Naiṣṭhikī. Niṣṭhā. From niṣṭhā . . . niṣṭhā means "firmly fixed up." Firmly fixed up. Ādau śraddhā tato sādhu-saṅgo tato bhajana-kriyā atha anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt tato niṣṭhā (CC Madhya 23.14-15). Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has explained how one can be fixed up, niṣṭhā. This niṣṭhā stage comes when one is freed from anartha. Ādau śraddhā. Just like you all have come here out of śraddhā, some faith that, "Let us go to the Hare Kṛṣṇa temple, see the ārati or hear from the svāmīs." This is the beginning, śraddhā. To create śraddhā, little faith, these centers are established. And one takes to faith, then he gradually advances. Ādau śraddhā. And that śraddhā has been explained by Kavirāja Gosvāmī, what is śraddhā.
That śraddhā, he has said, śraddhā-śabde viśvāsa kahe sudṛḍha niścaya. Śraddhā means firm faith, viśvāsa; sudṛḍha niścaya, unflinching. What is that sudṛḍha niścaya? Kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya. This is the beginning of śraddhā. Śraddhā means . . . as in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). If one is agreeable to this condition, that kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile; if one agrees, "Yes, if I surrender to Kṛṣṇa, my all perfection of life is achieved," this is śraddhā. Not that, "Kṛṣṇa is also good, and this demigod is also good. You are also good, I am also good. You are also God, I am also God." There is no śraddhā. Just like a chaste woman cannot say that every man is good. She'll say: "Only my husband is good." That is chastity. If some woman says that, "Any man is good . . ." Similarly, śraddhā means to become chaste, pure kṛṣṇa-bhakta. That is śraddhā.
- śraddhā-śabde viśvāsa kahe sudṛḍha niścaya
- kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya
- (CC Madhya 22.62)
Now practically you can see. These American and European boys, they began with śraddhā. I told them that, "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). They accepted it. They did not present so many rascals that, "Here is another God, here is another God, here is another God." No. Kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma . . . they fixed up their faith. That is their fortune. They had no hodge-podge idea. Therefore they are making progress. Ādau śraddhā. Then sādhu-saṅga (CC Madhya 22.83). That śraddhā, that firm faith in Kṛṣṇa, can be more and more firm by sādhu-saṅga. Sādhu-saṅga means . . . who is sādhu? A sādhu means a devotee. Sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ. Who is sādhu? Sādhu means . . . does not mean that having a long beard and saffron-color dress. Sādhu means, mahātmā means, who is pure devotee. That is the explanation in the Bhagavad-gītā:
- api cet su-durācāro
- bhajate mām ananya-bhāk
- sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ
- (BG 9.30)
He is sādhu, even he is su-durācāraḥ. Just like sometimes we find these American, European boys, from our angle of vision, they are deviating little. But Kṛṣṇa confirms, "Even if he's deviating, still, he's sādhu."