Overcoming Obstacles on The Path of Krishna-Bhakti

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Hare Krishna, Overcoming Obstacles on The Path of Krishna-Bhakti . There are six obstacles that block Krishna-bhakti. These are described in the Nectar of Instruction, Verse 2 as follows: atyaharah prayasas caprajalpo niyamagrahahjana-sangas ca laulyam casadbhir bhaktir vinasyati One's devotional service is spoiled when he becomes too entangled in the following six activities: (1) eating more than necessary or collecting more funds than required; (2) over endeavoring for mundane things that are very difficult to obtain; (3) talking

unnecessarily about mundane subject matters; (4) Practicing the scriptural rules and regulations only for the sake of following them and not for the sake of spiritual advancement, or rejecting the rules and regulations of the scriptures and working independently or whimsically; (5) associating with worldly-minded persons who are not interested in Krishna-bhakti ; and (6) being greedy for mundane chievements.The above six items are obstacles, stumbling blocks that will prevent us from realizing the supreme happiness of Krishna-bhakti. Therefore if we are at all serious about obtaining true and lasting happiness we should be careful to avoid these. If we eat more than required the body will not function

properly. We will be far more prone to becoming diseased. So much excess bodily energy will be spent on digesting and assimilated the extra food. If we restrict our eating to what we can easily digest we free up so much energy within the body that can be utilized for advancing our Krishna-bhakti . The first principle is to only eat Krishna prasadam,

the remnants of foodstuffs offered to Lord Sri Krishna. And within the context of only eating Krishna prasadam we take whatever we can easily digest. This will vary from individual to individual according to their bodily needs.If we try to accumulate money beyond what we need this is an unnecessary endeavor. Nowadays this is very common. People are greedy to make as much money as

possible. They foolishly ignore that which is really important, to become fixed up in Krishna-bhakti. This is an over-endeavor. By working long, long hours simply to gather a little extra money we give ourselves insufficient time to chant Hare Krishna on our japa beads and read the Vedic literatures such as the Bhagavad-gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam. If we waste our time talking about mundane things we will not have any time to talk about Krishna and the process of developing our love for Him. We should talk about Lord Krishna as much as possible and minimize other talks as far as possible.If we blindly follow scriptural injunctions without understanding why we are doing this, we will eventually fall

down from Krishna-bhakti. And if we neglect the scriptural injunctions thinking they are not relevant this will also cause us to fall down. Therefore we should become very learned in the science of Krishna-bhakti so we have full comprehension as to why we are adopting the various practices of devotional service.We should as far as possible give up the association of non-devotees except for the purpose of sharing with them the wonderful process of Krishna-bhakti. For this purpose we can very actively associate with the non-devotees. This is real love, to spread the science of Krishna-bhakti to the suffering humanity.We should shun mundane achievements and focus our energy on the ultimate achievement of

developing pure love for Lord Krishna. The whole point of human existence is to revive our dormant loving relationship with Lord Sri Krishna. Everything we think, speak, and do should be centered on this point. This will give us the highest happiness and insure our entrance into the kingdom of Lord Sri Krishna at the time of death.Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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