When we are spiritually weak, we can’t resist the world’s allurements and we get caught in things that don’t really matter to us. 

To overcome such weakness, we need proper nutrition and exercise — just as we would need to overcome physical weakness.

How can we nourish ourselves spiritually? Through activities like introspection and journaling, guided by scriptural study. These help us realize and refocus on the things that truly matter for us, thereby giving us the impetus to carve out time for those things. To best nourish ourselves, however, we need to better understand who we are. The Bhagavad-gita (15.07) indicates that we are at our core souls, who are parts of the all-attractive Whole, the personal divinity, Krishna. Just as the hand, being a part of the body, is nourished when it feeds the body, we are best nourished when we lovingly connect with Krishna. Aiding us in developing this connection, bhakti-yoga provides us an entire gamut of systematized activities. Linked thus with the Whole, we experience a sublime wholeness that provides enduring inner strength.  

How can we exercise ourselves spiritually? By committing to a cause bigger than ourselves. By our nature as parts of a Whole, we grow toward becoming our best when we dedicate ourselves to something higher, beyond our own survival and pleasure. The most ennobling higher cause is engaged devotional activism: dynamic service of Krishna in this world. He is everyone’s greatest well-wisher (05.29). When we offer ourselves to him, using our individuality, creativity and ability in a mood of service, he transforms us into an instrument of his compassion and wisdom. Thus, we become empowered internally to overcome our many weaknesses and externally to do far greater good than what we could have done otherwise. 

One-sentence summary:

To overcome spiritual weakness, nourish yourself by connecting with your core and the Whole, and exercise yourself by committing to a cause bigger than yourself. 

Think it over:

  • How can we nourish ourselves spiritually?
  • How can we exercise ourselves spiritually?
  • List three ways you can become spiritually stronger.

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15.07: The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.

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