​Should we share our devotional memories when such memories are considered Krishna’s private gifts to us?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
so it is said that should we share our devotional memories but often these memories are considered to be like gifts of Krishna which are to be kept private we are not meant to share that with the world externally we speak about externally we act as sadhakas yes that is true, when I talk about these memories it is more in terms of not sharing publicly with everyone but if you have some very close friends especially I brought up this point I was talking about sharing in terms of if say 2-3 devotees have gone to a distant place gone to Yatra together and they had some special experiences at that time and then they meet each other and then they remind each other so it is not so much in a public class we talk about everyone but when we are already close we have some shared memories bringing those together then that reinforces our remembrance of the sweetness of devotion it doesn’t necessarily have to be very exalted memories also we did some difficult services together we met some challenges and we did something valuable in Krishna’s service so those memories they can actually they can actually remind us of the good times we have had in bhakti see whether we are devotees or non devotees at a material level problems keep coming so adhyatmik adhibhautik, ayudhaivik these kilesas keep coming in everyone’s life and so sometimes at a day to day basis what difference devotion has made in my life you may tend to forget that so there are if we look back at our past now the past is never like a calendar ok this day, this day, this day in the past there are many plateau, many plains and suddenly there are mountains if you look back at our past there are months and months and months and within that some moments which are very extraordinary they are like peaks mountains in our memory and again there is, now everyday something eventful happens but that is not so impactful or so consequential from our perspective so the past when you look back at it, it is not just a linear stretch of time it is a vast stretch in which there are some striking peaks so now those peaks are the times when it could be we were able to do something nice in Krishna’s service we had some nice interactions with devotees so I was not talking so much of say intimate remembrances of of the heart which are say for Raghavan’s level I was talking more of, we might have had some sweet interactions with some devotees we had some great experiences while doing some service so it is just like when Krishna and Sudama meet together you know, they discuss how they spent time in their Gurukul and they remember, oh we went out that time and then there was fire, there was big storm and we were left alone all night we spent together so that is not it doesn’t have to be an esoteric memory to be a devotional memory within devotional memories there are esoteric memories which should be private as much as possible, of course some small circle can be shared but if you look at devotional memories there can be many non-esoteric devotional memories also and those those are also inspiring in their own way in our bhakti and if we treasure them if we share them that also helps us in moving onwards towards Krishna so it has to be actually according to individual nature according to audience whether we share it in a group or not but as far as our personal recollection is concerned sometimes sharing reinforces the memory also so we decide with whom to share with whom not to share and okay I’ll give a simple example that says how somebody came to Krishna consciousness, now we all have our story and if we look at that how I came to Krishna consciousness I might just narrate the story linearly this happened, this happened, this happened, this happened but what I found is that the same event if I look at it 5 years afterwards if I look at it 10 years afterwards I look at it 20 years later I can see more of how Krishna arranged things and how Krishna there are so many things that worked out at that time by which I came to Krishna lotus so our appreciation for that can increase so I have written an article on my website called share your story so share your story SHARE is acronym SHARE that is an acronym, 5 reasons why we should share our story about how we came to Krishna consciousness then I explain how it can actually sublimate our own memories it can reinforce a heart to heart connection with Krishna, SHARE I have given all that so I am not talking about esoteric memories, even in our devotional course of life whatever special events have happened if we recollect them they can become a they can become a treasury that can that can inspire us in our bhakti the whole process of bhakti in one sense is to make our memory our treasury the process of bhakti is to make our memory our treasury, the great devotees just absorb in remembrance of Krishna and they are ecstatic in the remembrance, so now to make our memory a treasury means what at one level we develop love for Krishna and then the thoughts of Krishna fill our memory, but we can also see that I already have some valuable memories, so I recollect them, I cherish them and then that also helps me to have to have some spiritual direction for my thoughts when I am looking at the past when I want to think about think about Krishna so I feel devotional memories which are esoteric cannot be shared, but devotional memories which are non-esoteric they can be shared does that address your question? I don’t know I’m not exactly sure why esoteric side, you know I can understand that but what piece has become contaminated is there other reasons why