Bhakti-yoga involves practice, and therefore repetition, but done right, it never gets stale.
Like Lord Krishna Himself, the regulated practice of devotional service to Him never gets old when undertaken with seriousness and sincerity.
Srila Prabhupada had an extraordinary ability to say something repeatedly, something we’d heard him say many times before, but say it in such a way that we appreciated it afresh. We’d hear the statement as if we’d never heard it before, although in fact we’d heard some version of it multiple times.
Srimad-Bhagavatam (4.30.20) explains this remarkable phenomenon: “Always engaging in the activities of devotional service, devotees feel ever-increasingly fresh and new in all their activities. The all-knower, the Supersoul within the heart of the devotee, makes everything increasingly fresh.”
The Sanskrit words for these sentences are revealing: navya vat – ever-increasingly fresh; hridaye – in the heart; jnah – the supreme knower, Paramatma. This means that by the grace of Krishna, the all-knowing Supreme Person who resides within our hearts as the Supersoul, we experience what’s apparently old to be new, invigorating, and life-giving.
In other words, rather than trying to impress us with new information and thus increase our stock of knowledge, Srila Prabhupada injected new life and relevance into what we had already learned from him. This, to me, is a sign of Srila Prabhupada’s brilliant, assimilated, and realized wisdom: he consistently and repeatedly made basic concepts – such as we’re not our body or mind but spiritual beings – awaken from some inert state, shake off their slumber, and pirouette attractively before us. To have a glimmer of spiritual awakening is a uniquely freeing, elevating feeling, and all we have to do to attain it is to pay attention to Srila Prabhupada’s words – to actually listen to what he says. Which, despite its apparent simplicity, is immensely difficult. Yet this is the key to the fresh spiritual experiences we yearn for.
Krishna’s Ever Freshness
One of Krishna’s innumerable transcendental qualities is that He’s ever fresh. The Nectar of Devotion, Srila Prabhupada’s summary study of Srila Rupa Goswami’s Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, explains it this way:
Krishna is always remembered, and His name is always chanted by millions of devotees, but the devotees never become saturated. Instead of becoming disinterested in thinking of Krishna and in chanting His holy name, the devotees get newer and newer impetus to continue the process. Therefore Krishna is ever fresh. Not only Krishna Himself, but also Krishna’s knowledge is ever fresh. Bhagavad-gita, which was imparted five thousand years ago, is still being read repeatedly by many, many men, and still new light is always being found in it. Therefore, Krishna and His name, fame, qualities – and everything in relationship with Him – is ever fresh.
Other evidence of Krishna’s quality of ever freshness is that the goddesses of fortune, who are very fickle, restless, and prone to leave the people they once favored, cannot leave Krishna for even a moment because of Krishna’s ever-fresh attraction.
One of Krishna’s innumerable names is Nava Yauvanam – “He who possesses ever-fresh youthfulness.” And Krishna’s relationships and loving exchanges with His dear devotees are also ever-increasingly fresh in their sweetness.
Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami writes:
extract]
Seeing His own beauty, Lord Krishna began to consider. “My sweetness is wonderful, infinite and full. No one in the three worlds can find its limit. Only Radhika, by the strength of Her love, tastes all the nectar of My sweetness. Although Radha’s love is pure like a mirror, its purity increases at every moment. My sweetness also has no room for expansion, yet it shines before that mirror in newer and newer beauty. There is constant competition between My sweetness and the mirror of Radha’s love. They both go on increasing, but neither knows defeat. My sweetness is always newer and newer. Devotees taste it according to their own respective love.” (Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi 4.137–143)
Similarly, in Krishna’s realm, the spiritual sky, there’s nothing but freshness. There the flowers don’t fade in attractiveness or fragrance even after they’re picked, for in that realm everything is spiritual and so never loses its newness and vitality. Srila Prabhupada explains, “The significance of spirituality is that everything is eternal and inexhaustible.” (Bhagavatam 3.28.15, Purport)
Our Ever Freshness
As Krishna’s integral parts, we want freshness. We work for a while and then need a vacation. We tire of the vacation and return to work. We try new tastes and long for new sights, sounds, and experiences – sometimes a new house, sometimes a new spouse, and always a new device. Getting these may satisfy for some time, but the reality is that in the mundane world what’s new becomes old and stale. Freshness fades.
