​Should we just depend on bhakti to purify us or cultivate introspectiveness to check and change our motives?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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having faith in the process of bhakti itself will purify of our unarthas and also being introspective to analyze and check our motivations and to counter our desires see the underlying common thread is the intention to serve we are meant to serve Krishna and we serve him with whatever resources we have so if one resource that we have is introspective ability then we use that resource in service if we find that developing our introspective ability helps us in serving Krishna we develop that ability but some people may not be that introspective then they will simply cut to the process of bhakti and it will work and purify them also so rather than it is said that the shoe that fits one leg bites another so similarly when it comes to skills and abilities like these they can help some people they can just become too much of a drain for some other people so if we find that introspective skills help us then we adopt them if we find that we don’t feel that they are necessary and we are going around smoothly in our bhakti without them then there is no need to go out of our way to learn them the process of bhakti itself will purify us but rather than seeing this as a dichotomy that do I practice the process of bhakti or do I learn the level of introspective skills to check my motivations we can see that learning the introspective skills is also a part of bhakti because bhakti has certain limbs like shravanam, kirtanam, smaranam but the essence of bhakti is to use in Krishna’s service what Krishna has given us so if Krishna has given me an introspective nature I use that introspective nature in service if Krishna has given me the ability to analyze, to think to clarify then I can use that in Krishna’s service in fact I need to use it in Krishna’s service but if somebody doesn’t have that ability then they don’t have to go out of the way thinking that oh I don’t have this ability introspection is good for devotees but it’s not essential somebody who doesn’t have that nature that’s ok with them sometimes everybody becomes more introspective sometimes people become sometimes we become less introspective but overall there is a nature of some people to be introspective, some people to be not so introspective so if introspection the defining principle here would be anukulyasya sankalpa pratyakulyasya varjanam if it is favorable for our growth in bhakti we use it otherwise we don’t use it like in the war metaphor I didn’t go so much into that war metaphor till now.
In a war we cannot go and stick to a rigidly defined plan now if we go into a war and say I am going to fight with a sword but if the enemy is attacking with arrows we will be slaughtered before we use our swords also then we may have to take and use bow and arrows although our plan might have been to fight with swords so like that when a war is going on we have to find out what works we can’t rigidly stick only to one weapon but what if that weapon doesn’t work when we are feeling agitated sometimes we just chant Hare Krishna but you know when we are chanting we are just not connecting with Krishna then maybe at that time we hear some kirtan that might connect with Krishna or we recite some verses that might connect with Krishna or we go to a favorite scriptural section and read that section that connects us with Krishna the point is that smartao let us remember Krishna so in that war against illusion which weapon will work in terms of connecting us with Krishna and dissipating the force of the illusion that can vary according to time and place circumstance so we have to find which weapon works for us and which weapon works for us may also vary at different times so we know which we have just like a warrior if you see the Mahabharata war when they are fighting they try this weapon and they try that weapon they try next weapon and then they have to find out which weapon works so like that we have different weapons and we have to find out whichever weapon works best for us and we use that weapon so introspection is like a weapon even in our own life there are some times when we feel introspection is good and we use it like one way introspection is used is by journaling so some people may journal regularly and we find it helpful other times we feel like this is taking too much time and we are not getting much benefit from it so we drop it so there is in general with respect to with respect to these kind of skills or tools there is no need to make any rigid principle either for ourselves or for everyone if it works if it helps use it is that ok and when we are using it we see it not as separate from bhakti but as part of our bhakti Krishna has given me this ability to introspect let me use it in his service