Satam Prasangat—Telephone Lecture to Devotees in Mauritius

Giriraj Swami: We shall read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Three, Chapter Twenty-five: “The Glories of Devotional Service.”

TEXT 25

satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido
bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ
taj-joṣaṇād āśv apavarga-vartmani
śraddhā ratir bhaktir anukramiṣyati

TRANSLATION

In the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very pleasing and satisfying to the ear and the heart. By cultivating such knowledge one gradually becomes advanced on the path of liberation, and thereafter he is freed, and his attraction becomes fixed. Then real devotion and devotional service begin.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The process of advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and devotional service is described here. The first point is that one must seek the association of persons who are Kṛṣṇa conscious and who engage in devotional service. Without such association one cannot make advancement. Simply by theoretical knowledge or study one cannot make any appreciable advancement. One must give up the association of materialistic persons and seek the association of devotees because without the association of devotees one cannot understand the activities of the Lord. Generally, people are convinced of the impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth. Because they do not associate with devotees, they cannot understand that the Absolute Truth can be a person and have personal activities. This is a very difficult subject matter, and unless one has personal understanding of the Absolute Truth, there is no meaning to devotion. Service or devotion cannot be offered to anything impersonal. Service must be offered to a person. Nondevotees cannot appreciate Kṛṣṇa consciousness by reading the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or any other Vedic literature wherein the activities of the Lord are described; they think that these activities are fictional, manufactured stories because spiritual life is not explained to them in the proper mood. To understand the personal activities of the Lord, one has to seek the association of devotees, and by such association, when one contemplates and tries to understand the transcendental activities of the Lord, the path to liberation is open, and he is freed. One who has firm faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead becomes fixed, and his attraction for association with the Lord and the devotees increases. Association with devotees means association with the Lord. The devotee who makes this association develops the consciousness for rendering service to the Lord, and then, being situated in the transcendental position of devotional service, he gradually becomes perfect.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā
cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasma śrī-gurave namaḥ
 
śrī-caitanya-mano-’bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale
svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam
 
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
 
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇ
 
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita
gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
 
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
 
vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

I am very pleased to be in your association today. As the verse states, it is through the association of devotees that we receive the transcendental knowledge of Krishna and devotional service.

There are many important words in this verse. The first is satām—pure devotees. The word sat means “eternal.” That which is eternal exists, is true, the Bhagavad-gītā says, and that which is not eternal does not exist, is not true. So sat means “eternal and true.” Devotees are truthful. There is another verse in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.17) that says that the Lord from within the heart helps the “truthful devotee” who is eager to hear His messages. There the same word, satām, is used.

śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ
hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi
vidhunoti suhṛt satām

“Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone’s heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.”

Srila Prabhupada translates satām as “truthful devotee.” Real devotees are truthful. Truthful means that they are free from duplicity. When they chant Hare Krishna, they are actually chanting Hare Krishna. They are not thinking of other things or making other plans.

Of course, one may try to hear the holy name when one chants, and one must try to hear, and as long as one is making the effort, even if not completely successful, he is considered truthful—satām. He is making the effort. He is sincere. He wants to hear the holy name even though the mind is flickering and takes him from place to place. As Arjuna says in the Bhagavad-gītā (6.34),

cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa
pramāthi balavad dṛḍham
tasyāhaṁ nigrahaṁ manye
vāyor iva su-duṣkaram

“The mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Kṛṣṇa, and to subdue it, I think, is more difficult than controlling the wind.”

Still, as the Bhagavad-gītā (6.26) says,

yato yato niścalati
manaś cañcalam asthiram
tatas tato niyamyaitad
ātmany eva vaśaṁ nayet

“From wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the Self.”

Whenever the mind wanders, we must bring it back. We must constantly endeavor to hear the holy names when we chant.

