If during a class some children are distracting everyone, why isn’t anything done about it?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, you know, A, there are kids sitting right in front of the class but they are distracted and they are distracting us.
Then, what should we do about it? Why should this be allowed to go on? Why can’t something be done about it? Every one of us has to find out the best way we can celebrate Krishna. Suppose, say, we come together and chant. Some devotees chant very loudly.
Now, they chant so loudly that everybody else has to give their chanting and they don’t chant it. So, when this happens, what do you do? Sometimes, it may happen that the devotees have an intention of disturbing others. But that is the level where they chant, they can be attentive.
So, the best chanting is that we chant at a level where we are attentive to ourselves and we make others attentive to their chanting. If that is not happening, then we can move. Let’s move to some other thing.
Or we may tell that person, can you please chant softly? Sometimes they may listen to us, sometimes they may not listen to us. So, what do we do at that time? If they listen to us, fine. If they don’t listen to us, then move on.
So, in the particular situation, we have to find the best way to move towards it. Now, if that devotee is regularly coming and daily they are chanting loudly, it’s a daily issue, then we may tell them or tell some senior devotee, I mean that devotee can chant softly or can chant at a distance from others or whatever. Some practical situation we have to work out.
So, similarly, now for some people, they just absorb their chanting. That devotee is loud chanting may be disturbing you. It may not be disturbing someone else.
They are absorbing their chanting. That means there is three things over there. There is whatever the action that is happening, there is the effect of that action on a particular person and there is a response of that person.
So, some speakers when they are giving class, they just when a little noise is there, it’s enough. It’s a Prabhupada sitting which I love. Or they would be sitting like this.
They would be very particular about particular things. So, now each speaker has their own interest, has their own mood. They are all following Prabhupada.
But we are all individuals. Prabhupada, for example, he loved kachoris. Does that mean all followers of Prabhupada have loved kachoris? We have our individual nature.
We have our individual taste. On Prabhupada’s advice, we would offer him kachoris. And we will take care of the Mahabharata.
But that may not be our favorite food. So, we follow Prabhupada in his purposes. But in specific practices, it will be if no speaker would like to have distraction in the practice.
So, in general, Prabhupada would sit properly. But then Prabhupada would not do very long talks. Prabhupada talks for 20-25, 30-40 minutes at the most.
20-40 minutes at the most. Prabhupada would not do long talks. When he is in Prabhupada’s class, there would not be long question-answers after that.
So, we may find there are long question-answers. Then, if you really want to sit in a particular way, if you want to relax a little bit, that’s fine. So, we have to… There is a particular situation.
There is the effect of the situation on us. And there is our response. So, now, that same situation may disturb one person and not disturb another person.
The effect will be different depending on the particular person. So, if I find, then I have to find the right response. Now, for some parents, they may feel that if my child is sitting right in front, even if the child is not attending, at least some vibration is going in.
And they are getting something over there. Some purification is happening. Some benefit is there by that.
even if the children are not attending, still, the fact that they are willing to come and sit and they not just want to go and play, that is also normal. It’s not that every child can do that. So, I would say that rather than thinking in black and white, that this is right and this is wrong, you have to see that everything has its pluses and minuses.
So, sometimes Prabhupada would also take that attitude that when he would give me a class, he would give me classes in Hindi. But still, he would ask his western disciples to sit with him because some vibration is purified. But then sometimes, Prabhupada would say that because my western disciples are there, they don’t understand Hindi.
So, I am going to speak in English. And he would ask someone else to translate. So, Prabhupada would adjust upon that.
Sometimes understanding is important, sometimes it is the sign of how vibration is important. So, yes, most places, for example, when the class is going on, there is a separate arrangement for taking care of the children. So, there are special classes or there is special engagement of children.
But when other classes are there, creating some separate engagement for children is not always possible. You know, devotees also want to get classes and then somebody wants to, somebody who has to take care of the children, they can’t make him get classes there. So, specific arrangement is only practical.
Then, what we need to do is, within that situation, how much can I hear Krishna, care about Krishna? So, if there is some distraction, then maybe I go a little bit away from the distraction and try to hear. And the next time, I can plan. So, now you have this concern, other devotees are also there, they also heard about it.
They will think about it and they will do something practical about it. That means that the basic attitude is that Krishna… So, if there is a situation of distraction, even there I will try to hear as much as possible. But, it is also my responsibility to try to see if the situation of distraction can be avoided.
Sometimes it can be avoided, sometimes it can’t be avoided. So, if we let the situation get to us too much, then we will not be able to do our service to Krishna. So, our service to Krishna is that we want to hear about him.
Or, sometimes we want to speak about him. We all have to learn to tolerate different distractions. The first time when I came to America, I was going to college program and giving lectures.
Normally, we are used to, I am coming from India, we are used to people sitting here. And in this college program, there were boys and girls sitting next to each other. And the boy was pointing the girl.
And the girl was pointing the boy. And they were both of them sitting right in front of me. So, I didn’t even look anywhere else.
You can’t look somewhere else. So, then, another devotee told me, I thought this was a very difficult situation I went through. Then another devotee told me that he was going for a college program.
And when he was going, at that time, there were only one boy and girl were coming. And they came on the condition that the girl will sit on the lap of the boy. Now, what is the point? So, he said, I went for the program 2-3 times.
I thought, let me go. But they were not paying attention to me. They decided, let me go.
I will do a program somewhere else. The point is that, sometimes, we are put in situations where there is some distraction. And then we do the best that we can in that situation.
And afterwards, we decide whether being in that situation is worth it or we can do something else. So, normally, when you sit in front, you are attentive. But if I am sitting in front and you are distracted, then you sit a little behind or take some interest in it.
But when we are in a particular situation and there is nothing we can do immediately to change the situation, then rather than resentment getting in the way, we just accept and try to do what we can in that situation. At one level, we want the best facilities for serving Krishna. At another level, surrendering to Krishna means we do what we can with what we have now.
So, this is the facility I have. This is the level of attention. Calm surroundings I have.
Distracted surroundings. I do what I can with what I have now. So, that’s how we serve Krishna.
And certainly, we can try to create better facilities. But rather than resenting the present, we just try to connect with Krishna. So, if you are doing book distribution and some people