Does our past impede our bhakti – how can we overcome those impediments?
Can our past karmas create a hindrance in devotional life and how can we overcome them yes definitely our past shapes who we are and our past shapes what we face in life our past doesn't shape what we do it shapes who I am some of us may be intellectual some of us may be emotional some of us may be introvert, some of us may be extrovert all these things about us are shaped by our past but it doesn't control our choices, we always have free will to choose and our past also shapes what we face in life so in a sense, if we are going on a journey we are given a particular car say and we are going on a path where the weather is in a particular way now it's up to us to drive that car and navigate that weather so who we are, that means what are our bodily conditions that's like our car our past has determined that we can't change that and during our journey, what is going to happen is like the weather so sometimes the weather is bad and we may have to stop or we may have to drive very slowly so like that sometimes in our life we face unfavorable circumstances and when those come at that time the critical thing is just tolerate so a part of being responsible is taking responsibility and a part of being responsible is also shirking responsibility shirking responsibility means that if I can't do this I'll clearly say no, I can't do it saying no to things is also being responsible, what is the responsibility is saying yes and not doing it so like that philosophically also we have to understand that some things are just not in my control so when we understand that then we don't beat ourselves up because of problems which are not in our control sometimes the problems are created because of the way we have acted we act carelessly sometimes the problems come despite our best intentions and even our best actions so then at that time we just understand this particular situation has come because of some past karma or sometimes we do a small mistake and such a big reaction comes up because of that what is going on, it's such a small thing, keep it small but we have to understand it's not just the reaction to that small action a past karma is also coming in so when we understand that it's not in my control Prabhupada writes in the first canto purport that that there is nothing to regret when things are beyond human control, sometimes by the force of nature just things go in a particular way, we just accept it and move on so so when a storm comes, it can be scary we need to find some shelter during the storm, now we are worried how much damage will this storm cause but we are never worried what if the storm never ends storms can be deadly but they are not permanent they will come, they will go like that by a past karma some difficulties will come in our life they are like storms so we just tolerate tolerate means that we just try to serve Krishna whatever we can in that situation so in every situation there is always something which we can do and something which we can't do so if we just focus on what we can do then that gives a sense of purpose, a sense of confidence I am doing something, but when we focus on that which we can't do then we get frustrated we feel disempowered so I will conclude with one sports example, most of you know tennis matches, in tennis sometimes the player is serving, sometimes the player is receiving so now the player who is serving that player has a lot of freedom they can hit the ball to the left corner, the right corner right from the body of the other player they have a lot of freedom, when the player is receiving they don't have much freedom wherever the ball is coming that's where they have to hit and you know if the player who is receiving starts acting as if they are serving they swing the racket wherever they like, they will completely miss the ball so like that in life sometimes we are serving, sometimes we are receiving so the big problem comes when we are receiving and we act as if we should be serving so sometimes life puts us in constrained situations so when a player is receiving and the opposite player is a very good server then the receiving player's goal is just to get the ball back in the court just to keep it in play, touch it and get it back into play but even that requires skill, that requires expertise so like that, sometimes we can do very little but just doing that keeps things going on and over a period of time it's not that the player has to always receive eventually that player's turn to serve will also come so when we are serving, if we start becoming passive like when we are receiving then also we miss the opportunity so intelligence means to recognize in what situation am I right now sometimes we are in a situation where it is up to us to take initiative be creative, be resourceful and do things and other times it's just for us to take the humble position although we want to be humble but sometimes externally also we may have to go out of our way to show ourselves as humble just keep a low profile just keep doing something, small because we are in a constrained situation at that time so that way the obstacles that come in the path of bhakti because of past karma they may change the exact form of what we are doing but they won't stop us from serving Krishna in some small way we can keep serving Krishna even in that situation does it answer your question?