BHAGAVAD-GITA 9:3

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 9:3

 

asraddadhanah purusa

dharmasyasya parantapa

aprapya mam nivartante

mrtyu-samsara-vartmani

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

asraddadhanah--those who are faithless; purusah--such persons;

dharmasya--toward the process of religion; asya--this; parantapa--O

killer of the enemies; aprapya--without obtaining; mam--Me;

nivartante--come back; mrtyu--of death; samsara--in material

existence; vartmani--on the path.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Those who are not faithful in this devotional service cannot attain

Me, O conqueror of enemies. Therefore they return to the path of birth

and death in this material world.

 

PURPORT

 

The faithless cannot accomplish this process of devotional service;

that is the purport of this verse. Faith is created by association

with devotees. Unfortunate people, even after hearing all the evidence

of Vedic literature from great personalities, still have no faith in

God. They are hesitant and cannot stay fixed in the devotional service

of the Lord. Thus faith is a most important factor for progress in

Krsna consciousness. In the Caitanya-caritamrta it is said that faith

is the complete conviction that simply by serving the Supreme Lord,

Sri Krsna, one can achieve all perfection. That is called real faith.

As stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam

(4.31.14),

 

yatha taror mula-nisecanena

trpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopasakhah

pranopaharac ca yathendriyanam

tathaiva sarvarhanam acyutejya

 

"By giving water to the root of a tree one satisfies its branches, twigs and

leaves, and by supplying food to the stomach one satisfies all the

senses of the body. Similarly, by engaging in the transcendental

service of the Supreme Lord one automatically satisfies all the

demigods and all other living entities." Therefore, after reading

Bhagavad-gita one should promptly come to the conclusion of

Bhagavad-gita: one should give up all other engagements and adopt the

service of the Supreme Lord, Krsna, the Personality of Godhead. If one

is convinced of this philosophy of life, that is faith.

 

Now, the development of that faith is the process of Krsna

consciousness. There are three divisions of Krsna conscious men. In

the third class are those who have no faith. Even if they are

officially engaged in devotional service, they cannot achieve the

highest perfectional stage. Most probably they will slip, after some

time. They may become engaged, but because they haven't complete

conviction and faith, it is very difficult for them to continue in

Krsna consciousness. We have practical experience in discharging our

missionary activity that some people come and apply themselves to

Krsna consciousness with some hidden motive, and as soon as they are

economically a little well situated they give up this process and take

to their old ways again. It is only by faith that one can advance in

Krsna consciousness. As far as the development of faith is concerned,

one who is well versed in the literatures of devotional service and

has attained the stage of firm faith is called a first-class person in

Krsna consciousness. And in the second class are those who are not

very advanced in understanding the devotional scriptures but who

automatically have firm faith that krsna-bhakti, or service to Krsna,

is the best course and so in good faith have taken it up. Thus they

are superior to the third class, who have neither perfect knowledge of

the scriptures nor good faith but by association and simplicity are

trying to follow. The third-class person in Krsna consciousness may

fall down, but when one is in the second class he does not fall down,

and for the first-class person in Krsna consciousness there is no

chance of falling down. One in the first class will surely make

progress and achieve the result at the end. As far as the third-class

person in Krsna consciousness is concerned, although he has faith in

the conviction that devotional service to Krsna is very good, he has

not yet gained adequate knowledge of Krsna through the scriptures like

Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita. Sometimes these third-class

persons in Krsna consciousness have some tendency toward karma-yoga

and jnana-yoga, and sometimes they are disturbed, but as soon as the

infection of karma-yoga or jnana-yoga is vanquished, they become

second-class or first-class persons in Krsna consciousness. Faith in

Krsna is also divided into three stages and described in

Srimad-Bhagavatam. First-class attachment, second-class attachment and

third-class attachment are also explained in Srimad-Bhagavatam in the

Eleventh Canto. Those who have no faith even after hearing about Krsna

and the excellence of devotional service, who think that it is simply

eulogy, find the path very difficult, even if they are supposedly

engaged in devotional service. For them there is very little hope of

gaining perfection. Thus faith is very important in the discharge of

devotional service.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.