Overcoming obstacles 6 – Focus not on how the world sees you but on how you see the world – part 2

[Seminar in Alachua Learning Center, Alachua, USA]

Talk ppt

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … So the conclusion is, which virtue is there, which virtue is there, that has not been criticised by the critics.
So, every virtue is also criticised, so jadyam rimati, so if somebody is very gentle and very soft spoken, you are so passive, you are jealous, you don’t do anything at all. Somebody says, this, this I may not count on, but gentle, jadyam rimati. So rimati is a good quality, gentleman, but jadyam is negative.
So, when Shukadeva Goswami was wandering along, at that time the common people did not know how learned he was. And the common people were throwing stones at him, mocking him, so only when he entered the assembly and all the sages started bowing down, then they said, oh, he is a great person. So, if you are gentle, people will say, no, you are not assertive, don’t speak out, why are you so passive.
So, ganyate means this is how people are assessed. So, if somebody very strictly follows vows, then people call him dambha, you are a showoff. You are a showoff, you do something very strictly.
So, the example of how the Avanti Brahmana, he took a mauna vrata, initially he was maternal strict, then he renounced and he took a mauna vrata. And when he did that, what happened, people started criticising him, oh, he was so attached, how can he be so renounced, he is simply making a show. So, if you start following it very strictly, people will say that you are just doing it for the sake of show.
So, dambha, shuchau kaitavam, if somebody is clean, somebody is honest, shuchi and kaitavam, people will say, oh, you are a gay, internally you are all corrupt, but externally you are just making a show of your honesty, kaitavam, you are actually, you are just being hypocritical, you are posing as a good person. If somebody is very heroic, you say, you are so merciless, you are so cruel. We see in the Bhagavatam, when Krishna killed Kamsa, Jarasandha and other allies of Kamsa, they said, how heartless this Krishna is, he killed his own maternal uncle, doesn’t he have any love for his relatives? They conveniently overlook the reality that this so-called maternal uncle had tried to kill his own sister, had killed six of his nephews and had tried to kill Krishna also.
So, they did not see Krishna’s enormous valour when a small child killing Kamsa. They saw that he is so heartless. So, some people are, again, rimati means gentle in terms of overall conduct, munam is actually born out, but those who stay silent, they are rimatita, you don’t have any opinions on them, you are actually not at all intelligent.
So, why are you keeping silent? Because you have no intelligence to have any opinions. So, this is what happened with Jadavartha, when Maharaj Rogan was speaking so many things and Jadavartha was silent. So, they said, he is just a dumb person.
So, dhanyam priya lapi, and if somebody is very humble, somebody always speaks in a very humble disposition, people will say that you are always trying to, you are a bootlicker, you are trying to curry favour with people who are influential. So, whichever way you look at it, tejasvi avlittata, if somebody is tejasvi, somebody is charismatic, somebody is powerful, avlittata, you know, actually, if you have no sense of modesty, just put out a big show in everything that you do. So, similarly, mukharata, bhaktariya, if somebody speaks nicely, you are over talkative.
So, that’s what Indira told about Krishna, that he is over talkative, talkative one. Now, he has affected the Prajavasis. Asha, he is, if somebody is very steady in doing some service, he was saying, no, actually, he doesn’t have any capacity to do anything else.
That’s why he is doing this. So, instead of appreciating him for doing this service for so many years, he is doing this. He can’t do anything.
So, he is doing this. So, Asha, he is steady. In this way, tatko naam guno bhave, saguni naam, you are doing janari naam.
So, what virtue is there that the critics have not criticised the virtues for him. In general, it is very easy to get discouraged by criticism. And actually, in one sense, we talk about temptation as that which, like lust, anger, greed, these are temptations.
And they take us away from Krishna by promising us pleasure as well. But if you generalise the understanding of temptation, temptation is anything that takes us away from Krishna. So, discouragement can also be a temptation.
Because discouragement stops us from going towards Krishna. So then, that means, what do I mean by this temptation? Just like if I go to some place, if I see certain things, if I feel lusty, if I feel greedy, then I know I should all go into that place. Because that provokes me.
Similarly, if we know that there are some people, by associating with them, then they are going to discourage me. They are going to speak comments which will hurt my morale, which will dishearten me. Then we need to avoid them.
Because anything that keeps us away from Krishna, that can be considered to be a temptation. And to feel discouraged can also be a temptation. So, we need to avoid this temptation by avoiding discouragement.
Srila Prabhupada himself was discouraged so much by his god brothers, by everyone else. And he was trying to preach all over the world. He was trying to start his preaching in India and eventually all over the world.
So he said that you will not be able to do it. But Prabhupada did not pay attention to that. So, if by Krishna’s mercy, we have some good quality, some skill, some inspiration, do some service, then it is our responsibility to develop that and serve Krishna.
