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Transcription
Question – I was born in another Vaishnava tradition, but I find Krishna consciousness more logical; if I take to Krishna consciousness ,am I being unfaithful to my birth tradition?

Answer – I wouldn’t use the word unfaithful because ultimately it is one God who is manifesting his outreach, his mercy through various paths.
We can consider the example of a mountain and different paths leading to the top of the mountain. The top of the mountain is Krishna or spiritual consciousness and the bottom of the mountain is where we are, material consciousness. We are all meant to rise upward from where we are. Srila Prabhupada said Jesus Christ is like our Guru because he had so much love of God that he was ready to sacrifice his life to become a martyr for the sake of God. Now that does not mean we accept everything that Christianity says but the principle of love of God is something which is universal and is there in various traditions. God is not the monopoly of any religion just like there is no single path which leads to the top of a mountain. Having said that, each path of the mountain can have its positives and negatives.

Some path may be very slippery, some path may be very rocky, some path may be through a thick forest. From each path, at the bottom, we get some glimpse of what is at the top and the most important thing is that the glimpse should be attractive enough for us, to want to rise, upward. There are two essential things, sadhan – the path and sadhya – the object or what are we going to attain by following the path? In other words, the path and the purpose.

When we say Pushti marg, it is a venerated Vishnu tradition and there have been many great saints in that tradition and the tradition of Krishna Bhakti has been preserved in thousands and thousands and millions of families by the pushti marg tradition across India and across the world and the families or the descendants practising this marg have migrated everywhere. We fully respect that tradition and this respect should be rightfully offered.

At the same time, in different traditions, the emphasis is different. Generally in most of India, often there is a greater emphasis on the ritualistic aspect of bhakti or religion rather than the philosophical aspect and the ritualistic aspect is what often appeals to older generations – the parents and the grandparents. They feel at home, thinking that this is what our predecessors did. They feel connected with their past and they get a sense of security and continuity. Of course, they are also connecting with Krishna through this to the degree they are investing their heart in the rituals. But the point is, this ritualistic aspect of bhakti is not very appealing to the younger generation and that is why when Srila Prabhupada started the Krishna Consciousness Movement, he said the temples should first and foremost be places of higher education.

Temples are places of worship and they are also meant to be places of education and that is why there are daily Bhagavatam classes, there are regular evening programs explaining the philosophical aspects of bhakti. If we see in most of the Indian temples, not specifically Pushti Marga, the people are mostly priests and not teachers. They can do the rituals quite well, they can even chant the mantras very nicely but if someone asks them questions, they do not have answers. That is not a deficiency on their part, it is just the way they were trained. So, there are some traditions which are emphasising the educational aspect and some emphasising the ritualistic aspect. Rather than seeing that you are leaving one path and taking to another path and being unfaithful, you can see that the same Lord who arranged for you to belong to the pushti marga family by which you would have some devotional upbringing, some pious culture, that same Lord has brought you to a place where you can take it further in a way that works for you. Everyone is an individual and it is for us to offer our head and heart to Krishna in a mood of service and for us to do that, we have to do things in a way that is true for us.

Just focus on seeing that here is where you got the opportunity to practice Krishna consciousness, have the opportunity to ask questions and get answers to those questions and take up the practices. You can continue worshipping Laddu Gopal but you can decide based on your intelligence and your particular situation, how elaborate the rituals you want to practice. That is something which is definitely up to the individual and it is there in every tradition, even in Madhava tradition in South India, where they often emphasize shaligram shila worship.

But how much worship should be done? That they often leave to the individuals. Sometimes certain traditions may say this is how much you need to do but individual practitioners have to find out how much they can do. So try to see for yourself how you can best connect with Krishna and see this not so much as you abandoning one path and taking another path, rather see it as you reciprocating with Krishna, who is providing you facilities to come closer to him, whether it is through this path or that path.

The point is that you have an opportunity to move closer to Krishna.

End of transcription.

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Transcription
Question: How can we dedicate more of our Lakshmi __ for the service of Krishna or time or resources in general when we also need them, we have a family to take care of and we have our responsibilities?

Answer: First thing is that we needn’t bifurcate Bhakti like this, that taking care of family is mundane and serving Krishna is spiritual. Taking care of our family is also a part of our service to Krishna. There is direct service and there is indirect service.

So, in 12.8-12 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna gives multiple levels at which we can practice Bhakti. So, 12.8 is just absorb yourself in me and live in me, Krishna says. 12.9, he says if you can’t do that, then just try to fix your mind on me. 12.10, he says that if you can’t do that, then work for me, and the acharyas have explained that working for me can be at two levels. One is that you work directly, do some voluntary service for Krishna, and then indirectly we work and offer the fruits of our work to Krishna. So that could mean giving charity, that could mean, that could also include, Krishna says, sva-karmana tam abhyarchya. Even our work itself we can do in a mode of service to Krishna, taking care of family. We see them not just as our family but as Krishna’s children or Krishna’s parts in our care and then we serve them by executing our responsibilities diligently.

