If leaders leading a country through recession urge citizens to adopt austerity measures, but live in luxury themselves, their choice will belie their voice and will provoke citizens into non-cooperation. The Bhagavad-gita (03.21) stresses this principle of actions speaking louder than words when it states that leaders set the standards for others by their actions.

This principle applies to spiritual life too. Many people become anti-religious on seeing godmen who sermonize about simple living but head ultra-commercialized corporate empires. Similarly, some social leaders speak eloquently about the importance of spirituality in strengthening society’s ethical fabric, but live materialistically themselves. Again, their choice drowns out their voice.

We all are leaders in some capacity, small or large. If we harmonize our choice and voice in adopting and advocating a more spiritual way of living, we can contribute to society’s spiritual rejuvenation.

Harmonizing our choice with our voice is important in our own spiritual life too. If we say that we want to love Krishna, but keep choosing worldly objects over him whenever temptation beckons, our choice will speak to him far louder than our voice.

Thankfully, Krishna is so merciful that he sees even our voice as a choice. If we consistently voice our aspiration to put him first through our prayers and chants, this verbalization itself comprises a limb of bhakti; it can attract his mercy and purify us, enabling us to make better choices. However, such divine assistance comes only when our voice is an expression of a sincere intention that we are presently unable to implement, not a cover-up for our wanting the prestige of appearing spiritually advanced without paying the price of purification.

The more we strive to take our choice closer to our voice, the more we move closer to Krishna and relish sublime spiritual fulfillment.

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