Sometimes some people will appreciate that, some people will not appreciate that. So, we have to find out those people who appreciate that and continue the service. Even before I was introduced to Krishna Consciousness, I wanted to be a writer.
So, I used to write essays in my school. I used to get good marks. But somehow apart from that, I would not get much ideas to write.
So, then I started getting introduced to Krishna Consciousness. And I got a lot of ideas to write. I started writing.
So, at one particular time, I started writing for Back to Godhead. Some articles were published in Back to Godhead also. Then in India, the biggest newspaper is the Times of India.
In fact, the world’s biggest newspaper in English. Because India itself has a large English population. So, they have a spiritual column called the Speaking Tree.
It is literally read by millions of people. So, I used to read this column since my childhood because I had some spiritual interest. And then when I started writing, I thought I will try to write for this column.
And then I sent 3-4 articles. And then one day I was looking at the Times of India. And the editor, she did not even inform me that your article is selected.
I just looked once in the paper and I found my article was selected. I was so happy. Actually, at that time, not many devotees were writing.
As far as I know, that was the first article by any school devotee in that column. So, I was staying in a Guruvacharya ashram at that time. And then I went into all the other devotees and said, Oh, my article got published in Speaking Tree.
So, devotees just looked at me and said, How can a tree speak? They had not even heard of this Speaking Tree. I was so excited. They just could not appreciate.
What is there to be so excited about? So, I was excited and I got completely deflated by it. So, for them, writing was not a service. Because many times, devotee culture, especially the Brahmacharya ashram culture, is very insular culture.
So, many devotees do not read newspapers. At least at that time, they would not read newspapers. And they would not know the rich of the newspapers.
So, I do not blame them, but I just was completely deflated at that time. And then, by Krishna’s arraignment, just 3-4 weeks later, Jai Jyot Maharaj visited there in Pune. I was in Pune at that time.
Now, I am in Mumbai. So, then, after a class, I said, Aaj, can I meet you for some time? I knew that Maharaj used to conduct courses on editing. And he was an editor of Backward also.
So, I told Maharaj, I am writing. And I made a small booklet, compiled of all my articles that he would publish in newspapers. Some local papers, I already had started writing.
This was my first writing in a national paper. So, then when I showed it, Maharaj was so happy. Each article, he was going through it.
He gave some constructive feedback also. He said, very good, you are writing this. Just keep writing this.
He was so pleased, so encouraging, so appreciative. And then, I asked Maharaj, can I improve my writing in any way? Are there any books you can suggest? Immediately, he took a printout and gave me several books. At that time, there was no Amazon or anything like that.
I said, Maharaj, none of these books are available in India. He said, but you can get them from America. And then, after a couple of months, some of my godbrothers, who had gone to America for preaching, they came to Chowpatty.
Somebody called from Chowpatty. They said that, actually, Jaigarth Maharaj has sent some books for you. So, he had gone from Pune to America.
He had remembered that. He had purchased almost a dozen books. And he had sent those books through different devotees, 3-4 devotees.
So, I was so touched by that. He is such a sannyasi guru. At that time, I was just maybe 5-6 years in the movement.
I was a young brahmachari. And he went to so much trouble to get some books for me just to help me improve my writing skills. So, then I wrote a mail appreciating, thanking him for it.
And then, he wrote a very encouraging mail. So, he told me that, you know, others can manage, others can counsel, but others can’t write. You should write.
So, since that time, I consider Jaigarth Maharaj as my writing guru. So, for me, associating with him, and through him, I got introduced to a whole community of writers. Now, of course, many devotees are writing in India also.
But at that time, very few devotees were writing. So, I felt that if I had not met him, and if he had not encouraged me, I would not have taken up writing as a service. So, we all need… Now, I don’t blame the devotees who just didn’t understand what I was doing.
But, it is my responsibility, if I am inspired to do some service, to find out the circle where I am nourished, to find out the associative nourishment. If I just say, devotees don’t care for me, devotees don’t care for this, then it doesn’t work. So, even in bhakti, different devotees have different definitions of success.
Different definitions of success in bhakti. So, for example, when I was writing an article, some devotee asked, by reading your article, how many people have become devotees? For a writer, that is not a definition that can be applied. So, what happens is, for them, that is a definition.
How many devotees did you make? So, different devotees have their own definitions of success. And they evaluate everything based on that definition. And if our inspiration, our service, doesn’t fit into their definition, they will make our service seem to be worthless.
But, it is not actually worthless. Krishna values that service, and for Krishna’s movement, actually, we need different kinds of services. So, in the early days of our movement, basically, there were three definitions of success.
How many books are distributed, how many temples are built, and how many devotees are made. These are important definitions of success, but they are not the only definitions. So, as different devotees get inspired in different ways, then, there can be so many other services.