His Grace Bhurijana Prabhu has advised that one should take a vow, one should make a saṅkalpa, to hear at least one mantra every day, to focus the mind fully on one mantra every day—not even two or ten. Just one. And we will see how difficult it is just to hear one complete mantra with mind fixed. He says that even if you can’t hear one mantra, at least start with one word—"Hare,” “Krishna,” “Hare,” “Krishna"—without the mind wandering, and it will give great impetus to us in our effort to chant and in our spiritual progress. So, satām: “truthful devotee.”

Prasaṅgāt means “through the association.” As Srila Prabhupada says, man is a social animal. A little earlier in the same chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.25.20) we read:

prasaṅgam ajaraṁ pāśam
ātmanaḥ kavayo viduḥ
sa eva sādhuṣu kṛto
mokṣa-dvāram apāvṛtam

“Every learned man knows very well that attachment for the material is the greatest entanglement of the spirit soul. But that same attachment, when applied to the self-realized devotees, opens the door of liberation.”

Man is a social animal. He needs company. He wants association. And if he doesn’t associate with devotees, he will be obliged to associate with nondevotees. Two of the first items in devotional service are to associate with devotees and to give up the association of nondevotees. Giving up the association of nondevotees does not mean that when we go to preach we can’t meet them, because preaching means approaching nondevotees, but our purpose is to give them our association, or Krishna’s association, not to take their association. Of course, in normal affairs, we do interact with people—at work, at school, with family members—who may not be devotees, and there is no prohibition against normal interaction. But we should not take their advice in spiritual matters, and we should not waste time in activities outside of Krishna consciousness. We can spend the minimum time, as required, according to the situation, but we should not waste time in mundane talk—grāmya-kathā—or any other frivolous pursuit.

Rather, we should use our time to associate with devotees, because associating with devotees means associating with the process of hearing and chanting about Krishna, which ultimately means associating with Krishna, because on the absolute platform there is no difference between Krishna and Krishna’s name; there is no difference between Krishna and talks about Krishna; there is no difference between Krishna and remembering Krishna. When we associate with devotees, naturally we will chant Krishna’s name, we will hear Krishna’s instructions and līlās, and we will remember Krishna. By associating with Krishna through the process of associating with devotees in the activities of śravaṇam, kīrtanam, and smaraṇam, we associate with Krishna. Therefore Srila Prabhupada says that the association of devotees means the association of Krishna.

In the purport, Srila Prabhupada explains that there may be many people who talk about Krishna and Krishna’s pastimes but who do not really have faith in Krishna as a person. They may believe that Krishna is ultimately impersonal or even that He is imaginary. In any case, whether they think Him to be impersonal or mythological, their conclusion is that in the end there is no Krishna. There is either the impersonal brahman or there is nothing—just the material world. And then, there is no devotion or devotional service.

So we have to hear from satām (pure devotees, truthful devotees), and in their association we can understand the personal feature of the Absolute Truth. We can understand that Krishna is a person and that He is real, more real than anything in the material world. And not only is He real, but His name, His form, His qualities, and His pastimes are also real and eternal (sat). Association with devotees is real association; it is association with the Absolute Truth, which is absolutely real.

Then what happens? Bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ. That kathā, hari-kathā, kṛṣṇa-kathā, becomes pleasing to the heart and to the ear. The ear actually takes pleasure. Rupa Gosvami prays, “What are one tongue and two ears to chant and hear the holy name? If I had thousands of tongues and millions of ears, then I could begin.” The devotee becomes so eager to chant and hear that he wants thousands of tongues and millions of ears, because he gets so much pleasure. In the material world we have the law of satiation, which means we may have some taste or desire for some food, for example—we may want to eat gulābjāmun or rasagullā—but eventually we will reach a point when we are satiated and then we don’t want any more—not even one tasty, sweet, juicy, golden sweet ball. We don’t want it because we are satiated. We are full. We have had enough. That is the law of material nature, the law of satiation. But with spirit there is no satiation. You can chant and chant and chant and hear and hear and hear and never get tired of it, especially in the association of pure devotees, because it is so pleasing to the heart and the ears—pleasing and satisfying. “Satisfying” means that you don’t want anything else. It doesn’t mean you are satisfied in the sense that “Okay, I have attended the satsaṅga for thirty minutes—I am satisfied; that’s enough” or “I have chanted my sixteen rounds—I am satisfied; that’s enough.” That is not what satisfied means. Satisfied means that I am satisfied just by hearing and chanting about Krishna in the association of devotees and that I don’t want anything else—yet I feel that I can never get enough of that association. I can never chant enough. I can never hear enough. I want more and more and more, because it is so pleasing. And I am satisfied doing that only. I need nothing more to amuse or entertain myself.

