Why do some good devotees suddenly do some terrible things?

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
If some devotees are in good standing suddenly do something which is very bad not just from spiritual but in social perspective and why did this happen what was lacking and how can we help them actually we all have certain karma to be exhausted just like sometimes somebody may fall sick normally we think about karma in terms of external things that happen to us somebody may fall sick, somebody may lose a job somebody may lose a relative loved one these are karmic reactions these are karmic reactions but karmic reactions can come internally also in the form of distorted desires you know when a person becomes alcoholic the consequences are two fold one is the health gets spoiled but internally the desire for alcoholism also becomes strong so similarly we all can go through phases when the desire is shoot up it’s not that there is necessarily anything lacking in the practice of it’s just that that is a phase when some karmic reactions are coming to us in the form of aggravated internal desires so the way to do this is just as when distress comes if we just overreact to the distress we may do something which compounds the problem, it’s tolerated, it goes away so sometimes desires just come and they come so in the form of when it just comes so forcefully that person person just gets overcome now if they are in close devotee association some devotee may be able to help them but the major problem that happens is if we become a successful devotee then there is a certain certain image that we want to maintain and because of wanting to maintain that image we don’t tell our inner struggles because if I tell I am struggling in this desire, I am having this problem then people say I thought you are such a great devotee you don’t have such a problem we think that our image will be destroyed and that’s why especially for devotees sometimes they don’t they don’t confide about their inner struggles some devotee could have helped and then the desire becomes so strong that they get overcome that’s why it is a matter of great fortune if we can have even one devotee in our life whom we can trust more than we trust our mind that means what we look at everyone through our mind if somebody starts speaking sweetly to us, our mind says this person must want something from me, that’s why they speak so sweetly to me, so we look at everyone through our mind but if there is some devotee whom we trust you know rather than looking at that devotee through the mind we look at the mind through that devotee this devotee is saying this, my mind is saying this if we have even one devotee like that, it’s a matter of great fortune, so what happens by that the mind offers a certain take on things this is like this, this is like this but if we have some devotee whom we trust then we get an alternative take on things and then we can actually save from what the mind is telling us so sometimes devotees who are successful become so image conscious that they can’t let any devotee know their heart and that’s how they fall they fall away and then because the desires are so strong, the craving for pleasure is so great, at that time the mind starts imagining such things mind starts feeling, oh you deprived yourself of pleasure for so long now just indulge in it fully it’s like make up for lost time in that way people will end up doing terrible things so if somebody does something like that then there is an institutional level response, there is an individual level response at institutional level we need to have certain standards and if somebody has done something which is grievously wrong, then they cannot be in a responsible position or leadership position but at individual level we have to see how best we can respond in that situation sometimes if the devotee is you know, we have trusted the devotee a lot, then if we try to go close, we will inevitably, our feelings of hurt and betrayal will be so great that we will come off as very judgmental and we may alienate the devotee further, so the best way we can serve the devotee is by keeping a distance from them but if we are on friendly terms, then we can avoid the judgmental attitude and just be open to them, what they have done wrong, there is no denying that but we don’t have to let that wrong define them we don’t have to label them for that we give them the opportunity to come closer to Krishna in as non-judgmental environment as possible and then that higher taste of Krishna Bhakti always remains and sooner or later they will be like, whatever I have done it’s what made me do that? then come to Krishna’s lotus feet so unfortunately devotees become extremely judgmental then that fear keeps them away from away from Krishna’s movement because they feel, they just can’t come over there, so we have to we have to protect our community we have to protect our own faith, our own hurt feelings we have to see, but we have to try to create some space, if we have the capacity to, by which we can also come to Krishna’s lotus feet and that way they can move onwards, but we shouldn’t become judgmental because we don’t know what karmic reactions await us in future we may also think, I’ll never do such a thing can’t even dream of doing such a thing but sometimes desires can come in such a way that they will just grip us so rather than becoming judgmental and thinking, oh how could they do such a thing such is the power of maya that anybody can be dragged down, so let me stay humble and let me stay fixed in my bhakti to Krishna thank you very much