Obstacles on the Path of Bhakti
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · Mayapur · 2017
Chapters
Opening prayers and auspicious invocation
Omachyan das Vyanamchanakaya, Chaksuru Miriam, Tasma Shriam. Sri Chaitanyam Visham, Stabi Damien, Bukale, Swayamrupakada Vande Sri Guru Shrita Padakamalam Srivuru Vaishnavamch Sreupam Sagra Jata Sabanabuna dang save, sadvaitam, sadhupam, parjana sahita, krishna Cetanya Deva Sri Ram Krishna Padam Sahana Madita Sri Sri Sakadams, Hrisnakar Sindho, Vinamandho Jagatpath Bodhisat Gopakanta, Radakanasude, Taptakanchana Gorami, Padvitamishwari, Vishwatus, Ramadi Hari Pri Antyataupatarubyascham, Kribasimdurbya, Patitanampavamidy, Vaishnavyam Krishna Chaitanya, Prabhunitananda, Siriadvaitadatara, Srivastani Gura Bakta Brinda, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Dama Hare Hare No we shouldn't have
Krishna Hri Starley, Srimate, Bhakti Vidanta, Sami Vita, E Sarazba D Sandi vai te gila shapti daraswadana anjamasamatra, nandamu bhagarde pusha suma. Hare Krishna.
I'm deeply honored and at the same time humbled having to speak in front of you, especially having to speak after Bhakti Livna Vinatine Maharaj. He told me that the topic of his discussion was Mahaprakash Lila.
And I said to him that Maharaj was speaking all about the Jews, I will speak about dry subject matters.
But at the same time, uh I think what I'm about to say is uh of some relevance to every one of us because we all came here to this Krishna consciousness movement for our spiritual development as an answer to our spiritual quest or to satisfy our spiritual thirst.
And particularly this material which is mostly I based on Srila Jivagaswami's Bhakti Sandhar But also many other sources and of course Shiva Prabhupada.
This material kind of formulated in me by observing the spiritual growth of devotees who come to Krishna Consciousness Movement. And we know that it's not always so smooth and so quickly.
There are a lot of impediments on our path, and different people meet with different impediments, and unfortunately it's not as quick as it is usually described in the Shastra.
Because in the Shastra it is said, you know, very glowing picture is there, you know, somebody plants a seed of Kṛṣṇa-premā-bhakti in your heart and then the creeper grows and very soon it reaches the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa in the loka of Vṛndāvana.
Hare Kṛṣṇa, it's a nice metaphor, uh but we all also know that uh unfortunately that by some reasons the growth of this creeper is somewhat stunted by different circumstances in our life.
Scriptural stages of devotional development
And basically, this little presentation, which I intended to have two or three parts, it will only be one part, is devoted to this topic. So this is a little introduction and I also basically
the whole presentation is founded on the famous verse or two verses from Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ, etc.
But somehow or other our acharyas they commented very little on these two important verses about the stages of spiritual growth and spiritual development.
Of course, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura wrote the whole book about these two verses, commenting on these two verses.
But again, when you read Mādhuryā-kādambinī, which is Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's work on very amazing work with explanation of how the spiritual growth takes place, we can see that he takes an ideal case.
He more or less describes a very ideal sort of situation
when a brāhmaṇa boy goes to a holy place, meets with mahā-bhāgavata devotee, and mahā-bhāgavata devotee, uh, plants the seed of śraddhā in his heart and very quickly it grows and then he associates with other mahā-bhāgavatas and soon enough he sees Krishna face to face.
He reaches the stage of premā. We know that in our case the scenario is slightly different. Somebody who had five girlfriends before meets a saṅkīrtana devotee who may be mahā-bhāgata, but not necessarily.
Gets a book and then you know he moves to ashram and he associates with similar devotees with similar history. And you know, there is no it's a little
surprised that his growth is not exactly following the uh clear-cut stages described, uh, in Mādhuryā-kādambinī and
also Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that for anartha-nivṛtti you need two, three days to pass this anartha-nivṛtti stage. A few days. You know, so uh it's uh in our case it's uh uh definitely an overstatement.
It's not it's not something which we uh see in reality. So we see it's different.
At the same time, the very clear understanding of how it goes and what are the processes which take place within our heart while we're chanting, should be very clearly understood.
Shona Karish, who is head of our Hindu Student or Center in Oxford University, He once told me a very interesting little story that one Christian theologian
came to this Hindu study Oxford Center, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies. And they were talking a little bit about the theology. And then this theologian he asked a very interesting question.
He said, Do you have a detailed work or book which describes the stages of spiritual development. And the implied meaning of this question was that if you don't, you're not bona fide.
Only if you have this very detailed and very scientific understanding of what is going on, what is supposed to take place within your heart while you're chanting or during other spiritual practice, only this makes religion a religion or makes the past as a past.
So this little story also was an inspiration for me to go a little deeper into the subject matter and to study in some detail.
And I found a very interesting thing which I wanted to share with you in this little presentation.
Distinguishing scriptural faith from conventional faith
And specifically today, I will speak about two types of shraddha. The proper shraddha or shastrias and Samajik Shraddha or Convention Shraddha. Conventional phase.
The phase which we sort of you know picking in our devotional association and I will explain in details the nature of these two kinds of faith. And again, I didn't find this material uh in one place.
I found it in many places, primarily in Bhakti-sandarbha of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī. Das Mami. Why it is so important for us to understand this initial stages, I will explain now.
