Question 1: Time-management is a big issue for students. While it is important to be responsible in our studies, there is also a desire to spend more time in spiritual activities. How can a neophyte with a very biased priority learn to balance time between sadhana, other spiritual activities and day-to-day work?
Answer by Romapada Swami: A key factor in time-management and setting priorities is REGULATION. Set for yourself realistic goals and plan your day/week with regulated hours dedicated to sadhana, academic work and other duties. Take realistic and firm steps and then follow through with your commitments consistently, at least for some period of time, before taking a further step.
Regulation brings mode of goodness and clarity; this combined with steady devotional practices will bring much spiritual strength, enabling you to not only manage your time well but to improve both the quality and quantity of your spiritual as well as occupational duties. Without having a strong foundation of regulation, trying to increase spiritual activities is likely to fizzle out or backlash, like trying to raise a building with a weak foundation.
The desire to increase one’s spiritual efforts is very healthy and welcome; it is the natural outcome of hearing spiritual topics and practicing in good association. In that good association, take up the recommended spiritual activities in consultation with more experienced devotees – this guided approach will greatly help in tempering over-enthusiasm or under-enthusiasm and having a balanced program of practice.
Efforts for quantitative improvement are not unimportant and have their place, but improvement need not always be in terms of quantitative increase. Even as you are regularly taking some positive forward steps, take the desire to increase as an impetus to actively improve the *quality & intensity* of your regular practices – particularly in hearing, chanting and study of scriptures.
As you focus on the quality of these core practices, systematically strengthening your convictions and realizations about the process of devotion, the ability to increase the quantity will naturally follow as a consequence.
On the flip-side, over-endeavor (prayasa) for external, material goals quickly dampens spiritual progress. (NOI Text 2) Working too hard to achieve some result at the expense of spiritual practices, or being negligent in the prescribed duty – driven by attachment and aversion, respectively – are both detrimental. Regulating one’s work, once again, is the key to achieve a proper balance. A spiritual aspirant should work honestly and dutifully, without attachment, and depend on Krishna for the results (See BG 2.47 and purport). Krishna describes this as the ‘art of work’.
Part of the dutiful and responsible execution of your academic / occupational duty is to cultivate an internal understanding of how these are also to be performed in service to the Lord. Such meditation will help you realize that these activities — such as one’s studies, interactions with colleagues etc — need not be seen as disjointed material activities but could be an integral part of one’s spiritual life. While direct devotional activities are of high priority, proper execution of other duties and the realizations one gains through such execution are also meant to support steady spiritual cultivation. When seen in this light, it becomes easier to assign proper priorities to all activities.
It is very valuable, particularly in the beginning stages of spiritual life, to work with the conception of Service as that which is assigned to us by superiors. It is rather easy to slip into a spirit of enjoyment in the name of devotional service. Often it is seen that new devotees ‘enjoy’ spending time in things they like to do – chanting, dancing, cooking and cleaning pots etc – while neglecting other important duties assigned to them, thinking them to be material and not seeing these in their proper relation to spiritual life. It is not totally bad and in fact any attraction for devotional activities is always beneficial, but because there is no scientific application, it is not likely to have the desired effect of purification and systematic progress. This is a main theme in the early chapters of Bhagavad-gita dealing with action in Krishna consciousness (ch 3-6). As Krishna defines in BG 6.1: “One who acts as he is obligated is the true yogi.”
Therefore doing one’s spiritual as well as occupational activities with a sense of ‘accountability’ towards Krishna and one’s spiritual superiors is very helpful in keeping us on track. You can take input from those guiding you in Krishna consciousness in deciding your priorities, and then try to execute them in a spirit of sacrifice and service: “I have been appointed to discharge this particular duty by Krishna and His representatives.” Such dutiful execution is in the mode of goodness. Furthermore, it transfers the meditation from one’s own interests and choices to the order and pleasure of our Master, and thus gives us a platform for cultivating submission and attachment to Guru and Krishna, which is the real essence of spiritual life and the goal of all our devotional practices.
Question 2: What are the indications for a person involved in a particular profession that he/she needs to spend more time in serving the devotees?
Answer by Romapada Swami: A devotee by nature feels that there is always room for improvement, and that they could serve Krishna more and better. It is a characteristic nature of spiritual life that it is ever-increasing ––although it is very satisfying to the heart, it is never satiating; whereas material activities become quickly satiating but are never satisfying.
The moment there is stagnation, complacency or a feeling of self-sufficiency, immediately one tends to slide backwards in spiritual life. Out of natural humility and feelings of indebtedness, a devotee always feels that whatever he/she does is an insignificant reciprocation for the oceanic love and compassion extended by Krishna and His devotees – this is the driving force that makes them always strive to increase and improve their service.
So, in whatever stage one is in, one can keep that fire of enthusiasm going to want to render more service. And, as discussed above, one can regularly take measured steps to expand one’s service in consultation with other devotees.
A good mental image you can have is that of a weightlifter in training. We can keep ‘exercising the muscle of service-attitude’, by going one extra step than our normal routine, with the explicit desire to serve and please devotees. As that becomes part of our normal life, we can take one more step and so on, thus progressively expanding our service and the feelings of service-attitude accompanying such service.
