Anartha Nivritti. Lecture 3
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · Govardhan · 2025
Chapters
Sre Krishna Caitana, Rabonetana, Srivitana. Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishnaare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Rama Rama Ramahare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Ram Rama Rama.
Recapitulation of Madhurya Kadambini chapter one
Ajanu Vambita Bujoka Nakavadatu Sankirtanaika Bitaroka Malayataksha, Vishwambarod V Javaru Yu Gadaru Palu, Vandeja Gat Priya Karu Karunavataru Yanda praisya mamacham prasuptu Sandzivaya takila shakti darakswadam anyamsha hastacharana savanatva pranandamu Bhagavatam Purusavetu, Swasasakala Prasidatam, Dyantu Butani Shivamitu Bia, Manachavadramvaja do Saj Avesha Dabnumati Rapya Sulachan together Vishwasyanataru, baktivan, bakti chakri partiva, shakrabai Hritva preava bhakli savitate, sanjama Ramekamat, visvaast nuranje my usa kinobisarski a bayam Prabhupada, Kripaniranko Sama, Madurya Yamini. Bhaktianto. Rasampa settyad, tam no misatamrupa na priatana are Hare Krishna.
So well meditating on the words of Shivageshwanachakravati Thakur, explaining the pass of bhakti, commenting on the verses from Bhagira Samrita Sindha. And this morning we talked a little bit about the Mangalacharana verses for this book. How in this verses Vishwanachakravarti Thakur in a poetical form expressed the essential message of the book how bhakti uh which is uh preached in uh this world by lord shaitanya mahrabrabhu gives consequently three results and in this way changing the heart of all those who come in contact with mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And how Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu expressed his desire to see the Rupa Gaswami and Rupa Gaswami So that's Mangalacharana versus and then we started talking about the first chapter of Madhuria Kanandani, which explains the independent nature of bhakti.
And bhakti is totally, completely independent as the Lord Himself. And therefore, it's very difficult to find the pass. Because to find the path we have to know the cause and effect relationship.
But bhakti by definition is causeless. So what are we supposed to do to attract uh bhakti shakti, the descent of bhakti shakti within our heart? Uh it's called sadhana, but it's a very special kind of sadhana.
It's sadhana which does not have the causal relationship with sadhya. Result is not entirely 100% guaranteed. But still, there is a general way of manifestation of bhakti within our heart gradually through stages.
So that's basically, the essence of the first chapter where he was stressing again and again this point: Bhakti is independent as much as the Lord is independent, and they have six amazing qualities in common.
And therefore it's Mahashakti because it's the full manifestation of the Lord. There is absolutely no difference between the Lord and his great energy of love. So this is all very lofty concepts.
And And uh sometimes uh it's difficult for us to relate to them or to understand how they're practically applicable in our life.
But Vishnuanachakravati Thakur, when he explains the gradual manifestation of bhaktivas in our heart, he makes it extremely practical.
Manifestation of the seed of faith
So let's uh let's accept the second shower. And he says that when the tiny atomic uh particle of Bhakti Shakti enters our heart,
This atomic particle of bhakti is called bhakti-lata-bija. It's called bija because the whole tree of spiritual relationship is there in this bija, but still it's uh it's tiny and it's practically unmanifest.
So this bhakti-lata-bija we know it's basically śraddhā phase. And he starts explaining what happens within our heart when we achieve this bhakti-lata-bija. So, first of all, we have to understand what this seed is.
And Srila Jiva Goswami explains in Bhakti-sandarbha, while commenting on the verse Bhava Pavargo Brahmatho Yada Bhav Bhavetch, this verse he explains that uh seed which we receive from sadhu is a certain kind of uh intelligence, Mati. Discriminating intelligence.
So this is the first thing which is coming within our heart, the intelligence by which we can ascertain the truth. Certain inclination comes within our heart.
I want to do something which is pleasing to the Lord or to this particular sādhu whom I see. So that's the very first manifestation of faith within our heart.
We come in contact with sādhu and we feel spontaneous respect towards this sādhu and we feel spontaneous desire to do something which would be pleasing to him. We want to please him.
So that's Shraddha. That's what faith is. And basically, as I explained yesterday, it's a very important point which we have to understand very clearly.
That it's the seed of prema, it's the stages of manifestation of love of God, and to understand how this tiny little seed works within our heart, we have to first understand how it acts within our heart when it's fully manifest.
So he says this is explanation of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī in Prīti-sandarbha and in his commentary to Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. When love of God, what is it? Let's be practical and let's try to understand what is it.