If we have devotees and our devout children, how many of the second generation born in this context continue to practise Bhakti? Now, that may not come out anywhere in the headlines, but that’s a very important definition of success for a movement that wants to sustain it. So, taking care of our own children, that’s an important service. Similarly, those who have become devotees, how many are continuing to be devotees? That is also taking care of devotees is also an important service.
So, there can be many different definitions of success in Bhakti. So, when we talk about like-minded association, like-minded can be a very general term, but in a more specific sense, like-minded means that that association which has the same definition of success that we have. So, any service, if we get into it, it requires a lot of time, a lot of energy.
So, and others who are not in that service, they feel that, you know, what are you doing? What are you doing? But actually, those who do that service, they know how much hard work is involved in that. So, we need to find those devotees who actually appreciate that service and then we can connect with them easily. So, now if I am inspired to do a particular service, no, it is my responsibility to find out like-minded association.
Otherwise, if I am not going to take that responsibility to find like-minded association, then better do a service which can connect us with the community, which we are in. Because we need always some, we are social creatures. So, Prabhupada also created a society.
So, we need, either we need to change our definition of success or we need to associate with those who have the same definition of success that we have. And that way, we will not be discouraged. Otherwise, whatever we do, even valuable services that we are doing, but if people have a different frame of looking at it, they will not appreciate that service anymore.
And especially as our movement becomes, expands, takes roots, it becomes a sustainable movement. There are many small, small services, not small in a, they are very significant services, but small in the sense that they may not be visible in the society, but they are important. And then if we are to do the service in a quality way, we need some other devotees who also appreciate that service.
So, if we can find, sorry, I said discouragement can be a temptation. And that, the extension of that is associating with those who do not value our definition of success. That is the way we are setting ourselves up for succumbing the temptation of discouragement.
It’s like if somebody goes into a sexually provocative situation and, you know, you are going to fall over there. Why did you go over there? Went over there and probably still fall. So like that, if we go in association and we open our heart there, then they are not going to appreciate what we are doing.
Then we are setting ourselves up for discouragement. We have to find out those who will appreciate that service. And then, so if somebody is studying Shastra, Shastra study is actually a, it requires a lot of time and energy.
But then those who are, say, into fundraising or temple building or book distribution, they are also very important services. But Shastra study is also an important service. So somebody’s book distribution, into book distribution, they say, you are spending so many hours studying scripture.
What are you doing practically? There are so many conditions out there. Do you benefit that? And if the devotee wants to study scripture, he will probably feel insecure. So as we keep practising Bhakti, we start slowly realising, okay, this is my strength.
This is my inspiration. This is my gift. And then we need to nourish that gift.
So what we are is God’s gift to us. What we become is our gift to God. Now what we are, we have certain abilities, we have certain talents.
And that is, Krishna is in the middle of that. What we are is God’s gift to us. And whatever talents we have, we develop that, we grow, and then we make our offering to Krishna, our contribution to Krishna.
So what we become is our gift to God. So how do we become discouraged when I said that we associate with those whose definition of success is different from ours? It is two ways that there is discouragement. First is that, what we can do, we feel disheartened.
Is this really worthwhile? Should I be doing this or not? And second is, their definition of success, whatever it is, we may not have the inspiration, we may not have the ability, we may not be gifted enough to do that. And we try to do that, and we can’t do that, and we become discouraged at once. So we don’t do what we can do, and we can’t do what we can’t do.
So both ways, we end up discouraged. And we need to know that, Krishna wants us, the media. Naturally, we want to become better.
But if Krishna had wanted us to be someone else, he would have made someone else. Krishna has made me me, Krishna has made you you. So he wants me and you to offer service to him.
Of course, he wants you and me to be the best you and me. But it’s not that you have to become me, or I have to become you. So this way, even when we are an association of devotees, we can avoid getting discouraged.
If we just recognise this point that, different devotees will have different definitions of success. And we have to either change our definition of success, if we want to associate with particular devotees, and we want their appreciation, their association, then we may have to work according to their definition of success. But if we are inspired to do something for Krishna, then we can recognise, okay, this devotee is not doing this service, and they may never appreciate what I am doing.
But then I find some other devotees, who appreciate what I am doing, and that way, we can move onwards in our service to Krishna. So Sri Ramapal said that, this corn is my body. Now when we say the body, Sri Ramapal also taught us that, actually, we are not our bodies.
What that means is, when we say we are not our body, the body is vital for us. If the body falls sick, we can’t heal it. So the body is essential for us, but sometimes the body hurts us.
So within this international society, sometimes we may be hurt. But we have to find out, that association, where we can get inspiration. And therein we move onwards.
If I find that, okay, if I use this hand, this hand causes me a lot of pain, then I may use that hand less, and I may use the other hand more. So if I have a body that pains a little bit, it’s not that I reject the body. What I do is, I use that part of the body, which is healthy.
