If we are good at something that we do for our career, how can we bring Krishna into it?

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Transcript

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So if we are good At a particular field Say writing or performing But there it’s all about achievement Ego and money So how do we bring Krishna into something Which is not being directly done as a temple service But is more of a career for us Broadly speaking If we consider Bhaktivinoda Thakur One of his longings He said that I long for the time When high court judges Would be Vaishnavas Would be devotees They would be wearing tilak and they would be doing Their administrative duty Now if you consider How is this going to happen If it is going to happen One way could be that Devotees become so influential Devotees form a government Devotees rule a country And then they appoint Devotees as judges That may happen But that doesn’t seem to be a possibility In the near future Now we have difficulty enough managing our own movement What to speak of managing the world Or managing a country It’s quite difficult The other could be that devotees become so Competent in their particular fields That Even secular governments They recognize the competence of a devotee And The Devotional faith of a devotee Is a personal matter They don’t They are not going to be concerned about that Positively or negatively But they see the material competence of a devotee And they appoint a devotee to become a high court judge Bhaktivinoda Thakur himself Followed that chart He was at a time when The British government was ruling India And the Britishers had a very strong bias Against Indians Indians are low class, unintelligent people Like Rudyard Kipling had a famous Poem where he said that it is the white man’s Burden to civilize The African The brown and the black people So they considered him uncivilized But Bhaktivinoda Thakur by the sheer Competence of his work Was able to excel And he rose to a very high position in the judicial hierarchy So if I feel there are three broad Possibilities That somebody, for most people Their job and their career is primarily Functional I just need something to earn a livelihood, have a position And have a Carry on my material life So like many students In India study engineering But very few are really interested in engineering That’s just a way to a career for them So then in that situation Somebody may not go very deep into it You do what is required And grow in a career in a reasonable way Whatever is required But for some people, they have a passion for their field Even when I was studying engineering I could see that In every class of 50 There were 5 students who were into studies And not just into studies so that they would get marks They really loved the subject Now for such people To be told that this is just material If they become devotees This is material, give it up And practice bhakti That is violence to them That is where their whole consciousness Is invested And Such people, their consciousness will naturally be there And they can absorb themselves in it And they can excel in it Arjun was like that with archery Day and night He would just be thinking of how to Excel in his archery skills And then he was able to use it for Krishna’s service But when he was practicing His archery He probably didn’t have an idea that in future There is going to be a dharma yuddha A war for the sake of dharma in which I will be able to use my archery skills He was just good at that It was a part of his kshatriya dharma And he excelled in it So In principle For us if we have been gifted in some area Then to pursue that Wholeheartedly Is not contrary to the principles of bhakti If we can see That these talents Or these interests are gifts given by Krishna to me So If this is a gift given by Krishna to me Then with this gift I am meant to make a contribution With some services we can make a direct contribution Say if somebody knows how to sing How to speak They will be able to directly use it in Krishna’s service Some things may not be so directly usable in Krishna’s service But there can come a time in future When that may be usable Or indirectly also If a person is a devotee And they are They do well in their field In their professional field And people want to know what makes you tick And then They come to know what a devotee is The devotee presents it appropriately This is what keeps me calm, this is what keeps me focused This is what gives me a purpose to my life And then they can be attracted to Krishna through that So We can The intention can be spiritual If we understand that this interest Is a gift There are three levels To have To have To have ability Is a gift To know that we have ability Is a greater gift Because many people have some ability but they don’t even know it But to know that our ability Is a gift Is the greatest gift To know that my ability Is not just mine It is a gift given by Krishna to me So if we have that attitude Then this is something which Krishna has given me Let me use it in Krishna’s service So it requires Practice, it requires commitment And we do it There is a certain amount of ego which might come in But if we are If we, there is exclusive Devotion and there is inclusive devotion Exclusive devotion means We come to a temple, we come to satsang We do our puja, we do our sadhana That is directly connecting with Krishna Inclusive devotion means Our job, our career We see, we do all those also In a devotional mode So if we give adequate time For exclusive devotion Then we develop a personal sense of connection With Krishna We have an attitude of service And then that service attitude can be carried Into Out the rest of our life And we can, if we do not have time For this exclusive devotion If we are only doing what we like to do And that’s all that we do Then what will happen is The sense that I am the doer will become dominant And we will forget Krishna We may start If I like to sing and that is all that I do I don’t associate with devotees I don’t directly connect with Krishna Then slowly I will forget that This is coming from Krishna and this is meant for Krishna But if we give due time for Exclusive devotion Then we can practice inclusive devotion And that is where most of our life Lifetime will be Does that answer your question? Thank you