Is the higher taste of bhakti available only for those who practice bhakti exclusively while living in a temple?

Transcript

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thank you sometimes when you practice bhakti wholeheartedly almost like constantly then we get some higher taste but when we try to balance looking after our family, our job, our health and then do bhakti intermittently we don’t get that taste so is it that the taste is attainable only by exclusive practice? I would say that taste is not like digital we have taste or we don’t have taste taste is also analog progression there are not just 0 or 1 it is more of scale from 0 to 1 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7 and gradually moving towards higher degrees so if we think of taste in terms of feeling like dancing in kirtans or feeling great conviction this is what I want to live for that is something which is at a subtle level steady in a devotee’s life but if it is in terms of constant remembrance of Krishna, some waves of spiritual sweetness felt within our heart, those may not come regularly those may come intermittently only and we may need to be determined to persevere with whatever taste we get so just the fact that we are able to continue practicing say 16 rounds, continue practicing regularity principles just the fact that we are resisting most of the pleasures the world is offering that indicates that we are getting some taste without some taste we would not be able to continue at all that taste may not be effusively visible but spirituality is not simply jollity like a person has a big smile that doesn’t necessarily mean they are deeply spiritual can be, they may not be also so if we redefine taste in terms of three things one is the conviction that this is what I want to practice this is what life is meant for the understanding that we can’t expect that if we find out some service if this is my material nature these are the things which I like to do and this is the realm of bhakti and then I situate myself at the intersection between the two and serve in that then we get some taste which we could say is a combination of material and spiritual taste it is you could say a devotional material taste sometimes we use the word material in such a negative sense as if it is like a sinful thing but a kshatriya loves to administer, control, delegate get things done, a brahmana loves to read and study so now if a brahmana can be directed to read and study in a mood of service to Krishna then that brahmana is growing the brahmana will grow very well so similarly if we find out that zone where we can situate ourselves steadily in terms of our service to Krishna then that is also a source of steady taste for us thirdly if we can find out even one devotee with whom we bond, it may not be the spiritual master, it may not be the spiritual guide, it may be equal sometimes it may be somebody who is apparently junior to us also but someone with whom we bond then that can also help us move onwards steadily, so all these can become our sources of taste as we move towards that pure spiritual taste so the conviction the engagement and the association not in a generic sense but in a specific sense of the association that inspires us so sometimes it’s we don’t sometimes we go to a temple and it’s nice to meet with devotees but if there is some devotee with association we look forward to then in the long run we see that movement is important but it’s the people that count in the movement one person also whose classes I like to hear or whose association I love to have that’s what will nourish us so these are I could say these are rather than the spiritual taste itself we can say these are pathways to the spiritual taste along which we get some glimpse of the spiritual taste also but if we can situate ourselves in that then we can go in for the long haul and for most of us it’s not practical to just be fully engaged in devotional service it’s not only I would say for those who are householders even for enunciates if we want to contribute the way Prabhupada wanted us to travel then travelling itself involves so much engagement and interaction with the material energy and it’s unavoidable so by recognizing that we all need our own space and our own way of finding taste we can we can persevere till that steady spiritual state comes in spiritual taste comes in and quite often even when we are exclusively practicing bhakti and we are getting taste that may not necessarily be something which will come regularly to us if we regularly practice that intense level of bhakti also because first of all that intense level of bhakti even if we had no financial or family considerations still to practice that at an intense level may not be so easily possible for us even if say we had nothing else to worry about somebody told me chant 64 rounds or 128 rounds daily for a few days it’s fine but afterwards it may be very difficult so so then during those times when we are intensely exposed to Krishna what we are getting is not just a taste for Krishna we could say it’s more like a glimpse of the taste that lies ahead and we may get that even in the association of devotees some intense if you go to yatra if you go to a holy place for pilgrimage you may get some very intense very deep spiritual experience at that time but it is not that we have come to that level rather by the intensity of our practice or by the power of potency of the association Krishna reciprocates and gives some mercy by which he gives us some advanced taste so we gratefully relish and cherish that taste but at the same time we realistically also recognize that this taste is not what is going to be always there and this level of practice is also not what I can regularly do and we continue at a level of practice that we can continue and we move towards Krishna