How does regulated devotion transform into spontaneous devotion?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
so right now we are all practicing regulated devotion so how will it transform into spontaneous devotion there are two basic things involved in spiritual growth one is insight and the second is taste first when we start practicing spiritual life what we get is insight I am not the body, I am the soul we get some intellectual understanding of this seeking for lasting happiness beyond this world this is insight and this insight is what will keep us moving on the spiritual path in the initial stages Jiva Goswami is one of our prominent acharyas and he says there is the sadhaka stage and there is the siddha stage sadhaka is the seeker stage siddha stage is the seer stage so at the seeker stage what keeps us on the spiritual path is our buddhi our intelligence, the insight at the seer stage what keeps us on the spiritual path is our priti our love for Krishna our taste for Krishna so at our stage we need to constantly seek insight and with that intellectual understanding even the mind goes here, the mind goes there we bring it back, we focus it on Krishna this is regulated practice by such regulated practice, gradually our tastes change the mind is like a child a small child thinks playing is the most serious activity in the world for the child play just want to play when the child grows then it is not that the child starts playing the child doesn’t have to start hating the childhood toys but as the child grows the child outgrows those toys there are better things to do in life those toys are there, but there are better things to do in life like that as we grow spiritually we outgrow worldly pleasures it is not initially sometimes we may hate worldly pleasures they are distracting us from our spiritual life but hatred is quite a negative we don’t have to hate anything in this world, just outgrow those pleasures are there but life is meant for something bigger so as we grow up spiritually we start getting more and more attracted to Krishna that’s how the taste develops now how exactly does this taste happen to understand this let’s compare it, let’s say there is a wall on that wall somebody has written graffiti now there are two ways to remove the graffiti one is we scratch it out the second is we over paint it now both these ways are ways in which the graffiti can be removed like that the soul which is what we are the soul has natural love for Krishna but the soul is covered by worldly graffiti it’s covered by this craving for this hankering for that all these worldly pleasures are covering it up so when we are practicing bhakti we are essentially over painting our mind exposing ourselves to Krishna more and more and more and more from different directions and as we expose ourselves more and more what happens these Krishna conscious impressions start forming on the mind when we take darshan, when we do kirtan when we attend satsang when we sing when we behold the lord, when we hear spiritual wisdom it’s not just intellectual this is actually impressional the impressions are being formed inside us and those impressions are like over writing the graffiti like over painting and what will happen the spontaneity with which we are attracted to sense objects see the mind is basically like a machine it’s a mechanical device whatever we do repeatedly the mind gets attached to that so if we keep doing devotional activities repeatedly that repetition itself will lead to attraction it’s a psychological principle but beyond that so repetition is like over painting by which we become the repetition leads to the attraction to Krishna that’s a psychological principle but beyond that two more factors are involved the second factor is that when we are repeating we are actually not just repeating an ordinary sound we are repeating the sound of Krishna’s name which is all purifying so what happens the contact with Krishna he is all pure and he purifies us so it is also like at one level we are over painting but at another level whatever graffiti was there that is also getting erased because Krishna purifies us so bhakti itself brings pure impressions whatever impure impressions are there they also get cleansed out so purification also leads to the natural attraction of the soul towards Krishna soul has that natural attraction and through purification that moves further third thing is also there is revelation revelation means Krishna is all attractive and Krishna reveals his attractiveness to us more and more as we keep practicing bhakti sometimes when we come and take darshan of the lord sometimes when we chant in kirtans we sing in kirtans sometimes we feel some extraordinary pleasure deep kind of thrill it may not last but sometimes it comes when it comes we understand this is a glimpse I am getting of what lies ahead for me and we just keep persevering that revelation when it comes it just conquers our heart the revelation is also coming gradually when we get these glimpses of spiritual happiness but as we keep practicing bhakti a revelation will come and Krishna will conquer our heart at that time the worldly pleasures there will be no need to resist now the worldly pleasures seem attractive and we have to use our intelligence to resist so now at that time the force with which we are attracted towards worldly pleasures at that time with that force and more we will be attracted towards Krishna so now what happens is even when Krishna is there we are attracted to sense objects then even when sense objects are there we will be attracted to Krishna so through this process three things the repetition leading to attraction through the purification that comes with contact with all attractive Krishna and through the revelation of Krishna the purification that comes by contact with all pure Krishna and the revelation of all attractiveness of Krishna by all this our taste changes from this world to Krishna but to persevere in this we need to act at the level of insight and intelligence even if I am attracted to worldly things with regulation, with discipline I focus myself on Krishna and as our taste changes then we naturally organically rise from regulated devotion to spontaneous devotion does it answer your question?