Is the community responsible for fostering emotional maturity?

Transcript

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thank you so is there responsibility of the community also to yes there is the individual at the same time the change has to begin with an individual throughout history if we see even the history of Gaudiya Vaishnavism the changes have not happened from the top down it is from the bottom up Bhaktirinoda Thakur after Gaudiya Vaishnavism had become very ritualistic and corrupted Bhaktirinoda Thakur was an outsider he was born in a Shakta family and then he got introduced to Krishna Bhakti and then he into Gaudiya Vaishnavism and then it was he who dramatically reformed and represented Gaudiya Vaishnavism so the Prabhupada was to a large extent an outsider in the Gaudiya Math after the Gaudiya Math splintered due to infighting of the Bhaktisans it was Prabhupada who regimented so in general changes in a community the broad community of Gaudiya Vaishnavism the community of followers of Bhaktirinoda Thakur these changes to expect that they should happen from top down if it happens well and good but if we keep waiting for that we will just be waiting for a long time so we start doing what we can and gradually people will see that ok I am being emotionally mature others see that others will also take the example we can talk with others and we can talk with the community leaders also and we can say that I can assist in whatever way in doing this but we can’t blame the community to be emotionally mature and continue being the way we are because that’s the way everyone is if we have a need for emotionally mature deeds then it is for us to fulfill that need I try to be emotionally mature and I try to find within the community now with social media and everything to connect with people all over the world we find other people in different places who are emotionally mature and get our need fulfilled one major difference in later classes between say childhood and adulthood is that the child thinks that it is the world’s responsibility to fulfill my needs the child starts crying and thinks that oh everybody has to come and pacify me and feed me and care for me but if an adult starts crying ok they may cry and somebody may come, nobody may come also to become an adult means to recognize that no one is obliged to fulfill my needs that doesn’t mean that no one will care for me, there will be people who will care for me, but it is for me to connect with I was at one place and there was one devotee, she was becoming a devotee and she said she would sometimes come for programs, not come for programs so I was staying at their house and she told me that you know last time I felt sick and I thought devotees will come and give me prasad and they will give me maha prasad and garland, so nobody came to me at all I told her did you tell anyone that you were sick she said no I thought they should know, how will they know devotees will be there to support, but devotees are not the super souls so if I have a need, I have to find out how I can fulfill this need, and I have it’s not that anybody and everybody will fulfill my needs but there will be people who will be ready to do that, so I connected with but recognizing that basically if we are driven too much by expectation, the community should change, then I will change then change will never happen so our focus should be not on expectation, but on contribution what can I do how can I contribute to bring about this change and if we do that then we will be empowered by Krishna to bring about positive change, not just in our life but in the community at large