On any spiritual path, including bhakti, there are three factors involved: the practitioner, the practice, and the goal to be achieved. To be successful in one’s spiritual practice, one must have a clear understanding of all three of these factors.
This book primarily focuses on providing authoritative knowledge about the practitioner, the jīva. Knowledge about the jīva is gained from śāstra. However, if one does not know how to interpret it properly, śāstra can be misunderstood. It is for this reason that there are differences of opinion about the nature of the jīva in different groups of spiritualists. In this book, some basic principles are discussed that govern how śāstra is meant to be understood at different levels and how its true intentions are realized.
Know that whatever happens to you, good or bad, there is always a message behind it. Krishna is always trying to teach you something. He has His own way of teaching, sometimes by creating a favorable situation and sometimes unfavorable. Both are His grace.
