“You don’t have to be so serious about your spiritual life. You don’t want to become an abnormal person, do you?” Those of us committed to substantial devotional practices may sometimes receive this kind of unsolicited advicefrom both materialists and nominal spiritualists. If we are repeatedly labeled as ‘abnormal,’ we may start doubting, “Am I really being abnormal?”

Gita wisdom clarifies our thinking by orienting it with reality. The Bhagavad-gita (07.03) reminds us that those devoted to Krishna are special not just among materialists, but even among spiritualists.

To understand this verse, we can visualize our life as a train journey. The Gita is emphatically clear that life’s destination is eternity: return to the abode of Krishna for an eternal life of ecstatic love.

Materialists have boarded a train going in the opposite direction: away from Krishna and deep into the cycle of birth and death. Nominal spiritualists are those who practice some kind of spirituality for a non-transcendental purpose like deference to tradition or recreational change from material pursuits or uncommitted “try it out” exploration. They may be on a train towards Krishna, but their train is moving at a minimal or even near-zero speed and so will take multiple, even innumerable, lifetimes to reach station eternity. 

The speed of the train towards Krishna is determined by the quantity and quality of the seeker’s spiritual commitments. By divine grace, we have been granted entry into a superfast train that will take us to Krishna in just one lifetime. When we study Krishna’s message and associate with his devotees, we will recognize entry in this train to be a rareprivilege.

Thus, our spirituality is a specialty, not an abnormality.Why should we abandon the superfast train for the sake of a slow train? 

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 07 Text 03 

“Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.”