Why do our anarthas increase when we start practicing bhakti? How can we avoid becoming discouraged??

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
of our inner world do you feel that we are sending an applause yes we are riding on a horse and we are letting the horse lead us wherever it wants to go the horse is wild and unbridled and as long as we let the horse go wherever it wants to go then there is not much conflict but so that’s what our condition has been before we started practicing bhakti the horse is like our mind and wherever the mind wanted to go more or less we allowed it to go in that direction but now when we start practicing bhakti in some places we try to bring the mind in a particular direction so it’s like we try to take control of the reins and then we take the horse in a particular direction naturally the horse opposes and it’s not that the horse became rebellious at that time the horse was always rebellious but we never resisted with retaliation now we have started resisting with rebellion and that’s why we feel there is so much conflict it’s not that because of changing some new anarthas have come up all the anarthas were there but we never really thought of the anarthas as anarthas in the material life the ancient fashions are not necessarily thought of as anarthas but many people cultivate those fashions and we greet them because we think that’s how we will enjoy life so what has happened is not that new anarthas have come up because we are resisting now we are discovering the power of the anarthas and then that power can be frightening it is said that generally people say I get addicted to some substances like alcohol very few people actually think that I am addicted they say that I just drink sometimes and I can give up whenever I want and they have given up many times and they are still alcoholics, they are still drunks so it’s not so easy to give up but it’s also not easy to realize that we are not what happens when we start practicing what happens when we start practicing is that we are supposed to implement that we are part of the new things and generally there are three stages the first stage is where we don’t where there is the stage of effort struggle less defeat that we we don’t even fight against our mind whatever the mind says we do that and in the stage of struggle less defeat there is no conflict because we are not struggling at all then when we come to the process of defeat then we start fighting against the mind we try to force the horse to go in a particular direction the horse opposes and then the horse is able to fall so that is the stage of struggle and defeat we try to make it in the mind and the mind overpowers us but then root to that every day that we are chanting we are getting purified it means every time that we hear the purification we are purified so we are becoming stronger so the horse is strong no doubt and it may be stronger than us but by connecting with Krishna we are becoming stronger and over a period of time we go through stages of struggle and victory so in our case right now most of the time we oscillate between struggle and defeat in struggling process sometimes we are able to control the mind and sometimes the mind controls but if we don’t lose more actually we never lose even if the mind controls and overcomes us if we keep struggling we are becoming stronger and over a period of time we are becoming stronger the struggle with success will become our strength and one thing which we can do to make this rise of struggle and defeat struggle and success easier and prompter is that we can stop feeding the mind the mind gains strength by dwelling on its own passions so even if we don’t indulge in the wrong thing if we contemplate on those things that also gives velocity to the mind so if we avoid that kind of contemplation we stop feeding the mind on the other hand we are feeding the soul we are exposing ourselves to some vibrations that empower the soul we are letting the mind become weaker by starving it and we are making ourselves stronger by nourishing ourselves by nourishing ourselves with spiritual foundations then we will rise from struggle and defeat to struggle and success much much faster and over a period of time we will be compensated effortlessly where the temptation will no longer seem to be a temptation for example some of us might have been looking youth before we were introduced to this and generally speaking whatever the temptations that devotees get meat is not one of those temptations even if the devotees have been addicted to meat earlier actually Prasad literally gives a humility and Pramanacharya says that when he thinks of sex he spits at the thought for us that is very far away from it but at least when we see meat many of us may feel like spitting at it I can’t doubt it so what has happened? we were attracted to same meat earlier and before we were introduced to Krishna consciousness and they told us that meat is impossible, I can’t believe it so we were at the stage of struggle and defeat but in this lifetime itself by a few years of practice we have gone through all the four stages and we have come down to the stage of effortlessness meat is just one example all of us can think of different examples in our life something was ever misdemeanor temptation and now it is not even a temptation so by contemplating on how Krishna consciousness has actually purified us and taken us beyond certain temptations we can gain faith in potency of the process of Krishna Consciousness and then we can understand that the same potency is acting even now in whatever manner the trouble is now I will be able to overcome it it will take some time but this process is potent and I have to be patient but we should be patient and definitely we will get it but we shouldn’t get discouraged when we are at the level of survival of the fittest because it is a process and I know that we are nourishing ourselves but we are not improving so now we have to move on to the level of survival of the fittest so we have to stay patient and persevere on the path of Krishna Consciousness