Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrita Ādi 7.141

bhagavān-prāpti-hetu ye kari upāya

śravanādi bhakti — krishna-prāptira sahāya

SYNONYMS

bhagavān — the Supreme Personality of Godhead; prāpti-hetu — the means by which He can be approached; ye — what; kari — I do; upāya — means; śravana-ādi — devotional service, beginning with hearing; bhakti — devotional service; krishna — the Supreme Lord; prāptira — to approach Him; sahāya — means.

TRANSLATION

"It is only by devotional service, beginning with hearing, that one can approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the only means to approach Him.

PURPORT

Māyāvādī philosophers are satisfied simply to understand Brahman to be the sum total of knowledge, but Vaishnava philosophers not only know in detail about the Supreme Personality of Godhead but also know how to approach Him directly. The method for this is described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as nine kinds of devotional service, beginning with hearing:

śravanam kīrtanam vishnoh smaranam pāda-sevanam

arcanam vandanam dāsyam sakhyam ātma-nivedanam

(Bhāg. 7.5.23)

The nine kinds of devotional service are hearing about Krishna, chanting about Him, remembering Him, offering service to His lotus feet, offering Him worship in the temple, offering prayers to Him, working as His servant, making friendship with Him and unreservedly surrendering to Him. One can directly approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead simply by executing these nine kinds of devotional service, of which hearing about the Lord is the most important (śravanādi). Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has very favorably stressed the importance of this process of hearing. According to His method, if people are simply given a chance to hear about Krishna, certainly they will gradually develop their dormant awareness, or love of Godhead. Śravanādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya (Cc. Madhya 22.107). Love of God is dormant in everyone, and if one is given a chance to hear about the Lord, certainly that love develops. Our Krishna consciousness movement acts on this principle. We simply give people the chance to hear about the Supreme Personality of Godhead and give them prasādam to eat, and the actual result is that all over the world people are responding to this process and becoming pure devotees of Lord Krishna. We have opened hundreds of centers all over the world just to give people in general a chance to hear about Krishna and accept Krishna's prasādam. These two processes can be accepted by anyone, even a child. It doesn't matter whether one is poor or rich, learned or foolish, black or white, old or still a child — anyone who simply hears about the Supreme Personality of Godhead and takes prasādam is certainly elevated to the transcendental position of devotional service.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness