How to become more personal in our dealings
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
Hare Krishna Today morning I'll speak on the topic of making our dealings more personal How we can arbiter interpersonal meanings more personal with each other and I will speak three points And after each point we can have some reflection or question if you have any The first point is that Krishna is a person and is personal Second point is that See people not just as philosophical categories, but as conscious beings and third point is that Take time to form high resolution understanding of people So let me go over these points. The first point is Krishna is person and is personal So here the setting is that Krishna has just returned to Dwarka and he's being welcomed By various people and all these people who are welcoming him Krishna is reciprocating with them yatha vidhi upasangamnya As is appropriate This was described earlier also when Krishna went to meet the Pandavas in Hastinapur or in Indraprastham depending on where they were there Krishna was more or less of the same age as Arjun So Krishna would embrace Arjun and Bhima was also equal. Yudhishthira was older So Krishna would offer his respects to Yudhishthira and Krishna would give his blessings to Nakula and Sahadeva.
They would bow down to him So the idea is that Krishna is recognizing each person where they are and reciprocating with them appropriately so God is God is not just an abstract philosophical principle. In the Greek tradition There are many Greek thinkers like Aristotle and others. They had the idea that God is the first unmoved mover That is we need the universe to begin.
So there has to be some beginning principle But he said that the God is the unmoved mover. That means sets everything in motion, but he is like a static principle however The Dharmic texts explain that yes, God at one level is unmoved. That means he's not affected by anything material But at the same time he's not he's not impersonal.
He's not a mere principle. He's a person and He's a person because The world has personality We all have personalities Living beings have personalities. Now as people are coming closer and closer to animals because of having pets Let us say each pet has its individuality also.
So where would the individuality which is the fundamental feature of reality Come from unless it was present in the source of everything. That is the absolute So Of course in the Bhakti tradition that God is a person is an implicit. It's a given But it's very endearing to understand how Krishna is personal So a couple of examples from the Gopal Champu and Anandana Champu There are two books written by our Acharyas.
Gopal Champu is written by Jeeva Swamy and Anandana Champu is written by Kavi Karnapur And there they describe Krishna's dealings in Vrindavan So not just with people with all living beings Krishna is personal even with his cows Now Krishna has a name for each cow and he has countless cows And after some time in general we meet a lot of people After some time it's just our brain becomes saturated. We can't remember so many names But means if the face is familiar the person is familiar, but just the name we don't get it Krishna he has countless cows, but he remembers every cow by the name and Then when at the end of the day of herding Krishna has to get all the cows back Now each cow or not so much cow like a calf or calf or cowherd. Generally Krishna is a in Vrindavan He's still a boy and he's taking small cows So the cows and cows have their names and when Krishna is calling the cow the cows back the cows back He calls each one by name and there are some cows They also know they have to go home But he has go far away So that Krishna will call their name repeatedly And Krishna calls their name repeatedly.
They hear it Krishna is calling with so much love so much affection so much In intimate concern That Krishna has for each cow and when Krishna comes back every evening So all of Vrindavan comes to the outskirts to look and when they are coming they see at first with a dust cloud that rises the dust cloud rises because Krishna is preceded by the cows and cows and their hooves cause a dust to rise and Normally a dust cloud obscures vision and If we can't see we'll get we'll get annoyed But when the dust clouds are rising the Brajwasis become excited. Oh, yes now Krishna is coming Krishna is coming So often for us in our lives also Sometimes the storm comes in our life and the storm obscures the vision of Krishna But through that storm often Krishna may be coming closer to us So then as the cows come forward and the dust clouds subside and then they go all the Brajwasis start seeing They're all beholding but they can see all the cows they can see the cowherd boys But you still can't get sight of Krishna Krishna and Balaram are at the back They are making sure that every single one of the cows comes back Not even one gets lost Because they're mischievous They are frolicking in childhood So, you know if a mother has to take care of one child, that is a challenge two children three children five children There are a lot of children become very difficult to take care of them. So now cows are like children and Krishna is attentive Make sure that every single cow comes back and the back of it Krishna is there all of them Vigilantly looking at every cow Meditating on this the great Vaishnav poet Milgamananda Thakur has said that oh Krishna the cows You make sure that every single one of them comes back with you Says the cows are called in Sanskrit as Go and Go also means senses That's why we have the Goswami, one who controls the senses.
