Suppose a public speaker while giving a
talk is troubled by a persistent cough. Can the speaker deal with it merely by
a resolute intention: “I won’t cough anymore”?
Not really. That intention needs to be
channelized towards medication.
A similar dynamic applies to our spirituallife. When we try to serve Krishna, we find ourselves frequently distracted by
persistent worldly desires induced by lust, anger and greed, for example. We
often make a resolute intention to no longer succumb to them, yet they keep
tormenting and toppling us again and again.
Why is that?
Because such lower desires are akin to a
disease of the heart – a disease that needs to be cured not by intention alone
but by purification through spiritual medication.
What is the purifying spiritual medication?
Contact with Krishna, who is all-pure and
all-purifying, by the practice of bhakti-yoga.
Even if our bhakti practice is distracted
by our present impurities, still whatever connection we establish with him by
practicing bhakti according to our capacity will stand us in good stead. It
will give us an enchanting taste of the sweetness of Krishna and equip us with
sobering insight into the futility of worldly pleasures. The more we become
purified thus, the less we will be affected by the dualities of pleasure and
pain that distract us from Krishna. The Bhagavad-gita (07.28) assures that
after such purification we will practice devotion with determination.
Significantly, the strength of bhakti-yoga
is that its purificatory potency rests not just on our endeavors to connect
with transcendence, but primarily on the grace of Krishna, who being pleased
with our sincere efforts rewards us with philosophical insight and spiritual
taste. When our intention is thus complemented by purification, our solidified
determination enables us to march towards supreme liberation.
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