26
Teachings of Lord Chaitanya
receives the favor of a Vaishnava, a devotee of the Lord, at that time he accumulates some asset in the matter of approaching the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is very plainly understood from the  Srimad Bhagwatam  in the matter of the life of the great sage Narada. Narada got the chance of serving the Vaishnavas in his previous life, and thus he was favored by the devotees of the Lord, with the result that he became a great sage, as he is known—Narada Muni.
The Vaishnavas or devotees are generally very compassionate toward the conditioned souls, and even being uninvited by any conditioned soul, a devotee goes from door to door to enlighten people from the darkness of nescience, and to inject in them knowledge in various ways about their constitutional position of being engaged in devotional service, or Krishna Consciousness. Such persons are devotees empowered by the Lord, and they are especially empowered to distribute devotional consciousness, or Krishna Consciousness, to the people in general. They are known as authorized Spiritual Masters. It is just by the mercy of such an authorized Spiritual Master that a conditioned soul gets the seed of devotional service. The causeless mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is first appreciated when one is in touch with a bona fide Spiritual Master who can enlighten the conditioned soul to the highest position of devotional life. Therefore, Lord Chaitanya said that by the mercy of the Spiritual Master, one can achieve the causeless mercy of the Lord; and by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one can get the mercy of the bona fide Spiritual Master.
By such mercy from the Spiritual Master and Krishna one receives the seed of devotional service, and one has to sow the seed in the field of his heart just as a gardener sows the seed of a valuable tree. After sowing the seed one has to pour water in the form of chanting and hearing the Holy Name of the Supreme Lord, or by taking part in the discussion of the science of devotional service in the society of pure devotees. When the plant of devotional service sprouts up from the seed of devotion, it begins to grow freely, and when it is full grown it then surpasses the length and breadth of this Universe and enters into the transcendental position of the spiritual world, where everything is effulgent in the  Brahmajyoti , and the plant penetrates even the Brahmajyoti, and then gradually enters into the planet known as  Goloka Vrindaban , and there the plant takes shelter at the Lotus Feet of Krishna. That is the ultimate goal of devotional service. After attaining such a position, the plant produces fruit which is known as the fruit of love of Godhead. The