It's interesting that specifically this initial stages of spiritual development are not in very great details explained.
For example, in Madhurya-kadambini of Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, about sādhu-saṅga, there is only one line, only one little sentence about sādhu-saṅga.
Whereas, in my humble opinion, it requires a little more elaboration for us to understand what this stage of sādhu-saṅga is. And what are the laws which should be followed on this stage to cross it quickly?
What we should do. And specifically, this question about Shraddha of faith is in my
humble opinion is of extreme importance, why? Because this is, as we know, the seed of the whole creeper of our bhakti and bhakti latā-bīja.
And if the seed is proper, then we can hope that the growth of creeper will also be proper. If the seed is very strong and of course if the soil is fertile and so many other conditions should be made.
But also we have to examine what is the quality of the seed. What I want to say here is that the seed should be proper.
Because only if the seed is proper then we can expect that the creeper will come up to the lotus feet of Lord Krishna in Goloka Vṛndāvana. But if the seed is not really proper, then something else will grow.
If we have genetically modified seed of bhakti-latā, so some genetically modified creeper will grow. Which necessarily will bring us to the lotus feet of Lord Krishna? Not necessarily.
In my own devotional life, there was a little funny episode.
We started long back in Soviet Union and at that time there was very little association with the rest of ISKCON and devotees, they were not coming to Russia, and we were more or less isolated.
And we didn't have too much facilities for practicing Krishna consciousness. We didn't have tulasī beads or tulasī plants. Anyway, somehow or other we got three seeds of tulasī. It was a very rare occasion.
It was something really precious. And we planted these three seeds. Out of these three seeds, two creepers grew. But unfortunately they were very different.
One was like normal tulasī, which we know, another one was really, you know, robust kind of planned. And you know, one friend of mine and myself, we divided these two plants.
He took the robust one and I took the very gentle one. And you know, the more it grew the more different it became. You know, and we're wondering which one is tulasī.
They didn't have and we didn't know what tulasī looks like, of course everyone thought my one is the real one, the other one is just bogus one so and I remember very clearly, you know, soon enough we found out that this other one was a was a weed, you know.
When it started, you know, when it started giving some strange seeds and you know really but I remember very clearly how we were going around this week
and saying Vṛndāyai tuvai devyai priya-keśavaiḥ kṛṣṇa-bhakti-prade devi satyaṁ namo namaḥ So this little story is actually about this.
We have to know what what is the quality of the seed. What kind of seed is planted within our heart and what kind of seed we are watering by the water
Importance of proper devotional instruction
of śravaṇaṁ and kīrtanam. And one very interesting quote from Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura stresses the importance of this particular topic because Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Chapter number six.
He says very interesting thing. He said that. Anyway, let me read it. That's about faith, the quality of the faith which we have.
On the sense of performing many actions favorable to devotion over many lifetimes, faith in the process of bhakti eventually arises. The space, through association of devotees, yields taste, ruci.
By chanting in the association of pure devotees, sādhana-bhakti directed towards prema arises. If by the mercy of those pure devotees, he accepts correct practice of chanting, very quickly.
He comes to the stage of aspiring for prema. Again, very quickly. But then the next statement. If however he takes instruction from a mixed devotee or a semi-devotee, it will be difficult for him to attain prema.
He cannot become fully surrendered devotee, as sinful impressions still influence him, he does not appreciate pure devotees. Crookedness appears and his heart becomes deceptive.
In this condition, the practitioner must spend many years as a neophyte, a kaniṣṭha-adhikārī. Though the kaniṣṭha-adhikārī has space, it is very tender, swayed often by temptations.
In my humble opinion, it's a very important quote where Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that if the seed of your faith is not really proper, then you will not be able to surrender in the real sense of the word.
It will be very difficult, and you will have to stand in this very beginning stage. Even though you have some semblance of faith, some faith is there.
So again, this is the quote which confirms that we should very carefully and analytically and scientifically study the nature of the faith which we have.
Because again, it's not necessarily that all the elements of the faith which we have are coming from pure source. Yes, we do read a lot of Śrīla Prabhupāda books, I hope. Although maybe not as much as required.
But at the same time, we get a lot of elements of our faith from other sources which may not necessarily be pure. Therefore, I think it is it is very important to understand this particular topic.
And while studying this topic, the methodology which I have adopted I took from I took from Madhurya Kādambinī. And in Madhurya Kādambinī, I mean maybe I should anyway. Let's no, I'll skip this little part.
Scriptural foundations of authentic faith
Okay, let's go back to our main topic: the faith. In many places, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and not even Śrīla Prabhupāda, Kṛṣṇa himself, speak that there are two kinds of faiths.
Like for example in the famous verse from the ninth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, śraddhāvān labhate jñānaṁ tat-parāḥ saṁyatendriyāḥ, Śrīla Prabhupāda in the purport says that the faith which kaniṣṭha-adhikārī has, it's actually not a faith at all.
It's only named as a faith. It's not really śraddhā. It's aśraddhā in one sense. Śrīla Prabhupāda says that it's just we gently name it as a faith, but it's not really a faith.
Kṛṣṇa himself very interestingly describes in the seventeenth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā answering Arjuna's question.
Arjuna asked, what kind of faith people have, even if they have very strong faith, but this faith is not based on scriptures. Please explain to me. And then Krishna starts explaining to him these different three
divisions of faith, faith in tamas and rajas and sattva. But at the end he again speaks, śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ, na sa siddhim avāpnoti na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim, basically he wants to say—and that's the end of the sixteenth chapter, sorry.
