How can we avoid losing enthusiasm as we keep practicing bhakti over the years?

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Transcript

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thank you we are enthusiastic when we start bhakti initially but over time because of the anarthas because of circumstances we lose that enthusiasm because of the mind’s conditionings we lose enthusiasm so how can we sustain this enthusiasm lifelong firstly the moment we think of lifelong it appears too long so if we think oh I have to chant the holy names of Krishna attentively throughout my life such a big task so if we start thinking of lifelong it will just appear too long so don’t think of lifelong right now just think of one mantra at a time think of one day at a time in terms of vision when we want to understand or comprehend our spiritual identity we can expand our vision but in terms of execution we need to concentrate our vision otherwise there are people who have their heads in the sky they make hundreds of schemes and not one gets executed so we have to especially when we are executing things don’t bother about the idea oh I have to do this lifelong let me do this one day let me do this for one hour let me do this for this one minute let me chant this mantra for one mantra attentively let me try to enter into the mood of meditation right now so while we are executing something we need to concentrate our vision at that time if we expand our vision that whatever we are trying to execute will seem to be too big a burden now when we concentrate our vision on doing what we need to do right now that gives us a sense of direction and a sense of achievement ok I have to do this for the next half an hour I have to do this for the next one hour ok let me do that and when we do that we experience a spiritual connection whenever we focus on Krishna in whatever we are doing no matter what conditionings are there within us if we try to focus for connecting with Krishna we do connect with him and by that connection we experience bhakti pareesha anubhava viraktir anyatra jaya the process of bhakti gives us pareesha anubhava experience of God when we get that experience that inspires us further so that’s the first thing concentrate the vision while executing don’t let it expand it too much so now the second thing is that enthusiasm is not something that is always predictable in terms of what will be the source of enthusiasm for us we all grow in our life and just as the toys that we like to play with in our childhood we may not like that now we have developed other interests same way even in our spiritual life as we grow some of the things which inspired us in our early days in our spiritual life we find that ok they don’t inspire me now but that does not mean that there will be nothing that inspires me it is our responsibility to find out what it is that inspires us so because our mind we are basically fighting a war against the mind so if we are going to fight a war we cannot just go with a stereotype plan like somebody if a warrior goes I am going to fight with a sword I am going to kill the enemy by fighting with a sword but if the enemy is only shooting with arrows I can just keep swinging my sword and before I reach the enemy I will be killed so the point is that we cannot just go into spiritual practice with a stereotype idea this is what I should be doing and by this I should be getting inspiration we have to find out ok the mind is troubling me in this way what is the way ahead I can go what is it that enables me to connect with Krishna right now so sometimes in our spiritual life we may find that worshiping the deities that may help us to connect with Krishna at other times we find studying scripture may inspire us to connect with Krishna at other times hearing classes may inspire us to connect with Krishna at other times singing songs about Krishna praying to him through Vaishnav songs that may connect us with Krishna so we have to know that our spiritual advancement is our responsibility the process is there to help us the spiritual master is there to guide us but ultimately it is our responsibility and when we understand it is our responsibility that means we have to find out what weapon will work in our battle against our mind when we take this initiative we will find Krishna will never leave us without any source of inspiration at all we will find some source of inspiration if we keep searching and by finding that inspiration we can rejuvenate ourselves so not I don’t feel like I don’t feel like practicing ok I don’t feel like it I cannot just get rid of my feelings feelings are there but I don’t have to always just give in to my feelings completely I can find some way by which I can circumvent my feelings and I can keep moving onwards in spite of those adverse feelings so it’s like in a ocean there are different currents sometimes say a current may be a current of water may be going from say America to Europe other current of water may be going from say Europe towards Africa and down other current of water may be coming from South America towards Europe so there are different currents which are flowing now if a person is rowing a boat at that time if the person is rowing a boat and wants to go say eastwards from America towards Europe at that time if that person is caught in a current which is moving from Europe towards America then rowing will become extremely difficult so if that person can catch the current which is moving in the same direction then the opposition will go and support will come so like that there are different currents in our consciousness some currents are moving towards Krishna some currents are moving away from Krishna some currents are just going here and there so when there is a current of consciousness which is taking us away from Krishna which is making us apathetic which is making us lethargic in our bhakti it is not that we have to be situated in that current and let ourselves get thrown away we have to relocate in a current that moves towards Krishna that means place ourselves in a circumstance practice some activity do something associated with some devotees by which we feel inspired to move onwards towards Krishna and there will be currents which are moving towards Krishna also we just have to discover them and we have to tap them regularly and lastly when we say that how can we sustain the enthusiasm that we had in the early days it is not necessary that our grown up days in spiritual life if you want to use that word will have to be the same as our early days in the early days we have we may have a very externalized conception of enthusiasm that means dance and dance and vibrantly and sing in kirtan that is enthusiasm yes that is enthusiasm but that is not the only barometer of enthusiasm real enthusiasm is committed practice commitment to the practice of bhakti and we as we grow we may not exactly be enthusiastic in the same way that we were earlier so some devotees who may have a lot of energy in youth they may dance and sing vibrantly in kirtans but as they grow up their same enthusiasm may be there but in some other way may study scripture may teach scripture do some other forms of services so we shouldn’t have an externalized conception of what enthusiasm means so what Rupa Goswami tells us is the defining principle sadhana bhakti is somehow or the other fix the mind on Krishna often if we get caught in ok this is what I have to do to be a serious devotee if we think like that then we often loose the opportunities by which we can increase our seriousness in other ways so by learning to understand that spiritual life is an evolving process and we need not be doing exactly the same activities in the same way as we were doing earlier to be enthusiastic ok I am a different person right now and the way I think the way I feel right now at this level of thinking and feeling how can I connect with Krishna when we are introspective in that way then we can find out from our present situation how we can move on towards Krishna ultimately it’s a matter of fuel it’s that we can’t say that ok yesterday morning I ate food but I don’t have energy today to get energy today I have to eat food today so we were enthusiastic in our earlier days in our spiritual life because we were enthusiastically connecting with Krishna so now if I don’t connect with Krishna it’s like I am not eating food if I don’t eat food I will not get energy so it’s no mystery in that sense if we lose enthusiasm we have to connect ourselves with Krishna and we can’t say that because I was well connected in the past therefore I will be well connected now also we have to eat everyday because I had energy yesterday doesn’t mean I will have energy today if I don’t eat food today so if we do the activities that nourishes in our bhakti then we will be able to stay enthusiastic ok thank you any other questions yes