Three Types of Bhakti. Sannyasa College

Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · 2023

Главы

Thank you very much for your kind words. Let me start with Manga Vacharana.

Namau Vishnu Padaya Krishna Pristaya Bhutari Srimati Bhaktividanta Swami Namini Namaste Saraswati Devi, Gouravani Pracharina, Nirvis, She Sunywadi Paschatya De Shari. Vanchakal Patarubya, du bevach, pachitampavane bio, Vaisnava bio na moha ja sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhunitananda Syadvaita Gadat Hara Sivasadigora Bhakta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram Vishwambarodvi Javaru, Yuga Dharma, Palu Vand, Jagat Priya Karu Karu Navatar, Yondah Pishi Mammavachim Mampra Supta, Sandi Vaya Taquila Shakti Darah Swadamna, Anjamatva Gadm. Pranannamu Bhagavate Purushayatubi, Swasyastu Vishvasalah Prasidatandya Antu Bhutani, Sivam Mito Diyamanascha Vadram Bajatata Doksadja, Avesya Tamnu Mati Rat Pyahaituki So Hare Krishna.

I already gave this lectures for Sanyas College, but I was asked to repeat this material again, and I'll try to repeat whatever is relevant and whatever I can repeat within this two hours time.

Gaudiya Vaishnava perspective on devotional service

My first session was four hours, but I will have to somehow rather squeeze it into recording in progress one session.

Let me start with saying that Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition is very peculiar because even though there were so many different traditions in India which consider bhakti as the main path of spiritual realization.

Nowhere else the analysis of bhakti was done so minutely. Different Acharyas gave different definitions of bhakti. Madhva Acharya gave his definition of bhakti.

And even in the definition itself, there is a very strong influence of the mixture of bhakti with jnan. If we take in a straightforward manner,

the conception of Madhvacharya, then the bhakti is devotional service which is coupled with jnan, with understanding of Lord's Aisvarya, Lord's glory lords qualities and so there is even in definition there is a mixture of some other element.

Ramanujachary gave his definition of bhakti, Sandila Rishi in Bhakti Sutras gave his definition of bhakti.

But first of all, these definitions were not 100% exact, not as exact as Rūpa Gosvāmī's definition of pure devotional service, which we all know which is the foundation of the whole Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava practices.

Krishna Nusila Nam Bhakti Rutam, nor their definitions allowed to conduct minute analysis of bhakti. Bhakti is a very famous phenomenon.

It's described the bhakti devotion, devotion towards the Lord is described everywhere. In the Puranas, in the Itihasas, Maabharata, Ramayana, everywhere the descriptions of great devotees is there.

But there was no conceptual framework to analyze their devotion, to compare their devotion.

From reading all these beautiful stories which are there about Prahlāda Mahārāja and Bali Mahārāja, there is absolutely no possibility to say how their devotion differs from each other.

Whose devotion is greater, you know, and as a result of it, you know, we have quite vague understanding or conception of devotion.

Yes, Prahlāda Mahārāja is a great devotee. Yes, Bali Mahārāja is a great devotee. Yes, Hanumān is a great devotee. Yes, gopis are also great devotees. Who is greater?

Jiva Goswami's contribution to analyzing bhakti

Why their devotion is so different in flavor, what is the principle upon which we can judge their devotion and describe their devotion in its varieties that was not really known or analyzed by anyone else.

And it's a great contribution of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, who in Bhakti-sandarbha analyzes different kinds of devotion and is doing it.

Of course, the foundation is Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, but Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī took it another step forward and he describes literally dozens of varieties of devotion and analyzes this.

Why it is so important? It is so important because ultimately Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sampradāya, and again it's the special feature of our school of bhakti, is aiming at the highest possible

type of bhakti because only the highest possible type of bhakti, which is Sudha Bhakti, is capable of Is actually making us capable of achieving the highest possible goal.

Again, there is a great distinction about prayojana, which

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī is doing in his Prīti-sandarbha. And if we take other schools of Vaiṣṇavas, we will see that basically they give very general definition of prayojana, which is mukti.

Of course, it's a personal kind of mukti, but still mukti or moksha is the goal of their endeavors. But the goal of the endeavors of Gaudi Vaishnava is not mukti.

It's much more exact, and much more difficult, and much higher than

just general liberation from the sufferings of this material world and re-establishment of our spiritual identity, muktiś hitvānyathā-rūpaṁ pam Svarupyanavya Vastitih.

Even if we take this definition of mukti from Srimad Bhagavatam, still the goal of Gaudi Vaishnavas is different.

And this difference forces the founders of our school to give so much importance or to give so detailed analysis of the process. Because unless the process is exact, we will not reach the goal. The desired goal is only reachable when the process is followed in a very exact and peculiar manner.

So that's little introduction to the whole idea. Why?

And basically, it's interesting that even though Bhakti Sandarbha is the treatise of Jiva Goswami, which is supposed to describe the practice of bhakti, first the first part of Bhakti Sandarbha, which is the bigger part of Bhakti Sandarbha, is entirely devoted to the more or less to lay the theoretical foundation of what is bhakti.

Only when we understand what is bhakti then we can distinguish and how the bhakti methodology works in general. Only after understanding this we will be able to distinguish different

kinds of bhakti or different kinds of practices, bhakti practices which Srila Jiva Goswami makes in the second part of Bhakti Sandarbha, which starts from Anuccheda 200 something.

So the first 200 chapters of this work does not have much to do with the practice as such. They are mostly dealing with the theoretical foundation of what is bhakti.

And then if I understand this, it's very easy for us to understand and distinguish different kinds of bhakti.

Seva as the essence of bhakti

So having said this, we can try to come to the core of our discussion tonight.

So, this distinguishing actually, this is the initial description of Srila Jiva Goswami in Bhakti Sandarbha, where he very roughly, in a very general way, divides bhakti into three kinds.

First, of course, he gives the general definition of what is the practice of bhakti,

and he says that the essence of the practice of bhakti is sevā. He quotes Garuda Purana for this and Bachiti Ityesha Vajatuh Sevayam Parikirtitahat, Asmatseva Budhai Prokta, Bhakti Sadhana Buyasi.

The best way of bhakti-sādhana is defined as sevā because the very word bhakti is derived from this bhaj dhātu which means to serve. And to serve, and he gives this is the Swarupalaksan of Bhakti, he gives also Tatastha Laksana Bhakti, and Tatasta Laksana of Bhakti is that it can fulfill every desire.

It's independently powerful. And because it's so independently powerful, it can fulfill any desire which people have. So that's the beginning of the description of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī in Bhakti-sandarbha.

And again basically what it means, it means that we have this powerful process of bhakti. But at the same time we know that not

all the time if we take ourself and if we critically examine ourselves, we will find out very quickly that bhakti does not fulfill all our desires. It's a very sad news. So what does it mean?

