Good Pastimes for the devotees in the place of mundane pastimes! Tips!
A woman devotee (Name hidden for privacy) asked like this:
“I have a question for you. I know that we are not supposed to watch tv or listen to music to avoid pleasure of the senses. But what pastimes are allowed? I find myself depressed being alone with nothing to do at times.”
REPLY:
Good thoughts that are genuine one.
When our heart has no desires and attachments, that space will be occupied by the God and we will be able to focus on the thoughts of God.
Or, if our service is towards the society and/or God, we will not have expectations for ourselves, but for the society.
(DAILY SCHEDULE OF A STUDYING OR WORKING KRISHNA DEVOTEE! READ HERE!)
In the Bible, Psalm 39 : 4-5 says: “LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be”
Colossians (3:23) says: “Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men”
Romans (12:11) says: Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
In the Bhagavad Gita (3-5 & 22), Krishna says that One can not remain without working not even for a moment and He Himself is performing His Prescribed duties.
See, the supreme Personality of Godhead Himself is busy in working.
Krishna also says in Gita (3-8) to perform the prescribed duties as doing is better than abstaining as one can not even maintain his own body without working.
Let us take the life of a soldier on the country’s border.
His work has no excuses and he has to keenly watch the border all the time without any leisure.
Take a doctor. He too has almost no rest because he may have to attend the patients most of the time.
In my city, there is a cardiologist who has his own hospital. He is extremely busy and he has the image that he will repair a heart at any stage and give life. So, everyday, he gets more than 150 patients as Out patients (O.P) and about 30-40 patients in the wards and ICU. He hardly has rest in the afternoon that I know.
I asked him why he can’t take a break in the noon. He replied: “The patients are sent by the God. They come here in a hope that I will attend them properly. So, I sacrifice my day time rest and attend all the patients.”
Why I have mentioned the jobs of Soldiers, Doctors and Nurses as examples to keep their job itself as pastime, while speaking about the Good Pastimes for the devotees?
There is a reason.
(How to follow chanting amidst tight schedules in daily life? READ HERE!)
Those who are doing Life saving jobs like doctors, nurses, soldiers, etc., are SOCIAL SERVANTS to serve the society and hence they should take their job itself as their pastime.
That means, they should enjoy their job that much, because they are doing Great service to the People.
When we serve the society, we will enjoy that service because more people get benefitted by our services.
In another angle, the Soldiers, doctors and nurses can easily develop a detachment with this material world and hence think more about the God..
Because, they better know the temporary nature of this material world.
How?
The doctors and nurses treat and assist the patients. Every month, they have to witness many deaths.
In spite of the expert treatment of doctors, some patients die.
Seeing the death of the patients, almost on everyday basis and knowing the temporary nature of life, they would have naturally developed some level of detachment with the nature of this material life.
The nurses would have been closer with the patients than the doctors because they take close attention and monitor the conditions of the patients for long time.
(PROHIBITED INVESTMENTS FOR DEVOTEES & THE REASONS! READ HERE!)
So, the nurses will have more maturity about the life as they are seeing the deaths of the patients who were talking to them like the daughters, mothers, sisters, etc., for a few days.
The soldiers too are seeing the dead bodies in multiple numbers every day.
So, the Soldiers, doctors and Nurses are able to know the temporary nature of this life even in their early age. Others know it only in their old age..
That is why, most of the doctors, nurses and soldiers do not get much affected by the deaths.
Why these examples?
When a person knows the reality of life, he should give up his material attachments and expectations because the ‘materials’ will not come with us while dying.
So, they can focus on the SOUL, ie, ATHMA related God (Krishna) Consciousness right from their young age.
So, my first suggestion to you is: Enjoy your career. Engage yourself more in duties and Public (or) devotional services.
(Is it wrong for devotees watching Mahabharatha and Ramayana on TV? READ HERE!)
After your duties, spend time in prayers and then sleep well.
However, if you expect some pastimes for a “change”, Let us see some Good Pastimes for the devotees in the place of mundane pastimes:
(1) Chant as much as you can that will connect you with Krishna/ God. Though you are unable to perform any other devotional practices, atleast follow chanting the Holy names of Krishna. You can do walking and chanting at the same time. Good for both body and soul.
(2) Read the scriptures such as Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavatham, Srila prabhupada Lilamruta, etc. It will engage you in your whole life to read them a few times. If you find hard copies difficult, Read the electronic versions using a tablet or Smartphone.
(3) Reading Sri Caitanya Caritamruta will help you to taste the love for Krishna. See all the above literatures should be read repeatedly because every time, you will feel different level of realization.
(4) Read the Lectures and Letters of Srila Prabhupada that may engage you and help you to learn. They are available online.
(5) Watch Hare Krishna TV online that telecast the aratis, lectures, etc from worldwide.
(6) Watch useful News in Television for an hour a day. Not more than that. Movies, serials, mundane stories not necessary and they are waste of time.
(Is Playing Cards by the devotees without Pledging money allowed? READ HERE!)
(7) Read a Good News paper for half an hour to know the trend around you as every person should be aware of the happenings around him/ her.
NOTE: We are expected to avoid mundane topics/ contents only. We should be aware of what is happening around us. Only then, today’s Parents can cultivate their children properly. If they are not aware of the happenings, they can’t properly guide their children in protecting themselves. Therefore spending 30 minutes a day for news is also one of the Good Pastimes for the devotees.
(8) Hear Kirtans using your Smartphone or Music player.
(9) Take some association with the devotees in your area.
(10) Take atleast 7 hours of sleep at night that will rejuvenate you to work for the whole day on the following day.
(11) Evaluate yourself and identify in which work you have more interest. Take that work and spend more time in that. For example, if you are very much interested in counselling others, organize meets, seminars, etc in your area. Start an organization for that and give guidance for others. If you are in the medical field, give lectures on Patient care, Health care, Disease management, etc. Advertize in local media about that and bring the audience. Then, show your attractive presentation and bring repeated audience. For example, Our website is scoring good points with the search engines as the one having repeated readers who access the site directly without any promotional link. And, every new visitor reads more than one page in our site. This is the testimony for the quality, sincerity and reliability that our media is gaining for more than a decade.
(Is earning too much bad for initiated devotees? READ HERE!)
Similarly, get your own audience thru dedicated and regular service.
(12) The Point is that you should not stop with job alone. You may involve in some expansion of activities as mentioned in the Point (11) above. For example, I use my preaching assignment itself as my pastime. I engage fully in preaching that makes me busy and I have no time to take even 30 minutes rest in the afternoon time. Thus, you can help others using your career and skills.
Thus, by following the formula of (Career + Guiding Others + Some Pastimes + Taking Rest) you can make your life busy and engaging.
Your life will turn to be busy and meaningful if you follow these Good Pastimes for the devotees.
Hope this helps you in following Good Pastimes for the devotees in the place of mundane pastimes!
(Is it wrong for the devotees trying to earn more to make the life better? READ HERE!)