So he says Krishna my senses are also Go They are also and they're also they're also going They're going here going there going there. You don't let a single cow go away cow go away But all my senses are going away Please gather them. Please bring them with you back with you to your eternal abode of Vrindavan So Krishna is Rishikesh.
He's the lord of the senses. He's Gopal Gopal means he's not just the protector of the cows. He's also the protector of the senses So when Krishna comes back the Vrajivasis, they also have their yatha vidhi now the older Vrajivasis, they all the smaller boys have gone out and The parents are waiting at the outskirts, especially the mothers are eagerly waiting for Krishna to come back But there are the Gopis they're young girls and in that Culture at that time for the Gopis to come out for girls to come out to look at boys The Gopis don't come out they go to the terraces of their houses and when they go to the terraces of their houses from there, they're beholding and Nanda Maharaj's house is right in the middle of Vrindavan so when Krishna comes in he goes through he goes through a circuitous path so that all the Gopis from the houses along the way they can behold and then as he enters The Gopis start running forward they want to go home now the cows also, they start pushing the cows and Balram also wants to go with them and then suddenly Krishna says Krishna starts walking very slowly and then Balram says come on we will go home Mother will have prepared food for us we can go and eat Freshen up and eat Krishna says I'm tired I'll come slowly you go ahead.
You sure? Yes you go ahead Now what happens is all the Gopis want to Behold Krishna and Krishna also wants to behold the Gopis Now Balram is like Dauji, he's the older brother so in his presence Krishna feels shy to look at any of the Gopis So when Balram goes ahead Then Krishna feels liberated And then Krishna looks at every single one of the Gopis who are there above in the balconies Looking down the Gopis offer the love of their heart to Him through their eyes and through his glance Krishna accepts The love of their hearts and by his glance he offers his love to them and every single Gopi Who is there she feels that personal connection that personal reciprocation with Krishna Now the eyes can speak a lot Sometimes some people they have a smiling face when you look at their eyes. They're so cold and suspicious So Nowadays people focus a lot on When they want to express love there's a lot of public display of affection hugging and kissing and all that now In some cultures that might be the way of expressing affection But actually there are sometimes the subtler ways of expressing affection are sweeter Gently if somebody is in pain or somebody's in distress and somebody has come and touches your shoulder So that Might actually comfort the person, yes I am there for you Much more than I fuse you hug or that person is crying and you start crying with them or anything like that So Krishna, he is personal with every single Gopi And similarly he is personal with every single soul Then Krishna is present as a Paramatma in our heart So the Paramatma is like the personal incarnation of Krishna for each one of us The Krishna incarnate Sambhavami yuga yuga he comes in each yuga that is there, but along with that Krishna Manifests in the world in a personal manifestation for each one of us avibhaktam cha vibhakteshu That he is one, but still he is separate There's one super soul, but the one super soul manifests in many different forms And Krishna feels our pains Krishna feels our joys Krishna knows our struggles Krishna is personally there with each one of us in our hearts as a super soul So Krishna is not just a person he is also personal That is the first point I was going to make. Any comments or questions about this? Okay How do we connect with the personal aspect of Krishna? Generally the way to do it is by hearing more and more about his personal Locations like say we discuss some pastime right now So when we hear a different pastime of Krishna, we might ourselves find some some pastimes which touch our hearts So we can try to hear more about those pastimes Maybe memorize some verses related to those pastimes keep some pictures of those pastimes.
So because we are persons So it's not that every single pastime of Krishna will be equally attracting our hearts It's all pastimes of Krishna which will be purifying But we have to find out some some aspects of Krishna. They may feel attracted to them. So then we try to Connect more with that.
