Homages from ISKCON Centers

Homages from ISKCON Centers
by any amount of material pious activity—not by giving charity, opening big hospitals and schools,
or working philanthropically. Devotional service can be attained only by the mercy of a pure devotee.
Without a pure devotee’s mercy, one cannot even escape the bondage of material existence. The
word mahat in this verse means “a pure devotee,” as Lord Kåñëa confirms in the Bhagavad-gétä (9.13):
mahätmänas tu mäà pärtha daivéà prakåtim äçritäù
bhajanty ananya-manaso jïätvä bhütädim avyayam
“O son of Påthä, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine
nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.”
One has to associate with such a mahätmä, who has accepted Kåñëa as the supreme source of
the entire creation. Without being a mahätmä, one cannot understand Kåñëa’s absolute position. A
mahätmä is rare and transcendental, and he is a pure devotee of Lord Kåñëa. Foolish people consider
Kåñëa a human being, and they consider Lord Kåñëa’s pure devotee an ordinary human being also.
Whatever one may be, one must take shelter at the lotus feet of a devotee mahätmä and treat him
as the most exalted well-wisher of all human society. We should take shelter of such a mahätmä
and ask for his causeless mercy. Only by his benediction can one be relieved from attachment to
the materialistic way of life. When one is thus relieved, he can engage in the Lord’s transcendental
loving service through the mercy of the mahätmä. [Caitanya-caritämåta, Madhya 22.51]
rahügaëaitat tapasä na yäti
na cejyayä nirvapaëäd gåhäd vä
na cchandasä naiva jalägni-süryair
vinä mahat-päda-rajo-’bhiñekam
“O King Rahügaëa, without taking upon one’s head the dust from the lotus feet of a pure devotee
[a mahäjana or mahätmä], one cannot attain devotional service. Devotional service is not possible
to attain simply by undergoing severe austerities and penances, by gorgeously worshiping the
Deity, or by strictly following the rules and regulations of the sannyäsa or gåhastha order; nor
is it attained by studying the Vedas, submerging oneself in water, or exposing oneself to fire or
scorching sunlight.” [Caitanya-caritämåta, Madhya 22.52]
naiñäà matis tävad urukramäìghrià
spåçaty anarthäpagamo yad-arthaù
mahéyasäà päda-rajo-’bhiñekaà
niñkiïcanänäà na våëéta yävat
“Unless human society accepts the dust of the lotus feet of great mahätmäs—devotees who
have nothing to do with material possessions—mankind cannot turn its attention to the lotus
feet of Kåñëa. Those lotus feet vanquish all the unwanted, miserable conditions of material life.”
[Caitanya-caritämåta, Madhya 22.53]
‘sädhu-saìga’, ‘sädhu-saìga’—sarva-çästre kaya
lava-mätra sädhu-saìge 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.”
PURPORT According to astronomical calculations, a lava is one eleventh of a second. [Caitanyacaritämåta,
Madhya 22.54]
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