How can we maintain our spiritual alertness amidst worldly association?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, we are alert, say, when we are in a program or in the association of devotees, but when we go out, that alertness goes away.
Yes, it is. You don’t feel urgency. That’s true.
Sangat Sanjayate Kama The Bhagavad Gita says that the word Sangat in that context means attachment. Vishwa Prabhupada in one lecture, he translates Sangat there as association. Sangat Sanjayate Kama that means in association, our desire is developed.
So, it’s natural that whichever environment we go in, it will have some influence on us. So, what we need to do is that we have to intersperse our worldly engagements with periodic spiritual renewals. Say, like we have, maybe we have a program once a week, or maybe after we come back home, we have some time where we spend maybe in the altar, or reading some shastra, doing some kirtans.
So, these are phases when we renew ourselves. When a plane is traveling, say, from here I go back to Mumbai. So, now, when the plane is going from Abu Dhabi to Mumbai, 90% of the time, the plane is off track.
Because of the clouds, and because of the air pressure, and the wind is blowing. And how does it ever get on the destination? Because the pilot keeps reorienting. It may autopilot, but it keeps reorienting.
The plane is meant to go this way, it goes on this way, again come back. Goes on this way, again come back. So, that reorientation is what is required.
Now, if the pilot expects that my plane will always go straight, it will never happen. So, like that, we can’t expect that once I decide I want to be spiritual, I am going to be spiritual. So, yes, we will get distracted.
That is the nature of the mind, that is the nature of the world. And Krishna also doesn’t say that you should never get distracted. Krishna says, wherever, whenever the mind wanders, bring it back under the control of the self.
That means Krishna is acknowledging the mind will wander. Get it back. So, of course, what will happen as we keep practicing bhakti is, the distraction will become less.
But, if we have periodic renewals, then, at least, hey, you know, what happened? I completely forgot what I was supposed to do. Just got lost. So, we create these periodic renewals for ourselves.
Say, morning we have some sadhana, evening we come back and do some devotional activities. In between, we might just get disoriented. But at least at the end of the day, we come back.
And as we keep doing this, reorienting ourselves, over a period of time, this reorientation will become a habit. See, the mind’s habit of distraction will not go away very easily. But we can cultivate a habit of reorientation.
To expect that the mind’s habit of distraction will go away is to have an unrealistic expectation. That will take a long time. But what is possible for us? To create a habit of reorientation.
And the more we do that, the easier it will be to come back on track. And sometimes we can also find out what is the most effective way I can reorient myself. So, I may find that, some of us may find that we like kirtans a lot.
Just hear some kirtans. Or some of us may like to recite shlokas. Some of us may like to read shastras.
Some of us may like to just take darshan of the deities. Whatever it is. Find out what is the most easy reorienter, most effective reorienter for ourselves.
And try to connect with that as periodically as possible. As regularly as possible. And that will bring us back on track.
Does that answer your question? Thank you. Somebody had a question?