[3] Sukrti gives rise sadhu-sanga, which gives rise to sraddha
Nisanta-bhajana is of two types: one is within the realm of sadhana, and the other is within the realm of perfection, and is raganuga-bhajana. In sadhana it is the first stage of bhakti and is compared to the end of the night in Krsna’s lila. In Krsna’s pastimes, when night has passed and daybreak is dawning it is called nisanta-lila. It lasts for three hours – from three o’clock until six o’clock. By the accumulation of devotional merit (sukrti) we attain sadhu-sanga, and when the seed of faith is planted within us, it is nisanta-bhajana. And as the word nisa means “night”, here it refers to the darkness of night when the living entity is opposed to Krsna.
bhavapavargo bhramato yada bhavej
janasya tarhy acyuta sat-samagamah
Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.51.53)
When the jiva attains saintly association, then this darkness of maya begins to dissipate and he can understand that his night will soon be ending, meaning that his wandering through countless lifetimes in this material world will soon be finished.
bhaktis tu bhagavad-
bhakta-sangena parijayate
sat-sangah prapyate pumbhih
sukrtaih purva-sancitaih
Brhan-naradiya Purana (4.33)
By the accumulation of sukrti, one attains sadhu-sanga, and by sadhu-sanga one attains bhakti. But as long as one does not have resolute faith in the words of a sadhu, then it will not be real sadhu-sanga. “I will die before I fail to follow the instructions of the sadhu” – this is the necessary sentiment for performing bhajana.
The kingdom of sadhana-bhajana for the living entity stretches from the beginning stage of sraddha to the elevated stage of bhava. In order for sraddha to arise within a jiva, in the beginning there must be some sukrti that has been acquired unknowingly. This sukrti is acquired by unknowingly performing any activity related to Bhagavan or His devotees, and from the influence of this sukrti one attains saintly association.
The story of Prahlada Maharaja illustrates this point. In his previous life he was a brahmana, and in his youth he was well educated and eventually married. He was adorned with all good qualities and served his parents faithfully. Once while going somewhere, by chance he fell into bad association and became attached to a prostitute. He became so attached to her that he abandoned the service of his parents, abandoned his wife and children, sold everything in his house and destroyed his household life. Stealthily he had taken whatever possessions he had to this prostitute. Then one day that prostitute saw that she had taken everything from him and that he was now penniless, so she began to ignore him. She would converse with others in his presence, but she would not speak to him and would just tell him to go away. Being very distressed, one morning he left that place and wandered and wandered all day through a jungle and became very hungry and thirsty. Then evening began to fall, and being a winter night it began to rain. He thought, “Now where will I go?” He was fearing that he might be attacked by a tiger or bear. Then he saw an old, neglected temple, so he entered it and lay down. But the discord with the prostitute was paining him like a thorn in his heart, so he was unable to sleep and all night he just cried and worried.
In another place that prostitute had repented and began searching for him. In the night she took shelter in that same temple not knowing that he was also there. She also just cried and cried and was unable to sleep. When the next morning came, they saw each other, and crying, she at once went and fell at his feet. With great affection he embraced her, and the previous incident was forgotten. They returned to their life of misconduct, but at that time no one understood what great benefit they received on that day. That day had happened to be Nrsimha-caturdasi, the holy appearance day of Lord Nrsimhadeva, and all day neither of them had drank any water or eaten anything. They had fasted all day, and had also remained awake all night, so they received the benefit of observing Nrsimha-caturdasi. And whose temple was it that they had stayed in that night? Nrsimhadeva’s. Unknowingly they received such a great result from this that in his next life he became Prahlada Maharaja, and she became his wife.
From this he attained the opportunity to hear from Narada. When he was still in his mother’s womb, he heard instructions from Narada continuously for sixty thousand years. By the mercy of Narada he became the great spiritual scholar and exclusive devotee of Bhagavan, Prahlada Maharaja. This is an example of how sadhu-sanga is attained as the result of sukrti, and how bhakti is attained as the result of that sadhu-sanga.
If even unknowingly someone serves the deity, they will achieve such a great result. Then if someone knowingly constructs a temple for the deity, inaugurates the service of the deity, makes ornaments for the deity, or faithfully serves Vaisnavas and hears spiritual philosophy from them sincerely, how much greater will the result be? So in the kingdom of bhakti this is called nisanta-bhava and begins with the birth of sraddha. And that faith will be in what? Not directly in Bhagavan at first, but in the words of the scriptures.
‘sraddha’-sabde – visvasa kahe sudrdha niscaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Madhya-lila 22.62)
“If I just perform bhajana of Krsna, then everything is accomplished.” Such a high quality type of faith is called sraddha. If that sraddha is placed in the words of the scriptures, in the words of the spiritual master, and in the words of the Vaisnavas, then everything will come from that. “By following whatever they say, everything will be all right. Even if everything in my life is destroyed, then let it be; I will continue executing bhagavad-bhajana” – this is sraddha, even though there may be anarthas in our bhajana. There is anisthita-bhakti, unsteady devotion, and nisthita-bhakti, firm devotion. In anisthita-bhakti, there are false confidence (utsahamayi), sporadic endeavour (ghana-tarala), indecision (vyudha-vikalpa), delighting in the material facilities that come from bhakti (taranga-rangini ), battling with the desires for sense pleasure (visaya-sangara) and the inability to uphold vows (niyamaksama). Even though all of these may remain, if one’s faith is of good quality, then upon attaining sadhu-sanga his internal nature will gradually change. When one understands that upon attaining sadhu-sanga the night – meaning his conditioned state of existence – will be finished soon, his faith is of good quality.