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?
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.
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
Really beautiful article Prabhu.
I'm planning to do a series on these different struggles we face in spiritual life.
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.