- 'sādhu-saṅga', 'sādhu-saṅga'-sarva-śāstre kaya
- lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya
The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment's association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success. (CC Madhya 22.54) And how the Lord feels about sādhus is revealed by the Lord Himself in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (9.4.68):
- sādhavo hṛdayaṁ mahyaṁ
- sādhūnāṁ hṛdayaṁ tv aham
- mad-anyat te na jānanti
- nāhaṁ tebhyo manāg api
The pure devotee is always within the core of My heart, and I am always in the heart of the pure devotee. My devotees do not know anything else but Me, and I do not know anyone else but them. The Lord always resides in the heart of His pure devotees, and so they have the potency to purify the places of pilgrimage, which become heavily laden with the sins deposited there by all the pilgrims. These are some of the glories of the Lord's pure, surrendered devotees. Lord Kṛṣṇa says In the Bhagavad-gītā (18.58), mac-cittaḥ sarva-durgāṇi mat-prasādāt tariṣyasi: "If you become conscious of Me, you will pass over all the obstacles of conditioned life by My grace." Therefore fruitive activity, the search for empirical knowledge, and mystic yoga all culminate in surrender to the Supreme Lord. As Lord Kṛṣṇa says in the Gītā (18.66):
- sarva-dharmān parityajya
- mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
- ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
- mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
Abandon all varieties of religion and surrender unto Me. I will deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear. When the Supreme Lord has agreed to personally take responsibility for our protection, what is there to fear? When He who is omnipotent and the maintainer of the entire cosmic creation is willing to take charge of our life, then what objection can we have to surrendering to Him? If I am guaranteed the protection of the Supreme Personality, who creates, maintains, and destroys this limitless cosmic manifestation simply by His will, then what is left for me to desire? If we try in the proper way to realize the Supreme Lord's potencies, He will certainly reveal them to us as they are. How much can we accomplish with our puny physical and mental abilities? Real success in yoga comes only by fully surrendering to His lotus feet. However, since it is not possible to attain such a mood of complete surrender in a moment, we should also not expect the Lord's mercy to manifest before us instantaneously. Although the Lord, and sometimes even His devotees, perform miracles, still we must not expect such extraordinary things to happen to us. Of course, it is certain that the degree of mercy the Lord bestows upon us is much greater than our degree of surrender to Him. Another danger is this: If we were to receive all His mercy at once, we would become corrupt and fallen, like many yogīs who attain mystic perfection. Better that we continue to perform our duties in a regulated way, with patience and enthusiasm; then undoubtedly we will receive the Lord's full mercy. Both the Vedas and the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describe the conditioned soul with the same analogy: On the tree-like human body reside two similar birds. One is the Supreme Soul, the Paramātmā feature of the Supreme Lord, and the other is the jīva soul. One bird, the jīva, is enjoying the fruits of material existence, while the other remains aloof, replete with all His transcendental potencies. The jīva soul must surrender to the Supreme Soul and relish the fruits given to him by the Lord. The Lord says that His external potency—Mahā-māyā, or Kālī-serves Him in the form of the internal, spiritual potency. The jīva must allow this spiritual potency to influence him freely, without interference from the false ego, which makes the him think he is the doer. Thus surrendering to the Lord is the method prescribed to reach the highest stages of devotional service. The Śvetāṣvatara Upaniśad says, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate: (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport) "The Supreme Lord's potencies are multifarious." These potencies act in different capacities at different levels: On the platform of jṇāna, empirical knowledge, they manifest in a particular way, different from any other. On the spiritual, transcendental platform, these potencies produce variegated spiritual manifestations. These potencies can be known if one attains perfection in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. On the platform of material nature, the senses are superior to the body as a whole, mind is superior to the senses, the intelligence is superior to the mind, and the soul is subtler and better than the intelligence. On the spiritual platform, when the pure soul is situated in his original spiritual identity, he renders devotional service to the absolute embodiment of sweet transcendence, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This devotional service is imbued with the partial expansion of hlādinī-śakti, the Lord's pleasure-giving potency.