Bhagavad Gita 2.40

nehābhikrama-nāśo ’sti

pratyavāyo na vidyate

svalpam apy asya dharmasya

trāyate mahato bhayāt

 

“On this path, no step goes in vain,

No asset is depleted, lasting is every gain.

Even a little of this righteous way,

Can shield one from great dismay.”

 

My dear Lord, the spiritual journey can very easily be undercut by doubt. After all, the goal I am seeking is invisible, and progress on the path toward that goal is difficult to measure tangibly.

Additionally, what makes the spiritual journey especially exhausting—even excruciating—is the mind’s instability. The same spiritual activity that feels enriching one day feels empty the next. Indeed, my emotions can vary not just from day to day, but even from hour to hour, sometimes even from moment to moment.

In the midst of such uncertainty and unsteadiness, it is your words of assurance that serve as my pole star. They keep my vision and my vigor fixed on the true north. By remembering your words—that the spiritual journey is always a journey of gain and growth, never a journey of loss or depletion—you empower me to challenge and counter my fleeting emotions and my flawed perceptions.

If I persist through these misleading emotions and perceptions, then I will come to a state of unshakable conviction, where I see firsthand that you are with me and that you have always been with me—indeed, that you held me closest to you at the moments when I felt furthest from you.

Bless me, O Lord, to base my spiritual journey on your infallible declarations and not on my flawed perceptions and emotions.

***

02.40 In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.