Sometimes devotee association agitates us – then how can we feel sheltered by it?

Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. So the question is that when if there is some agitation or strain in relationship in devotee association, sometimes some people just go away and they stay away from devotees.
So is it that relationship problem in devotee association will always make us take shelter of Krishna more? See there is one thing that we should not paint all devotee association in one color. Devotees are individuals and some people get along with some people, some people don’t get along with some people. That is just a fact of life and that would happen in devotee association also.
So in devotee association also if you find that we don’t get along with some people, rather than labeling devotee association as bad, we have to find out other devotees with whom we can get along. And we will always find like-minded devotees. Because different devotees have different definitions of success in them.
So based on the particular definition of success that a devotee is having, what happens is they see everything in those terms. And when somebody else is working in a different way, they just can’t appreciate that. So if we feel inspired to practice bhakti and we are feeling that in the devotee association this is not working, then either we have to change our definition of success and then we will find appreciation or we have to find that association where the definition of success is appreciated.
So it’s vital not to brand all devotees in one color. It is just not true that every devotee is individual. And when I started writing, I used to, before I was introduced to Krishna Consciousness, I used to read Times of India had a spiritual column called The Speaking Tree.
So I used to read that since my childhood. It was all childhood dream, one day I’ll write for Speaking Tree. And then I came to Krishna Consciousness, I had not come to Krishna Consciousness actually, I just came to Krishna Consciousness movement.
So I started writing and then I started articles of publication back to Godhead. And then I submitted article to The Speaking Tree. And then one day my article got published.
I was so happy. I came and told the devotees, as Brahmachari Ashram, I told other Brahmacharis, my article was published in Speaking Tree. And Times of India is the world’s biggest newspaper.
Indians are, a lot of Indians read English. And then Speaking Tree is a column which is read by really intelligent people, or people who think they are intelligent, whatever it is. But I was very happy.
As far as I know, never before, any other scorned devotee had written that. So then I came into it. My article was published in Speaking Tree.
Just got all blank stares. One devotee asked, how does a tree speak? So I was totally deflated. Totally deflated.
But then a few days later, Jaidat Maharaj came there. Jaidat Maharaj is his editor, writer. And then I told him about, I showed him some of my articles.
He was so happy. He was so appreciative. He was so encouraging.
Then I asked Maharaj, how can I improve my writing service? Maharaj gave me a long list of books. This was 2003. There was Amazon in India at that time.
Not active. So most of those books were not Amazon in India. So then three months later, Goenpru called me from Mumbai.
And he said, I met Jaidat Maharaj in America and he has sent some books for you. So it was just one meeting I had. But he went to America.
He remembered America. He went to a shop, purchased the books, found out a devotee was coming to India and sent the books. So now I don’t blame the brahmacharis over there.
For them, brahmachari life is a very insular life. So for them, writing and speaking, what’s so exciting about it? But for Jaidat Maharaj, he’s into writing, he appreciated that. So if I’m inspired to do a particular service, then I have to find an association that inspires me.
Or if I can’t find that association or I don’t want to take the labor to find that association, then I have to adjust and find inspiration whatever is being done in the association over there. So it’s vital that we don’t paint all devotees in one color. There will be agitation that will come because we may feel that certain devotees are not reciprocating with me in a particular way or whatever.
But then, if we look for, we’ll find other associations that will inspire us. So it’s vital for us to seek the association that inspires us. It’s like, if there is standard food available somewhere, and if we have some weakness or some health issues because of which that food doesn’t nourish us, then it is our responsibility.
We can’t blame that, why are my special needs not being taken care of. There’s nothing wrong. The standard food is good.
But if I have special needs, then I have to take the responsibility to make sure the special needs are taken care of. It is not that I am bad because I have the special needs, nor are the food supplies bad because they are not provided. It’s just that we have different needs.
So if we have this attitude that devotee association is multicolored, and for my sustainable practice of bhakti, I have to find a devotee association that inspires me, then we will not feel unsheltered. Because some association will not get sheltered, but some other association will get sheltered. And that way we can move onwards in our bhakti.
And also it is important to find out if there is something which we are doing which is alienating others also. We may feel that we are getting neglected or rejected or whatever the devotee association, but sometimes it may be that we are also doing something which is alienating others. So we can do that introspection also.
But both things are there. That we try to improve ourselves, but we also recognize that devotee association is not monochrome. It is multichrome.
And even if we don’t find shelter in one place, we find shelter in some other place. Not just by place, I don’t mean physical place. I mean basically the conception of success that is there in bhakti.
Somebody who is a book distributor, and their focus is all book distribution. If somebody is going to do a shastric study, he will say, what are you gaining by shastric study? How many people have become devotees by your memorizing of verses? So that’s a different definition of success. So if I have to study shastra, then I have to associate more to those devotees who are inspired in shastra.
So by finding out the definition of success that is inspiring us, and then finding out the association where that definition of success is appreciated, we will find that not only will we get sheltered in devotee association, but we will be inspired further in devotee association.