​Should we strive for qualities that are not according to our nature?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
so can it happen that we try to get qualities that which are not really according to our nature sometimes some people may want to become Kshatriyas because that gives a lot of power and position or sometimes in spiritual life we try to become Brahmanas Brahminical but we may not have that Brahminical disposition there are two distinct aspects to this first is that a certain amount of sattva guna is essential for the practice of bhakti and that is something which we all must cultivate so for example say hearing classes, doing our japa, studying shastra associating with devotees to do this a certain amount of goodness is required so of course these activities are transcendental but we are not transcendental right now and to practice these activities in a sustainable way we require a certain amount of goodness and that goodness is something which we all need to cultivate whatever happens and that is not an excessive amount of goodness we all can cultivate that especially if we associate with devotees then it’s much more possible so for example some devotees may say I just can’t sit and chant for two hours, it’s just not in my nature, well if you can’t then you walk and chant we associate with other devotees also no some people it’s just natural there’s one devotee who told me that initially for six years this is a non-Indian, American devotee I’ve just been to last year to America so he told me that for six years the only way he could chant was when he was jogging so then devotee told him no you have to sit and chant he said I cannot chant only so then he said I want to jog, he said no you should not jog you can have other time for jogging so then what he did was for the first one year he would jog and chant next five years he would stand at one place and jog and chant so he just had so much passion, it’s not a bad thing in the sense that we are what we are we have to start from where we are right now, we cannot just imagine that I am somewhere else and start from that point so we may have a certain amount of passion in us which may make certain aspects of bhakti difficult but for the practice of sadhana bhakti whatever sattva guna is required that we must cultivate but along with that in the rest of our life we all have our educational background our own mental orientation our socio-economic position and according to that we may engage in particular professions and within bhakti also we may do various kinds of services so these can largely be according to what is natural for us so natural doesn’t necessarily mean only what is what we feel good doing natural also may be in terms of certain things certain systems are well set up and I can do this so when we talk about nature it is not because actually 5000 years ago in the Mahabharata it is said that the varna is difficult to identify because the Maharaja Vidishtha tells Yayati who is in the form of a snake Nahusha in the form of a snake he tells them that because there is an intermixing among the various varnas and he is saying this 5000 years ago so varna is difficult to discern the primary way to discern it is by behavior so if this was 5000 years ago this is much more now so the point is that rather than worrying too much about some nature that I might be having we think that okay sometimes you have these games where you know it is like a jigsaw puzzle you have to fit this in this part and then everything gets fit and becomes perfect we shouldn’t think that okay my nature is something mysterious I have to adjust this part and then life will be perfect no it is not like that we just have a particular understanding of our nature right now we have a particular situation around us right now and within that we serve in the best possible way so whatever situation we are with whatever disposition we have we try to serve and while serving if you feel okay if the situation worked out this way maybe I can serve better and if we can adjust that situation well and good or while serving we observe ourselves and we see okay this is my disposition and I am more suited for this than for this and gradually as we keep practicing bhakti we will gravitate towards that which is more and more natural for us so rather than worrying too much about what is my nature we focus on doing service in a way that is least conflict inducing for us internally or externally right now and while doing that gradually if you feel okay this is what I feel good at doing then I can try to cultivate those abilities I can try to create those circumstances but there is no need to have a major flip-flop or change of situations just because we don’t feel something is natural that sort of thing should always be done gradually and then we can move onwards steadily in bhakti so the necessary sattva guna for practicing bhakti sadhana bhakti that is important but apart from that we can always serve according to that which is least conflict inducing for us so thank you very much Jai Shiksha Prabhupada ki Jai Gaur Bhakta Binda ki Jai Gaur Premanand Jai