This is a this is a very special sort of consciousness in which we want to do something which is pleasing to the object of our life, love. Viṣayānukūlyātmakaḥ. So the nature of love, and it's it's actually universal.
If we love somebody, that the first thing uh m by which we can understand that uh some love is there within our heart is that we have spontaneous desire to do something which is favorable, which is pleasing to the object of our love.
So by its very nature, viṣayānukūlyātmakaḥ. By its very nature, ātmakaḥ, it has this anukūla, the favorable attitude.
If I love somebody in the material world, the same thing happens, you know. I want to do something which is pleasing to him. And I do not want to do anything which would be displeasing to him.
That's the first very first manifestation. Of course, it has gradations when it becomes very strong then it's real love. So the second it's basically the attitude towards the object of our love.
The second manifestation or the second feature of love is that tadviṣaya, ānukūlya anugata tatspṛhā.
We develop desire spṛhā to do something which is dear to him. First is attitude, we just want to please him. Second is just active desire to do something which manifests in our activities.
I want to do something, which is pleasing, which is favorable to him. And the third is the most important. Tātanu-bhāva-hetu-ullāsamaya- jñāna-viśeṣa.
It's a special state of mind which is full of enthusiasm, Ula Samai, due to Hetuka, the experience that the efforts of love actually resulted in the joy of the object.
In other words, when we first have the desire to do something which is pleasing, then we do something which is pleasing and dear, and then when we see that he is pleased with what we did, we become very happy because of this.
So that's what love is. I don't care whether I'm happy or not, but when he is happy or she is happy, I feel extreme happiness and I actively desire to please him and do something for this.
And when I feel this, I feel complete experience of bliss. So that's what love is. And when we get the first tiny seed of love.
When this first little experience of love comes to our heart, love of God, in form of śraddhā, this sort of attitude manifests towards sādhu who is preaching bhakti. We see him and we develop the desire to please him, we do something which is pleasing. And when we see that he is pleased, we are extremely pleased.
Like disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda, they said that you know when he would smile and Śrīla Prabhupāda had a very big smile coming from one ear to another ear. When he would smile like this, they would be extremely happy. So that's what it is.
You learn, gradually learn how to experience happiness by uh giving happiness to the object of uh your love.
And ultimately, this experience becomes totally overwhelming, and you become completely satisfied by these activities. So this is what uh this is what it is. And yeah.
Transformation of the heart through faith
So uh when When we don't love somebody, we are self-centered. We only think what is good for me, we only concern what is good coming to me.
But when we start doing something for somebody else and we become other-centered, the center of our consciousness becomes different then immediately our heart starts changing.
This is the first thing which Viswanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains what happens when we experience Shraddha, the seed which came to the soil of our heart starts changing the soil.
It's like sometimes the soil is not very fertile. Sometimes it's very salty and nothing grows there. But the seed of love, śraddhā, is a very special seed which changes the nature of the soil.
When uh, uh, this sort of little first experience uh comes to our heart we feel that we want to manifest the best of our nature. That's universal nature of love.
When we love somebody, we want to manifest the best qualities which we have.
We turn to the person with the best quality which we have and basically as Viswanachakravati Thakur says that the senses gradually lose their iron-like material qualities and acquire pure golden spiritual qualities.
So the Shraddha comes to our heart and our iron-like heart gradually, gradually transforms into golden heart. We don't have base qualities and very amazing, beautiful qualities gradually gradually manifest. So and
when we love somebody in this material world, then it definitely has purifying effect on our heart. Everyone knows this.
When you you only think about the object of your love and you want to do something good for him and you don't care about yourself, and you are so selfless and so heroic, and you want to do some stupid things to please him or her.
But the problem with the material love is that it's temporary. It's only there for a short time, you know when you when you present some flowers and chocolate to somebody whom you love.
But then ultimately, you know you don't present flowers and chocolate, you want to take something from.
So this change in case of material love is there but it's temporary, but in case of Lord, of the Lord, this change, this transformation of the heart is permanent.
Two initial effects of devotional service
The heart becomes golden with all good qualities.
So, and Viswanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains that how this transformation takes place when the seed is planted into the soil of our heart, then it sprouts and it gives two leaves, Knesha Kleshagni and Subada. We feel relief of material distress and we feel uh uh that something very auspicious is taking uh place in our heart.
So basically we all know, uh, we start doing bhakti and we feel that suffering becomes less.
I often tell the story when I when I became a devotee, I was it's not a devotee, I started doing something in the very beginning. All of a sudden I became completely causelessly happy.