He wants to say that if your faith is not based on scripture, doesn't have very firm scriptural foundation, then na sa siddhim avāpnoti, na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim. Mabatnati, na sukham na paramgati.
Three times he repeats na. You will not get siddhi, perfection. Na sukham, you will not become happy. And na parāṁ gatim, you will not get the highest destination.
And basically, Kṛṣṇa starts seventeenth chapter while describing that everyone has faith. Faith is not something rare. Śraddhāmayo 'yaṁ puruṣaḥ. Any puruṣa, any living being, he has some faith. So what kind of faith?
That's a big question. And therefore, at the end of seventh chapter, again Krishna repeats, if one faith is not based on scriptures, everything which you do is useless, futile. Yields no result. Zero.
So therefore again we can see that this
is of a great importance to examine what kind of śraddhā we have within ourselves and what are the lakṣaṇas, what are the signs, how we can determine what kind of understanding or what kind of belief or faith we have.
Because everyone has faith. Christians have faith, Muslim have faith. Everyone has faith. What is the specific faith which we need to have so that we
can say very convincingly that our faith is bhakti-latā-bīja, which eventually bring us to Krishna.
Transmission of conventional societal faith
And again in my humble opinion this is one of the problematic areas in our devotional life and devotional career.
So again, as I said, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī analyzes these two kinds of faith, and he says that the first kind of faith is śāstrīya śraddhā, another kind of phrase is laukika śraddhā.
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī himself doesn't use this phrase laukika śraddhā, it's the phrase which Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura uses. But Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī definitely means it when he describes these two different kinds of faiths.
And he says the laukika śraddhā is loka-paramparā-prāptā. The śraddhā which we get from loka parampara. There is we know sad-parampara, bona fide parampara disciplic succession and there is loka parampara.
Loka parampara basically means in the family, in the society, in the kitchen, in Bhakti Vriksha group. This is all this may be Loka Parampara. This may be something, some information which we get from different
sources and Śrīla Prabhupāda was actually very disturbed when we when he heard uh that devotees are using some information coming from doubtful sources.
There was an interesting little story connected with Śrīla Prabhupāda. Once a mataji came to Śrīla Prabhupāda and it was an ekādaśī day.
And the Mataji said, Śrīla Prabhupāda, we know that we cannot use asafoetida on an ekādaśī day. Can we use Haldi, Kurkuma, or how you say it, uh. Can you use tumerik on a kadis today? Śrīla Prabhupāda became furious.
He asked you, when did I say that you cannot use asafetida on an ekādaśī? She started mumbling something, Prabhupāda, I heard it from I heard it somewhere. Where? In the kitchen. That's Lokaparampara Prapta.
That's something which we get through loka-paramparā, Śrīla Prabhupāda said, I never said this, you always do something wrong. You're getting information from wrong sources.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda didn't question this point, whether safety could not be used or could be used, he was questioning the source. And he was very strong about this point. Source should be proper, should be bona fied.
And if we really clearly, you know, in my life, you know, in my attempts to do some devotional service, I heard so many strange things, so many weird things, so many weird stories. If you go to Vrindavan, oh my goodness.
So many strange stories are there. You ask, what is the source? Oh, loka-paramparā-prāpta. It's coming from from gossip. You know, somebody said and somebody repeated it, and this is how loka-paramparā works.
And this is how samādhika śraddhā is being formed. Conventional śraddhā, śraddhā which is being formed in the society. So, what I want to say is that society of devotees is a very dangerous thing in one sense.
It's very beneficial, but as usually when śāstra speaks about sādhu-saṅga or the need for association, they need a special, they they mean a special kind of association, the association with pure devotees, with those uh with aptas, with those who we can believe.
So this is uh loka-paramparā-prāpta and then there is śāstrīya-śraddhā. Śāstrīya-śraddhā, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī very clearly explains what is śāstrīya-śraddhā. Śāstrīya-śraddhā means śāstrārtha-viśvāsa.
Vishwas means trust in the meaning of shastra.
Sometimes people have a wrong understanding that śāstrārtha-viśvāsa necessarily means śāstrīya-śraddhā necessarily means that I have to know I have to become jñānī and know too much śāstra. No.
You have to have firm belief in the meaning of śāstra, in the process of devotional service based on the logic of śāstra. That's śāstrārtha-viśvāsa. What is most important here is this Shastra Yuktia, logic of Shastra, if you understand the logic of Shastra, the systematic, if you have systematic understanding of what Shastra wants to convey to us, then you have Shastriya Shadra.
What happens when we don't have this? When we don't have systematic understanding of how Shastra proves to us the process of devotional service and everything else, then what will happen?
We will try, our face will be full of holes. We will have doubts. We will not have a very rational and intelligible understanding
of the process of devotional service and therefore we will need psychologically need to fill up these holes in the shastra by all kinds of strange information. Specifically by the information about some miracles.
I know people who are very expert in creating faith in others by describing all kinds of miracles. My deity ate two dates. I gave him five dates and he ate two dates and left only three dates. Wow, this is farat.
Or you know I gave this all kinds of stories. I I hear so many weird stories. Really weird. And some people, uh the whole foundation for devotional service, for chanting Hare Krishna is based on these weird stories.
