- tathāyaṁ cāvatāras te
- bhuvo bhāra-jihīrṣayā
- svānāṁ cānanya-bhāvānām
- anudhyānāya cāsakṛt
- (SB 1.7.25)
So, Kṛṣṇa, the original Personality of Godhead—sākṣāt, not imagination. Here it is said, sa eva jīva-lokasya māyā sākṣād . . . Here, yes, yes. Tvam ādyaḥ puruṣaḥ sākṣād īśvaraḥ (SB 1.7.23). Sākṣāt, directly. Not indirectly. Just like we are meeting face to face. It is not that I am imagining. Face to face, sākṣāt. Sa-akṣa. Akṣa means eyes or senses. With senses. Kṛṣṇa cannot be seen with these material senses. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). It is not possible to experience Kṛṣṇa by our these material blunt senses. It is not possible. We have to make purified. How it is purified? Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. When you engage yourself in the service of the Lord, sevonmukha—"Kṛṣṇa, I want to serve You"—this much wanted, qualification. No educational qualification, no Ph.D. degree or to take birth in very high family or to become rich. Nothing. Simply a true feeling, desire: "Kṛṣṇa, so long I remained forgetting You. Now, somehow or other, I've come to the sense that You are everything. By hearing from my guru, or the spiritual master, or from the śāstra . . ." Sādhu-śāstra. Sat-saṅga-sādhu-śāstra. Lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said,
- 'sādhu-saṅga', 'sādhu-saṅga'—sarva-śāstre kaya
- lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya
- (CC Madhya 22.54)
It is required, sādhu-saṅga. Then if he meets sādhu . . . By one or two words from him, he can convince you about supremacy of the Supreme Lord. Otherwise, he'll take birth after birth, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19).
Therefore we have to make sādhu-saṅga (CC Madhya 22.83). Satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ (SB 3.25.25). Sādhu-saṅga is very essential. Sat-saṅga. Otherwise . . . There is another verse in the Brahma-saṁhitā, that vedeṣu durlabhaḥ (BS 5.33). You cannot understand Kṛṣṇa by studying Vedas, although Vedas means knowledge. And the ultimate knowledge—to understand Kṛṣṇa. So-called Vedāntī . . . you'll find so many Vedāntists loitering on the street, but they do not understand Kṛṣṇa. This is their qualification. They interpret, "Kṛṣṇa means this. Kṛ means this, ṇa means this," like that. When Vallabha Ācārya said to Caitanya Mahāprabhu that "I have described Kṛṣṇa's meaning," Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately refused, that "I do not know any meaning of Kṛṣṇa. I know Kṛṣṇa, Gopījana-vallabha, that's all. Gopījana-vallabha." What is the meaning of Kṛṣṇa? No interpretation, no imagination. Kṛṣṇa is Vṛndāvana-candra or Gopījana-vallabha, Giri-vara-dhārī, that's all. So we have to understand by sādhu-saṅga (CC Madhya 22.83). Then we can see sākṣāt Kṛṣṇa.