In our spiritual life how can we be both satisfied and ambitious?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, how can we be satisfied and still be ambitious in spiritual life? Yes. As I said, if we see our talents as gifts from Krishna, then Krishna has given us certain gifts and we are meant to use them in a certain way. Even the most talented person, they may have certain skills, but actually, they have to practice to develop those skills.
Now, Arjuna, it is not that he just became a champion archer. It is not that he was born from the womb with a bow and arrow in his hands. And he was shooting arrows perfectly.
He practiced rigorously. And the Mahabharata describes that, no, all day he would be learning and night, practically, most of the night he would practice. That’s why one of his names is Gudakesh.
One who has conquered sleep. He would stay awake and he would practice. The story goes that once after a day of practice, he had come to the Gurukul where he was staying.
And at that time, because of a gust of wind, the lamp went off. At that time, he was eating food. And then, when the lamp went off, he found his hand properly went to the food and then went to his mouth.
And he said, if I can eat in the absence of light, why can’t I shoot in the absence of light? And then he started practicing that. To hit targets just based on that sound. And that capacity to hit invisible targets, that proved decisive or critical in his eventually serving Krishna in the Kurukshetra war.
So, Arjuna also worked hard to develop his Arjuna skills. So, if we have certain abilities, to develop those abilities, it is actually a certain structure. So, if you see it in that mood, there are certain abilities I have, certain resources I have, and in order to use them constructively, I have to practice.
I have to work at them. So, then that aspiration is not necessarily a selfish ambition. It can be an ambition for serving Krishna.
Now, at this stage in our spiritual life, our desires will never be purely selfish. There will be some desire to glorify Krishna. There will be some desire to, yes, I also want to be praised.
I also want to be appreciated. So, we can’t postpone our service till we become pure. Because service is the means to become pure.
So, once there was a devotee, who used to sing kirtans very nicely. And he was singing kirtan when Prabhupada came to the temple also. And when Prabhupada came there, Prabhupada took darshan and went out, and going out Prabhupada came.
Your kirtan is very nice. This was perfection. The spiritual master is praised.
Then he thought, I may not get my spiritual master once again. But Prabhupada sometimes I feel proud. And then, Prabhupada just patted him on the back.
What’s wrong with that? And he walked away. Now he said, pride is one of the gates to hell. How can Prabhupada say what’s wrong with that? Krishna says, last time, it’s not one of the gates to hell, it’s one of the six anarkas.
So, there’s nothing wrong with it. Actually speaking, pride is already there within us. If I think that, oh, if I do this service, if I develop this talent, I will become proud.
Then, that is an illusion. Because I am thinking, I am not proud. So, it’s something like lust.
Sometimes, you know, exposure to a particular scene, particular object may make me lusty. But actually, it is not that that object is causing lust. Actually, the lust is present within our heart and that object triggers lust.
Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, that lust is present in the body, in the senses, the mind and the feelings. Indriyani Manobuddhi Rasyaadhi Shraan. So, the external object is not the source of the lust.
The external object is the trigger of the lust. So, the lust is present inside me only. And it gets triggered by seeing certain sights.
Like that, pride is there inside me only. But, say right now, there is pride inside me, but I have nothing to be proud of right now. In the future, when I do something special, I will have a reason to be proud of.
But it is not that, that is when I am becoming proud. Pride is already there within me, but at that time, I am expressing the pride. Right now, I have no reason to express the pride.
So, the way to becoming free from pride is not suppression of talent. If I say, I have some talent, if I use that talent, I will become proud. If I think like that, so I don’t use the talent.
Then what is going to happen? I may not, I may think I will not become proud, but that pride will come off in an ugly form as envy. If I have the ability to sing, but I don’t sing nicely, I think I will become proud. When somebody else sings nicely and people praise them, I am so proud.
What’s the show off? Laughter So, that same pride which is inside me is now coming off as envy for some other person. So, what we do is, in the process of bhakti, whatever abilities we have, we use them in Krishna’s service. And there may be some desire within me to be praised, to be appreciated, but if I keep doing the service, gradually I will start realizing, I sing for Krishna, and then afterwards, after I finish the kirtan, I will see who all is going to come and praise me.
Your kirtan is so nice. But that may happen like that. You know, before I was introduced to bhakti, I had a desire to be a public speaker.
And I used to participate in competitions and things like that. Now, after I started practicing bhakti, after a few years, I started giving classes. So, initially I was very conscious.
After the class, how many people come and praise me? And, one time, I gave a very good class. At least, I thought it was a very good class. Laughter I had prepared very well.
And all the thoughts were flowing nicely. I spoke very fluently. And I was absorbed in the class.
But at the end of the class, nobody came and appreciated me. So, initially I was a little frustrated, but then it struck me at that time, that actually, while speaking about Krishna, I was so absorbed, I was so satisfied. So, the satisfaction through absorption in Krishna is greater than whatever satisfaction may come from praise by others.
Now, that realization, I would not have got if I had never given classes. That means, when we are doing service, there is a Krishna connection that gives satisfaction and there is the worldly appreciation that gives satisfaction. But when we keep doing that service regularly, gradually we realize that the Krishna connection gives greater satisfaction than the worldly appreciation.
And then, the desire for the worldly appreciation goes down. So, that’s how the cure for pride is not suppression of talent. The cure for pride is purification of interest.
Initially, I do service because I want to be praised by others. But anyway, whatever it is, start doing the service. And if we keep doing the service, we get a taste for connection with Krishna.
And by the taste for connection with Krishna, we will purify it. Even if I get it, I don’t get it. Connection with Krishna is what I want.
And that way, we can become free from pride. So, as far as ambition is concerned, if we have a particular talent, if we desire to serve in a particular way, we can take the blessings of senior devotees around us and develop that talent wholeheartedly. And if sometimes, we are becoming too proud, senior devotees will tell us, this is becoming too much.
If I am singing kirtans very nicely, and then every time somebody else sings kirtan, he is doing this wrong, he is doing that wrong. There is one devotee who said, I was in a temple long ago, he said, in this temple, this devotee had learnt all ragas very nicely. And he said, in this temple, nobody knows how to sing.
Therefore, I alone should be doing all the kirtans. Now, that is pride going to a little obnoxious level. So, that has to be avoided.
You don’t think that music is what, we are not doing a musical performance here. We are doing devotional service here. So, we have to see devotional intention.
There may be some devotees who will be very good at music. But don’t forget that you are not here just for music. We are here for serving Krishna.
So, if something, if the pride becomes too much, devotees will tell us. But we should focus on trying to serve Krishna. And gradually, we will get that realization by which we become purified.
And then we will serve Krishna, for serving Krishna and pleasing Krishna. Not for worldly attestation.