What is the importance of discipline in spiritual life?
Radhanath Swami answers from the Gita… Radhanath Swami: Lord Krishna explains in the Bhagavad Gita that without controlling the mind and the senses there is no question of real yoga or real spiritual practice. To do anything good in life or to succeed, discipline is required. To be a good musician, you have to discipline yourself and practice for so many hours everyday for so many years. To be a good student you have to discipline yourself to study the books, to go to the classes, etc. To be a good athlete you have to discipline yourself to train your body. Similarly, in business there must be certain amount of discipline, in politics there must be a certain amount of discipline. But the highest gain, the highest ideal that a human being can strive for is self-realization, spiritual enlightenment that culminates in prem bhakti, love of God. And obviously, even for that there must be discipline. Vaidhi bhakti means we discipline ourselves. We accept what is favorable for spiritual advan
