Srila Gurudeva: I was explaining about bhakti, devotion and love, and how the mood of service to Krsna will come. It has been said everywhere, especially in the Srimad-Bhagavatam and other books:
bhaktis tu bhagavad-bhakta sangena parijayate
sat-sanga prapyate pumbhih sukrtaih purva sancitaih
Brhan-Naradiya Purana 4.33
[Bhakti becomes manifest by the association of the pure devotees of Bhagavan. Such sadhu-sanga is attained by the accumulation of sukrti in previous lives.]
Bhaktis tu bhagavad-bhakta sangena parijayate. Bhakti comes only by the association of bona fide Vaisnavas. How can this association be achieved? It is very rare, very rare. If you have gotten sukrti in past lives and also in this life, then the association of real, pure Vaisnavas can be achieved. Otherwise it can never be achieved. How will this happen? I have explained so many times what sukrti is. It has also been said in Caitanya-caritamrta and all other epics:
krsna-bhakti-janma-mula haya sadhu sanga
krsna-prema janme tenho punah mukhya anga
Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya-lila 22.83
[The root cause of krsna-bhakti is sadhu-sanga. Even when one’s dormant krsna- prema awakens, sadhu-sanga is still the most important principle for one’s spiritual life.]
The root cause of krsna-bhakti is the association of saintly people, sadhu-sanga. By sadhu-sanga, krsna-prema will come in our heart. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu met with Rupa Gosvami, He told him:
brahmanda brahmite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija
Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 19.151
[In the course of wandering throughout this universe, a rare jiva who is extremely fortunate obtains the seed of the creeper of bhakti by the mercy of Sri Gurudeva and Krsna.]
Wandering in this world for lakhs and lakhs births, any fortunate person can be given the seed of bhakti by the causeless mercy of Krsna and His associates, that is Gurudeva and Krsna. What is that fortunate, causeless mercy? What is that? What is that fortune? If I have met with any Vaisnava or anything related to Krsna, like Tulasi, Yamuna, Ganga, Navadvipa-dhama, Vrndavana-dhama, then all of this is sukrti. When they will gather together in a very big amount, then by the causeless mercy of Gurudeva and Krsna, anyone can have the bhakti-lata-bija, the seed of bhakti. Also:
kona bhagye karo samsara ksayonmukha haya
sadhu-sange tabe krsne rati upajaya
Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya-lila 22.45
[By good fortune one becomes eligible to cross the ocean of nescience, and when one’s term of material existence decreases, one may get an opportunity to associate with pure devotees. By such association, one’s attraction to Krsna is awakened.]
If anyone is so fortunate and his material desires are going to be finished and his cycle of birth and death is going to be destroyed, then he will obtain sadhu-sanga, real sadhu-sanga. If anyone is so fortunate to have the association of any bona fide, true and pure bhakta, then we should understand that now he will cross over the endless chain of birth and death, suffering and sorrow, forever. Thus he will have rati to the lotus feet of Krsna. Rati means attraction. Then after that, asakti. It is very rare, but he can have this.
[Spoken by Srila Gurudeva on April 29th, 1998, France, published as part of the Bhakta Bandhav Anthology, Volume 27]
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