Hare Krishna.
Please accept my humble obeisances.
I am a new member to ISKCON Desire Tree and am a 11th std. student. As you see 11th and 12th std. are the most crucial stages which decides ur future. So now I am totally burdened with both school studies and coachings. My family wishes me to be a Doctor and so I have to cope up with AIPMT coachings too.
I came across Krishna Consiousness when I was in 8th or probably in 9th. I was so much attracted to Krishna that I could not spend even a second without thinking of Krishna. But this material world is so powerful that after about just one and a half month I lost my cherished treasure of Krishna bhakti. Obviously its not the material world but myself to blame to let such a thing happen. After about 1 long year I took to Krishna Consiousness again and am determined to not lose it once again. Well I have to admit that the intensity with which I think of Krishna is far less than that when I was in 9th. I really thank Krishna for showing his mercy on me a second time. Now as I said I am now in a crucial stage in terms of material world. I am afraid that I will lose interest in Krishna Consiousness while concentrating on my studies and coping up with everyone's expectations. This has left me in a fix. As a devotee's word is considered to be that from Krishna himself so please kindly let me know about ur suggestions.
Thank u well in advance.
Hare Krishna.........
Replies
Hare Krishna to all devotees 🙇🙇🙏🙏
Thank-you so much for sharing such valuable information. I really needed an inspiration for myself. Thank-you so much everyone. Haribol
All glories to Srila Prabhupada 🙏🙏
Hare Krishna Prabhu!
Even if the story never happened, it's something we should still think about because not everyone can renounce like Sukhadeva Goswami from the beginning of one's life. It's true that an uneducated person who is practicing bhakti yoga is millions times better than an educated person who isn't practicing bhakti yoga. And it's true that being dependent on Krishna is the life's goal, however, not everyone is in that position or even ready to be in that position. This is where balancing material and spiritual life comes in handy. If a person can maintain his/her spiritual life while using their material life in the service of Krishna, then even the person's material life becomes in a sense spiritual because it is in contact with the all supreme, all spiritual Shri Krishna.
Quoting Srila Prabhupada:
Perhaps this will offer a deeper perspective (also meant for Yamuna Prabhu)
http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/2012/03/why-should-a-devotee-s...
Your Servant,
The page really helped me. Thank u very much once again.
Hare Krishna Prabhu!
Just to add my own thoughts, I think the true test isn't being able to focus on Krishna 24/7 (if you can that's amazing of course and dandavats) but being able to remember Krishna while doing material activities.
This reminds me of the pastime of Lord Vishnu and Narada where Narada was told to carry a pot of oil on his head and go around a mountain without dropping any oil. Narada left thinking it's very easy, but along the way it was as easy as it looked. When he came back, Lord Vishnu asked: "How many times did you think of me Narada?" and Narada had to say "Not even once, I was so busy making sure this oil wouldn't spill".
This is after the pastime where Narada asks who Lord Vishnu's greatest devotee was after having that sort of ego that he thinks and chants Hari's name 24/7, etc. And to curb that ego, Lord Vishnu took him to the house of a poor farmer who chanted Lord Vishnu's names a few times throughout the day while working hard in the field.
In other words, being able to learn just about Krishna and the Vedic knowledge and depending on Krishna is astounding , and I'd sign up for it any day, but if we can take this material that we acquire and put it to good use - be it through pious activities or helping devotees of Krishna properly, then I feel that Krishna would be equally, if not more satisfied.
Your Servant
Dear Yamuna mataji,
PAMHO.
I would like to add to what everyone else has mentioned - pls study harder, because you are studying to please Krsna. Srila Prabhupada would say that on a white shirt, any dirt is seen more prominently. Therefore, the lives and habits of devotees are studied by common people. Therefore, even in our sadhaka stage, we should endeavour to lead exemplary lives such have people say they are special because they are devotees of Krsna.
I am sure you have understood taht you need to study and there are no shortcuts. My advice to you is to reduce your sadhana to barest minimum, chant your committed rounds daily, read one shloka of Bhagavad Gita before you sleep and be vegetarian. This will not create any disturbance in your family also and life will be simpler for you. I have never cheated my family. If I am doing sadhana, my family knows about it and if I am at a night club, my family knows about that also. The moment you try to hide means you are doing something wrong. Study at study time and at non study time, do your sadhana in front of everyone. My father would tell me - why are you worried about getting good marks ? Krishna will help you, you are forever taking His name. And I can say with conviction that Krishna helped me in my studies also.
