We often become discouraged when our plans in devotional service dont work. How can we make plans that work?

Transcript

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I have a question from Dean Gaurangkaran you said in your class that we need to plan otherwise our mind will plan for us but then often when we plan plans don’t work out and we tend to become frustrated so how can we plan in such a way that our plans will work planning has to be done in such a way that we strive for a dynamic balance not a static balance static balance means we try to allocate morning I’ll do this, afternoon I’ll do this then I’ll do this, then I’ll do that we try to sort of micro plan our lives in that way it will not work because there will be no technique it doesn’t work so a good example of the difference between static balance and dynamic balance is static balance is a pillar that is standing up, straight, erect it can stand there for hundreds of years but then it doesn’t move dynamic balance is like a cycle which is moving now when the cycle is moving the normal balance stage is the straight stage if it has to take a right turn then the balance stage will be a slightly tilted right stage if the cycle doesn’t tilt it will go straight into the wall and after taking the turn the cycle still continues to be tilted right in this whole new circle so the tilting has to be for a short time and again it has to come back straight and after a turn to the left it’s slightly on the left so like that overall the car goes to the destination the cycle goes to the destination because it is in a dynamic balance now what is it that ensures that the car goes to the destination the general understanding, this is the direction I want to go and then according to the obstacles that come in the path I can turn left or right, whatever is needed so generally planning should be to give us a compass that means say if I want to plan my studies and I may want to read say one hour everyday but my services may be such that I may not get that time in my life although I may try but if I make a general plan let’s say in one hour I can read around 10 pages so that means in one month I can read 300 pages that means I can complete almost one small canto of bhagavatam in one month so if I plan that way in one month I will complete one canto of bhagavatam or this canto of bhagavatam of 300 pages then on some days when our schedules are tight we may not be able to read even one page but if we have that general goal in mind, other days we can wake up and read 30 pages, 60 pages then I can read also so planning gives us a sense of direction and momentum direction gives us a sense of momentum yesterday I could not go forward but today I can go faster also, so on the other hand if we don’t have a plan like that of a general compass where we want to go we plan in a more clock-centered fashion I don’t know we are not able to read that, we simply will be frustrated so in general if each of us look at our lives we will have probably 5 or 6 sort of portfolios different areas in which we work we may have our surveys, we may have something for our health some exercise and diets and medicines some we have our studies, we may have our relationships to take care of and we may have our services now all of these require our time so if we try to micro-plan each activity within each of these portfolios, we will overwhelm ourselves with too many details and will not even be able to stick to them, but if we make an understudy, ok, within the next one month, now I am working with this devotee, I need to develop a relationship I will spend some time with him so it may not be every time that I meet I spend a lot of time, but if I have that in mind, there are certain times I can spend time and that way develop the relationship so in general if we try to plan with a compass-centered vision, not a clock-centered vision, we will move forward and it may not be as efficient as we would like, but still we will definitely be moving forward and over a period of time we will find that we will ourselves gain a sense of how much load we should take up just like eating sometimes we may eat too much, sometimes a little less but over a period of time we will understand, ok if I am taking lunch, I should take three jabbas, whatever, we learn that ourselves, so that means first is planning and occasionally it’s also important to review review means to look back and see ok I made this plan, did it work? why did it work? and if it didn’t work, why did it not work? so it’s not that just because it’s not that philosophically we are not supposed to plan anything, because we are not the controllers we are not the supreme controllers but we are controllers in a small way you will see in the Gurukshetra battle also, both the parties will plan on one particular day, Indranacharya will make a particular military formation, Pandavas will respond and Vishnu will make another military formation so that’s with respect to war, but the point is, even Krishnadevaraya and Arjuna are going to be more revision minded, they will also make some plans in war how they would carry out their attack and then Arjuna wanted to prevent Jaidratha also he made a very systematic plan and all the other Maharathas would engage the Maharathas of the Taura side and then Arjuna would focus on penetrating into the ranks and there would not be many Maharathas to obstruct him because all the Maharathas would engage elsewhere that was the plan so the plans have to be there but still Arjuna also found out that at the last moment his plans were not enough and Krishna helped eventually by covering the sun in Madri but we see that Arjuna did plan and he did endeavor very strenuously and finally Krishna helped and at that time he was successful so like that, we do have to make three plans first is we need to have a compass centered plan or clock centered plan, not specific details but general direction of where we want to go second is that while making plans we strive for a we learn by our own experience how much to the extent to which I can do, how much I can plan and for that we need to review whether our plans work or not we learn from that lastly we see that planning is also part of spiritual service in the sense that planning enables to do our service seriously and generally whenever we do anything seriously one way of showing our seriousness is by planning if I am just going to have a casual talk with a friend I will not plan but if I am going to do a formal talk on an occasion then I will plan, why? because I am going to be serious it’s all the reason of course which only planning our services also indicates our seriousness to each other I seriously want to serve the public responsibly, competently and that way by compass centered planning by reviewing and by recognizing that planning is also a part of devotional life we can learn to plan make plans which will gradually