Some say that knowledge is the means for developing devotion.
In this and the following two sūtras Nārada discusses the relation between knowledge and bhakti.
Is bhakti based on knowledge? Acquiring knowledge is certainly an important part of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In the beginning of the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa reprimands Arjuna for "speaking learned words" but acting like one in ignorance. Kṛṣṇa thus becomes the guru of Arjuna and begins by teaching him about the immortality of the soul. Indeed, throughout the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa gives Arjuna essential knowledge concerning devotional service. Lord Caitanya also took the role of teacher in His pastimes with Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, and Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmīs.
Kṛṣṇa conscious knowledge is not jñāna in the impersonal sense but is rather knowledge of the soul, God, and God's energies, with a bhakti conclusion. It is obvious, therefore, that knowledge helps one practice bhakti. Sometimes Śrīla Prabhupāda was asked, "How can a person without knowledge know if a spiritual master is bona fide?" Śrīla Prabhupāda replied that to know who a bona fide spiritual master is, one must first have some idea of what a spiritual master is. He gave the example that if someone wants to buy gold, he had better learn about gold and the gold market. Otherwise, he will be easily cheated. Or if someone wants to attend a college, he has to research the qualifications of various universities, their entrance requirements, and so on. So knowledge is certainly an important component of bhakti. Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote his books with the aim of distributing transcendental knowledge, and in his Bhagavad-gītā he wrote, "Religion without philosophy is sentiment, or sometimes fanaticism, while philosophy without religion is mental speculation."
Yet although knowledge is important, it is not an absolute requisite for bhakti. If Kṛṣṇa likes, He can immediately bestow enlightenment upon any person, regardless of his education. And in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.7), Sūta Gosvāmī declares,
vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ
"By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment."
Therefore, while knowledge may help one to take up and prosecute bhakti, the contention that knowledge is the source of bhakti is false.





Others consider bhakti and knowledge interdependent.
The spiritual harmony of knowledge and devotion is well expressed in the phrase bhakti-vedānta. Some observers think of bhakti and jñāna as separate or in opposition to each other. The Advaitins claim a monopoly on jñāna through the study of the Vedānta-sūtra according to the commentary of Śańkara. But Vedāntic study is not in opposition to bhakti-yoga. The author of the Vedānta-sūtra is Śrīla Vyāsadeva, who also compiled the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is a masterpiece of bhakti as well as the natural commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra. The Vaiṣṇava ācāryas Rāmānuja, Madhva, and Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa all wrote commentaries on the Vedānta-sūtra and proved Vedānta to be harmonious with devotional service. So when a Vaiṣṇava studies the Vedānta-sūtra and other Vedic literatures in order to understand the glories of the Supreme Lord, then we have bhakti-vedānta.
Knowledge is especially required by the Kṛṣṇa conscious preacher, who has to meet opposing arguments. The Vaiṣṇava ācāryas were all highly learned in Sanskrit, philosophy, and logic, but they were never dry speculators like the academic or impersonalist scholars. They knew that Kṛṣṇa is the conclusion of the Vedas. As Śrī Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15), vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ/ vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham: "By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas."
Knowledge and devotion are harmonious, but to say that they are interdependent is too strong. Love of Kṛṣṇa often arises without a
long development of jñāna. Nārada Muni once blessed a sadistic hunter with pure devotion to Kṛṣṇa. This type of spontaneous development of bhakti is known as kṛpā-siddhi, perfection via the good graces of the Lord and the Vaiṣṇavas.
In the eternal pleasure pastimes of the Lord, Yogamāyā sometimes covers the devotee's knowledge that Kṛṣṇa is God. This is another example of how knowledge and bhakti are not always interdependent. Sometimes the eternal associates of Kṛṣṇa remember that He is the Supreme Lord, and sometimes they forget, depending on the requirements of their particular devotional mood, or rasa. At Kṛṣṇa's name-giving ceremony, the sage Garga said, "This child will grow in power, beauty, opulence — everything — on the level of Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Still, mother Yaśodā treated Kṛṣṇa as her dependent child. Once Yaśodā ordered Kṛṣṇa to open His mouth so she could see if He had eaten dirt. Kṛṣṇa obeyed, and when mother Yaśodā looked into her child's mouth, she saw the universal form, including all time, space, and planets. Realizing that Kṛṣṇa was the Supreme Person, she prayed,
Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead,... under whose illusory energy I am thinking that Nanda Mahārāja is my husband and Kṛṣṇa is my son, that all the properties of Nanda Mahārāja belong to me, and that all the cowherd men and women are my subjects. [Kṛṣṇa, p. 84]
But then Lord Kṛṣṇa expanded His internal energy to cover mother Yaśodā's sense of awe and reverence with maternal affection. She immediately forgot that Kṛṣṇa was God and again accepted Him as her child. In cases like these, in the eternal pastimes of the Lord, knowledge of Kṛṣṇa's divinity comes and goes, but always in the service of bhakti.






But the son of Brahmā says that bhakti is its own fruit.
Nārada now gives his opinion — that bhakti is not dependent on anything else for nourishment. In other words, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the natural, transcendental state of the living being, and this state manifests automatically when we take up the process of bhakti-yoga. As Śrīla Prabhupāda puts it in his lecture entitled "On Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa," "Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not an artificial imposition on the mind. This consciousness is the original energy of the living entity." The chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, Śrīla Prabhupāda says, "is directly enacted from the spiritual platform, surpassing all lower stages of consciousness — namely, sensual, mental, and intellectual."
In His Śikṣāṣṭaka (1), Lord Caitanya declares that the chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa cleans the mirror of the mind. When the mirror of the mind is clean, one can see one's original, spiritual self along with the Supreme Lord. The initial activities of bhakti, therefore, clear away ignorance and false ego and reveal to the living entity his eternal state of devotional service. So bhakti is not produced by something else; rather, the practices of sādhana-bhakti remove the obstacles to our original loving relationship with the Lord.
