Is there any formula to always appreciate devotees?
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Transcript
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Is there any formula by which we can always appreciate devotees or relationships? There is no formula for relationships.
They are dynamic. But when we start practicing bhakti initially the things we are taught is that we should tolerate others but as we advance to learn to think that we should tolerate others this is a good lesson to learn but as we advance further we understand that others are tolerating me because initially we are often quite unconscious of our faults sometimes people come and start in a kirtan they start playing karta they have no musical sense and they don’t even have so much musical sense to understand that they are playing wrong they just keep playing they are blissful and everybody around them so we keep playing karta so so sometimes it is like that with us in the early stages we think I am a nice devotee but everyone else creates so much trouble so Rupa Goswami talks in Bhakti Kasam Sindhu that sa jatiya asha snigdha snigdha we should have association that is snigdha, affectionate and sa jatiya asha those who have the same category of desires that we have sa jatiya asha that means what Bhaktanath Thakur later talks about like-minded devotee association so if we want to appreciate devotees it is often difficult to appreciate devotees who are not like-minded because sometimes we say something and the devotees say something else if there is constant disagreement then it becomes difficult to appreciate so the first principle even in devotee association is to look for like-minded devotees and cherish that association wherever we get it so we should treasure that association even if there are one or two devotees who are like-minded with whom we can gel we should see that as a gift from Krishna and we need to take special efforts to build that relationship, to treasure that relationship so that will, that like-minded association will become like the pivot of our appreciation of devotees will become the foundation by which you can appreciate the association and along with that there are devotees with whom we have to work so sometimes when we work with any devotee, no matter how advanced that devotee may be but still whenever we work with others there are going to be frictions there is going to be some conflicts that’s just the way of the way people are and that’s just the way life in this world is so at that time if we are struggling to appreciate some devotee then it is good to try to see that devotee from the perspective of those who are appreciating that devotee when somebody really appreciates, oh I find this person is a troublemaker and then so many other devotees think oh such a great person why is that then maybe we will see some aspects of that devotee which we have not seen so by that even if we cannot for some, when we say appreciate, we should have appreciation for devotees devotees are not like one homogenous breed there are devotees of different natures, different levels and we at the very least should have appreciation for some devotees and generally we should not have aversion for any devotees so if we are if we have services with certain devotees we have to regularly work then we at least need to have functional relationship and because there is inevitably when we are functioning there is going to be friction which is going to cause some negativity so we have to make some conscious efforts to get positive inputs and in general if there is something negative we have heard about somebody it’s what erodes appreciation of devotees is gossip so gossip can be very general word gossip basically means gossip basically means to talk about a situation with someone who is neither a part of the problem nor a part of the solution what do we need to know it for? if we are just interested in who did what why did we have to come to Krishna’s movement for that we could just have watched news we could have just watched the gossip columns and the gossip channels we have come here to learn how to come closer to Krishna so if we have like minded devotee association that will give us some appreciation and if we make some effort at least to cultivate positive inputs about those devotees with whom we have to work then that will prevent negativity from accumulating and it is as I said when I said that all devotees are not a homogenous breed that means there can be some devotees who Vishwanath Chaturthi says that there are some people who may be in devotee garb but they are not really serious devotees because ours is an international movement and different people can come from different backgrounds so some people may come with ulterior motives also we don’t have to presume that people have come with bad motives it is not for us to judge others it is very difficult for us to find out who has come because of what motives but what we can and what we should see is that which devotee association inspires me to move closer to Krishna and we focus on taking that association if we are associating with those who do not inspire us in our Krishna Bhakti even within devotee circle then not only will we stop moving closer to Krishna but by that we will stop appreciating devotees also even those devotees who are sincerely endeavoring to move towards Krishna so keeping our purpose in mind we come here to come closer to Krishna and we associate with those devotees who inspire us to move onwards towards Krishna so in that sense it is our Krishna consciousness or rather our Krishna purposefulness being purposeful in moving towards Krishna and that will help us to appreciate devotees who are moving towards Krishna and to avoid those devotees who will dishearten us in moving towards Krishna does this answer your question? thank you