In the meantime I was kicked out from my job, KGB came to me, I was interrogated, my friends were put in prison, but I was happy.
So all my relatives they became very concerned, they said, you know, something really bad is happening to you and they started saying, you know, what is going on?
And I said, I uh I I don't know, I'm just happy I I don't know what anything else.
So this sort of strange experience is coming to us when uh the first little tiny seed of love appears within our heart and it gradually gradually starts growing.
So basically we are not explaining it very uh in very details. Basically, what are kleśas? Kleśas, the suffering relief of which we experience when we when the face appears within our heart is this sinful proclivities.
Because sinful proclivities based on our material consciousness, on the bodily consciousness, is the cause of suffering. Sometimes people think that suffering is the result of sinful activities. It's a big mistake.
Actually sinful activities is suffering. If I understand it very clearly and if we really analyze it carefully, we will understand that it's not that the sinful reaction is suffering, the sin is suffering.
All these activities which we do when we are inclined to break regulative principles, they are suffering from beginning to end.
So, uh, the kleśaghni basically means that gradually gradually uh this uh sort of uh sinful proclivities disappear and it means that uh prarabda ka prarabda karma uh is uh being purified.
Aprarabda palam papam uh kutam bhija palon mukam Kraminayva Pralita Vishnu Bhakti Ratatmanaha. For somebody who is doing Vishnu Bhakti gradually, gradually, all his karmas and all the proclivities, all the tendencies which are there created by our karma gradually purified up to the level of prarabda karma.
We will uh talk about this uh later. So uh and there are stages of this, you all know this, I I will not uh I will not talk about this. I it's um it's a common knowledge.
And then Subhada, the second result of Shraddha, or the tiny, not even Shraddha, the tiny little seed which is there in the very beginning is the appearance of good qualities.
Disinterest in material affairs, favorable attitude towards the service of the Lord, mercy, forgiveness, truthfulness, simplicity, equanimity, fortitude, gravity, respectfulness, humility, and being pleasing to all.
This is the list of good qualities which naturally appears within the heart of devotee. Please do the exercise and check and tell me how many per how what is the percentage of your heart being transformed?
Basically, that's the gradual process which we have to understand and it goes on.
To a certain uh extent we lose interest to material affairs, to a certain extent we uh develop interest to the service of the Lord, uh we develop some compassion, mercy, forgiveness.
We are more capable of forgiving other people. We develop desire to speak truth and nothing except for truth. Simplicity is coming, equanimity. All these qualities are coming, and that's the natural state of pure heart.
Understanding material and spiritual faith
And that's, as I said, just natural result of beginning contact with Bhakti according to Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākura. And then the first stage of development of pure devotional service within the heart is this Shraddha.
And that's a very important concept which we will speak in little more details. So the very word shraddha means sraddha. Srat means sat. Sat means truth, sat means existence, sat means something real.
And dha means to uphold. So there is material Shraddha and there is spiritual Shraddha. What is material Shradha?
Material Shraddha basically aumākika śraddhā, which is explained in Bhagavad-gītā in the 17th chapter of Bhagavad-gītā: it's the mental attitude which reproduces our existence, Sata's existence. Dha is to maintain the existence.
Krishna very clearly says in the 17th chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, śraddhā-mayō 'yaṁ puruṣo, everyone has Shraddha. It's not that only devotees they have some Shraddha, everyone else doesn't have any Shraddha. Everyone has Shraddha.
Our existence is based on Shraddha, on faith. We have to believe in something. If we don't believe we will not be able to do anything.
To come to this room we have to believe uh that uh this room uh the floor of this room will not break while we're here. Uh which is not an obvious uh statement.
To be sure we should first check whether it is built strongly enough.
Anyway, it's a stupid example, but the idea is that we believe in something and the set of all beliefs, what we believe in, uh is uh exactly reflects our karma. Everyone believes in different things.
Somebody believes that he should behave in a very rough way and he should be very rude and he should establish his superiority. Somebody believes that he should be very humble and nice to other people.
So we have certain beliefs, and the meaning of material Shraddha is that it reproduces our existence. Everyone behaves in such a way that he more or less reproduces the way he is.
He reinforces the conceptions which he anyway believes. He has certain set of conceptions and then he acts based on these conceptions, believing in these conceptions, and that's basically uh creates his existence.
So Sradha is the basis of existence. Therefore, Krishna says Sradha Maya Yam Purusha. Puruṣa is made of śraddhā. It's completely made of faith. But then spiritual face is something different.