Śrīla Prabhupāda would sometimes say that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is causeless. For example, "Revival of the dormant affection or love of Godhead does not depend on the mechanical system of hearing and chanting, but it solely and wholly depends on the causeless mercy of the Lord" (Bhāg. 1.7.6, purport). This means that the Lord freely bestows bhakti upon the devotee. The Supreme Lord is not bound to respond to any religious act or austerity we may perform, as if in mechanical obedience to law. This theory, put forward by the Karma-mīmāḿsakas, is rejected in bhakti-yoga. Kṛṣṇa is svarāṭ, supremely independent, and so is bhakti. In other words, one's advancement in devotional service does not depend on any of the various departments of human accomplishment, such as karma, jñāna, or yoga. If a person happens to be lacking in any department — even in devotion itself — Lord Kṛṣṇa can supply the requirements as He likes.
In a purport describing the free wandering of Nārada Muni, Śrīla Prabhupāda gives an eloquent expression of the independence of bhakti-yoga:
There is no reason or obligation for [Nārada's] traveling, and no one can stop him from his free movement. Similarly, the transcendental system of devotional service is also free. It may or may not develop in a particular person even after he undergoes all the detailed formulas. Similarly, the association of the devotee is also free. One may be fortunate to have it, or one may not have it even after thousands of endeavors. Therefore, in all spheres of devotional service, freedom is the main pivot. [Bhāg. 1.6.37, purport]
The Māyāvādīs sometimes twist a sūtra like this one in an attempt to prove that the individual ātmā needs no assistance to attain self-realization. They say that the scriptures and gurus and even God Himself are just inventions that may help us achieve self-realization but that then must be thrown away, just as one may remove a thorn in his flesh with another thorn and then throw them both away. The misconception here is that the bhakti-śāstras and pure devotees are finite products of the material world. In truth, the śāstras are eternal manifestations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (3.15): brahmākṣara-samudbhavam. Elsewhere it is stated that the Vedas are the "breathing of Nārāyaṇa." The Vedic scriptures are sometimes manifest and sometimes not, but they exist eternally. Similarly, the Supreme Lord and His eternal associates sometimes appear within the material world, and after a time they disappear, but they are always manifest in the spiritual world, where they engage in unlimited varieties of pastimes. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes,
Persons with a poor fund of knowledge conclude that a place devoid of material qualities must be some sort of formless nothingness. In reality, however, there are qualities in the spiritual world, but they are different from the material qualities because everything there is eternal, unlimited, and pure. [Cc. Ādi 5.22, purport]
Lord Kṛṣṇa, His expansions, and His devotees are not "dispensable," as the Māyāvādīs contend. On the contrary, it is the Māyāvāda doctrine that is a temporary creation, introduced at a certain time for a special purpose but intended to be discarded later. Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja writes,
Śańkara, who was an incarnation of Lord Śiva, is faultless because he is a servant carrying out the orders of the Lord. But those who follow his Māyāvāda philosophy are doomed. They will lose all their advancement in spiritual knowledge. One who considers the transcendental body of Lord Viṣṇu to be made of material nature is the greatest offender at the lotus feet of the Lord. There is no greater blasphemy against the Supreme Personality of Godhead. [Cc. Ādi 7.114-15]
The opinion of Nārada Muni, here describing himself as "the son of Lord Brahmā," is that bhakti is eternal and self-manifested, not dependent on any lesser process. When such devotional service is revealed to a sincere devotee, he realizes that its nature is like the Lord's — sac-cid-ānanda, full of eternity, bliss, and knowledge.






This is illustrated by the examples of a royal palace, a meal, and so on. A king is not really satisfied just by seeing a palace, nor can someone placate his hunger just by looking at a meal.
By these worldly examples, Nārada helps us understand the actual experience of bhakti. Nārada has said that some philosophers think knowledge is the means for developing bhakti, whereas others say that knowledge and bhakti are interdependent. But Nārada's conclusion is that bhakti is its own fruit. This means that bhakti, being an intimate exchange between the Lord and His devotees, does not depend on any other process. Only the Lord's pure devotees can enter into and understand such an exchange.
The examples Nārada gives illustrate the difference between jñāna (theoretical knowledge) and vijñāna (realized knowledge). It is especially important to hear from a spiritual master who has vijñāna. We will have to experience vijñāna for ourselves, but if the spiritual master is not self-realized, how can he guide us? Only those who have confidential knowledge can convey it to others. For example, Lord Brahmā, the first enlightened living being, received Vedic knowledge directly from Lord Kṛṣṇa. If one hears Brahmā's realized knowledge from someone in disciplic succession who has also realized it, then one is in a position to receive vijñāna.
Much depends on the quality of submissive hearing. These sūtras of the Nārada-bhakti-sūtra dealing with the examples of a king's palace and a feast give us a remarkable inside look at spiritual life. If we listen with sensitivity and faith, then even before the stage of full realization we can begin to get an inkling of what it is like. We hear that spiritual perfection will be like going home, and our attraction for this develops. One thinks, "Yes I too would like to go home, back to Godhead." Faithful hearing can produce realization. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes,
For topics concerning Uttama-śloka, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the spiritual master speaks, and the disciple hears with attention.... The spiritual master and disciple do not need to understand more than Kṛṣṇa because simply by understanding Kṛṣṇa and talking about Kṛṣṇa, one becomes a perfectly learned person. [Bhāg. 10.1.4, purport]
Throughout the Vedic literature we find a strong emphasis on hearing about Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda states, "Whenever offenseless hearing and glorification of God are undertaken, it is to be understood that Lord Kṛṣṇa is present there in the form of transcendental sound, which is as powerful as the Lord personally" (Bhāg. 1.2.17, purport). Unless one experiences it, one cannot understand the powerful purification engendered by hearing from a bona fide spiritual master. As Śrīla Prabhupāda further writes:
Human reason fails to understand how by serving the devotee bhāgavata or the book bhāgavata one gets gradual promotion on the path of devotion. But actually these are facts explained by Śrīla Nāradadeva, who happened to be a maidservant's son in his previous life. [Bhāg. 1.2.18, purport]
Effective hearing must be accompanied by surrender to the Lord and the Lord's devotee. It is not idle armchair talk. One has to be serious about inquiring into the Absolute Truth, prepared to hear submissively, and ready to serve the learned spiritual master.
