Purification is not what you claim to have achieved. It is what bhakti has changed within you.
Three signs reveal whether your heart is being purified.
1. Good Qualities Begin to Manifest
As bhakti deepens, qualities such as satya, ārjavam, saralatā, ahiṁsā, humility, dhīratā, śama, and dama begin to manifest.
Śrīla Prabhupāda said that one becomes a gentleman by advancing in bhakti.
The first evidence of spiritual progress is a change in character.
Bhakti makes us devotees—but if becoming a devotee does not make us a better human being, something is missing.
2. Attachment Fades. Knowledge Awakens.
janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam
—SB 1.2.7
Bhakti awakens vairāgya (detachment) and jñāna (knowledge).
The world loses its grip. Māyā becomes recognizable. Kṛṣṇa becomes clearer.
One begins to understand: “I am ātmā, Kṛṣṇa’s servant—not this body.”
This is aparokṣa-jñāna—realized knowledge.
As attachment loosens, spiritual clarity deepens.
3. Dveṣa Diminishes. Humility Deepens.
As one advances in bhakti, dveṣa—aversion towards Kṛṣṇa and Vaiṣṇavas—begins to disappear.
Yet there is a paradox:
The more one advances, the less advanced one feels.
A non devotee may overlook serious sins yet magnify a small good deed. A devotee sees even a small mistake as significant, yet considers even a great service insignificant before Kṛṣṇa.
Why? Because the devotee measures himself against Kṛṣṇa’s greatness, not his own achievements.
The unpurified heart takes pride in what it has done. The purified heart sees how much remains undone.
That is the mark of purification: less pride in achievement, greater humility before Kṛṣṇa.