How can we persevere in bhakti over the years when our transformation becomes gradual and not so easily perceivable?

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Transcript

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So, initially we see dramatic changes in our life that motivates us to practice bhakti. But gradually, the changes are not so, they are very subtle. You don’t see them at all.
And what can motivate us in the practice of bhakti? Actually, as we start practicing bhakti, it is more, not so much the transformation within us, but the contribution that we can make to transforming others. That’s what inspires us. It’s like, say, there is a doctor or there is a patient who has got a medicine and they have got reasonably healed.
Not fully healed, but reasonably healed. And then, now they become a part of the hospital. If there is an epidemic somewhere, they become a part of the hospital.
And then they start becoming a part of the team which is distributing the medicines. And then when they see, you know, I give this medicine to this person, this person is so sick and they become healthy. This is good.
And do something constructive. And do something valuable. So, for us, rather than the expectation of transformation, that is naturally there.
We want to be transformed. But our focus shifts to the contribution to others’ transformation. And that’s why it is, in general, it is always good to be in some way a part of outreach.
Because we say that there is pratyaksha, there is anumananda shabda, there is sensory perception, there is mental inference, and there is scriptural testimony. So, we understand scriptural testimony is the most authoritative. But still, we do rely a lot on sense perception.
It’s like, you know, if you come to a program, the program is about Krishnakatha. We see only 4-5 people inside thinking, should I have come here? We didn’t see a big crowd. Maybe this is a good speaker.
I should have come. So, what happens is we do depend on sense perception. So, like that, same way, if we are actually helping new people to come to Krishna, we see the transformation happening in their lives.
That inspires us to go on. So, rather than the expectation of our own transformation, we focus on the contribution to others’ transformation. And that can help us to move on steadily.
And over a period of time, we will see transformation. The problem is the transformation that we can see is that not so much in terms of resisting desires, because the gross desires, subtle desires, they will take time to overcome. But we can see also the transformation in terms of our capacity to endure problems.
What Krishna consciousness does is our connection with Krishna, our bhakti, it toughens us internally. The same problem which would have caused us to crumble 10 years ago, now we are practicing bhakti, we are able to sustain it. Something which has just caused us to get a panic attack, now we are able to manage it.
We see the transformation in terms of our own capacity to manage our emotions better. So, that way also we can see the process working in our life. And ultimately, the process of bhakti is more a matter of matter of choice than the matter of consequence.
If we are too focused on the consequence, then after somebody dies, how do we know where they went? How do we know whether they went back to Krishna or not? We can always have that doubt. But if we are practicing bhakti sincerely, then we will see that this is a far better life. Then the life we are not practicing bhakti.
So, even if it takes many lifetimes to go to Krishna, still, the life of bhakti is better than life without bhakti. There are struggles. Struggles are there always in the material world.
But in a materialistic life, the struggles are actually ultimately purposeless. What is the point of it all? We lose everything. Not only after death.
Many times we lose things before death also. But for a devotee, the struggle is purposeful. You see that immediately.
We are moving closer towards Krishna. We are experiencing fulfillment in our life. At least more than what we are experiencing already.
We are able to contribute to others. So, by looking at that contribution to others, by looking at our own increased capacity to face problems and by seeing that our life is now enriched with a purpose, we can motivate ourselves to move on. Even when we don’t see transformation in terms of our anarthas going down.
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