How Do We Stay Devoted to Our Practice When Life Feels Overwhelming?

When life is moving fast, when the heart is heavy or the mind is tired—it’s in those moments that spiritual practice can feel furthest from reach. And yet, it’s also in those very moments that the teachings of Maharajji become most alive.

Staying devoted doesn’t mean pushing harder or performing better. It means softening. It means remembering. It means allowing ourselves to be held by the simple practices that return us to love.

1. Repeat the Name—Even in the Middle of Chaos

Maharajji’s constant instruction was: “Repeat the Name of God.” When you don’t know what to do, when your heart feels numb or the day feels too full, just say Ram.

It doesn’t matter if your mind is distracted or you feel disconnected. The act of remembrance itself—no matter how small—is an offering. In Be Love Now, Ram Dass reflects that Maharajji didn’t ask for complicated practices. He gave the simplest instruction: “Repeat the Name.”

Even one breath with the Name on your lips is a step toward the heart.

2. Be Gentle with Yourself

Maharajji didn’t expect perfection. Dada Mukerjee wrote in By His Grace that Maharajji accepted everyone exactly as they were—in pain, in confusion, in joy.

When life feels overwhelming, devotion can look like resting, like crying, like whispering a single word of prayer while washing the dishes. Devotion doesn’t require performance. It only asks for sincerity.

3. Make Daily Life the Practice

Spiritual practice doesn’t need a quiet room or an altar. Maharajji showed us that God is in everything. Folding laundry, caring for your children, answering emails—each moment is an opportunity to love.

As Krishna Das shared in Chants of a Lifetime, Maharajji didn’t separate the sacred from the ordinary. He fed thousands, sat in silence, and swept floors—all with the same presence.

So when life feels too full for “practice,” let life become the practice.

4. Serve Someone Else

One of the most powerful ways to reconnect to devotion is to serve. Maharajji taught: “Love everyone, serve everyone.” Even a small act—bringing someone tea, offering a kind word—can shift us from overwhelm to presence.

Service pulls us out of our own spinning and returns us to love.

5. Trust That Grace Is Already at Work

Even when we forget the path, the path does not forget us. One of Maharajji’s most comforting teachings was:

“You may forget me, but I never forget you.”

You are not alone in your overwhelm. Even when you can’t feel it, grace is working silently, patiently, lovingly.

Just Take One Step

Devotion isn’t a test. It’s not about how much you do—it’s about returning, again and again.

So when life feels heavy, remember: you don’t have to fix it all. You just have to take one breath, one step, one moment of remembrance.

And in that moment, Maharajji is there.

Jai Maharajji.