2023.09.30 - The Dynamic of spiritual growth (BG 9.3, Copenhagen) - Bhakti Vijnana Goswami

Krishna calls the knowledge of soul's eternal nature and connection with God the most secret because it is not easily revealed to us and is even absent in many other scriptures. Krishna speaks of love, of a very intimate relationship with God, and although it is the highest subject matter, it is not a very common topic. It is not a matter of theoretical knowledge or intellectual understanding but something that one has to know and experience practically. Krishna doesn't agree that religion is something one has to believe blindly but, on the contrary, it is an experiential discipline. On the other hand, Krishna also says that one needs to have faith. However, even though there is an apparent contradiction between two verses, what Krishna actually means is that faith, although needed, cannot carry one till the end, for this one's experience will be the driving force. Faith is just the initial prerequisite to take our mind away from other pursuits and concentrate on this path. Otherwise, we will be distracted by so many different goals and won't be able to experience something that Krishna is promising to us. The processes of bhakti are so powerful that there is no need to have faith in them. Still, these processes are able to give us some experience through their power. However, faith is very necessary if we want to practice devotional service purely and to develop our spiritual inclination. Without faith, there will be no determination to follow this path and we will practice bhakti as many other people practice any other religion. Sraddha is what helps us concentrate our efforts on spiritual pursuits. Sraddha, a state of mental clarity and peacefulness gives us the strength to follow this path. No path of yoga is easy. Material happines cannot satisfy the soul, and internal impediments will always arise. Faith is needed throughout the different stages of our spiritual journey, as crises and doubts will inevitably arise. The source and root-cause of sraddha is association, or sadhu-sanga. The greatest blessing, which a spiritually elevated person can give is the gift of faith, which can nourish us on this path of spiritual advancement and help us realize our eternal spiritual nature. When we come to sadhu-sanga, we have to be open to possible change because there is no other possibility for change but the association with saintly people. We may hear sadhus speak and the effect of their words can move us so profoundly and push us to a direction we never even dreamed of going. Actually, spiritual practice is a very important step in our life, it is a revolution of our life and for this we need an extra push. Faith is a logical understanding of why this path is a correct path. There are different kinds of faith. Laukika-sraddha means a lot of superstitions, believing in many different things or believing something just because our family believes it. Sastriya-sraddha means that we understand the logic of the sastra because we have heard it from the sadhu. As a result, our heart becomes enthusiastic to follow this path and overcome the obstacles. Then, the desire to serve and associate with the sadhu in a more productive way appears. From hearing comes the commitment to regularly do the devotional service, which involves hearing about the Lord and developing the attraction to Him.