Self destruction strategies
- 2. The sinister strategizer Who makes the strategies for self- destruction? The mind – it misappropriates the intelligence for its purposes
- 3. The inner sabotager Srila Prabhupada: “We are meant to use the intelligence to control the enjoying mentality, but we are used to enjoying intelligently”
- 4. Use or be used If we don’t use our intelligence to make strategies to discipline the mind, we will let our intelligence be misused by the mind to make its strategies
- 5. Humility is Krishna-centered Humility means: 1. Not that “I am good-for- nothing” 2. Krishna can engage even a good-for-nothing like me.
- 7. Standards “If I can’t be the best, I won’t practice at all.” We don’t have to be the first; we just need to put Krishna first.
- 8. Spiritual growth Is analog, not digital Gradual increment, not overnight elevation
- 9. Stay connected Gita 12.08-12: multiple rungs on the ladder of progress Where we are is not as defining as where we are moving
- 10. Strategy 3 Treat the peripheral as the essential
- 11. Be adept to adopt and adapt Tradition: fidelity & flexibility Adopt: Fidelity - connects us with the tradition Adapt: Flexibility – connects us with contemporary society
- 12. Don’t fight more battles than necessary Don’t alienate people: Gita 3.26, 17.16, 18.03 Don’t use an axe where a hammer is necessary Cut people’s misconceptions, not their bhakti-lata bija
- 13. Strategy 4 Let guilt come between you and Krishna
- 14. Conscience Conscience is the inner dog that barks when the thief of sin comes to steal our integrity. The bark of that dog is guilt – it is meant to be an inner defense mechanism against wrongdoing
- 15. The misappropriation of guilt Guilt should come between us and wrongdoing, not between us and Krishna. The guilt that discourages us in going closer to Krishna is pseudo- guilt; it is Maya.
- 16. A healthy attitude towards guilt To not feel guilty at all is dangerous – and so is to feel nothing but guilty We are not defined by our lapses, but by what we do between the lapses
- 17. Strategy 5 See your work as Maya
- 18. Gita: Renunciation in action The way out of the world is through the world Detachment from results is not apathy towards goals
- 19. Spiritual vision of work Means to meet bodily needs Means to have social position for sharing Krishna’s message Means to work out our passion
- 20. Spiritual vision of work Means to raise workplace consciousness by setting example of sattvika way of working Means to attract people through our competence and excellence
- 21. Work can be Maya Greed – What we live with shouldn’t replace what we live for Workaholism – Work becomes our defining identity
- 22. Work as worship Means to do justice to our God-given talents Means to experience Krishna in this world What we are is God’s gift to us. What we become is our gift to God