Śrīla Prabhupāda was so uh I mean Śrīla Prabhupāda would not approve it, he wanted us to have very rational understanding of the meaning of Shastra. Why devotional service? Why Krishna? Why only Krishna?
And again, this is the difference between Loka Parampara Prapta and Shastriastada in the proper sense.
So, what we have in our case as neophyte devoids, we are in the beginning stages of our devotional service, we can very safely say that our Shraddha, the seed of our Shraddha, is mixed.
It's basically even Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he says that the face Shradha of Kanista Dikari is not really face, it's Shradha abhas. It's it's not really real face.
So the the main meaning of this presentation, little presentation, I I will go now I will describe different lakshanas or different signs, different characteristics of these two kinds of face is that we should clearly understand where we are and try to make necessarily steps to change the nature of our shraddha.
What I want to say is that I don't want to condemn Logika Shraddha. Logikas Radha is a good starting point. We have to start somewhere. And the beginning point, laukika-śraddhā is a beginning point is good.
What is bad if we remain on this level of laukika-śraddhā? If we are satisfied, I already have faith. I'm chanting.
Please remember that Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that even if you do devotional service, even if you chant, if your source is not proper, if it's coming from the wrong source, you will not be able to surrender to Kṛṣṇa.
And you will chant, yes, you will chant. This lifetime and next lifetime and many lifetimes to come. Many, many lifetimes. Why? Because something is wrong.
And that's the problem with laukika-śraddhā, because laukika has this tendency that's specifically said by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī pāda that when one has this laukika-śraddhā, he becomes very satisfied, "I'm fine, everything is okay. Prabhu, I'm chanting 16 rounds, what do you want from me?" This
false satisfaction which is being brought to us by this laukika, sentimental, or conventional śraddhā, is a very dangerous thing.
You know, because once Prabhupāda said an amazing thing, that you can hide from Kṛṣṇa consciousness by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You can try to hide from Kṛṣṇa behind the facade of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Externally, you are doing everything, you're following the principles, you are chanting or doing something, but internally you remain sort of empty-hearted and not really, not really developing, uh, your affection and, uh, attachment to Kṛṣṇa.
Characteristics of mechanical ritualistic faith
So, uh, again, laukika-śraddhā is not bad. Kaniṣṭha-adhikārī cannot have anything else. It's a good starting point, but very quickly we have to change the nature of it. We have to really, uh, clearly understand what's going on and what should be done to correct this. And then it will be okay. So coming to this uh to this uh
section of my presentation, the, uh, particular laukika or particular characteristics of, uh, both types of faiths. The laukika-śraddhā, one very prominent sign, very prominent characteristic of laukika-śraddhā is that it's mechanical.
It's ritualistic. You have faith in the ritual and you more or less don't know the meaning of this ritual. You're just doing because you know because this is our religion.
Why you changing, yeah, because this is you know this is what we're supposed to do as devotees you don't have deep understanding you don't have the deep um drive to do it you
You just do it mechanically, Hare Krishna. Ātmā
Tattva Prabhu some time ago was giving a lecture here in Sridham Mayapur many, many, many, many years back and he would mock and imitate people who were chanting Hare Krishna mantra. Vrum vrum, snik snik.
He says, you will get to vrum vrum and snik snik. Don't expect that you will get to Krishna. Snik snik is waiting for you and his snik snik world. So it's it's interesting
this is what This is what Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says in his Jaiva Dharma about this mechanical or ritualistic śraddhā.
He says, kaniṣṭha-adhikārī is kaniṣṭha vaiṣṇava, prākṛta. Are those who have received initiation from hereditary gurus, known as kula-gurus, out of family tradition, or those who feel sentimentally inspired upon seeing others worshiping a deity of Śrī Viṣṇu and then worship a deity in imitation.
Those who accepted initiation into Viṣṇu mantra with laukika-śraddhā, they are not in the category of śuddha-bhakti. These unrefined devotees are on the level of chāyā-bhakty-ābhāsa or shadow-like semblance of devotion.
However, they are above those on the platform of pratibimba-bhakty-ābhāsa.
Basically, he says, and he specifically says that in contrast, deity worship bereft of clear and correct concept of sambandha-jñāna is conducted on the level of mechanical ritualistic laukika-śraddhā.
Again, when we say this, of course, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is referring to a particular phenomenon of hereditary guru.
We may not get our faith from a hereditary guru, but still, if our faith is not of the first class, we will do whatever we do without really understanding why we are doing, as an imitation, as an act of imitation. We will do all these pūjās and we will do these rituals, but we don't understand why.
This question, why, why we are doing what we are doing, is very important, and śāstra gives the answer to this question.
And if we are satisfied with just mechanical understanding—I'm doing it because everyone else is doing it, I'm doing it because this is our society and we are supposed to do it because this is our tradition—
we will have a very hard time developing real love of God, real Kṛṣṇa-prema. Yes, we will come to Maṅgala-ārati. And we all know—I'm speaking from my own experience. You know, you chant Saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka
without even thinking once about the meaning of what you're chanting. Saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka and you know what is lida loka? You know what is going on there? You don't know. It's just a ritual.
Whereas the essence of it is to understand, uh you know, to to to put heart. We are in Krishna consciousness movement, not uh Krishna robot movement or whatever.
We have to really invest our heart in whatever we are doing and this again, mechanical approach to what we are doing is a very glaring sign of laukika-śraddhā.