So if everyday Krishna is decorated and dressed nicely, but some days the darshan might capture our heart Then change that so wherever we Feel a personal connection with Krishna and try to develop that And gradually by that we will be able to connect with Krishna's personal aspect. Any other comments or questions? So the second point is that Our topic is that in becoming more personal in our dealings. So we have heard of Krishna is person and the person is personal Now we too need to become personal and that means we see people as conscious beings not as philosophical categories Now what do I mean by philosophical categories? I travel across the world and Many devotees tell me that And we feel that other devotees treat us so impersonal in fact, I was at an interfaith forum in Washington DC and we're talking about experiences So there are some spiritual teachers and spiritual members who are from who whose philosophical orientation is impersonal But sometimes they are more personal in their dealings than devotees whose actually philosophical orientation is personal So you wonder why does this happen? But this happens because of a misapplication of a principle What is the misapplication? That if there is Kanishta Adhikari, there is Madhyam Adhikari, there is Uttam Adhikari Kanishta Adhikari is a person who sees God only in their dealings Madhyam Adhikari is a first level devotee, Madhyam Adhikari is a second level devotee Or you could say third level, second level and first level.
So the lowest and the highest. So the second level devotee learns to discern Okay, this person is an envious person. Let me keep away from him Ishwara, for the Ishwara, there is devotion.
Prema, for those who are his devotees, there is Maitri. Krupa, for those who are innocent, for those who are innocent, for them there is compassion, there is mercy. And Vishudsu, for those who are envious, we keep a distance.
Upeeksha, this is how a Madhyam Adhikari is meant to differentiate So to some extent, differentiation or we could use the word discrimination, although the word discrimination today has a strongly negative connotation But differentiation is a characteristic of knowledge. That means, say a person who is sick and a person who is healthy To ordinary eyes, if a person is not very sick, that person might look normal. But if somebody has some spots on their face or something, a doctor might indicate, oh, you are getting the signs of smallpox.
Others might think just some small spots are there on the face. So differentiation is indicative of knowledge. When we have knowledge, we can differentiate.
And it is important to differentiate that, okay, who is a person who is a materialistic person, who is from an impersonalist orientation, what people's orientations are, philosophical orientations. It is important to differentiate that. So there are philosophical categories like this.
In many places, Krishna has these philosophical categories. He says, four kinds of people come to me, four kinds of people don't come to me. So we have these philosophical categories.
And then within bhakti circles also we have philosophical categories. This is my god family. This is the guru's disciple.
So we have these categories like this. Now, many times we reduce people to philosophical categories. But people are conscious beings.
They are not philosophical categories. So when we start treating, say somebody is from an impersonalist background, and then some devotees, for them, their conception of preaching is that they have learned some script and wherever they meet, just download that script. Well, that's one way of preaching.
Actually, preaching means to also understand where a person is at and what is the obstacle for them to come to Krishna and help remove that obstacle. So we might just, somebody who starts paying a lot of attention to scriptural study, then there are some devotees, the jnani, studying bhakti scripture, that is not jnani. Somebody starts paying a lot of attention to say fasting on Ekadashi or following rules very meticulously, you are becoming a smartha.
You are becoming a smartha brahmana kind of person. Smartha brahmana is a very ritualistic kind of adherent of the literal word of scripture. Somebody starts behaving in a particular way, immediately we impose a philosophical category on that person.
And then what happens? Once the philosophical category comes between us and them, we can't have a personal bond. So many times, especially if you are dealing with new people. So if you are dealing with new people at that time, often they may be coming from some spiritual background, some religious background, some traditional background, and they may have a certain understanding based on that.
And if somebody is from this organization, that is a Mayavadi organization, you are a Mayavadi. Now, when we start using labels like this, we fix labels on people like this, we alienate them. So sometimes we literally use those words, sometimes we don't use those words.
But we keep that prominently in the mind. Say if I am looking at you right now and I keep my hand between you and me, then the closer the hand is to me, to my eyes, the lesser I can see you. All that I can see is my hand only.
Now, that hand, if I move it further and further away, then I can see you also. So similarly for us, our philosophical categorization becomes like a blocker of our vision. So if somebody starts saying, okay, I believe so and so, this person is, this person is, even among devotee circles, we all have our conception of what is Krishna consciousness.
