Hare Krishna. I came across this letter this morning and thought that it was interesting to share it with all of you..
ys
Sudarshan das
Srila Prabhupada letter to Madhukara
Bombay
4 January, 1973, St. Louis
“One mistake of judgment often made by the neophyte devotees is that any time there is some disturbance or some difficulty they are considering that the conditions or the external circumstances under which the difficulty took place are the cause of the difficulty itself. That is not the fact.
In this material world there is always some difficulty, no matter in this situation or that situation. Therefore simply by changing my status of occupation or my status of life, that will not help anything. Because the real fact is that if there is any difficulty with others, that is my lack of Krishna consciousness, not theirs. Is this clear? Krishna says that His dearest devotee is one who does not put others into difficulty, in fact, who puts no one other into difficulty.
So try to judge the matter on these points, whether or not you are putting either your wife or yourself into some difficulty. The right understanding of Bhagavad-gita is Arjuna’s understanding. In other words, Arjuna came to the conclusion that he must perform his occupational duty, not as a material obligation, for reasons of wife, family, friends, reputation, professional integrity, like that—no.
Rather he must conduct the functions of his station of life only as a devotional service performed for Krishna. That means that devotional service is what is important, not my occupational duty. But it does not mean that because occupation duty is not the real consideration, that I should give it up and do something else, thinking that devotional service may be carried on under whatever circumstances which I may whimsically decide.
Krishna recommended Arjuna to remain as he was, not to disrupt the order of society and go against his own nature just for convenience sake. Our occupational duty is not arbitrary, that means once we have taken up some field of action, if we are advanced in our understanding, then we shall not change it for another.
Rather our devotion is the important factor, so what does it matter what I am doing so long my work and energy are completely devoted to Krishna? Just like Krishna, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He has no work, neither He has anything to do, still He comes here to teach us this lesson. He accepts not only His occupational duty as cowherd boy, royal prince, but also He accepts married life, He enters politics, He is philosopher, He is even chariot driver during a great battle, He does not give example of Himself avoiding His occupational duty.
So if Krishna Himself is exhibiting by His own conduct what is the perfection of existence, then we should heed such example if we are intelligent.”
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