Week 2 Sanga
Sanga 2: Enthusiasm for Devotional Life
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur explains, “Do not forget this chanting, whether you are in a happy condition or a distressful one.” What does it take to not only maintain our day-to-day spiritual practice, but also successfully make progress? How can we be “spiritual warriors” in the face of challenges and obstacles to our spiritual practice?
Content:
Objective:
To explore the topic of maintaining our enthusiasm for our sadhana in very practical ways.
Discussion:
In the selected letters, Srila Prabhupada emphasizes the need for enthusiasm in our service to Krishna. Living a spiritual life in the material world can be difficult, especially as youth. How do we constantly keep that energy alive? (Maya is a dangerous devotee). How do we maintain a balance and always keep Krishna at the center of it?
Discuss challenges that people might have in keeping up in their spiritual practice – work, school, negative thoughts/experiences, feelings of guilt, wanting to take shortcuts, going through the motions but no impact, etc. What is essential to keeping our enthusiasm for serving Krsna strong – maybe come to a consensus as a group of three main things. Discuss how to cultivate and apply this practically?