Tag: employee

Does an Employer take the Employee’s Karma?

A devotee grapples with the weighty concerns of karma and how it burdens employers through their employees’ actions. His anxiety reflects a larger existential dilemma: can sincere devotion offset the negative karma from associates who resist spiritual growth? Replies from spiritual leaders emphasize that true surrender to Krishna liberates one from such burdens. However, they also underscore personal accountability in leadership roles, balancing professionalism and compassion. Ultimately, the discourse reveals a timeless struggle: navigating spiritual principles in the cutthroat world of business while striving to uplift those around you.

Bhakta Sunil, 29 September 2014

Hare Krishna

Please accept my humble obeisances

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada

Prabhu ji I have few doubts

a) How much percentage of karma does employer take of each of his or her employee

b) If employer is sincerely practising Krishna Consciousness , though not at the place of work with employee ( not with employee , but on own ) then karma from employee to employer is reduced or nullified?

I am a bit worried because we have two employees at shop. I tried many times to directly or indirectly share Krishna Consciousness with them.

Sometimes they paid attention , but one of the employee returned the book which I gave and I am not sure if they practice God Consciousness.

At times I have noticed them behaving rudely or not giving due respect to customers. So I am worried if we have to take their karma.

I have put Prabhupada’s books and photos at place of work and often played kirtana at place of work

your insignificant servant,

Bhakta Sunil

Srivatsa Das, 03 October 2014

Dear Bhakta Sunil

Please accept my humble obeisances

All glories to Srila Gurudeva 

The employer, if he is surrendered to Lord Krishna, he need not worry about karma, or law of nature or destiny and all such complications, since Krishna has already declared that His devotee never perishes.  And also in BG 18.66, Krishna tells, “Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.”  We will be free from fear up to the extent we have faith in the Spiritual master and Krishna.  So it is very important to develop faith in them. 

We cannot force anybody including our children to lead Krishna Conscious life unless they are attracted themselves to Krishna Consciousness.  Everybody has been given the required free will to surrender to Krishna and they are supposed to use it for that purpose and unfortunately, they can even misuse it also by not surrendering to the Lord.

Regarding the rude behaviour, it can be due to many reasons.  In this material world, a lot of people are frustrated due to many miseries, that could be one of the reason for their rude behaviour.  But, in most of the cases, the problems can be solved just by hearing their worries patiently at suitable location.  We need not talk in many cases, but sometimes we need to encourage them to talk. Just hear their worries patiently and attentively.  Most of the times, they themselves will arrive at the solution and thank us too !!! or they will ask for some suggestion, then, at that time we can give some suggestions that can help them to lead a Krishna Conscious life.  Sometimes, we may have to correct ourselves too based on their input, so we should be prepared for some adjustments.  This is one way of solving the issue.

Sincerely,

Srivatsa Das

Bhakta Sunil, 04 October  2014

Thank you Srivatsa Prabhu

Superb answer!

your insignificant servant,

Bhakta Sunil

Gusti Nyoman Ambara, 04 October 2014

Hare Krishna!

Dear Sunil Prabhu

Please accept my humble obeisances,

All glories to Srila Gurudeva and  Srimati Gurumataji,

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I have no qualification at all to share my opinion with you, but I would humbly try to do it as per my capacity.

Srivatsa Prabhu have nicely given the explanation upon your doubts. It is true that if we are fully surrender to the Lord, we do not have to worry about karma and such things anymore. Always try to focus in making the Lord happy by executing our prescribed duties at our best and offered the result to Him no matter what it is. Then there will be no more anxiousness.

You also nicely show the symptom of a devotee by having compassion on your employees and try to share Krishna-consciousness to them. Indeed, it is the most important thing. I think you have correctly tried to do it by putting some Prabupada’s book and playing some kirtans at the place of work, because hearing (sravanam) is the most potent way for us to open our consciousness to Krishna. I myself also have proved this method.  My mother started to chant Mahamantra on beads about a year ago. She told me that she was inspired to do so soon after she heard it played in my car stereo during our 8-hours journey from Bali to Surabaya.

