One time a devotee asked Srila Prabhupada, “‘”what is the most important sloka” and Srila Prabhupada replied:
yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau.
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ.
“Only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed.” ((Śvetāśvatara Upanisad 6.23)
I was reading one letter Srila Prabhupada wrote to Jaya Govinda back in 1969, wherein Jaya Govinda was expressing some weakness in his faith, and Srila Prabhupada replied with such compassion, patience, and kind understanding.
…Of course, weakness in Krishna Consciousness we should always feel. That is a good symptom. We should never think that we are strong enough. But the source of strength is Krishna and His manifest representative, the Spiritual Master. We get this instruction from Caitanya-caritmrta that we receive the seed of Krishna Consciousness through the Spiritual Master and Krishna. Therefore, we should serve both simultaneously for continuous supply of spiritual vitality.
…When you came from India to Germany you told me that you felt complete satisfaction being in Germany, having a good engagement for serving Krishna. But at present you express that you may not be feeling that satisfaction intact. If you would explain to me why you are feeling like that, then I can help you.
… But in all circumstances we should have our staunch faith in Krishna and the Spiritual Master. Then we will never be shaken off. (Letter to Jaya Govinda October 15, 1969)
There is one nice verse in the Caitanya-caritmrta which describes this sentiment of faith:
“I firmly believe in these words of My spiritual master, and therefore I always chant the holy name of the Lord, alone and in the association of devotees. That holy name of Lord Krsna sometimes causes Me to chant and dance, and therefore I chant and dance. Please do not think that I intentionally do it. I do it automatically“. (Cc. Ādi 7.95-96)
Purport
A person who cannot keep his faith in the words of his spiritual master but acts independently never receives the authority to chant the holy name of the Lord. It is said in the Vedas:
yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ
“Only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed.” This Vedic injunction is very important, and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu supported it by His personal behavior. Believing in the words of His spiritual master, He introduced the sankirtan movement, just as the present Krsna consciousness movement was started with belief in the words of our spiritual master. He wanted to preach, we believed in his words and tried somehow or other to fulfill them, and now this movement has become successful all over the world. Therefore faith in the words of the spiritual master and in the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the secret of success. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu never disobeyed the orders of His spiritua master and stopped propagating the saṅkīrtana movement. Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati Gosvāmī, at the time of his passing away, ordered all his disciples to work conjointly to preach the mission of Caitanya Mahāprabhu all over the world. Later, however, some self-interested, foolish disciples disobeyed his orders. Each one of them wanted to become head of the mission, and they fought in the courts, neglecting the order of the spiritual master, and the entire mission was defeated. We are not proud of this; however, the truth must be explained. We believed in the words of our spiritual master and started in a humble way—in a helpless way—but due to the spiritual force of the order of the supreme authority, this movement has become successful.
It is to be understood that when Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu chanted and danced, He did so by the influence of the pleasure potency of the spiritual world. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu never considered the holy name of the Lord to be a material vibration, nor does any pure devotee mistake the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra to be a material musical manifestation. Lord Caitanya never tried to be the master of the holy name; rather He taught us how to be servants of the holy name. If one chants the holy name of the Lord just to make a show, not knowing the secret of success, he may increase his bile secretion, but he will never attain perfection in chanting the holy name. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu presented himself in this way: “I am a great fool and do not have knowledge of right and wrong. In order to understand the real meaning of Vedanta-sutra, I never followed the explanation of the Sankara-sampradaya or Mayavadi sannyāsīs. I’m very much afraid of the illogical arguments of the Māyāvādī philosophers. Therefore I think I have no authority regarding their explanations of Vedānta-sūtra. I firmly believe that simply chanting the holy name of the Lord can remove all misconceptions of the material world. I believe that simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord one can attain the shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord. In this age of quarrel and disagreement, the chanting of the holy names is the only way to liberation from the material clutches.
“By chanting the holy name,” Lord Caitanya continued, “I became almost mad. However, after inquiring from My spiritual master I have come to the conclusion that instead of striving for achievement in the four principles of religiosity (dharma), economic development (artha), sense gratification (kama) and liberation (moksa), it is better if somehow or other one develops transcendental love of Godhead. That is the greatest success in life. One who has attained love of Godhead chants and dances by his nature, not caring for the public.” This stage of life is known as bhagavata-jivana, or the life of a devotee.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu continued, “I never chanted and danced to make an artificial show. I dance and chant because I firmly believe in the words of My spiritual master. Although the Mayavadi philosophers do not like this chanting and dancing, I nevertheless perform it on the strength of his words. Therefore it is to be concluded that I deserve very little credit for these activities of chanting and dancing, for they are being done automatically by the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
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