What is importance of discipline in spiritual life? Radhanath Swami Answers…
Life — By RNS Online on September 15, 2010 at 11:55 am
Question to Radhanath Swami: What is the importance of discipline in spiritual life? Radhanath Swami answers from the Gita…
Radhanath Swami: Lord Krishna explains in the Bhagavad Gita that without controlling the mind and the senses there is no question of real yoga or real spiritual practice. To do anything good in life or to succeed, discipline is required. To be a good musician, you have to discipline yourself and practice for so many hours everyday for so many years. To be a good student you have to discipline yourself to study the books, to go to the classes, etc. To be a good athlete you have to discipline yourself to train your body. Similarly, in business there must be certain amount of discipline, in politics there must be a certain amount of discipline.
But the highest gain, the highest ideal that a human being can strive for is self-realization, spiritual enlightenment that culminates in prem bhakti, love of God. And obviously, even for that there must be discipline. Vaidhi bhakti means we discipline ourselves. We accept what is favorable for spiritual advancement and we reject what is unfavorable. The mind wants to speak all nonsense things, we discipline it by speaking useful things; the mind wants the body to engage in immoral activities, we discipline it by saying no and engaging it in proper activities; the mind wants to oversleep, we discipline it to not waste time. Krishna explains in Gita that those on the path of yoga neither sleep too much nor sleep too little; they neither eat too much nor do they eat too little. We should regulate ourselves in such a way that we can actually make progress. So yes, discipline is very important.
Discipline is not a painful dry thing if we are doing it with the proper idea. We should be dynamic, we should be energetic, and we should be enthusiastic for the right things. Srila Prabhupada, our guru, would say that Krishna consciousness is a positive alternative to give up the lower things. We accept higher principles and keep our mind focused on that. It’s the road to eternal happiness.
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17 Comments
Discipline is not a painful dry thing if we are doing it with the proper idea. Maharaj is giving us a very clear understanding of disciple and his duties. He himself is perfect disciple of Srila Prabhpada and by his example we all are learning realtion between Guru and Disciple.
It is so important for anyone who wants to practice Spiritual life and go back to godhead in one very lifetime. Thank you very much maharaj to explain us this. By your mercy this will be possible.
This article reminds me about “Param drshtva nivartate” which means if we engage our mind in spiritual activities, then automatically mind would take shelter on those activities and would not run away from those things we should meditate upon.
Thank You so much Maharaj for your wonderful explaination about discipline.
Let us all be disciplined and be in touch with the instructions of Radhanath Swami very regularly.
Thank you Radhanath Swami for giving us an insight into what spiritual discipline really means.
Very nice thought by Radhanath Swami. We can surely make great progress if we simply understand the point which he is trying to tell us.
Agreed without descipline there is no quality
Valuable info. Lucky me I found your site by accident, I bookmarked it.
Wonderful explanation of discipline
Maharajah statement “Discipline is not a painful dry thing if we are doing it with the proper idea”. I think discipline is a very small price we pay but in return we receive so much. Jai Maharajah.
Radhanath Swami has given completly different dimension of dicipline. Thanks a lot.
such beautiful music we play day by day and still we suffer from those.i am now blessed with a spiritual vision that has led me to god if i may
Discpline is road to eternal happiness. Thank you Radhanath Swami for explaining it so wonderfully.
His Holiness Radhanath Swami Maharaj has beautifully explained the importance of discipline in Devotion.
Discipline plays a vital role in any walk of life. However spiritual discipline gives us impetus in our Sadhana Bhakti and ultimately brings closer to Krishna. Thank u Maharaj.
Wonderful!!!