Does it mean that the Vyāsadeva and Garuḍa Purāṇa makes a mistake. Does it mean that Jīva Gosvāmī by quoting him also makes a mistake? No. It means that we are not practicing bhakti which we are supposed to practice.

Bhakti is independently powerful but the mixtures in the bhakti makes it weak. Deprives bhakti of its original nature. Swarupa Bhakti is like this, you know, we can compare Svarupa Bhakti with gold.

And gold is shining very brightly, we know this, when it's pure. And gold is also conducting electricity. So it's the best conductor of the electricity, there is no resistance.

But if we take the same gold and mix it with different other metals or some other mixtures, then the gold will not look so beautiful and so shiny, and the conductivity of gold will also be different.

So it's the same gold, but because of the mixtures, the properties of this substance changes. And basically the analysis of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī is for this.

To explain to us what should be the conditions of our practice of devotional service so that the devotional service would fit the descriptions which are given to devotional service in the scriptures.

So and he says that the main what is seva? So he gave the definition. What is seva? Bhakti is seva. So what is seva? Seva is anugatya. Seva basically means that we follow, he gave a very beautiful definition of seva.

Sacha seva Kaika Vachika Manasatme Katrividha Eva Anugati Ruchyate.

Seva means following Following behind Krishna, or following the orders of Krishna, following the will of Krishna, the desire of Krishna, by our body, by our words, and by our mind.

And so seva starts when we are fulfilling the desire of Krishna. When we give up our independent desires, our independent will, and we become followers.

And therefore Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda he gives the same very beautiful definition even in a short way. He says, what is bhakti? Bhakti is anugatya dharma. Bhakti is the dharma or the property of a follower.

I am not independent anymore. I'm doing something not because I want to do it, I'm doing something because somebody else wants me to do it. That's bhakti.

And when this consciousness is there, when we are established in this kind of consciousness, then our practice becomes very powerful.

And that's why we accept spiritual master, that's why we try to very sincerely and conscientiously to find out the will of the Lord from the Scriptures and so on and so forth. So this Anugatya Dharma is bhakti.

But at the same time, what we see in reality, we see in reality that we have to do so many things.

And you know we we have to take care of our juniors, we have to preach, we have to do deity worship, we have to take care of our health. So what is pure devotional service?

Unless we understand what is pure devotional service, there is no chance for us to practice pure devotional service. And there is a great chance that our practice will be mixed.

Three primary classifications of bhakti practice

And basically, uh uh yeah. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī he classifies as I said devotional service into three kinds. Aropa Siddha Bhakti, Sangha Siddha Bhakti, and Swarupa Siddha Bhakti.

And that's classification on uh one uh how you call this axis uh It's a classification according to the roop or the external form of our activity. Our activity in bhakti, we practice bhakti.

When we are distributing books, we practice bhakti. When we are chanting the holy name, we practice bhakti. When we are talking about Krishna, we practice bhakti. When we are you know eating prasāda we also practice bhakti.

So Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī first of all he classifies all kinds of our practice into these three bhaktis. Each division signifies certain activity by form.

There is pure devotional service which is by its very svarūpa is devotion, is sevā. That is, we know svarūpa-siddhi-bhakti śravaṇam kīrtanam viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam pāda-sevanam, arcanaṁ vandanam dāsyaṁ, sakhyam ātma-nivedanam.

So that's an activity which is service by its form by its very nature. So that's svarūpa-siddhi-bhakti. Āropa-siddhi-bhakti and saṅgha-siddhi-bhakti is a little more difficult to understand.

But basically, āropa means attributive bhakti. Some activity may not be severed by its svarūpa, by its nature. But nevertheless, we call it bhakti. Why? Because we offer it to the Lord.

Basically, the definition of this āropa-siddhi-bhakti is given by Kṛṣṇa Himself. Yat karoṣi yad aśnasi yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam.

He says, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer, whatever austerity you perform, just do it as offering to me. And usually people what they do, they do something and then they say, Kṛṣṇa-arpaṇam astu.

Let it be offered to Krishna.

So I'm doing something, I'm doing whatever I like to do. I have my idea, I have my conception, I have my understanding of what it is, but very generously at the end I say, oh Krishna, please take it.

Whether you like it or not, it doesn't matter, this is my offering to you. So that's what is called āropa. And Aropa means, aropa means the designation we designate something which is not this by the process of aropa.

The famous example of aropa, most famous example, is that by the process of aropa uh we see the uh how you call it, rasi, uh, rope, rope yes we see rope in a dark place and we think that it's uh uh it's the snake.

So that's a rope. In the same way, we do something and we call it bhakti. So, and aropa, you know, we cannot completely avoid aropa, the bhakti.

By the way, the word Siddha in this definition, Saropa Siddha Bhakti, Sangha Siddha Bhakti, and Swarupa Siddha Bhakti, the word Siddha doesn't mean perfect.

Sometimes we used to translate siddha as something perfect. No, siddha in this definition

means something which becomes bhakti by the process of aropa, something which becomes bhakti by the process of Sangha, by the process of association, and something which becomes bhakti because it's by nature bhakti.

So that's the translation of these three terms used by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī in his Bhakti-sandarbha. Mahārāja, can I ask a question, please? Sure. Uh, can you spell this aropa, or how do we write this? Aropa? Aropa? A R O P A?

Yes, very simple. Long A. A-R-O-P-A. Yes. Aropa. Thank you very much. Yes, there is a definition of aropa, but I don't think we need to, we need to go to these details.

Āropa Keśava Mahārāja, I have another question. This is your servant, Prāṇa-govinda Prabhu. Yes, Prāṇa-govinda Prabhu. I didn't have any trace of a doubt that you will have at least 15 questions after my lecture.

So please ask. In the beginning you were stating a fact of Rāmānujācārya and Madhvācārya.

But my question to you is that even—I mean, I did not research like you, but even if that is the fact that the majestic aspect of Bhagavān, He was promoted or jñāna was promoted in the bhakti.

So it is not the sort, just the pure bhakti. But to me come to the before I enter into the house of bhakti, I have to come to the threshold, surrender.

And knowledge aspect of Bhagavan or knowledge aspect actually promote There is nothing wrong. What I meant to say: I didn't criticize great ācāryas.

You know can you imagine somebody who is so I mean so nasty you know who is from a very low background is sitting here and criticizing Rāmānujācārya and Madhvācārya. I definitely didn't mean this.

What I meant to say is that they give beautiful definitions which are totally in accordance with their whole conception of bhakti, and obviously very practical for their conception,

but they don't have this idea or goal to really distinguish minutely different kinds of bhakti from all kinds of mixtures. And that's a topic for another class: why it's not that important for them. I gave a little hint.

