Name: Veena Pai

Personal application of Nectar of instruction

After attending the bhakti Sastri course first of all I got to read and understand so many things in
detail which I would otherwise have not done with so much seriousness and in so much detail.
Earlier I had heard lectures of Srila Prabhupada and also had heard Srila Prabhupada quote
some verses from nectar of instruction but now I got to hear and understand all the slokas in
much more detail.

Earlier I did not know much about prajalpa but now I understand a little about it. Earlier I used to
go on speaking about many topics with my friends and relatives but now I understand that this is
all prajalpa and should be avoided as much as possible. Similarly earlier I was very concerned
about my material future and how I will prepare for it. But now after hearing about atyaahara I
don't think so much about my future like stocking a lot of money, etc. I just feel like preparing for
a reasonable time for material needs and devoting majority of my time for Kṛṣṇa conscious
activities. In this way there have been a lot of changes in my overall attitude. Of course I'm still
very fallen and unqualified for discharging proper devotional service but something has certainly
changed in me and through Guru, sadhu Shastra I can understand that the change has been in
a positive direction.

In the beginning, when I first understood about Krishna consciousness and ISKCON, I was
somewhat critical about following the foreigners and accepting their authority. I used to think that
these people are foreigners, how will they know anything about our culture? Then after reading
NOI verses 4 & 5, I understood that the devotees are beyond bodily conceptions and are
transcendental. Although I got this understanding from the very beginning in my Krishna
consciousness, now when I am doing Bhakti Shastra I am understanding it in much more detail.

Text 7 and 8 very nicely clarify our position where we are in a diseased condition -not able to
taste the sweet sugar candy, we are perceiving it as bitter and those things which are actually
bitter that is- our material sense gratification, we perceive that as sweet. But if we gradually
engage in the process following in the footsteps of mature devotees, one day that sweet sugar
candy can definitely be relished and we will be free from all this nonsense bitter sense
gratification. Hare Kṛṣṇa.