108 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 2

it is to be understood that Lord Krsna is present there in the form of
transcendental sound, which is as powerful as the Lord personally. Si
Caitanya Mahaprabhu, in His Siksastakam, declares clearly that the holy
name of the Lord has all the potencies of the Lord and that He has
endowed His innumerable names with the same potency. There is no rigid
fixture of time, and anyone can chant the holy name with attention and
reverence at his convenience. The Lord is so kind to us that He can be
present before us personally in the form of transcendental sound, but
unfortunately we have no taste for hearing and glorifying the Lord’s name
and activities. We have already discussed developing a taste for hearing and
chanting the holy sound. It is done through the medium of service to the
pure devotee of the Lord.

The Lord is reciprocally respondent to His devotees. When He sees that
a devotee is completely sincere in getting admittance to the transcendental
service of the Lord and thus becomes eager to hear about Him, the Lord
acts from within the devotee in such a way that the devotee may easily go
back to Him. The Lord is more anxious to take us back into His kingdom
than we can desire. Most of us do not desire at all to go back to Godhead.
Only a very few men want to go back to Godhead. But anyone who
desires to go back to Godhead, Sri Krsna helps in all respects.

One cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless one is perfectly
cleared of all sins. The material sins are products of our desires to lord it
over material nature. It is very difficult to get rid of such desires. Women
and wealth are very difficult problems for the devotee making progress on
the path back to Godhead. Many stalwarts in the devotional line fell
victim to these allurements and thus retreated from the path of liberation.
But when one is helped by the Lord Himself, the whole process becomes
as easy as anything by the divine grace of the Lord.

To become restless in the contact of women and wealth is not an
astonishment, because every living being is associated with such things
from a remote time, practically immemorial, and it takes time to recover
from this foreign nature. But if one is engaged in hearing the glories of
the Lord, gradually he realizes his real position. By the grace of God such
-a devotee gets sufficient strength to defend himself from the state of
disturbances, and gradually all disturbing elements are eliminated from his
mind.

TEXT 18

aemasags feed anaadaa |
WasMss ahaa Awa UII
