“Either you take shelter of Me directly or to a person who has taken shelter of Me”

Prabhupada Temple Brazil

Prabhupada, London, March 9, 1975: […] So Rupa Gosvami says how this asakti can be increased. He gives formula. Mad-asrayah. Krishna said, “Either you take shelter of Me directly or to a person who has taken shelter of Me.” Just like electric power. Electric house, powerhouse, may be long away, but if the electricity is coming through some wire, and if you touch, immediately you will…, immediately in touch with the powerhouse.

So either you touch the powerhouse or an wire, insig…, who is empowered by the powerhouse, you touch, you get the electricity. This is called parampara system. Mad-asrayah. Evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduh [Bg. 4.2], yogo nastah paran… These are all explained. So mad-asrayah. As soon as we… Because Krishna is not visible at the present moment. He is visible, but we cannot see. So we take asrayah, shelter of His devotee.

Therefore Srila Rupa Gosvami gives his formula how to become attached to Krishna. First he says, adau sraddha. First of all, faith, the beginning. Just like you have come very kindly to this temple with some faith that “Here is the Krishna consciousness movement. Let us go there and see what they are doing,” out of inquisitiveness or something. So this is little faith. Now you have to increase this faith.

This is required. Adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sangah. How you can increase the faith? Those who are actually engaged in Krishna consciousness, in devotional service, associate with them. Don’t think that at home you will be perfect. That is not possible. At home there is no such facilities.

Here you will get the facilities. Here the devotees, they are actually following the instruction of mad-asrayah, one who has taken the shelter. They are rising early in the morning. And at home you will think, “Oh, what is early in the morning?” (laughter) “Let me enjoy sleep.”

So there is no such facilities at home. Therefore this institution is started. If you are serious about Krishna consciousness, if you are serious about increasing attachment for Krishna, then you should come and live with the devotees. Adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sangah. And atha bhajana-kriya. The sadhu-sanga… Now they are chanting, they are having mangala-arati, they are decorating the Deity, and so many things.

Everyone who will associate, you will see. And then he will be inclined to be initiated. This is our practical experience. They will submit, “Please let me be initiated.” This is called bhajana-kriya. Bhajana-kriya means if he is serious about bhajana-kriya, how to worship, then anartha-nivrttih syat. Anartha means we have learned so many nonsense things. They can be summarized in four items: illicit sex, intoxication, gambling, and meat-eating. So anartha-nivrttih syat.

If you accept bhajana-kriya, the activities of devotional service, then these things will be vanished. Then, when you are purified, as I have said, that sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam [Cc. Madhya 19.170], when he is free from all these material bad habits, he is mukta. He is liberated. Then adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sango ’tha bhajana-kriya, tato ’nartha-nivrt…, tato nistha. Then your faith… Beginning was the faith.

This faith becomes established. You can… Nobody can move you. Tato nistha. Tato rucih. Then you get some taste, how Krishna consciousness is sweet. Tato nistha rucis tatah, athasaktih. Then attachment. Unless you get taste, how you can be attached to Krishna?

So these are the processes. So Krishna is saying, summarized. They are explained by the mad-asrayah, those who are devotees. So in this way we have to increase our attachment for Krishna. And when we increase our attachment for Krishna, then Krishna says, asamsayam samagram mam yatha jnasyasi tac chrnu [Bg. 7.1]. Now everyone has got some doubt, whether there is God or not, whether God is person or imperson, whether He is something… He has no idea. In any religion you take, ask him, “What do you know about God?” That he cannot explain.

Because he is not in the platform, how he can be understand God? That is not possible. It is not… But we are confident what is God, what is His father’s name, what is His name, what is His address, everything. No samsaya, no doubt. Everything complete. Asamsayam. We are confident that we are going to Krishna, back to home, back to Godhead. There is no doubt, asamsayam and samagram. Sama means full. What is God meant? Asamsayam… (end)
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