If our past bad habits keep dragging us down what should we do?

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This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, when we start practicing Bhakti, sometimes our past bad habits make us do wrong things again and again. So, what can we do at such times? The past will not last if to Krishna we hold fast. That means that our attachments may hold on to us.
But we should still hold on to Krishna. Just because my attachment is holding on to us, that does not mean I have to let go of Krishna. I’ll explain what I mean.
Suppose, somebody has fallen in a well. And say, there is somebody who wants to keep that person in the well, drag that person down. And there is somebody above who is trying to pull them out of the well.
Now, I hold on to the rope by which they will pull me out of the well. But this person from below is catching my leg and holding me down. So, now if the person from below pulls very tightly, then I may not be able to rise up.
Sometimes I may get pulled down also. But just because the person is pulling me from below, does not mean I have to let go of the rope. If I hold on to the rope, even if I get pulled down, the rope will also come down.
The rope will still be there. And then, when that person below is not pulling so forcefully, then I can pull myself up with the rope and I can move on. So, basically, the rope which can pull us up is our bhakti practices.
The person, the pole that is pulling us down is our bad habits. So, right now, both factors are there in our life. And we can’t wish the lower away.
If we had some bad habits, they will be there. And they may not go away immediately. Just because we want to get out of the well, does not mean everybody wants us to get out of the well.
There may be people who want to keep us in the well also. So, like that, our bad habits may hold on to us. But, just because our bad habits are going to hold on to us, that doesn’t mean we have to give up the practice of Krishna Yuga.
Yeah, because of our bad habits, we may do some wrong thing. But wrong thing, how long am I going to do it? Okay, I will for a few minutes, a few hours. What do I do after that? Again get up and again start practicing.
So, if we don’t give up the practice of Bhakti, no matter what happens, then, over a period of time, that practice of Bhakti will strengthen us. And we will get the strength. Keep holding on to the rope.
But Bhakti is such a rope that we just don’t hold on to it. Holding on to the rope of Bhakti doesn’t actually take away our strength. Normally, holding on to a rope will take away our strength over a period of time.
But holding on to the rope of Bhakti gives us strength. Because Bhakti connects us with Krishna, who is the source of all strength. This connection with Krishna purifies us.
That increases our intelligence, that increases our will power. See, there are three stages in our overcoming of our bad habits. First is intelligence.
Second is will power. And third is taste. Three stages in our overcoming our bad habits.
Intelligence, will power and taste. So, intelligence means, at least I understand this is bad. People actually want to do things which increase their lust, which increase their greed.
They think this is enjoyable. So, at least with that intelligence I understand this is not good. So, by regularly hearing the philosophy, our intelligence will be strong.
Now, sometimes I know this is bad, but still I just don’t have the strength to say no to it. So, intelligence is the first step. Second step is will power.
So, will power means, I know that this is bad and when I feel like doing it, I say no to it. We may not be at that stage, but at least with our intelligence we can understand this is bad, so I don’t want to do it. And with my intelligence I understand that Krishna Bhakti is good, so I will hold on to it.
And if we keep holding on to Krishna Bhakti, what will happen? That will purify us and that will increase our will power. Purification essentially means that our impure desires become weaker and our pure desires become stronger. So, that’s what our will power means.
So, with will power we resist back. That means, initially with our intelligence what happens? We are pulled down by the person below. We can’t resist the pulling down, but at least we hold on to the rope.
Yes, I may do the wrong thing, but I will still keep practicing Krishna Bhakti. The second stage is, if I keep practicing Krishna Bhakti, my will power becomes strong. That person pulls me down from below, but I also have strength, so I don’t let myself get pulled down.
I also hold on and I don’t let myself get pulled down. That means the desires come, but we don’t do that activity. The third stage is when we get taste.
Taste means we are naturally attracted to Krishna. Right now, our taste is that we are naturally attracted to sense objects. Because of which, we fall for them.
But, as we keep practicing Bhakti, over a period of time, we will get attracted to Krishna. That taste will come. And when the taste comes, then we will be able to resist it much much better.
Actually, we won’t even have to resist it. Because ultimately, why do we fall prey to any bad habit or whatever it is, any conditioning? Because we need pleasure. And we feel that is where I will get pleasure.
But when we have developed a taste in Krishna Bhakti, then we get pleasure in devotional activities. And if our need for pleasure is satisfied in Krishna, then we won’t go towards maya. So, therefore, we can have the confidence that we will come to the level of taste eventually.
When there will not even be a struggle. That means that person below is trying to pull us, but we have come so high up in the well that person can’t even reach us. So, there will be some temptations which will not even tempt us.
Say for example, some of us might have been eating meat before. But now we start practicing bhakti, if somebody is eating meat, we don’t feel tempted by it. Why? Because we have got a higher taste.
So, that means it’s not just that, no, I am feeling like eating it, but I am saying no, I will not eat it. No, we don’t even feel like eating it. So, we will see in our life that there are some temptations which will just disappear.
That means we have got taste also. For some temptations, we have come to the level of taste. For some temptations, we have come to the level of willpower.
For some temptations, we are at the level of intelligence. For some temptations, we are not even at the level of intelligence. So, we will be at different levels with respect to the battle with different temptations.
But at the very least, we come to the level of the intelligence. Now, Jiva Goswami says in his Sandarbhas that for the advanced devotees, it is priti that keeps them at the spiritual level. It is their affection for Krishna that keeps them at the spiritual level.
But for sadhakas, it is not priti, but buddhi that keeps them at the spiritual level. So, we need to have our buddhi or intelligence strong. With the strong intelligence, when the lower desires come, we will try to fight them off.
And even if we are not able to fight back, even if we fall, immediately we will rise and start practicing bhakti. And over a period of time, we will come from intelligence to the level of willpower and taste.