Shrad or Sat here means truth and dha means hold or uphold. So spiritual sradha is the attitude to be devoted to truth. I want to find truth. I want to find real truth.
This sort of attitude means that we have some spiritual inclination of spiritual Shraddha. And some people naturally they want to find truth.
And then then they become devotees and then they forget about this somehow or other. But actually that's the essence, the beginning of our spiritual search. We came here only for this purpose.
Because we wanted to find what is the truth, what is the reality, what is the deeper essence of existence and how we should live. So that's two understandings of śraddhā.
Material śraddhā reproduces our false identity and false way of living. But spiritual śraddhā, which we get by association with people, spiritual śraddhā pushes us, gives us the impetus to find the truth.
Because we feel there is higher truth in this and therefore I have to go this no matter what.
From the material point of view it may be totally pointless or senseless, but from the spiritual point of view I have to do it because this is my internal inclination.
So, spiritual śraddhā actually is the bridge between material experience and spiritual experience.
When we have material śraddhā, we reproduce our material experience, we always confirm the same thing which we already know or which we believe in.
If we believe that this world and everyone in the world is evil, we will get plenty of confirmation that everyone is evil. Again and again and again.
We will behave in such a way that uh we will encounter only evil nature of people. This is śraddhā. I believe that everyone is evil. I uh act uh based on this belief and naturally it is confirmed. This is the reality.
So the material śraddhā reproduces our experience which we already have, confirms our experience. But spiritual śraddhā when we get it becomes the bridge to obtain new experience. That's why it is so important.
To obtain new experience, not to confirm what we already know, which we already
anyway know, but to get something new we need to get spiritual śraddhā and the only source of spiritual śraddhā is the association with sādhus.
So basically what we get when we encounter with the sādhus, when we meet sādhus, we get the faith while listening to him, faith in followability of fundamental teachings of the scriptures regarding God, individual soul,
Two key aspects of spiritual faith
universe, māyā, and the interrelationship, final conclusion. That's the quote from one of Śrīla Prabhupāda's God brothers, the his definition of śraddhā. And also, there are two points in Shraddha. Shraddha has always two aspects in it, spiritual Shraddha.
First is firm conviction that Shastras speak truth while describing reality. While investigating the bigger picture of reality described in Shastra, we feel this is true picture.
And another aspect of this is solemn aspiration to attentively follow the process of devotion described in the scriptures. This is actually here. This is the Sanskrit from Maduri Kalangvini.
So Vishwana Chakrava Tittakur says, Ityatra Shraddha Bhakti Sabdabhyam Adara Eva Uchyate.
So the first Shraddha manifest as respect, reverence, adhar towards the Pasav Bhakti and towards those people who represent the Pasav Bhakti.
So when we get this respect, the respect destroys the disrespect which produces offense.
And because it destroys this offensive nature which we have, anadara laksana tat vigna, the anadhar uh is vigna is the obstacle towards our path.
And the face uh basically Eradicates or at least weakens our offensive nature.
When we come in contact with devotees and we develop the initial respect towards them, immediately we feel this change in the heart that we become less offensive.
Of course, after some time it comes back we we don't have to worry about this. But the initial result is definitely there.
We feel uh a lot of respect and desire to please others and our offensive nature becomes less promin Who can confirm this in his own or her own experience? Please raise your hands.
It's definitely we there is definitely a change of heart and we start speaking differently, behaving differently. That's all very good signs of Shraddha.
And of course, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains that Shraddha is the special qualification to perform ananya bhakti, one-pointed bhakti.
Overcoming obstacles through strong faith
And the other aspect of Shraddha is also very important. We know Sadam Prasangamavivya Sambhidov, Bavanti Krit Karnara Sayana Kradha, Tadjoshanamasva Pavargam Vartmanishradaratir Bhaktira Nukramishati
Kapiladev says that Shradha first of all this is the description of the from the documentary Shraddha is Satsanga Vahini. It writes on satsanga. Every spiritual entity and Shraddha is goddess, has its Vahana.
So we know that Krishna has his Vahana, Garuda or Vishnu has Garuda and of course Krishna uh his Vahana is Śrīdām. So that's his Vahana. And uh Vishnu has Garuda and Brahma has Swan and
who else Shiva has bull and Sradha goddess Sradha her Vahini is Satsanga, Satsanga Vahini. This is the vehicle on which Rādhā is riding in this world. And it's rasaina.
