Sound Bhakti

The word determination has the word terminus in it, which means the endpoint. One can notice one's determination by whether or not one can start and finish on time. And also the word effort means you have to fight for it. There's not a default mode where, by accident, we make advancement in chanting. We have to have a warrior spirit. It's a battle with the mind, and one has to make the effort. A war takes effort. You have to bring your weapons, and you have to be willing to stand up and fight. Krishna says this at the end of the third chapter of the Bhagavad-gita (3.43): evaṁ buddheḥ paraṁ buddhvā saṁstabhyātmānam ātmanā jahi śatruṁ mahā-bāho kāma-rūpaṁ durāsadamā. Conquer the lower self by the higher self with your intelligence, and he says to Arjuna: stand up and fight. We're not going to take this lying down. Are we? No Vaisesika Dasa. So these admonitions Prabhupāda gives had become a point of focus. Can remember the two words at least: determination and effort. Start on time, finish on time. That's deter