Here Nārada's analogies of a king looking at a palace and a hungry man looking at a meal point up the fact that bhakti has to be practiced wholeheartedly if one wants to fully appreciate it. The other processes — karma, jñāna, and yoga — even if practiced well, cannot bring the taste of kṛṣṇa-bhakti. They are compared to the nipples on a goat's neck, which look promising but which cannot yield milk, no matter how much you try to milk them. Nor can mere academic knowledge of bhakti produce any real understanding of it. Prabhupāda liked to compare academics who study bhakti to bees who lick the outside of a bottle of honey: a lot of energy expended, but all for naught.
The example of eating is also a metaphor to help us understand what it is like to attain Kṛṣṇa consciousness:
bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir
"Devotion, direct experience of the Supreme Lord, and detachment from other things — these three occur simultaneously for one who has taken shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in the same way that pleasure, nourishment, and relief from hunger come simultaneously and increasingly with each bite for a person engaged in eating" (Bhāg. 11.2.42).
The conclusion is that Nārada and the ācāryas are inviting us to get off the mental platform and to actually participate in bhakti-yoga — if we want to know what it really is and taste its fruit, going back to Godhead.

Therefore seekers of liberation should take to devotional service alone.
As stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.2.32), those who pursue liberation but do not take shelter of the Supreme Lord in devotional service may think that they have attained the highest position and been liberated, but eventually they fall down to materialistic activities. Because the impersonalist meditator fails to develop his loving relationship with the Supreme Person, he must return from his sojourn in Brahman and come back into the material world to fulfill his personal desires. Therefore eternal liberation, freedom from repeated birth and death, is achieved only in the spiritual world, when one is fixed in one's eternal relationship of loving devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In previous sūtras Nārada mentioned that pure devotional service is not performed for any reward, including release from birth and death. Lord Caitanya also expressed this idea in His Śikṣāṣṭaka (4):
na dhanaḿ na janaḿ na sundarīḿ
"O almighty Lord, I have no desire for accumulating wealth, nor do I have any desire to enjoy beautiful women, nor do I want many followers. All I want is Your causeless devotional service in my life, birth after birth." By saying "birth after birth," Lord Caitanya implies that He does not seek liberation, either. All He desires is continuous service and remembrance of the Lord, in any sphere of life.
And yet although a pure devotee never aspires for mukti, he automatically achieves it. By Kṛṣṇa's desire, he is promoted to Kṛṣṇaloka or to a Vaikuṇṭha planet, depending on his rasa with the Lord. Or, like Nārada, he may remain in the material world to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that liberation doesn't mean one has to develop four arms and four heads. If one is purely Kṛṣṇa conscious one may continue to live in the material world and be fully liberated. As Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.187):
īhā yasya harer dāsye karmaṇā manasā girā
"A person acting in the service of Kṛṣṇa with his body, mind, intelligence, and words is a liberated person even within the material world, although he may engage in many apparently material activities."
Standard authorities have described the methods for achieving devotional service.
Having described the essence of parā bhakti, the highest stage of devotional service, Nārada now turns to the practices one must perform to reach that stage. The practice stage of bhakti is called sādhana-bhakti. Nārada previously stated that bhakti was its own means, that it does not depend on anything else — specifically jñāna, or knowledge. And as Śrīla Prabhupāda points out, bhakti doesn't even depend on the devotee's practice:
Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot be aroused simply by practice. Actually there is no such practice. When we wish to develop our innate capacity for devotional service, there are certain processes which, by our accepting and executing them, will cause that dormant capacity to be invoked. Such practice is called sādhana-bhakti. [The Nectar of Devotion, p. 20]
The rules and regulations of bhakti are meant to cure a conditioned soul of the madness that causes his bondage and suffering. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes (The Nectar of Devotion, p. 21), "As a man's mental disease is cured by the directions of a psychiatrist, so this sādhana-bhakti cures the conditioned soul of his madness under the spell of māyā, material illusion."
Nārada says that the methods he will teach have been given by the ācāryas, those who teach by both word and deed. Bhakti can be taught only by Vaiṣṇava ācāryas and their representatives, not by teachers of comparative religion or impersonalists in the guise of bhaktas. Nārada himself is one of the greatest ācāryas, and so his own sayings are sufficient. Still, following the paramparā tradition, he quotes previous ācāryas and also gives his own insights. Thus his teachings are acceptable to all, regardless of sampradāya or particular founder-ācārya. Here Nārada uses the word gāyanti, "they sing," because the ācāryas joyfully teach the principles of bhakti.
One achieves bhakti by giving up sense gratification and mundane association.
Viṣaya refers to the objects of sense enjoyment, and one who indulges in sense enjoyment is called a viṣayī. A viṣayī cannot succeed in devotional service. The ācāryas therefore set down regulations for eating, mating, and so on. Nārada states that one should not only give up gross practices of sense indulgence but should even stop thinking of sense gratification. The word sańga-tyāga indicates that one should refrain from associating with sense objects even within the mind and heart. The ācāryas of all religions so consistently recommend such renunciation of sense pleasure that the need for it may seem a truism. But to practice it is not easy. And yet if we want to advance in bhakti-yoga, practice it we must. As Lord Kṛṣṇa says, "What is called renunciation you should know to be the same as yoga, or linking oneself with the Supreme, O son of Pāṇḍu, for one can never become a yogī unless he renounces the desire for sense gratification" (Bg. 6.2).
The Kṛṣṇa conscious method of renunciation is to engage the mind and senses in devotional service. As Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (2.255),
anāsaktasya viṣayān yathārham upayuñjataḥ
"When one is not attached to anything but simultaneously accepts everything in relation to Kṛṣṇa, one is situated above possessiveness."
An active devotee is more complete in his renunciation than one who rejects material things without knowledge of their relationship to Kṛṣṇa. This method of yukta-vairāgya gives one great freedom, but it must be done rightly. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, "One should, however, note that after doing something whimsically he should not offer the results to the Supreme Lord. That sort of duty is not in the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One should act according to the order of Kṛṣṇa, [which] comes through disciplic succession from the bona fide spiritual master" (Bg. 18.57, purport). In short, sinful activity cannot be brought under the purview of "offering everything to Kṛṣṇa." Indeed, Śrīla Prabhupāda would not accept disciples unless they agreed to follow the four regulative principles — no illicit sex, no intoxication, no gambling, and no meat-eating.
