Should we be simply attached to the principle of service or to specific services according to our nature?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, when I said that we should be attached to the principle of service, not the form of service, but then we also say that we should engage people in the things that they like to do.
Otherwise, they will go away. Yeah. See, in every situation that we are in, there is the institutional perspective or the social perspective, the broader perspective from the perspective of the broader group.
It may be a family, it may be a institution, it may be a community, whatever it is. And there is the individual’s perspective. The ideal situation is where the individual’s perspective and the institutional perspective or the individual interest and the institutional interest can be matched together.
Now, the ideal situation is where both make efforts to match. So, the individual is introspective and tries to observe and understand, you know, okay, these are my interests, these are my talents. Individual also communicates and the institution also says, yes, we want not just to get things done, but we also want devotees to grow, we want devotees to be happy.
So, we’ll try to engage them according to their nature. So, this is how both work cooperatively. At the same time, both also need to be extended.
The individual at times needs to be ready to do things which they may not like to do, but that’s what is required in that. Prabhupada would use this phrase, do the needful. What is required, do it.
That’s one perspective. And on the other side, the institution also has to be flexible. We can’t just force people to do something because we need it.
We have to consider their growth also. So, there has to be an extending attitude from both perspectives. As, especially new devotees, we, it is very difficult for us to know, if we are very new, to know what our nature is.
See, the nature of the mind is to always keep us dissatisfied. Even if we go to paradise, the mind will say, yes, but. Yeah, this is good, but this is a problem, that is a problem.
So, we can’t just let our mind decide what we should do or we should not do. So, if we ask the mind, what is your nature? What is the service that you like? The mind will say, the service that you are doing is the service I don’t like. So, what happens is that the mind will keep us dissatisfied, no matter what we do.
So, and this does not mean that we have to completely suppress or reject the mind, because after all we have to live with the mind. But, what it means is that we can’t just let ourselves be tossed apart, tossed here and there by the feelings of the mind. If we observe that a particular feeling of dissatisfaction, irritation, or inability, incompetence, that keeps coming inconsistently in a particular service, and in some other service it doesn’t come.
So, we think and decide, okay, this is the service I can’t do, I would like to do this service. And there is a gradual, graceful transition that is done. So, that is fine.
We can’t say that, we don’t just act according to the mind, but nor do we completely reject the mind. See, we don’t work for our nature, nor do we work against our nature. We work for Krishna with our nature.
So, now, we don’t work for our nature. That means, working for our nature means whatever is my nature, I only do that. So, I like to sing, so I’ll sing.
And tomorrow if I like to sing movie songs, I’ll sing movie songs also. I’m simply working for my nature. I’m working against my nature means, oh, I like this, I’ll just not do it.
Because if I do it, it sends gratification. We’ll suppress ourselves by that. We don’t work for our nature, we don’t work against our nature.
We work for Krishna with our nature. But to discover our nature also takes time. So, that requires some spiritual advancement, some maturity, some mode of goodness.
And if you don’t have that, it’s good to not make transitions abruptly. Having said that, even when we’re doing the service that we like to do, even in that, frustration will be there. Even if, say, I like to write.
Now, I may start writing an article and start it and say, this article is not going anywhere. Why did I even start the article? So, even in the services that we like, we’ll get frustrated. Sometimes I write an article and say, if I submit it to some publisher, it’s not good.
Now, it’s not going to be published. What can I do at that time? So, even in the service that we like to do, we may meet with frustration. So, at that time, we are not attached to the form of service, attached to the purpose of service.
Okay, this article didn’t work. I’ll write some other article. Sometimes we may prepare very well and give a very well-delivered class, but very few people come for that class.
So, we like preaching, but even in preaching, we may meet with frustration. So, the attachment to the purpose of service, not the form of service, means that whether it is the particular service we are doing, or whether it is the obstacle we are facing in the service, whether there is no result coming in the service, whatever it is, we stay fixed in the service attitude. And how specifically we move forward, that we use our intelligence, we use guidance, based on that we decide.
Okay. Thank you very much.