WORKING FOR KRISHNA Part4
We have people with complete opposite natures who may not immediately develop the most close relationships of friendship but still appreciate each other because they see we are working together for the same thing and therefore they are tolerant of each other instead of allowing the hairs in the neck to take over, the natural irritation to take over. Some people just irritate you, just the way they are like I mean the way they…. This guy, I mean shall we just tie his hands to his back or something , can’t he keep his hands still all the time, I get nervous just looking at him you know or you have some one who chants Hare Krishna and ( whistling sound), Hare Krishna Hare Krishna (whistling sound), Hare Krishna Hare Krishna ( whistling sound) Rama Rama Hare Hare ( whistling sound) Krishna Krishna ( whistling sound)…… and you are chanting your rounds with that person and after a while you just go (after he makes another whistling sound) you go nuts, “AGHHHHH, stop this! Stop this whistling I can’t chant, just stop it! Stop it, it drives me nuts!”
So these stupid little things,right? These stupid little things can become really big, you know, the way someone whistles, there are so many things….the window, you know, the window can be a big thing right, ….some people are fanatic, fanatic fresh air people, as soon as they come across a window they open it up, freezing cold, wind blowing, whushhh, storm and flapping clothes, you know, so then there’s the other one the people who hate the cold who start sniffling and start sneezing when this happens like just freak out, “ We are going to die of neumonia, close the windows help! And many many great vendettas have started in temples, where the person who hates cold has screwed the window up permanantley. Screwed it so it just doesn’t open and the other guy breaks it, you know….superglue on the thermostat so you can’t turn it off, all kinds of varieties of activities are there just about temperature, because it is about communal living, communal living is really something else than private living is, my house, my house is exactly the way I want and ofcourse often times you are not alone and you have a partner but now you are suddenly having like twenty partners living in a house, and you are sharing everything with them so it can be very….anoying
“ where’s my gumsha, where’my gumsha , who took my gumsha, that blue gumsha,” “You don’t have a blue gumsha” “No that’s my blue gumsha” “ No I don’t believe it , it looks exactly as mine”
all kinds of varieties of war are taking place, so strange relationships are very easily there, but amongst devotees we are seeing, this general principle that we are all dedicated to the mission and because we appreciate the mission so much because we see the importance of the mission and then we tolerate the annoying features in a person’s character because it is true…it is the most difficult to live in the association of the devotees….Why?....because everyone bring their false ego with them and are not yet a pure devotee so it is most difficult to deal with everyone’s false ego, you have yours and everyone has there’s, and these false egos are clashing and because you are constantly studying this philosophy you become expert in recognising false ego…. “ THIS is FALSE EGO! Hey Hey Hey this is not Krishna consciousness, this is false ego, we reject this”,
But nobody can just give up his false ego, so although we know it’s false, complete nonsense we have to be tolerant, we have to tolerate false ego in devotees because yes everyone is in the process of being purified, this is very difficult, this makes it so difficult… because if you just live with paramhamsas it is not difficult at all, that’s one reason why I became a sanyassi because I always thought the sanyassis are far out people, I thought the sanyassis are really nice ( I’m the exception, to make that point),
but other sanyassis I thought are far out people so I thought I want to associate with them and I got some association but then I thought that I wanted more so then I thought well the best way to get more is to become one of them, so that was one of the things that enthused me.. so because you see that they are little more serious, they don’t like to speak prajalpa, like they don’t like to waste time, they want to do something Krishna Coscniousness, so that’s very nice. So we are looking for devotees like that, who want to do something Krishna consciousness and that is very inspiring and very nice but we see that not everybody everytime wants to do something Krishna conscious, there are people they really want a little prajalpa, they need a little prajalpa…
“.Wohhhh, it’s getting too Krishna Conscious, quick tell some jokes, do you know some jokes, some Yugoslavian jokes someone else can tell some Nepali jokes and we can see if the Nepali jokes and the Yugoslvain jokes are different or the same, maybe far out, have you ever heard some nepali jokes” … I hope I have not just started a whole new thing, anyway you get the point…..
It’s like it can’t get too Krishna conscious all at once, so there are different levels of association of the different devotees, but we have to develop that broader vision that we appreciate everyone’s connection with the mission and we ourselves have to get behind the mission and we have to do something, and we see here very clearly that it is recommended to follow the regulative principles of spiritual life perfectly that means one should chant a minimum of 16rounds everyday, that one should follow four regulative priciples, that one should learn all the other regulative principles and it says if you can do that then you should work for Krishna…so in order to work for Krishna you need to cooperate with those who are following the regulative principles, what can we say, that is Krishna’s recommendation, not my recommendation, not my idea because I also have this false ego like everybody else and find it difficult to be submissive to people and also I’m like Raaahhhh! Can you surrender? “raahhhhh errr errrrr rahhhh ( ina hesitanting voice) yess” I also have this nature so in that regard it is not so easy but somehow or other we must do so, of course some people they can not work in Krishna consciousness, they can’t so the next verse goes on..
If, however, you are unable to work in this consciousness of me, then try to act giving up all results of your work and try to be self-situated.
So then give something in charity, you don’t work but be charitable, give up the result of your labour for Krishna, next verse.
If you cannot take to this practice, then engage yourself in the cultivation of knowledge. Better than knowledge, however, is meditation, and better than meditation is renunciation of the fruits of action, for by such renunciation one can attain peace of mind.
So there are different levels given, if you can’t do this, then do that, then do that but we should understand that if you are in connection with the temple that we should help the mission somehow or other …contd tomo
