For the pure devotee, every step is joyful, even if he or she has to be in the heaviest material circumstances - it’s still joyful for the pure devotee. A conditioned devotee comes with all sincerity and feels great joy to be in the temple, but then in dealing with the material energy – there are moments when one is confronted with something which is very and extremely difficult, and something one finds particularly very difficult, because one is not advanced yet – then sometimes one loses this feeling of joyfulness, and that is the stage of struggle in spiritual life. So then there comes the element of sacrifice, and then when one makes such a sacrifice over a prolonged period of time – and there is within the sacrifice is a deeper joy, satisfaction, and there are moments of struggle, but if one struggles like that, then one will emerge fully joyful!
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Radhadesh, January 2011)
