20 The Nectar of Devotion

practice. Actually there is no such practice. When we wish to develop
our innate capacity for devotional service there are certain processes
which, by our accepting and executing them, will cause that dormant
capacity to be invoked. Such practice is called sadhana-bhak ti.

Every living entity under the spell of material energy is held to be
in an abnormal condition of madness. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it
is said: ‘Generally, the conditioned soul is mad because he is always
engaged in activities which are the causes of bondage and suffering.”
Spirit soul in its original condition is joyful, blissful, eternal and full
of knowledge. Only by his implication in material activities has
he become miserable, temporary and full of ignorance. This is due
to vikarma. Vikarma means actions which should not be done. There-
fore, we must practice sddhana-bhakti-which means to offer
mangala-aratrika (Deity worship) in the morning, to refrain from
certain material activities, to offer obeisances to the spiritual master
and to follow many other rules and regulations which will be dis-
cussed here one after another. These practices will help one to be-
come cured of madness. As a man’s mental disease is cured by the
directions of a psychiatrist, so this sadhana-bhakti cures the condi-
tioned soul of his madness under the spell of maya, material illusion.

Narada Muni mentions this sddhana-bhakti in the Srimad-
Bhagavatam, Seventh Canto, lst Chapter, 30th verse. He says there
to King Yudhisthira: ““My dear King, one has to fix his mind-on Krsna
by any means.” That is called Krsna consciousness. It is the duty of
the acarya, the spiritual master, to find the ways and means for his
disciple to fix his mind on Krsna. That is the beginning of sadhana-
bhakti.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has given us an authorized program for
this purpose, centered around the chanting of the Hare Krsna
mantra. This chanting has so much power that it immediately
attaches one to Krsna. That is the beginning of sadhana-bhakti.
Somehow or other, one has to fix his mind on Krsna. The great
saint Ambarisa Maharaj, although a responsible king, fixed his mind
on Krsna, and similarly anyone who tries to fix his mind in this way
will very rapidly make progress in successfully reviving his original
Krsna consciousness.
