Do we need only devotional principles to change our past’s influences – can other things help?
Thank you is it necessary to apply devotional principles like Dr. Purge applies does that stop can other things also work yes there are many places where people do change themselves somebody who eats meat regularly they tell stop eating meat they may also understand being a vegetarian, being a vegan is better but they may not give it up but then they get a heart attack and doctor tells no you want to decrease the probability of a heart attack again stop eating next day they give up meat so what happens is that we also have some will power and if our will power is nourished by our intelligence then we apply not just spiritual impressions but we apply just the knowledge the application of the knowledge this is going to lead to this I don't want this that can help somebody to give it up similarly if we consider there are three modes of material nature ignorance, passion, goodness so sometimes some people may be able to replace something in ignorance with something in goodness that's also good so for example somebody just whenever they feel whenever they feel little depressed, little lonely they start drinking or smoking or taking drugs they can redevelop that habit and they decide that now I will read and they find some good books to read they may not be spiritual books but just books of knowledge interesting books books which uplift in some way that can also help them so we need to basically apply positive stimuli so Krishna centered stimuli are the most positive stimuli because Krishna is the omnipotent spiritual reality so connecting with him will give us the highest positivity but that doesn't mean that other sources may not work they can work also the important thing is that without a connection with Krishna there is not much ultimate benefit there may be some immediate benefit there may even be some intermediate benefit but the ultimate benefit is not there so it's like if I am sick and I am having pain I may take a painkiller I may take a painkilling medicine but I also need a curative medicine so if I take the painkilling medicine I feel relief and if the pain is a lot the painkilling medicine is also required but no doctor will recommend only the painkilling medicine as the pain medication and the curative medication both combined together so in some situations some people may need some immediate relief and say if the person can cultivate some healthy healthy material habits say say regular exercise regular overall regulated schedule or the regulation of a schedule or exercise or the regulation of diet this may not necessarily be spiritual at all but even that can help so the non devotional methods are often like painkillers not painkillers in the sense that they don't work but they are also temporary they may work for longer than a painkiller may work but they don't offer an ultimate solution so that's why there has to be the key thing is the curative medicine but if somebody finds painkillers working and they can use them, that's fine but the painkiller should never be the substitute for a curative medicine is the answer to your question?