Creating a favorable situation in our lives and advancing in spiritual life without impediment
The soul doesn't depend on food, shelter, or anything else in this material world, but the body does. What is the right measure for material work and practice of Krsna Consciousness?
In his teachings, Lord Kapila describes many details about the process of devotional service and how we can create a favorable situation in our lives to be able to advance in spiritual life without impediment. One of the points He explains is about how to earn our livelihood and maintain our families without sacrificing our spiritual principles. This is incredibly important nowadays:
"For his income a devotee should be satisfied with what he earns without great difficulty. He should not eat more than what is necessary. He should live in a secluded place and always be thoughtful, peaceful, friendly, compassionate and self-realized." (SB 3.27.8)
The soul doesn't depend on food, shelter, or anything else in this material world, but the body does. Since one should not destroy his material body, understanding that the body is the property of Krsna and should be used in His service, one has to maintain it until it expires by itself. This demands being involved in material activities to a certain extent. How can we do that while at the same time keeping ourselves on a pure platform?
Materialistic people usually work very hard to improve their material condition. One who is poor works to escape poverty, and one who is well-to-do works equally hard to increase his income. This comes from the desire to lord over the material nature. The more money one has, the more possibilities one has in the material sphere, therefore most people are very attracted to it. Lord Kapila however doesn't recommend that we enter into the rat race.
Instead, he emphasizes the word yadṛcchayā, which means "by its own accord". As Prabhupada explains, "every living entity has a predestined happiness and distress in his present body; this is called the law of karma. It is not possible that simply by endeavors to accumulate more money a person will be able to do so, otherwise almost everyone would be on the same level of wealth. In reality everyone is earning and acquiring according to his predestined karma. According to the Bhāgavatam conclusion, we are sometimes faced with dangerous or miserable conditions without endeavoring for them, and similarly we may have prosperous conditions without endeavouring for them. We are advised to let these things come as predestined."
Contradictory as it may seem, working hard does not make one more wealthy. On the contrary, Srimad Bhagavatam lists working too hard as a source of misery. We can see this in practice. Most people work hard in modern societies all over the world, but just a small part of them become wealthy. If working hard would make one rich, everyone who works hard would earn the same, but that's not what we see. The point is that one earns according to his previous karma. The scriptures thus recommend that we work according to our prescribed duties and be satisfied with the income that comes naturally as a result of such work. This will probably consume one-third of our time or so. The rest should be used to perform our other duties, connected with our families, and so on, and especially invested in our practice of Krsna Consciousness. By being balanced in our activities, we will attain the best results.
If our karma is to become rich, money will come naturally by just performing our duties, and if being rich is not in our future, working more than required will not improve the situation. On the opposite, working more will make us neglect other duties, and especially neglect our practice of Krsna Consciousness, which will make us miserable in the end. Therefore, Lord Kapila says that "a devotee should be satisfied with what he earns without great difficulty."
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