And there are some people who are so judgmental, even devotees, if you come in front of them, you have to justify your existence as a devotee to them. What are you doing as a devotee? So it's like they almost, everybody is guilty unless proven innocent. You have to prove to me that you are not a deviant.
Whatever you do, they just, so what happens for them, they become so judgmental, they start alienating others. Now Krishna consciousness is far bigger than our conception of Krishna consciousness. There are so many ways in which different people according to their backgrounds can be Krishna conscious.
There might be a particular way which we find very uplifting and that is wonderful. But different devotees from their backgrounds, their particular personal situations, might be having different ways to be Krishna conscious. So when you bring this filter, then what happens is that filter prevents us from seeing properly.
And we start seeing not the person, but we start seeing only the category. That philosophical categorization is meant to aid understanding. It is not meant to obstruct communication.
So if we don't learn to see properly, like I said, the philosophical categorization is a tool, it should be used. But it should not come so close to our vision that we can't see anything at all. Because you can see only the philosophical categorization.
It's like a tool, when required, we use it. When not required, we can put it aside. You have the example of Shri Prabhupada, when he was in America, first, one of the first places he stayed was at Mishra Yoga Institute.
And Dr. Mishra, he was a yoga teacher. And he was from an impersonal orientation. And Prabhupada and he would have quite heated conflicts about philosophy.
I was recently talking with Giriraj Maharaj. Giriraj Maharaj is one of Prabhupada's closest disciples. And he is writing a book about Prabhupada's struggles in getting the Jew temple built.
So there, he says, Prabhupada told him once that there is Dr. Mishra and I would argue like anything. But culturally, we were friends. So he said that was like a revelation for him.
So philosophy is just one aspect in our dealing with people. So philosophically, we can be at loggerheads. But culturally, we can be congenial.
Culturally, we can be personal. Culturally, we can be warm. Culturally, we can be caring.
In fact, his Mishra, he writes in Nilam that I was so busy in my work, and I think that I would not properly cook my food or everything. And he says, when I was staying, Prabhupada was very punctual about his timing of eating. So he would cook food for me also.
And he made sure that my health stayed good. So Prabhupada did not say, you are a Mayavadi, you starve to death. Not like that.
So culture should not be given up in the name of philosophical category. At the basic cultural level, everybody needs to be respected as a human being. आत्मांपं येन सर्वत्र समंपश्यति यो अर्जुन। सुखंपाय दिवान दुख्खं सयोगी पर मोहमतः। Krishna says, who are the topmost yogis? He says, they see that all living beings are similar to me.
In what sense similar? In their happiness and in their distress. This is 6.32 in the Bhagavad Gita. This is a more spiritually evolved rendition of the golden rule in the Ten Commandments.
Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you. So Krishna is saying, why should you do unto others like that? Because आत्मांपं येन सर्वत्र समंपश्यति. See that they are all souls.
They are essentially like you. So if we are labelled and neglected, how would we feel? Similarly, others would feel like that. So philosophical categorization should not come in the way of our personal interaction.
Yes, based on if a person is an aggressive mayavadi, a person is trying to impose their impersonalism on others, then we may need to keep a distance on them. But most people are not like that. For them philosophy is one part of their life and they want to see how you deal with each other.
If they are ready to deal warmly, they are not imposing their ideology, then we don't have to impose our ideology on them. We don't have to necessarily label them also. So when we see people as conscious beings, not as philosophical categories, then we can start being personal with them.
Within the devotee community also, we can have some devotees who may label others as these are liberals. Or somebody may say this is conservative. And then there can be a conflict among them also.
We are all devotees. We are all trying to practice bhakti. Somebody may say this is a very loose devotee.
This is a very strict devotee. So now both of them can have labels like that. Now yes, some different devotees may perceive and practice bhakti differently.
But still we are devotees. We don't have to take this label to such a high level that it obstructs our normal dealings. Now once there was a nun who used to take care of young orphan girls.
And these girls, they would grow up and then they would go into life. So she was asking a young girl, what do you want to become when you grow up? So this girl said, I want to become a prostitute. What? Hail Mary, Jesus, what have I heard? What did you say, oh girl? She says, I want to become a prostitute.
