by Devamrita Swami
Mirror, mirror on the wall, tell me how I’m special, among them all. Innocent, guilty, or somewhere between? Privately, introspective spiritual persons often interrogate themselves about their honest-to-goodness (or honest-to badness) genuine worth. It’s good to face the truth and swallow hard: harbouring material desire is not innocent, normal,or even acceptable—that is, when considered from the viewpoint of the real world, Krishna’s perspective.
Ouch! Who wants to be known as damaged goods—deformed, misshapen, even perverted.
Gradually, as we spiritually advance in bhakti, we shed the illusory cloak that confers an imagined respectability upon our foolish temporary desires and pursuits for temporary gain. We realize that somehow we have to squeeze into one of two cubby-holes: straightaway embracing the full standard for sane life or determinedly developing toward that normal standard of spiritual sanity.
Though overnight enlightenment hasn’t happened to us, yet we certainly can be progressive and proactive about our spiritual growth. What hurts us most is when we seek to justify or rationalize the material desires that we allow to corrupt us—you know, the maya nonsense that has deviated us from our original constitutional position.
The guiding principle of bhakti in this Age of Quarrel is both magnanimously liberal and therapeutically prescriptive: “The Krishna consciousness movement is meant to attract all types of men, even those who desire things other than the Lord’s devotional service. Through the association of devotees, they gradually begin to render devotional service.” (Cc. Madhya 24:124 purport)