Should we make major life decisions based on bhakti considerations alone or also based on our material nature and situation?

Anwser Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
yes ma’am yes ma’am there is one or two questions I was asked in the break, I will answer them when we come there one question about if we have to make decisions in our life then should we make the decision based on simply what is favourable for our bhakti or should we also consider our material nature, material situation and sometimes we make a decision which is favourable for our bhakti but then we find that it is not favourable for our material for our material situation or material nature then do we need to rethink that decision did I paraphrase the question right so I will come to you so yeah I will give a again I will start with a little graphic example and then I will come to more subtler examples like in many cities if we have temples, temples are at the heart of the city and there the real estate is very expensive and some devotees may actually want to have a house close to the temple but especially metropolitan cities, it may require taking a huge amount of loan to get a house close to the temple itself and I may say you know actually I want a house close to the temple so that I can go to the temple but then a person takes a huge loan and after taking a huge loan there is a huge instalment that they have to pay and because of that they have to work so much they are close to the temple but they never get to go to the temple they may say you know I purchased the house with good intention hell yes intention is good but Krishna has also given you intelligence use your intelligence if we don’t have the capacity to have a house very close to the temple, maybe our intention is good, I want to stay close to the temple but we have to use our intelligence to check whether that intention will translate into action so you may say okay, monetary considerations are Monday but if I have a loan, I have to repay it I cannot just dismiss it as Monday those who have taken the loan, they are not going to accept that they are going to extract it from me so being realistic about the changes that we make in our life even when they are favorable for bhakti, it is important also to be realistic so Shila Prabhupada, of course whatever Shila Prabhupada did ultimately is transcendental it is orchestrated by the lord but when Shila Prabhupada got the instruction but we can also learn at a practical level from Shila Prabhupada so when he got instruction from his spiritual master that you preach Krishna consciousness, you are young educated, you preach all over the world now what was Prabhupada’s reaction Prabhupada he felt that if I had not been married, I would have done it immediately but now if I do it it will be unfair for my wife so it will be unfair for my wife so he did that responsibility, of course that is all Krishna’s plan so that Prabhupada at the age of 70 when nobody would be able to do such a thing Prabhupada did miraculous things, so ultimately it is transcendental but at a practical level also we can learn that Prabhupada did not neglect the practical things so in the Nila Amrit also it is said that when Prabhupada is in Lahabad, one of the persons was interviewed, so he says Swamiji was a very religious man but at that time Swamiji was asking only one question you know, he was not calling Swamiji Abhay Babu at that time, he was not a Swamiji, Abhay Babu was asking only one question how can I earn more money how can I earn more money he said the grahasthash was at that time, that is what was required, so if you look at Prabhupada’s life, Prabhupada did a lot of things, he had a company he was working in Kolkata, then he came to Mumbai, then he went to Lahabad very resourceful in trying out various things so the material factor also needs to be considered now practically speaking we need a balance if we consider only the material factor then what will happen is the material will never be fully favorable for our bhakti if I wait for everything material to work out nicely then I will start practicing bhakti that’s like somebody who is waiting on the coast of a ocean for the waves to stop then I will swim the waves will never stop so if I so saying that everything material has to work out well then I will practice bhakti that is not well, we have to start practicing bhakti wherever we are right but at the same time deciding everything only on spiritual considerations and not considering the material that is also something which we can’t sustain in the long run we may do it for some time but we need to practice bhakti in a way that is sustainable and for sustainable practice of bhakti we also have to consider our material side now if you see so Krishna is saying that one who is regulated in eating sleeping, recreation and work for such a person the practice of yoga will lead to freedom from misery so and the previous verse is even more categorical 6.17 in the Gita 6.17 in the Gita that one who eats too much or eats too little one who sleeps too much or sleeps too little such a person cannot practice yoga and one very significant thing here is Krishna is talking about this for a person who has already renounced the world this is 6.17 16,17,18 and 6.10 11 Krishna is talking about one who goes out of the home in a jungle, sits on a kusha grass so even for one who has renounced the world Krishna is saying you have to balance your body only then yoga practice will lead to perfection otherwise you cannot actually be a yogi you will be able to practice yoga for a few days but you won’t be able to practice sustainably so balancing the material and the spiritual both are required so we can’t reject the material for the spiritual at the same time we shouldn’t reject the spiritual for the material also we give due consideration to both and then make a decision does it answer your question? yeah yes