If someone gets stuck at the basic non-negotiable level of practicing bhakti, how can they grow?

This is an AI-generated transcript and it might not be fully accurate:

So, if devotees get stuck at the non-negotiable level itself and not move forward, yes, I think there are two broad approaches to this. One is that we may all decide that in particular areas of life, progress is very difficult for us. And we decide that in this area, this is where I am going to stay at.

I am not going to fight this battle. But that does not mean that we should not fight any battle at all. So, somebody may decide that, okay, in my sadhana, I cannot go beyond this.

This is what I am going to do. But maybe they can study scripture more, they can do seva more. So, they can take up a particular service.

So, if in every area of bhakti, we are sticking only at the non-negotiable level, then we may not grow. But while bhakti is a complete package, not everybody can grow at the same pace in all areas. For some devotees, by their very nature, their upbringing might be such that they grew up with a structure and a routine to their life.

And therefore, structures and routines such as, okay, every day wake up in this morning, come for this morning program, that will be relatively easy for them. Some devotees did not grow up with much structure in their life. And not just did not grow up, in general, some people find peace and strength in structure.

And some people find joy and strength in adventure. And adventure basically means the absence of structure, to some extent at least. So, you know, bhakti is big enough to accommodate both of them.

So, those devotees who need adventure, for example, if you consider the pujari service, that is a very much structured service. This time we have to wake up the needs, this time we have to do the pujari service, this time we have to offer bhoga. Now, on the other hand, if you consider book distribution or travelling sankirtan or travelling speaking, that is a much more adventure centred service.

In the sense that, if you meet some interesting person, you can spend a lot of time with that person. We decide I am going to be here in one city, tomorrow I am going to another city. So, we all need to find out what is the way in which we can we can joyfully practice bhakti.

So, somebody may decide with respect to structure, okay, the basic minimum structure I will have, but I will extend my service through adventure. But somebody else may say that their extension of services that, you know, I know somebody who is exactly like, yesterday I was talking with one, yesterday evening, you know, he is telling me, his spiritual master sleeps at 8.15 and wakes up at 1.17. At 8 o’clock he is talking with someone, at 8.12 he lies down, he falls asleep by 8.15. Doesn’t need an alarm, he wakes up. He has been doing this for years.

Now, he said that I tried to do that and I just can’t. I felt as if I was a terrible disciple because I can’t follow my spiritual master. But then I told him, did you talk with your spiritual master about this? It’s wonderful somebody has that level of structure, but it’s not just a matter of willpower and discipline.

It’s also a matter of neurobiology and psychology and so many other things. Some people are just that structure. It’s nice to be like that, but that’s not the only way to be a devotee.

Somebody is not able to do that does not mean that they cannot be a serious or a progressing devotee. So, I think we have to choose our battles. Some areas non-negotiable, but some areas I will move forward.