Srila Gurudeva: Yesterday I said that a kanistha Vaisnava, he is Vaisnava, but he does not know the established truths, bhakti-siddhanta. He serves the deities, but he doesn’t know how to honor Vaisnavas, uttama, madhyama, and kanistha. An uttama-adhikari Vaisnava always see that everyone is serving Krsna in any way. Directly or indirectly, they see that everyone is serving Krsna. Because of this, they cannot teach anyone anything, because they see that everyone is already serving. So from where does bhakti come from? A madhyama-adhikari.
satam prasangan mama virya-samvido
bhavanti hrt-karna-rasayanah kathah
taj-josanad asv apavarga-vartmani
sraddha ratir bhaktir anukramisyati
Srimad-Bhagavatam (3.25.25)
[In the exalted association of pure devotees, the recitation and discussions of My glorious pastimes become a rejuvenating elixir for both the heart and the ears. By such cultivation one quickly becomes liberated from the ignorance of material bondage. He then progressively attains sraddha (sadhana-bhakti), rati (bhava-bhakti) and bhakti (prema-bhakti) unto Me.]
Sanatana Gosvami and all the Gosvamis have quoted this sloka, this very important sloka from Bhagavatam. Satam prasangan mama virya-samvido. Those who have so much taste in hearing hari-katha, who do pranama to hari-katha, to the place where hari-katha is going on, to who is giving classes of hari-katha, the beautiful and powerful pastimes of Krsna and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is always doing pranama to all the devotees in the audience, who is hearing and always doing pranama to all devotees with great respect, then sraddha comes.
After that, rati will come. Then after that, prema-bhakti will surely come. How will it come? Only if that Vaisnava who is telling hari-katha is bona fide, if he has uttama-bhakti. He may even still be a madhyama-adhikari. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has quoted all these things and reconciled so many things.
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has said that there are two kinds of association. Those who are always practicing uttama-bhakti, anukulyena krsna-anusilanam, without any other desire besides a desire that their bhakti should advance, having no worldly desire, and their bhakti is not covered by jnana and karma and he is chanting and remembering, then he is a madhyama-adhikari.
But if there are some symptoms of uttama-bhakti, suddha-bhakti, then by his hari-katha, he can give others suddha-bhakti also. Like Sukadeva Gosvami, he gave suddha-bhakti, even vraja-prema in the heart of Pariksit Maharaja. Even though Pariksit Maharaja was already a siddha mahatma, he showed us the process for how to achieve all these things. But those who are explaining the hari-katha, the powerful pastimes of Krsna, he should be qualified. If he is like so many mayavadis who are very learned in all epics, even in Srimad-Bhagavatam, but he has no bhakti, then bhakti cannot come. He may be very, very learned, more than us, but if they have no bhakti actually, nothing, then they cannot help us. They are considered a mahapurusa, but yet, by their association, bhakti cannot come.
[Spoken by Srila Gurudeva on April 29th, 1998, France, published as part of the Bhakta Bandhav Anthology, Volume 27]
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