Should You, “Fake it Until You Make it?”

By: Babhru Dasa

Most of us who have been involved with bhakti-sadhana for at least a few years have probably heard the saying, “fake it until you make it.” It’s a very interesting saying, but unfortunately one that in some ways seems to be doing greater harm than good.

In general, what does it actually mean? It infers a few things, but generally speaking it seems to be some sort of coping mechanism for devotees to use in order to make themselves’ feel better in light of small (or seemingly none) devotional advancement. In short, “make it” means to attain prema-rasa (or at least a semblance of high bhakti), that is symptomatic of devotees who are at the stage of nishta-bhakti or higher. And “fake it” generally means to just keep going on with the motions of external bhakti practices no matter how stale (due to lack of taste for bhakti) they may be.  So in essence, it means to “just go on with the external functions of bhakti and hopefully one day you will achieve the result.”

Although there is a, “kernel of truth” in the idea of executing bhakti regardless of taste or no taste in the beginning stages, still the precedent that it sets is something that devotees should steer clear of in the long run. Why? Because, in actuality bhakti has nothing to do with artificially blind-following anything, at anytime. Although there are general templates of conduct and practice on the bhakti-marga, still such things should become refined rather quickly within a practitioners spiritual course.  The refinement occurs when one begins to understand their internal and external adhikara (mental, spiritual, and physical qualifications.) And it should be noted that this is a dynamic thing. Not a stagnant thing.

Its a extremely crucial point to understand and the whole, “fake it until you make it” idea really seems to downplay this. For instance, when a devotee is struggling to get over certain obstacles in their spiritual life, there will surely be very specific things that they should/shouldn’t do (externally/internally) in order to overcome their difficulties. Again, this highly depends on the individual.

For example, there are nine specific stages of bhakti growth, starting at shraddha (faith) and leading to prema (perfect divine love.) So in order for two different people (who are at different stages of growth) to advance, will artificially accepting the same template of external/internal activity help them? No. Their inner needs could be drastically different, and thus their outer needs will generally be different too. Just as a qualified physician will surely give patients with the same medical condition different advice depending on the severity, or healing progress of each of their cases.

In other words, the emphasis on certain aspects of bhakti may become more or less prevalent according to the need of the devotee. That being said, if a devotee does not concentrate their energy in the proper way according to their specific needs and inclinations, they will likely not advance very quickly.  This is why an experienced spiritual teacher/mentor (that we can go to for individual advice) is of the utmost importance.

In truth, there are many ways to elaborate on this topic but one more important point to consider is that when one just “goes on with the motions” of spiritual practice, the proper mood of internal surrender will likely not be cultured. Internal surrender via the heart is truly a dynamic and eternally growing thing. It is not that one just “surrenders externally” and it is finished. But many may not understand this if they are told to just keep doing the same external program of sadhana over and over again until a result comes.

Keeping that in mind, the sadhaka should see that whenever they enter a stage of practice where they feel helpless and without “good standing,” they should see it as Krsna directly pushing them to take another leap of faith. In other words, Krsna is wanting that person to give more of themself to Him. He is wondering, “how far are they willing to go to attain Me?” We should see that His ever-compassionate hands are guiding us towards the fire of surrender. That is truly the only place where our hearts can become purified and transformed, making us eligible to advance to higher/esoteric stages of bhakti-sadhana.

The Gaudiya preceptors have also quoted the same via the English saying, “First deserve, then desire.” All of this advice is especially important for devotees that have not reached the stage of nishtita-bhajana (unwavering devotional service.) 

As a concluding note and a case example, lets take a look at the life of one of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura Prabhupada’s greatest disciples, namely Sri Akinchana Krsna Dasa Babaji Maharaja. Upon receiving initiation from his Guru Maharaja, he was also given the name Svadikarananda Dasa. The english translation of that is, “one who delights in their qualification.” And for his guru to give him such a name, seems exceedingly interesting. The reason being, Krsna Dasa Babaji was very persistently attached to chanting the holy name, even from his earliest days in the ashram. So much so that he became an emblem of the bhajananandi style of devotion.

In this regard, his case was rather unusual for the gaudiya-math monks of that time period. The vast majority of members were engaged in preaching/publication works. In this way, it seems evident that Srila Saraswati Thakura recognized that his disciple’s need was genuinely different from the majority of the other devotees. And thus he may have given him that name to enthuse him. Srila Saraswati Thakura’s support for Babaji Maharaja’s mood was also rather evident in the early history of his ashram days (for full biographical information please read the book “Divine Intoxication.”

So this all goes to show that we must dynamically understand our position in order to advance spiritually. No matter how much the cookie cutter sadhana template is forced upon us by others. Sometimes the cookie cutter template will work, and many times, will not. With good guidance, we can understand all these things.