In our offices how can we be socially involved in contemporary discussions without getting spiritually distracted?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, when we work in companies, just to be in the social circle so that we can grow professionally, we have to discuss some topics which people are discussing. It may be politics, it may be movies, it may be sports, it may be current affairs in general.
So, what do we do? See, there are three different aspects. Especially in today’s world, India is also becoming more and more post-modern. Post-modern means, you know, you do what you want to do and you let me do what I want to do.
So, you don’t impose your thing on me, I won’t impose my thing on you. So, if we show people I’m not interested in the subject, people may initially try to pressure us, but if they see that we’re not interested, as long as we’re good at our job, people don’t mind it so much. So, in principle, I’m not saying this, we should be totally aloof, but we can be selective.
So, you may decide that, you know, if they’re going to talk about movies, I’m not interested. Or you may decide if they’re going to talk about cricket, I’m not interested. If they’re going to talk about politics, I’m not interested.
You can, you know, it doesn’t matter. It’s not that even in offices also you’ll see that it’s not that everybody necessarily joins the discussion. And it’s not, it’s ultimately the companies socializing is important, networking is important.
But in networking also there can be different things you can network. See, I would say that generally when you talk with people, the most interesting subject for anyone is themselves. Isn’t it? It’s not politics.
It’s not cricket. It’s not the PM Modi or anyone. It’s themselves.
You just talk with people about themselves, their life, their experience. They feel good about it. And then, you know, from there, some rapport is established.
You at least understand this person, where he’s coming from, what he’s doing. And we also don’t hear a judgmental way. Somebody says, I did this, I did this.
They’ve done their thing, that’s okay. We don’t hear a judgmental way. So I would say that we can learn the art of deflecting the conversation.
So many times people talk, talk because you have something to say. Not because you have to say something. the point is that many times people socialize just talking something.
But if you ask them about themselves, that’s much more interesting for them. This happened, this happened. And then you can bond at that level.
That’s the second point. First point is you can select among the subjects also which to talk and which not to talk about. Second is just talk more about themselves.
And third is I don’t see any virtue in being ignorant about contemporary affairs. In our initial stages, it’s good because we’re already so obsessed with that. It’s good to not get to connect with that.
But we can in a regulated way be aware. You can decide every day with 5 minutes or 10 minutes, I’ll look at the news. And if you do that much, you are overall aware of the affairs and then you feel if something is interesting, you may decide, okay, I’ll spend 10 minutes more, I’ll read this article or this article.
It’s best not to make it excessive. And you can learn that. Someday I’ll spend half an hour, 45 minutes, one hour reading something, newspapers or news on the internet.
Next time I’ll decide I’ll not read so much. There’s no, I would say that as devotees we need to be also relevant. And relevant means that not that we have to be expert in current affairs, but we have to be aware of current affairs.
So, generally there are many many newspapers which give feeds. You just get the headlines. And then you just read the headlines and then that comes in the mailbox, that comes in app, and then you make a plan.
I’m not going to spend too much time. It’s not that every one hour I’m going to look at the headlines. But once a day or once in whatever you decide, look at it and then if something is, if it’s important then glance through it.
So, that way if you do, it’s, be reasonably aware. And we live in a particular world. Being aware of the world’s situation is also important.
It’s for our practical needs also. Cricket is the language of India, I would say. In a sense, people, everybody understands cricket.
So, we don’t have to analyze this batsman, you know, why did he play this shot like this? Why did he happen like that? Just having general awareness is okay. You may be able to, sometimes you may be able to present something, some philosophical point also, through a cricketing example. So, what we could do is, if you’re reading news or something, maybe once a week or once in 15 days, just take some time off and think, okay, what news did I read this week? How much was it useful? And if you find that it’s becoming too excessive, you can decrease it.
When you feel that, you know, okay, what I’m doing is okay enough. Just have some, that time it may not be, someday it may become excessive also. But have some parameter by which, have some time when you can objectively judge it and then you can cut down.
So, we should not appear, we should not appear to people as ignoramuses. They’re ignorant completely. In the dark of everything, we shouldn’t appear like that.
What we should, we can, see, there is, there are three things. There is ignorant, there is uninterested, and there is nosy. Now, nosy means smoking your nose into other people’s affairs.
So, if somebody is ignorant, you know, if I say, I don’t know who is the president of, who is the Prime Minister of India. It’s a stupid thing. I should be aware of that.
That much awareness you should have. So, uninterested means, okay, I know this, but I don’t care much about it. So, for example, in India, there are so many, somebody, kabaddi, well, I know, I don’t care about it.
Now, India’s kabaddi world championship is going on, okay, who cares? So, it is uninterested. Third is nosy means that, you know, I don’t know much about this, but still, I want to, I want to poke my nose into it. I want to speak something about it, just to show that I have an opinion.
That nosy is not at all appreciated. Especially, if you don’t know anything and then you speak something, you know, we just feel, we just alienate people. So, you don’t have to be nosy.
We don’t have to be ignorant also. We can be uninterested. That means just be basically aware, but that is not a subject I want to talk about.
I can talk if required, but that’s not my interest. And nobody can blame us for not being interested in things. People accept, you see, that is one advantage of an individualistic culture is that people accept you for what you are, if you are strong.
If you are not strong, they will push you and try to pull you to their side, but once you accept, okay, you will be your way. Okay? Hare Krishna. Take care.