If we wish to develop a relationship with someone, we need both commitment and contentment.

Commitment means that we persevere in that relationship without getting swayed by our fickle feelings. Undoubtedly, feelings are important in any relationship. But if they are a relationship’s sole basis, then the connection between the two people can’t be steady or sustainable.

Contentment is essential in relationships because none of us is perfect. We need to tolerate others’ shortcomings. Rather than harping on their bad side, perceived or actual, if we learn to look at their good side, we can feel satisfied.

If either commitment or contentment is lacking in a relationship, then the connection slackens, and we start looking elsewhere for reciprocation.

In worldly relationships, despite our best efforts, we may sometimes not get reciprocation. Why? Because we all have different natures which may lead to irreducible incompatibility.

Thankfully, such incompatibility doesn’t mar our relationship with Krishna. In our essential spiritual nature, all of us are always compatible with him, because we are his eternal parts, and he is our greatest well-wisher. Our relationship with him has the potential to be supremely fulfilling.

How do we access that fulfillment?

The Bhagavad-gita (12.14) recommends that we be determined while practicing bhakti-yoga. This implies that we stay committed to our devotional practices, even if we don’t feel like doing them. Significantly, the same verse also urges us to be content. Contentment means that we stay satisfied with whatever spiritual taste we achieve by our practices, without demanding constant ecstasy. And it also means we stay satisfied with whatever material things we achieve while doing our worldly duties in a mood of devotion, without being distracted by mundane cravings.

By such a combination of commitment and contentment, our connection with Krishna blossoms to blissful absorption in him.

To know more about this verse, please click on the image
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