What is the reason for constantly falling down in spiritual life?

From: Bhavani 

pls kindly provide solution to my problem what is the reason for constantly falling down in spiritual life even though i want to practise spiritual life seriously? what can be done to maintain consistency.how to develope the quality of humility?

Transcript

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Question by bhavani please kindly provide solution to my problem what is the reason for constantly falling down in spiritual life even though i want to practice spiritual life seriously what can be done to maintain consistency how to develop the quality of humility answer this is a both a general and specific question there are general broad principles which help us to advance and which may cause us to fall in our spiritual life and there are specific situations in every individual’s life which may be creating problems so the individual situations need to be dealt with at an individual level seeking guidance from some senior devotees and if there are some specific distinctive problems it is best to contact some trustworthy senior devotee and discuss those problems and the practical solutions that can be got but i can talk over here broad principles in general when we start off in our spiritual life there are certain weaknesses that we may have all of which ultimately originate in our past karma if we have certain undesirable habits or behavioral traits which causes to fall that is because we cultivated those habits in our pre-devotional life if we have certain circumstances which cause us or tempt us undue with with great strength and that is the cause of our fall down then we understand even those circumstances in one sense are a product of our past karma but irrespective of the problem whether it is our weakness or whether it is our circumstances or whether it is a combination of both we still have our free will and we can try to make changes both externally and internally so that we can become stronger in our spiritual life so if there are certain internal weaknesses in terms of undesirable habits or traits excessive influence of anarthas which are causing our fall down or our weakness in spiritual life then sorry for the disturbance so we need to find out what we can do to counter those weaknesses so if it’s a specific anartha that is troubling us then there are specific sections in the shrimad bhagavatam which we can read if it is say excessive attachment to money to wealth in the eighth canto there are the teachings of the avanti brahmana so once we spot what are our weaknesses that are causing us the problems we can correspondingly look at sections in the bhagavatam which help us to deal with them and by reading those sections meditating on those teachings and praying to krishna to help us apply those teachings we can gradually become strong enough spiritually to overpower those weakness to those anarthas in our heart so if one is excessively troubled by greed for wealth one can read 7.14 in the shrimad bhagavatam the teachings of the avanti brahmana if one is excessively troubled by lust one can read the sections in the ninth canto which talk about king ayati chapters 18 19 or one can read about ajami in seventh chapter seventh canto sorry the sixth canto chapters 1 2 and 3 if one is excessively troubled by family attachments then one can read jitra ketu pastime chapters 6.14 15 16 17 if one is finding one’s material desires very strong and one doesn’t feel that one should give up the material desires one should fulfill the material desires then regarding that one can read the thru maharaj pastime which is there in the fourth canto of shrimad bhagavatam 4.8 to 12 similarly if one is troubled unduly by some other worldly attachments which are actually petty but which are having undue influence on us then one can read the jadbharat pastime which illustrates how one needs to be cautious so that’s 5.7 to 5.14 in general the reading scripture is the way to strengthen our intelligence and our conviction and along with that also we can see which are the limbs of devotional service which give us strength for some of us it might be worshiping the deity some of us it might be singing kirtans or hearing kirtans some of us it might be doing some particular service it might be associating with some kind some devotees serving or hearing from them and we have to individually take stock just like if we are in a college where we are studying there is a course there are subjects there are exams that we have to pass but if we want to make our own career in that field then we have to see what is our interest and what is our weakness so we manage our weaknesses where we focus on our interests so if say we are studying engineering and we find mathematics a little too difficult to burden some over there then we just deal with the mathematics at the basic level do whatever is required to pass it off and focus on say if our particular interest is a particular branch of engineering or a particular subject within the engineering then we focus on that and maybe we get a master’s and doctorate in that and specialize in that so essentially there is a standard process in the education but along with that there is scope and also there is necessity for individual initiative and personalized improvisation the same applies to our spiritual practices also is there are standard spiritual practices which are given for all of us there is chanting there is reading there’s worshiping the deity associated with devotees but within that there is scope and even necessity for individual initiative and personalized improvisation so we have to find out individually what is it that gives us strength and do those more and become strong and simultaneously we have to see what is it that weakens us so we need to focus on our weaknesses we have to be aware of our weaknesses and do what is required to manage them but ultimately we have to be Krishna conscious not weakness conscious we have to be conscious of what it is that will make us Krishna