So have faith, chant and study. Be reasonable at all times and dont try to do something which will land you in trouble.
Take care,
Haribol,
Rashmi
Thank u very much for ur suggestion. All the replies for my question has really helped me to come out of my confusion. I will follow them whole heartedly.
Hare Krishna.
Hare Krsna Prabhuji,
PAMHO.
I am inspired by the devotees' responses and would like to add to them. But first, I would like to respond to your response.
Krsna has mentioned in Bhagavad Gita that we have to do our prescribed duty, which in the case of Yamuna mataji, is to study. If she neglects her studies and prays to Krishna, then it is not very pleasing to the lord. The entire Bhagavad Gita was spoken because the lord didnt want Arjun to run away from his prescribed duty of fighting the war, He wanted Arjun to fight for Krsna's will. Then how we can tell students that everything is nonsense, simply pray to the lord.
We have the concept of "Yukta Vairagya" in iSKCON. Even Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur was a proponent of this. Therefore, ISKCON uses all technology, all modern amenities in the service of the lord and that is one of the reasons it has grown. Instead of rejecting the material world, we should use it in the service of the lord. If we didnt, we wouldnt be using the very platform of IDT taht we are using now, to share our views with each other.
Due to our karma, we are all born in Kaliyuga, where there are a lot of wrong happenings in the world and there is distrust and deceit everywhere. Still the silver lining on the cloud is that the path to Krishna is as simple as namsankirtan, one doesnt need to do penances for 10,000 yrs, or expensive yagnas or deity worship to attain the lord. We have to learn to accept whatever situation in life we are in, work within our limitations and attempt to remember Krsna in the middle of whatever we are doing.
Haribol,
Rashmi
S sir. The books which we r studying now in school or in college is filled with things which is not at all related to Krishna or Self Realization. They are leading us to nowhere. But still being a student in this material world it is my duty to study. Krishna himself says that he will not be pleased if one never carries out his prescribed duty. My problem was not about carrying out my duties but while doing so I was afraid of losing interest in Krishna Consiousness. Thank u for ur advice sir.
Hare Krishna.
Dear Yamuna Mataji,
please accept my humble obeisances!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
When i was studying in Computer science faculty i faced so much hardships. Because this faculty subjects were so difficult. Some Devotees used to tell me to take it easy but some other senior Devotees used to tell me to study nicely because i am doing it for Krishna. In the future i will use it for Krishna's service...
But in third year i started to run away from classes listening to other Devotees and used to spend my time in Temple doing some seva.
But time passed and as a result i failed 2-3 exams and had to take those subjects in the 4th year. Teachers started to think bad of Krishna Consciousness. They started to say that if one becomes a Devotee one is a looser in material life. So it was a bad reputation. I made them think bad of Srila Prabhupada, Lord Krishna, due to my ignorance and laziness and over enthusiasm in Krishna Consciousness.
So in 4th year Senior Devotees requested me to study well and complete my university with good marks. They told me to come to the Temple once in a week, chant my rounds early in the morning, read Srimad Bhagavatam in the evenings but study university subjects very nicely and pass all exams.
So i did.
And got high marks in my certificate and that helped me to come to India to study in Master's degree at the same time here in India i came closer to so many Devotees, Temples, books, festivals, yatras, Holy Places...
So Krishna wants His Devotees to be serious and perform their duties very well after they chant their Japa. We study and do job to please Krishna. And we are representing Krishna so we should act in a very best way to glorify Krishna.
They should not say:
"oh see Krishna Devotee is a looser; wears dirty clothes; unshaved; ..."
On the contrary we have to be clean, wear clean and proper suitable clothes, keep our rooms clean, eat pure food, ...and become an example to others.
So please, study well because You are doing it to please Krishna.
Your servant,
AGTSP. Haribola.
Nice answer mataji. I am facing a peculiar problem related to my job. So you can say Im in a fix between job and my kc.
Since I am in sales, by the grace of Krishna I was able to made some closure with good brands and that too the company having more capable and highly paid sales guys in their payrole. But in the last few months the company is becoming so irational and greedy that they want sales to happen every month or else our salary will be linked to this. It affects my KC.
Please suggest should I change my job.
Haribola.
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