We are not able to connect our consciousness with our external activity. And therefore, the external activity remains external activity without changing anything within our heart. And again, the reason is very deep.
The reason is that there is something wrong in our understanding of why we are doing what we are doing in Krishna consciousness.
So, and of course, ritual means that we have full trust in the ritual itself, in the mechanism of ritual.
People they have this you know uh often devotees have this uh very deep misconception that uh if I do everything mechanically uh I will uh ultimately come to Krishna. My heart doesn't change.
The dirty thoughts which are there regularly coming in my heart, but still I have complete faith in the ritual.
And people they ritualistically get initiation, new name, and it goes on and on and on without really trying to change.
And again, what we have to change is to have deeper understanding of what we are doing and to change something.
Impairments in faith and scripture violations
So there is a second sign, very interesting sign. Very interesting.
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī specifically says that if one has this laukika-śraddhā not really deeply grounded śāstrīya-śraddhā that for sure we will break regulative principles. We will deviate from the shastras.
It's a very interesting thing. We will adopt some practices which is against śāstra- vidhi. And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī specifically quotes very famous verse from the 9th chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. I'm sure you know this verse.
su-duḥcāro bratām ananya-bhāk sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ samyag vyavasito hi saḥ. He says, in this particular verse, Krishna is speaking about somebody who does not have śāstric śraddhā.
Because he says, if one would have śāstra, uh śraddhā in the meaning of śāstra, faith in the meaning of śāstra, he would not be api ced su-durācāraḥ no. He would not do su-durācāra.
If somebody is doing durācāra, then it means only one thing. He doesn't have real faith.
His faith is ābhāsa, śraddhā-ābhāsa, shadow of the faith, some some very unsubstantial faith, because the faith itself is strong enough to keep us from following the regulative principles.
Really, it has the facility, even on the level of beginning phase, we will be full of enthusiasm to follow Shastra because we have faith.
And uh the if if we are breaking this, it means that real faith is not existent, is not really there in the heart.
And it's also said in the Nectar of Devotion in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi-pañcarātra-vidhiṁ vinā, aikāntikī harer bhaktir Smrithi Puranadi Pancharatra, Vidin Nina, uhikantika Hare Bhakti.
Even if you have aikāntika, aikānta-bhakta, aikāntikī bhakti unto Hari, you believe in Hari. You have one point of devotion to him. It will only create disturbance. I'm dealing now with one case of somebody who claims
to be very you know elevated changing three lakhs of holy names every day and at the same time not following simple principles like taking shower in the morning. It just creates disturbance.
And ultimately, again, if we don't follow the process of uh Krishna consciousness very strictly or if we have this very strong impetus from inside to break regulative principles, something is wrong with our faith.
Something is really wrong. And this is the area which we have to work on.
Because if I have a very strong faith then there is no problem. kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā śaśvac-chāntiṁ nigacchati, Krishna says in the next verse of Bhagavad-gītā, very quickly he becomes righteous if uh if his devotion is properly situated.
So So that's um the next thing uh that if we have faith which is firmly based in devotional scriptures then uh we will not have a temptation to break śāstra-vidhi.
Philosophical inquiry versus religious dogmatism
Next thing is very important. Please listen very carefully. I think it's very important. When we don't have proper faith, our approach to what we believe in tends to be very dogmatic.
We just blindly accept so many things without even thinking. We are afraid to think. Do I believe it or not in it or not? We're just being driven by dogmas.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda was really fighting against this attitude when he would ask his disciples a question and you know and if they would just give him blind answers, he would just fight with it.
When he would sense that somebody is giving just standard answer, without really understanding deeply what it is. Prabhupāda was not very happy. There is one very nice lecture of Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Oh, like two lectures, two quotes I will give from Śrīla Prabhupāda. So our only request is that you don't take this Krishna consciousness movement as some sentimental religious propaganda.
No, no, it's not religious, it is scientific. And in the next quote, he says: by not blindly following, we have no dogmatism. We have got reason, philosophy, and everything. Science.
If you want to understand this Krishna consciousness movement on the basis of philosophy, logic and science, we are prepared to present it to you. You know, so many dogmas are there.
Dogmas means I just blindly accept it and I believe it. I remember again very clearly one funny story from my life. Again, it's back in Soviet Union with a young practicing some sort of devotional service.
And we met with somebody who believed in God. At that time in the Soviet Union, it was a very rare occasion. You were not supposed to believe in God.
If you were supposed to, if you If you believed in God, you were basically ostracized from the society. So we met with one Christian, he was seven-day Adventist, and we were a little curious about him, his belief.
It was again a very rare occasion to meet somebody who would openly profess that he believes in God. So we came to him and it was around midday and he just got up from his bed and he was over.
And then we looked and we looked at him and we asked him, please explain to us why do you believe in God or in Christ or whatever it is. He said, just because I believe, my name is already there in the book of life.
And he looked very meaningfully at us. And the meaning was clear that he wanted to say that our name is in the book of death. So it was a very condescending sort of exchange.
And I was struck at that time that he is the person who obviously is, you know, he sleeps till 12 o'clock at night. You know, he sleeps till 12 o'clock at night. But he blindly believes that my name I'm already saved.
This is what is called dogma. You know, I don't understand the process. I don't understand what is supposed to happen in my heart, I don't understand how the purification is taking place, what is pure, what is impure.
I don't understand anything, but I believe. Because I believe everything is fine. This is a very glaring example of logic of dogma. And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī gives a very beautiful example. Beautiful example.
