Lectures and Commentaries on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 7, made in Vrindavan (India)
In the Seventh Canto of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, there is a very interesting dialogue recited by Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī about the liberation of Śiśupāla who was killed by Kṛṣṇa during Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja’s Rājasūya-yajña. Śiśupāla was Kṛṣṇa’s cousin, but hated Kṛṣṇa since his very birth. At the first sight of Kṛṣṇa, he would start insulting Him, but Kṛṣṇa always remained tolerant, not showing any sign of disturbance. Kṛṣṇa had promised Śiśupāla’s mother, his maternal Aunt, “I will tolerate one hundred abuses from your son, but the day he crosses this limit, I will take action.”
If you don’t work under the guidance of the Guru, you will make a lot of external changes to make yourself happy. You change but you don’t really change. Your character remains the same. Internal change takes a lot of effort because our material ego doesn’t like to change. Ego resists change.