Hare Krishna. I am very happy to find myself in this exotic place, I’ve never thought that I would get this far. 

In several lectures at this festival I'll be speaking about the first steps in devotional service, about the first stages that we must do so that eventually we go along this entire path to its end. The first steps are the most difficult. We all know that when a child just begins to walk, it is very difficult for him. He can not do it properly and by all means there must be someone, especially in the beginning, to take him by the hand and lead him. So that when he falls or breaks his nose, someone picks him up from the ground, reassures him, pats him, and says, “Never mind, you will fall another hundred times before you start walking”. 

We are at the very beginning of this path which should ultimately bring us to the spiritual world. It is very important that exactly with the first steps that we make someone helps us and explains to us what dangers lie in wait for us, what mistakes we can make, what we should and what we shouldn’t do. Mostly this seminar will be about this. It will be based on the material of Srila Vishvanattha Cakravarti Thakur’s “Madhurya-kadambini” and several other books, written by the acharyas. He will be explaining a verse from Srila Rupa Goswami’s “Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu”, or rather two verses, describing the stages of bhakti. Let's read this verse together in Sanskrit: 

adau sraddha tatah sadhu

sango 'tha bhajana-kriya

tato 'nartha-nivrittih syat

tato nistha rucis tatah

athasaktis tato bhavas

tatah premabhyudancati

sadhakanam ayam premnah

pradurbhave bhavet kramah

Most of us know the meening of this verse. This verse explains bhakti as a stairway that leads to the spiritual world. And, like any stairway, there are steps or stages on this stairway. Moving from stage to stage, one gradually comes off the ground and finds himself in a completely different atmosphere. In other words, on our spiritual path we have to pass through certain stages of transformation of the heart. These stages are described here, and in a sense they are described in a paradoxical way. Today I'll speak a little about this paradox of bhakti-sadhana. Because strictly speaking, by itself, the expression bhakti-sadhana is self-contradictory. Bhakti can not be a sadhana. Because what is bhakti? Bhakti is mercy, something which is given. Bhakti is something that we should receive from above. While sadhana is a technique, a certain technology or a system of actions that we should perform in order to attain a certain goal. On the one hand the goal of bhakti does not depend on us, and on the other hand we are told that we should do something in order to attain it. This is quite a serious contradiction and at the beginning we should clearly understand what the meening of this contradiction is and whether bhakti can be a sadhana. 

In the “Caitanya-caritamrita” Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami emphasizes that bhakti is not a sadhya. Sadhya is something that results from a certain pre-planned process. For example, if we are cooking, let’s say pilaff, then there are certain steps. These steps will be called sadhana and the pilaff – sadhya or the goal of this sadhana. Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami says krishna-bhakti nitya-siddha sadhya cabhu naya – krishna-bhakti exists eternally, it exists independently of anything. It is not something that appears as a result of our actions. Sadhya is what I have as a result of doing something. Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami says krishna-bhakti nitya-siddha sadhya cabhu naya – this is not something, created as a result of my own efforts. In general, this is quite clear, because we originally say that bhakti is causeless. This means that there are no material reasons for bhakti to cоme to us, Krishna should readily drop it on us from above. Love of God should descend on us. Nevertheless, we practice sadhana. 

We practice sadhana for several very important reasons. First of all, because if we just ascertain that bhakti is causeless, then what does that mean? Does it mean that we should sit down somewhere in the corner and wait until it descends upon us? Good idea! There was a Chinese tale about a Chinese who sowed rice. He sowed and sowed and then sat down under a tree to rest. At that very moment a rabbit ran out of the woods, being chased by someone, and out of fright it crashed into a tree and fell dead. The Chinese thought, “What a fool I am! I was trying hard, toiling, sowing rice, doing so much work, and it’s enough just to sit under a tree and the rabbits are running out by themselves”. (laughter) He is still sitting there but no rabbit has come out running yet. 

The point is that if we just ascertain the fact that bhakti can not be obtained a result of our efforts, this will lead us either to despair or to inaction. Our acaryas want us to act but at the same time they emphasize that bhakti doesn’t come as a result of our efforts, because bhakti is causeless. We are on this side of the causal ocean, where everything has a cause. The spiritual world is on the other side of the causal ocean where everything is causeless. We are used to the fact that we must act and as a result of these actions something must come to us. That is why we must be explained: act and this will be the cause of bhakti coming to you, although in reality bhakti is causeless. 

A simple example can be given, which will help you understand this. Before getting here, we passed over that humpback bridge over the Katun River. That was quite a breathtaking event. Now, imagine that some small boy has run away from his parents, went to that bridge, started playing out there on the bridge and fell off the bridge. Having fallen from the bridge into the Katun River, he started shouting, splashing and pounding the water with his arms, “Aaa! Help! Help!” Some young man who is on the bank, sees the boy, feels sorry for him, jumps into the water, pulls him out and saves him.

