Is remembering that Krishna is in control the only way we can remember him while working in the world?
Podcast
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
so is it that we can’t always think of Krishna standing in front of the deities all the time so we need to we have to do many other services also as a part of a preaching mission so we can remember Krishna that he is the controller, he is with us everything is happening by his plan is this the way we can remember Krishna? yes, there are various ways I wouldn’t say this is the only way that remembering that Krishna is the whatever is happening is by Krishna’s plan is under Krishna’s jurisdiction that is one way we can remember there can be many other ways also for example, I could just remember that the service I am doing is for Krishna that means, just like Vishnachak Thakur gives the example that when a family man goes for working he says, gone to a distant place for a job or something, at that time that person will be away from the family members away from the wife and the children and may be dealing with different people but he is thinking at my home is my wife, my children and I am doing this for them I am going to take care of them the money which I earn, I will be sending home and it will take care of them so, although he is practically very involved in the business dealings, negotiations whatever is there but his intention is that so just as while doing various activities a householder has the intention of taking care of remembering the family members because his intention is taking care of them like that a devotee may be doing various activities in the world but the intention is to serve Krishna and the intention is the connection with Krishna so, now Arjuna when he was fighting the war, was he constantly thinking of Krishna? I mean, I wouldn’t say no, but I wouldn’t say that at least the Mahabharata doesn’t depict it that way he was fighting, he was fighting this weapon is coming, what is the strategy I use to counter this weapon this warrior is good at this, how do I fight with him so it’s not necessary that right in the middle of things, in the thick of things we have to be thinking about Krishna, at a very advanced level that will automatically happen but at a practical level if our intention is to serve Krishna then that itself is a connection with Krishna basically, in general as we keep doing activities more and more doing a particular activity for Krishna more and more over a period of time our focus shifts from the external to the internal initially when we give classes we think a lot about how many people are hearing, how are they hearing are they we are very self conscious but as we keep speaking more and more then gradually we start becoming more and more spiritually conscious we start becoming more and more conscious of the fact that I am speaking about Krishna and specifically where I am that doesn’t matter so much we are aware of it, but that is not in the prominence of our consciousness Harish Ariprao writes that many times he would see Prabhupada whether he was speaking on Vyasasana to hundreds of people or he was speaking with two people or two people in a private darshan, he would be just as enthusiastic because he is glorifying Krishna so this will happen gradually so initially being aware of the external is fine as long as we have the intention to serve Krishna and while doing things, when something goes wrong, it is natural to feel upset but we recover ok, things have gone wrong, but no Krishna will take care of it, let me see what I can do right now there is an incident in the final exam where Prabhupada had a very prolonged illness which went on for a long time you know overall he was quite sick for 6-7 months in the last year of his life so during that period there is one incident in T.K.G’s diary I think where he says that Prabhupada why is this happening Prabhupada is a pure devotee, is he not accepting Krishna’s will, that’s just an emotion at that time, it’s not that he became resentful of Krishna or something, that’s just a reaction Prabhupada also says that when the cow came and hit him when he was just reading books in Delhi, he says why is this happening, there is a question comes, but ok, we don’t know what Krishna’s plan there is more, so as a temporary emotion one needs to be surprised Prabhupada writes in a purport that a devotee may be perplexed but a devotee is never discouraged perplexed means that one doesn’t know what to do, discouraged means one doesn’t feel like doing anything well so we shouldn’t have to, we don’t as long as our intention is to serve Krishna, we are well situated and over a period of time even if certain circumstances create some negative reactions we feel taken aback, we’ll come back on track so in bhakti connection is often a process of repeated reconnection connection with Krishna is often a process of repeated reconnection we will get disconnected and reconnected yato yato nishcharati manas chinchala vastram tatato duniyam yadah, atmanye vachanam yadah wherever the mind matters, bring it back so that’s how we can practically apply bhakti in our life, we get disconnected become reconnected, disconnected, reconnected that’s how we move on ok