When different devotees emphasize different things as most important in bhakti, how to avoid getting confused?

Podcast:

Question, sometimes different devotees have different opinions about what is the most important in devotional service. Some some say that surrender is the most important. Surrender guru is most important. Others say chanting alone is most important. Let’s say that so I’m just gonna say something different.

That in without initiation, you cannot go beyond Brahmajyoti. So how does how can one avoid confusion? Answer the three things to consider over here. That there is individual inspiration of the speaker who is speaking. And because everybody is individual, such inspiration is not only such individuality and inspiration is not only, natural, but maybe even desirable, because everybody is a individual.

Bhakti is a individual reciprocation between the human heart and the divine heart. So how the divine heart, how the lord appears within someone’s heart and reveals their attractiveness to them based on that, that devotee will emphasize something. And Prabhupada himself would do that at times when encouraging distributors, he would say that nothing is more important than book distribution. Encouraging gurukul kids, gurukul project, he would tell the teachers, nothing is more important than shaping the future generation of our moment. Encouraging foreign communities, he would say, this is going to be the future of our moment.

Not just our moment, our world. I think it’s more important than this. But when you’re specifically asked by the book distribution, what pleases by the book distributors, what pleases you the most? And they expected you to say book distribution. But he said, when you love Krishna, that is what pleases me the most.

So the purpose of everything we do is to develop Krishna conscious is to become Krishna conscious and not just conscious, but Krishna absorb our consciousness filled with Krishna because of love for Krishna. So now is there any one magical process by which alone will develop love for Krishna? No. It’s a relationship. Anybody now there can be a lot of people who will give relationship advice even in ordinary life.

But is there any one magical advice by which all relationship problems can be solved? Say, one one magic bullet point by which all husbands and wives can live together happily without quarreling. All parents and kids can have excellent relationships. No. There are dynamics involved based on the individuality of the, spouses, the individuality of the parents and children.

So we take every individual that we we take the advice that they get our relationships and see how that applies to their particular context and then apply accordingly. So similarly, different devotees may have different realizations, insights, convictions based on their particular experience of what has worked for them or what they think is working for them, and they may speak there in their classes. And rather than letting this variety, confuse us, we can see this variety as the beauty of Krishna Krishna’s personality of Krishna’s multifaceted personality in attracting different kinds of people in different ways. So what we should do is three things. First is find out the devotees whom whom we trust at present and understand their priorities and follow those priorities.

So if they emphasize the morning program, if they emphasize regular reading of Prabhupad’s books, if they emphasize doing some service some menial service, whatever they are doing, we follow that. And that is what we do for the first few years. And we also, at the same time, our self observant and introspective to see what is happening in our consciousness, which particular activities help us to stay more conscious of Krishna and which don’t help us that much. And accordingly, we also start gradually gravitating toward those activities by which we can be more naturally Krishna conscious ourselves. So Prabhupada says that we all have to fly our own plane.

Even the spiritual master cannot remember Krishna for the disciple at the time of death. So we have to learn particular body mind machine that we have, that means that the kind of plane we have. And based on that, it is we who have to take responsibility for learning how best the plane that we have can be flown toward destination Krishna. So the fundamental two elements of surrender are, we accept what is favorable and we avoid that which is unfavorable. And also, so that the second thing, observe our own the effect of various activities that even we are told to do, and say after five or ten years in our devotional life, we’ll also be able to learn that this is what nourishes me the most.

This is what strengthens my conviction and enthusiasm. Describe the character as the character thing things which nurture or which are favorable to our bhakti, which nurture our bhakti. Now the things that the things in bhakti that nurture them, the things that we should be doing more and more. And over a period of time after that, we will find maybe one or two senior devotees with whose thinking, whose way of explaining, whose way of functioning that convinces us, that appeals to us, that inspires us. And then we try to come closer to them, and we try to take guidance from them.

And if not so much guidance, that’s even if we just be accountable to them that, okay, this is what I have found inspiring my spiritual life. This is what I should follow. So to summarize, don’t be confused by individuality in emphasis by devotees. That is how it reveals that Krishna is individually inspiring them in different ways. And don’t expect one magic formula that will solve all that is solve all problems of relationship either between two human beings or between the human being and the lord.

See what works for us as individuals. So initially, follow instructions diligently doing what our our guides emphasize by introspection, find out and focus on more and more activities that nourishes after a few years of maturity and rational consciousness. And then focus on the association of those who are like minded in emphasizing the things that we find nourishes. In this way, we can fly our plane in spiritual life.