He gives a verse from Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa.
And in this verse, it's a it's an interesting thing. explains how the person with the proper understanding thinks when he meets some statement or something which does not really match with his understanding.
Kim satyam amṛtam ceti vicāraḥ samppravartate, vicārya kṛti rājan, asatya-parivarjanaṃ, siddhaṃ bhavati pūrṇasya tat-śraddhā He says, tadā śraddhā mahā-phalā. Again, the same sort of statement.
Yo śraddhā will bear, will bring you mahā-phal, great fruit, only if your attitude is as described in this verse.
And in this verse, what is described, what is being described is that you see something which does not really match with your understanding. You see some statement of the shastra.
Really phārarthal statement of the śāstra. And you don't just, you know, blindly close your eyes and say, I believe it. No. It is said, Kim satyam amṛtam ceti. Is it true or not? You really ask yourself this question.
You do not take anything blindly, but you ask your question. Is it true or no? You you you really try to examine within yourself, vicāraḥ samppravartate, and then you think deeply. Vicāraḥ samppravartate means
that you really apply your intelligence and you think, is it true or not? And if it's true, if I am to believe it, I have to understand why I believe it, how it is true. Not why it is true, but how it is true.
I don't doubt Shastra, but at the same time I have to really question myself, not blindly accepting it, but question myself. How do I understand this particular statement of the Shastra?
And Vichyareti Kriti Rajan Asatya Parivarjana. After thinking deeply on the statements of the shastra, I reject the possibility that this is asatya, that this is not true. Asatyam Parivarjana.
I really understand within myself how it is true. If we really apply this method of studying Shastra, not just blindly reading because I have to read 40 pages a day, because this is my ritual. 40 pages a day.
Otherwise I'm nowhere. You know, people read it, uh, but at the same time doubts are lingering there. They're not going deeply. Therefore, the method is very simple. You ask yourself whether it's true or not true.
And then you think deeply about this statement and you try to understand how it is true. Not just because Shastra says it.
Once there was a very interesting story in Prabhupāda. It was in Kumbamela when Prabhupada was with his disciples. And he asked his disciples, why Krishna consciousness is true. How it is true?
And somebody said, Śrīla Prabhupāda, because you said. Therefore it's true. Śrīla Prabhupāda started chuckling and laughing, and he said, Who am I? I'm just an old man, old man, just don't know what he's talking about.
You know, it's not a proof. Then somebody said, because Krishna says in Bhagavad-gītā, Prabhupāda says, Bhagavad-gītā is just a book. You can write anything in the book. And everyone was puzzled.
Prabhupada was exactly trying to push us to think, not to become blind believers, blind followers. And again, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī illustrates it by quoting this Brahma-vaivarta Purana.
This is how we should approach and everything. And if I don't understand anything, you know I have to really try hard to understand and work till I understand it perfectly.
Cultivating humility over spiritual superiority
And then there are few more things, few more signs of uh these two types of śraddhā.
Laukika śraddhā usually gives you a sense of superiority over others. Whereas, Shastriya Shraddha, real Shastriya Shraddha makes you humble. That's the difference.
It's a very significant difference because we have seen people who profess or who represent different kinds of faiths, they sometimes have this very prominent condescending attitude towards other religions. Why?
We are chosen ones. We are selected chosen God's own people. You know we know this.
You go to Israel, this is of course very chosen people, very special people, and everyone tries to say we're special, we are the only ones, everyone else is outside of this.
This is a very clear side, and if we find it on ourself, it's a sign that something is wrong with our skada. Because if our is proper, it should not make us proud.
I remember once a friend of mine, he was having a dialogue with one. Oh, actually he was joking basically.
He said that everyone all other religious people all other people who believe in our faith in other faith they all say we're the best ones. And we don't say this. Therefore we're the best ones. It's a joke.
But there is something in this joke. Sometimes you know we definitely have to be proud of our philosophy and everything.
But it doesn't mean that we're the best ones, that we're the chosen ones, that we're the special ones.
If we feel psychological need to always confirm that we are the best one, that our past is the best one, something is wrong in our understanding of our path.
You know, one friend of mine he gives a very nice example in this regard. He says, just imagine that you are you are an agent to sell a very good vacuum cleaner.
And your vacuum cleaner is really good, is really superior that everyone else in the market. And then somebody asks to you, you know, please explain about your vacuum cleaner.
Will you feel the need, you know, if you really have a very good one, uh you will say that this other vacuum cleaner is good in this regard, this other vacuum cleaner is good here, is good here.
You will not try to denigrate others. But you will say, well, just look what we have and it's it's really good. But you will not feel this you know very strong impetus to push others down.
This feeling of being a chosen member of a selected group of people is not a very good sign. Again, as I said, it's um and it's very closely connected with the previous one because usually people who have this attitude
they have ready-made answers to all the questions. I myself heard so many times these ready-made answers when the preacher just answers something really standard, some dogma.
And you can immediately feel that there is not much real life behind this answer. But somebody says, yeah, we are the only ones because because you
know like somebody told me that there is some Muslim neighbor living uh nearby and uh he's a devotee and he said I was speaking with this Muslim member and he said his phone is very good. It's very good.
They're such nice people, disciplined, and they're very good, clean. There's only one problem. What is the problem? They don't follow Quran. Everything else is fine.
