When fear is destructive, it becomes closely aligned with toxic shame. Toxic shame whispers, "I'm worthless", and destructive fear adds, "And Krsna will reject me for it..." How to escape this cycle?
Hare Krishna Prabhu ji 🙏 very nice article , my struggle is that I am not financially stable or you can say materially stable so I am not able to do my devotional service properly, my attention goes there , and then I feel like I am not good enough or I am not a good husband neither devotee, all the negativity enters into me at once . Then my spiritual life , or executing devotional service becomes my greatest hurdle. If you can suggest something how to always remain positive and confident ? And be patient and execute bhakti .
Probably you will have to address this point of becoming financially stable to a certain extent if it is so disturbing for you and your spouse. It's indeed dificult to focus in our devotional service when the material situation is too pressing.
Thank you so much, prabhuji. I have been suffering from destructive fear & toxic shame in my spiritual life for quite a long time. Today morning, while chanting, I was praying to krishna to help me. This came in at the right time! 🙏
Very relevant article. When I was a very new devotee living in a preaching centre a man called Regan lived with us.
As sincere as he was, he was trying to become a pure devotee by using his mind (he had recently come out of a mental hospital).
Fanaticism turned in low self-asteem posing as humility, which eventually turned into the arrogance to commit alot of devotee aparad. Then that turned into secretly breaking the principles, then openly after he was caught.
It showed me that if we don't make the effort to control the mind, then it can take us to very dark places. The conditioned mind has a way of twisting things that started with good intentions.
That's why senior devotees have told me that when doing japa, we shouldn't even think of Lord Krsna because then it gives the mind leeway to think of something else.
It's taken me a long time to begin to realize that being a devotee is not a mental disposition, but a state of heart. I have faith that upon consistent chanting, this will become clearer and clearer.
Hare Krishna Prabhu ji 🙏 very nice article , my struggle is that I am not financially stable or you can say materially stable so I am not able to do my devotional service properly, my attention goes there , and then I feel like I am not good enough or I am not a good husband neither devotee, all the negativity enters into me at once . Then my spiritual life , or executing devotional service becomes my greatest hurdle. If you can suggest something how to always remain positive and confident ? And be patient and execute bhakti .
Probably you will have to address this point of becoming financially stable to a certain extent if it is so disturbing for you and your spouse. It's indeed dificult to focus in our devotional service when the material situation is too pressing.
Thank you so much, prabhuji. I have been suffering from destructive fear & toxic shame in my spiritual life for quite a long time. Today morning, while chanting, I was praying to krishna to help me. This came in at the right time! 🙏
My humble obeisances, Prabhu. I'm happy it was useful
Very relevant article. When I was a very new devotee living in a preaching centre a man called Regan lived with us.
As sincere as he was, he was trying to become a pure devotee by using his mind (he had recently come out of a mental hospital).
Fanaticism turned in low self-asteem posing as humility, which eventually turned into the arrogance to commit alot of devotee aparad. Then that turned into secretly breaking the principles, then openly after he was caught.
It showed me that if we don't make the effort to control the mind, then it can take us to very dark places. The conditioned mind has a way of twisting things that started with good intentions.
That's why senior devotees have told me that when doing japa, we shouldn't even think of Lord Krsna because then it gives the mind leeway to think of something else.
It's taken me a long time to begin to realize that being a devotee is not a mental disposition, but a state of heart. I have faith that upon consistent chanting, this will become clearer and clearer.
Really beautiful article Prabhu.
I'm planning to do a series on these different struggles we face in spiritual life.