If two devotees are not speaking to each other, what should be my consciousness?

From: Krishna Dhan Das

Because in 7th canto Shrila Prabhupada says in purports (7.5.12) that  There is no question of enmity between servants. How can avoid offence towards those devotees (considering them on material platform)?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Question from Krishnalanka Prabhu If two devotees are not speaking to each other What should be my consciousness? Because in 7th Canto, Srila Prabhupada says in Parpur 7.5.12 That there is no question of enmity between servants How can we avoid offence towards those devotees Considering them on material platform? Answer In the Chaitanya Bhagwat it is also said that If there is some difference between two devotees Then one should not take the side of any devotee We should understand that there is some transcendental element in that And we should avoid becoming a part of the controversy Or taking any side in the controversy In general So, when Srila Prabhupada is talking that there is no question of enmity between servants He is talking from the ideal level That there should not be But we know that in Srila Prabhupada’s life itself There were often strong differences of opinion between his disciples He had to personally intervene to resolve those differences This is not something that is unexpected It is certainly possible And there may be some incompatibilities between the natures of the two devotees That may make it difficult for them to relate with each other Or there may be some misunderstandings From some improper and incorrect communications Which may have created a barrier between the devotees Whatever be the case If we have either the authority or the relationship To try to build bridges among them We can try to do that Relationship means if we are close to both of them And if they have some level of trust within us Then we can try to act as a mediator and help Those two devotees to come closer Which is once again to come back on document terms Or if we are in an authority position We can, if the devotees are required to do some service together Inspire them, encourage them Guide them about how they can put aside their differences For the higher service of Krishna And if we place them in some service together Probably they may be forced to talk together And they will start seeing that the other person is not as bad as I had imagined him to be And that’s how they will also start practicing Krishna consciousness In a Vaishnav and devotional respectful way Something which they don’t seem to be able to do right now Because of their strong differences But if we don’t have either the relationship or the authority Position to intervene in their relationship And make it better for them Then we can continue our Krishna consciousness services And pray to Krishna that through some other senior devotee Or as the super soul in their hearts He bring those two devotees together And also we can learn from that experience And be proactive in our own interactions with other devotees So that we don’t come up in situations where There are similar walls between us and some other devotees If we find some misunderstanding forming between us and some devotees Then we can proactively clarify that misunderstanding And do whatever is required to mend and heal the relationship As far as committing offence towards those devotees is concerned Offence is only when we are intentionally envious of a person And want to pull that person down Because we can’t tolerate the success and the glorification of that person But if we are not able to feel proper respect for that person Because of certain situation That is not necessarily an offence Although that disrespectful attitude is cultivated for a long time Will eventually spill out through our words and actions In a way that is disrespectful and can border on offences So it’s best that even if we see certain deficiencies in the behaviour of certain devotees We can look at the other aspects of their personality Maybe their dedication to the mission of Shri Prabhupada and Krishna Their other good Vaishnava qualities And we can talk to some senior devotees who can see more good qualities in them And we can dwell on those good qualities whenever our mind starts Reminding us of their negative qualities Their inability to get along with each other And that’s how we can resolve the issue At least in our mind so that we don’t become offence