They give more general definition of bhakti, which is working. There's no doubt about it. It's not their goal, uh, you know, but they're great ācāryas because uh they laid the foundation for Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas to come.

If it was not for them, Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas would not be able to do what they do.

They, you know, Rāmānujācārya, he defeated Śaṅkarācārya in a very grand way, and, you know, Madhvācārya, he developed philosophy even further.

And then Gaudiya Vaishnava ācāryas came and they just took it for granted what they did and they continued their work by giving this minute analysis.

Uh uh in the beginning, you know, uh we need to have have we need to appreciate bhakti in general. And you're completely right.

You know, in before we become the experts in different nuances of bhakti. We need to have very vivid and strong appreciation of bhakti as a process as distinguished from other processes.

And that's what Rāmānujācārya and Madhvācārya did. According to time, place circumstances, they did marvelous job and uh we just saying that uh Gaudiya Vaishnava they went a few steps further for our benefit and that's important for us.

So I it was not a criticism. And definitely the knowledge about the majesty of God is important. But mm, you know, we have to be very exact. What is this knowledge and uh you know and so on so forth.

So again it it will be a little uh uh outside of the topic of the discussion. Thank you. Thank you.

Three categories of Aropa-siddha bhakti

So let's uh go further to our discussion. Basically, we are talking about Āropa-siddha-bhakti. What is Āropa-siddha-bhakti?

And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, he says that basically, three kinds of activities can be called āropa-siddha-bhakti.

Again, Āropa-siddha-bhakti is the activity which has nothing to do with bhakti in itself, but which we call bhakti, we or some other practitioners call bhakti.

So he says this three kind of activities which can be called ārōpa-siddha-bhakti. First of all, it's uh vaidika-bhakti, uh uh m uh vaidika karma, the uh ritualistic activity prescribed by the Vedas.

It's not really you know bhakti as such, but you know sometimes people call it bhakti. And even you know in our in our activity

we do this Vedic sacrifices and Prabhupāda he did this beautiful sacrifices when he was opening the inaugurating the Krishna Balaram Mandir.

And of course, Śrīla Prabhupāda didn't really believe in the you know this sacrificial ceremonies which according to him are not very efficient in Kali Yuga. But still he was doing it.

You know, so Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says that sorry, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says this this is the first whole Common kind of Āropa-siddha-bhakti, Vaidika Karma.

How it becomes bhakti, what is the process of turning these sacrifices which may not have anything to do with Krishna into Bhakti by chanting mantras, certain mantras.

As I said, Krishna Arpanamas 2, let it be offered to Krishna.

And we know, you know, we're by doing this and at the end we say, you know, Idam Krishna Idam Namna Mama, Idamananta I Damna Mama. This is I am doing this for Krishna. You know, Krishna himself doesn't really say, you know, you do this sacrifices. He himself is not saying this as such.

You know, it's not that our chariots say that you know there is a beautiful verse by Bilwamangal Thakur where he says that when the Brahmanas are performing their sacrifices in a very pure, specially sanctified place.

After a long procedure they sanctified the place, they started doing the sacrifice, they offering something, they calling Krishna. And Krishna is running away from them and going to the dirty full of cow dunk uh yards of

the cowherds. So the idea here is that Krishna doesn't really you know he's not very impressed by all this technical procedures of sacrifice. He's running from there. He is only, you know, the end of this verse.

I forget this verse unfortunately. It's a beautiful verse. But at the end of this verse, Bilva Mangal Thakur says that Krishna only appreciates love. He doesn't appreciate anything else.

So he doesn't appreciate all this ritualistic exact procedures. But this is again this is a common thing and again there is nothing wrong with it. By special mantras we can turn uh this uh um activity into bhakti.

So then the next kind of arūpa-sidḏha bhakti is our daily activity. Whatever we do, we're getting up early in the morning and we're going to take a shower. Strictly speaking, it's not bhakti. You know it's not.

It's just taking shower. But it's our daily activity which we call bhakti, which is a part of our daily bhakti practice.

But uh how it becomes uh part of our daily practice uh because we think at this uh moment when we're doing this, I am doing this for Krishna. I am doing this because you know otherwise I will not be able to chant purely.

Somehow or other we have to learn the art, how to connect all our daily activities with Krishna and to remember Krishna while doing these daily activities, even though they may not be directly connected with Krishna.

So while taking shower, it's very important to make it into bhakti, to make it into bhakti by thinking about this.

You know, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, he gives an example of verse from the 11th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: kāyenā vācā manasāndriyair vā buddhyātmanā vānusṛta-svabhāvāt karoti yad yat sakalam parasmai nārāyaṇāyeti samarpayet.

So whatever we do during the uh our daily activities, Nārāyaṇa iti samarpayet tat. We should, we have to, samarpayet. It's in order. We have to order uh we have to offer it to uh Nārāyaṇa. I am doing it for Nārāyaṇa.

This is how uh the the this kind of āropa-siddhā-bhakti is produced from our daily activities. How our daily activities become part of our bhakti.

Again, it's not pure bhakti, but it's something which we need to turn into bhakti to make our bhakti uninterrupted. And the third kind of āropa-siddhā bhakti is duṣ-karma or burā karma, the bad karma.

Paradoxically enough, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that we can turn into bhakti even some bad activities.

I think this magic is the most interesting one because you know, vaidik bhakti we don't do too often and don't have the urge to turn it into bhakti. But sometimes we do have urge to commit some sinful activities.

And unfortunately, and Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains how even the sinful activist activities can be turned into bhakti. Of course, this is not to misuse this. This very secret and confidential knowledge.

It should not be—it's only for sannyāsīs. Anyone else should not know how to do this magic. It's only for those who are planning to become sannyāsīs. Anyway, that's a joke. So so Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains it.

Even though it's a joke, it's a very interesting idea which Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī gives.

He gives a verse uh in Anucheda 217: aneka-durvāsanā-duḥkha-darśanena sa-karuṇāmayaḥ uh karuṇām karotu. Sa, he, Saha. He, Karunamayah, Krishna who is full of, who is made of Karuna of mercy. Let him Karunam Karotu, let him be merciful unto me.

Why? Because he is looking at me and he's seeing how Durvasana Dukkha Darsanena. He's looking at me and he's seeing that I am really struggling and suffering because of my Durvasanas.

You know, if we remember this, that's a very interesting thing. You know, sometimes we may be pushed due to our durvasanas, due to the bad saṁskārs and the traces of sinful activities, we may be pushed to do something bad.

But we we have to understand that this bad activity is suffering. It's not enjoyment. We have to be intelligent enough to understand that this is not enjoyment at all.

