THE PATH OF PURE DEVOTION

The path followed by the pure devotees is the most beneficial path of this material world, this is fearless and is proved by Vedic scriptures. No one should think that a person following path of devotion can not understand Vedas.

Mayavadis claims that the path of devotion can not be followed by females but that is absolutely wrong. All humans should follow great sages who follow the path of devotion. Those who have Bhakti are equivalent to demigods.

If one follows the path of devotion we get free from material nature.

THE SOLUTION OF EXISTENCE

When Parakshit Maharaj saw all the misdeeds of people and sin he was worried about what would be the result of all this, as Vaishnavas get saddened when they see anyone in trouble. Parakshit Maharaj asked Sukadeva Goswami what should we do to save ourselves from sinful reactions and material nature.

Sukadeva Goswami replied that Bhakti yoga (Devotion for Lord) is the solution to all this. We should follow the path of great saints who are pure devotees and should always seek the company of devotees.

Those who are in Bhakti are always happy and fearless, whereas others are always fearful and worried for the future. But if we surrender ourselves to the lotus feet of God we would always be fearless. The desire of a devotee is to vanquish all the material desires in his heart. Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that the chanting of Hari Naam (Hare Krishna Mahamantra) removes all the impurities from our hearts. In Bhakti Yoga we serve Lord physically, mentally, and financially.

IMPORTANCE OF READING AND HEARING ABOUT LORD

We should read the Vedic scriptures or Granth as it has the Lord’s instructions and the medium through which he directs us. We get the knowledge of Bhakti after taking millions of births. The seed of devotion is nourished by chanting, hearing, and singing of the Lord’s names and to protect this seed we should make a wall around ourselves so that we don’t get in contact with bad people that means we should avoid the company of non-devotees and material natured people.

TYPES OF DEVOTEE ASSOCIATION

We should always be in the company of devotees. There are three types of devotee company

• One who is more devotional than us
• Second who are equal to us in devotion
• Third who are neophytes in devotional life.

Narad Muni says if we get the company of higher devotees we should become happy and we will get to learn something from them, when we are with devotees who are equal to us in devotion we should have a feeling of friendship with them, and when we are with people who are less in devotion than us then we should be compassionate to them.

There are many educational institutes for material knowledge but for spiritual knowledge, there are very less institutes, in India, there are some schools that teach Bhagavad Gita. With spiritual knowledge we can come out of this life and death circle, intelligent people take advantage of this spiritual knowledge.

FOLLOWING THE FOOTSTEPS OF GOSWAMIS

Bhakti yoga is the greatest path and it is the decision of scriptures. Srila Prabhupad said that the Bhakti yoga path was followed by all the Goswamis (who have control over his senses) and most of these Goswamis were from very high families with all the facilities still they chose to be spiritually sound with no luxury than material luxurious life. Raghunath Goswami was from a very rich family but he left everything as he wanted to serve Krishna only.

When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu chanted he was joined by thousands of people and many Mayavadis turned to Vaishnav by listening to Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Caitanya Mahaprabhu announced that one day this Hari Naam will reach each and every corner of this world and declared that soon a soldier will come and spread this mantra to the world and that soldier was Srila Prabhupad who gave us the knowledge of Bhakti, devotion to Krishna.

There is no limit to devotion, the more you are devoted towards Krishna the happier and delightful you will become. So we learned that we should always follow Bhakti yoga and its principles, this knowledge is obtained by great saints and we should always seek devotees' company.