In what consciousness should we attend festivals centered on demigod worship that we are obligated to attend?

Transcript

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the question is when we are because of social obligations have to attend certain programs which involve demigod worship in what consciousness should we do that answer there are we have to focus primarily on two things protecting our own consciousness and helping others develop an appreciation for Krishna consciousness so if our own philosophical fundamentals are clear then generally we will not get confused when we go to such programs and so that is not a major issue if we are regularly hearing and we have understood the philosophy properly now regarding how can we best benefit others we have to understand that doing demigod worship even if it is not done properly entirely according to scripture still that is also one level of dharma the vedic scriptures talk about multilevel multiple levels of dharma there is aparadharma and there is paradharma paradharma is transcendental religion so pure devotion to Krishna is paradharma and the various forms of demigod worship is aparadharma so now aparadharma is often much better than adharma adharma is this irreligiosity complete materialism so if somebody is at the level of aparadharma that person is much better than the person who is at the level of adharma and Krishna tells in the third chapter of the Bhagavad Gita 26th verse nabuddhibhedam janayet ajnanam karmasanghinam joshyet sarvakarmani vidvanyukta samacharam nabuddhibhedam janayet don’t disturb the minds of people who are engaged in lower level activities now he is not talking about sinful people he is talking about people who are engaged in activities of karmakanda that is aparadharma so don’t disturb their minds but joshyet sarvakarmani vidvanyukta samacharam that means joshyet joshyet means dovetail try to get them to come to a higher understanding either by a gradual process or by a rapid process so rapid process means when they practice Krishna consciousness gradual process means that bahunam janmanamante they will practice demigod worship then from karmakanda they gradually come to gyanakanda after many lifetimes and then they become bhaktas as Krishna tells in 7.19 in the Gita so if the people are first is that if they start seeing us as good human beings and start appreciating us as devotees then they will become open minded to hear what we are going to speak so rather than being dismissive about any form of demigod worship or trying to say that it is all wrong and this is all this and that if we have to attend as a social obligation we don’t have to necessarily disrupt everything over there we can attend that but over a period of time if they develop appreciation for us as a human being as a good person then their false ego then actually everybody has their own false ego that what I am doing is right and when we try to say that it is wrong then the false ego goes into defensive and you know even a nuclear or a missile can’t penetrate a false ego that has gone into a defensive so it’s very difficult so when people see that we are good human beings that we are their well wishers, we are their friends then their false ego doesn’t go into the defensive mode and they become open minded and then gradually depending on whatever level of relationship we have we can try to connect them with Krishna and help them to come to a higher understanding as devotees if it is possible to avoid the social obligations without causing too much disruption we can avoid them if we have to go there then it is described in the fourth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam that as a king Pruthu Maharaj had to do some karma kanda rituals so this is actually mentioned by Vishwanath Chaturthi in his commentary called Sarat Darshani he says that Pruthu Maharaj had to do some karma kanda rituals also and like that the kings may have to do but he said that in his mind he was thinking that actually all this worship is being offered to Vishnu he says the devatas are just the limbs of Vishnu and ultimately the worship is going to Vishnu as Krishna also says Vishnashankar gives the example that just as the water that is offered to a river that water goes to the ocean whether that water is offered to the river from a plain or from a plateau or from a mountain top the water will go to the ocean so he says like that whatever worship is offered that worship will go to the supreme lord ultimately if it is done within the Vedic framework but he says the difference is that the worship will go but the worshipper will not go to the supreme lord why? because the worshipper does not have the clear understanding as Krishna says in 9.25 in the Gita that he says that those who worship the devatas go to the devatas those who worship the pitras go to the pitras ancestors go to the ancestors like that and those who worship me come to me so the those who are worshipping the devatas they don’t know that Krishna is supreme and the devatas are representatives of Krishna that’s why they will not go back to Krishna just by doing demigod worship but if we understand it properly Krishna also says that he says that in 9.23 he says that he says those who worship the devatas are also worshipping me but they are doing abidhi purvakam they are not doing it properly not according to proper understanding abidhi purvakam so that’s why if we have to go to such programs we can in our mind contemplate how whatever glorification is being offered that is ultimately being offered to Krishna and that way we can keep our consciousness unaffected and pure and gradually we can try to elevate those people to a higher devotional understanding thank you