| Sri Harinama Cintamani :: Chapter 4 (part 2) |
Page 1 of 4 mercy of a Vaisnava in attendance to bhaki are: the Vaisnava's eatable remnants, the water from his foot bath, and dust from his lotus feet. How a Vaisnava imbues his potency in others "When one sits in the presence of a Vaisnava for some time, one feels Krsna's potency exuding from his person. This potency enters the heart of a faithful person and impregnates it with bhakti. He experiences immediate ecstasy. Just by a moment's association with a Vaisnava, bhakti is invoked in the heart of a pious person. Immediately he'll be inspired to chant Lord Krsna's name; gradually, the holy name will offer him all the spiritual qualities. Vaisnava-ninda or criticism of a devotee "An offender against a sadhu is one who criticizes a Vaisnava about his caste, some unpremeditated accidental falldown, the last traces of his previous sins, or his sinful activities prior to his surrendering to Lord Krsna. This offender will never develop a taste for chanting the name. One who has taken complete shelter of the pure devotional process is considered a pure Vaisnava. You should not judge a person by his race, weight, height, sex, genes, and so forth. The four above-mentioned faults may be present in him, but he is totally free from all the other shortcomings. Hence criticizing him spells doom for the offender. The glories of the holy name are propagated by the Vaisnava; Lord Krsna does not tolerate any criticism against him. One may discard all other activities like religiosity, yoga, sacrifices, fruitive activities, empirical knowledge and so on; if one simply chants the holy name, that is the quintessence of spiritual culture. The sadhu takes complete shelter of the holy name "The real sadhu never criticizes demigods and other scriptures; he simply chants the holy name. Regardless of whether such a sadhu is householder or a sannyasi, one should eagerly take the dust from his lotus feet. The purity of a Vaisnava is judged by how much attraction or rati he has for the holy name. It has nothing whatsoever to do with his official status as a Vaisnava, |