When life confronts us with disappointments, we can transform them into his-appointments, into opportunities to connect with Krishna at a deeper level and thereby enrich ourselves. The Bhagavad-gita (10.10) proclaims that whenever we strive to serve him with a devotional attitude, he gives us the intelligence to come closer to him through all situations.

Let’s see how this can happen during disappointments.

Gita wisdom sets the conceptual foundation by educating us that among all our external and internal assets, devotion alone will stay eternally with us. Moreover, among all our assets, devotion alone will propel us to the eternal destination: the realm of sublime spiritual love, Krishna’s personal abode. That’s why the Gita urges us to recognize cultivating devotion as life’s foremost goal.

Our worldly goals are valuable to the extent they aid us and others in cultivating devotion. Otherwise, from the perspective of eternity, they are distractions that devour our precious time. When we attain material successes, they frequently infatuate us with hopes of similar future successes. Consequently, we no longer feel the necessity or at least the urgency to cultivate devotion. Thus, temporary material pleasures start jeopardizing our eternal spiritual prospects.

To protect us from this colossal loss, worldly disappointments often serve us as essential priority reminders. They freeze our worldly infatuations and force us to re-gather our spiritual bearings.

At such times, if we seek solace and guidance from Krishna, we will get extraordinary inner experiences of his love and grace. These realizations will convince us to stay devotionally focused amidst both success and failure. By becoming thus focused, we will ensure that our future material successes won’t be at the cost of our ultimate spiritual success. We will live as happily as is possible in the material world and finally return to Krishna.