Faith and Bhakti

April 5, 2008

Dear Devotees and Friends: Please accept our humble dandavats. Hare Krsna. We have uploaded ‘Satsanga MP3’ Satanga: March 30, 2008. The Satsanga’s major focus is Faith and

Bhakti. A brief transcription is presented below: Faith and Bhakti Srila Sridhar Dev Goswami Maharaja says in Gradations of the Holy Name, "Sraddha is the minimum demand. Krsna consciousness is causeless; that is, it has no beginning, and apratihata, it has no end. No beginning, no end." HH Bhakti Madhav Puri Maharaja explained that, this is called ahaituki apratihata. Ahaituki means causeless and apratihata means it cannot be interrupted. Whatever is causeless cannot be interrupted by anything. Because only what is causing something to come into existence, that same thing can cause it to get out of existence or

stop that. But what is causeless cannot be stopped by anything. So Krishna Consciousness is causeless. We do not know where it starts and therefore we cannot see any end to that because that is the inherent constitutional nature of the living entity. It is what we are made of and what we are made for. And so there is no question of it having anything more fundamental that has given rise to Krishna Consciousness. That is what is. And everything else besides has some cause whatever that is, other than Krishna Consciousness. Whatever it is has some other cause and therefore it can end. But Krishna Consciousness itself is the constitutional reality of everything. Therefore we cannot find any beginning or end to that. Further it is described in Gradations of the Holy Name, "Any separate interest, separate consciousness, that is anartha. Artha means necessity; whatever is

not a necessity, but is posturing as a necessity based on separate interest-that is anartha. What is necessary is to avoid that track of separate interest that misleads us, and to learn to have the Infinite reading, the reading of the Infinite-to identify with the universal flow, the universal wave. When we are carried away by different waves of separate consciousness, that is anartha, that which is not necessary. The only necessity is to merge in the wave of universal interest. It is for Itself, for Himself. Aham hi sarva yajnanam bhokta ca prabhur eva ca. "I'm the only enjoyer of all these sacrifices or movements in this world. I'm the only enjoyer and everything belongs to Me, unconditionally." That is God's position. He is paramount, the highest harmonizing center. And we must all submit cent-percent to Him. Any deviation from that is anartha." Causeless is not that it has no cause. But it is the

cause of its own self. Bhakti is the cause of Bhakti. And when something is the cause of itself, then we can call that as causeless, or spontaneous - that which has no cause other than itself. Bhakti is the cause of itself. Devotee: Bhakti is eternal and is causeless. But the description of Srila Rupa Goswami in Nectar of Devotion is that someone's bhakti starts with ajnata sukrti and then there is sadhu sanga etc., so that he develops more and more devotions. So how to reconcile this. HH Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja: This is a very interesting point. Because one point we find in scripture, is that Bhakti is causeless. Another point, we find in the scripture is that associating with devotees is the cause of Bhakti. Associating with those who have Bhakti is the

cause of Bhakti. So the way I have reconciled this is that to think that 'causeless' means not that it does not have any cause. But the cause of the causeless is its own self. In other words, Bhakti is the cause of itself. And when something is the cause of itself, then we can call that causeless or spontaneous. That which has no cause other than itself, is also causeless. This is another meaning of causeless. If something is the cause of itself and the only way it can be caused is by itself alone, then that is also causeless and uninterruptible. ahaituki apratihata. Bhakti is the cause of itself and it cannot be interrupted by anything else, because only it itself has caused it. So if we look at it like that Bhakti is caused by itself and in therefore it is causeless by any other cause, then we can understand, how that is harmonized with the idea that sadhu can cause the awakening of

Bhakti in us. Because, sadhu is also the embodiment or personification of Bhakti, therefore Bhakti creates Bhakti. That is the meaning of what spontaneous is. Causeless and spontaneous means the same thing. What arises spontaneously is also causeless. And spontaneously means it arises out of its own initiative. Initiative comes from itself only. And it produces itself from itself. One philosopher, his name is Spinoza. He also had the same idea. He enunciated this idea first. This is not my idea. But he was the one who said, "causa sui", meaning what causes itself. He defined that as the fundamental substance. Fundamental substance means what, which causes itself and it has no other cause other than itself. We call that fundamental. So Krishna is causeless in that sense. He has no

other cause other than Himself. He is the cause of all causes - sarva karana karanam. Means that whatever He does, He is causing that Himself to happen. Nothing is pushing Krishna to do anything. Out of His own initiative, He is creating everything, doing everything. So He is the cause of Himself. So therefore He is called cause of Himself. You can hear this Transcendental Nectar of Satsanga at To see all our past posting you may visit http://mahaprabhu.net/satsanga/ . Timing of weekly Satsanga: 6:00 PM India time, Every Sunday. You may visit http://mahaprabhu.net/satsanga/about/ to know the details about joining process for the online ‘Weekly Satsangas’. All Glories all Sadhus, Guru and Vaisnavas. Thanking you. Your humble servants Purushottama Jagannatha Das & Sushen Das

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