Renunciation is possible because of the higher pleasure attainable in spiritual life. As Kṛṣṇa states in the Bhagavad-gītā (2.59),
viṣayā vinivartante nirāhārasya dehinaḥ
"Although the embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, the taste for sense objects remains. But ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness." In his purport to this verse, Śrīla Prabhupāda compares the restriction from sense enjoyment mystic yogīs observe to the restrictions a doctor places upon a patient that forbid him from taking certain types of food. In neither instance is the taste for the forbidden pleasures lost. " Previously Nārada has stated that it is not sufficient merely to hear about spiritual life or to tell others about it without actually practicing it and realizing its fruits oneself. And so the sādhana-bhakta actually practices — he avoids lusty attachments on the strength of his vows, and Kṛṣṇa helps him from within. Eventually he relishes a higher taste and loses the desire for sense gratification. Bhakti-yoga, being a transcendental science, yields the expected results when carefully followed.
The phrase sańga-tyāgāt, which Nārada uses here, also appears in Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī's Upadeśāmṛta (3). According to Rūpa Gosvāmī, sańga-tyāga, by which he means "abandoning the association of nondevotees," is one of the most important requirements for the execution of pure devotional service. When Lord Caitanya was asked to define a Vaiṣṇava, He replied, asat-sańga-tyāga — ei vaiṣṇava ācāra: "Characteristically, a Vaiṣṇava is one who gives up the association of worldly people, or nondevotees" (Cc. Madhya 22.87). Just as asat-sańga increases our material attachment and impedes our devotional service, so sādhu-sańga furthers our devotional service by helping us become attached to Lord Kṛṣṇa and detached from the practices of nondevotees.
In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Lord Kapila advises His mother, Devahūti, that while material attachment is the greatest entanglement for the spirit soul, "that same attachment, when applied to the self-realized devotees, opens the door of liberation" (Bhāg. 3.25.20). In his purport, Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, "This indicates that the propensity for attachment cannot be stopped; it must be utilized for the best purpose. Our attachment for material things perpetuates our conditioned state, but the same attachment, when transferred to the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His devotee, is the source of liberation."
This sūtra contains a stern order for the aspiring devotee: "If you want to progress in bhakti, you must give up sense gratification and material association." In his Bhagavad-gītā purports, Śrīla Prabhupāda tells us how we should approach such orders: "The Lord instructs that one has to become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious to discharge duties, as if in military discipline. Such an injunction may make things a little difficult; still, duties must be carried out, with dependence on Kṛṣṇa, because that is the constitutional position of the living entity" (Bg. 3.30, purport). Lethargy in the face of these orders should be thrown off. The alternative is great unhappiness, more than we can imagine, as the soul falls down into lower species of life, birth after birth.
One achieves bhakti by worshiping the Lord ceaselessly.
Nārada has given a negative order — to restrain the mind and senses; he now gives the positive method for engaging the mind and senses in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Śrīla Prabhupāda compared Kṛṣṇa conscious activity to placing an iron rod in fire. As the rod stays steadily within the flames, it becomes hotter and hotter, until eventually it becomes fiery. In the same way, the devotee who steadily engages in Kṛṣṇa consciousness gradually becomes transformed, until eventually he becomes fully Kṛṣṇa conscious. If one is completely absorbed in Kṛṣṇa's service, there is no scope for the activities of māyā.
The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.6) also recommends uninterrupted devotional service:
sa vai puḿsāḿ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
"The supreme occupation for all humanity is that by which one can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendental Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self."
In this sūtra Nārada uses the word bhajana, which also appears, in a slightly different form, in the Bhagavad-gītā (6.47). In concluding His instructions on aṣṭāńga-yoga in the Sixth Chapter of the Gītā, Lord Kṛṣṇa says that one who serves Him with devotion and faith (śraddhāvān bhajate yo mām) is the highest yogī. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the word bhaj means "service":
Service with love and faith is especially meant for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One can avoid worshiping a respectable man or demigod and may be called discourteous, but one cannot avoid serving the Supreme Lord without being thoroughly condemned. [Bg. 6.47, purport]
This passage indicates that bhakti is not a spiritual recreation for a few people but is intended for all, and it cannot be avoided without dire consequences.
Nārada says bhakti is attained by uninterrupted loving service. But does he mean that one must be flawless, that one must never slip? No, Lord Kṛṣṇa allows for mistakes, provided one is determined to serve Him. He says in the Ninth Chapter of the Gītā,
api cet su-durācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk
"Even if one commits the most abominable action, if he is engaged in devotional service he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated in his determination" (Bg. 9.30). Śrīla Prabhupāda warns us, however, not to take advantage of this statement and think we can intentionally violate the rules of devotional life and still be a devotee. The blessing from the Lord expressed here is that if we go on serving the spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa with determination — especially by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare — then Lord Kṛṣṇa will accept us as His devotee, despite our imperfections.
But exactly what does one do to always keep busy in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and avoid becoming bored or restless? Prahlāda Mahārāja taught a ninefold process of bhakti for maintaining full engagement in the Lord's service: (1) hearing about the Lord, (2) chanting His name and glories, (3) remembering Him, (4) serving His lotus feet, (5) worshiping the Deity, (6) offering prayers to the Lord, (7) becoming His servant, (8) becoming His friend, and (9) offering Him everything. While the first two of these processes are extremely important, any one of them is sufficient for achieving perfection. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes:
The nine different processes enunciated by Prahlāda Mahārāja, who learned them from Nārada Muni, may not all be required for the execution of devotional service; if a devotee performs only one of these nine without deviation, he can attain the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. [Bhāg. 7.5.24, purport]
In early 1968 I wrote a letter to Śrīla Prabhupāda saying that sometimes I couldn't decide which service I should do at a given moment. Should I wash the dishes or chant Hare Kṛṣṇa? Prabhupāda replied:
There isn't any difference between chanting the Holy Name [and] washing the dishes of the Temple. So do not be worried when you are attracted for doing other work in the Temple. There is variegatedness in transcendental activities. Sometimes we like to chant, sometimes we like to wash dishes. There is no difference on the Absolute plane.