Now, my question to you is: “Are the boy’s cries the cause of his salvation?” Opinions have divided: some say yes, some say no. Well, both yes and no. Dialectic begins acintya-bheda-abheda ... (laughs). Strictly speaking, they are not the cause of his salvation, because if they were the cause it would mean that every time he starts crying someone must save him. For example, if we ascertain that in order to reach the Aya Lake we need to go 200 meters or make 300 steps then, having made these 300 steps will we reach there? Can it be so that we go in that direction, make 300 steps and don’t come there? No, it can’t. If we are sober, of course. If we go, our walking is our sadhana and we are sure to reach there. But the boy, having fallen there, might cry for a long time and no one will jump to save him. And he might cry for a while and someone will jum and pull him out. 

A similar thing happens to us when we perform sadhana: the boy’s cries are nedded to attract the attention of the person standing on the bank. Strictly speaking, they are not the cause of his salvation. But he attracts attention. When we shout out, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, strictly speaking by itself this is not the cause of salvation because some are saved, and some are not. Nevertheless, this is needed in order to attract the Lord’s attention. In other words, the acharyas explain that despite the causelessness of bhakti, there is something which we must do, which will help us achieve the highest goal, krishna-bhakti, which will help us to attract Krishna’s mercy. The acharyas amazingly pave the way where there is none. They pave the way into the realm of causelessness; but into the realm of causelessness no roads can lead, it should just descend on us. My story will be about this mysterious thing – what this path is, nevertheless, and what steps we should make. 

We know that bhakti is absolutely causeless and Krishna can manifest His mercy without any reason. Moreover, He can manifest His mercy in spite of our bad qualities. An example of this is Putana. Has Putana attained love of God? She has. Has she practiced any sadhana? A kind of sadhana she had: she smeared her breast with poison, she came to Krishna and said, “Come on, I'll kill You!” Can we follow Putana’s way? Try, may be it will work out for you. It’s impossible to go that way, but the path described by the acharyas is the path for everyone. It is a universally path, which we’ll have to go along.

Roughly speaking, it is divided into two big parts or two halves. One half is up to bhava and the other half is after bhava. Bhava is extatic love. It is both the sadhana and the sadhya. What does this mean according to you? Up to it there is just sadhana. Sraddha, then sadhu-sanga, bhajana-kriya, anartha-nivritti, nistha, ruci, asakti and finally bhava. Up to bhava everything that we do is called sadhana. After bhava it’s also sadhana, but in a sense it’s also sadhya. What does this mean in reality? Yes, that's right, thanks Lila Purusha Prabhu. Up to the bhava stage we need to make efforts. Sadhana means that we make conscious efforts. Why do we need to make efforts? It doesn’t happen by itself, right. After the bhava stage we don’t need to make efforts, it goes on its own, as it’s sung in the song. After that, although it is called sadhana, but bhava means that the love of God has become our nature. Before bhava we have another nature. This other, material nature pulls us down. This other nature resists and hinders us. To overcome the resistance of lower nature, we need to make conscious efforts. We have two natures: one is the spiritual consciousness that draws us to Krishna. And there is the material nature or mind which is also endowed with the qualities of consciousness, or soul. The soul has projected itself onto the mind and in the mind there are all sorts of brakes, various obstacles, all sorts of reasons which don’t let us to come to God. As the good Russian saying goes, “I would be glad to go to Heaven but the sins wouldn’t let me do so”. “I want to go there, I have a desire to come to God, something pulls me upward, but something, too, is pulling me down. Sometimes a person is torn apart between these two forces. Sadhana is the conscious efforts that are required in order to overcome the momentum of our lower nature and to enable us to strengthen our higher nature, which draws us up which help us get closer to God. In fact, in terms of the yoga language the efforts that we make are required in order to overcome the samskaras remaining in our mind, the samskara that pull us down. These samskaras are very strong. The Apostle Paul says in his letter to the Romans ( I think, or to the Corinthians, I do not remember) that there are two laws in my body – one is the law of spirit, and the other is the law of flesh. 

Recently I read a Russian writer of the 20's and there he also contemplates on this dual nature of man. Because one nature pulls us up, the other nature pulls us down. He says that’s probably because humans have two brains: a cerebral one and a spinal one. One pulls up, the other pulls down. 