Thank God, I thought you wanted to become a protestant. So sometimes the philosophical categorization can become so over imposing that one may start thinking of becoming a protestant is worse than becoming a prostitute. So sometimes we may not literally say like that, but we start treating devotees, even devotees who have some differences from us, almost like untouchables.
This person is like that, this person is like that. Generally if you want to deal with people, see them as conscious beings. We have differences, but we have so many things which are similar.
You see from the broader world's point of view, 99% we have similarities and 1% is difference. So this is the second point, I was going to make that. We treat people as conscious beings, not as philosophical categories.
That is how we can become more personal. Any comments or questions about this? Okay, so I go to the last point that we need to take time to form high resolution conception of people. What do I mean by high resolution conception? See we all have certain conception of people and our brain is finite.
So the brain can process only so much information at a time. Say right now you are in this class and you are hearing the class. Now you might hear some sound of maybe some door opening, somebody picking up something, something moving in the background.
Now if that noise is not very strange or out of place. Okay, it is there, you are aware that noise is there, but you don't pay much attention to it. But suddenly you hear a scream.
Hey, what's that? Who is that? Immediately we pay attention to it. So for most of the time we have a low resolution conception of many things. Say for example, right now I am sitting on this chair.
Now I just have a low resolution conception that okay this is something which I want to sit on. But if this starts shaking and breaking, then hey what happened? What kind of chair is this? Is it not a strong enough chair? So then I pay more attention to it. So functionally, for me a chair is normally just something to sit on.
But if it is a place where I am going to stay for many days, I am going to spend many hours in that chair, then I will see how comfortable is it, how strong is it, does it have a backrest, does it have a headrest, is it large enough. So then I will pay more attention and then it will become a more high resolution conception of things. By low resolution and high resolution, we have these images.
Sometimes we send images. It is a low resolution, it is a light image, just a few KB. Higher resolutions and then one picture can be into not just MBs but even GBs.
So we often have a low resolution conception of things for functional purposes. And the same applies to people also. We have a low resolution conception of people.
Say even with respect to relatives, family members, devotees who work with us. So for example, some devotee is the cook. Then our conception of that person is a cook.
Cook means this person should make the food ready in time and it should taste good. That is the only conception we have. But the cook is not just a machine who is producing food in time.
Cook is a person. So to form a high resolution conception means we pay conscious attention to them. We put time and thought about them.
And we put time and thought in thinking about them, in understanding them, in focusing on them. Not just as tools for getting something done. Because our life is so fast-paced that we operate with a low resolution conception of most people.
So a particular person, this is my boss. And that is all we have. Okay, this boss is very demanding, always makes me do this, do that, do that.
But if you spend time talking with people, not talking with people, more than talking with people, listening to people. Just let them speak and listen. If we listen to people, and not just for the purpose of getting it over with, but actually to understand.
If we feel that people around us are boring, most likely it is we who are not listening. Everybody is very interested. Now it's up to us whether we want to be interested in them or not.
But most often if people feel boring, it is because we are not listening. Because everybody has multiple layers. Everybody has different kinds of desires, different kinds of emotions, different kinds of experiences.
And if we listen to them, then gradually they will start speaking. And they will start speaking such interesting things. So we can learn about them, we can learn through their experiences, something which can help us in our own lives also.
But we need to, a key strategy for forming a high resolution picture of others, conception of others, is listening to them. Most of the times when we interact with people also, it's more for speaking to them or instructing or advising them. Generally most people are stingy about giving charity.
Because it's my hard earned money, how can I give it? Little hesitant to give charity. Of course there are people who are generous also. But generally we don't give charity very easily.
But there is one charity which we give very liberally. Can anyone guess? Yes, advice. Which means that nothing we give as freely as advice.
And sometimes our advice may be genuinely well-meaning. And on a few occasions it might also be good for them. But still people need to feel understood before they will understand us.
I'll conclude with this point. First point I said is that by listening to them we form a high resolution conception of them. And if with a low resolution conception we give them some advice, that may terribly misfire.
Because we have not understood them at all. But even if we have understood them, still understanding them is not important. Making them feel that we have understood them is also important.
