Associate with those who have the same goal

Sacinandana Swami: In his book Madhava-mahotsava Srila Jiva Gosvami expresses an important point with regards to associating with Vaisnavas. He says that in worldly dealings, when it comes to attaining one’s own goal, one usually ignores others; after all it’s about my goal and not about them. However, those who aspire for Krsna-prema act differently. They accept dependency on others who have similar goals and tastes. Thus cooperating with each other, they work together, keeping in mind the goal of prema. In other words, if you want to become Krsna conscious and develop love for Krsna, you need others who have similar goals. It is important to note here, that it is not about them being similar to you. It is about them having similar goals! Generally, when you look for good devotee association you need to look for three qualities in the other person: the devotee should be like-minded and have a similar taste like you have in Krsna consciousness. The devotee should be affectionately inclined towards you and he or she should be a little bit more advanced than you are. However, my dear devotees, if you only surround yourselves with friends, with people who are like-minded and affectionate towards you there will be a few things which you won’t learn. If you want to learn to be internally strong or if you want that your own bad qualities become visible to yourself so you can address them, then you should not be so picky in the association of devotees. If you only surround yourself with your own group of people, you will never grow beyond a certain border. You should associate with those who have the same goal as you have – even though they may not be exactly similar to you as a person. Krsna conscious association is different from what we are used to in the material field. In the material field we tend to not accept people who don’t see things as we do. In devotee association that should not be an obstacle. You may question how it is possible to associate with devotees who are different from you. It is totally possible if you enter a space of vastness within yourself. What does that mean? When I put a teaspoon of salt into a glass of water, it will result in a very bad taste. However if I put the same amount of salt to a big container with water, say a bathing tub, I would probably not even notice the difference. In the same way, if my consciousness is small, shrunken, if it is very focused on ‘me’, ‘I, myself and mine’, then, if I become aware of something which is a little different from what I prefer or what I’m used to I will notice it very strongly and I will become disturbed, disappointed and withdrawn. However, if I can expand my consciousness into a bigger dimension then it’s very easy for me to responsibly and even encouragingly deal with people who are different from me and I will also profit from their association. How to enter this space of vastness: it is shown to us in the Bhagavatam by the example of Dhruva. As a small boy he experienced political intrigues against himself, so much so that Dhruva was rejected by his father on one occasion, and was not allowed to sit on his lap. His mother, feeling unable to console him, advised him to take shelter in Krsna, as beautifully paraphrased by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura: “You came to me crying, disappointed, insulted, but I can’t do anything good for you. Krsna however is so kind to His devotees that if you go to Him, then the combined kindess of millions of mothers like me will be surpassed by His affectionate and tender dealings.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 4.8.22, purport).

I think when we hear this, we already feel our heart is widening, it’s expanding, our consciousness becoming vast. And with this consciousness it will be possible for us to deal with the realities of the world. If you run away from the association of devotees, if you stop your cooperation and your service, your attendance of kirtans, lectures and sanga, for a small moment maybe you will have peace from that disturbing person or that disturbing situation. But you will also have avoided the reality of life. There is no safe place in this world. even those who make strong endeavors to meditate to achieve inner peace – when they come out of this state of calmness they are again easily influenced by disturbing experiences, which will happen. If you learn to expand your consciousness away from ‘me, I and mine’ and ‘our circle, our family’ and you deal with the devotees who have the same goals as you, if you cooperate in the mission of Krsna consciousness and strengthen the community of devotees with your personal presence and contribution – at that time you will be given something which is more than just temporary calmness and well-being. You will be able to please Krsna, because He wants that His devotees in this world work together, despite their differences. Then you will be peaceful and it will be based on inner strength. As devotees of Krsna we need to learn this.