And I'm suffering being forced to do this activity by my Durvasana. And by seeing how I'm unhappy.

You know, if we do something against our will, as uh Arjuna says to Krishna, if we do something bad against the desire of Krishna, we have to become unhappy at this very moment.

We shouldn't think, you know, now I'm doing this, I'm getting little, little enjoyment, that's okay, and then later on I I will will suffer. No. You know, you can turn into bhakti.

If at the moment of doing this, you will be already immediately regretting about this and suffering by doing this and at the same time begging or praying for mercy from Krishna.

Oh my merciful Lord, you see that I'm doing this, I'm full number one. Please forgive me. I'm just forced to do it by my bad karma which I committed before.

So in this way, even the sinful activity can be turned into bhakti. Of course, it's not Swarupa Siddha Bhakti, and it's not even Sangha Siddha Bhakti, it's Aropa Siddha Bhakti. And but still, the facility is there.

And another example of how Jīva Gosvāmī explains how this magic can be done or how this how we can even this bad, uh, as Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say we should uh uh Derive some benefit from the bad bargain.

You know, we're doing something but still we are we're remaining the devotees. We're fixed in our devotional service.

And while doing this, we are regretting, we have this Paschitap, we have this repentance while doing this. And another example which Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī gives, Vishajeshv Anapaini Tvam Anusmarath Samehridayan Napasarpatu.

It says that when we feel that we have some material attachment to some Vishai, to some objects of the senses.

And being pushed by these material attachments to the object of the senses, we feel how greatly we are attached to this. At this moment, a very important thought should appear in our mind.

Let I, at one point of my life, somehow or other become attached to you as much as I am now attached to the sense gratification. And you start praying, oh my dear Lord, please give me this attachment.

I feel this strong attachment now which I have to the sense enjoyment. So please turn this attachment, because attachment is attachment. Please turn this attachment of mind into the attachment towards yourself.

So if this sort of mentality will be there, then even though it may not be the best thing, still it will become some sort of bhakti. It will become some beginning stage of our bhakti.

And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī he actually glorifies our āropa-siddha bhakti. We usually, I mean being very negative by nature, we criticize everything. But our ācāryas they glorify everything. They find some good things in some

fenomena and you know to give us understanding why even āropa-siddha bhakti because it's unavoidable in our situation, uh why and how even āropa-siddha bhakti can be good.

Benefits and limitations of indirect devotion

First of all, uh Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that the first uh uh what is What is good about āropa-siddha bhakti? What is the difference? He is asking this question.

What is the difference between āropa-siddha bhakti and ordinary karma which we do, be it Vaidika karma, dusha karma, or our ordinary daily activities.

You know what is what happens with this activity when we apply this process of āropa and turn it into bhakti?

He says that there is a great deal of difference between just normal karma if we do this activity, these three kinds of activities as a karma, or if we do it as a āropa-siddha bhakti.

He says that difference number one is that the results of this activity will be much greater, unexpectedly greater. We do some Vedic sacrifice, having completely material goal in mind.

But at the same time, we do this process of āropa and we say, Kṛṣṇa, please accept my this sacrifice for your pleasure. And the result which comes from this will be much greater than if we didn't offer it to Krishna.

This is the first glorious difference between āropa- siddha-bhakti and the ordinary karma.

And the second great difference is that the normal karma uh especially if we're talking about uh you know pious activities, it has two components in it.

It has something good in it, it can purify you, it can give you some good results, desired results, but it also has some poisonous component in it.

This poisonous component in ordinary karma is that I become attached to this karma and to the results by which I will enjoy.

So, ordinary karma may give us some purification, especially if it's Vedic karma, if it's according to the Smriti Shastra, this and that. But ordinary karma also give us some extra attachment to the same karma.

So when we do this karma and turn it into āropa- siddha-bhakti, say that I'm doing this for Kṛṣṇa, then this poisonous effect of karma will not be there.

The good effect of this karma will be there, purification will take place, but the increasing of attachment will not take place. That's how Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains this.

And therefore, again, āropa-siddha-bhakti is not a bad thing. Usually, you know, we say it's very bad, this and that. No, it's something which we have to know and we have to know how to apply this.

What is the process of rectifying our normal quote unquote activities and doing it in the context of our bhakti. So that's what it is, but of course, we should not be too much enthusiastic about āropa-siddha-bhakti.

One problem with āropa-siddha-bhakti is that basically everything you can call āropa-siddha-bhakti, and because we have so many different desires, we by knowing about this process of turning some ordinary activities into bhakti, be too much engaged into this āropa-siddha-bhakti, and basically there will be no time for svarūpa-siddha-bhakti. And that's the main problem with āropa-siddha-bhakti. We will be too much interested in doing something which is not really devotional service as such.

And ultimately we will not achieve the desired goal of bhakti. So, āropa-siddha-bhakti is an element which should have a very limited place in our life. And progressively while doing devotional service

or practicing devotional service, the place of this element should become, should shrink more and more and more, should become smaller and smaller and smaller. Not to misuse this concept.

I remember, you know, I came once to a one uh uh uh Gauḍīya Maṭha guru, very prominent guru at that time. And at that time there was one big crisis, you know, one big uh guru in our uh ISKCON society, he fell down.

And he looked at me and he said, why did it happen? And I said, I don't know. Of course I knew, but uh I had my idea. But his diagnosis was āropa-siddha-bhakti.

I mean whether it was correct diagnosis or not, it's another thing. But what I want to say by giving this example is that āropa-siddha- bhakti, too much emphasis in āropa-siddha-bhakti.

When āropa-siddha-bhakti overshadows the svarūpa-siddha- bhakti and become much more prominent in our life and we do yes minimum 16 rounds and yes, you know, unfortunately, minimum 16 rounds a day usually becomes maximum 16 rounds, you know, not more than 16 rounds.

We're supposed to chant not less than 16 rounds, but usually we chant not more than 16 rounds. So why? Because we need so much time for āropa.

Because too much emphasis and too much inclination, too much affinity towards āropa-siddha-bhakti is there within our heart.

Characteristics of Sangha-siddha bhakti

So that's the that's the danger of āropa-siddha-bhakti. So now the second type of bhakti is saṅga-siddha-bhakti, and saṅga-siddha-bhakti is much more subtle.

Āropa-siddha-bhakti is in one sense is a very prominent thing, but saṅga-siddha-bhakti is little more subtle, and therefore it's little closer to pure bhakti. It's not pure bhakti yet.

But comparing relatively speaking, it's it's a better better option, better variety. So what is saṅga-siddha-bhakti?

Saṅga-siddha-bhakti is the bhakti uh is the activity again uh is the activity which becomes bhakti because of the association with bhakti.

