​Should we give due attention to our material side or should we spiritualize it?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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Hare Krishna question from Stokakrishna Prabhu should we give due attention to our spiritual side or to our material side or should we spiritualize our material side answer both are important it is not that one is substitute for another for example when we say that should we eat proportionate, should we eat adequately or should we offer the food to Krishna and spiritualize the food we need to do both we need to offer the food to Krishna and also we need to eat appropriately if we just say that I will offer my food to Krishna but if we don’t eat appropriately we will not get adequate energy, we will not maintain our health on the other hand if we just say I will just give I will just give due attention to the proper diet, to the proper cooking to the proper, choosing properly nutritious food and taking care of my physical health but if I am not offering the food to Krishna then I get karmic culpability so when we want to offer to Krishna, even if we are offering something material to Krishna, we want to offer the best that we can, just as we offer when we cook for Krishna, even if it is simple food we try to cook it as nicely as we can for Krishna’s pleasure, so similarly whatever material responsibilities we have, we need to do them well, so doing them well has one aspect is of course that we should spiritualize them, for example if we are taking care of a family member, say if a mother, a parent is taking care of the children, the parents need to remember this is not just my child this is, actually this is shown as Krishna’s part, this is Krishna’s child, interested in my care and thus we should know that we are actually now this understanding that this is Krishna’s child, actually that should inspire us to take more care of that child than what we would have if it had just been my child, so it is not that just by thinking oh this is Krishna’s child, that alone is enough I think this is Krishna’s child, this is Krishna’s child, but if the child is crying and if I say oh this is Krishna’s child, no we have to pay attention and take care of the child, so feeding our children, taking care of their health and helping them prepare for life by giving them proper education all these are responsibilities and due attention needs to be given to them and if I say that if I say I want to spiritualize my children my relationship with my children, I want to spiritualize my children and that process in the name of spiritualizing, if we don’t give due attention to actually doing those things properly if we don’t give proper education to children, if we don’t take proper care of their health then there is no spiritualization over there, we may be thinking that we are spiritualizing but we may be actually not giving due attention to our responsibilities over there Bhakti is not just spiritual our life has various aspects, the physical aspect the mental aspect, the emotional aspect, the relational aspect and the spiritual aspect so now sometimes this has happened in the early stages of our movement that we thought of spiritual as a substitute for everything else and if you are spiritual there is no need to take care of the body, there is no need to give attention to people’s emotions there is no need to be sensitive and there is no need to take care of one’s own mental health and sometimes devotees they have suffered terribly in terms of their health, relationships have gone down so now our life needs to have a spiritual purpose and for that we need to give due time and attention for the practice of Bhakti and for our Sadhana Bhakti practices but along with that the spiritual practices in and of themselves are not substitutes for our other activities now if a mother, if a baby is crying and the mother says I’ll chant Hare Krishna the mother’s chanting Hare Krishna is not a substitute for taking care of the baby if the family members are starving and the father says I’ll just chant Hare Krishna, I’ll not earn a living that is not a substitute that is not that is not that chanting is not a substitute for one’s family responsibilities, so family responsibilities they need to be spiritualized but spiritualization doesn’t mean neglecting those activities in themselves, yes spiritualization means that we remember that all this is connected with Krishna all this is meant for Krishna and when we talk about the material side if we neglect the physical, mental or physical, emotional or relational sides, we may think that we are being spiritual but we will not be able to sustain ourselves for very long and thus we will get ourselves into trouble and we will crash down in our bhakti in the long run, so Srila Prabhupada writes in the purport of Vidyam cha vidyam cha yastad vedo bhayamsah avidyayam rtyum tirtha vidyayam rtamasnute, so he says over there that the temperature of material existence is being increased by the infatuation with material progress and that infatuation he condemns he disapproves that but he says the temperature for a healthy person is not meant to be reduced to zero the temperature is to be brought down to the normal level, the healthy level so similarly material activities are not meant to be made zero actually it is material activities are meant to be regulated and then he talks about how the Vedic scriptures have given us a balanced program of material and spiritual growth in a way by which all aspects of our life can be taken care of so yes, just giving attention to our material side alone is not enough, but giving just thinking that I will spiritualize them and if in the name of spiritualizing we don’t give due attention to the material side, then that is also a responsibility, many times if our devotee parents did not take proper care of the children in the name of spiritualizing the relationship with the children many times those children, they feel neglected, they feel alienated and quite often those children they become hostile to bhakti, so that is not that is of course the parents have done their part, that is fine, but if the parents have neglected their part then that is unfortunate so spiritualization doesn’t just mean doing spiritual activities, spiritualization doesn’t just mean thinking about Krishna while doing all activities, spiritualization also includes doing those activities diligently doing those activities responsibly Prabhupada when he was a grhastha he would he wanted to spiritualize his grhastha he wanted to use the money which he was earning from his pharmacy business to sponsor his spiritual master’s mission but he did travel, he started one business in Mumbai, then started another in Allahabad then he was in Calcutta and he was traveling around vigorously all over the country trying to expand his business, so he was giving attention and in Allahabad when he was there it is said that, Nilamro described that his neighbors would tell that at that time the primary question he was having is how can I earn more money? because that was what was required for his responsibilities at that time so he was of course devoted to Krishna he was spiritualizing his responsibilities along with that he was also giving due attention to his family responsibilities so Prabhupada later on when he had to take sannyas at that time he couldn’t he he couldn’t attend to his family responsibilities at that time but later on when he came back to India and when his con was well established at that time he gave fair endowments for his family members, for his wife and his children so that they could be taken care of at that time, so Prabhupada did, he did not stop his Krishna Bhakti his practice and preaching of Krishna Bhakti for, because of his material responsibilities, but he did not just reject those material responsibilities when he had the capacity to do them, he did them even when he was a sannyasi so we shouldn’t simplistically think that spiritualizing means not giving due attention to our various other roles and responsibilities within those roles now doing all those roles and responsibilities in a mood of service to Krishna and therefore doing them well is the right understanding of spiritualizing everything in our life thank you