om ajnana timirandhasya jnananjana salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri gurave namah
"O Gurudeva, you are so merciful. I offer my humble pranama unto you and am praying from the core of my heart that, with the torchlight of divine knowledge, you open my eyes which have been blinded by the darkness of ignorance."
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri gurave namah
"O Gurudeva, you are so merciful. I offer my humble pranama unto you and am praying from the core of my heart that, with the torchlight of divine knowledge, you open my eyes which have been blinded by the darkness of ignorance."
[Srila Narayan Gosvami Maharaja:] Vaidhi-bhakti is not artificial. If you pray, "Oh Krsna, please remove all my anarthas (bad thoughts and habits). Be pleased with me and give me pure bhakti," that is not artificial. And, if a devotee is engaging in sravanam (hearing Krsna's names and glories), kirtanam (chanting His names and glories), visnu smaranam (remembering Him), this is not artificial.
[Jaganatha dasa:] But in vaidhi-bhakti, sometimes one has to force himself to think and act properly.
[Srila Narayan Gosvami Maharaja:] No harm - this is practice. If your mind is not fixed in one-pointed devotion, then you must bring it back from the other places. You are hearing hari-katha - this is not artificial. You are performing kirtana - this is not artificial. You are worshiping - this is not artificial.
Source: Two Morning Walks
