Krsna promises that if we simply surrender to Him, he will protect us from the reactions of all the sinful desires within our hearts. Otherwise, if we choose not to follow this path, we are waiting for the circumstantial opportunities for these desire-seeds within our hearts to naturally mature and fructify into suffering and more sinful activities. These seeds cannot be removed except through devotional service, as explained in the Nectar of Devotion. So unless we surrender to Krsna, we are going to suffer perpetually.
If we do surrender (that is, accept and follow the six guidelines of surrender, like choosing all things that are favorable for our Krsna consciousness, knowing that only Krsna can protect us, giving up all nonsense things that increase our bondage, etc.), Krsna will remove these things from our hearts. Srila Prabhupada uses the example of clapping our hands and all the birds fly out of the trees above. Our sinful reactions will fly away like this, if we just accept that we are completely subordinate to Krsna, and begin practicing serving Him as subordinates.
A mature devotee, after lifetimes of trial and error in the lower rungs of spiritual practice, finally reaches a firm faith in this principle of surrender to Krsna and finally makes the determination to proceed without fear of these sinful reactions, believing without doubting that Krsna will eradicate them as promised. "Do not worry. Surrender to Me, and I will protect you from all the reactions to your sins. "
The secret to developing faith is hearing. Krsna inhabits His pastimes. When He is praised, He is present in full. When He speaks, He is there 100%, present in that sound of His words. So the more we choose to practice this hearing, the more we are in Krsna's actual presence, though imperceptible in the beginning stages. As we associate with Him personally simply by this hearing, He gradually becomes manifest in our hearts. Finally, when we are convinced how strong and powerful Krsna is in all these situations we are hearing about, How His knowledge is immeasurable, how utterly capable he is to do anything great, we slowly become willing to place our lives in His care.
One can become fully Krsna conscious and develop this complete faith in Krsna only through this hearing process in the association of Krsna's pure devotee. This transcendental process of cultivating Krsna consciousness through submissively hearing from the purely realized souls like Srila Prabhupada is always there and under the protection of Krsna's internal potency, and is therefore not affected by the three modes of material nature. In other words, it cannot be checked by any material circumstance.
So whatever temporary intrigue is going on in your devotional and material lives, and no matter what problems are perceived in the management of a particular religious organization, it cannot check your advancement in Krsna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada said to just persevere, go "step by step by step" (and one day you will see Krsna). He also once said that unless we read enough, we cannot stick it out in the long run. After 20 years or 40, or 50 years, we will need a strong foundation in the philosophy to give us the impetus to continue, long after the sentiments have worn off.
"A person who is constantly engaged in reading literature enunciating the cultivation of Vaisnava devotional service, is always glorious in human society, and certainly Lord Krsna becomes pleased with him. A person who very carefully keeps such literature at home and offers respectful obeisances to it becomes freed from all sinful reactions and ultimately becomes worshipable by the demigods"
(Skanda Purana)
Hopes this finds you well, Mahananda dasa
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