So like that, within the body of the Krishna consciousness movement, there may be some devotees, or some situations, some atmospheres which may hurt us. But recognise that, this is Krishna Prabhupada’s benediction to us. And we find out that association wherein, we can serve Krishna.
The last point. So I’d like to conclude this talk with three metaphors, about understanding the institution, and how to work in an institution. Nowadays there is a lot of criticism about institutionalised religion.
People feel that, whenever religions are institutionalised, then they lose their spirit, they become power hungry. And there is a whole group of people, especially in America, they call themselves as SBNR. SBNR is spiritual, but not religious.
So they say, I’m spiritual, but I don’t belong to any religion. So primarily they feel, religion means it is an institutionalised structure, and I don’t want to have anything to do with that. So we have to understand, ultimately what is the institution? Say, imagine there is a small drop of water, which falls on a mountain.
And that drop of water has to go to the ocean. For the drop of the water itself to reach the ocean, it is very difficult. It will get evaporated along the way.
But if many drops come together, it becomes a trickle. If many trickles come together, that becomes a tributary. If many tributaries come together, that becomes a river.
And when the drop is in the river, the drop can move by the momentum of the river towards the ocean. So like that, all of us have some spiritual urge, some spiritual inspiration. But our spiritual inspiration is like a drop.
Now for us to sustain our bhakti lifelong alone and attain Krishna, that’s why Kunti Maharaj says, let a consciousness always flow towards you. That’s why the Ganga flows towards the ocean. So for our consciousness alone to flow towards Krishna, it’s like expecting a small drop to flow towards Krishna.
It’s very difficult. So now, when many devotees come together, it is like many drops are coming together and that creates a current. And that current propels all the water drops that are there forward.
So like that in the association of devotees, when we come together, sometimes we feel spiritually inspired, sometimes we feel not so inspired. So we are pushed along still by the association of devotees. So sometimes it happens that when the river is flowing along, on and on and on, first the river has to create its own river.
The river starts off. And as it keeps flowing, it keeps flowing, it creates a bed. And then flowing becomes easier for everyone.
So the river bed is like the institution. The river is the spiritual urge, is the bhakti. So when a number of devotees come together and they want to practise bhakti, they create some facilities for themselves.
And those facilities, they are essentially what the institution is. Now, the river bed and the river are two different things. The river bed is meant to help the river water to flow.
Similarly, the institution is meant to help us move towards Krishna. In fact, the whole purpose of the institution is to provide a facility to help us move towards Krishna. But just as whenever there is a lot of water that is flowing, at that time there is a big river, then some people who come and they want to set a dam over there.
They are not interested in going to the ocean at all. They are interested simply in taking the water. So like that, sometimes whenever the institution becomes big, becomes powerful, sometimes some people with ulterior motives come up, or sometimes some people who have sincere motives are initially, they get attracted by the power and the position and their motives also change sometimes, whichever way it works out.
So, now the river bed is a facility to move towards the ocean. But in some cases that river bed may get blocked. So now if there is, how does the river move towards the ocean? Sometimes above obstacles, sometimes below obstacles, sometimes around an obstacle.
And sometimes it just erodes the obstacle and moves on. So like that for us, if we keep the purpose clear for ourselves, I have come to the Krishna Consciousness Movement for moving towards Krishna. And if I consider, yes, I have some spiritual urge, I have some spiritual inspiration.
But if I am alone to practise Bhakti, it’s not very easy to practise Bhakti. Krishnaraj Kaviraj Goswami says that the association of devotees is like a walking stick for me. Now before I used crutches and I was a little more healthier, I used to use a walking stick.
Before that I used to walk without a walking stick also. So initially when I first read this idea, read this thing about walking stick, you know association you think is so great, what is this company associated with a walking stick? I felt it’s a little, it’s a demeaning metaphor I thought. But then once I was going for a tour in Mumbai and somebody stole my walking stick.
Then I just got out of the station and walking along. And then it struck me, even without the walking stick I can walk. But my walking becomes slower and becomes unsteady.
At the moment there is a fear I can fall. Same way, without the association of devotees, also we may be able to practise Bhakti. But it becomes slower.
Everything becomes slower. And then it’s unsteady. Anytime there is no association of devotees, we may fall away.
Association of devotees reminds us, hey come back on track. It inspires us. If you are chanting all alone, your mind just wanders here and there.
And one round is basically 10-15 minutes. If you are associating with devotees, hey what are you doing? Come on chant now. So in different ways, the association of devotees enables us, it gives us the facility to move towards Krishna.
So if we find, if a river that is flowing somewhere, it finds it, okay here the dam is there. So what does the river do? It tries to find some other way to move onwards. So like that if you understand that, the institution is like a bed for the flow of Bhakti.
Sometimes the institution may have problems. So when I find how I can move onwards towards Krishna. It’s not that, just by joining an institution, my responsibility for my spiritual advancement is ended.