In fact, we have samskaras or imprints on our minds and they constitute the force of inertia which we need to overcome; the inertia, accumulated over many, many lives. Therefore Srila Rupa Goswami in the “Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu” gives a definition of sadhana. He says that the actions that we commit, driven by the desire to attain bhava are called sadhana. When this desire has appeared in us: I want to attain the extatic love of God, I want to love God and nothing else; and when I act very clearly seeing this goal this is called sadhana. If I just start mumbling “blu-blu-blu”, that’s not sadhana yet. Sadhana is when I understand why I'm doing this. My every action becomes meaningful and will lead me to the goal only if this goal is very clearly manifested in my mind. I must understand very well that the meaning of everything that I do is to ultimately attain bhava, love of God. But during our small presentation over the next few days, we won’t be interested in bhava. Although we should very clearly see and understand this goal, we should also very clearly see the path that leads to it and understand that although the efforts that we make will have to be made up to the level of bhava, but up to what level efforts are most difficult to make? Up to nistha. Actually after nistha it will be like going down the hill. Up to nistha we’ll have to climb the mountain, and as soon as we stop for a while we’ll immediately go downward. We’ll have to endeavor all the time because the mind is unstable. 

In his purport to the Second Chapter of the First Canto of “Srimad-Bhagavatam” Srila Prabhupada explains that due to the contact with the agitating elements of the material world – with gold and women (and with men, too, depending on what our gender and sexual orientation are) and due to the contact with objects of enjoyment in this world the human mind has became agitated. Because the mind is agitated there is no peace in it, no stability and this agitated mind constantly jumps, it doesn’t allow us to do anything steadily. The mind has this particular quality that as soon as one starts doing something, it immediately wants to do something else. When we chant mantra ... As soon as we take the beads, ​​Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, the mind immediately thinks, “What are you doing here? You have to do something else, you have to get up, rush somewhere, do something!” But as soon as we stop chanting mantra, the mind will immediately think, “Oh, how nice it is to sit and chant”. Sometimes we sit and think, “I’d rather read”. As soon as we open the book and read a couple of lines, we think, “Maybe I can do something else?” 

This is the instability that has appeared in the mind as a result of the too long contact with the agitating material nature. That is why up to the level of nistha the efforts that we make should be particularly strong and particularly conscious. Therefore, in a sense the goal of our sadhana is nistha. After nistha we’ll run downhills to Krishna singing and everything will be more or less easy. But up to nistha we must be very careful. That is why when Srila Rupa Goswami – I do not know whether you paid attention to this peculiarity of the verse or not: when Srila Rupa Goswami speaks about all the other stages, he says tatah. Tatah means after. Sraddha tatah, sadhu-sanga tatah, bhajana-kriya tatah ... and further on he says, anartha-nivritti syat. Syat means maybe. In all other cases he says after, after, after. Only in this case he says maybe. In other words, up to the stage of anartha-nivritti our sadhana is problematic. Before the stage of anartha-nivritti there still remains a rather real and tangible – and frequently used by us in our life – probability to fall down. After nistha this probability practically disappears and as a whole everything becomes normal. In a sense anartha-nivritti is the stage when our affection or our attraction to objects other than Krishna, is stronger than our desire for Krishna. Krishna is all-attractive, Krishna Is a magnet, but we have safely left the field of His attraction. His power of attraction is felt very faintly by us. 

Like Sukadeva Gosvami, when describing Krishna’s pastimes in the Tenth Canto of the “Srimad-Bhagavatam”, he particularly describes the pastime with Krishna swallowing the forest fire. Those who have read the Tenth Canto of the “Srimad-Bhagavatam” or “The Krishna Book”, remember how Krishna went to the forest of Bhandiravana to tend His cows. The boys were absorbed in playing in the forest of Bhandiravana and at some point they started climbing on the trees, jumping and running when all of a sudden they saw that the cows have gone away, they have gone deep into the thicket. Sukadeva Goswami describes how the cows, while grazing, were gradually moving further and further from Krishna. They would spot: over there the grass is so green, oh, there grows a flower, there is some other tasty food. And step by step they were moving away from Krishna. Sukadeva Goswami calls them pasu, which means animals, he doesn’t call them ‘cows’. Cows is a very tender thing, Krishna loves cows. When the cows stray away from Krishna, Sukadeva Goswami calls them ‘cattle’. 

Similarly, attracted by the grass of material enjoyments we have gradually, step by step, strayed away from Krishn to a fairly far distance, so that we stop feeling His attractiveness. And up to the stage of anartha-nivritti Krishna’s attractiveness seems to us problematic, because there are too many other temptations for us, too many other things that attract us. Please, those of you who have attachments in this world other than Krishna, raise your hands. Unanimously. This is exactly why at the first stages of our spiritual life we have so many problems. We have other interests, we have something that interests us more than Krishna. After we have passed the stage of anartha-nivritti, other things, in essence, won’t be of interest to us. And since they wont’ be of any interest to us, as a whole our path will be calm and firm, we’ll obtain nistha. But up to nistha there is another powerful force that pulls us, throws us away from Krishna. 