Of course, Krishna also says that we should strive to rise to a higher level of service as much as possible. That means we try to become spontaneously absorbed in him. So, definitely if we can spend more time and energy and resources in directly serving Krishna, that is better. But it is not that only that is service and this is not service. Everything that we do can be redefined in the mode of service to Krishna and that is essentially Krishna consciousness. Krishna consciousness does not mean or rather having faith in Krishna does not mean giving up our intelligence. God has given us our intelligence so that we can use it in His service, and faith means going in the direction of the intelligence and being ready to go further also. It is not going in a direction opposite to that of intelligence. That means just like in our professional career, if we are in business or we are starting some enterprise, then we take calculated risks. So, we are using our intelligence and we feel this risk is worthwhile. It is worth taking, it is a reasonable risk. Some people go slightly beyond that and nobody can be foolhardy…I mean just taking risks without any thinking at all. So, in some ways, Bhakti is also like taking calculated risk.

When Srila Prabhupada went to America, it was an extraordinary act of faith. At the age of 70, with no money, with no contacts, no institutional support, to go all the way to America was an extraordinary act of courage which arose from faith. But it was not just faith that was rashness, that was not recklessness. Prabhupada knew that his Guru Maharaj wanted outreach outside India to happen and his Guru Maharaj had sent his disciples to UK, but that was before the First World War or Second World War, and after the Second World War, UK’s fortune went down, America’s fortune went up substantially. So, Prabhupada used his intelligence to decide to go to America instead of UK. Prabhupada also felt that it seems my Godbrothers have tried in UK, that has not worked, so let me try somewhere else. So, we also use our intelligence. Just like if you are going to swim in water, we first put a little bit of water and see how cold it is and how much we can tolerate the cold and then we decide whether to go in more or not. So, we can take small incremental steps.

So, generally, love is seen in two ways: Love is seen by what we give for our beloved and second is what we give up for our beloved. Parents may want to offer the best education to their children and now that’s what we want to give to the beloved. But then if that means that to be with the child where the best school is, the parents have to take up a job which is not paying that well, then we take that up. But what we give and what we give up, both are important and same applies in our relationship with Krishna also. So, definitely our devotion is seen through a certain level of sacrifice that we do in Krishna’s service, but when we are doing that sacrifice, that does not mean that we just abandon or reject our intelligence. It’s that we see even our intelligence as Krishna’s gift to us and then we understand that sometimes we can’t understand Krishna’s plan.

So, sometimes if we get a direct instruction from the spiritual master to do a particular thing, then even if that doesn’t make sense, we may decide at that time to do it. But in general, even the spiritual master’s instructions are given in such a way that they make sense to us. Krishna would simply have told Arjuna, just fight. I am God. Obey me. Fight. Krishna spoke all the 700 verses of the Bhagavad Gita because he was not just forcing Arjuna to have faith or forcing Arjuna to reject his intelligence in the name of obedience and faith. Krishna wanted to persuade Arjuna ___(6:30). So, we can take inspiration from other devotees who are sacrificing a lot for Krishna’s service and then we can sacrifice according to our capacity.

End of transcription.

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Question.

What do we hear from?South Africa’s collapse.From Babuita perspective.Answer.I’m not a specialist in South African history and.So South Africa is not collapsed but definitely things are declining.

As the menu sources as also as document devotees who have been there versus there or immigrated away from there that Australia or Canada or other countries.

I like to make three points.First is that.

The aspiration for equality and freedom is a very deep rooted human need and.

Null semen de las protest against.Apartheid and is eventual release and ascent as the head of the new.South African state is probably one of the most moving stories of the recent century.

In the said that in this world when people are the function, they need karma.They need the quality they need qualities going on and karma they need competence.So.

We have a truthful that is good, but it is not about warrior then they are not able to strategist.Then they will be either slaughtered or outwarded by other kshatriyas who may not even be less as truthful as they are.It’s the point is competence matters.In the functioning in this world.

And that’s why.The bakudita is not an idealistic book.It’s a while it does talk about ideas, it also has a hard idea to realism and it’s approach to the world.And therefore it states that.The oxygen resourcefulness is a vital characteristic of the stator.For ruler of a head of state, that means.

One has to be expert enough to know what resources are available to oneself and then we use those resources properly to solve existing problems as well as to.Address future problems.Probably the biggest problem for us. South Africa, which is machine economy slowing it down and pushing it down.

Is the chronic mismatch between the supply of.Fuel and it’s requirement.

So whatever the specific reasons.If somehow that was not anticipated there was not addressed and the result of that is that.People are using solar power the state is collapsing and then people are using their own private security is where they can develop the enough.

So while principals or values are important practical.Competences also vital.In the Mahabharat, which is which wall chapters are spoken.Hmm Abu is very awareness in fighting.But he doesn’t know how to come out of the particular military formation for culture view and once he’s strapped there, he unfortunately attains marshmallow.

Heroism alone is not a substitute for knowledge for competence.So applying the same principle even if he assumed that.The ANC’s leaders after measurement allah had one intentions and that assumption can also be examined evaluated critical but even if he assumed that they had one attention still.Good intentions alone are not enough has to be proper competence.

This is not to say that.

There is no competence in the NC. The point is that.

Competitive people need to be leadership positions and competent people need to be competent enough to get into leadership positions also.

So,The Gita is not just a spiritual guidebook for attaining inner perfection. It is also.Anal spiritual realization, but also a book for.Giving us a vision of life whereby we can make how worthwhile contribution in the outer world.And.

We pray that.Very competent leadership.Okay.

We found to eat South Africa out of its path to a darkness and that it can be led to a light where its immense potential can be tapped.Into the natural sources and other gifts that nature has given that nation.Anything can offer us enough come up as a resource of the guidance for the right balance of values and interests values are of more idealistic interests are little more practical.

So,When actions are are.Realistic balance of values are interests then.There can be.Tangible progress in the real world towards building.

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