It’s mentioned a few times that we are cleaning the heart so the Lord can sit there peacefully. In order to do that, it’s important to take guidance. Once we decide—once we surrender to the process—it’s important to take guidance on how to cleanse the heart.
There are so many times that we surrender over this lifetime. First, we surrender by accepting Kṛṣṇa consciousness, wanting to give up the sinful activities of meat‑eating, illicit sex, gambling, and intoxication. We make that vow, we are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and we are thinking, “Hey, I got this. I’m good.” Then, the purification—the deeper purification—starts, and the anarthas begin to make themselves visible. We shouldn’t be discouraged by that. That’s the process.
If the Lord is showing us these things in the mirror of the heart—if He’s showing us these places that need to be cleansed—that’s His mercy on us. That’s what we want. In the pastime, all the devotees are helping each other. They are all taking the brooms, and they are all chanting the whole time, and they were cleaning, and they were blissful. As Jagrini said, that’s a part of it. We shouldn’t become downtrodden or depressed. I mean, a little bit of those kinds of feelings can be helpful, but they can also be a way to stop us from moving forward in our devotional service.
Taking guidance—submitting ourselves to a guru, to a śikṣā‑guru, to someone we look up to—can really help in the process. Because I know myself: I don’t see my anarthas so clearly. Sometimes, but then there are the more subtle ones that I really want to work on, and I depend on the devotee community—those I associate with, respect, and do service with—to help me overcome those. And most times, it’s not someone pointing it out to me; it’s me reflecting on my interaction, or how I was responding to what someone said or did. If I do that, then I can look and see what I need to work on.
In these pastimes, we’re realizing that we should be doing what we need to do, but it’s actually Lord Caitanya, Kṛṣṇa, who does the bulk of the cleaning. If He sees our sincerity, if He sees our desire, then He helps, and He takes out all of those anarthas.
I’ve had that experience where I’m looking at something, I’m feeling something, I know something’s there, and it keeps coming up. So all I can do is put it at the Lord’s lotus feet and say, “Please help me with this. I need Your help. It’s been there for so long, and I’ve fed it—I’ve fed that little monster for so long. I need Your help to overcome this." (30:19)
(excerpt from HG Nirakula Dasi's Talk)
Date of the talk: 31st July 2026
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