In a sprint, speed determines success, whereas in a marathon, stamina determines success. Spiritual growth is a marathon, not a sprint. To purify our consciousness and develop love of God, we need to practice spiritual disciplines throughout our life or maybe even several lives.

However, our society is infatuated with quick results. It deems fast achievers as successes and downplays others as also-rans. We tend to carry this mentality into our spiritual life. So, we may become proud of our strict practices and condescending towards those not practicing similarly. Worse still, if we ourselves are unable to practice those standards for some reason, we may become inordinately dejected, not realizing that falling back or even falling down in one lap doesn’t mean losing the marathon.

Thankfully, such a shortsighted, judgmental attitude doesn’t reflect the Bhagavad-gita’s far-sighted, inclusive vision. It (03.26) urges us to not agitate the minds of the less-informed, but to encourage them to stay on the growth path according to their level.

People are at varying stages in their spiritual evolution, having gone through different things in this and previous lives. So, they have dissimilar spiritual stamina levels and need to pace themselves accordingly. As long as they have a favorable disposition towards Krishna and strive to connect with him at a level they find sustainable, they will stay on in the marathon, even if running slowly. And gradually as they get connected with him and relish higher taste, they will naturally pick up pace in due course. But if due to our judgmental attitude towards them, they become unfavorably disposed towards Krishna’s devotees and by extension towards Krishna, then they will drop out of the marathon entirely.

Appreciating this organic nature of spiritual growth, we can encourage everyone to stay on in the spiritual marathon, whatever their pace.

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