Because I joined an institution, now my spiritual advancement is the institution’s responsibility. The institution has to provide me everything and I will advance. No, it still remains my responsibility.
So for that, the other two examples. A stock exchange is a place, where people come to earn money. There are people who have money, there are people who want to earn money.
And if a person is wise, that person can invest in a way in which they can earn money, and their money can grow. But if they are not careful, if they are unwise, then they can lose money also. So like that, all of us have a certain stock of Bhakti with us right now.
And we come to the Krishna conscious moment, where we want to increase the stock of our Bhakti. But, while we are here, if we associate with those who are just critical of devotees, those who are offensive devotees, those who, now, why they are critical or offensive, that’s a different question. They may have been hurt and genuine issues.
But if that becomes their default disposition, then what happens? When we come in the association also, we also become critical. We can’t practise Bhakti. So, our Bhakti stock can go down, if we are associating with very critical devotees.
Remember, I have got a certain level of Bhakti, and in association, my Bhakti can increase. But, it is my responsibility. It is not the stock exchange responsibility that my stock should increase.
It is my responsibility. The same way, if we keep it in mind that, in Krishna’s movement also, it is my responsibility to ensure that my Bhakti grows. Then, we can move onwards steadily, whatever happens.
And last example is, what I discussed yesterday also. It’s like a hospital. We all come here to be cured, and we have to do that which will help us to become cured.
But sometimes, we may associate with some people who have some other infection, and we get infected by that. So, we have to keep the purpose in mind. So, ये था मां पर पद्धे, ते था मां से था इनको बचान नहीं होगी.
Right. And, now in India, where I was introduced to Bhakti, it was a very protected environment. And at that time, there was no internet also.
So, I had a very rosy conception of this call. And then, over a period of time, as I started preaching, then people started asking questions. And then somebody started sending, Did you read this link? How will you answer this? And then, over a period of time, I started getting exposed to so many things.
And, I realised that I cannot just dismiss all this as false. Much of it is true also. So, many terrible things have happened.
And I started thinking, why did anyone tell me about this? This has also happened. This has also happened. Like, this also happened.
I started feeling, did I really join an institute like this? What am I doing over here? But then, as I continued thinking about this, I realised that, okay, there are so many things that have happened in so many places. But then, I just studied a little bit about other religions. I found that every religion, after the founder departs, there is a chaos for some time.
There is Jesus, Christianity, there is Islam, even Gaudiya Westernism, even Gaudiya Mahatma, Jaitanya Mahaprabhu departed, and Bhakti Sahasrara Mahaprabhu departed. So, it’s not exceptional what happened over here. And ultimately, okay, I was in a protective environment, but was that protective environment manipulative? No.
But there, I could see that I had a role in my work. So, once again I will give you an example. Just as Krishna is a Kalpataru, ISKCON is also a Kalpataru.
If you come here for gaining power, you will get power. If you come here for getting honour, which other institute, you come there and people start going down to you. Does it happen like that anywhere else? You will get honour also.
If you want money, you can get money also. And if you want controversy, you can get controversy also. And lastly, if you want Krishna, you will get Krishna also.
So, what I want here is important. Yes, many things have gone wrong, but that’s just a part of, we are living in Kalmyuga, that’s just a part of the nature of the material world. It will get reflected over here also.
But my purpose is to move onwards towards Krishna. So, if I keep this in mind that, yes, there will be controversy, there will be this, there will be that, but what is my purpose? I have come here for moving towards Krishna, and if I really want, I can move towards Krishna. If I want to practise Krishna Bhakti, there is an abandoned facility for practising Krishna Bhakti.
So, that way, it all comes to our purpose. If we forget our purpose, then we can get caught in maya, while being in the Krishna consciousness movement also. And there can be many different forms of maya that can come.
But if our purpose is to move towards Krishna, then Krishna will guide us, Lord Brahma will guide us, and they will give us the right association by which our bhakti can grow. So, if you just keep this in mind, I have come here to serve Krishna Prabhupada, serve Krishna, to grow in my bhakti, then a lot of unnecessary issues we will be able to avoid, and we will be able to move onwards in our spiritual life. So, I will summarise.
I talked about two things in this talk. First is that, even the virtues of the virtuous are criticised by critics. So, we all have certain strengths, and based on that we will feel inspired to serve Krishna.
But other people may not have the definition of success, and so they may criticise us. So, if we are not to become discouraged, discouragement is also a temptation, and we have to resist that temptation. There are two ways.
One is, we change our definition of success, and do that which the circle of reward is around us. Then we will get, we will be valued, we will be appreciated. Or, we find that circle of, that association where whatever definition of success we have, that is appreciated.
And in that way, staying encouraged and moving onwards is our responsibility. And second is, we discussed about functioning within an institution. The institution has a purpose, and to the extent that purpose is forgotten, it can become a big problem.