If those things still do not work with your employees, I suggest you to give another try by using prasadam. It is also a powerful way to share Krishna-consciousness to the whole world. You can make some prasadam in the form of candies or sweets and put some of them at the place of work, so that your employees can have and taste them. You will gradually see the effect and surely you will no longer have any worries. Thank you very much.

your insignificant servant,

Gusti Nyoman Ambara

Bhakta Sunil, 06 October 2014

Dear Gusti Prabhu

Hare Krishna 

Please accept my humble obeisances

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada

Thank you very much. Your answer is great!

Prabhu ji , I now understand that karma of one’s employee would not act for one who is practising Consciousness

Gusti Prabhu ki Jaya!

Your insignificant servant,

Bhakta Sunil

Tirtharaja Dasa, 07 10 2014

Hare Krishna Prabhu,

My take is from a different angle and might not be absolute but good for debate.

It is said that anybody in a position of leadership attracts both positive and negative karma in proportion to position held.

In a business situation if you are the chief executive then there definitely be a degree of karmic reaction just as much as the spiritual master who accepts a disciple has accruing karma until the disciple is liberated so in similar positions of leadership especially in situations where as devotees we are DE-facto spiritual masters, then there is definitely some accruing karma.

That’s why a devotee will not mind what position or circumstances he has in life but will always serve Lord Hari unconditionally.

Regards,

your Lowly Servant,

Tirtharaja Dasa.

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 08 October 2014

Dear Bhakta Sunil,

Hare Krishna!

All these perspectives are wonderful. What I was feeling I was unable to articulate, until I read Tirtharaja Prabhu’s masterful writing. His response is befitting a senior devotee in our movement.

What I was thinking is that all those people we interact with, either as family members, community, relatives, colleagues from school, college, or work, we are already karmically bound with them. We have taken birth in similar circumstances just to enjoy or suffer collective karmas, and also repay various karmic debts. But this is a never-ending cycle… in this lifetime, we have some set of karmic debts to pay, in another cycle, it is some other set.

So, while it is true that as long as we are on the material platform, we are exchanging karmic debts, as long as we can leverage our present circumstances to drive devotional service, the situation cannot be rectified.

On a professional level, your staff need to get good training, good pay,  etc., and in the worst case, if there is no progress or improvement, they would need to be fired, let go, etc. If I pay someone for a kilo of good vegetables and the person gives me only rotten vegetables, would I continue to pay that person? So inspite of giving good training, good pay, etc., if someone is not doing what I need done, then why should I continue to pay that person? Another example, ISKCON is building the Temple of Vedic Planetarium, the world’s biggest temple, we are taking full care that the engineers are qualified, the architects are qualified, the laborers are also fully qualified, the concrete is high quality, steel is perfect, etc. Of course, even though the workers are receiving payment, they are still getting the benefit of rendering devotional service.

In ISKCON Toronto, we are working on some school projects – the administrators, teachers, etc., need to be devotees, BUT they also must be professionally qualified in their specific field and be professionally competent… you could consider that, maybe there are professionally competent devotees who can also be your employees?

However, devotee or not, in the best case, even if your staff might not know or express interest in devotional service, if they are perfectly professional, and they facilitate your involvement in devotional service, they will also get some “ajnata sukrti”, or credit obtained by performing devotional service unknowingly.

Of course, you don’t expect that we will tell you how to run your business, right? You please take all these perspectives and do what is best for Krishna consciousness.

Sincerely,

Mahabhagavat Das

Bhakta Sunil, 18 October 2014

Thank you  Tirtharaja Prabhu and Mahabhagavat Prabhu for discerning the conversation even further

I had heard in Bhagavatam lecture , that king collects karma from citizens and similarly for employers from employees

Thus I asked here to clarify

After reading  Tirtharaja Prabhu and Mahabhagavat Prabhu’s reply , it further clarified what I understood in the lecture and what to do in such a situation

Tirtharaja Prabhu and Mahabhagavat Prabhu ki Jaya!

your insignificant servant,

Bhakta Sunil

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What do we call persons who don’t recognize their own suffering?