Someone might say that Nārada is being unreasonable in advocating "uninterrupted loving service." How can those who are busy with duties in the world maintain constant bhajana? But Nārada, like all ācāryas, is well aware of the worldly situation and the jīva's predicament. Thus he recommends śravaṇaḿ kīrtanam, hearing and chanting about the Lord, for all persons at all times. An outstanding example of a Kṛṣṇa conscious devotee who was busy in the world is Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa's friend. And it was Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself who insisted that Arjuna not renounce the battlefield in favor of meditation:
tasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu mām anusmara yudhya ca
"Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me in the form of Kṛṣṇa and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt" (Bg. 8.7).
Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, "The Lord never suggests anything impractical.... If he [Arjuna] doesn't practice remembering Kṛṣṇa while he is struggling for existence, then it will not be possible for him to remember Kṛṣṇa at the time of death" (Bg. Introduction). Lord Caitanya also advises, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ: [Cc. adi 17.31] "One should always chant the names of the Lord."
Still the question remains, How can an active person perform double duty — work and chant at the same time? But it is possible, through love. Prabhupāda gave the example of a man who goes to work in an office while his young son is very ill at home. Out of natural affection, the father is always thinking, "How is the boy?" Another example, given by the ācāryas, concerns a married woman's attachment for her paramour. The wife always thinks of her lover, even while doing her household chores. In fact, she does her housework even more carefully so that her husband will not suspect her. In the same way, we should always remember the supreme lover, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, even while meticulously discharging our material duties. If we say, "But I lack strong love for Kṛṣṇa," the only remedy is vaidhi-bhakti. The very purpose of this training stage of bhakti is to bring out our original love for God, just as striking a match brings out a flame. And among all the devotional practices, the foremost are śravaṇaḿ kīrtanaḿ viṣṇoḥ [SB 7.5.23], hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord.
No one can honestly say he has absolutely no time to devote to śravaṇaḿ kīrtanam. Even the busiest people find time daily to go through newspapers or magazines, and almost everyone finds some time for television, as well as for idle talk. Much of this time could be spared for bhakti-yoga. And even when we are working at the office or factory, if we are donating a portion of our earnings to Kṛṣṇa we may think, "Kṛṣṇa has assigned me this particular duty."
If despite his best efforts a devotee finds his social and occupational duties overwhelming, he should consider living in a different way. One should avoid ugra-karma, work that completely saps one of all higher energy and pious inclination. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Nārada Muni advised Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira that one should work "to earn his livelihood as much as necessary to maintain body and soul together.
... An intelligent man in human society should make his program of activities very simple" (Bhāg. 7.14.5-6).
Śrīla Prabhupāda, who worked for many years as a Kṛṣṇa conscious businessman, addressed the problem realistically. He said that there was no question of stopping all activities, just as there is no question of wiping out one's temperature altogether when trying to recover from a fever. If one has a fever of 105°F, one should carefully decrease it to the normal temperature, 98.6°, and maintain it there. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, "The great sages and saints of India wanted to maintain the normal temperature by a balanced program of material and spiritual knowledge. They never allowed the misuse of human intelligence for diseased sense gratification" (Īśopaniṣad 11, purport). Most people give the highest priority to economic development and sense gratification, relegating religion to a support activity. But actual religion — self-realization — should come first. Economic development is required only to maintain the body in a sound, healthy condition.
Understanding the awkward position of people in the Kali-yuga, the Supreme Lord has given us the chanting of the holy names as the yuga-dharma, the religion of the age:
harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam
"In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, the only means of deliverance is the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way" (Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa).
Śrīla Prabhupāda formed the International Society for Krishna Consciousness on the basis of the yuga-dharma and Nārada Muni's instructions in this sūtra. Throughout the world, many of Prabhupāda's followers chant sixteen rounds of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra daily, attend a morning and evening program of kīrtana and scriptural discourse, and follow the four rules prohibiting sinful life — even while pursuing active professional careers. Lord Kṛṣṇa has personally promised Nārada Muni that whoever chants His glories will attain the Lord's mercy, despite social or occupational status:
nāhaḿ tiṣṭhāmi vaikuṇṭhe yogināḿ hṛdayeṣu vā
"My dear Nārada, I do not dwell in Vaikuṇṭha or in the hearts of the yogī, but wherever My devotees sing My glories" (Padma Purāṇa).
Nārada has outlined the main practices for a devotee-in-training (sādhaka). Now he emphasizes that the devotee cannot succeed simply on the strength of his own endeavor, but only when he receives the mercy of Kṛṣṇa's representative or a drop of the Lord's direct mercy.
:
A sādhu is not just an ordinary man with a saffron robe or long beard. A sādhu is described in Bhagavad-gītā as one who unflinchingly engages in devotional service. Even though one is found not to be following the strict rules and regulations of devotional service, if one simply has unflinching faith in Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person, he is understood to be a sādhu. ... If one associates with a sādhu, the result will be that the sādhu will teach him how to become a devotee, a worshiper and sincere servitor of the Lord. These are the gifts of a sādhu. [Bhāg. 3.25.20, purport]
:
Without the attentive service of his parents, a child cannot grow to manhood; similarly, without the care of the spiritual master one cannot rise to the plane of transcendental service.... One should always remember that a person who is reluctant to accept a spiritual master and be initiated is sure to be baffled in his endeavor to go back to Godhead. [Cc. Ādi 1.46, purport, and 1.35, purport]
And so by the grace of the spiritual masters, all the aforementioned practices taught by Nārada — the chanting and hearing of the holy names, avoiding sense gratification, and so on — will come naturally to one who serves and inquires from devotees.
Conditioned souls are brought to the path of bhakti by the help of the Vaiṣṇavas, and also by the direct guidance of the Supreme Lord. Hariḿ vinā naiva sṛtiḿ taranti: "Without the blessings of Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one cannot stop the continuous chain of birth and death within this material world." Lord Kṛṣṇa, as the Supersoul within everyone's heart, directly gives us guidance. When a soul cries out for spiritual guidance, the Lord as the caitya-guru, or the spiritual master in the heart, gives direct inspiration. Kṛṣṇa states,
teṣām evānukampārtham aham ajñāna-jaḿ tamaḥ
"To show them special mercy, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance" (Bg. 10.11).
