What should one do if after practising years of devotional service also, one gives in to temptations and falls down?

From: Aravind

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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Question from Aravind Prabhu.
Please tell us what should one do if after practicing years of devotional service also one gives into temptation and falls down? Answer, one should rise up and continue. One should look back and learn what were the circumstances in which one fell and ensure that the repetition doesn’t occur. So, years of practicing devotional service is no guarantee against not falling into temptation.
Devotional service, if you consider it to be like elevator, it is taking us up, up, up. Now, whether I am in the first floor or the 10th floor or the 50th floor, the force of gravity is always acting. So, if I just step out of the elevator into the thin air, it doesn’t matter whether I’m on the first floor or the 50th floor, I’ll fall.
So, generally speaking, if we expose ourselves to tempting situations, if we let ourselves come within the gravity of the sense objects, then it’s quite likely that we will succumb. So, we shouldn’t think that years of spiritual progress are an insurance against temptation. We should always, no matter how many years we have practiced, as much as possible, avoid getting into provoking situations.
Now, of course, the point is not so simple as gravity acting on the person on the 50th floor because we understand that although the pull of material desires will always be there, the more we make right choices, the more we will become inclined to make right choices. And that’s why if a person has practiced devotional service for a substantial period of time, that means that person has been making right choices for a long, good amount of time and the right choices should have become a habit by now. So, that’s why when one makes the wrong choice and succumbs to temptation, it can be distressing for oneself, it can be even devastating for oneself and others also.
So, the scriptures are clear that even great souls can succumb to temptation when they get exposed and they let themselves become vulnerable. So, what does it mean? When we habituate ourselves to right choices, we will be more inclined to make right choices, but that doesn’t mean that we have now become incapable of making the wrong choices. So, actually, we should never think that we have become incapable of making the wrong choices.
It is only when we go out of the gravity pull of the earth, at that time, we will be free from the force of gravity dragging us down. Similarly, only when we go out of material existence, back to the spiritual world, can we say that we will be safe. Shri Prabhupada writes in the first canto of Parpot that a liberated soul is always very careful to not become bound by the material energy.
Now, it is interesting. You would say that a person is liberated means that person is not bound. So, why does the liberated soul have to be vigilant? Actually, the possibility of bondage is always there.
And even a liberated soul has to be vigilant, what to speak of a soul who is still conditioned and has been practicing for a few years to come out of the conditioning. So, we shouldn’t think of this as the fact that the process doesn’t work or that we haven’t made any spiritual advancement. But it is just that there is also an alternative principle that is working.
And that principle holds true and we have got a distressing demonstration of that in something like this happening after years of someone falling down. Now, at the same time, the potency of the process of devotional service still holds true. And just as gravity can pull down, the elevator can take one up.
So now, a person can always resume devotional service and can keep moving forward. So, we shouldn’t think that we have been rejected by Krishna because of the fall. Krishna will never leave us or reject us.
His love is always there. But if the fall has been serious, then there may have to be some external adjustment. We may not be able to take up leadership positions or may not be in a position to guide others or whatever.
That will vary according to individual situation. But the important point is that the position is not necessary for serving Krishna. So, what is necessary is the desire to serve Krishna, the determination to serve Krishna and diligence to ensure that one doesn’t commit the mistake again.
At least one doesn’t expose oneself to similar circumstances where the repetition of the mistake will occur. So, we shouldn’t become disheartened. But at the same time, we shouldn’t be nonchalant.
Nonchalant means thinking that it doesn’t matter. These things keep happening. No, these things shouldn’t keep happening.
And we have to make sure that they don’t keep happening. So, we shouldn’t become disheartened or we shouldn’t stay nonchalant. We should introspect, learn what we can and move forward in spiritual life.
In the long run, after years and years of practice, it’s not that Krishna is a fault-finding God who is waiting to find faults in us. But at the same time, there are moral standards that need to be followed. So, we should be needful and keep moving forward.
Thank you. What should we do if we have a near-death experience or any such mystical