Rasayana means rasayana gives the strength and it increases the immunity. So the idea here is that when we have Shraddha, Shraddha helps us to overcome the obstacles on the spiritual path.
When the Shraddha is very strong, then we can overcome any obstacle. And when Shraddha is very weak, it's very difficult. Somebody looked at us, some devotee looked at us in a strange way and already our śraddhā is shaken.
I thought that there are devotees and there are demons Because again, Shraddha means uh the faith and respect towards devotees uh and towards the path of bhakti initially.
And uh when this the faith is very strong, no matter what, if somebody is doing something strange, uh, because our faith is very strong, uh This is not an obstacle.
Like I know in my uh forty plus years of attempts to do some devotional service. Somebody is doing something strange and devotees become very shaken in their faith and they they lose faith and they go away.
Why should you go away if somebody is doing something strange? You know, there was the story with Śrīla Prabhupāda.
When devotees started leaving Krishna consciousness, somebody ran into Prabhupada's room and said, Prabhupada, Prabhupada, uh what happens with them? They are leaving, they're blooping. Uh what happens with them?
So Prabhupada said, uh it's normal. Those who remain, that's something strange, but those who leave it's normal.
So basically, when you have the faith in the path of devotional service, it's very difficult to surprise you. Uh if somebody is doing something strange, you you don't. you're not surprised, you are just. yeah, it's normal.
So you appreciate the devotion and the practice of devotion in other people and because you have this strong faith, then it's not an obstacle. So, and there are so many other obstacles, you get some disease.
And if you get disease, you may experience severe faith crisis. How is that? I am a devotee. I'm not supposed to get sick. Something is wrong. Probably God doesn't uh you know, he's miscalculated something.
What's what's going on? Or something else happens, we lose some uh whatever it is. If Shraddha is strong, we are strong. No obstacles can hinder our progress in devotional service.
And another aspect of rasayana, rasayana gives us the strength, and rasayana increases immunity. That's the effect of rasayana. And basically, it means that rasayana or śraddhā protects us from material contamination.
We are not affected by all these material things which are going on around us. So that's another aspect of Shraddha. And finally, Shraddha can also be compared with hunger. And And if we have strong hunger, then
the spiritual practice which we do uh if
if we have strong hunger, then the food gives us strength. If we don't have strong hunger, the more we eat, the weaker we become. We're supposed to become stronger, but we're becoming weaker because it's not digested, it becomes poison within our body.
In the same way, when Shraddha is strong, then uh all our spiritual practices give us extra strength. But when Shraddha is weak, we do spiritual practices.
Sometimes people with very weak śraddhā, they try to chant, you know, one lakh, two lakhs, three lakhs, and they become weaker spiritually. Because they cannot digest it.
It's not the practice which is according to the level of their faith. So it's not appropriate and therefore it's not recommended.
That's also a very important thing. And when the when our faith is very strong then it brings us to the proper destination but uh basically that's the comparison with this.
If the faith is very strong, then it's like the current of Ganga. And Ganga is always pure.
When the faith is strong, we feel this current of our consciousness. It always strives towards the Lord. And it's always pure and it's uh goes in the proper direction.
But when the faith becomes weak then all kinds of strange processes start appearing within our heart in a similar way like a little puddle becomes contaminated with all kinds of microbes and fungi and all kinds of bad things.
So that's the description of the heart which is not connected with current of śraddhā. What to do?
The metaphor which is given when all these little puddles with muddy water, contaminated water is there, but when the rain is pouring then these little puddles can uh again be connected with Ganga. And this connection with Ganga, this this this flow of of Bhakti is basically the revival of our original nature.
And the idea here is that this flow which can completely free our contaminated consciousness, contaminated with different selfish desires is satsangha.
When we come in contact with sādhu-s, the little consciousness which we have is being washed away by the flow of the hari-kathā. That's that's the comparison.
If we come to real current of hari-kathā, the hari-kathā is going on and you become totally overwhelmed and pleased with the current of it, then you forget about all your selfish little desires and you even physically feel that you are purified in heart.
That the purification of heart is taking place. So again, the śraddhā very much depends on the association and on the hearing process.
Comparing yoga and bhakti progression
And I explained also this comparison, I think this is the last thing which I will explain. Let me see. Yeah, yeah, that's where we'll start. Yeah. Anyway, maybe we should just Yeah.
Okay. So this is the uh sūtra from yoga sūtra of Patañjali Muni śraddhā-vīrya smṛti-samādhi-prajñā-pūrvakā so this is the the direct way to samādhi according to yoga scripture.