In the purport to the previous verse (Bg. 10.10), Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, "A person may have a bona fide spiritual master and may be attached to a spiritual organization, but still, if he is not intelligent enough to make progress, then Kṛṣṇa from within gives him instructions so that he may ultimately come to Him without difficulty."
The Lord's mercy is therefore available both in the form of the instructing spiritual masters and the Supersoul within the heart. The appearance of the spiritual master within the life of the conditioned soul is the direct mercy of the Lord. Prabhupāda writes that "the great sage Śukadeva Gosvāmī was certainly inspired by Lord Kṛṣṇa to appear voluntarily before Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the great devotee of the Lord, just to give him the teachings of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam" (Bhāg. 1.19.36).
It is truly a sign of the Lord's mercy when one meets His pure representative, the bona fide spiritual master. But how effective this mercy is depends on one's sincerity. As soon as the Lord finds that a soul has developed eagerness to go back to Godhead, the Lord sends a bona fide spiritual master, and if one takes full advantage of the instructions of such a spiritual master, one is guaranteed success. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, "The conclusion is that to get the... help of a bona fide spiritual master means to receive the direct help of the Lord Himself" (Bhāg. 1.19.36, purport; italics in original).
there are unlimited living entities among 8,400,000 species, and all these living entities are wandering from body to body, planet to planet, within this universe. The few living entities in human bodies may be divided into the uncultured and the cultured — those who are ignorant of the Vedic principles and those who know them. Among those who know the Vedic principles, roughly half simply give lip service to these principles while committing all kinds of sins in violation of these principles. Out of those who actually follow the Vedic principles, most seek material rewards like wealth, good birth, or elevation to heaven. Among millions of pious followers of the Vedic injunctions, one may be actually wise (a jñānī). Out of many millions of such jñānīs, Lord Caitanya says, one may actually become liberated from birth and death, and out of many millions of such liberated persons, a devotee of the Lord is very difficult to find.
Lord Kṛṣṇa makes the same point:
manuṣyāṇāḿ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye
"Out of many thousands of men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth" (Bg. 7.3). This indicates that even one who has attained Brahman realization falls far short of knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We should not be misled, therefore, about who is a "great soul" or think that any "swami" or "guru" will be able to deliver us from material entanglement. As the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says (6.14.5),
muktānām api siddhānāḿ nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇaḥ
"O great sage, out of many millions of materially liberated people who are free from ignorance, and out of many millions of siddhas who have nearly attained perfection, there is hardly one pure devotee of Nārāyaṇa. Only such a devotee is actually completely satisfied and peaceful."
Even when mahātmās do appear in human society, they are often not appreciated or understood. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes,
Sometimes devotees are personally attacked with violence. Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, Haridāsa Ṭhākura was caned in twenty-two marketplaces, and Lord Caitanya's principal assistant, Nityānanda, was violently attacked by Jagāi and Mādhāi.... Although a sādhu is not inimical toward anyone, the world is so ungrateful that even a sādhu has many enemies. [Bhāg. 3.25.21, purport]
But if one gets the association of a mahātmā and is receptive to his blessings, one will infallibly be benefited. Nārada is an excellent example of a mahātmā who transformed the lives of many. He once turned a hunter into a pure Vaiṣṇava. The hunter was so cruel that he used to half kill animals because he enjoyed their pain. But as soon as he met Nārada and began to hear from him, the hunter became afraid of his sins. Nārada assured him, "If you follow my instructions, you can be liberated." Nārada then instructed the hunter to worship Lord Kṛṣṇa by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. A mahātmā never says, "Surrender to me," but he advises everyone to surrender to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is his infallibility.
The power of the Vaiṣṇavas is expressed in a Bengali song beginning gaurāńgera bhakta-gaṇi jani jani śakti dhare: "The devotees of Lord Caitanya are very powerful, and every one of them can deliver the whole world." But the disciple has to do his part also. On receiving the grace of a Vaiṣṇava, one must agree to give up his sinful activities. Then the spiritual master can take care of him and elevate him to spiritual emancipation. Devotees who may not be on the level of a paramahaḿsa like Nārada Muni, but who strictly follow in his disciplic succession, can also deliver infallible knowledge. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes:
The spiritual master, being in the disciplic succession stemming from Nārada Muni, is in the same category with Nārada Muni. A person can be relieved of his sinful activity if he surrenders to the lotus feet of a person who actually represents Nārada Muni. [Cc. Madhya 24.258, purport]
Another proof of the power of the mahātmā is his ability to convert nondevotees into saintly persons. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura stated that a Vaiṣṇava can be tested by seeing how good a "touchstone" he is — by seeing how many Vaiṣṇavas he has made during his life. Lord Caitanya desired that as many persons as possible should repeat the message of Kṛṣṇa and convince others to take up Kṛṣṇa consciousness, following in the footsteps of Nārada Muni and other great ācāryas.
In conclusion, the association of a mahātmā is very rare, and yet it is available to a sincere seeker. Upon contacting a great soul, one should realize one's good fortune, and with a joyful but serious attitude one should surrender unto his lotus feet. How one should regard a mahātmā upon meeting him is exemplified in this quote from the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya (13.2), spoken by Lord Caitanya to Sanātana Gosvāmī:
My dear Vaiṣṇava, seeing a person like you is the perfection of one's eyesight, touching your lotus feet is the perfection of the sense of touch, and glorifying your good qualities is the tongue's real activity, for in the material world it is very difficult to find a pure devotee of the Lord.
Although the pure devotee is rarely found in the world, the Supreme Lord directly helps a sincere seeker of the truth.
brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
"According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down to the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service" (Cc. Madhya 19.151).
In His Paramātmā feature, Lord Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone's heart, and He fulfills our desires in accordance with what we deserve, which is based on our previous activities. (Even sinful desires must be sanctioned by Kṛṣṇa before one can fulfill them.) Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, "If the living entity by chance or fortune comes in contact with the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and wishes to associate with that movement, Kṛṣṇa, who is situated in everyone's heart, gives him the chance to meet a bona fide spiritual master" (. If one doesn't know exactly what or who he is looking for, but he calls out to God and asks to be delivered, the Lord will bestow His mercy — the chance to surrender to a great soul.
