How can following rules lead to developing of spontaneous love?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
attract that devotee.
As sadhaka, we follow certain rules and regulations. Now, how by following rules and regulations, we can progress to the stage of spontaneous devotion where there are no rules and regulations. Yes, in every field, we cannot come to expertise without following rules.
As for example, if you play cricket. Now, the people play cricket for enjoyment. But before you can enjoy playing cricket, you have to learn the rules.
If people don’t follow rules, you know, the batsman is batting very well and the ball is not coming out. thinks that I can’t get the batsman out. So, the bowler comes to the pitch, comes to the bowling in, just keeps running right up to the batsman, pushes the batsman aside and brings the subs.
That will not be cricket. So, one batsman is there, he, you know, very quickly gets out. He says, today I am going to score a century.
And he hits the ball and it goes high into the air and the batsman goes and swings his bat at the cricket keeper itself. I don’t want to get out. No, that will not work.
So, even in material life when something is done for enjoyment, initially rules have to be followed. And gradually as a batsman follows the rules, then the batsman becomes expert, then the batsman can hit various kinds of shots and then the batsman will come to a level of effortless grace and skill and the person will become a majestic batsman eventually. So, this is, of course, a mundane example, but the point is, in no field can we attain expertise, can we attain style, can we attain, as they say in the world here, spontaneity, without going through the grids.
So, practice based on rules and regulations requires any field. Now, when it comes to bhakti, there is an additional element. That is, it is a matter of the heart.
Normally speaking in life, whenever people talk about love, at least in today’s world, the idea is love is something that happens to you, you fall in love, people say. That means, what is happening, just love at first sight, you saw someone and love is something that happens to you, that is the idea. Whereas, in most traditions, no, love is something that is cultivated.
Love is something that happens to you. So, Anushilanam, when Bhakti Sambhasindhu says that, by doing certain activities, our love for Krishna will increase. So, there is a process which you practice, by the practice of that process, our attraction towards Krishna increases.
So, it is not that the mechanical practice of the process itself leads to the attraction towards Krishna. Yeah, it is just utterance of the names of Krishna without an attempt for feeling, without an effort, that is not of much use. It’s like, you know, we could have a tape recorder, which would, like what devotee asked, actually, my chanting is so impure.
So, if I chant 16 rounds, anyway I can’t chant purely. So, instead of I chanting 16 rounds, why can’t I hear Prabhupada chanting 16 rounds. Prabhupada is so pure.
Yes, Prabhupada is pure, but Bhakti means, you know, Bhakti means we develop a relationship with Krishna. So, we have to exert to develop that relationship and our relationship with Krishna will develop to the extent we express through our actions our desire. So, that means now there are three things here.
Now, there is, there are certain forms of Bhakti. For example, we chant, we do Kirtans. Now, when we are doing Kirtan, Kirtan can, at one level, be an expression of devotion.
And at other level, Kirtan can be an expression of our intention for devotion. That means, sometimes I will feel so happy, so attracted to Krishna that I just want to dance and sing His Holiness. So, at that time, Kirtan is an expression of our devotion.
So, the Bhakti is already there in the heart and the Kirtan is the means by which we express our Bhakti. But at other times, our heart feels empty. We don’t feel any attraction towards Krishna.
At that time, doing the Kirtan is an expression of our intention for devotion. Krishna, I don’t feel any attraction for you. But, I want the interaction.
I want to feel Bhakti for you. Therefore, I will do this Bhakti. I will do this activity by which I will express my intention to you.
So, now, which comes first here? Does the, is devotion already present in us and we express it? Or we don’t have any devotion and we first express our intention and by that, Krishna will give the emotion? It’s not black and white. We all have a little devotion in our heart which we express by doing Bhakti. And, by doing Bhakti, when Krishna becomes pleased, he also reinforces our devotion for him.
See, right now, we are following mechanical rules and regulations. But, we are following rules and regulations. And much of the time, our following of rules and regulations may also be mechanical.
But, if we keep following those rules and regulations and try to infuse them with whatever little Bhakti we have, then the Bhakti will increase. So, the, it’s not that, it’s not simply that at one level, I am following rules and regulations. Next moment, I get spontaneous devotion.
No. Even within the following of rules and regulations, there is some devotion already. And that devotion keeps growing more and more and more until it comes to the level of spontaneous devotion.
So, the growth of emotion is a process. There is a process that we follow for nourishing and strengthening our emotions. But, it is not just the process that leads to the development of emotion, it is the heart that we put into that process that leads to the development of emotion.
So, it’s just a tape recorder chants Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, the tape recorder will chant a full lifetime, the tape recorder won’t become pure devotion because there is no heart invested in it. So, similarly, when we chant Hare Krishna, it is not just the chanting of Hare Krishna that leads to pure devotion. So, it’s not a mechanical process that leads to pure devotion.
It is a person seeking pure devotion who follows the process that will lead to the result of pure