First, you get śraddhā in the very beginning, which means the respect, and then śraddhā gives vīrya. Vīrya means concentrated endeavors, that's yoga paths. Then vīrya brings smṛti, constant remembering, or
again, very focused mind, then focused mind naturally brings samādhi, the complete concentration and absorption of our consciousness, and ultimately prajñā, wisdom or realisation.
So this is how it is described in yoga, and if we can look in the path of bhakti we can see correlation or extreme similarity with this. First the faith and faith gives the desire to practice, bhajana- kriyā.
And then this is vīrya. The desire to practice devotional service. Then this vīrya turns into firm faith, and firm faith corresponds to smṛti, constant remembering.
Our faith becomes so strong that we constantly remember I'm a devotee. This is the main goal of all my endeavors, I have to achieve Kṛṣṇa.
And then firm faith, niṣṭhā uh turns into bhāva which is uh samādhi and uh samādhi is turned into uh prajñā in the case of yoga and in our case it turns in premā. So it starts with faith. Faith is extremely important.
And there are two aspects of this I already said one is faith in the scriptures in the essential message of scriptures and another one is the solemn determination to follow this path. I already explained this.
And basically, this is the last thing which I do yeah, today before we finish. So I said many things about śraddhā, but to summarize it has six aspects.
We usually say faith and we think it's just one thing but it's not one thing. It has six aspects and six features and they are actually the stages of developing śraddhā.
In the very first stage, by meeting with the sādhu, you develop respect towards bhakti, the path of bhakti, towards bhaktas, towards spiritual master.
In the second stage, you start hearing him with the desire to understand Shastra in a systematic manner. This is a very important element of developing faith.
First, we have initial encounter with Sadhu, but then we have to systematically hear from him how he explains Shastra. This is very beautifully described by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura.
Then the next uh stage of uh developing our faith is that the paralyzing doubts, samshayas, which uh are obstacles in our path, they become clear. Then the firm faith in the meaning of Śāstra, śāstrīya-śraddhā, is formed.
Then because of this firm faith, the desire to surrender and complete fearlessness appears within our heart. We are not afraid to surrender ourselves and ultimately
we start acting with a very strong hope to achieve desired goal even though we don't have any rational basis for this hope. We still hope to achieve it. So that's the characteristic of faith.
Just by meeting with Bhaktis and developing some respect, hearing them, we remove all the doubts, the firm faith will appear, surrender will naturally follow, and very strong hope, which is the manifestation of strong faith, will also take place within our heart, and we will perform sadhana with this strong faith.
Yes. I will meet Krishna, no doubt about it. He is waiting for me and sooner or later he will reveal himself to me.
And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that the śāstra which forms our faith is Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā is Mīmāṁsā Śāstra. The Shastra which is important for the foundation of forming our faith.
So that's part, an important part of the second chapter. And tomorrow, very quickly, we will finish uh everything else uh whatever remains but uh for today it's enough very least so maybe there is one, two questions.
Many questions. Many questions. Okay. Hi Vishnu. You just mentioned the six characteristics of śraddhā. You also mentioned in the previous uh in goa classes that these can happen both svābhāviki as well as balāδ-rūpā.
Yeah, that I will explain next.
My question is how these characteristics can be done in some kind of a pressure in the sense of if I if my doubts are gone, if I have heard scriptures and I have a faith and no no this is the description Balatut Parita it's a completely different story.
Distinction between enthusiasm and emotional state
So we'll talk about this tomorrow Hare
Krishna Prabhuji just just to spelled out uh in the presentation they had said that we should uh even if at the initial stages of bhakti also with a lot of power, we should perform the actions even if we don't have power.
So in Hari Nam Chantamani class we had done long years back, we had said that if if we don't have bhāva and we are imitating bhāva, it's also kind of a subtle subtle nāma-aparādha. So how to reconcile this?
No, we're not imitating Bhava. But we have to be very clear. Imitation of Bhava doesn't help. And Śrīla Prabhupāda indeed says that those people who are imitating bhāva they're just envious.
They're imitating bhāva because they see somebody manifest the real symptoms of bhāva. I become envious uh to them and uh I start pretending they also have bhāva. So it's not a question of uh imitating bhāva.
It doesn't help. Uh kṛti-sādhyā bhavet sādhyā bhāva sā sādhana-abhidhā uh the on the stage of sadhana we uh perform our sadhana with clear understanding and goal that we have we will achieve bhāva, we should achieve bhāva.