What do we call someone who does not recognize that they are suffering? What do you call someone who does not recognize the root cause of their suffering? What do you call someone who refuses to accept the cause of their suffering? We call them innocent, just like children, just like animals. And then we see them as spirit souls, and we try to serve them on their spiritual journey. Hare Krishna!

Have you ever seen an animal that is about to be slaughtered? In the modern world, that includes most chickens, goats, sheep, pigs, cows, fish, and buffaloes.

Sheep, to the slaughter

These sheep are being led to slaughter

Animals cannot see their impending doom

I have spent much time in the South Indian City of Hyderabad. This city has a large Muslim population. The Muslims celebrate a festival called Bakri-eid, when many Muslims sacrifice a goat to Allah. It is a common sight to see a Muslim man leading a goat somewhere just before Eid, or even on the day of.

Charminar, Old City, Hyderabad, India

As a child, I was tempted to innocently call out to the goat “run away goat, run away, you are about to be slaughtered”. But no, neither do I have the power to make a goat understand that his life is in danger, nor does the goat have the intelligence to understand his fate.

Even right before being slaughtered, the animal can be seen calmly gobbling up grass here and there, oblivious.

Goat chewing and chewing, oblivious

We can extrapolate… think about the animals being transferred in trains or trucks from one place to another. They are all going to be slaughtered, sooner or later.

Cows being transported for slaughter

What about us? Can we see our own sufferings?

As we go about the world, we see so many suffering souls. Some are hungry, some others are unclothed, hot, or cold… yet others are diseased. And everyone is striving, struggling, to solve these problems of life, food, shelter, and clothing, medical treatment, and so on.

Struggling human, sisyphean effort

It is of course, natural for a human being or an animal to mitigate an immediate danger. For example, once an animal senses that someone is causing it harm, for example the pain of a hook in it’s mouth, or a botched attempt at slaughter, it will flap about, bleat, moo, or make some other frantic sounds, maybe try to fight it’s attacker, and even try to run away, but alas, by then it is usually too late.

Goat, about to lose it's life

Similarly, we see human beings trying to mitigate their sufferings in so many ways.

But do they really recognize the actual cause of their suffering?

Man getting medical treatment

Does that woman who is being wooed ardently by that handsome, passionate, suave, smooth-talking man realize that once the man has had his fill of sensual gratification, she will be left behind after an “it’s not you, it’s me conversation.”?

Young man wooing a girl with sweet words and flowers

Does that hard-working employee staying late and working long hours realize that a business change means he is to be on the next list of employees to be laid off due to a “Reduction in Force” or “Headcount cut” or “Re-organization”?

Hardworking employee, doesn't know he is just one step away from being fired

Does that person suffering poverty, pestilence, or war realize that they have created their own situation with their own past actions?

तत्तेऽनुकम्पां सुसमीक्षमाणो
भुञ्जान एवात्मकृतं विपाकम् ।
हृद्वाग्वपुर्भिर्विदधन्नमस्ते
जीवेत यो मुक्तिपदे स दायभाक् ॥ ८ ॥

tat te ’nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo
bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam
hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk

My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/14/8

Suffering Child. Who creates our suffering for us?

How can we help everyone understand how to end this cycle of suffering?

Sometimes, not being satisfied with trying to please the senses, an intellectual may, instead, choose to live within the mind, for example in the realm of art, literature, poetry, scientific or mathematical endeavours, maybe even philosophy and speculation about God?

Intellectuals, lost in the world of trying to satisfy the mind

Does the frustrated intellectual, who has given up on gross materialistic gratification and is now involved in trying to satisfy the mind realize that he’s only headed towards insanity?

Mad Scientists. What will they not do?