Rasāyanāḥ. Rasāyanāḥ is a term from Ayurvedic medicine. A rasāyanāḥ is a tonic administered to a sick person to give him life. We in material existence are diseased. We are suffering, practically dead, and rasāyanāḥ is the medicine we take to revive our health, to revive our life. And one takes it in increasing doses. In Sri Upadeśāmṛta, Srila Rupa Gosvami gives the example that when a person is diseased with avidya (ignorance), he is like a person with the disease of jaundice. Someone who has jaundice cannot relish the sweetness of sugar. Rather, because of the disease he tastes the sugar—the sweet—as bitter. But still, the Ayurvedic cure for jaundice is sugar candy, rock candy. And as one gradually recovers from the disease, the candy gradually tastes sweeter and sweeter, until finally one can taste it as it is, which is sweet like nectar.

The same applies to the holy name of Krishna, the transcendental topics of Krishna. As we chant and hear in the association of devotees, gradually our condition of material consciousness will improve, and eventually we will be cured. Then instead of us being the center—"I,” “me,” and “mine"—Krishna will be the center. “I am Krishna’s, and Krishna is mine. Krishna is my only possession.” Niṣkiñcana, akiñcana. One can get Krishna when one has Krishna as one’s only possession, or when one has no desire to possess anything other than Krishna.

So it is a gradual process, and we have to struggle, we have to work hard, we have to make efforts—then we can get Krishna and Krishna consciousness. Recently some devotees published an English translation of Sārārtha-darśini, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura’s commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. They published the Tenth Canto. There Visvanatha discusses the dāmodara-līlā, in which Mother Yasoda binds Krishna with ropes. He explains in great detail that Krishna has two potencies: one allows Him to fulfill His desires (satya-saṅkalpa-sakti), and the other allows Him to manifest His great opulence (vibhūti-sakti). Krishna had the desire to play, to steal butter and feed His monkey friends. That was His desire. And His vibhūti potency allowed Him to manifest extraordinary power so that Mother Yasoda could not bind Him. No matter how many ropes she tied together, Krishna’s belly was always too big; His vibhūti potency acted to assist His satya-saṅkalpa potency and allow Him to fulfill His desire. But Yasoda had her desire. Her desire was to bind Krishna, to teach Him a lesson and prevent Him from further mischief. She had her desire, and to fulfill her desire she worked very hard; she labored very hard. She did not give up. And in the end her desire to bind Krishna overwhelmed His desire to be free and play as He liked. So in the competition between the Lord and the pure devotee, it is the devotee’s determination that always prevails, not the Lord’s—although in Krishna consciousness, of course, everyone wins; no one loses. But in the competition, the devotee wins, and the Lord’s mercy—He has so many potencies, but His mercy potency is most excellent and reigns supreme—His mercy potency intervenes and melts the Lord’s heart, and He allows Himself to be bound by the devotee.

