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Apasampradayas: Traps in our path back to Godhead
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Preface:
When someone starts a diet or starts doing exercise, the first day is relatively easy. The problem is to continue long term. As soon as we try to do something that demands sacrifices, especially for a long period, many obstacles, distractions, temptations, and difficulties appear, testing our determination. In our spiritual life, it’s not different.
As Srila Prabhupada puts it, to try to follow spiritual life seriously means to declare war against Maya. When one declares war against a strong adversary, he shouldn’t expect that the opponent will stay still and not react.
It’s very common to see devotees who are enthusiastic in the beginning but have problems later due to a lack of deep philosophical understanding. Some succumb to material desires or mental speculation, others get burned out, and some lose their faith in the teachings and gradually stop following them. Some try to find shortcuts on the spiritual path and get attracted to different groups with concocted philosophies and practices, some get involved with Vaishnava aparadha due to bad association, others get too much involved with mental speculation or materialistic views, etc.
To be able to navigate through the difficulties we must have not only determination but also a good deal of maturity. The goal of this small book is to offer some philosophical basis about common traps in our spiritual development, so we can understand the pitfalls and thus be able to avoid them.
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains that spiritual progress should be based on three components: Sambandha, Abhidheya, and Prayojana. Abhidheya is our spiritual practice and Prayojana is the goal we aim to achieve with this practice, but to understand what should be our practice and what is the goal we need to first cultivate Sambandha, or philosophical understanding. Without this proper understanding, it’s difficult to understand where and how we should go.
When there is no Sambandha, or practice doesn’t have a very solid basis and tends to crumble over time. Our spiritual practice then becomes lax and our spiritual health decays.
Keeping our focus is essential not only for our own spiritual life but also for the success of our whole movement. A group is only as strong as the sum of its parts. If our devotees are individually weak, the movement as a whole will also be weak. If we lose focus, our movement can fragment and degenerate into a bunch of un-bonafide sects. It happened in the past and can happen again if we are not careful. Krsna is in control, but He respects our free will.
This presentation deals with many issues that may be polemical. Still, I believe these are important points that present risks for one trying to advance in the spiritual path, therefore I did my best to present them. You can read, meditate about it, and use this knowledge at your own discretion.