Neither the mind, nor the senses can ever be satisfied, as much as a fire can never be extinguished by giving it more fuel.

lust cannot be satisfied by any amount of sense enjoyment, just as fire is never extinguished by a constant supply of fuel. In the material world, the center of all activities is sex, and thus this material world is called maithunya-āgāra, or the shackles of sex life. In the ordinary prison house, criminals are kept within bars; similarly, the criminals who are disobedient to the laws of the Lord are shackled by sex life.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/3/39, purport

Blazing fire, no amount of fuel will extinguish it!

We try and we try and we try to help everyone understand that they are not their mind, that they are not this body, not the senses… we try and try to help them understand that actually they are the spirit soul.

Hare Krishna Monk tries to distribute spiritual literature

But unfortunately, most of the souls we come in contact with are not interested. They are content to pursue that next gourmet meal, that next sensual experience, that holiday, that next acquisition, be it a house or a car or some other shiny object. They are content to chase job after job, climbing the ladder to nowhere (more on that another time).

What do we call such a soul, even if in a human body?

Are we cultivating the consciousness of animals. Then what is our destination?

We call such a person an animal in human form. You may be shocked at this. How dare I call a human being an animal? How arrogant and conceited of me! What sort of spiritualist am I, this Das?

यस्यात्मबुद्धि: कुणपे त्रिधातुके
स्वधी: कलत्रादिषु भौम इज्यधी: ।
यत्तीर्थबुद्धि: सलिले न कर्हिचि-
ज्जनेष्वभिज्ञेषु स एव गोखर: ॥ १३ ॥
yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke
sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ
yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij
janeṣv abhijñeṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ

One who identifies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own, who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who never identifies himself with, feels kinship with, worships or even visits those who are wise in spiritual truth — such a person is no better than a cow or an ass.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/84/13

My dear reader, please understand that a spiritualist is just like an honest doctor. An honest doctor is not afraid to observe carefully and make the right diagnosis. From the doctor’s diagnosis comes a treatment plan, including diet, rest, exercise, and medicine. And from this comes a prognosis, some hope of hope, possibly.

But a doctor who sweeps the symptoms under a rug and pretends everything is just fine, is no doctor. Such a “doctor” is really an enemy in disguise.

A doctor must be honest!

And therefore, out of abundant compassion, we call such a human an animal. So that we may develop even more patience and compassion. After all, there is no point being too harsh with an animal or a child. We then try to coax and cajole and convince in this way or in that way.

Physician Heal Thyself

First things first. As a spiritualist, I seek to spot the times when I myself behave as if I were my mind or my body. And I strive to disassociate myself, my self interest from the urges of the body or the mind. If I can be honest with myself, then I will have a deep sense of humility and understanding as to why this is so difficult for me. My conditioning in the material world makes it extremely difficult, and I have been trying for decades!

So, what should I do? First and foremost, look in the mirror and be honest with myself at all times, places, and circumstances.

I cannot be like this kitten here!

Compassion and Equal Vision!

Just as we need to see ourselves and where we are, we need to see everyone with an equal vision, and understand that every spirit soul is precious!

Not all souls can be served in the same way… I cannot discuss philosophy with a dog, nor can I get a pig to appreciate delicious food.

विद्याविनयसम्पन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि ।
श‍ुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिता: समदर्शिन: ॥ १८ ॥

vidyā-vinaya-sampanne
brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
śuni caiva śva-pāke ca
paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ

The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/5/18

For 99% of the population, we just try to engage in the chanting of God’s names. We give them Krishna Prasada, sanctified food, which has been lovingly cooked for and offered to Krishna. We then drip in a little bit of the medicine of the philosophy, you are not this body, you are not this mind, you are a spirit soul.

Hare Krishnas out on Harinam Sankirtan, out to save us all!

And so the effort continues, many, many spiritual warriors trying to save one soul, lifetime after lifetime, in a concerted harmonious effort.

The merciful Srila Prabhupada distributes Krishna Prasada generously to one and all.

My dear soul, please help us with this greatest of all causes, please do your bit for yourself, and then turn to serve others and help them get on and stay on a spiritual journey. Hare Krishna!