Bhagavad Gita is less a book of commandments and it is more a book of choices. You do this, you will have choices and consequences.
So for example, many people ask where is this Krishna consciousness coming from? Is it there in the Gita? One of the closest Sanskrit terms which comes to Krishna consciousness is Machitta. In 18.58 it is very clear. machitta sarva-durjani mat-prasadah parishisi patacetum ahamkara nishkupshisi vinamshisi If you become conscious of me, you will pass over all obstacles by my grace.
If however you act out of policy of not hearing me, you will be lost. So again there is a need to be conscious of Krishna consciousness. vimrishyata-shehin ity etc.
So then in one sense if a person says this is my situation, this is what I will have to do, then we can say that. Sometimes people’s karmic complications are such that they have to deal with them. So that is okay.
One of Shri Prabhupada’s biographers was telling me that he met one of Prabhupada’s goddess Puri Maharaj and he said that one time when Prabhupada was in such financial crisis, he used to come to the temple and he used to go and attend programs. But he could clearly see that his primary concern was how can I salvage my business, how can I expand my business. And that is perfectly okay in a particular situation.
And Prabhupada met his son Vrindavande. In the last, in 1977 he had called him. So actually Prabhupada arranged for he arranged for the financial security of his family at that time.
When he gave up the ashram, he had nothing. After he was established well, then Prabhupada called his son and told the Maharaj that he may get a good arrangement for him. And then he told his son.
Now he was his own son. And we could say that his sons were not as serious devotees as his disciples were. But on their last meeting, the Maharaj writes in his what is that, last final days.
He is dead. He writes, what Prabhupada told him was you should improve your financial situation and take care of your mother and your family. So now, because that was an instruction that he was at the level where he could take.
So he knew his father was a worldwide Krishna teacher and he knew that. But this is what was required. Prabhupada gave him that.
So therefore, what so basically we can’t mandate on people otherwise they will become very resentful. But then we can’t also be we can’t also be as irresponsible. So we can tell people, choices and consequences.
And then within those choices also we can tell them what you could do by which they can somehow stay connected with Krishna. One of the advantages of internet is now that people can stay connected much more easily than before if they want to be connected. Of course, other than that they can get disconnected also very easily even when they are a devotee community.
But then, it’s possible there are ways in which devotees can stay connected with Krishna. So, rather than telling deciding, we deciding how much freedom we can give what we can do? We can give them an array of choices and consequences and then let them make the decision.