In the same way, when we chant the holy names (or hear the glories) of the Lord, we have to make efforts to chant without offense, and in particular to chant with attention. That tireless effort and hard labor (pariśrama) will invoke the Lord’s mercy (kṛṣṇa-kṛpā), and He will allow Himself to be bound by us. In other words, He will give Himself to us. Then we will actually be able to experience the holy name; we will actually be able to experience Krishna—and that is the process of Krishna consciousness. Just making that effort, Srila Prabhupada says, just making a conscious, concerted, continuous effort to hear the holy names, brings us to the stage of nāmācārya, or nāmābhāsa. And we are liberated. Nāmābhāsa is also an achievement, because by nāmābhāsa one is liberated. One becomes freed from material desires. One becomes freed from sinful reactions. One is liberated. That is the clearing stage. Just that effort to chant with attention—that genuine, sincere, steady effort to hear with attention—makes us liberated. Hearing kṛṣṇa-kathā with attention or even seeing the Deity and being absorbed in the beauty of the Deity makes us unconsciously liberated. That is also stated by Lord Kapila in this section of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.25.36):

tair darśanīyāvayavair udāra-
vilāsa-hāsekṣita-vāma-sūktaiḥ
hṛtātmano hṛta-prāṇāṁś ca bhaktir
anicchato me gatim aṇvīṁ prayuṅkte

“Upon seeing the charming forms of the Lord, smiling and attractive, and hearing His very pleasing words, the pure devotee almost loses all other consciousness. His senses are freed from all other engagements, and he becomes absorbed in devotional service. Thus in spite of his unwillingness, he attains liberation without separate endeavor.”

By associating with pure devotees and chanting and hearing about Krishna in their association, the door to liberation opens. One immediately (asu), very quickly or immediately, treads the path of liberation (apavarga-vartmani). Thus one progresses from stage to stage (śraddhā ratir bhaktir anukramiṣyati), one after the other, until one reaches ultimate perfection.

In the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu Rupa Gosvami divides devotional service into three stages: sādhana-bhakti, bhava-bhakti, and prema-bhakti. In relation to this verse (SB 3.25.25), acharyas have commented that sraddha refers to sādhana-bhakti, which begins with sraddha and continues through different stages up to āsakti; that rati refers to bhava (rati is a synonym for bhava); and that bhakti means prema. So by discussing the pastimes and activities of the Personality of Godhead in the association of pure devotees, one advances on the path of pure devotional service from sraddha, or sādhana-bhakti, to rati, or bhava-bhakti, and ultimately to prema-bhakti. Then, as Srila Prabhupada says, real devotion and devotional service begin.

So, this is the great legacy that Srila Prabhupada has given us. He has given us the process of chanting the holy names and hearing the transcendental topics of Krishna in the association of devotees, and he has given us the devotees with whom to hear and chant. He has given us the holy name. He has given us his books. He has given us temples with Deities. And he has given us the association of pure devotees, which is of utmost importance. In the association of devotees, with the good instructions of the devotees and the mercy of pure devotees, we can learn to actually chant the holy name, to properly understand the Lord’s pastimes, to properly see and serve the Deity, and ultimately become perfect in Krishna consciousness and go back home, back to Godhead. Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments?

Sanatana-dharma dasa: What is the secret to appreciate the devotees?

Giriraj Swami: The secret begins with the negative—which goes with the positive. The negative is not to criticize devotees, not to find fault with devotees. We are prone to criticize devotees very casually in our talks, and not only in our talks but in our minds. Very casually, we find faults in them, and we criticize them mentally or verbally. And that disturbs the heart. That causes a disturbance in the heart that makes it difficult for us to hear the holy name with attention or hear the transcendental topics with attention. So we have to get out of the bad habit of casually criticizing devotees.

The mind—again we are back to the culprit mind—is always dragging us here and there, and the worst place it drags us is to the faults of devotees. We have to associate with devotees. We cannot advance without the association of devotees, but when we associate there is always the chance that we will find fault with them, and we have to check that tendency of the mind—whether the faults are real or not. We don’t want to take the mind too seriously. In fact, the main process that Srila Prabhupada gave for controlling the mind is to engage it in devotional service and to neglect it when it tries to lure us into any activity other than devotional service.