Say suppose we go to a doctor. And as soon as we sit on the chair, doctor says, Okay, you take this medicine, you take this medicine, you take this medicine. You can go now.
What happened? I didn't even tell you my symptoms. No, no, no. I am expert in them.
By just looking at you I understood the symptoms. And I gave you this medicine. We may feel, maybe this doctor really understands me.
Now even if the doctor is expert enough to understand simply by observation, taking the prescription is not just a matter of giving the prescription. Taking the prescription also requires some faith. The patient has to have faith that his doctor will understand him.
So similarly, when we give advice to people, then at that time we need to consider that actually whether this person feels I have understood them. So when we feel that, when we can make them feel that, then they will understand what we are saying. Now Krishna has this very empathic approach in the Bhagavad Gita.
In 6.33 and 6.34, Arjuna says that controlling the mind is very difficult. chanchalam manah krishna brahmadhevalavartanam tasyaham nikraham mayi vayoriva sudhushkaram Just controlling the mind is more difficult than controlling the will. And now Krishna could have told Arjuna in response to this, Just buck up.
Don't give excuses. Use your will power. Control your mind.
He doesn't do that. First thing he says is asamshaya mahabaho manodurnikraham chalam abhyasena tukamteya vayyagena chikrunyate asamshaya mahabaho Undoubtedly, it is very difficult to control the mind. manodurnikraham chalam But then he says abhyasena tukamteya By practice.
Just keep practicing. You will be able to control. Detachment.
Detachment means don't expect immediate results. It will take time. Keep practicing and detach from immediate results.
Now essentially, Krishna does not change the prescription. Krishna doesn't say, oh you are saying mind control is difficult, you are not able to control it. In fact, next verse is very categorical.
He says if you don't control the mind, yoga will not lead to success. You have to control it. But that half a verse makes a lot of difference.
First, he assures. So many times when people are disturbed by something, they need assurance more than guidance. They need encouragement more than enlightenment.
Encouragement means, yes you can do it. It's not catastrophic. This is not the end of the world.
Enlightenment means, ok this is how Krishna will be acting. This is what we should do. This is how the reality is.
So when we form a high resolution conception of people, then I am talking about becoming personal in our dealings. Personal in our dealings means when people feel that they are understood and then we give them some suggestions, we give them some advice. They feel a personal connection.
And sometimes just by listening to people, even if we are not able to give any solution, they just feel understood. And that itself is a big unburden for them. So therefore, it's important for each one of us to at least for the people who we work closely with, regularly with, we need to form a high resolution conception of them.
Not just a low resolution conception. Because a low resolution conception with some negative labels will easily form. This person never comes on time.
This person is forgetful. This person is domineering. This person is irresponsible.
This person is lazy. Because when we are working with people, their weaknesses will come out prominently because they will inconvenience us also. And we can't deny that.
But if we reduce people to those labels, then we will become cold in our dealings with them. And then, the personal, sweet interaction that can be there, that won't be there. When we are impersonal, our interactions are only transactional.
You do this, I'll do this. It's like a transaction. You go to a shopkeeper, we pay some money, and they give us something.
That's a transaction. But with devotees, we want our interactions not just to be transactional, but transformational. Transformational.
Devotees are attracted to Krishna. Devotees are devoted to Krishna. And by associating with them, we also want to get the desire for Krishna.
We want to get the devotion for Krishna. That's a transformation we want to happen. And Prabhupada, he was able to attract so many people and transform so many people, not just by the classes that he gave.
He was very warm and personal in dealing with people. And that's how he attracted them. So, if we learn to be personal with people, as Srila Prabhupada was, then we will find that our interactions will rise from being transactional to being transformational.
Others will become elevated, we will ourselves become elevated. Our interactions will be something which we look forward to. They will be enriching for each other.
And then, the devotee community will become a warm place of shelter for each of us, where we feel a sense of connection and belonging. And with that sense of connection and belonging, whatever troubles life may send our way, we will feel ourselves sheltered and equipped to face those troubles and move on in our journey towards Krishna. So, I'll summarize.
I spoke on the topic of becoming more personal in our beings. I started, I spoke three points. First was, Krishna is a person and is personal.
