If someone is facing with a life-threatening disease, how can we explain to them that life has a higher purpose?
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so if somebody is going through a life threatening disease, how do we explain to them about that life has a higher purpose it a lot depends on what state they are in see when Abhimanyu is killed Krishna does not speak any philosophy to Arjuna Krishna doesn’t even mention that you are not the body, you are the soul, don’t be attached to Arjuna he doesn’t say anything like that what he says essentially is that Arjuna is so angry and he is telling all your brothers are all your weapons just bangles, could any of you protect my brother so Krishna tells him that oh Arjuna your brothers are as grief struck as you are please don’t increase their grief by speaking such harsh words a worthy person tries to decrease the grief of others, not increase their grief so he doesn’t speak any philosophy, he is very empathic he is very understanding and he tries to within that frame of reference, elevate it so basically people when they face some life threatening disease, in their mental state they go through various phases, maybe initially there is resentment maybe initially there is denial it’s not happening to me, then there is resentment, why is this happening to me then gradually there is acceptance what can I do about it so whatever phase they are in we have to assist them the best way we can so sometimes the best way we can preach is by not preaching what that means is that we usually need to make a human connection before we can make a spiritual connection if people feel that we understand we understand the pain they are going through we are there to assist them, we are there to help them in whatever way we can then gradually they become a little more receptive so we shouldn’t see people’s distress as simply an opportunity to preach to them our purpose is to help them and sometimes we help them by giving spiritual knowledge sometimes we just help them by being empathic and by understanding sometimes we help them by practically assisting once Prabhupada was in a place in America it’s like a condo the devotees had a centre on one side and an old lady staying on the other side and this old lady was always complaining many of the devotees had come from hippie backgrounds these people are so noisy, they are so messy she was complaining and she was creating a lot of problem for the devotees and what happens for devotees anybody who opposes devotion that is a simple label, they are demons so the devotees came and told Prabhupada Prabhupada, this lady is a demon, she is troubling her so much so then Prabhupada had gone for a morning walk Prabhupada heard about it and then he came back and instead of going back to their side, he went to that side Prabhupada greeted her, Prabhupada talked politely with her and typical old people talk how are you doing, how are your children, what do they do and how is your health almost like 15 minutes or something Prabhupada talked with her and then Prabhupada just very cordially left and the devotees wondered, Prabhupada did not allow them to chant Hare Krishna there was a big question mark on their face so Prabhupada said, sometimes old people become lonely and because of loneliness they become irritable so Prabhupada just left and then after sometime that old lady came and met the devotees and said, your Swamiji is such a nice person and she withdrew her complaints so Prabhupada brought her closer to Krishna without speaking even one word about Krishna so he just established a human connection so it is not that we should not speak philosophy but we have to understand most people need to feel understood before they become ready to understand like suppose you are sick and you go to a doctor and as soon as you sit on the patient’s chair the doctor says, take this medicine, take this medicine I already know your symptoms now even if the diagnosis is right the prescription is also right unless the patient has the confidence that the prescription is right the patient won’t take it so people need to feel understood before they become ready to understand so when people are in distress we have to find out how to establish a human connection with them and if somebody is ranting, how can God be so cruel why did God do this to me there is no need to think that I have to defend God over there God is actually big enough to even accommodate our anger towards Him if somebody becomes angry towards God we don’t have to say that they are blaspheming God or something like that no, at that time it was just a human reaction when Draupadi was attempted to be dishonored, she was saved but after that nobody actually saw Krishna coming, it was just that her robe was inexhaustible and later on in the forest Krishna came to meet her and when Krishna came Draupadi broke down and said Krishna, I am your friend, I am your relative, I am your devotee I deserve your protection, why did you come to protect me and Krishna didn’t say how dare you challenge my perfect plan Krishna played a very human role he said, I didn’t know about the gambling match if I had known I would have stopped it at all costs he says, I was in Dwarka and there was a demon Shalva would attack Dwarka and I was busy defending Dwarka as soon as I came to know, I rushed here oh Draupadi, I have heard how amid such distress you stuck true to Dharma your devotion to Dharma is glorious and you will be glorified and those who have dishonored you will be punished, have faith so he consoled her, he encouraged her so even if those people criticize God don’t try to, unless they are ready don’t give philosophy if they are in an emotional mood, just try to understand their emotions make them feel understood see when somebody doesn’t feel understood it is like, just as we need air for breathing our heart needs the oxygen our oxygen is understanding if we don’t feel understood, then just like a person is gasping for oxygen they will hit someone, grab something, they will do anything so like that when people are not understood they can speak all kinds of irrational things and we start arguing with those irrational things well, it doesn’t work, because they are gasping for the oxygen of understanding just hear them out let them rant whatever they want to and then they calm down and find the right way so thank you very much