What should we do when we are instructed to do a service we are not inspired to do?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. I said we should be purpose driven. But then sometimes we feel more inspired to do some service different from what we’re instructed to do.
So, what should we do at such a time? Is that the question? Yeah. Yes. In general, there has to be a cooperative attitude between the community leaders and the community members.
The community members will be ready to do whatever service we’re told to do. And the community leaders, their goal should be, their vision should be that, now let every devotee be happy in the service that they’re doing. And therefore, we try, the community leaders should be trying that, let every devotee engage in a service that is according to their nature, that they’re inspired to do.
So, for longevity in our service, it is good that we have some service that we feel inspired to do. And there are at times certain urgent projects come up, some festivals come up, some major events come up. That time, we all have to do whatever we are told to do.
But in the long run, as you’re practicing bhakti, it’s good in consultation with our seniors to gravitate towards the service that we feel inspired to do. The advantage of having a service that we feel inspired to do is that, even if tomorrow there’s nobody to instruct us, still we’ll do the service. Tomorrow, say, nowadays all of us are so mobile, tomorrow we may go to some other place, there’s not so much devotee communities there.
But if we are driven to do a service, then we will continue that, if we are inspired to do it. So, in general, it is good to engage in services that we feel inspired to do. But we don’t do it in a whimsical or a rebellious way.
We submissively inform our seniors that this is what I feel inspired to do, can I do it? And usually, they will be understanding and say, okay, you do this right now for this time being, and in the future, you can do this service. So, exactly when we can do the service that we feel inspired to do, that will vary. So, we can keep the inspiration in our heart, and we can try to do that service.
But sometimes, the externals may mean that it takes some time for us to do that service. I was just in California, in Carpentaria with Giriraj Maharaj. So, Giriraj Maharaj was instructed by Shri Prabhupada to write books.
But then he was involved in the Mumbai project, and the Mumbai project was like a war zone. So, initially, he said, I want to write books. And then his Godbrothers, senior Godbrothers told him at that time that, you know, you can write articles, you can write books anytime.
But right now, we have to build this temple, and Prabhupada wants this temple to be built. So, he did that at that time. And then now, the way it has worked out is that when finally the temple was, the land was procured, and the temple manifestation came to its conclusion.
So, if you know the story of how Prabhupada got the Juhu land, it was quite an adventure, it was a battle. So, at the end, Prabhupada said, it is a good fight. I said, someone should write a book about it.
So, then Giriraj Maharaj realized that I could have written about so many ideas according to my ideas, but by doing this service, Krishna made me an insider for a book that Prabhupada wants me to write. So, now he has written a beautiful, several hundred, almost 800-900 page book. It’s a complete history of how the Prabhupada arranged for the Juhu temple to manifest.
Currently, the name is A Good Fight and A Promise Fulfilled. So, good fight means that Prabhupada said it was a good fight and a promise fulfilled. Prabhupada personally promised Radharaj Bihari that you please stay in this tent and I will build a beautiful temple for you.
So, Maharaj is telling me that for many years I couldn’t do this service, but now he is fully absorbed in that service. So, sometimes the service that we are inspired to do, situations may not allow us to do that. So, we accept that, we keep the inspiration in our hearts and we keep doing whatever service we can at that time and slowly we gravitate towards that.
Prabhupada’s spiritual master told him to preach, but for him it took a lot of time because he had other responsibilities. So, we don’t have to give up our inspiration, but we don’t have to give up everything else just for our inspiration. Now, we can have balance and gradually as we keep practicing bhakti, we will learn how to find space for ourselves by which we can do the service that we feel inspired to do.