There is another process—beating the mind. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said that in the morning when you wake up you should beat the mind a hundred times with shoes and in the evening you should beat the mind a hundred times with a stick. So that is one process: to beat the mind into submission.

Another is to plead with the mind, to pray to the mind, like so many of our acharyas have done. “Dear mind, please, please, please worship the lotus feet of Krishna (Bhajahū re mana śrī-nanda-nandana). Please take shelter in the lotus feet of Krishna, which make one fearless (abhaya-caraṇāravinda re.). Having obtained this rare human birth, kindly cross over this ocean of worldly existence through the association of saintly devotees (durlabha mānava-janama sat-saṅge, taroho e bhava-sindhu re).”

But the general method that Srila Prabhupada gave us was to neglect the mind, to be so busy in the positive activities of Krishna consciousness that we have no time for other activities, especially the worst activity, which is the offense (nāma-aparādha) of criticizing devotees (sādhu-nindā), offending devotees.

So we have to stop that. We have to understand that it is only going to harm us. It is not going to help us in any way. It is only going to harm us. And it is subtle. It goes on all the time. Even if we don’t actively speak against devotees, negative thoughts about devotees come in our minds. We must neglect those thoughts. We must ignore them. Don’t take them seriously. Don’t take the mind seriously. Stay engaged in the positive activities of Krishna consciousness. Chant the holy names and serve and glorify the devotees.

And when we chant and hear in the association of pure devotees and take pleasure in the process, then naturally we will appreciate the devotees, because they are the ones who are allowing us access to the process. They are facilitating us in getting so much pleasure and satisfaction from hearing and chanting.

And then there is preaching. We may take the devotees for granted, but when we go out and preach—really meet the conditioned souls and preach, not just make friends with them or get them to buy something. . . Of course, that is also good; we do want them to buy things from devotees, especially Prabhupada’s books—and to read Prabhupada’s books—but when we actually preach and try to get people to surrender to the process of Krishna consciousness and then we see all the resistance they have, it makes us appreciate devotees. Even among so-called pious Hindus there are so many nondevotees, impersonalists, and demigod worshipers, and we will see that there is a difference. In a way they may be nice, but there is a difference. They are not devotees. We have to face Muslims, Christians, atheists, so many people. So preaching keeps us humble, and that makes us appreciate the devotees more. Going out on the street, going out door to door, house to house, office to office, will keep us humble—especially if we are really preaching, not just being sociable. That will keep us humble, and that will help us to appreciate other devotees. Sundara Lala dasa: The association of devotees may vary according to the level of consciousness of the devotees. What is the meaning of real association?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, it varies according to the consciousness of the person who is taking association, and it varies according to the level of consciousness of the persons giving association. Of course, we want the association of the most advanced devotees, but they are not always available, nearby. So we may consider, “What is within my control?” To some extent we can control the association. We can seek the association of more advanced devotees, as far as possible. But even when they are not available to us, we still require association with devotees. If we don’t associate with devotees, we will associate with nondevotees—or with our minds. So we want to associate with devotees. But we also have to associate with them in the right consciousness. Are we going to appreciate that the devotees are chanting Krishna’s name, that they are discussing Krishna’s glories—or are we going to focus on the faults?

Real association means that we appreciate the Krishna consciousness and don’t dwell on the material faults or on any fault, whether real or imaginary. That is real association. When we hear with respect, with appreciation, with gratitude, and appreciate with affection—that is real association. And to whatever extent we can, we should associate with more advanced devotees—in the same mood. So we also have to purify ourselves, to be sincere in our desire for association. Otherwise, the mind. . . We may be sitting in a room with the most advanced devotee—it happened when we were with Srila Prabhupada—we could be sitting in a room with the most advanced devotee, but our mind could take us elsewhere. Our minds can take us anywhere. What is in our power is to endeavor to control the mind when it wanders or finds faults in devotees, and to appreciate, “Oh, this devotee is speaking about Krishna. This devotee is repeating the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the message of Bhagavad-gītā, the message of Srila Prabhupada, the message of our acharyas. I am so blessed to have this association.”

