Devotion is Awakened by Devotion

Śrī Chaitanya Sāraswat Maṭh Philippines
Śrī Nāma Haṭṭa Center
U.P. Campus, Diliman, Quezon City 1101
Devotion is awakened by devotion
December 10, 2020
To have one hundred per cent faith in Lord Kṛṣṇa is not easy. We live in
the mundane world and deal with many material things, so our faith is
naturally influenced by our impressions of this world.
prakṛtibhyaḥ paraṁ yach cha tad achintyasya lakṣaṇam
(Mahābhārata: Bhīṣma-parva, 5.22)
“Kṛṣṇa is achintya. He is beyond our mundane experience.” How can we
develop faith in Him and His divine service? Kṛṣṇa’s causeless mercy is
always flowing throughout this mundane world, and if any conditioned
soul is touched by that merciful wave, then he will receive some nityasukṛti
[spiritual fortune], which will bring him faith.
General pious activities like feeding people can bring good fortune to
people, but that is anitya-sukṛti [temporary merit]. Nitya-sukṛti, eternal
fortune, is gained by being connected with the Lord’s affairs, by rendering
service to the Lord’s devotees, the Lord’s temples, or anything connected
with the Lord.
When a conditioned soul receives the opportunity to serve the Lord in
some way and he collects sufficient nitya-sukṛti, then śraddhā develops in

his heart automatically by the mercy of the Lord. As nitya-sukṛti develops
into śraddhā within his heart the conditioned soul can begin to associate
with sādhus. Before the conditioned soul can associate with sādhus
properly he needs faith in them. This comes to him through nityasukṛti.
Once the conditioned soul has a little faith in sādhus then his faith
will become stronger and stronger through the sādhus’ association.
The illusory environment will not be able to attack the conditioned soul
in any way if he tries to proceed in his spiritual life faithfully under the
guidance of sādhus. Sādhu does not only mean someone wearing saffron
cloth. A sādhu may be a gṛhastha, a brahmachārī, or vānaprastha. If anyone
is a sincere devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa then he must be considered a sādhu.
kṛṣṇa-bhakta—niṣkāma, ataeva ‘śānta’
bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī—sakali ‘aśānta’
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya-līlā, 19.149)
Anyone who serves Rādhā-Govinda twenty-four hours a day without
selfish interest under the guidance of his Guru is a real devotee and real
sādhu. His association will always be good and give everyone good
nourishment in their spiritual life. In the association of a real sādhu the
conditioned soul’s faith and service attitude will increase more and
more. This is the path given by Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, Śrīmad
Bhāgavatam and all the scriptures: bhaktyā sañjātayā bhaktyā (SB: 11.3.31),
devotion is awakened by devotion. 53