But to the extent we remember the purpose, we will get the facility to move onwards. And, just like a small drop of water, the river is a big blessing for it to move towards Krishna. Or, similarly, for an association of devotees, it is a big blessing.
But, it is not that just by the association, we will get there. Sometimes, if we get dammed, then the water drop has to find out a way to move onwards. Sometimes, certain circumstances may dam our work.
Then we have to find out some way to move onwards. It is not automatic. It is actually our responsibility.
Just like if I have some stock, it is not that it is automatically going to grow by putting a stock in the machine. I have to be intelligent enough to invest properly. So, our bhakti investment also, we have to take the responsibility to help it grow.
Or, just like in a hospital, there may be different diseases, and we have come here to become a cure. So, if we keep our desire clear, my desire is not for other things, my desire is for Krishna, then surely we will get Krishna in the association of devotees. In the moment, Vashila Prabhupada is on the way for us.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Any questions? Yes, ma’am.
Thank you so much, Pabu. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna, it is far better to discharge one’s own duties however imperfectly, than someone else’s, even perfectly. Or, to follow another’s path is dangerous.
So, I’ve often wondered, what is my duty in this age? It’s not so clear. I believe Prabhupada in the Prabhupada talks about, well, there, like, say, traditionally, if you’re born into a brahmana family, what he’s telling Arjuna, you’re a kshatriya, don’t try to artificially be a brahmana. How you were expressing it, I was appreciating so much.
If you, if someone’s drawn to a particular service, they need to find the encouragement. But how do we actually know which is our service? Which is our best way to function? So, how do we know which is our service, which is the best way we can contribute? Actually, for different devotees, it may take different time durations to find that out. Some of us may have some outstanding talent in some field.
And then, that becomes, this is the field which I will use to serve Krishna. But in some cases, we may have talents in many fields, or we may not have obvious talent in any field. Both ways, we may feel, okay, what should I do? So then, we just keep doing whatever services come to us, by Krishna’s arrangement, yad ruchcha, whatever devotees tell us to do.
And while doing those services, we keep observing. We keep observing ourselves. This is a service I can do well.
This is a service, this is a service I find very difficult. This service, oh, this is, I really, I really, delight in this service. So basically, this whole point of responsibility, as I said, that our spiritual advancement is our responsibility.
So what that means is, suppose, say, if we are working in a company. Now, we are doing the job which we are told to do. But at the same time, we are also looking, okay, how can I grow? Yeah, this job, this pays well also, and it requires certain skills which I have.
This job, I can’t do, this is too much for me. So, in the material world, we are very ambitious, and we are very resourceful, to find out how we can grow. We don’t think that, because I got this job, I’ll just do this job, and I’ll get promotion, and I’ll be one.
Yeah, that can also happen, but most people are resourceful. Maybe I’ll go from this job to this job. I’ll do this, I’ll do that.
So, it’s not that as devotees, we have to jump from service to service. But that principle, a devotee’s mood is, how can I become, a more and more, resourceful, servant for Shri Adbhagopal, and for Krishna. I’m doing this service right now, but how can I become, a more and more resourceful servant.
That means, that, okay, this is a service which I can do. So, as we are doing services, we keep observing. And that, initiative, not the, not the ambitiousness, in the mundane sense that, I want to become famous, I want to become powerful, but it’s just that, you know, if I can, if I can do, more and more services for Krishna, I mean, Krishna has an instrument, which is resourceful.
Krishna can do more, for his mission through. So, that, that, taking that initiative, having that attitude, that, you know, I have to find out, how I can grow in the spiritual. I have to find out, which service I can do.
If we have that attitude, we ourselves observe, yeah, it’s a thing which I can do. And then gradually, we will gravitate, towards that service. So, even if it doesn’t happen, automatically for us, even if it is not very obvious, which service we should be doing, but if we just keep observing, over the years, we will find out, that, okay, this is a service, which I am comfortable doing.
Yesterday, I was talking about guna, karma and bhagavashyam. So, guna and karma means, one way is, something, which we have qualities for, that means, we are comfortable doing it. And something, karma means, that we are competent in doing that.
So, if we find that, there is some service, which we are comfortable, and we are competent, then we can say, that this is, what I should be doing. So, the whole, essence of Varanashtam, is not dividing people into, four castes, for one another. Essence is, engaging people, according to the way, they are naturally endowed.
So, rigid division of society, is not practical now. But, the principle of engaging people, according to their natural endowments, that is something, which we can ourselves, be, take the initiative to find out, and engage ourselves accordingly. Does it answer your question? Thank you for nice explanations.
In relation to the same question, sometimes we have been, sometimes we have been, instructed, or we heard that, we also have to do some, services, which are challenging for ourselves, for our purification, so that we don’t keep crying, or being humiliated, or hungry. And, also have heard from us, many senior sannyasins, that he tries to, be in a challenging situation, most of the time, so that, he will feel dependent on Krishna. So, how do we, understand that? So, isn’t it that, we should take up Chinese services, so that, we feel, humble, and we feel dependent on Krishna.