For the half-hour, which I have left, I’ll try to say a few words about the nature of the very first stage or the first miracle, which happens on the spiritual path, about the nature of sraddha or faith. Here I’ll need sufficient time to try to describe proper sraddha and improper sraddha. At the first stages, as I repeatedly stated over this small period of time, there is a high probability that we’ll be making mistakes. It is about these mistakes and the correct indicators – the indicators showing that I’m going in the right direction that I’m progressing in the right direction – that I would like to speak about, starting from the very beginning, from the first glimpse of Krishna’s mercy, which comes to us in the form of faith, in the form of manifestation of sraddha. 

At the beginning I would like to explain the cause of appearance of sraddha. Sraddha, like everything else in bhakti, is causeless, as a whole. But even if we can point out any cause of sraddha, then that cause is only one – association with vaishnavas (Bhag., 1.2.16): 

susrusoh shraddadhanasya 

vasudeva-katha-rucih 

syan mahat-sevaya viprah 

punya-tirtha-nisevanat 

Srila Suta Goswami explains that when a person encounters a mahat and, meeting with a mahat, does not reject the sadhu, whom he met, but accepts him to a certain extent; when – even though insignificant – but the right attitude of acceptance appears in him, or the understanding that this person is above me and that I need to have faith in him, that I don’t need to trust myself, but have faith in him, then this marks up the beginning of spiritual life. Faith can not be obtained from anywhere, but from meeting with a devotee and from the understanding that he is right, and I'm not. This feeling that appears in me when I meet a devotee that has passed some part of the spiritual path, is called faith. Actually, faith is needed only in order to achieve pure bhakti. Actually, in order to practise bhakti, faith is not required. This is a most radical statement, which I wanted to make today. Is faith needed in order to practise bhakti or not? No, it’s not needed. Faith is needed in order to practice pure bhakti. Bhakti is so powerful that even if one practices it without faith, it wil yield results. What example does the “Srimad-Bhagavatam” give? Ajamila. Did he have any faith? No, he didn’t have any faith, he cried out, “Narayana” and that was all! In the Twelfth Canto of the “Srimad-Bhagavatam” there is a verse which says (Bhag., 12.12.47): 

patitah skhalitas cartah

ksuttva va vivaso grinan

haraye nama ity uccair

mucyate sarva-patakat

If a person falls, patitah, or slips, skalitah, chartah – he feels pain or if a person just sneezes and out of habbit, just because he’s grown up in a nice vaishnava culture, says, “Hari!” or “Govinda!” or “Krishna!”, all his sins immediately disappear. Mucyate sarva-patakat – at that very moment. He has no faith, he just sneezed and said “Krishna!”, because he has seen others sneezing and saying “Krishna!” Or, having slipped he was falling and at the same time he pronounced, “Govinda!” and all his sins left him. Bhakti is very powerful, it is like fire, it can burn all sins, even if one has no faith. But faith is needed, faith is absolutely necessary in order to make our practice pure. And, although in a sense Ajamila was saved, he then went to the Himalayas, to Rishikesh, to associate with devotees and in the process of that association to obtain purity of his bhakti. Because otherwise he can even go to the spiritual world, he can attain liberation in the spiritual world, and there he will be one of the laymen of the spiritual world, in the spiritual world there are lots of laymen, too, this is called salokya-mukti, when someone is liberated and lives in the same city with Krishna. Actually, he does not care about Krishna. Rarely, once a year, Krishna rides out on an elephant, and he goes out into the street and shouts “Haribol! Jaya! Haribol!”, and then goes home and watches the spiritual TV which shows a series about Krishna’s pastimes in Goloka Vrindavan. 

But in order to get liberated, to attain even salokya-mukti, there is no need of pure bhakti; but in order to attain pure bhakti, Srila Rupa Goswami says, faith is needed. Faith can be obtained from one source only – only from a Krishna devotee, only from a sadhu, only from a pure devotee of Krishna. In a sense, faith, as Jiva Goswami explains commenting on this verse from the “Srimad-Bhagavatam”, can appear just by seeing a sadhu. The very fact of seeing a sadhu is service in itself. In the Vedic culture there is a very nice tradition: if a sadhu comes to a village, all people must gather without fail to look at him, as we come every morning for the Deities’ darshan. What is the meaning of this ceremony? It’s that the very fact of seeing the Deities is already a service, darshan means service. We come for a sadhu’s darshan and in the Vedic culture sadhus are praised for their power. Just seeing a sadhu already means to make the first step, it means acquiring some faith in devotional service, what to speak of sitting down and listening to sadhus, becoming interested in what they are speaking about. This feeling that arises in the heart, the sense that he's right, that he is saying something important for me, is called faith. 

