134 Sri-Caitanya-caritamrta
TEXT 141
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bhagavan-praptihetu ye kari upaya
sravanadi bhakti— krsna-praptira sahaya
SYNONYMS
bhagavan—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; prapti-hetu—the means by which
He can be approached; ye—what; kari—| do; upaya—means; sravana-adi—devotional
service, beginning with hearing; bhakti—devotional service; krsna—the Supreme
Lord; praptira—to approach Him; sahaya—means.
TRANSLATION
“It is only by devotional service, beginning with hearing, that one can approach
the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the only means to approach Him.
PURPORT
Mayavadi philosophers are satisfied simply to understand Brahman to be the sum
total of knowledge, but Vaisnava philosophers not only know in detail about the
Supreme Personality of Godhead but also know how to approach Him directly.
The method for this is described by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu as nine kinds of
devotional service, beginning with hearing.
Sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam
arcanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam
(Bhag. 7.5.23)
One can directly approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead simply by execut-
ing the nine kinds of devotional service, of which hearing about the Lord is the
most.important (Sravanddi). Sri Caitanya Mahdaprabhu has very favorably stressed
the importance of this process of hearing. According to His method, if people are
simply given a chance to hear about Krsna, certainly they will gradually develop
their dormant awareness or love of Godhead. Sravanadi-suddha-citte karaye udaya
(Cc. Madhya 22.107). Love of God is dormant in everyone, but if one is given a
chance to hear about the Lord, certainly that love develops. Our Krsna conscious-
ness movement acts on this principle. We simply give people the chance to hear
about the Supreme Personality of Godhead and give them prasada to eat, and the
actual result is that all over the world people are responding to this process and be-
coming pure devotees of Lord Krsna. We open hundreds of centers all over the
world just to give people in general a chance to hear about Krsna and accept
Krsna’s prasada. These two processes can be accepted by anyone, even a child. It
doesn’t matter whether one is poor or rich, learned or foolish, black or white, old