Again, it's not bhakti by its own swarup, by its own form, but it's activity which we think is necessary for us to perform to improve our bhakti.

Like for example, Krishna gives many examples of these practices of aropa of sangha-siddha bhakti in Bhagavad-gītā. In many places in Bhagavad-gītā, and of course in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there are many, many descriptions of these processes.

Like for example, in the 13th chapter of Bhagavad Gita, in this series of verses from 8 to 12, Krishna says, Amanitvam Adam Bitvam Ahimsa Sandvi Rajavam Charya Pasanam so cham and so on so forth.

So these are all uh this this is one Second. and then he says also that uh Mayananya uh Maycha ananya bharana bhaktira yabichary. Bhaktir avya bih charinam. So he says that there is this ananya bhakti, pure bhakti.

But then uh he says that one should become humble, one should not become duplicitous, one should worship acharya, one should understand that birth deaths disease and old age is the cause of suffering.

So you know understanding that birth deaths, old age and disease is the cause of suffering is not pure bhakti. You know, really, it has nothing to do with bhakti.

But sometimes it's necessary for us to have this deep understanding to concentrate on pure bhakti or control of mind or even humility, it can be Sangha Siddha Bhakti, why?

Because we think that without practicing of this, without practicing the control of mind, without you know worshipping my superior, without doing this, without doing that, I will not be able to achieve success of bhakti.

This kind of idea only comes to our mind because we don't understand how powerful pure bhakti is.

And because we don't understand the power of pure bhakti we always feel the need to augment bhakti with something else, to add some other activities to improve our bhakti.

We don't understand that bhakti itself can bring all these desired results. Bhakti itself is the way to develop mind control.

But our thinking, if our thinking is vice versa, is our thinking is contrary that you know I will not be able to chant purely until I develop mind control until I develop some technique of controlling my mind then this sort of activity becomes aṅga-siddha-bhakti.

Again, it's not bhakti itself, but in our mind it's it becomes a part of bhakti. It becomes a part, necessary part of bhakti to bring bhakti to the fruition. So, this is what aṅga bhakti, aṅga-siddha-bhakti, is.

It's some processes which are not important themselves but which become important because we make it part of our bhakti process. And uh n knowledge of uh knowledge itself, jn itself, uh can become uh this

sort of uh aṅga-siddha-bhakti. You know, you can Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave this beautiful example of this brāhmaṇa in South India who couldn't even read.

And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said he is the main ācārya of the knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā. Why? Because he understood the essence of Bhagavad-gītā.

He didn't have technical knowledge, he didn't have Sanskrit knowledge, he couldn't even read it properly, he was not pronouncing it properly, but he understood the essence of Bhagavad-gītā. Gita. So that's bhakti.

He understood the essence of bhakti, which is devotional service. Krishna is my Lord, I will follow whatever is necessary.

But sometimes we think, you know, no, no, no, knowledge is very important, you know, you have to have all these things. And again, it can be the knowledge can be pure bhakti.

Like for example, studying of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, studying of Bhagavad-gītā. It can be a pure bhakti, no doubt about it. It is a pure bhakti, studying of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā.

But our understanding of you know what knowledge is and trying to get into this technical details of different branches of knowledge, again connecting it mentally with the process of bhakti and making bhakti dependent on these processes.

This is the main point. When we in our mind make bhakti dependent on all this process, then we are performing aṅga-siddha-bhakti.

We are performing certain activities which are not real pure bhakti, but still it it's a sort of bhakti. Meditation, you know, and all kinds of stuff.

You know, the example which Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī gives is from the 29th chapter of the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam where there is five verses where Kapiladeva explains this mixed bhakti with many different processes, ahimsa and so on and so forth, which are not really pure bhakti as such, but he gives it as a part of bhakti sadhana.

So when all these things become a part of our bhakti sādhana and we make the success of bhakti dependent on these processes that is called saṅga-siddhā bhakti.

Uh so now I finished with these two main divisions, Saṅga-siddhā bhakti and āropa-siddhā bhakti. And now there is a difference between saṅga-siddhā bhakti and āropa-siddhā bhakti.

Why did I say that saṅga-siddhā bhakti is better? Yes, it's a mixture. Definitely, and the mixture comes because we don't believe in the power of bhakti.

We don't believe in the independent power of svarūpa-siddhā bhakti, and therefore we try to augment it with different kinds of other activities. But still it's better. Why it's better?

Because saṅga-siddhā bhakti is still activity which is directly connected with our practice of bhakti.

Chanting, you know, studying of the scriptures, you know, if it's control of the mind or meditation techniques, it's connected with our chanting and so on and so forth.

Whereas āropa-siddhā bhakti can have nothing to do with bhakti whatsoever. Saṅga-siddhā bhakti always has something to do with bhakti. Has something to do with svarūpa-siddhā bhakti.

And another very stark and important difference between āropa- siddhā bhakti and saṅga-siddhā bhakti is that āropa-siddhā bhakti, you're doing some activity, you're very, very involved in this activity, you're completely absorbed in this activity.

But at the end, you remember about God and you say Kṛṣṇārpaṇam astu, let it be offered to God. You don't have to remember about God during the performance of āropa-siddhā bhakti.

But while performing of saṅga-siddhā bhakti, you remember about God. You remember I'm doing it because it's in any case it's somehow rather intimately or intricately connected with God and with bhakti.

I'm doing about God, I'm thinking about God during this saṅga-siddhā bhakti, therefore, saṅga-siddhā bhakti is the higher form of bhakti.

And what is very important to say at this point of our discussion which I will close rather soon is that both Āropa siddha-bhakti and Saṅga-siddha bhakti play an important role in our daily life.

And we have to understand that this is this sort of bhakti which I'm doing.

Deviations caused by overemphasizing indirect bhakti

They may occupy a bigger or smaller place in our life, but still there will be some sort of place for them in our life. But both of them can become deviations from the path of pure bhakti.

They can become deviations in our private lives, in our lives as devotees, and they can become institutionalized and become the deviations in the life of our society, of our group.

And we can see these two processes in action. How it works.

You know, sometimes people, they practice Āropa-siddha-bhakti primarily or Sangha Siddha Bhakti primarily, and they become very ardent followers of this sort of mixed bhakti.

And they start preaching this sort of mixed bhakti as the main process of salvation. And they're doing it in a very vigorous way sometimes. So, and then it becomes deviation.

So and when how Āropa-siddha-bhakti becomes a deviation, we can see these tendencies they may not be completely 100% institutionalized but still the tendencies are there.

You know, I start uh, you know, uh, speaking about bhakti and, uh, I call anything and everything as bhakti. You know I don't know how it is in India but I definitely know how it is in Russia.