Again, it's it's it's a very mechanical sort of understanding. This is the only one why because because it is.
But if we really know that uh here is Shastra, and Shastra really gives very deep answers to very fundamental questions, we will not have this condescending attitude.
Rather, we will we will be open to answer any questions which other people have, but at the same time it will not make us proud.
Eagerness for continuous spiritual development
Then there is a few more things which I wanted to say in this topic. It's also interesting.
The next sign or the next characteristic of laukika-śraddhā or how it is distinguished from śāstrīya-śraddhā is that śāstrīya-śraddhā is never satisfied with itself.
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī gives a very beautiful example. He says if somebody is looking for gold and knows what gold is, he will look more and more about the gold.
Having attained faith, but still in the practice stage, or in the stage of perfection, they always endeavor to imbibe the character of great sages, like a person who is eager to obtain gold.
Perfection here means the inner realization of Lord Hari, which destroys defects such as lust from the heart and bestows the highest limit of bliss.
In that state, while constantly engaged in the means to bring about the wall, there is absolutely no trace of conduct conduct plugged with defects like duplicity and desire for honor.
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that if you have this real śraddhā, the sign of this Shraddha is that you are never satisfied with the level you are in. You will always want to go deeper and deeper and deeper.
You will never have this understanding that, uh, everything is fine with you. Uh, once when Mataji asked this question from Śrīla Gurudeva Maharaj, will I ever attain premā, love of God?
Maharaj looked at her and said, yes, you will attain. But you will never know about this. In other words, if somebody really attains something, he's not really saying, you know, look at me, I attain this.
He will have this attitude that I'm nothing, I'm nobody. Like Caitanya Mahāprabhu says himself, nāprema-gandho 'sti darāpi me hṛdi. I don't have even a whiff, even a smell of Kṛṣṇa prema. Because if I would, I would die.
So this sort of attitude is a sign of real śraddhā. You know, āśā-bandha and samutkaṇṭhā. This word samutkaṇṭhā is very significant. Sam-utkaṇṭhā. Kaṇṭh means kaṇṭha means the throat. Sam-utkaṇṭhā.
Utkaṇṭhā means that you're so eager that your heart is coming up to the throat. You know, eagerness is so high that the heart is coming up, utkaṇṭhā. You're always eager to do more.
You're always eager to to preach more, you're always eager to chant more, you're always eager to become better and to understand the scriptures more.
This is the attitude which is coming naturally if you have proper Shraddha. But if your śraddhā is of logical, logical character, you will be very satisfied. I'm fine. I'm fine. You know, get lost. I'm changing my 16 rounds.
What what more do you want? You know, very often people come to me and they, I mean, when there is this initiation ceremony and you ask them, how many rounds do you chant every day?
Sometimes they say, you know, I ask them how many rounds will you chant? They say 16 rounds till the end of my life. I say 16 rounds till the end of my life is not so much because you know at least say every day.
Because till the end of your life if you change sixteen rounds. But then they say, you know, I say and if what if what if what will happen if you if you happen to chant 17 rounds? Will you break your vow?
Because I vow to chant sixteen rounds. You know it's Śrīla Prabhupāda says minimum sixteen rounds. Śrīla Prabhupāda says the ideal is to chant twenty-four hours a day.
If we don't have this eagerness, if we don't have this understanding, it means that we don't understand how important it is.
And it means that there is no logical or forceful understanding of Shastra, how Shastra explains that this is the most important activity. So this is a very interesting thing.
Whereas you know if somebody has loved it as Rādhā, he will be spiritually satisfied. Whereas śāstriyā-śraddhā give this unsatiable spiritual thirst.
But Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that vice versa somebody who has śāstrīya-śraddhā he will be materially very satisfied because
he believes in the statement of Kṛṣṇa in the ninth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, yoga kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham.
The person, the very clear sign of proper faith is that whatever is necessary for me, Krishna gave to me. I don't have to really strive for something else to improve my condition. I'm fine.
Krishna gave it to me, it's fine. Krishna himself says, I believe. Yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham. What I need, He gave. What He didn't give, I don't need. I truly don't need. What I need, He will give me.
And on the contrary, somebody who has logical śraddhā he will be satisfied spiritually, he will always strive to improve his material situation.
Again, it doesn't mean that we will have to become lazy, but it doesn't but it means that we we shouldn't you know develop these unnecessary cravings to increase or enhance our material situation.
Again uh it's a it's a wrong sign. It's a sign of some disease, of some spiritual disease, or at least of some undeveloped stage of śraddhā which we should take care of.
Because again, if the clear understanding of Shastra comes to us, the attitude towards life will change.
Focus on self-reflection over faultfinding
And I'm sure all of us experienced it how that if you changed. And then there is one more sign of uh yeah uh one more very important sign of Shastriya Shraddha, Logika Shraddha, distinguishing feature of these two uh kinds of faith is that somebody who has logic will always try to find faults in others and will always look how they are doing.
Why? Because he doesn't have the satisfaction within his own heart. There is again one very interesting episode in Śrīla Prabhupāda's life.
Acyutānanda Svāmī, who was a big svāmī at that time, he came to Śrīla Prabhupāda through in a very, you know, militant attitude. And he said, Prabhupāda, what's going on in ISKCON? Something is wrong in ISKCON.
Japanese and Germans, they lost the Second World War. But now they're taking over ISKCON. Prabhupāda, he was very surprised to hear this.
