Sometimes we may find our bhakti practices lacking in taste. To gain steady taste, we need to heighten our conception of God and our motivation for approaching him.

Conception: Based on our cultural background, we may have various conceptions of God. We need to elevate our conception from cultural to scriptural. The Bhagavad-gita reveals God to be the supreme object of love. He is Krishna, the all-attractive supreme person having the opulences of strength, beauty, knowledge, wealth, fame and renunciation. The more we study bhakti literature and internalize this all-attractive, all-loving conception of God, the more we have a sweet object to meditate on during our bhakti practices.

Motivation: We may initially approach God for getting worldly things, especially things we feel we can’t get on our own. Krishna appreciates those who approach him thus as pious (07.16) and large-hearted (07.18). Still, when we value other things more than we value Krishna, our focus stays more on those things than on him. When we get what we want, elation distracts us. When we don’t get what we want, dejection distracts us. Because of our distractibility, we can’t connect with him steadily, leave alone relish the sweetness of absorption in him.

Still, if we keep practicing bhakti determinedly, we gradually realize that our connection with Krishna is more consequential than everything else. No worldly gain, even if strongly desired, provides joy anywhere near the joy of absorption in him. And no worldly loss, even if greatly feared, is so depriving as the loss of that absorption. Thus, we realize Krishna to be the ultimate treasure (07.19: vasudevah sarvam iti).

The more we approach him for his sake – for remembering, serving and loving him – the more he becomes pleased and reveals his ineffable sweetness, making our bhakti practices supremely relishable.

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