How It Works

 The Bhakti Recovery Group leads the way into a newfound life. These 12 steps are the foundation of our program. 

Our experience shows that when we work these steps with a sponsor, come to meetings on a regular basis, help another sick and suffering soul, we do recover. We ask Krishna to help us fully surrender to this program and to practice these principles in all our affairs. 

1. We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and associated behaviors- that our lives had become unmanageable. 

2. Came to believe that Krishna, a power greater than ourselves, can restore us to sanity. 

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of Krishna as we understand Krishna 

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. 

5. Admitted to Krishna, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 

6. Were entirely ready to have Krishna remove all these defects of character. 

7. Humbly asked Krishna to remove our shortcomings. 

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. 

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. 

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. 

11. Sought through prayer and the chanting of the holy names to improve our conscious contact with Krishna, praying only for knowledge of Krishna`s will for us and the power to carry that out. 

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to those seeking recovery, and to practice these principles in all our affairs. 

Honesty, open-mindedness and willingness are all we need. We must remember that many of us have spent most of our lives trapped in various addictions to drugs, alcohol, sex, love, codependency, eating disorders, gambling and many other dysfunctional behaviors, so we beg of you to be fearless from the very start. Our lives didn’t become unmanageable overnight, so we learn patience and go easy on ourselves as we allow the 12 Steps and Bhakti yoga to guide us into this new way of life. 

We, who have taken birth in this age of Kali, are especially prone to the never-ending pursuit of material sense enjoyment in its extreme. Repeatedly we continued this cycle of insanity, expecting different results. Bound and blinded by Maya, powerless over the 3-fold miseries, we ran around life trying to fill that god sized hole with material sense enjoyments but the results were always the same: pain, devastation and, for some of us, even death. 

Many of us are practicing devotees involved in temple communities. Some of us may be reluctant to share that we struggle with addictions or associated behaviors. The BRG is a safe anonymous space for sharing honestly. This is vital for our spiritual growth. 

We are born into this body with this diseased condition. This is our karma. We are not responsible for our disease, but we are responsible for our recovery. We fully accept this fact and work with what we have been given. By working the steps and practicing Bhakti Yoga, we become grateful for what we have, and slowly the veil of Maya lifts. Our outlook on life changes, we come to know that everything is by Krishna`s arrangement, and we then begin to know a life free from the bondage of the false self. 

So keep coming back and don’t leave before the miracle happens!