We should hear with appreciation, and then it doesn’t even matter so much. Like Prabhupada said, “The preacher is just a peon. Personally he may be very poor, but he is delivering the message of Krishna, which is most valuable.” So we don’t mind that the peon or the postman is poor, if he delivers us a million dollars. “Oh, you are just a peon. Who are you? You are just a postman. Who are you?” Rather, you appreciate, “Oh, you brought me a check for a million rupees. Thank you so much. I am so grateful to you. Thank you.” That should be our mood—not judging how advanced he is. And how do we, as neophytes, know how advanced he is anyway? Let us appreciate: “Oh, he is giving me the most valuable treasure. He is giving me Krishna’s holy name. He is giving me the message of Krishna from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, from Bhagavad-gītā, from Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, from Caitanya-caritāmṛta. He is the most munificent welfare worker (bhūri-dā janāḥ).

tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta-jīvanaṁ
kavibhir īḍitaṁ kalmaṣāpaham
śravaṇa-maṅgalaṁ śrīmad-ātataṁ
bhuvi gṛṇanti ye bhūridā janāḥ

“My Lord, the nectar of Your words and the descriptions of Your activities are the life and soul of those who are always aggrieved in this material world. These narrations are transmitted by exalted personalities, and they eradicate all sinful reactions. Whoever hears these narrations attains all good fortune. These narrations are broadcast all over the world and are filled with spiritual power. Those who spread the message of Godhead are certainly the most munificent welfare workers.” (SB 10.31.9, Cc Madhya 14.13)

Tava kathāmṛtaṁ bhuvi gṛṇanti ye: those who are distributing the message of Godhead are the most munificent welfare workers. “Oh, he is bhūridā janāḥ. He is most munificent. He is giving the greatest treasure: Krishna—the nectar of kṛṣṇa-kathā. He is my greatest well-wisher and friend.” That should be our attitude—not judging, “Oh, he is not so advanced.” And, like I said, do we know for sure how advanced he or she is, anyway?

We should be open to seeing Krishna anywhere and everywhere, to getting Krishna wherever we can. Prabhupada often quoted Canakya Pandita: “One should take gold even from a dirty place (viṣād apy amṛtaṁ grāhyam amedhyād api kāñcanam/nīcād apy uttamāṁ jnanam strī-ratnaṁ duṣkulād api).” So we should think, “Okay, maybe he is not a perfect devotee, but still, he is chanting Krishna’s name, he is repeating Krishna’s message. Let me take the good.” That is the qualification of a good person: he does not take the bad; he takes only the good. And that is real association with devotees—when we appreciate. No doubt, it helps us to advance—it is easier to appreciate—when we are in the association of more mature, pure devotees, but it also depends on us, our receptivity. And we should be very open to anyone who is chanting the holy name of Krishna and repeating the transcendental message of Krishna.

Scripture recommends that we associate with more advanced devotees. We can benefit more from the association of more advanced, pure devotees, because of the quality of sound that emanates from their mouths, the quality of devotion that fills their hearts. When they speak, there is no false ego. When they speak, there is no personal interest. They want only to glorify Krishna and help others to advance in Krishna consciousness. They have taste, and they have realization—which they can inspire in us.

So we can pray, as did Pṛthu Maharaja:

sa uttamaśloka mahan-mukha-cyuto
bhavat-padāmbhoja-sudhā kaṇānilaḥ
smṛtiṁ punar vismṛta-tattva-vartmanāṁ
kuyogināṁ no vitaraty alaṁ varaiḥ

“ My dear Lord, You are glorified by the selected verses uttered by great personalities. Such glorification of Your lotus feet is just like saffron particles. When the transcendental vibration from the mouths of great devotees carries the aroma of the saffron dust of Your lotus feet, the forgetful living entity gradually remembers his eternal relationship with You. Devotees thus gradually come to the right conclusion about the value of life. My dear Lord, I therefore do not need any other benediction but the opportunity to hear from the mouth of Your pure devotee.” (SB 4.20.25)

