Handling the Japa Mala & Japa in the working place! Tips!
A male devotee (Name hidden) asked like this:
“Hare Krishnaprabhu ji dandvat pranam please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I work as a Medical Representative, which requires me to visit various hospital departments, including gynaecology clinics. I usually carry my Japa mala bag inside my working bag. So, Is it considered an offense to bring my bead bag into these medical environments, and what etiquette should I observe to maintain cleanliness while working? Hare Krishna prabhuji ”
REPLY:
Why not?
You can definitely take your chanting bag to the hospitals keeping it inside the MR bag, ie, Medical Representative bag. It is great that you like to chant even in the middle of job.
You may hesitate because you will be keeping some medicines or kits that are not recommended for devotees. They may contain even alcohol.
These hesitations are unnnecessary.
(Is Chanting 16 rounds offensive if Prasadam is not taken? READ HERE!)
Let me give my pown experie nce.
I used to go to a footwear stitching man in my area whenever my footwear gets damaged on the way. Once I went to his place at 9.30AM. He was just coming for starting that day’s work.
Immediately after coming and sitting at the roadside having an umbrella to protect from the sun, he opened a damaged suitcase. That big suitcase alone is his footwear service shop.
Do you know what were inside that suitcase?
At the inside portion of the door of the suitcase, he had pasted the pictures of some Gods like Ganesha, Lakshmi, Balaji, Kartikeya, etc.
At the bottom portion of that damaged suitcase, he had kept the pieces of used leather pieces that are useful to paste at the damaged portions of the footwears of his customers. And also the instruments, adhesives, finished footwears, etc that are useful for his business.
He didn’t hesitate to keep Gods’ pictures and the used footwear leather pieces in the same suitcase.
Why did he keep so?
He is not wrong. He is right.
Because, the leather pieces and instruments are not just pieces and instruments. They are his lifeline. They are a part of his business. So, they are the respectable materials for him. Without those leather pieces and instruments, he can’t do that business.
Similarly, God is also the major part of his life. He believes that it is the god who gives and protects his footwear repair business.
(Is Chanting without initiation (diksha) offensive for the devotees? READ HERE!)
So, he does not treat those leather pieces & instruments unclean and hence he kept them near the pictures of God.
You too would have seen in most of the footwear sales shops, there are the pictures of gods.
In general, the footwears are left outside the temples by the visitors treating them as unclean. But for the manufacturers, sellers and service givers of footwears, the same footwears give life.
Why I have explained this footwear example this much?
Because, This example itself gives clear reply for your question.
Even during the descendence of Krishna on earth 5000 years ago, there were dasis, meat sellers, etc among the devotees of Krishna.
So, anyone doing any profession can worhip Krishna.
Krishna advises in Bhagavad Gita to perform our own assigned duties though with some defects and to avoid the duties of others though you can do them perfectly.
Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita (3-35):
“It is far better to discharge one’s prescribed duties, even though faultily, than another’s duties perfectly.”
For every person, his naturally assigned career is worshippable and allotted for him as per his karma. So, it is not wrong to keep the chanting mala and Krishna’s pictures in the work related places and the bags that are used for business/ job.
And, it is also not wrong to hang the pictures of Krishna in the business spot.
(Is avoiding Chanting because of household duties justified? READ HERE!)
When I was doing a business, I allowed the visitors to enter into my office with their footwear. They need not remove them outside the office though there were big photos of Krishna in the visitors chamber and Bhagavad Gita book on my table.
Because, it is not possible to follow strictness in this matter in an office or business spot like our home that may hurt the visitors.
So, some small mistakes in handling the pictures of Krishna or Japa mala or holy books in the work spot are natural and they will not invite any punishments. They are unintentional and unavoidable mistakes.
So, carry your chanting bag inside your MR bag. If you have hesitation, keep that bag insode a small polythene carry bag and keep inside.
NOTE:
I too got my first job as a Medical Representative for a company based at Chennai. I know how difficult that job is and we have to convince the different types of doctors to prescribe our company medicines. Sometimes, we may have to face insults also.
So, focus on doing more sales and don’t hesitate to carry your chanting bag in your MR bag.
Hope you are relieved.
(Will Offensive Chanting give only Heavenly life, not Life in Goloka? READ HERE!)