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 and help others who are struggling, we do recover. We ask Krishna to help us fully surrender to Him through this program and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and associated behaviors and our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that Krishna, a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of Krishna as we understand Him.
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Admitted to Krishna, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
We were entirely ready to have Krishna remove all these defects of character.
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Sought through prayer, meditation, and the chanting of the Holy Names to improve our conscious contact with Krishna, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
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, shopping, working and other dysfunctional behaviors so we beg of you to be fearless from the very start. Our lives didn’t become unmanageable overnight so remember that we practice these principles in our daily lives. With patience and humility, we allow the process of Bhakti 12 step recovery to guide us into this new way of life.

We have taken birth in this age of Kali Yuga, an age of quarrel and hypocrisy, therefore we are prone to the never-ending pursuit of material sense enjoyment in its extreme. Bound and blinded by maya, we ran around life trying to fill that God-sized hole with material sense enjoyment. We used people, places, and things but nothing seemed to work. Repeatedly stuck in this cycle of insanity and expecting different results, but the results were always the same: pain, devastation and, for some of us even death.

Many of us are practicing Bhakti Yogis 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. Sharing in confidence is vital for our spiritual growth.

We are born into this body with this diseased condition; this may be our karma, but with these simple tools we now are able to take responsibility for our recovery. Step by step we move towards living in spiritual solutions and move away from the shame and blame of our past. By working these Steps and practicing Bhakti devotion, we become grateful and slowly the veil of maya lifts. Our outlook on life changes. We come to know that everything is by Krishna’s arrangement and in gratitude we begin to know a life free from bondage of the false self.

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