While practicing bhakti how can we avoid getting locked into our professional identity?

Transcript

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Yeah. So, sometimes we may get locked into our particular profession. Let’s say I’m a farmer, I’m a computer guy.
So, as devotees, how can we not get locked in this? It’s not a matter of getting locked. It’s a matter of seeing that I am bigger than my social role. So, yes, in this particular lifetime, in this particular phase of my life, I have specialized in this.
So, I have some knowledge in this. But I am a soul. And as a soul, I’m going on a multi-life journey.
And this journey, I may play different roles at different times. So, if we reduce our self-conception to our social role, then it becomes a problem. So, I may identify that I am an author, I’m a speaker.
Now, this is not wrong. But if that becomes our defining identity, see, there is a defining identity and there’s a functional identity. So, our defining identity is that I’m a part of Krishna.
I am a servant of Krishna. And as functional identity, even if we become devotees, even if we become pure devotees, are we going to call each other, Oh, servant of Krishna, come here. Oh, servant of Krishna, come here.
We all have our names. We all have our roles. We have all our social identities also.
So, it’s not that our functional identity is to be rejected. But the functional identity should be integrated with the defining identity. That means, say, I don’t know, in India, we play cricket.
So, there may be a player who may sometimes bowl, who is all-rounder. Sometimes they can bowl. Sometimes he can bat.
Sometimes he may become just a fielder. Sometimes he may act as a captain, if the captain is off the field. So, essentially, that person is a cricketer.
Whereas a cricket player, that person may do various roles. So, sometimes somebody may bat aggressively, somebody may bat defensively. These are all different roles.
But the person doesn’t think that I am this. I am a player. So, like that, if we understand I’m a servant of Krishna, and we don’t identify ourselves as that.
Now, denying that, say, I am a computer, I am author, that may deprive us of the opportunity to do a service that we feel good doing, and that we are good at doing also. So, broadly, there are direct devotional activities, like, say, chanting, studying scripture, worshipping the deities. In these direct devotional activities, quite often, our functional role doesn’t matter so much.
When I go and hear a class, it doesn’t matter whether I’m a computer guy or I’m a farmer. So, if these direct devotional activities, which we call as sadhana, there is sadhana and there is seva. So, as a seva, we may do a service, we may do various things.
But sadhana is a spiritual practice. So, if our functional role starts taking so much of our consciousness, that we start neglecting our sadhana. And even na sadhana, we are constantly thinking only about that.
Naturally, we think about that because that service is important for us. But if our serve, if our functional role starts dominating our essential idea, our essential connection with Krishna, then it becomes a problem. But if we’re doing our sadhana nicely, diligently, and along with that, we are also serving Krishna through whatever specific knowledge we have, specific skills we have, specific interests or talents we have, then we are actually serving Krishna in a most effective way.
And it’s good to sometimes associate with devotees who are doing entirely different services. We are naturally born with those who are doing the same services, because we have so much to share. But if we discuss, if we also bond with some other devotees, then that also opens our paradigm, opens our mind.
Oh, bhakti is much bigger. I’m serving Krishna in this way. There’s so much more, there’s a universe of devotion.
And that way, we can see. So, it’s again like the ocean and the river. This is the channel through which I’m going towards the ocean.
But that doesn’t mean this is the only channel. That doesn’t even mean that this is the only channel which I need to go through. If somehow this channel gets blocked, I’ll find some other channel to move on towards