How is it Japanese and Germans are taking over ISKCON, and then uh uh Acyutānanda Svāmī, being a humble American, it's uh Ṛṣabhānana Prabhu, that is a German, you know, how he is raving and raging and this Tonya, sonya, Toyota at that time she was a prominent figure, you know, whatever.
He basically came to complain about them. But what is interesting, Prabhupāda's answer was very interesting, was very touching. Prabhupāda became very sad. Really sad. He looked at him with great compassion in his eyes.
And he said, Why do you have to look what somebody else is doing? Why do you have to find faults in others? Why don't you look in your own heart? You have enough problems yourself.
See, it's a very important thing because if we think everything is okay, still we will feel that heart is empty. If we don't have proper śraddhā, proper bhakti growing in our heart day by day, from chanting and associating with the devotees, we will feel this emptiness in the heart and therefore we will be psychologically driven, psychologically
forced to find faults in others. And all these things, you know, that there is this I mean this this magazine which some
Splinter Group is publishing, Kṛtīkas are publishing, Back to Prabhupāda. You open this magazine, it's full of just this is fault, this is fault, this is fault, this is wrong, and this is wrong, and this is wrong.
How is it Back to Prabhupāda? What does it have to do with Prabhupada? Just pointing faults of others. Śrīla Prabhupāda is very clear. Why do you have to look at what others are doing? Why?
The answer is very clear, because you don't have the proper faith. If the proper faith is there, you will not be pushed into this direction. You will really try to conscientiously practice Krishna consciousness and others,
you know, you're great. Whatever they're doing, you know, it's not my problem, it's their problem.
Whereas if your faith is improper, then you will be more or less driven into this direction, into this trap of committing offenses.
So and then another little sign, and then I will conclude because there's only a few minutes left. Another thing is that the proper śraddhā will make ultimately your heart soft.
Where laukika-śraddhā, conventional faith will make your heart very hard. You will become very proud. You will always look for the faults of others. You will always be satisfied.
See how great I am, I'm doing so good, I'm advancing so well in devotional service. And the real result of devotional service will be impeded by this, because the result of devotional service is the softening of the heart.
When you really feel the attachment to Krishna, which is which will not take place.
Spontaneous faith compared to forced faith
And therefore it's something which we have to do about and what I want to conclude with is that very
important one more very important thing is that Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura in his Madhurya-kādambinī, he takes the same two sorts of shraddha, but he gives a different nomenclature
to these two faiths, two kinds of śraddhā. For śāstri-śraddhā, he says svābhāvikī śraddhā, natural faith. In other words, śāstra is speaking something which is which resonates very naturally with the heart.
If you really understand śraddhā, śāstra, and the logic of śāstra, you will understand it's very logical what śāstra is saying and it will be—your faith will become very natural and very spontaneous.
A-phalotpaditā śraddhā, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura in Madhurya-kādambinī, gives a very interesting name. Kadamini, gives a very interesting name. He says balād utpāditā śraddhā.
Balād utpāditā, which literally means the śraddhā which arises in the heart by force. Balād, from the force. It's forced upon you. It's more or less. There is some sort of violence upon you.
And uh please again listen very carefully because in my opinion it's very important.
If you have proper Shraddha, then you will have this very spontaneous and very natural uh and voluntarily attitude towards devotional service. I want to do it.
I am here not because somebody wants it, not because Prabhupāda, you know, he's pushing me into it. Not because my spiritual master is so you know heavy and demonic and really, you know. No, I want it myself.
So So this attitude is very important because when people lose the contact with the essence and still follow the form, follow the process of devotional service, but formally in a mechanical way, the dissatisfaction within the heart will grow and grow and grow.
Emptiness within the heart will grow and grow and grow. And ultimately you will say that I was cheated. I was manipulated. Somebody forced me to do it.
And if you you will ask such a person, and I heard such a person, if you ask such persons, who forced you? He will name some preacher or something, he will find some fault in somebody, but ultimately it's his fault.
He didn't understand deeply why he is doing, what he is doing, how he is doing, and you know, he didn't he didn't develop proper faith, and he will have this concept that this face is forced upon me.
And actually, if we deeply examine this, we will see that some preachers they are trying to create this sort of forced face upon other people. When we employ fear, you will go to hell.
You know, you eat meat and this and that.
When we try to create faith by this means, not giving the milk-like mother śāstra is like mother and śāstriya śraddhā is like mother's milk. If we don't give the real milk and try to instead force somebody to believe in the process of Krishna consciousness and to practice Krishna consciousness because we suffering ourselves and everyone else who suffer the same way as we are. Instead of sharing our joy of devotion, we are trying to force others to accept this faith.
This is balāt-utpādita-śraddhā. And balāt-utpādita-śraddhā is another name for laukika-śraddhā, for improper Shraddha which will not bring us to Krishna, which will only give us some sort of artificial temporary satisfaction within the heart, but will not give us the real joy of Krishna consciousness.
Whereas if we have the proper Shraddha, even in the beginning we can experience this ananda of spiritual bliss.
Therefore, it's very important to get Shraddha from the proper source, from Śrīla Prabhupāda, from his loyal followers from really proper source and study Shastra, understand this and become properly situated in the very beginning stage of our devotional service, everything else will come.
Although there are some problems on the way as well and other stages, but I just wanted to explore little bit this initial stage of devotion and to reveal little of my findings from the writings of ācārya and Śrīla Prabhupāda's works. Thank you very much.