Gita 02.69 – Overcome inner resistance by choosing a higher definition of success

Chanting Chanting Chanting Chanting Chanting Chanting Chanting Chanting Chanting Chanting Chanting Chanting Chanting Chanting darkness and inaction that's what happens when night people sleep so sense gratification is often the cause of illusion and bondage and self realization requires the regulation of sense gratification and the way to regulate that is by connecting with Krishna at the highest level of reality that is at the level of the soul's pure love for Krishna and that love for Krishna will manifest when we turn towards him with sincere devotion so now often from the worldly point of view disconnecting ourselves from the world and focusing on doing prayerful activities for hours and hours may seem very odd what is this wasting time like this but actually it is not a waste of time it is the means by which we can actually realize and relish our eternal connection with Krishna so the more we turn towards Krishna the more we relish devotion to him and the more we relish devotion to him the more we go closer to him further for us to be able to enter this absorbing and enriching life one of the most important decisions which we have to take is the decision of standing out of recognizing that we are going to tread a different path that the world at large is not going to agree with what we are doing and if we are going to be able to live the way we have understood with our intelligence that this is the ultimate purpose of life then the way we are going to live it is by choosing a different path for ourselves so unless we change our definition of success and adopt a devotional definition we will not be able to relish the path of devotion not be able to realize that we need to put aside the world's ideas of success and adopt a different definition of success which comes from scriptural standards once we accept that definition of success then even when there is struggle just like if somebody is watching a boxing match or somebody is playing a boxing match now for the boxing match for those who are playing the boxing match and for those who are watching the boxing match is the definition of success the same? No in one sense the one particular competitor may want to win both competitors want to win but say spectators are cheering a particular component competitor now those who are inside the ring they have to take the blows and taking the blows is an essential and unavoidable part of being able to win so similarly taking the blows is required for being able to win now if we have to win and there is no way we can win without being able to fight the mind, be beaten by the mind and beat the mind it's something which we just have to accept that this is going to happen and the more we accept this the more we will be able to deal with it properly to the extent we don't accept it to that extent we will not be able to deal with it properly now the way to accept this is by again and again reminding ourselves this is the definition of success I want to pursue if we choose another definition of success and then or rather if we internally accept the materialistic people's definition of success and then strive on the devotional path we will just not be able to relish the devotional path because we will have a huge amount of internal resistance and that internal resistance will go down to the extent we choose and cherish the devotional definition of success by studying scripture, by using our intelligence to understand life's ultimate purpose and by meditating on whatever devotional experiences we have had we can reinforce the right definition of success in our consciousness and by that get the determination to absorb ourselves in meditation.