As a devotee, no matter what stage of life you're at, self-analysis is always needed so that you can grow in your practice. Even though I do this every day by setting myself self-improvement guidelines, sometimes Shriji himself teaches me directly.    It takes a lot of courage to be a guru. I can recall a time just before I started preaching, when many good gurus used to tell me confidentially, “The day you become a guru, you start to fall in your spiritual life and you forget the right purpose....

There are two main paths to attain the Divine. One is a path of kripa or grace, and the other is a path of sadhan or spiritual practice. In the path of kripa, Shri Krishn’s mercy, through the guru, removes all the obstacles in our spiritual life and takes away all the bad habits within us, a process which is called anarth nivritti. His mercy lifts us up into the stage of bhav bhakti, where the first ray of sacred love  (prem) appears. On the other hand, the path of sadhan is where our own....

To avoid making this too philosophical, I won’t bring up any scriptural quotes. Let’s discuss the other side of the story, a purely practical perspective.     Last year, I went to Argentina with my wife and we were staying at the home of one of our disciples. I remember in our room there were some posters of boys plastered across the walls. The disciple’s two teenage girls, who were becoming spiritually inclined, were meeting my wife for the first time. They had to break the ice somehow, find....

  Shri Krishn Janmashtami was just sublime! That morning I woke up early and followed the usual rituals of bathing, changing my thread (janehu) and wearing a new dhoti and duppatta, before serving Radharamanji on the altar. When I reached the temple, I saw all of the Goswamis were performing their seva. An elder instructed me to guide the young Goswamis, take them to the Yamuna and collect water in silver pots. The thought of doing so much work which I was not accustomed to made me very....

What an auspicious day to awaken to. In the morning, my parents reminded me, “Don’t forget you must fast today. Please go and get ready for Radharamanji’s bathing ceremony (abhishek).” I started my day with an inner smile in my heart, filled with the anticipation of meeting my Radharaman. I followed the usual customs before serving my Lord. I bathed, wore a new thread and new clothes. My entire family was busy hosting devotees; my home was full of our disciples. I made a polite exit and reached....

As a teenager, I had a lot of worldly dreams, but I chose my goals as per my father’s wishes. In 1998, he time had arrived when he asked me to join him on the altar for the first time. I was incredibly nervous at the thought of  becoming the youngest Goswami to serve Radharamanji. My father was guiding me at every moment. First, I took a bath and then I wore a new thread (janehu), followed by a pink dhoti (traditional lower garment) and a duppatta (shawl). I felt so much bliss within me on this....

  One afternoon in Vrindavan, almost ten years ago, I was walking tirelessly in the heat, giving parikrama, whilst my feet rolled in the sparkling dust of Vrindavan. As my lips softly chanted the Holy Name, my tongue rejoiced in its sweet vibration and my heart was aching to meet Radha and Krishn. It was a time when I started my spiritual studies and sadhnas. I was enjoying this new phase in my life which gave me that feeling of bliss as if I had discovered hidden treasure. I felt as though my....