There is a curious story in the Puranas, I couldn’t manage to find out the precise source of this story. Bhakti Purushottama Swami was telling it once, about Bali Maharaja’s brother. Bali Maharaja had a brother who was a demon. Bali Maharaja became a devotee and he was very sorry for his brother who was a rowdy person and a drunkard. He could have even been Russian by origin, that’s not excluded. Moreover, he was an incorrigible dipsomaniac. Bali Maharaj prayed for him, tried to do something with him but nothing worked. Finally, Narada Muni came to visit Bali Maharaja and Bali Maharaja said, “I have a brother, he must be saved; and I know that there is only one salvation for him: only you can save him. There is no other salvation for him. Only if he sees you, even though for just a moment, he will be saved”.

Narada Muni felt great enthusiasm, for sadhus, too, like to be praised. Sadhus are pleased when they are told that they can do something for the others. Without hesitation Narada Muni went straight away to the palace of that brawler and drunkard. The drunkard was sitting and drinking. Narada Muni went up to him, opened his arms to embrace him and said, “My dear, surrender to Krishna!” That person grabbed a bottle and dashed after Narada Muni. For drunkards don’t like their extasy being disturbed and devotees can prevent them from experiencing extasy in full. He started running after Narada Muni and Narada started to run away, trying to escape, eventually running off to a safe distance. The drunkard was staggering and for this reason he could hardly catch Narada, Narada was sober. From a safe distance with the last effort and all his bhakti invested in his words, Narada said, “My dear, my darling, I am very sorry for you. Please, rememeber my words: when you find yourself in front of Yamaraja, ask him one question. Ask him to explain to you the potency of sadhu-sanga”. 

The man sobered up for a second, because Narada Muni’s persistence somewhat bewildered him. He thought that any sane person would have long ago forgotten all his stupidities and would have fled away. But this one is still insisting. At this moment a shade, a small shade of faint faith in Narada Muni’s words arose in him. He thought, “He’s giving an interesting idea. What if I suddenly do stand before Yamaraja? What shall I do then? And here he is giving me a hint”. Faith in Narada Muni’s words appeared in him. 

In due time he stood up before Yamaraja. Yamaraja has a scrivener who’s called Chitragupta. Chitra means picture and gupta means hidden. Chitragupta is the one who photographs us with a hidden camera. He knows everything we have done; he’s got a big hard drive where all those hidden snaps are stored. When we stand before Yamaraja he shows them to us: “Here, look!” He doesn’t just announce our verdict, he’s got documentary evidences, we see a film about our life with an outside eye and we start thinking, “Oh, my God! Is that me?!” We see from a distance what we did. Yamaraja showed Bali Maharaja’s brother a film about his life and said, “That’s it, you’ll have to suffer for a long time for all those sins that you have committed, for all the pain that you’ve caused to people, for all the so called enjoyments that you’ve defiled yourself by – for all this you’ll have to pay. But, like prior to any judgement, you have several last words that you can say”. 

Here he remembered Narada Muni and he remembered Narada Muni standing before him and telling him, “When you find yourself in front of Yamaraja, ask him what the potency of sadhu-sanga is”. 

The man said, “Oh, I have a question!” People like when they are asked questions. Yamaraja is no exception, either. He says, “What's your question?” “Please, explain to me the power of sadhu-sanga”. 

Yamaraja was lead into a dead end. He said, “There are no sadhus here, in hell. I would be glad to explain to you the power of sadhu-sanga, but I myself don’t fully know that, how can I know that? We should go to Brahma, He is the creator of the universe, he has a tremendous intellect, he will certainly be able to explain it fully, that’s a very profound question, I can not answer it superficially”. 

Together they went to Brahma; Yamaraja brought the sinner along and said, “This man asked me a questiona that I couldn’t answer. You are my master; I have come to you so that you explain to us the answer to this question. Please, explain to us the power of sadhu-sanga”. 

Brahma said, “What? Look at me! I have only four heads! My four heads are not enough to explain all that! Let’s go to Shiva, for he will probably know the answer to this question, for he is the best of vaishnavas”.

They went to Shiva. Shiva started crying when he heard this question. He said, “Look at my entourage, who is following me! You are speaking of sadhu-sanga and there I have just ... I myself would like to know fully the power of sadhu-sanga. Vishnu alone can explain it to us”. 

All four of them went to Vishnu. Yamaraja appeared before Him and said, “I’ve asked all of them this question; ultimately we’ve come down to You! We have come to You, Vishnu, please, explain to us the power of sadhu-sanga!” Vishnu said, “Even I can not explain the power of sadhu-sanga. One thing I can say for sure: that а mere instant of association with a devotee is enough for one to find himself in the spiritual world; and one who attains the spiritual world never returns back any more: yad gatva na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama (Bg. 15.6). Therefore this sinner shall remain here and you go back” (laughter and applause). 