Astrology is definitely bhakti. Why? Because it's not astrology, it's Jyotish. And because it's Jyotish, it's Vedic, because it's Vedic, it's bhakti.

So, or, you know, you know, you call anything bhakti and, uh, and you start, uh, you start preaching about it very uh vigorously, you know, how to achieve success, material success, you know, seven habits of highly effective people, you know.

Covey is a pure devotee of the Lord who got a complete revelation in his samādhi. He developed the system and you start preaching this kind of thing and try to say that this is real bhakti that you know this is the real stuff.

This is what we need to do. Everyone needs to do this sort of practice.

So this is how Āropa-siddha-bhakti overemphasized becomes the deviation it can be again a deviation in our personal life or it can become the deviation in the life of society.

And another deviation in the side of Sangha Siddha Bhakti, also possible when a group of people, and that we can also see, starts saying that we are not ready for pure bhakti yet.

You know, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says everyone is ready for pure bhakti. As much as he quotes and actually Rūpa Gosvāmī himself, he says,

as much as anyone can take bath in saṅgama of Gaṅgā and Yamunā in Prayāga at the month of Māgha. So everyone can take bath there, you know. Not everyone will do it because it's too cold. But anyone can do it.

So anyone is eligible for pure bhakti. Pure bhakti doesn't need anything, doesn't require anything for this, but still there is a lot of devotees, very nice devotees, who say, you know, we're not ready for pure bhakti.

We first have to achieve some sort of purity, and for that, we need to perform this sacrifice, that sacrifice, or this mind control, or that varṇāśrama duty or that varṇāśrama duty or this or that.

And that becomes deviation of this second sort. You know, when you connect certain activities with bhakti and you make bhakti dependent on the success in this particular activity.

So that's saṅga-siddha bhakti deviation of, uh, this sort and uh we have to be very you know fine-tuned to distinguish between this you know and for that we definitely understand

uh, what is svarūpa-siddha bhakti and why it is so important to practice svarūpa-siddha bhakti? So before we come to svarūpa-siddha bhakti, which I will not elaborate too much because I already talking too long.

And but my main purpose was to speak a little bit about these two kinds of āropa-siddha bhakti and saṅga- siddha bhakti.

Reasons practitioners engage in mixed devotion

So why people—people, Talking about people, I'm talking about us. Why we practice anything else besides śuddha bhakti? Why we cannot really in our stage of development be completely dedicated to śuddha bhakti.

We can actually, but still there are certain reasons. First reason is that we may have certain desire which we want to achieve. Desire which is outside of the realm of bhakti.

And therefore you know we will mix something else to our bhakti and this something else is specifically to achieve certain desire which we have.

Second very important reason is that we don't have the complete faith in the process of bhakti.

We don't understand how powerful bhakti is because you know We don't experience this power and therefore it becomes a vicious circle.

Because we don't experience the power of bhakti, we mix bhakti with something, and because we mix bhakti with something else, we don't experience the power of bhakti. So that's the vicious circle which we are caught in.

And therefore, to how to break this vicious circle, we have to associate with people or at least read and hear people who say no, bhakti is the most important and most powerful.

It doesn't require anything else to be successful. So don't try to mix. You know you will not make sweet rice better by adding some salt. You will just spoil the sweet rice.

So and then then, of course, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Jīva Gosvāmī as well, they explain that yes these two kinds of bhakti can be helpful in the beginning, but we should not indulge too much in it.

And these two types of bhakti are acceptable if we have a very clear goal and proper motivation. If our motivation is pure, and if we are under the expert guidance.

If these two conditions are there, then you know being under the expert guidance of devotional master of spiritual master we can be engaged in all kinds of mixed activities, and we will not deviate because He will guide us in such a way that all this, you know, other processes will not eclipse, would not eclipse our goal and would not contaminate us and ultimately will bring you know everything to the point of pure bhakti when the faith into pure bhakti will increase.

So that's what it is. Yes, there is some place, if there is expert guidance, then gradually, gradually, gradually this everything else will just culminate in the process of pure bhakti.

Qualities and prerequisites of pure devotion

So and then, one second. Yeah, and just very briefly I will tell about pure bhakti, which is of course uh also explained by uh Kapiladev in the same 29th chapter of the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

He explained first all kinds of mixed bhakti, bhakti mixed with three kinds of modes of material nature with Satvagun, Rajagun and Satvagun.

And then he speaks about pure bhakti and this pure bhakti madgunas ruti matri na my sarvaguhasha ye manogati ravitshin na yatha yatha gangamba so mbudho. It says that what is pure bhakti?

Pure bhakti is that a sort of activity which appears in the mind as soon as we start hearing about qualities of Krishna. Madhguna Sruti matrina. When you hear matrina means little bit.

We just little bit hear about Krishna, about his qualities, about his pastimes, about his form, about his name, my Sarva Guhasha, about me who is situated in everyone's heart.

My Sarva Guhasha means I am in this guha, in this cave of the heart of every living entity. I am sitting there.

Manogatiravichhinnayatha Gangam Basom And the mind immediately starts flowing towards me as much as Ganga is flowing without any interruption towards the ocean.

If you are in this state of mind, which is created by your very strong faith in Krishna, if you somehow rather achieve this state of mind that even little mention of the qualities of Krishna, of the form of Krishna, of his pastimes, or whatever, makes your mind completely directed to Krishna and nothing else can be the impediment uh on this path of the mind. Nothing else can distract you from the mind flowing towards Krishna. That's called pure devotional service.

So, pure devotional service it's not only in this definition, which is given by Kapiladev, the pure devotional service, Yabhaktih, Ahaitukiya Vyavahita, Yabaktih, Purushot The pure devotional service in this definition uh it's um uh uh It's some form of activity which is connected with Shravanam, Kirtanam, Vishnu Smaranam, so on so forth, but it's also Fortified by the strong faith in Krishna. These two conditions are there.

We should perform this devotional service which by Swarupa by its own form, by its own nature, is devotional service, but it becomes pure devotional service when it is fortified by a very strong faith in Krishna.

You know, pure devotional service is very powerful, even if we don't have the faith in Krishna, we may hear about Krishna, it will have a powerful effect upon our mind.

We may do something, we may do some archana or whatever.

There are so many stories in Puranas which explain that even little contact with pure devotional service like chanting one of his names or fasting on Ekadasi on a particular day like Narasimha Chaturdasi, even little contact with pure devotional service may have a very strong and powerful effect upon our consciousness.

But you know, this practice becomes pure if there is strong faith which makes our concentration upon these activities totally undeviated.

When we are completely focused on this sort of activities, we hear about Krishna and we have such a strong faith that we know that you know by hearing about Krishna, this is the most important thing which I should do.

This is, you know, there's nothing more important. I have to give up everything else, and I have just to hear about Krishna.