But we are not imitating bhava. So Prabhupāda bhāva means enthusiastic with things. Bhāva means emotional aspect of bhakti. When we feel overwhelming emotions towards the Lord. But initially how can we feel?
We are just acting. We don't feel. So but that's what we say that we must perform even if we don't have bhāva we should perform with enthusiasm. No no we shouldn't perform with bhāva.
I didn't say we should perform with bhāva. I said that we should have very clear understanding that bhāva is the goal. It's not that we should perform with bhāva. Bhāva will come. Bhāva is not in our command.
You cannot just order bhāva. Come on. No. We should not perform with bhāva, but we should be very clear that the bhāva is the goal. The goal is there. What is bhāva?
The word bhāva, Sanskrit word bhāva is coming from the word bhū. Bhū means to be. But more exactly, more specifically, is to become. Baava is the state of being.
So when we say that certain stage of our development, spiritual development is called bhava, it basically means that we change our status, our existential status.
Now our nature, at this moment of time, our nature is being attached to this material world. But achieving bhāva means we our nature is completely transformed. We become totally spiritualized in our nature.
So there is no question of imitating Bhava. You cannot imitate bhāva. So, morally initially we performed, but did it with enthusiasm. Yeah, enthusiasm, yes. Enthusiasm is not bhāva. Enthusiasm is enthusiasm.
Enthusiasm means we have a lot of energy and this energy is coming from śraddhā. As I said, śraddhā is rasāyana, and rasāyana gives strength and gives immunity and helps us to uh do a lot in devotional service without problems.
So that's the śraddhā. In bhakti we we we are uh devoted to the truth the but in material it goes by experience.
But in bhakti also we are going by experience in the present when we come we go by experience we get so much experience and that gives more impetus to do it.
Recognizing sinful activities as suffering
Yeah what I what I was trying to explain is that there is material śraddhā and the essence of material śraddhā is that it more or less reproduces our status, our level of existence.
And it gives us certain experience which we expect to get. And the spiritual śraddhā gives us completely different experience. So both are experience.
And therefore I said that spiritual śraddhā is the bridge from material experience towards the new experience, towards spiritual experience.
Material śraddhā doesn't give any new experience. It only confirms what you already more or less know. But spiritual śraddhā, it's the search for truth, and because it's the search for truth it gives us new experience.
We in material existence we only believe in some sort of distorted reality which is which we already kind of know because of our karma. So and therefore śaddhā or śraddhā is just reproduction of our experience.
But ultimately the desire to know the truth is there and if we You are telling that uh simple activity itself is suffering. So it's, uh, sin is cause of suffering. But how sinful activity from the beginning and end?
Because I enjoy doing sinful activity. How is it separated? You only enjoy doing sinful activities because you don't understand that this is suffering. But when you become devotee you understand it's suffering.
Eating meat is suffering. You don't understand this because your your consciousness is so uh in these sinful activities.
But when you know when you objectively start absorbing uh these activities you understand it's suffering it's it's just misunderstanding of people who are doing this but ultimately it is not enjoyment, it is suffering.
Uh drinking I you know I uh if somebody is not doing this, somebody when somebody smokes the first cigarette, he suffers like anything. But then because of sadhana, it becomes pleasurable.
When somebody first drinks this, you know, whiskey or whatever, it's horrible. It's really horrible, but then you know you get used to it and you say, Oh, this is very nice. But it's suffering. Smoking is suffering.
Drinking all this alcoholic beverage is suffering this you you know, angrezi sharap, suffering. Sex is is horrible suffering.
I I I will not get into details it is it is such a hassle and eating meat is suffering, uh, stealing is suffering, uh, all the sinful activities are the suffering.
It's just people get used to it, and, uh, if you get used to it, you basically start enjoying anything, because this is how the consciousness works, but
ultimately it's objective watching TV, you know, you're sitting there in front of this screen. Uh, what is it's, it's, it's first of all, watching TV is not sinful activity. It's stupid activity.
There is no regulative principles, don't worry. It will come.
Differences between material and spiritual faith
Okay. Um, I wanted to understand a little more deeply the difference between uh spiritual and material faith.
So why is it that very often this material faith is so much stronger even in, like, with devotees. When some nonsense concepts appear, they're accepted very like with a lot of enthusiasm by many devotees.
Yeah, because uh again uh as I said material face uh is based on our experience uh and uh we just get the confirmation of what we already know and therefore it's very strong.
Like for example, this is how propaganda works.
We believe in something and then we find the certain kind of propaganda which confirms what we already believe and we hear them and we become very joyful that they confirm what we already know.