Vedic scriptures emphasize this point because ultimately real faith – listen carefully – real faith that will truly be able to save us, can be obtained only by serving a devotee; only by having obtained the mercy of a devotee and his favour. 

In the “Caitanya-caritamrita” (Madhya, 22.64) Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami says sraddhavan jana haya bhakti-adhikari – that sraddha is the only qualification for practicing bhakti. In order to practice pure bhakti, a person needs sraddha. In order to understand whether we have real sraddha or not, I would like to resort to the authority of Patanjali Muni. Srila Vyasadeva and Patanjali Muni in the “Yoga Sutra” (1.20) say very interesting things by which we can judge whether real shraddha has descended on us: shraddha-viryu-smriti-samadhi-pragya-purvakam itaresam. This sutra in Sanskrit means that when a person obtains sraddha or real faith, along with it he obtains virya. Virya means power, he obtains power, enthusiasm, huge energy. Virya literally means life force. And along with it, smriti, memory. Memory or clear intelligence, clear mind. These are two characteristics that always accompany true sraddha. When shraddha arises in a person, along with this he feels energized. Has anyone felt the surge of extraordinary energy when faith appeared in him? Who has had this feeling, raise your hand, please? One is ready to move mountains! One can do anything! When a person has faith he can do amazing things! Sometimes in a kirtan some 85-year-old people suddenly start dancing! And young people stand in the corners, look at them and think, “Why are they dancing?” What’s the reason that they are dancing? They have power, they have faith. When there is faith, there is power. When there is power and faith, there is clarity of mind that allows one to go along this path. 

In other words, Vyasadeva, commenting on this sutra, gives a very interesting description, explaining this point: shraddha viriya smriti. He says shraddha cetasah samprasadah – he says that when sraddha descends on a person, his consciousness is purified. Samprasadah means that his consciousness or his mind becomes very clear and very calm. Suddenly, at some point a moment of piece descends on him; a clear understanding that everything is all right with me, there is a goal and I want to reach that goal. Usually our mind is shaken by whirlwinds but even in the most terrible whirlwinds there is a moment of lull, have you heard about it? When there is a hurricane in the middle of the hurricane there is moment of lull. This moment of lull is the feeling of faith that comes down on a person when he meets with the devotees. This is the feeling that I have found, I have obtained what I’ve been looking for; that all my long quests have finally brought me to the goal to which I have been striving after all this time. 

Srila Prabhupada very nicely describes his first meeting with Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati. He went to him and there were storms in his mind. Of course, those were lilas, we should take all this as a certain lila. But he had certain concepts about what is to be done, he was saying that we must win independence, we must fight, Gandi ki jay! He started arguing with Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati аnd Bhaktisiddhanta very calmly, very quietly said, “This is all nonsense”. Srila Prabhupada said, “When I was coming back from there, I had the feeling of complete defeat. But there was nothing sweeter than this feeling of defeat. My spiritual master completely defeated me – the defeared my ideas, all my concepts and I felt completely vanquished, I knew that this was what I’ve always been striving for”. 

This feeling, as I said, the feeling that he is right and I am wrong, that he knows, and I don’t know, is called faith. Because people usually think, “I'm right, and all the rest, that’s clear, are not”. Why? By default. No arguments are required. I'm right, because it’s me, and I am always right by default. This is an axiom, this is something which is not subject to question, everything else is done on the basis of this starting point. But when we meet a sadhu we start to have the feeling that I was’t right, he's right; I'm wrong, I lived in a wrong way, my whole life was meant for nothing! It was wasted on God knows what! Did anyone have this feeling when shraddha descended on you, raise your hand, please? Actually this is a miracle and this is the first act of mercy when a sadhu or a saint imparts shraddha to us and we feel piece. This piece is the freedom from doubt. What shraddha gives us at the very first moment is that it frees us from unnecessary, constantly troubling doubts. This doesn’t mean that later they won’t return. Doubts will be there up to the level of nistha and even at the level of nistha they will remain. But doubts is something that prevents us from acting, doubts is what prevents a person to start out on the spiritual path. In Sanskrit, doubts are defined as follows: samyak ksayate iti samsayah. Doubts is what sets our mind to sleep, they do not allow us to act. Because, has anyone heard of yoga before joinging bhakti-yoga? Have you heard of other spiritual practices? Have you performed any other spiritual practices? Has it worked out? Well, so-so… As a rule nothing works out because doubts are in the way. A person does something and then thinks, “Do I need this or not?” A person practices yoga for a week and then thinks, “Why am I wasting my time, at all?! Why should I waste my time sitting here …?” Because he understands that now he’s practicing it, but if he’s to be serious he’ll have to sit in the lotus pose for three hours. And he thinks, “What nonsense!” And doubt immediately paralyzes him, prevents him from acting. When faith appears in a person along with this faith there appear clarity of mind and peace of mind or freedom from doubt. That is why shraddha releases some energy in a person or gives him this power. 

