Merely quoting ślokas will not do. You’ll have to practice it. There are symptoms that reveal if you are actually practicing or not. If you are exercising bhakti with all of your senses and mind, and by all your moods, then vairāgya must come. Detachment will come and your entire controlling mood will go. Even the lady devotees want to control each other. How will bhakti come in such a situation? Bhakti comes when there is submissiveness and humility.
Jñāna and vairāgya will certainly come. Kṛṣṇa-tattva-jñāna, bhakti-rasa-jñāna, and vaiṣṇava-sevā-jñāna are all bound to come. However, you may be proud that, “I’m chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa,” and therefore worldly attachments are still present. Don’t try to instruct others. Try to follow yourself. Don’t offend Vaiṣṇavas. By practicing bhakti, automatically the qualities of tṛṇād api sunīcena, and so on, will come.
October 06, 2001 Jagannātha Purī