Bhakta Hawoldar: Is it possible for someone to fix himself on Krishna?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, that is the whole purpose of Krishna consciousness. But again, there are different stages: sādhana-bhakti, bhava-bhakti, and prema-bhakti. In sādhana-bhakti we engage the senses and the mind in the service of Krishna, but because the mind and senses are not completely purified, they tend to be restless. So we really have to make an effort to keep them engaged in Krishna. We are unable to sit for twenty-four hours and chant the holy names, like Haridasa Thakura. Yet somehow or other, we must keep engaged in Krishna’s service—hearing, chanting, attending the morning program, attending the evening program, doing service, worshiping the Deity, distributing books, cleaning the temple, preaching—somehow or the other we must stay engaged.

sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor
vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane
karau harer mandira-mārjanādiṣu
śrutiṁ cakārācyuta-sat-kathodaye

mukunda-liṅgālaya-darśane dṛśau
tad-bhṛtya-gātra-sparśe ‘ṅga-saṅgamam
ghrāṇaṁ ca tat-pāda-saroja-saurabhe
śrīmat-tulasyā rasanāṁ tad-arpite

pādau hareḥ kṣetra-padānusarpaṇe
śiro hṛṣīkeśa-padābhivandane
kāmaṁ ca dāsye na tu kāma-kāmyayā
yathottama-śloka-janāśrayā ratiḥ

“Mahārāja Ambarīṣa always engaged his mind in meditating upon the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, his words in describing the glories of the Lord, his hands in cleansing the Lord’s temple, and his ears in hearing the words spoken by Kṛṣṇa or about Kṛṣṇa. He engaged his eyes in seeing the Deity of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa’s temples and Kṛṣṇa’s places like Mathurā and Vṛndāvana, he engaged his sense of touch in touching the bodies of the Lord’s devotees, he engaged his sense of smell in smelling the fragrance of tulasī offered to the Lord, and he engaged his tongue in tasting the Lord’s prasāda. He engaged his legs in walking to the holy places and temples of the Lord, his head in bowing down before the Lord, and all his desires in serving the Lord, twenty-four hours a day. Indeed, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa never desired anything for his own sense gratification. He engaged all his senses in devotional service, in various engagements related to the Lord. This is the way to increase attachment for the Lord and be completely free from all material desires.” (SB 9.4.18–20)

Even if our mind wanders, at least our body will be engaged. And when the mind wanders, we try to bring it back. And whatever nonsense the mind tells us, we ignore. We carry on with our service—and try to fix the mind on Krishna.

Then, when we do advance to the stage of rati (attachment, or attraction), we are fixed, naturally. It is not an effort. In the beginning, we chant but our mind distracts us, takes us away. We don’t even know how our mind does this, but somehow we are suddenly somewhere else. We don’t even know how it happened. And as we advance, it works the other way, that our mind goes to Krishna. We don’t even know how it happened. For a moment we were contemplating something else, and then, without our even knowing how, our mind goes back to Krishna. That happens progressively through the different stages of sādhana-bhakti—niṣṭhā, ruci, āsakti—and when we get to bhava-bhakti, or rati, our attraction is fixed.

And when we come to prema-bhakti, there is no question: we are fully absorbed in pure love of Godhead—Krishna consciousness.

So it is possible, but in the stage of sādhana-bhakti—and we take it that we are in that stage—we have to work at it. We have to be careful to keep the mind always fixed on Krishna (sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor) and to keep the body always engaged in Krishna’s service, as in the example of Maharaja Ambarish. It is certainly possible. What Prabhupada gave us is not impossible. Like he said, “Impossible is a word in a fool’s dictionary.” Real Krishna consciousness is possible and practical. We just have to take the process seriously and pray for the mercy of Krishna and the higher authorities. We have to take to the practice sincerely and seriously.

Hare Krishna.