Further on Vyasadeva explains another very interesting point about sraddha. He says, sa hi jananiva kalyani yoginam pati – he says that shraddha, like a loving mother, defends the yogi, that sraddha is like a mother who takes the beginner-yogi by hand and helps him make the first steps safely. Has anyone felt the grace that sraddha gives us? The protection, which shraddha gives us? Faith has descended and suddenly what used to attract us, still attracts us, but not that much. There is a protection from sraddha that tells us from inside: you don’t need all this, it’s all empty. Vyasadeva says that there is this very important thing that shraddha gives, a healing thing. That is why without sraddha one can not really practise bhakti. Sraddha is highly required and in the “Srimad-Bhagavatam” Kapiladev calls sraddha a tonic (3.25.25): 

satam prasangan mama virya-samvido

bhavanti hrit-karna-rasayanah kathah

taj-josanad asv apavarga-vartmani

sraddha ratir bhaktir anukramisyati

He says that when we listen to a sadhu then these stories about Krishna are satam prasangan mama virya-samvido, when our association with a sadhu becomes truly profound. It becomes profound when we start to listen and listen with faith: satam prasangan mama virya-samvido bhavanti hrit-karna-rasayanah kathah – when these stories turn into a tonic. Rasayana literally means a tonic. The Sanskrit word which is used in this verse is rasayana. What does rasayana do? – Is anyone familiar with Ayurveda? Rasayana rejuvenates, yes, but how? What’s the purpose of rejuvenation? It doesn’t just nourish. Rasayana has a special quality, it increases immunity, it increases the ojas in one’s body, makes one’s resistance very strong. Sadhus’ stories have the same effect on our consciousness. They increase the resistance to the infection of the material world. When we listen to a sadhu this means that our consciousness is safe, that we are not going to catch the material infection, not going to catct this material disease. That is why at the minimum – and this is the first small lesson that I would like that we learn today – it consists in the fact that the minimum thing we should do, so that our faith becomes truly strong and helps us overcome all obstacles awaiting us on the spiritual path, we should do one simple thing: constantly come in contact with sadhus, with saints in the form of sound. Because real association, satam prasangan mama virya-samvido, consists in our listening to them, and listening in a particular state of consciousness, we listen with faith and with the understanding that this is indispensable to us. Our spiritual life begins with this, our spiritual life continues thanks to this and our spiritual life will bring us to success thanks to this one single principle. If we forget about it at some point, if, for some reason, out of stupidity, out of misunderstanding, if we interrupt this invigorating flow of rasayana in the form of sound coming from the mouth of truly pure devotees which enters into our ears and enters into our heart – if we interrupt this flow, we won’t be able to achieve anything on the spiritual path. We must always listen to a devotee, because that’s the only way we can obtain protection from the material infection. That’s the only way we can obtain sraddha and the only way we can progress. This is the mover on the spiritual path. This is not just a kind of a pleasant way of spending time or entertainment. Tthis is something that gives us strength, faith, clarity of consciousness and faith. Never, under any circumstances, must we stop listening. We must constantly, again and again, with unfading faith and unceasing desire strive for listening about Krishna. If such faith is there this alone will be enough to overcome everything else. 

This is the first thing that I wanted to say today. Tomorrow I'll speak about how we should listen, who we should listen to and who we shouldn’t listen to. Because there are two types of nurishment for our sraddha. There is good nurishment and there is not so good nurishment. Unfortunately, even in the society of devotees we sometimes, due to our perverted taste or attachments, start or try to nourish our sraddha with nourishment of not very good quality. What are the consequences? – Pitiful consequences. I'll be speaking about this tomorrow. Tomorrow we’ll have a very curious presentation about the two types of sraddha that can arise in one in the process of hearing and which sraddha we should cherish, and which sraddha we should to try to eradicate in the process of proper sadhana. 

Well, that is, as a whole, in a few words, what I wanted to say today. Thank you. 

Q: (inaudible) 

Answer: You can use the player, there is a deficiency of live sadhus now, so ... But when there is an opportunity to listen to a live sadhu you should listen to the live sadhu. Because the effect of presence is much greadter due to the fact that in his presence we try to be much more attentive. The power of his word is not reduced by being reproduced by a recorder or a player. But the power of our attention is abruptly reduced when we associate with a sadhu in the form of a MP3 player. 

Yes, Vishnu-tattva Prabhu. 