Yet the process of sadhana-bhakti – regulated devotional service – basically means repeating the same daily routine: chanting the names of God, participating in ceremonies, studying the scriptures, and so forth. Externally, sadhana appears repetitious – the same activities every day. If we practice sadhana conscientiously, however, internally we’ll discover that rather than getting stale and hackneyed, sadhana heralds self-discovery. Sadhana is exciting. As long as we pay attention, resisting distractions, we’ll always find there’s something new to absorb, something that will help us progress on our spiritual journey. As Krishna doesn’t become old, similarly chanting His names, learning about Him, and hearing His instructions, which are nondifferent from Him, also don’t become old and hackneyed.
Srila Prabhupada explains, “We have got immense literature. If lifelong we try to understand, there is sufficient stock. It is not hackneyed. You’ll get nava-navayamana. Newer and newer things you’ll get, experience. Anandambudhi-vardhanam. And the more and more you get relish in Krishna consciousness, your transcendental pleasure becomes more and more appreciated. It is so nice.” (Lecture, August 29, 1968, Montreal) Ananda means bliss; ambudhi – the ocean; vardhanam – increasing. Anandambudhi-vardhanam means the expanding blissful ocean of transcendental life, and it implies that if we engage in authentic spiritual practices, like chanting Krishna’s names, studying His teachings, and remembering Him, we’ll feel our distress lessen and our sense of satisfaction rise. Sadhana-bhakti is practical, its joy experiential.
In other words, the oldest person, Krishna, the origin of everything, is at the same time the most contemporary person. Similarly, Krishna’s movement – the Krishna consciousness movement – is primeval, just as He is, and because His movement is spiritual, just as He is, it’s also ever fresh. For those who participate in the Krishna consciousness movement conscientiously, it brings continued delight. Srila Prabhupada said, “We are presenting this movement all over the world, and anyone who has taken, he is happy. But one must be sincere and serious. Then it will act.” (Lecture, February 15, 1971, Gorakhpur, India)
How do we maintain this spirit of freshness amid the apparent sameness of sadhana? In one word, by our enthusiasm. Enthusiasm means to endeavor for spiritual progress with intelligence while following the rules and regulations of sadhana-bhakti, which Srila Prabhupada called “the regulative principles of freedom.” In endeavoring to progress spiritually, we may do any devotional service that’s needed and requested of us by our spiritual authorities. More than likely, however, sooner or later we’ll also want to use our innate proclivities in devotional service – we’ll want to serve guru and Krishna according to our natural propensities, whether with our hands, hearts, or heads, for in this way we’ll feel spiritually grounded, invigorated, and determined despite whatever’s happening externally.
To maintain such enthusiasm, it’s essential to have a spirit of service. As soon as we lose this service spirit, we’ll lose our feeling for Krishna, and our attempt to become Krishna conscious will be a burden rather than an adventure. Our higher taste, the taste we have for spiritual practices, will wane, and we’ll let our spiritual opportunity slip away.
The value of enthusiastic service is inestimable. Srila Prabhupada said this spirit was “individual and spontaneous and voluntary.” He wanted temple managers to always try to generate an atmosphere of fresh challenge, so that devotees would enthusiastically agree to rise and meet it. He wanted us all to sacrifice some energy for Krishna with a spontaneous loving spirit. And he cautioned us against seeking material comforts, for those could make us complacent. He wrote, “There must be always some tapasya, strictly observing the regulative principles – Krishna consciousness movement must be always a challenge, a great achievement to be gained by voluntary desire to do it, and that will keep it healthy.” (Letter, December 22, 1972) An important gauge of that good health is the ability to hear what we’ve already heard but to gain fresh insight from that hearing, to be rejuvenated anew by the so-called old.
Vishakha Devi Dasi has been writing for BTG since 1973. The author of six books, she is the temple president at Bhaktivedanta Manor in the UK. She and her husband, Yadubara Dasa, produce and direct films, most recently the biopic on the life of Srila Prabhupada Hare Krishna! The Mantra, the Movement, and the Swami Who Started It All. Visit her website at OurSpiritualJourney.com.
Source: https://btg.krishna.com/ever-fresh/
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