Yes, that’s true. Definitely. But then, there are challenges, which stimulate us, and there are challenges, that agitate us.
So, so, again, yesterday I spoke about, what an ashram means, that people are allocated the problems, that they like to face. So in the same, concept of challenging, then I talk about three zones, the comfort zone, the stretch zone, and then the panic zone. So for example, if I can lift 10 kg weight, then everyday I just keep lifting 5 kg weight, my muscles will never grow.
So if I can lift 10 kg, and I am lifting 5 kg, that is I am in the comfort zone. If I can lift 10 kg, and I am lifting 10.5 or 11, that is I am in the stretch zone. But if I can lift 10 kg, and I start lifting 25 kg, that’s panic zone.
So basically, we definitely need challenges for growing, but, we also have to take challenges, that actually help us to grow, that just don’t crush us by how difficult they are. So, as a matter of surrender, if the situation demands, if our authorities tell us, we can do services, which are necessary at a particular time. But, along with that, we also take the responsibility of finding out, how can I engage myself.
See, the point which I was making yesterday is that, there is aspect of following instruction and surrender, which is very important. But the practical reality at the moment is that, it’s not that, we will always be having an authority with us, constantly telling us, don’t do this, don’t do this. We will have to become self-motivated, to be able to sustain a service.
And, we cannot be self-motivated in sustaining a service, unless we have some inspiration for it. So, there are challenges, which, if we are good at something, even within that, to do something good, there are challenges. Like say, somebody is a very good singer.
Now, they like to sing, but even then, when they want to improve their singing, they have to spend hours practising. Say, I like to write. So, writing, it is said that, the more you write, the more difficult writing becomes.
Why? Because the more you write, the more you realise, how many faults are there in your writing. And then correcting all of it takes time. So, whatever service we are doing, whatever service we are gifted to do, or whatever we are inspired to do, even within that, there can be challenges.
And we can grow within that also. So, definitely, we need challenges. But we need challenges that actually help us to grow.
And, yes, we need to be humble, we need to depend on Krishna. So, sometimes doing something, which we are not good at, that may help us realise, I am not the one. I can’t do so much.
So, that may help us to become humble. And that, we can do it that way. But that will not be a service which means trusting my flock.
And the dependence on Krishna comes when we take up a challenge within something which we are inspired to do and we feel, how can I do it to Krishna? So, the two are not necessarily contradictory. We can involuntarily do something which we are inspired to do and within that, stretching ourselves, so that we get, we feel the need for Krishna. Can I ask you a question? Yes.
Any other questions? Yes. As you are helping us to systemize and customise the application of spiritual insight and devotional principles, you say, we should not we should, we should not be so much in expectation. Rather, we should be more increasing in contribution.
But that in relation to the relationship with the other devotees and growing in the society. But what about Prabhupada and Rupa Goswami for giving all these stages that you must see, you must expect, that you are in that position and you’re going there. If you’re not going there, there must be something wrong with you and you must expect this.
The whole stage is not that. So what about, we say that we should not expect, we should contribute. But then, there are stages of bhakti, which we are meant to go through.
Shouldn’t we expect to grow over there? Actually, right now, our focus is on talking about externals, relationship with others, relationship with institution. Within that, I was talking about that we should focus more on contribution than on expectation. And apart from that also, in the inner growth, certainly there is this whole concept of lalsami, what aspiring for the advanced in your bhakti, or hankering for Krishna.
At the same time, there’s also the principle that, there’s a devotee, Ashavarya, and the devotee keeps serving Krishna, even if Krishna himself says that there’s no hope for him. So the devotee will keep serving Krishna. So what does that mean? That’s what Ashavarya has talked about in the Samasita.
The devotee has hope against hope, Prabhupada says. And that means that, certainly we want the advances of devotion. At the same time, we from our side should be ready for practising bhakti.
Always. No matter what happens. I think in the 4th canto, in 1-4, Prabhupada writes, the devotee desires the darshan of Krishna, but the devotee doesn’t demand the darshan of Krishna.
So if we don’t desire, then where is our bhakti? But if we demand, then again, where is our bhakti? Demand means, we are thinking that, Krishna is my order supplier. It’s not like that. So we desire.
But then, after desiring, we depend on Krishna. Then Krishna fulfils our desire. So aspiring is definitely required.
But so, in a sense, we could say that, aspiration is more from our side, expectation is from someone else’s side. So we should always have the aspiration to grow, to attain advanced stages. But the expectation, now I have done so much, why is this not happening? I have chanted so much, why are tears not coming from my eyes? That sort of expectation, is something which may, which may again, make our bhakti conditional.
And which may limit us if the expectation is not fulfilled. So we can have anticipation, but the anticipation doesn’t become a demand. We have a desire.
