{"id":59742,"date":"2025-03-06T03:25:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T21:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/?p=59742"},"modified":"2025-03-05T22:26:45","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T16:56:45","slug":"one-must-strive-to-achieve-the-association-of-pure-devotees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/one-must-strive-to-achieve-the-association-of-pure-devotees\/","title":{"rendered":"One Must Strive to Achieve the Association of Pure Devotees"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/pancha-tattva.jpg.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-43762 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/pancha-tattva.jpg-300x254.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"254\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/pancha-tattva.jpg-300x254.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/pancha-tattva.jpg.webp 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">A. In Srimad Bhagavatam (3.25.25) it is written:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">satam prasangan mama virya-samvido<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">bhavanti hrt-karna-rasayanah kathah<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">taj-josanad asv apavarga-vartmani<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">sraddha ratir bhaktir anukramisyati (36)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">Talking about the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Lord in the company of pure devotees is very pleasurable and satisfying for the ear and the heart. By cultivating this knowledge, one gradually advances on the path of liberation, one is freed from all material conditioning and the attraction for the Lord becomes stable. Then one gradually reaches sraddha (attachment), rati (bhava) and bhakti (prema-bhakti).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">How to associate with devotees is mentioned in Upadesamrta (5):<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">krsneti yasya giri tam manasadriyeta<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">diksasti cet pranatibhis ca bhajantam isam<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">susrusaya bhajana vijnam ananyam anya-<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">nindadi-sunya-hrdam ipsita-sanga-labdhya<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">One should mentally honor the devotee who chants the holy name of Lord Krishna, one should offer humble obeisances to the devotee who has undergone spiritual initiation (diksa) and who is engaged in the worship of divinity, and one should associate and serve with faith the pure devotee who has advanced in pristine devotional service and who has a heart completely devoid of the tendency to criticize others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">Such a pure devotee sees everyone as Krishna&#8217;s eternal servants.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">One should spend one&#8217;s life in the feeling of yukta-vairagya and chant the holy name. As stated in Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">anasaktasya visayan<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">yatharham upayunjatah<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">nirbandhah krishna-sambhandhe<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">yuktam vairagyam ucyate<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">When one has no attachment, but at the same time accepts all that is related to Krishna, one correctly places oneself above the sense of possession.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">Srimad Bhagavatam (7.11.32) also says:<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">vrttya sva-bhava-krtaya<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">vartamanah sva-karma-krt<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">hitva sva-bhava-jam karma<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">sanair nirgunatam iyat<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">If a person exercises his profession based on the influences of nature and gradually abandons these activities, he reaches the level called niskama.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">Free from sin, one must take refuge in the holy name. This art of living is mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatam (11.7.39):<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">prana-vrttyaiva santusyen<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">munir naivendriya-priyaih<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">jnanam yatha na nasyeta<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">navakiryeta van-manah<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">A learned sage should be satisfied in maintaining his own existence and should not seek satisfaction through material sense gratification. In other words, the material body should be dealt with in such a way as not to compromise the highest knowledge and not to deviate from spiritual realization either with speech or with the mind.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">Useless activities must be avoided. In this way one can give up the tendency for sense gratification and nourish oneself in such a way that the language and the mind do not deviate from yuktavairagya.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">This is a section of the book \u201cBhajana Rahasya\u201d, by Bhaktivinode Thakura.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">To buy the complete book, <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kadachaeditions.com\/art\/bhajana-rahasya-english\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">click above<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A. In Srimad Bhagavatam (3.25.25) it is written: satam prasangan mama virya-samvido bhavanti hrt-karna-rasayanah kathah taj-josanad asv apavarga-vartmani sraddha ratir bhaktir anukramisyati (36) Talking about the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Lord in the company &hellip; <a class=\"kt-excerpt-readmore\" href=\"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/one-must-strive-to-achieve-the-association-of-pure-devotees\/\" aria-label=\"One Must Strive to Achieve the Association of Pure Devotees\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":43762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,189],"tags":[201],"class_list":["post-59742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-kadacha-eng","tag-bhajana-rahasya-eng"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-03 16:41:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}