So often, I find myself too weak. I know the principles. I’ve written them down, shared them, and even felt their truth deep within. But still—when the day pushes and pulls me around—I don’t always have the strength to apply them.

How then can we develop this strength?

I don’t speak as someone who has mastered it, but as one who is learning. And I can share what has been given to me.

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1) Cleansing the Heart: Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam

Śrīman Mahāprabhu Himself gave the first line of the Śikṣāṣṭakam:

ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam

All glories to the congregational chanting of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s holy name, which cleanses the mirror of the heart and mind, extinguishes the forest fire of material existence, spreads moonlight on the lotus of good fortune, increases the ocean of bliss, and allows us to taste nectar at every step.

Strength doesn’t come from me. It comes when the mirror of the heart becomes clean, when the fire of inner restlessness is reduced. And this cleansing comes from nāma-saṅkīrtana. Without chanting, my so-called strength is just pride. With chanting, something real appears. And without practising limbs of bhajana such as hearing and meditating on the things we heard and read, the we can not attain perfection in either destroying māyā, becoming free from vices in our own bhajana or in our allegiance to the people of Vraja. With hearing and chanting is meant following as much as possible the 64 items of bhajana, starting with taking shelter of a guru, that Śrīmat Rūpa Gosvāmī has mentioned in his Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu grantha. Some people imitate the gopī deha with the sādhaka deha, dressing and ornamenting the physical body like women do, but this is not approved of by the Vaiṣṇavācāryas like Śrī Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmī. An intelligent sādhaka should use his discriminating intelligence and follow the items of bhajana properly. He should not act contrary to his own feelings, for that will cause obstructions to his attainment of prema.

2) Humility as the Gateway

Mahāprabhu continues with the next jewel:

tṛṇād api sunīcena
More humble than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree.

Without humility, practice becomes mechanical. But with humility, practice becomes alive. And here is the secret: it doesn’t happen by wishful thinking. Only by practice. I have to chant, again and again, and face the weakness without pretending.

We cannot fake spiritual life. It grows slowly, through daily effort. And each day we start again.

3) Self-Identification in Chanting

I once wrote about this here: Chanting with Self-Identification.

When I chant, if I try to remember even for a second: “I am not this body; I am a maidservant of Rādhikā.”—the whole vibration changes. The weakness does not disappear, but the heart feels a sweetness that gives strength to go on.

In short

• Chant, read, meditate and thus cleanse the heart (ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam).
• Practice humility daily (tṛṇād api sunīcena).
• Remember your true identity while chanting.

This is how Gurudeva’s gift becomes not only an idea, but a lived reality—even if only for a few moments in the day.

And those few moments… are everything.

Radhe Radhe,
Tarun 🌸