So this is matsara. The matsaratā, enviousness, that is the nature of this material world. Therefore Kṛṣṇa consciousness, kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa-bhāvitā-matiḥ, it is very, very rare. Rūpa Gosvāmī said, "This rare thing, if you can purchase, do it immediately wherever available." Kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa-bhāvitā-matiḥ krīyatāṁ yadi kuto 'pi labhyate: "If it is available, if you can purchase it, you do it." "So purchase it? I can try, but what price I have to pay?" Tatra laulyam ekalam mulyam: "The price is simply you must be very, very eager to have it. That's all." "Oh, that I can do. It is not very difficult. I am so much eager after money, after woman, and so I shall transfer." So Kṛṣṇa..., Rūpa Gosvāmī says, "No, no. It is not so easy."
- kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa-bhāvitā matiḥ
- krīyatāṁ yadi kuto 'pi labhyate
- tatra laulyam ekalaṁ mūlyam
- na labhyate janma-koṭibhis sukṛtibhiḥ...
Janma-koṭi sukṛtibhiḥ. If you become pious... Because pious is the good position. Yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām. So to become pious is good because there is hope of understanding Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, if you remain impious, na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). If you remain sinful, then you'll remain always rascal. You'll never understand Kṛṣṇa. You'll never understand. Therefore we must try to become pious. And that pious means no sinful activities. Therefore we proscribe four sinful things, the pillars of sinful life: no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling—four pillars. If you break these four pillars from the very beginning of your spiritual life, then you stand on the platform. But if your, these four pillars are there, you stand on a false platform, not on the spiritual platform. That is yogic siddhi. Yeṣāṁ anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānām.
So this eagerness to have Kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa-bhāvitā-matiḥ, that eagerness is even impossible—janma-koṭi-sukṛtibhiḥ. It is simply happened by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa and His devotee. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). Vedeṣu durlabham. Practical purpose of studying Vedas, vedānti... That vedānti means to understand Kṛṣṇa. But vedeṣu durlabham. At the same time, it is said "It is very, very difficult to understand Kṛṣṇa by becoming so-called Vedānti." Actually Vedānta means Anta means the last word. The last work of knowledge is Kṛṣṇa. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8). So to understand Kṛṣṇa, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). But it can be done through the mercy of devotee. Vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau (Bs. 5.33). Adurlabha. If you satisfy a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa, he can give you Kṛṣṇa like this, "Take it." Vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau (Bs. 5.33). Bhakta can do that. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). You come through bhakta or come through bhakti.
So bhakti means unless you become an apprentice of a bhakta, how you can attain bhakti? That is not possible. Therefore the bhakti-mārga, it is instructed by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, ādau gurvāśrayam: "If you want bhakti, then you must accept bhakta as a guru." Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam (SB 11.3.21). Bhakti means uttamam. Bhakti is not the activities of this material world. Uttamam. Urd-gata-tamo hy asmat. There is no material quality. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170). That is uttamam. Here, so long we are in the tama, tamasi mā. "Don't remain in tama, envious." Tamasi mā jyotir gama. So bhakti is uttama. When you are transcendental, above this darkness of material world, then you can accept the If you are actually interested in the uttama, something beyond this darkness of ignorance, then you accept one guru. Don't keep a guru as a fashion to satisfy your senses: "My dear guru, can you make some gold?" "Yes." "Oh, first-class guru." No. That is not guru. That is your flattery. You want something according to your order—"Guru, cure my disease," "Guru, give me some gold," "Guru, give me this. Show me some wonderful mystic power"—that is order supplier. No, guru is not order supplier. Guru can give you the way how to have mercy of Kṛṣṇa. That is guru. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. Bhagavat-prasāda. If you want mercy of Kṛṣṇa, then you have to satisfy the devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān nāvamanyeta karhicit (SB 11.17.27). "Never become envious of guru." Yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā-deve tathā gurau