How to Share Bhakti with Others
How to Share Bhakti with Others
This article is in progress
This article is in progress
When I first joined the ashram, I basically ditched my family. I withdrew my love and started looking down on them. A decade later I've refined my approach. Having a family of my own has made us realize these people are the first ones to say yes if we need any support with our daughter. These people have an unconditional positive regard for us and we don't take that lightly (anymore..).
The best advice I've heard when it comes to preaching to family is to be a good son, daughter, brother or sister.
It comes down to unwritten contracts. We will talk about that in the next chapter.
Here's a great podcast with Dhanya Rico and Kaustuba Das sharing their thoughts on the topic:
Colleagues are a unique audience. They know you by the quality of your performance at work and your work ethic. If you have a good reputation, you will be granted a generous listening from your team and you will have some influence. If you don't possess a work ethic they admire, they may only listen to your preaching as further evidence towards the estimation they already have of you, for example: "Hippy", "weirdo" etc. Not only that, but if your preaching is inspiring to them, they may be left with that your philosophy culminates in doing things poorly or that it doesn't include a philosophy of doing your duty well.
My old friends rarely reach out to me these days. It's a known fact that people move on when inyterests change.