But we, along with the desire, keep practising bhakti. Whenever Krishna wants, he will bestow the advances of devotion. And then, the question is, is it enough? So we’ll stop at this.
So depending on how long the question may take, either I’ll answer now, or I’ll answer after the next question. Seeking the association of those that share a vision of success that we have, sometimes devotees are in situations where they’re dealing with a different hierarchy, and there’s conflict, in terms of that vision for success. And so that’s always so easy, to find another situation, where some people got the power.
So, what to do with that type of situation? Is there an internal adjustment that can be made, so that we don’t get hurt? So if we have a particular inspiration to do service, and then the leadership is not very supportive of that, then what do we do? See basically, when we are working in an institution, there are broadly three ways in which you can work. One is, that the authority, or the legal power, they want something to be done, and we do that. That means we basically, make their vision our vision.
Then, if we do that, then practically all the facility, the power, the resources of the institution, which are there, with those authorities, they come to help us. That’s one way to work. The other way to work is that, we have our own vision.
This is what I feel is better. Then, if we have our own vision for doing things, then, we will have to create the facilities. We will have to create the resources.
Now, that is also through the devotee community, or in various ways we will create. But, in general, when we are working in an institution, we will not get two things together. That is, freedom, and facility.
Either we will get facility, or we will get freedom. Facility means, that the institution wants us to do some service, and we do that service, we get all the facilities. But, if we want the freedom to do something, according to our vision, we can’t expect the institution to provide the facility.
We may have to create the facilities. So, it’s not that one is right and the other is wrong. We have a vision, we have practised working for many years, and we may feel inspired to do service in a particular way.
But, the institution’s leaders, whatever reason they have, they have authority now, and they have a particular vision of how can that be done. So, they will use the facilities which are with them, for fulfilling that vision. So, if something is my vision to do things, then I have to create the facility.
I have to, if I want the freedom to implement my vision for doing things, then I cannot expect others to provide me the facility. If others provide it, it’s wonderful. But, it is that I have to create the facility.
So, generally speaking, so one extreme is, we just give up our freedom, and then we get the facility. Because we are just implementing the vision of some other institution. Otherwise, if we want the freedom, then we have to create the facility.
And, in many cases, most devotees work somewhere in between the two. We have some area where we have our own freedom, and we create our own facilities. And, there’s some area where we work with the institution, within the institution, and we give the institution facilities.
So, both ways, basically there are three ways. There’s facility, but no freedom. There’s freedom, but no facility.
And, there’s some place where there’s both freedom and facility. But, in general, we don’t know that if it’s my vision, of what is implemented, I should not expect too much facilities from the institution. Because different people naturally have different visions.
So, over a period of time, if we persevere in our vision, we share our vision with others, then Krishna will send other devotees also, who share that vision. And, through that, resources will come together. And, gradually, that vision can also be manifested, in the service of Krishna.
But, in general, it is a very rare situation where we will get freedom and facility together. It’s good to start that, if I want to implement my vision, to assume that I will not get many facilities. Then, we will not be frustrated by, we will not have frustrated expectations.
If we get facilities, that will make an additional boom for us. We see that in the case of Prabhupada also. When he came to America, he wanted to preach.
And, his Godbrothers, for them to get some money from Padampad Sinhanya, transferred to America, it was no big deal for them. Some of them had good contacts. Others had to go and meet, and sign a few letters, make a few petitions.
But, they didn’t do it for him. Padampad Sinhanya was a wealthy donor, who wanted to give money to Sri Prabhupada, so that Prabhupada could build a temple in America. But, the Indian government was not sanctioning the money.
So, Prabhupada wrote to his Godbrothers to do that. They didn’t do it. Because, you know, they felt, this is not my vision.
This is Bhaktiswara Das’s vision. Now, Prabhupada tried to make them see, this is not my vision. This is Bhaktiswara Das and Kapil’s vision.
And, I am trying to implement his vision. But, somehow they couldn’t see it. So, we see that Prabhupada, he, even though he was implementing Bhaktiswara Das and Kapil’s vision, he did not get any of the facilities that Bhaktiswara Thakur only had created.
But, which were with other devotees. Now, we are not saying that the Gaudiya Mandi devotees were bad or anything. It’s just that they had a different vision of things.
So, if Sri Prabhupada was such a great, a Mahabhag, even he did not get facilities. When he had to implement a particular vision. Then, because others had a different vision.
Then, what to speak of us? So, it’s difficult to implement our own vision and start off without facilities. But, we see that those devotees who have a particular vision, they got severe. Krishna does send facilities.
It takes time, but Krishna sends facilities. Whenever there is a desire to serve him, that, Arjuna has raised his bow, Krishna is there. All that will come.
But, it takes time to come. Thank you very much, Sri Prabhupada ji. Jai.
Jai. Jai. Jai.