I was on my usual daily walk when I heard the voice; “Hey you, stop.” I ignored it the first time, fearing another drama about criticizing the monks. Then again a man from the van parked on the side of the road asked me to stop. “I want to speak to you, please wait.” The man in his late thirties jumped from the van with a sandwich in his hand and started to walk towards me. In my heart I offered a silent prayer for guidance, expecting another debate. Surprisingly, the man approached me in a very humble mood and asked, “what are you keeping in the bag in your right hand?” referring to my Japa beads. Whilst asking the question, half of the food from his mouth was falling out without him realizing it.
“I’m keeping my chanting beads inside and I chant a sacred mantra on it,” I said.
The man thanked me for the answer and walked away. He was satisfied with the answer and didn’t want to know more. I carried on with my walk and reflected on this encounter.
Although this person was interested to know what I was keeping in the bead bag, he didn’t show interest in learning more.
I remembered a quote from the American author Helen Keller:
“He who is content with what has been done is an obstacle in the path of progress.”
I still remember the year 2012 as if it was yesterday. It was late morning when I received a sacred mantra from my spiritual master. After he explained the importance of the initiation and the ten offences to be avoided during the mantra chanting, I was called forward to give my vows in front of all assembled Vaisnavas. All together I gave six promises to my spiritual master;
- I promised to change my bad habits by following the four regulative principles;
- No meat eating
- No gambling
- No intoxication
- No illicit sex
- I promised to improve my spiritual sadhana;
- To chant a minimum of 27648 names of the Lord every day for the rest of my life
- I promised to improve my attitude and character;
- Daily practice the mood of being the servant of all living entities.
Ten years have passed since I made these promises to my spiritual master. Since then I have read many scriptures, heard thousands of classes, served saintly devotees and taken up responsibilities at the temple. I have definitely made some spiritual progress. But is that enough?
Definitely not!
I often feel like the man I encountered on my walk, asking questions but not going deeper and not taking advantage of the knowledge received.
Why do we fall into the trap of complacency?
After practising spiritual life for a few years we change our bad habits, improve our character and increase our sadhana, and from that, we gain respect from people, positions in society and sometimes even wealth.
It is very similar to the yogis who gain mystic powers after performing some Tapasya. They become distracted by the insignificant mystic siddhis they receive in return and miss out on the bigger thing – a relationship with Krishna.
The vows that we made to our spiritual masters carry with them blessings and powers that are beyond our imagination, and if we follow the vows carefully we will gain access to the highest stages of spiritual realisation. We need to remain enthusiastic and keep endeavouring.
Never be satisfied with your spiritual advancement!
Ananta Gopal das
30 August 2022
Bhakti Wisdom 