Today was the beginning of an auspicious month called Kartikka, an opportunity for making a pledge to increase our spiritual activities in either quality and quantity, or both. Over the past few months I have been contemplating what meditations I should adopt leading up to the month of Kartikka. While wracking my brain a thought came to mind, I reflected that simply being affiliated with a spiritual path for a few years does not infer that I am no longer a beginner and that it’s in taking to spiritual life in the humble mood of a beginner that real purification takes place. In the Purport to Bhagavad Gita 12.9 Srila Prabhupada writes: “This love of God is now in a dormant state in everyone’s heart. And, there, love of God is manifested in different ways, but it is contaminated by material association. Now the heart has to be purified of the material association, and that dormant, natural love for Kṛṣṇa has to be revived. That is the whole process.” ...