conscious not be conscious of what is stopping us from being Krishna conscious then we should be conscious of Krishna not conscious of the problems and this is with respect to dealing with our internal weaknesses if we are having circumstances which are making it difficult for us to practice devotional service then we will have to see individually what can be done about those circumstances maybe within those circumstances we can create some space for ourselves in literal or metaphorical sense where we will have the freedom to practice devotional service or within that we can create a time schedule for ourselves where we are private private not in the sense of being alone but being alone with Krishna and if it’s with the devotees also that’s the best but if it can’t be then we will have to see at least we are not in a disturbing distracting circumstance but are able to focus on our spiritual practices so overall if we are sincere and we seek Krishna’s guidance he will positively guide us in both a practical sense of what we should do and in an inspirational sense of the confidence that we will be able to do it and that we will be able to navigate the circumstances so there is absolutely no need for us to feel discouraged or hopeless because that is the greatest trick of illusion of maya because once we feel hopeless and discouraged then we stop striving and once we stop striving then there is very little chance for us to even survive spiritually what to what to speak of succeed regarding how to maintain consistency the first thing is we need to create a time schedule where we allocate time every day for our spiritual practices once we have done that then naturally if the time is bracketed out for our spiritual practices then it itself brings about consistency if we try to fit in our spiritual practices and leave them at the mercy of our other selves then we will always be very inconsistent because the fitting in always depends on unpredictable factors and when something is dependent on unpredictable factors it’s practically impossible for that thing to be consistent so no matter how busy we are we take out time for our rest for our food for our bathing for our basic bodily activities so similarly chanting or associating with devotees at least at a weekly or fortnightly level and chanting daily reading scripture at least for some time on a regular basis these are things which we need to bracket time out for we can’t leave them at the mercy of circumstances so the first step in maintaining consistency is bracketing out time in our schedule for spiritual activities and then once we have bracketed out the time we need to set realistic and inspiring goals for ourselves if it is scriptural reading we plan out okay this is the kind of thing i would like to read and if i read this every day within a month i will be able to complete this chapter of this book so once we set goals for ourselves they will inspire us to become consistent because we know there’s going to be a tangible result by that and how do we develop the quality of humility humility essentially stands from honesty so if we are facing difficulties in our spiritual life those difficulties themselves can become the source of humility for us or those difficulties can become the source of frustration for us so if we think that i can do it myself and i will curb my mind and senses and by my sheer willpower attain success in spiritual life this attitude itself betrays a serious lack of humility and this attitude will lead to frustration but if one is having difficulties in one’s spiritual life then recognizing those difficulties as opportunities for developing humility is the way to go ahead krishna can actually remove all difficulties within from our spiritual life in one moment even if anartha has been troubling us for a lifetime krishna can in just one moment give us that insight that realization by which we can become free from anarthas but we will become free from that greed or lust or envy or whatever but after that we will become proud of our purity we will become proud of our freedom from that anartha when especially when we see others suffering from that anartha so therefore krishna sometimes lets us struggle and when we struggle and when we realize that i alone cannot overcome this i need krishna’s help and we beg krishna’s mercy then when we become free from that anartha then we don’t become proud because we know it’s not i who have become free from it it is krishna who has helped me to become free from it it is like i was fallen in a deep dark well and krishna i was thinking i’ll climb out of it but i was falling again and again back into the well and deeper into the well at times and now i have got a rope and it is not that i am climbing up the rope it is somebody who’s pulling me out of the if i become proud it is not that krishna will throw me back into the well krishna wants me to come out and krishna is not hard-hearted he’s compassionate but my very act of becoming proud will make me unkrishna conscious because i’m not conscious of krishna’s greatness i’m conscious of my own imagined greatness and my very act of becoming proud and thereby becoming krishna unconscious is equivalent to my letting go of the rope of krishna’s mercy and that will cause me to fall back again so to some extent the situation when we are facing difficulties and even fall downs in our spiritual life are the ideal platforms for us to become humble and to recognize our dependence on krishna’s mercy and when we recognize this dependence then we can swiftly advance in our spiritual life by taking shelter of krishna wholeheartedly and recognizing that i need this shelter so rather than feeling disheartened let us feel encouraged that even in this repeated fall down it’s not a it doesn’t constitute a disqualification on my part it doesn’t constitute a lack of affection and mercy on krishna’s part it is actually an opportunity for me to develop humility by which i can make rapid spiritual advancement thank you so what is the relationship in astrology and karma