Q: (inaudible) 

Answer: Yes, that’s a good and important question that should be understood. The question is that sraddha arises as a result of tistening to sadhus, but at the same time we know that in some people it does arise and in others it doesn’t. 500 or 1000 or 1000 0000 people may come to a lecture given by a sadhu. When Srila Prabhupada organized his programs, sometimes 100 000 people would come to his lecture but faith arose only in a handful of people. What, actually, makes the difference? Vishnutattva Prabhu also said that we can see even here that we listen to a sadhu and strong faith does arise in someone while in someone else it doesn’t. What makes the difference? 

The difference or the reason consists in one thing, in the degree of one’s sinfulness and the degree to which his sinfulness has made ​​him proud. As a result of certain sins committed in the past people develop pride and this pride doesn’t allow them to hear the sadhu despite their listening to him. Because to hear means to show a little bit of humility. Like in this story about Bali Maharaja’s brother. At a certain point this glimpse of little humility appeared in him. This glimpse of humility saved him ultimately. In most people this humility does not appear, and since no reverence or respect for the sadhu appears, then, accordingly, shraddha doesn’t appear nor do the effects of hearing. Srila Prabhupada explains this. He says that the word sraddha itself means reverence or respect. If a person has even a shade of respect for a sadhu, then that’s already good and it means that the seed is planted, it has fallen on fertile soil. If no reverence has appeared, then, respectively, the seed has fallen on a rock and it won’t sprout there. In a sense that is fortune. Sometimes a person, even a very proud one, can feel reverence for a sadhu and it will help him further develop faith and progress on this path. And sometimes a peson who even as a whole is quite humble suddenly at some point puts up some blocks or a rejection from within, a wall against these words because he feels that this is a threat to the existence of his false ego. We may feel that what the sadhu says threatens our existence in the way we have existed so far. Therefore we’ll put up a screen and that screen will bounce off all his words, a screen in the form of certain disregard. We should listen with an open heart, with a minimum respect. That is why the Vedic culture is so important. It explains to people that sadhus are to be respected, even if we don’t understand what, how, why, and this respect in itself helps one to make the next steps. The Vedic culture itself in its most basic forms rests on two principles: on the principle of gratitude and on the principle of respect. If we cultivate these two principles ... Similarly, in the society of devotees, this is also valid for devotees, because pride makes us show disrespect to others, offend them, look down on them, calculate their status level and everything else. While the Vedic culture helps one respect the other person by default. And it is highly probable that ultimately we’ll see a sadhu and look at him with respect and this respect will be the first step on our spiritual path. This same thing applies also to the devotees. We may sometimes listen and at the same time inwardly think, “Come on! You tell me!” I have heard various things, various things are said about various people, that this one is a materialist, the other one is something else – people try to judge. These are tricks of the material mind when we try to judge other people, especially those who are above us, from our own bell tower, and, judging them we naturally pull them down below our own level. In this case, of course, no sraddha will arise. 

Q: (inaudible) 

Answer: Yes, he started respecting him for his persistence, that despite of everything, despite that he was chased in this way and in that way and pursued with bottles but all the same he ran away into a safe distance and still insisted. This is also a particular feeling that we feel at seeing a sadhu – we feel that it does not come out of envy. This too can be a reason for a shade of respect. 

Q: (inaudible) 

A: You can’t distinguish that in any way. Both are, in a sense, similar, parallel things; that’s why Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, asat-sanga-tyaga, – ei vaisnava-acara (CC, Madhya, 22.87) – that we shouldn’t associate. When we meet a materialist and he starts moving in his philosophy persistently and very convincingly on us, then, because we have a ground for these doubts, our mind starts to oscillate or hesitate. As I already said, there are two creatures inside us; one pulls us up and the other pulls us down. Material mind is ready to attain material belief, he’s looking for it, he desires it, because material faith is the justification of his life here and anything you like and it's his excuse to do whatever he wants. 

Like today on the way here I was quoted some statistics. It turns out that recently on the TV it’s been announced that in the 15th century throughout entire Russia five murders vere committed per year and each murder case was personally investigated by the Knyaz, that is, this used to be a very rare thing. People were dark, ignorant, they believed in God and therefore they didn’t murder. And now people are very progressive, therefore, they do whatever they want. Mind has this desire not to believe and when we encounter a person who presents us strong arguments the mind cheers up and grasps them and on the other hand some part of our existence still pulls us in the opposite direction. That is why it is very important, especially in the beginning, asat-sanga-tyaga – to avoid association with strong materialists. You can with the weak, but not with the strong ones. 

I think it’s time for Gaura-arati now, we’ll have more opportunities. Leela Purusha, ask your question tomorrow. Thank you very much. Srila Prabhupada ki! Jaya!