Should we feel insecure if because of having many services we are unable to report to our authorities regularly?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Suppose, because of a lot of services, we are not able to report regularly to our spiritual guides and then we feel, am I properly connected or not? We feel insecure because of that.
So, is that insecurity favorable or unfavorable to bhakti? Yeah. Yeah. There are different relationships which have different dynamics.
So, we have to find out, first of all, in our relationship with our spiritual guide, what is their expectation? Do they expect, I mean, if they expect reports, how frequently is it? And if they expect it very frequently, then we should see that also as a service and do that. But if they expect that you can report to me periodically, but not very regularly, or you can report to me when major events happen in your life, then that is also fine. We may feel a need to report, and that is also good.
But we don’t have to make that into another anxiety. Sometimes, just preparing a report of what we have done, that may also help us to gain perspective. Okay, this is what I did, and this we could have done better, and this was quite fulfilling.
This is the area where I can serve more. I found that I could do this well. So that way, doing a periodic review of what we have done, that can help us to, ourselves, appreciate how we can serve better, or where we could have served better.
So in that sense, doing that is good. The nature of the mind is that, at least in the sadhaka stage, that it will find some reason or the other to keep us miserable. If I am doing a lot of services, the mind will say, hey, you are not doing Shastric study.
If I start doing a lot of Shastric study, the mind will say, hey, what is the use of becoming a scholar? We have to do some services. You are not doing services. If you are coming to the temple, the mind will say, hey, you are not taking care of your home responsibilities.
You start taking care of the home responsibilities, ultimately, this is a material, this is a temple. Why don’t you go to the temple? So, the nature of the mind is that it will always find some reason or the other and keep us miserable, keep us dissatisfied. So, that’s why it is good to have some overall plan for our life.
That means, you know, this much time, the plan may not, we may not be able to work on the plan in a microscopic way. If we try to micro-control our life, that will also cause frustration. But overall pattern we have, this much time I am going to spend for this activity, this much time for this activity.
And overall, if we go a little bit off track, we bring ourselves back on track. So, if we leave everything to the mind, then it will always keep us restless and dissatisfied. So, make a plan about how frequently we need to report and then stick to that.
Maybe a little back and forth is okay, but there is no need to let that become another anxiety. Did I answer your question?