Nārada's disciple Dhruva Mahārāja is an example of one who was helped by God. Dhruva was insulted by his stepmother, and on the advice of his mother he went to seek God in the forest. Although the boy desired an exalted position and revenge, his determination appealed to the Supreme Lord. Dhruva wandered in the forest asking the animals, "Where is God? Are you God?" — and suddenly the great sage Nārada appeared before him. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains,
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is present in everyone's heart, and as soon as He understands that the living entity is serious about entering devotional service, He sends His representative. In this way Nārada was sent to Dhruva Mahārāja. [Bhāg. 4.8.25, purport]
The mercy of the Lord and that of His pure devotees are equally potent because the devotee and the Supreme Lord impart the same teachings. Śrī Kṛṣṇa says, "Surrender to Me," and the pure devotee says, "Yes, I surrender to You," and tells others, "Surrender to Kṛṣṇa." Thus the mercy of the Lord and that of His loving servants have the same effect: the seed of devotion is planted in the hearts of receptive conditioned souls.
The Māyāvādīs are always seeking an opportunity to annihilate God's personal identity, and so they interpret this sūtra in the following way: "Just as a river loses its name and form after it enters the ocean, so a devotee loses his individuality when he merges himself in the Lord." Impersonalists consider annihilation of the self and merging with the Lord as the last word in divine love. As for the meaning intended by Nārada and the scriptures, the Māyāvādīs say that this is a concession "for the ordinary devotees."
Vaiṣṇavas, however, do not tolerate such blasphemous word jugglery. The oneness of God and guru (or God and all living beings) is a oneness in quality. The living entities are small samples of the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is full, powerful, and opulent. The living beings tend to forget their qualitative oneness with the Lord, and so He appears in the form of scriptures, great souls, and the caitya-guru (Supersoul) to remind us of our spiritual identity. The Supersoul doesn't have to be reminded of His own divinity, because He is never designated by a material body. This is another difference between the jīvas and the Lord: The Lord is always self-enlightened in His spiritual form, while the jīvas are always prone to come under the influence of māyā. Another difference between the two is that the Supersoul is present in everyone's body, whereas the individual conditioned soul is present in one particular body.
The sac-cid-ānanda form of Godhead is different from that of the living entity in both his conditioned and liberated states. Although the Māyāvādīs will continue to misunderstand the philosophy of spiritual oneness, a kavi, or learned person, doesn't commit such mistakes. Śrīla Prabhupāda describes the position of the Māyāvādīs and those they influence:
Only atheists consider the living entity and the Personality of Godhead equal in all respects. Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore says, māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa: "If one follows the instructions of Māyāvādī philosophers and believes that the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the individual soul are one, his understanding of real philosophy is forever doomed." [Bhāg. 4.28.63, purport]
After stating that the association of pure devotees is as good as being with the Supreme Lord, Nārada informs us of the destructive effects of bad company. As we mentioned previously,
Lord Kapila states, "The infatuation and bondage that accrue to a man from attachment to any other object is not as complete as that resulting from an attachment to a woman or to the fellowship of men who are fond of women" (Bhāg. 3.31.35). In the Kali-yuga, we are constantly invited to partake in illicit sex through advertising and television. Unrestricted social mixing between men and women is a major distraction from the spiritual path.
The statements about women should not be taken as a criticism of women as a class. Just as woman is often the symbol of māyā for a man, so attachment to men is also the main entanglement for a woman. As Lord Kapila states, "A woman, therefore, should consider her husband, her house, and her children to be the arrangement of the external energy of the Lord for her death, just as the sweet singing of the hunter is death for the deer" (Bhāg. 3.31.42). Of course, it is not possible to completely restrict the sexes from associating with each other, and so the positive approach is to put Kṛṣṇa in the center of one's life. If a man and a woman live in a Kṛṣṇa conscious marriage, transferring their main attachment to Kṛṣṇa, then their relationship may become a source of spiritual rejuvenation.
that one should avoid the non-sādhus, he means persons who don't follow basic principles of religious life. For example, every devotee follows the four rules, but the non-sādhus always indulge in illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication, and gambling. If a devotee begins to intensively associate with non-sādhus, he will eventually pick up their habits, despite all his knowledge and training. As stated in the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya, "Association is very important. It acts just like a crystal stone, which will reflect anything put before it" (The Nectar of Devotion, p. 106). And as Lord Caitanya taught Sanātana Gosvāmī, "One should not even see those who are bereft of devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and who are therefore devoid of pious activities" (Cc. Madhya 22.92).
When the demon Hiraṇyakaśipu sarcastically inquired from his son about Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Prahlāda explained why the demons cannot possibly know about Kṛṣṇa:
matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā
"[Prahlāda Mahārāja said:] Because of their uncontrolled senses, persons too addicted to materialistic life make progress toward hellish conditions and repeatedly chew that which has already been chewed. Their inclinations toward Kṛṣṇa are never aroused, either by the instructions of others, by their own efforts, or by a combination of both" (Bhāg. 7.5.30).
Those with uncontrolled senses can never know Kṛṣṇa themselves, and if an aspiring devotee associates with them, he will also lose his ability to know Kṛṣṇa.
Association with nondevotees takes place in many ways, aside from face-to-face encounters. Through books, movies, gathering places — the possibilities of contact are unlimited. Especially nowadays, a person may apparently live alone in a city apartment and yet be completely immersed in bad association through mass media and technological entertainment. It takes deliberate cultivation, and a fight, to remove oneself from bad influences.
One may object to these injunctions and claim, "God is everywhere! Why say that certain people are bad?" The topmost devotee, the mahā-bhāgavata, can see all persons as perfect servants of God. He humbly thinks that everyone is a servant of the Lord except himself. But another qualification of a mahā-bhāgavata is that he always thinks of Kṛṣṇa and never forgets Him for a moment. One should not imitate one aspect of the mahā-bhāgavata's activities while lacking his qualifications. In other words, on the plea of following the example of the great devotees, one should not indulge in bad association and claim, "It's all Kṛṣṇa."
