If my job requires me to do medical testing on animals how can that be reconciled with bhakti?
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Transcript
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So, if somebody is involved in animal research and that is a profession, so, how do we reconcile that with the principles of bhakti? In the Bhagavad Gita, the 18th chapter, Krishna says, sarvarambhagi doshyena dhume naagni revavdhuta. In 18.47, he says that all endeavors are covered by fire, just like smoke is a pure profession.
There is no profession in this world that is absolutely pure. Somebody might be writing software programs, but later on, that software program may be purchased by a slaughterhouse, which may be slaughtering animals. Now, how can we do Bioethics is a big field of research and there are devotees also who are connected with this field.
We can try to find out other devotees and with them, we can find out specifically what could be done in this field, to either minimize the karmic implications that we are getting or to find out a positive alternative within this field itself. So, options can be worked out. So, it is a problem and we can’t just trivialize the problem saying that I am practicing bhakti.
At the same time, we don’t have to aggravate the problem so much thinking that because of this, okay, what is the use of my bhakti? Bhakti is always potent. It’s like, say, somebody has fallen in a well and somebody is pulling them out of the well. So, that person outside is holding onto them from that well and is pulling them out.
But say that somebody inside the well is holding them down. Now, just because the person below is holding me down, that doesn’t mean I have to let go of the person who is above. Then they will pull me down completely.
What I have to do is keep holding onto the person above and try to break free from whatever is holding me down. So that means, Krishna is like the person above, we are in between, our circumstances, our attachments, our situation, that’s like holding us down. So, even if our circumstances hold on to us, still we can hold on to Krishna.
And gradually we’ll find out how we can rise closer towards Krishna even through those circumstances. Does that answer your question? Thank you. Hare Krishna.
Yes, Mataji.