Should we take other devotees plates for washing if they don’t want to give?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
according to time and place circumstances so in the devotee community taking somebody’s plate that’s considered a little off it’s considered that’s not approved or encouraged should we let others take our plate or should we ask others to let us take their plate there are specific etiquette but there is a generic purpose the purpose of having etiquette is to have warm devotional interactions with each other so we see ourselves as souls who are trying to serve Krishna together so we have that common bond among each other now in specific situations specific actions may be pleasing and in other situations those actions may not be pleasing so the purpose of service is not just to do the service the purpose of service is to please the object of service so if by doing a particular action if somebody if we want to take somebody’s plate and they just become too disturbed why are you doing this then then that is we are not pleasing that person a more graphic example could be that we touch somebody’s feet and they don’t want us to touch their feet and in the scripture it is said if you touch a devotee’s feet we make a lot of spiritual advancement now if somehow when the devotee is not watching we just go and touch their feet and then are we going to make spiritual advancement by that if the point of touching the feet is that our consciousness becomes so submissive seeing that devotee’s exalted qualities that we want to offer ourselves in humility to that person in submission and that devotee is also pleased so much by our submission and devotion that they want to give us their blessings so if that that that essence that inner substance of that interaction is not there then just going through the external form will not be very beneficial you know I may tell to some devotee I want to touch your feet and I struggle to touch your feet or I want to carry your plate and I struggle to carry your plate but then if I don’t have a devotionally appreciative attitude in front of them I may touch their feet or carry their plate but behind them I am bad mouthing them I am not going to make much spiritual advancement by that so of course we may not be doing this but I am just giving this as a graphic example to illustrate that there are particular actions and there are particular purposes for those actions so if doing a particular action doesn’t please the devotee doing a particular service doesn’t please the devotee then better not do that so now as far as offering our plate to someone is concerned it’s generally best to as they say do in Rome as Romans do because we may not mean anything but if we offer our plate to someone where nobody offers their plate to anyone then we will come off as very proud we are taking service from others so it’s best to not disrupt the mood of the community whatever it may be and we can try to understand why devotees think in a particular way why they act in a particular way and the most important thing is etiquette is meant to please it’s meant to please and to have pleasing interactions so certain specific forms of etiquette may in specific situations may not lead to that pleasing interaction so we can avoid that and then we can have some other forms of interaction where it may be much more pleasing and suppose a devotee is carrying a suitcase and I say can I touch your feet and that devotee is carrying a suitcase, no no I want to touch your feet so instead of in every situation there is a particular kind of service that is more needed than other services so we look at what service is needed in a particular situation and if we do that we will be able to please that devotee and even the purpose of the etiquette will be served much more because we will advance in our bhakti by pleasing that devotee and pleasing Krishna by pleasing that devotee does it answer your question?