I talked about how Krishna knows each cow, each cow, and calls them by name. And Krishna takes time out to look at each gopi and reciprocate love with her through glances. So, Krishna is personal.
Personal doesn't necessarily mean there have to be effusive public displays of affection. In subtle, just eye contact, just a touch on the shoulder, subtle things can also convey deep affection and they can be more personal. So, Krishna is a person and is personal.
And second point I spoke was, see people not as philosophical categories, but as conscious beings. When we practice bhakti, sometimes, although our philosophy is personal, our dealings tend to be impersonal. Whereas others whose philosophy might be impersonal, their dealings are personal.
Why does that happen? Because we take the philosophical categorization as the sole definition of people. It's like, we take that palm and bring it so close to the eye that we can't see anything at all. So, we form a label of people.
This person is a mayavadi, this person is a materialist, this person is a deviant, this person is a liberal, this person is conservative. And that way, that label prevents us from seeing those people as persons. And Prabhupada would argue with Dr. Mishra, but he was friends.
So, our philosophical categorization should not come in the way of our cultural interactions with people. So, even if, whatever category, whatever personality, whatever their philosophy might be, we need to treat them as conscious living beings. And just as we are neglected, if we are labeled, we feel bad, so too they will feel bad.
So, the highest yoga Krishna says that yogi sees the equality of themselves with all living beings. And then we learn to think from other people's perspective. What will give them joy? What will cause them pain? That's one way we can become personal.
And the third point I talk about is we need to form a high-resolution conception of people to personally connect with them. So, functionally, we have a low-resolution conception of things. Like the chair is simply something I want to sit on, something to sit on.
But then, if I pay attention, there is so much thought I can put in how a chair is and get a clearer understanding. So, like that for people also, functionally, because our life is so fast-paced and our brain has finite capacities. So, we have low-level conception.
This person is a cook. This person is a homemaker. This person is a software engineer.
This person is a book distributor. Whatever. Now, yes, that's useful functionally, but people are not just their roles.
So, to form a high-resolution conception means to understand them as people with feelings, people with desires, people with hopes, people with distresses. And if people seem boring, that's usually because we are not listening. If we just listen, people will speak so many interesting things and everybody is a multi-layered complex person in various ways.
And one strategy for forming a high-resolution principle is high-resolution conception is listening. The other is making people feel that they are understood. So, we need to take time to understand them and make them feel that we have understood them.
A doctor who prescribes without hearing the patient will not be taken very seriously by the patient. Similarly, even if we give good advice, even if we have understood them, if we make sure that they have understood them, they feel understood, then they will take whatever we are saying more seriously. And in that way, when we listen to people and make them feel understood, as they feel unburdened, then by that, the bond in the devotee community will become stronger.
You will feel a sense of connection and belonging. And that is how we will be sheltered in this troubled world as we move toward Krishna. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna. Is there any question anyone has? Yes. I have one more question.
On the last point, we make others feel. So, in terms of Christian community, first we have to feel that like same, if they are interested at all, otherwise they will feel like no. Correct.
So, Okay. So, while preaching and meeting people for the first time, do we need to form a high resolution picture of them at that time? If they are not interested, then we will be wasting our time. Yes, definitely.
We cannot have time to form high resolution picture of too many people. We just don't have that much time or even brain capacity. So, what we need to do is at least begin with the most important people in our lives and take time periodically to form that high resolution picture of them.
As far as the new people are concerned, it's largely based on our experience, our impressions. And in general, if you have to give time to new people, it has to be reciprocal. So, if we are distributing books, we distribute books.
And somebody has a lot of questions. This is where I stay. This is my number.
You can call me and we can talk. Or if you come here, we can talk. And if they come here, that means that they are serious.
Isn't it? So, if they show some commitment, commitment is coming, then we can have some reciprocity. So, on the field, we can spend a few minutes talking with them. Usually, when I am travelling, I don't like to spend much time talking with people.
Once I was in India travelling and I was chanting and some person said, Swamiji, I have a question. I was chanting. So, I said, later I am busy.