And you know, maybe this time Krishna will reveal himself by seeing how attentive I am in the process of Shravanam or in the process of Kirtanam or in the process of Smaranam and so on and so forth.

So the devotional service becomes pure when we are engaged in Swarupa Siddha Bhakti, but when we are engaged in Swarupa Siddha Bhakti with a certain sort of frame of mind.

And this frame of mind is called Nishta or strong faith. Strictly speaking, the pure devotional service you know doesn't start even with Shraddha.

Shraddha initial phase, initial little respect to the process of devotional service and to the devotees, is an important first step.

But you know, while associating with devotees and uh getting initiation and going through the mechanics of devotional service, which is bhajana-kriya, which is not yet bhajan but the imitation of bhajan or shadow of bhajan, we you know purify

our heart from anarthas. And when our heart is purified from anarthas, then in this stage, Kirtaniya sad-guna, in this stage of our spiritual development, when we achieve Nishta, then the initial stage of the pure devotional service may appear within the heart.

So that's the difference.

And when we achieve to this stage of devotional service, then the devotional service becomes very powerful. Uh its emotional effect, its purifying effect becomes so powerful that in completely eradicates all kinds of sinful desires and sinful impressions within our heart and purifies completely and ultimately, in a higher stages, purify us even from prarabda karma.

So that's the pure devotional service, and the prerequisite of this pure devotional service is strong faith. And strong faith can only be achieved by the process of association.

Strong faith is not some artificial imposition on the mind as Prabhupada used to say.

Or strong faith, not some sort of you know hysterical attitude, you know, I I believe in Krishna, not anyone else. You know, sometimes people think that if we become fanatical, it means we're pure devotees.

No, you're pure fanatics, you're not pure devotees. Nothing to do with pure devotion. Pure devotion starts when your faith is so strong that you don't need to be fanatical.

You're very, you know, flexible and understand uh understanding of other people, uh but uh still you're very convinced in this process of pure devotional service.

Uh and that's a fruit, a result which is achieved by Sadhu Sangha, which is explained by Kapiladev again in this famous vera Satamprasanga Mamavirya Sam Vido Bhavanti Hrit Karnara Saya Nakat Hayata Joshua Maswapargamo Vartmanis Radharati Bhaktira Nukramishati.

So when the Sangha becomes prasanga, prasangha means powerful and intimate association, association when heart-to-heart association.

Prasanga means the association upon which the secrets of the heart flow from one heart to another heart, from the heart of a senior devotee or guru towards his follower

or disciple, then Bhavanti Khritkarnara Katha that this Katha becomes rasaina, becomes the tonic and therefore it's so easy to concentrate upon this katha and then very quickly it proceeds from one stage to another.

Shradharatir Bhaktira Nukra Mishati. Śraddhāratir as Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains is already Āsakti and Rati is Bhava and Bhakti is Prema. And the previous stages is Bhavanti Khritkarnara Sayan Kathai is Ruchi.

It becomes rasyana for the ear and the tongue and the heart.

And the previous stage the prasangha is Nishta. The prasangha takes place on the stage of Nishta and when we achieve the stage of Nishta then Bhavanti Khritkar Narasaina no sorry then Mamavirya Samvidou then the katha about Krishna becomes very powerful and we immediately come in contact with Krishna himself while listening to his katha.

His gunas, his qualities, especially his powerful majestic qualities, become very prominent on the stage of Nishta. It really becomes it has a very powerful effect on the stage of Nishta. This listening or association with devotees becomes very powerful.

But to reach to this stage again we need to have association from our initial rather weak, feeble and pliable uh sradha to reach to this stage of Nishta. I guess I should finish now Is there any questions?

Questions on practical devotional application

If not, I'll be happy to do some other kind of devotional service. Everyone is hypnotized. Can I ask you a question, Maharaj? Yes, okay, Prangarind Prabhu. Unless somebody else I I don't want to take over there.

Um Whereas this janakyana prakarana manaprishna niveshaya it does not really specify the Anukulyana.

So would you uh but Prabhupada use that vars of Grupa Goshari Pad as a pure bhakti also definition of pure bhakti. So how do you say it is uh not pure bhakti?

First of all, I appreciate your analytical breakdown of what is Pirbhakti, what is Sangha Siddha, what is Arap Shitta. But regarding that bars, I'm just curious.

Yeah, see again as I said, if these processes become the servants of uh pure bhakti. And if we really understand how these processes bring us closer to pure bhakti, then it becomes a part of pure bhakti as Krishana Chakravar Thakur explains that you know the preparation for the sacrifice when you prepare the you know the land and you know get all kinds of ingredients for the sacrifice is a part of sacrifice. In one sense, it's not a part of the sacrifice because you're not chanting any mantras, you're just engaged in some activities, but because it is connected with it then it becomes a part of the of the sacrifice in the similar way you know certain things which may not be completely pure, nevertheless can be considered as pure bhakti because it's the preparation for the pure bhakti. And if we view them in this way it is pure bhakti. It's just a stage towards the pure bhakti.

So that's that would be my explanation. Okay, then Śaraṇāgati is not Pure Bhakti, then Śaraṇāgati is a step to Pure Bhakti, so it can be considered Pure Bhakti. Yes, sure. Sure. Okay. That's a good logic. Thank you, Maharaj.

Śaraṇāgati is the door to pure bhakti. It's the preliminary stage, it's the door. So you can consider the door as a part of the house, you can consider the door as the part of the outside world. It's a tatastha. Correct.

Thank you. Yes, Śrī Śikumar Prabhu. Maharaj, grateful for this wonderful session. I'm just still recovering from so many points. My mind is almost over.

My question is how do we resist the temptation of a post facto imposition of bhakti on an activity. Aropasidhi could also presuppose sometimes that we have a certain activity that we keep doing,

and then we say, and then we finally during the activity we don't remember exactly Krishna, but later on we say Kṛṣṇārpaṇam astu or something.

As opposed to we do some activity purely the conditioning and then just superimpose Krishna onto it. Oh by the way, Kṛṣṇārpaṇam astu.

How do we distinguish between what is there or is there a deliberate conscious attempt in the case of Āropa-siddha-bhakti? I'm not sure if I understood you rightly. What uh you're asking.

You know you can be doing something deliberately at the end. Say, you know, I'm offering it to Krishna or you can be just doing something what uh whichever you like to do and then at the end you remember oh by the way let me offer it.

So incidentally oh incidentally by the way I'm I'm supposed to be carried though where don't I something

uh no of course uh second you know you you can call the second kind of activity āropa-siddha-bhakti, but it's a lower case of Āropa-siddha-bhakti. It's very negligent. So it it will not be so much powerful and purifying.

