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Radhanath Swami: One of the diseases that we come to spiritual practice with is that we expect things to go our way – “I am serving God and this is the way God should deal with me”. I have done this many pujas , this many sacrifices. He should make my children scholars, He should make them obedient to me. He should give me good health and, in fact, he should give all my family members good health. And my business, of course because it is for him it should flourish, it should prosper without any impediments. And as far as my relationships are concerned, people should give me the honor and respect I am due for being such a sincere and saintly person. More or less we all expect like this. But the problem is if God gave you what you wanted, you probably wouldn’t grow much at all. Because Bhakti is not about getting, Bhakti is about seeking shelter. You only get God when you seek shelter. You only get God when you give up hope of anything else. If you want other things, that is the fruitive mentality – a karmic mentality as opposed to a mentality of Bhakti. You can get other things but it will not bring you to the goal. So reversals will come, and they will come in way which we do not like. It is our tendency to think that “I know reversals will come and I know if I take shelter of God I will make advancement, but as far as the reversals are concerned, I will give my list of which reversals are acceptable”. The problem is that God has His own list. You made your list, but what you have on your list won’t work. But what appears to be a curse can be a blessing if we simply appreciate the inner essence of the possibility of how to connect to God in that situation.