Question: How can I manage my schooling, education and material friends and activities to better focus on my spiritual life?

Jayapataka Swami: You see, education could be offered also to Krsna as a service. You study so that you can do some more valuable service for Krsna in the future. Like Jiva Goswami, he wanted to serve Rupa and Sanatana. He thought what is the use of going untrained? So he studied at that time in Banaras University, Sanskrit. And he became a great Sanskrit scholar. Then he applied that to study all the different Vedas and find out different slokas and evidences of bhakti yoga and Lord Krsna. But whether you study finance or management or whatever, it all can be used in Krsna’s service. Like right now, I have some disciples that are IT engineers, and they are making some programs to help us serve Krsna. So education should be used as a service to Krsna. Even if you are in a good job you can help in some Krsna conscious process. Like Prahlad, he told his friends they should chant Hare Krsna. They were children of the demons, but I think your friends are not children of demons! But anyway Prahlad told them to chant. They said, we are kids, we are going to play, we will chant later. He said like that first ten or twenty years of your life will go away playing. Last twenty years, you will be old and say oh I am sick, I am old, and cannot chant, and in between you will be busy maintaining your family. I have no time, I have to do my work. Half the time you spend time sleeping and eating. So there is not time to chant! So then all the children began to chant. And the teachers they went to Hiranyakasipu and said, something is wrong, all the children are becoming vaisnavas. Hiranyakasipu said it must be some vaisnava sneaking in and teaching the children. He gave an order to the security to shoot at sight any vaisnava! I don’t think that in this world, they would do that ! So try to make devotee friends or your friends devotees. But you can play with them a little bit to really have a strong body. Krsna used to swim and wrestle. Everything you do, think how I will please Krsna.
16-SEPTEMBER-2019 DAMODARDESH