The great majority of devotees have to make an effort to come up from the lower (kaniṣṭha) stage of devotion, where one sees God only in the temple. They have to strive to reach the second stage (madhyama), where one acknowledges that God is in everyone's heart and yet discriminates in his relationships. The madhyama-bhakta saves his love for the Supreme Lord, makes friendships with like-minded devotees, shows compassion to innocent persons, and avoids the demons. He takes seriously the following injunction from the Kātyāyana-saḿhitā: ".
niṣkiñcanasya bhagavad-bhajanonmukhasya
"Alas, for a person who is seriously desiring to cross the material ocean and engage in the transcendental loving service without material motives, seeing a materialist engaged in sense gratification and seeing a woman who is similarly interested are more abominable than drinking poison willingly." And so the advice against bad association is intended for all, including those transcendentalists who wish to progress without impediment.
In the Bhagavad-gītā (2.62-63), Lord Kṛṣṇa analyzes the soul's downfall due to bad association:
dhyāyato viṣayān puḿsaḥ sańgas teṣūpajāyate
"While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises. From anger complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool."
Bad association (duḥsańga) brings out the stored karmic tendencies for sin, thus activating one's lower propensities. If an aspiring devotee hears the hedonists talk of lusty enjoyments, he may easily become agitated, since until he becomes pure he has many tendencies to enjoy worldly pleasures. As soon as he begins to think about the objects of pleasure, he will begin to desire them. Then he will attempt to fulfill his desires, and on being frustrated he will become angry. Thereafter he will lose his discrimination, become deluded, and so on. By keeping company with nondevotees, therefore, bad habits crop up one after another, and good qualities become ruined. As Lord Kapiladeva states (Bhāg. 3.31.32-33):
If, therefore, the living entity again associates with the path of unrighteousness, influenced by sensually-minded people engaged in the pursuit of sexual enjoyment and the gratification of the palate, he again goes to hell as before. He becomes devoid of truthfulness, cleanliness, mercy, gravity, spiritual intelligence, shyness, austerity, fame, forgiveness, control of the mind, control of the senses, fortune, and all such opportunities.
Not only "coarse fools" but even austere ascetics — if they are not devotees — are considered duḥsańga. Mental speculators, impersonal yogīs, jñānīs, and voidists may all adversely influence a devotee and turn him toward nondevotional paths. Bhagavān Ācārya, a follower of Lord Caitanya's, insisted that he was immune to contamination because he was a fixed-up devotee of the Lord. But Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī replied that hearing talks on Māyāvāda philosophy "breaks the heart and life of a devotee" and should not be indulged in. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes:
The Māyāvādī philosophers have presented their arguments in such attractive, flowery language that hearing Māyāvāda philosophy may sometimes change the mind of even a mahā-bhāgavata, or very advanced devotee. An actual Vaiṣṇava cannot tolerate any philosophy that claims God and the living being to be one and the same. [Cc. Ādi 7.110, purport]
Considering the dangers of duḥsańga, even for a fully engaged sādhaka, we can see that Nārada has not exaggerated these dangers or given a warning only for neophytes.
Rising like waves from material association, these bad effects mass into a great ocean of misery.
that some of his initiated disciples had indulged in their former habits of smoking marijuana. This was due to bad association, and he gave the example of bedbugs. During winter, bedbugs seem to disappear from your bed, but in due time they emerge and again bite you and grow fat on your blood. Similarly, a transcendentalist's kāma may seem to be entirely subdued, but it is actually present in a very reduced state. If given a fresh opportunity, his material desires will strike again. On another occasion, Śrīla Prabhupāda referred to "hippy seeds." Having noticed one of his brahmacārī disciples with long hair, he said the disciple's old hippy tendencies were now sprouting in the form of long hair.
So it is good to be afraid of even a little bad association and avoid it at all costs. But one may question whether this attitude is at odds with the compassionate mood of the preacher. If the preacher associates with materialists, won't he become like them? The answer is that a preacher must be strong in his Kṛṣṇa consciousness to prevent becoming contaminated. If he follows the rules and regulations of bhakti-yoga — including association with devotees, chanting and hearing the Lord's glories, avoiding sense gratification, and so on — then he will be able to preach without falling down. Acting as the spiritual master of Lord Caitanya, Īśvara Purī gave him instructions that in truth are directed at us: "My dear child, continue dancing, chanting, and performing sańkīrtana in association with devotees. Furthermore, go out and preach the value of chanting kṛṣṇa-nāma, for by this process You will be able to deliver all fallen souls" (Cc. Ādi 7.92). Similarly, Śrīla Prabhupāda instructed his disciples to be compassionate preachers:
One who is not very expert in preaching may chant in a secluded place, avoiding bad association, but for one who is actually advanced, preaching and meeting people who are not engaged in devotional service are not disadvantages. A devotee gives the nondevotees his association but is not affected by their misbehavior. Thus by the activities of a pure devotee even those who are bereft of love of Godhead get a chance to become devotees of the Lord one day. [Cc. Ādi 7.92, purport]
Śrīla Prabhupāda sometimes told the following story to illustrate how one may mix with nondevotees and yet keep one's devotional integrity:
Once a crocodile invited a monkey in a tree to come and ride on his back. The foolish monkey jumped down from the tree and soon found himself clinging to the crocodile's back in the middle of the river.
The monkey asked the crocodile, "Where are we going?"
The crocodile replied, "I'm going to take you home, where my wife will cut out your heart and we will eat you for lunch!"
The monkey replied, "But I left my heart back on shore in the tree. Will you please let me get it?"
The crocodile thought this was a good proposal and allowed the monkey to touch shore. But the monkey jumped into his tree and refused to accept further invitations from the crocodile.
The moral of this story: You may associate with the nondevotee, but don't give him your heart.
Preachers living in ISKCON temples follow this advice daily. They rise early and gather for mańgala-ārati before the temple Deities, chant kīrtana and japa, hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class, and honor prasādam in the association of devotees. Strengthened by this morning program, they go out to preach in the most materialistic places in the world, offering people a chance to receive Kṛṣṇa's mercy in the form of literature, prasādam, or hari-nāma. In the early evening the preachers return to the temple for more chanting and hearing. While they are with the nondevotees, they do not compromise their devotional principles, and thus they keep their hearts aloof from the modes of material nature and bad association.
 approach them, how will the fools and rascals be saved?

 
(Continued ...)



(My humble salutations to the lotus feet of Swamyjis, Philosophers, Scholars and for the collection)