{"id":733,"date":"2006-08-06T14:16:49","date_gmt":"2006-08-06T13:16:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=733"},"modified":"2006-08-06T14:16:49","modified_gmt":"2006-08-06T13:16:49","slug":"the-golden-rule-of-bhakti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=733","title":{"rendered":"The Golden Rule of Bhakti"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Prema Samputa Dasa<\/strong><\/p>\n

smartavyah satatam vishnur
\nvismartavyo na jatucit
\nsarve vidhi-nisedhah syur
\netayor eva kinkarah<\/em><\/p>\n

Vishnu should always be remembered and never forgotten at any time. All rules and prohibitions mentioned in the sastras should be servants of these two principles.(Padma Purana)<\/p>\n

Life is full of ups and downs. An inexperienced devotee will especially remember Krishna when he\u2019s down, but a more experienced devotee also remembers to be thankful to Krsna and to take shelter of Him even when everything seems to be great.
\n***********
\nThings to do<\/p>\n

\u00b7 Pray to Krishna for strength and direction. \u00b7 Learn to take shelter in chanting, this will help to transform your heart. \u00b7 Find your own maintainable level of devotional practice, one which will gradually enable you to reach the ideal rather than an unrealistic and unachievable end which will only frustrate you. \u00b7 Associate with those who have a slightly higher level of practice than you do (those who are also struggling but maintaining higher standards). \u00b7 Practice some level of self discipline, it is the genuine path to higher enjoyment.<\/p>\n

***********
\nTips for the Struggle<\/p>\n

If you find yourself struggling with chanting or the four regulative principles, don\u2019t be alarmed, it is natural and to be expected for any individual who makes sacrifices (mental or physical) in order to progress spiritually. In fact, expect challenges as you move forward, be prepared for them and gradually work through them rather than evade them, otherwise they will only come back again and again. Find your own level of manageable practice, even though initially it may appear to be a compromise, gradually work up to the ideal, it may take weeks\u2026\u2026., months\u2026\u2026\u2026, or even years! But, sincerely persevere and the Lord within the heart will reciprocate.<\/p>\n

Whenever there is a human impulse, our tendency is to respond immediately without even contemplating the outcome. In reality there exists a short moment between an impulse and a response, catch yourself during this short moment, think first, then act. If this thinking is based on principled directions (or scripture), you will succeed in holding back the force of unwarranted impulses.<\/p>\n

Remember, whilst striving for the highest spiritual principles, we still have responsibilities to our spouses, children and friends. We must be conscious of their needs before imposing our own.<\/p>\n

In all cases of upholding any vows, the key principle is DESIRE, half of the battle is won if we ourselves make a conscious decision to follow a practice rather than feel obliged to do so \u2013 so desire it!<\/p>\n

With Love,
\nPrema Samputa Dasa <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"HareBy Prema Samputa Dasa<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whenever there is a human impulse, our tendency is to respond immediately without even contemplating the outcome. In reality there exists a short moment between an impulse and a response, catch yourself during this short moment, think first, then act.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}