How can the awareness of our sinfulness enhance our devotion?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you.
How can we actually understand this feeling of guilt, as you said rightly, that I am very sinful and then without Krishna’s mercy I cannot give up this thing. I can give an example here. Let’s say if there is a beggar.
The beggar is in a very poverty stricken condition. And then somebody comes and gives a precious jewel, and they solve all the problems of money of that person. And then that beggar loses the jewel.
And then afterwards, the beggar gets the jewel back again, or beggar is given another jewel. And at one level, for the beggar to be aware of how poverty stricken I am, that is important so that the beggar recognizes how precious the jewel is. So, similarly, if I am aware of how sinful I am, by which I become aware of how precious this opportunity to practice bhakti is for me, then that is favorable for me.
If I think, oh everything, I can practice bhakti anytime. I will enjoy now. Afterwards I can come and practice bhakti.
And that casual attitude that I am not really aware of the power of the conditionings, the power of maya, and then that guilt is not really working. It’s basically like a lackadaisical attitude. I can enjoy now.
I can practice bhakti later. So, when the guilt is active, that means we are aware that I am in such a spiritually poverty stricken condition that without Krishna’s mercy I sink down terribly. So, when I am aware of how degraded the world around is, how degraded my mind is, and how much it can drag me down, then that awareness creates a sense of caution, a sense of healthy fear we could say, and it keeps us from going in that direction.
So, if we understand the spiritually poverty stricken condition of us in Kali Yuga, and we understand how precious is the wealth of bhakti that we have got, then that guilt, that awareness of our fallen condition can impel us to move towards Krishna. So, beggar metaphor might help in appreciating the role of guilt.