He said, what are you busy? This japa you can do anytime. He said, no, no, I want to complete this first. So, I completed my japa.
After about 45 minutes, I asked him, what is your question? He said, I forgot. So, basically I realized he was just to kill his time in the train. He had nothing to do.
He wanted to ask some question. So, we can't just indiscriminately give time to people. We have to be intelligent.
So, we definitely have to wait for some indication of commitment from the other person. Then we can give more time. But I was talking primarily about people who are already committed in various ways.
With them, if we operate on our own resolution, that can be alienating. But with new people, it can be reciprocal. Does it answer your question? Thank you.
Any other question? Yes. Yes, sir. Swamiji, you are saying that dealing with devotees must not be transactional, but should be transformational.
But my understanding is, if we interact with people or devotees, in devotional service, even that should be transactional, because by doing devotional service more and more, they transform the place. Okay. So, if we are dealing with devotees for doing devotional service, isn't devotional service inherently transformational? So, can dealing with devotees be transactional? Okay.
See, there is conscious purification and there is conscious inspiration and you put it as subconscious purification. So, any class about Krishna we hear, it's purifying. But when we come for a class, it's not just that we want to hear about Krishna.
We also want to get some inspiration at a conscious level. Isn't it? Okay, I learned something valuable today. It is said that even if we don't learn anything valuable from our class, still, because it's about Krishna, it can be purifying.
But even that purification is very gradual. We may not even perceive that so easily. So, similarly, there are some classes which are consciously inspiring, action-inducing, intellectually stimulating, whatever.
All Krishna Katha will be spiritually purifying. But we are talking about also its effect on us within our conscious experience. Bhakti works at multiple levels.
So, even when we don't feel like chanting, if we chant, we will get purified by that. But if we chant and we feel connected with Krishna when we are chanting, we are attentive, we feel connected, we get much more strength by that. So, similarly, it's true in principle that any service that we do in the association of devotees, that will be transformational.
But that transformational may be subconscious and too gradual for us to perceive. But some devotees, they are so warm and personal and kind that we just feel, I want to be with this person. So, now we shouldn't stop doing service just because it is transactional.
So, if some devotees are just like, fix it. Fix it, you know, come. What is the problem with it? You know, I once was staying at a temple and in charge of the temple, he came to me and he said that, he is very candid, he goes, he says, if you have anything which you need to get done, come to me, just call me.
If you want to talk, call this person. So, I don't have time to talk. He didn't say that, but he made it clear.
Now, I appreciate that, you see, he is that, some people are in that mood of, mood of fixing up and doing things. Now, from those people to expect that they will have a high resolution function, concept, that will be difficult for them. And our expectation may also be unrealistic.
So, there are some devotees who, say, especially somebody is a manager, they have to do a lot of things. They will have to be in that mood of getting things done. So, they may have to necessarily operate with a low resolution conception of people.
And that's why devotees who work together on high demand projects, it is good that sometimes they take out time together and just be with each other for non-managerial purposes, just for personal spiritual interactions. That is the time when they can form high resolution picture of each other. So, we shouldn't give up interactions just because they are transactional.
We should know that transformation is happening. But, at the same time, we need to also, ourselves, consciously act in warm and personal ways by which people feel enlightenment. People should feel not that devotional service is a duty that I have to do, that devotional service is something which I look forward to do.
So, when will that come? Then those whom we are working with, they are warm and personal. Say, if you come to do some service, and everybody is so busy, okay, come, now do this. Nobody even looks at us, nobody smiles at us, nobody greets us.
And if I still do that service, we will feel awe. If you come, oh, wonderful, you are here, everybody smiles warmly, we feel it's a small smile. But that makes us feel welcome.
So, it's not necessarily a huge amount of time which has to be spent for that. But, yes, devotional service is always transformational. But, for us to get the inspiration to continue it, if it is consciously also transformational, not just transactional, that is helpful.
Okay, thank you. Any other questions? Vishnu is having questions. So, thank you very much.
Krishna Prabhupada Ki Jai. Kuntaraj Srimad Bhagavatam Ki Jai. Itai Gaur Premanandai.
Krishna Prabhupada Ki Jai.