But from the very beginning, we choose a particular way of presenting the truth. This This is how propaganda works. We want to hear this and then we hear and we say, oh look, they're saying this.
But ultimately we just want to hear what they what they're saying. And because our material faith is based on experience and our spiritual experience is very weak, therefore, material faith is stronger.
And therefore the struggle is there. And therefore, to overcome material faith we have to strengthen our spiritual face, the faith in Scripture.
When Scripture says that there is God, and uh this God is uh is uh wandering here in Vraja and He's herding cows. Um Well, we don't have uh so much experience in this.
We just have to believe in it uh and therefore it's naturally more weak. Whereas uh certain things Therefore our faith in them stronger.
But gradually, gradually our spiritual faith also becomes strong uh as as much we gain some experience.
Actually sometimes we feel like when we practice devotional service we feel as if we are in a place like the current of Ganga is so pure and everything.
But other times we feel as if we have like contaminated that dirty, muddy water. So how to remain in that pure consciousness all the time.
The only way to remain in this pure consciousness all the time is to remain in sādhu saṅga all the time. Because our tendency will be like this.
We will be kind of isolated and when we are isolated we're when we are alone with our mind then naturally some contamination some, bacteria comes and contaminate the water of our consciousness.
Therefore we have to be in this current. Therefore we have to be in the sādhu-saṅga.
How to tender that spiritual sādhu because uh uh even though we are hearing regularly and and associating also, but still uh when we specifically when we uh have some material contamination when we go to preaching and so many uh things we have to face at that time we face in in the reverse sense we become a little weak. So what are what are the key factors that we have to um take here to keep
for the numbers uh one of the key factors is not just here, it It is specifically mentioned by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, that's from his Bhakti-sandarbha, that we should hear in a systematic manner.
We usually hear in a very chaotic manner. Not in a very systematic way. We hear from here, from there, little bit uh and we don't have the complete picture and therefore uh this um uh So-called, uh, krama,
kramahīna, kramahīna-śravaṇa. The śravaṇa which is not systematic, which is not according to the system, it it doesn't create a very firm foundation for our belief.
And therefore, we hear something which is apparently contradictory to what we heard before and we develop some doubts. So that's perhaps the most important aspect.
We hear very carefully, we try to understand what is being said, and we try to systematize it and get a very clear beautiful logical structure in it.
That's why there is śruti- prasthāna, smṛti-prasthāna, and nyāya-prasthāna. Nyāya-prasthāna, the logical exposition of the tenets of our belief is very important. These three prasthanas they bring us to truths.
So my basically that's the most important. In a practical aspect what is systematic hearing applies to? Means like we regularly hear lectures and reading so reading salaprapha folks and uh hearing lectures.
Well, systematic means, you know, Bhagavad-gītā first, and Bhagavad-gītā, as I said, is a foundationalśāstra. It is the śāstra which creates the faith. And you understand very clearly Bhagavad-gītā. If you understand Bhagavad-gītā, your faith will become very strong. Just this one little book is enough.
But then if you still have some doubts, now in the beginning, if you start, you know, like I I remember one disciple of mine he
He came to me and he said, "I lost my faith." I asked, "What is the problem?" He said, "When I read that Pūtanā's body was one yojana long, I lost my faith completely."
So uh if you start mm from the tension of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam will never develop bhāva.
Because you know the first obstacle in your devotional path will be to imagine how Pūtana was one yojana long and who would be matched to her if she would get married and how big her children would be.
All kinds of very important doubts were so so therefore first Bhagavad-gītā... Janachara. So, first Bhagavad-gītā, and then even Bhagavad-gītā, if you read, you may develop some doubts.
There is, I think there is one very important aspect which is missing in our culture is that sincere doubts which we have and the culture of expressing these sincere doubts.
Sometimes we little're a shy and we don't want to express our doubts openly and don't want to admit the doubts there. So that's another thing which is important. Sometimes we hide our doubts even from ourselves.
We do have doubts, but we're hiding. It's not the culture to ask openly about these doubts. So to listen carefully, listen systematically and then ask questions to dissipate them. I think this is a good place to finish.
Thank you very much. Om Tat Sat, Hare Krishna. For you I I have to answer your question. Maharaj. So, Maharaj, how to develop bhāva by doing kīrtana? How to develop bhāva by doing kīrtana? While doing kīrtana.
While doing kīrtana. Just do it wildly. It's not a problem. You will have both, no problem. At least somebody should have it. Thank you very much.