In reality, Āropa-siddha-bhakti is that you're serious, but at the same time, you know you you feel the urge to do something, but you're still very serious and you still have the consciousness I am a devotee from the very beginning.

You you still have an independent ego.

You know the difference is in this ego. If uh if your ego I am the servant of Krishna and I am part of him then you don't need to offer anything to Krishna because you already offered yourself.

And everything which you're doing automatically belongs to Krishna because you belong to Krishna. So the very fact that you're offering something to Krishna means that you don't consider yourself belonging to Krishna yet.

So your ego is still independent. Depending on the level or the extent of the independence of your ego, you know you can be totally independent and

you're doing whatever you like and then in the end, you know, as you said all of a sudden you remember oh yeah I'm supposed to be uh Bhakta of Krishna, okay let him let him take it, no problem.

So that's that's a very very low uh kind of ego conception. But if we're serious, you know, yes, I am Krishna devotee, but still, you know, you feel inside that I am a little independent.

Then you do something very seriously and then you offer it to Krishna at the end. So yeah there is a difference.

Definitely the result of the second kind of aropa siddha bhakti, so called aropa siddha bhakti will be very— Thank

you, I actually remember the example that comes in Upākhyānopadeśa when this brāhmaṇa who used to carry pop fries, whatever he just flew away in the air and then he hurriedly offered it to Krishna.

Prabhupāda just remembered that's the same. Yeah yeah right right right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Padmayan Prabhu Hare Krishna. Your microphone is muted. Hare Hare Krishna. Is my [voice] audible now? Yes.

Thank you for your wonderful uh analysis and presenting in a very very easy way for us to understand at least I can understand it very nicely.

So Maharaja this one thing I was one point I just wanted to seek your guidance.

As you mentioned at the end of this discussion that a devotee who has already been cultivating this mood that I am Krishna's servant, I belong to Krishna.

Means whatever he has in his body, whatever wealth, whatever thing projects under him. So he doesn't have to again make an extraneous effort to offer to Krishna, so we understood.

As you said, this Ramanga Krishna Vishnu Pala se van this Nalvatya, Tamanya Dhita Uttanam. So they are that everything is already kind of he has surrendered so there's no need that after chanting or doing any kind of particular activity again he had to make it like Krishna Pana Masto it's not required.

So now my question is Maharaj, as a Sadhgara in our Podiya Vaishnava Santada, is it that one devotee just once assumes in his mind I am an eternal servant of Krishna?

I have been a guest in the service of Krishna by my spiritual master's instruction. And this is what I am regularly doing as I'm supposed to be doing.

If he just assumes this mode once in his lifetime, then there is no need for him to offer any of his activities to Krishna, it is understood that it is already offered.

Or as a sadhaka in the sadhana platform, do we need to on regular basis cultivate a particular mood of prayer which will help us to foster this now that yes, I have kind of my mind and everything is I'm doing for his reason there is no need to make an examination of him.

Yeah. Absolutely the first the first suggestion is not very tenable. You know we have to remind ourselves it's not enough just to say once yes, I belong to Krishna, and from now on whatever I do is his. No, it's cheating.

We have to remind ourselves again and again and again because our ego is still very much part of this material reality.

And therefore, you know, in the process of arcana there are certain mantras which are supposed to be reminding every day we have to repeat these mantras.

Aham Bhadam Bhagavatam Sos Misa Dada Sos Misarvathat Pamki Papeksakonityams Ityatmanam Samarpaya. Every day we have to say this.

I am the part of Bhagavan Sadhada Sosmiya, I am always his servant and in all regards Sarvada all the time and Sarvata in all regards and I'm always dependent on your mercy tvam kripa peksha kunityams ityatmanam samarpaya, and in this way I'm offering myself to you.

At least we have to say this and meditate on this. I'm yours. I belong to you. So because uh this Ahanta and Mamatha are intricately connected with each other.

And uh uh you know because uh the process of the transformation of our ego is not complete. It's not being done by magic. Once I said this and my ego is different.

So because our ego is still independent, then we still will have mamatta. You know, we said to Krishna, yes, I'm yours, but we still will try to enjoy the results of our actions.

Therefore, again and again every day, if not more often, few times a day, we have to remind ourselves, yes, nothing belongs to me and I belong to God. Well, He belongs to me and I belong to Him. Nothing else is mine.

Yes, Rukmini Krishna Prabhu. Yes, Maharaj, thank you so much Maharaj, very wonderfully presenting this very complex subject.

As far as I remember your last presentation, you said that uh practice of humility is not sung bhakti, it will be a sadhana-bhakti. As far as my understanding goes, I'm in your qualification. And it can be both.

It can be both. It really depends. See, uh like more uh more simple example is tapasya. Tapasya can be sādhana-bhakti or can be svarūpa-siddhi-bhakti.

We are all supposed to perform some tapasya like fasting on ekādaśī, this and that.

If we do some independent endeavors to perform tapasya and we consider that by doing this tapasya we improve our bhakti, then tapasya, the performance of tapasya becomes Sangha Siddha Bhakti.

But if we concentrate it on the bhakti activities and, as a result of it, we become naturally renounced and austere,

and the tapasya becomes the natural outcome of our bhakti, then it's svarūpa-siddhi-bhakti because it's just manifestation of our bhakti.

So in the same way humility, humility as the manifestation of our bhakti, as the side effect of the development of bhakti is

uh is svarūpa-siddhi-bhakti. It's an element which is in which is naturally included within our practice of bhakti. It's the manifestation of our bhakti.

Like Sanātana Gosvāmī explains this in Bṛhad-bhāgāvāmṛta when he says that actually humility and prema are synonyms. You know, the greater is humility, the greater is prema, the greater is prema, the greater is humility.

So, in this in this description, the humility is the natural outcome of prema.

But if we start thinking that humility is something independent on bhakti. And bhakti alone is not sufficient for us to develop humility. And we start practicing humility in a separate way somehow or other, then it becomes a part of Sanghasiddha Bhakti.

So it's a little tricky question. It very much depends on the consciousness of performer. Thank you ma. The second question was like again our daily activities like taking morning shower.

So it is also by taking shower it can be sange-siddha bhakti because I'll it will help me in doing my bhakti.

Yeah, also it can be it can be āropa, it can be sangha, yes, or it can be it can be pure devotional service if you're completely you just you know you just immersed in in thinking about Krishna and you're just taking shower. Yeah.

Yeah, it can be āropa-siddha bhakti, it can be sange-siddha bhakti for sure, yes. Depending on the on the consciousness.

Even though the external manifestation is the same, but depending on the consciousness it becomes different practice and the result is different accordingly. Thank you so much. Okay, I guess we should finish now.

Thank you very much, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Silva provado aqui, aqui agora.